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This was a fun event just to finish off our racing season, not to say though that the racing itself is not taken seriously
There were fifty six teams entered in the race with a wide variety of cars, ranging from kit cars to full race BMW M3s.
Because of the range of cars a handicap system is applied to try and produce a level playing field. All participants submit
their best lap times for this circuit or similar circuits if they have not raced this one before. The fastest team, in this
case the BMW M3s of Geoff Steel Racing, are nominated as the scratch team and everybody else will have laps credited to them
by the handicappers depending upon how much slower they are than the scratch team. These credits can be amended during the race
for various reasons such as cars going much faster that their declared times. The teams were split into different classes, we
were in class D for Sports racing cars and non-roadgoing sports cars/saloons1601cc & over and bike engines over 1000cc. There
were a total of 24 teams in our class.
Team Manager Peter Cooper
- Paul Taylor - VW Golf R32
- Martyn Culley - VW RSI Beetle 3.2
- Darren Blumson - VW RSI Beetle 3.2
- Barrie Culley VW Vento VR6
- Tony Taylor MR2 (honorary VW)
- Tony Harberman Shared Darren’s car.
We arrived on the Friday afternoon but were unable to gain access to our pit garage until the early evening. While we waited we
unloaded the spares and tools from the race cars and then had them scrutineered. As some of the cars did not have speedometers we
ended up following Pete in his road car around the airstrip to calibrate our rev counters so we knew what 25mph, the pit lane speed was.
Once we could get into the pit garages, everything was setup including the obligatory urn to provide a constant supply of boiling water
for teas and coffees. When everything was setup, a Chinese takeaway was ordered and a few cans of beer opened while we discussed team tactics.
Each car and driver would be doing two racing stints except for Darren and Tony Harberman who would each be doing one each. The cars were all
equipped with slicks as we were hoping for a nice dry race day. Martyn had programmed his laptop computer to work out timings for changeovers
and to recalculate in the event of a breakdown or accident.
Saturday started wet for the fifteen minute qualifying sessions. Paul was out first and his car was changed onto wet tyres. As the weather did
not look to be improving the VWs were also put onto wet tyres. The MR2 had grooved tyres as per its championship specification so no changes
could be made. Qualifying gave us our first taste of how much the speeds of the cars varied. With quite large speed differentials the drivers
needed to be alert and watch out for the blue flags to indicate faster cars overtaking. The qualifying went well with all cars returning unscathed.
The cars were lined up on the grid at 11:10 and it was still raining. Paul was nominated as our team’s first car to race and was positioned 25th on
the grid on row 13. The hope was that the four wheel drive would be an advantage off the start line and make up ground.
This turned out to be the case considering he didn’t make his usual electric start he managed to go from 25th to 6th in one lap which was fantastic
and the other drivers drove well to maintain this advantage in the bad driving conditions.
The first sequence of drivers for the race barring breakdowns or accidents was Paul, Martyn, Darren, Tony Taylor, Barrie. The second sequence followed
the same order except Darren was replaced by Tony Harberman.
The racing went well but care had to be taken when overtaking slower cars especially as they were often fighting their own battles and did not always
notice a faster overtaking car. As the race progressed the attitude of the team changed and became a bit more serious. We felt it would be good to be
in the top 15 teams but we realised that we were in fact well up in the top 10, in fact in the top 5 on handicap. The racing went well with all the cars
completing their stints without any breakdowns or requiring major work when they returned to the pit garage. Just checking over and refuelling. Paul had
a slight brush with a barrier. Martyn and Barrie gained wheel imprints in their doors from cars that had not realised they were being overtaken on the outside of some bends.
Barrie felt honoured to do the last stint and take the chequered flag on behalf of the team. He was told just before going out that we were one lap behind
the team in front and one lap in front of the team behind, no pressure they said. Managed to spin the car at Priory two laps from the end and recovering onto
the track was a bit tricking with the number of cars around at the time. But he made it to the finishing line without any further dramas. It was like a scene
from a Grand Prix as the team were all hanging over the pit wall cheering and clapping as he went over the finishing line.
The reason for the teams celebrations became clear as it turned out that we had won our class on handicap, 3rd fastest team overall on handicap and 7th fastest
team on the track regardless of handicap. A great, great day.
This would not have been possible without the support and hard work of our wives, supporters and mechanics. Liz did a magnificent job as our social manager,
organising the Friday night takeaway, supplying a buffet to keep everybody going during the race day and arranging the pub where we convened to in the evening
to celebrate the end of the seasons racing. Dave, Adey and Mark did a sterling job keeping the cars running, on the correct tyres and fuelled ready to go. Micky
did a very good job on the pit wall timing every lap to ensure we had not lost a car and using the pit board to notify the drivers how much time they had left.
My apologies if I have left anybody out.
The team manager’s role is very important as the drivers worry about their own cars and the mechanics bustle about but it needs somebody to pull everything together
and this was Pete’s job which he did brilliantly. Everybody knew what they had to do and when. He timed the changeovers superbly, in one case though a bit too tightly.
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