The weeks leading up to the event were filled with phone calls, emails, meetings and rearranged plans between myself, Trevor from Straightliners, Jamie from the circuit and the 40 odd people taking part. With Dunk doing a sterling job of getting the money in things were on track and even the weather looked like it might hold out for us. I was a bit concerned about the condition of the track and whether it would yield enough grip. We would soon see.
I arrived shortly before 4pm to see a few of the guys in the car park waiting. There was a trackday in full swing as we gathered and that always helps to get the blood pumping, with exotic cars and noises everywhere. The bright sunshine was welcomed and I had the opportunity to meet Trevor and Sean from Straightliners as we had a quick meeting to establish the final plans. Trevor wears the expression of a man that has seen and done it all before. This was very reassuring to me as my background in trackdays and their planning still left plenty of gaps for things to go wrong. The guys had travelled down from Leeds just for our event so that goes someway to explaining their expenses, but whatever they charged, I felt it was easily justified. They did a cracking job.
We aimed to get everyone together for 5pm but that was never going to happen mid-week and there were still guys turning up at 5.30pm. The procedural briefing was dealt with and then the first runners made their way down to the assembly area prior to being allowed out. The delay in starting (approx 30 minutes) was a little frustrating but Straightliners made the decision that they needed to check a few things over before kicking off. Fair enough. These guys do this sort of thing in their sleep. With George (Rolty) ensuring the queue stayed controlled, a steady flow of cars making their way to the start line. Noise testing had been overlooked but this was only a small delay before the action started.
Sods law the storm clouds gathered around the circuit and the rain started spitting for the first 30 minutes or so. A damp, non-prepared uphill track was not good news for the big hitters, keen to set a good time. I'll summarise the reults in a few moments but I'll say right now that I think the surface was superb overall. Several people matched or beat their personal bests, it would have been interesting to see just how quick we could have gone if we were running in the traditional direction...........maybe next time.
One thing that was instantly noticeable after running at open RWYB's was the lack of waiting around. Most of us ran 3 or 4 times in around an hour and a half........try doing that at Santa Pod. My highlights were numerous with so many truly great moments;
1) Stu Beales (Bealo) doing repeated rolling burnouts in his CSL. Bloody awesome fun and you could see he was making up for standing around at Cadwell. Welcome to the club buddy :thumb:
2) Mark Moseley (Max1) ruling the roost. On low boost and with the hardest tyres this side of Dans old Kevlars he still set a superb time and the grin never left his face all night.
3) Gerry H and his subtle approach. The guy is one of the most 'jeckyll and hyde' style men I have met. A calm, quietly spoken gentleman when he is out of the car, and a complete unhinged raging bull when behind the wheel. His launches were a sight to see, just looking at the photos shows his commitment.
4) James Breadvan and the Civic Monster. Mercilessly spanked the car all night and was another man grinning from ear to ear.
5) SteveVR6- Never has a mk2 Golf had such a hard life and Steve just keeps hammering it. Great to watch 150bhp leave 30 foot launch marks everywhere
Results
1) Mark Moseley 14.39@104mph 12.43@100mph 10.38@142mph 10.17@140mph 66.90@32mph
2) Phil Cossy 10.92@126 11.21@127 10.66@131 10.92@130
3) Dave Green 11.07@131 11.32@127
4) IWANT1 12.42@112 13.08@110 12.30@112
5) Paul Applin 12.36@108
6) Rex 12.41@110 12.55@111 12.8@110 13.19@111
7) Gerry H 12.65@106 12.7@106 12.82@107 12.54@108
8 ) Henna777 14.16@108 13.19@110 12.70@110
9) stuartstaples 12.7@108 12.91@106 13.01@106
10) Fast Eddy 13.03@106 12.81@108
11) TonyB 13.39@105 13.24@107 14.57@97 13.40@106
12) tajones 13.83@104 13.87@103 13.69@104 13.28@104
13) Rayman 13.44@104 13.83@97
14) Slaphead 13.80@88 14.03@104 13.47@98 14.14@105 14.53@100
15) James Breadvan 13.58@107 13.68@107 13.49@108 13.54@108 13.62@108
16) sneaky pete 13.75@98 13.66@100 13.66@100 18.42@57
17) Slarty Bartfast 14.22@106 13.68@106 13.71@?
18 ) Ian200sx 14.08@101 13.70@104
19) TK 14.23@94 13.91@94 13.77@96
20) mutleysfriend 13.94@104 14.20@106 14.05@110 13.94@107 13.82@104
21) Bealo 13.83@101 14.23@100 13.97@101
22) Kamikaze 14.39@98 13.95@99 16.30@87 14.73@94
23) Scrote 14.28@105 14.84@107
24) Rnash2002 14.32@95 14.37@94 14.45@95 14.30@96
25) Beanpotter 14.52@91 14.40@95 14.59@94 15.51@92
26) Dave GTO 14.86@92 14.72@96 14.51@99
27) AndyCat 14.57@91 15.54@91 14.88@92 14.58@94
28 ) Scoobyandscrappy 15.73@88 14.58@89 14.69@89 14.70@91
29) Naughty Magpie 17.23@89 17.56@70 15.25@91 15.06@93
30) MJP 16.50@81 15.28@87 16.18@90 15.51@88 15.52@88
31) Jungle Jim 15.29@92 15.56@92 15.79@93 15.29@93
32) Datsun Des 15.41@93 15.83@93 15.35@93 15.41@95
33) Murano3 15.40@90
34) RobCallow 16.05@88 15.84@92 16.15@88 15.67@88
35) SteveVR6 16.66@82 16.43@83 16.18@84 16.31@85
36) dangerous 16.88@77 16.57@78
37) Kev@tkl 17.72@77
So there we are. A great night out and I look forward to the next one :thumb:
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