North Weald Sprint 27th April

[Bladerider]

I'll be there for my first sprint too. No idea what class and I couldn't care less. It will be great to be involved, sharing my sweet Shrimpy with the big ball of manly love that is the Bladester !!!

Well said Snatchquiff !!!

[neilK]

You should get at least three timed runs

They guys run in several different classes

4pm should see the event completed

If you want to spectate you'll need a car pass. The organisers have said that there are to be no spectators other than those provided with a car pass.

I'll be there for my first sprint too. No idea what class and I couldn't care less. It will be great to be involved.

Cheers Stuart,

Just read through the regs, so understand the classes.

1st timed run due to start at 11.00

NO Spectators! Does anyone have a spare car pass, otherwise I guess I will have to give this a miss?

[Stuart]

James

you seem to forget that I can edit and delete ANYBODIES posts. Go careful Junior.

Neil

you have mail

[Bladerider]

Aw bless,

You really should lay off the sauce, you're not as young as you were and the next morning blues makes you sound grumpy, well, more grumpy senior !!

J.

[neilK]

Neil

you have mail

Cheers, see you on Sunday! :-D

[Stuart]

Without wishing to cause offence to Liam and the MLR, this was my first sprint under MSA guidelines. After months of procrastination, plan changes and excuses, the time had come to 'walk the walk' in this new discipline.

North Weald is as desolate a place as I know on a damp windy day. Thank the Lord that it was dry and sunny when I arrived at 7.30am. I had driven the 80 odd miles thinking I was going to get my arse handed to me and this hadn't dented my anticipation one iota

I pulled in to see the matching white classics of Gerry and Trev. With Logan and I also sporting white (albeit varying shades ) it may have to be adopted as BigPowers racing colour?.......oh hang on, this is not racing.........this is sprinting :lol:

Numbers donned, timing struts bolted on and paperwork complete, we were ready for scrutineering. This is a much more thorough affair than anything we are likely to see at a trackday and I for one think it is a fantastic idea. Good common sense feedback from Loyd meant that we all went out a little more clude up on safety. ( Well those that had a quiet word anyway) This was time consuming but he was doing a grand job on his own and it added to the build up of taking part in a proper motorsports event.

We were able to drive in convoy around the circuit to get acclimatised to North Wealds varied grip levels. I have to be honest, I had Gerry and Logan behind me and started a mini F1 style tyre warming slalom on a straight (completely pointless I know, just did it for a laugh) and instantly saw Gerry laughing behind. With that the guy in front of me started doing the same!! I do hope he knew I was sodding around :lol:

The circuit would take less than two minutes to complete but in that period there would be very few occassions where you wouldn't be working hard to control the tyres. My car predominantly understeers and this was never more true than here. More on that to follow.

The format of the day was one practice lap followed by three timed laps. Quickest time of your three runs seeds you within your own class. Easy. My class was the road going cars less than 2 litres. This meant very basic mods only, so nothing too lairy. The two opposition cars that I had spotted in my class both looked a bit........quick. A 2 litre Renault Spider, who'd been at the two previous NW sprints I'd watched, and a Longman 1900 XR2 with a cage. Arse!! Oh well, I had Golf Powers and my car had survived Marham, so I was in for a laugh and happy to accept that I would learn a lot if nothing else.

The guys in the 2 litre and over class (B3) were in for a tougher time. Much more competition and some of the quickest drivers were fighting for points and the fastest time of the day (FTD) This honour seems to carry some real kudos, for obvious reasons. Trev and Logan were playfully winding each other up. Logan is one of those blokes that is so quick he looks kind of effortless (bastard ) but the times speak for themselves. Trev is closing up fast. For a new comer he has picked this up with ease and seems to be relishing the challenge. (Some great Banzai moments to today you crazy sod :thumb: ) Andy Stevens was his normal understated self. Fecking quick and about as committed as anyone there, Andy always looked capable of pulling FTD out of the bag. Should be even quicker with a car that does corners

DJGraham looked like he was having a ball in his virgin outing and Ben in the Civic had another great drive, getting a second in class IIRC

Gerrys car is back and, judging from the acceleration, in rude health. He was in a different group to the rest of us which meant we could watch, and we all sharply drew our breath as Gerry launched 400+ lb of torque off of the line. Very impressive Mr Houghton. He was dicing with the very quickest cars all day and one his class and very nearly one FTD, losing out only to some mad bastard in a turbocharged Dax Rush. If only it had stayed wet eh?

Wet............I should mention that Trev was second fastest OVERALL in the wet. That's with less than 300bhp

In a war of attrition I came second in my group. I can only assume matey in the Spider was carrying the car for whatever reason. There is simply no way that I should have beaten him, but there we are, I did. The XR2 was too fast for me though and showed me that better suspension and more power would help me be properly competitve in this class. I doubt I'll be in this class next time out though as the BM will punt me squarely into the deep end, with guys like Gerry.

My steep learning curve will continue I think

In summary, it is a fabulous way to get 'into' motorsport. With guys like the ones involved today it was great fun from the off. With back up from guys like Spence and Chris Deal it worked well and the value for money was superb. Including my event fees, joining two clubs, paying for my championship fees and my race licence it still worked out at less than a full trackday. Beat that!

Congratulations to

Gerry 1st in class 2nd FTD
Logan 1st in class
Ben 2nd in class
Trev 5th in class
Andy 'Dorifto'..........don't know but surely you get points for entertainment?
DJ Graham. Loads of potential mate. Great first run out.
Spence. Great event. The next round will be even better with far more competitors.

[madenglishman]

Great report Stu...........and nice work giving the golf even more welly :-D

Well done to all the BP collective 8)

[Mr Fletcher]

good write up stu well done everybody

cheers

jason

[Stuart]

Well done to all the BP collective 8)

When the BM is done, you have GOT to come and have a play Dan. You would be in your element

[Gerry H]

Nice report Stu, as always. :thumb

It was pretty hillarious watching you 'tyre warming' or were you adjusting your seating position?

Just received an email with today's results. That was super quick of Chris Deal.

Andy 4th, Trev 5th and Graham 7th on his first outing. :thumb:.