The Pembrey Classic Package

[Slowcoach]

Look out Wales here we come.........the Classic Package is packing up and going to Pembrey......remember last year - you should all know exactly wear you were on that Saturday night GERMANY 1 ENGLAND 5 yeap we were in the bar at Pembrey.....
Nice circuit,unpredictable weather,lovely pub b&b and friendly local tyre shop - boy did we get through some rubber that weekend....anyone who hasn't been there before bring plenty of spares.
A very eventful weekend we had all in all, took us about 3 hours less than we allowed to drive there. Suspension collapsed in practice, but we got all the welding done locally and made it on to the grid. Qualified third, was leading out of the first corner (only time ever had clear road in front of me) lasted about 150 yards before I was off mowing the grass, two laps later did the same thing again only ended up parked on the tarmac facing the wrong way - my face was redder than the flags.....but they let me go again from the pit lane for the restart, I managed one very slow lap before the car overheated and conked out (radiator full of grass) but I got a point and possibly the slowest lap record ever set by a CT car at Pembrey. Must remember not to use wets on a bone dry circuit....well it was raining when they called us to the assembly area.
So who else is going, and any special memories of the wrong end of the M4.....

[josvandeperre]

Yes I'm there - testing Friday PM onwards - but where is this place Wales and do I need my passport or any special jabs ? Are the natives friendly ?

[Tony Harman]

Originally posted by josvandeperre
Yes I'm there - testing Friday PM onwards - but where is this place Wales and do I need my passport or any special jabs ? Are the natives friendly ?

two junctons form the end of the M4 and 1/2 mile from the beach. Natives are v friendly - especially the ones with wooly coats....
Unfortunately I can't get the time off to test - God knows we need it ! Tested last year and got down to a respectable 1.02, then we had a damp race. There's a track day at Llandow (?) on Saturday so may call in there on the way down.
Are you out both days ?

[josvandeperre]

Bloody hell G1 sign on is at 730 saturday - I like the sound of 'beach' - lets hope the weather is with us - G1/90/CT saturday only

[Tony Harman]

The "beach" is about an hours walk but worth the effort if you have plenty of time, probably worth borrowing a pushbike
Do you know the times for CT ?

[josvandeperre]

CT race 3 825 sign on 955 practise race approx 1415 - your're up 1005 signon sunday 1135 practise and the race immediately after the one hour

[Slowcoach]

Cripes - looks like another 2 a.m. start for me then, is the one hour prac. on the sunday as well as the race ?
jos - at least getting there that early you might get some tarmac to park on - we spent all our time in the long grass last year - and we arrived Friday lunchtime !!

[Slowcoach]

Jos - how many entries are there for CT plse ?

[josvandeperre]

all of six and you're not listed - first weather forecast is brightish 18 deg c 825 signon 955 practise

[Stacy]

Yep,

All present and correct for Group 1, Pre-90's and on the basis that I can't be bothered coming home, I'm doing the 1hr race with Dave Howard in his Pre-74 Escort on Sunday.

Pleased to see Steve Cripps out again in his Escort, looking forward to a decent race in class with him again, as per Brands in Pre-83 and pre-90 - Hopefully I can beat him again too, I have a championship to think of now after all.

Pity no-ones pulling their finger out of their arse to put some heat into class D as well!

Stacy

[spnixon]

Originally posted by stacy
Yep,
Pity no-ones pulling their finger out of their arse to put some heat into class D as well!
Stacy

OK, OK, I know.

I'll be there with a lighter, fitter, meaner Golf - and a laminated windscreen.

I found the cause of my vibration at Silverstone - all the bolts holding the gearbox to the engine were hanging out, it was being held on by the starter motor (which was also loose).

SPN Car Preparation Services - all work guaranteed.

[Stacy]

Originally posted by spnixon

SPN Car Preparation Services - all work guaranteed.

If there's one thing I've learnt in the short time I've been racing, it's that preparation is King.

If you have to finish anything on the day - you're stuffed.

If you haven't checked it all before - you're stuffed.

Weekends are for racing, preparation is during the week.

No-one who's winning has an air of pandemonium about them on a regular basis, if at all..

Stacy

[monster]

HI,I am Hugh Postons'son(the eldest). Just like to say I love the forum, great fun & educational. Will be going to Pembrey, looking forward to seeing you all race. Stacy against Steve will very entertaining as Stacy seems to be way ahead in his class without Steve out there. Does anybody know if there is a BBQ Sat.nite? Would be nice to meet you all as I am bringing along a couple of friends who are desperate to start racing and want to talk budgets. Also a good chance to have some wine and beer.

[Stacy]

Hello Hugh's Eldest!

Hope you all had a good holiday - Hugh certainly missed an eventful committee meeting..

Anyway, yes, roll on Pembrey with Steve, in both pre-83 and pre-90 - as I said I'm hoping to beat him again in both as per Brands! We'll see, he's always a stormer round Pembrey!

I'm a fatalist, so while I will be trying to clean sheet the remaining rounds for the championship, if it doesn't happen Que Sera. Put it this way, if I didn't beat all concerned I wouldn't want the thing anyway.

As for budgets, don't ask me - even if I knew I wouldn't say.

No idea on the BBQ, I'm sure however we'll have some spare if you're hungry - pop round.

How old are your mates ? And what are they looking to get into ? They're probably worth sending to The Old Man first!

Oh yes, and lay off the wine and beer, it's not good for you.

Stacy

[monster]

Stacy
Hope your meeting did not finish too late,you can still e-mail dad as i am opening post & e-mail and passing on any gossip.
My friends and myself are all well in to the thirtes, so time is running out.Pre 74,83 seem to be favourite at the moment as grids are a good size,worried about pre-66 grids although some good value cars around .
Does anybody out there know if running a foreign car(alfa,bmw,toyota,masda.vw) prove more expensive to run then escorts,minis,capris,morris minors etc??
As for wine & beer being bad for you ,i only drink wine and as can not race (not quick enough) i need some enjoymemt.
Russell

[Stacy]

Well, I had just got in the door when I posted that message so you'll see it wasn't an early finish... Is Hugh available on the phone ?

Anyway, as for the choice of series I wouldn't be too worried about pre-66, the grids are on the rise again and with the advertising initiatives they should keep on doing so.

However, I suppose there is the case that it's quite enjoyable driving the stuff that was around in our youth - so maybe 74's would be a good bet.

The advantage there of course is being able to do both 74's and 83's.

The Mazda is not inherently more expensive than anything else, but the problem with "exotica" is that quite often you're on your own trying to set it up and sort it. Especially if things go wrong. An RX7 would be fun, but it's been a rocky old road to get where we are, and it's not over by a long way yet..

For simplicity a pre-74 RS2000 probably couldn't be beaten - everything available off the shelf and proven. Alternatively a Mini 1275GT maybe. There are always cars for sale, there is a Firenza in the next Flyer, Nigel Garrett's Rover SD1 et al - all good cars and not too complicated to start.

I suppose the question as for choice of cars is "How fast do you want to spend ?".

As for being not quick enough, it's not stopped me!

Stacy

[Peter Mallett]

I'll second Stacy's comments. Budgets are really what you're willing to spend and for everyone its always too much.

Pre 74 would be a good place to start and there's always somebody (like your friends) willing to buy one after they've finished with it.

Good luck this weekend folks.

[Tony Harman]

Time to haul it back up...
Weather forecast looks like Sunny on Saturday and Wet on Sunday....
Anyone testing on Friday ? We're hoping to get to Llandow (?) on Sat afternoon for a quick run as I couldn't get the time off on Friday. and at the moment the rear hub bearings haven't arrived.... three wheels on my wagon - da dee dah de dah....

[monster]

What a great meeting,1st time there, loved the track,good weather, good journey,good racing.
Dad had excellent Sat.Chasing in one & trying to keep ahead of Jos in his 2 races. Set lap records (by 1.3 secs). Car is ok, just exhaust blow, brake vibration & flames coming from exhaust on lift off only problems (my 8 year enjoyed flames though).So should be out at Cadwell - his favourite .
Congratulations to Stacy on his class win (2nd overall)& not forgetting his overall Pre90 win, though group1 race looked alot harder.
My friends at their 1st club meeting thought it was fantastic and
could not believe how frinedly everybody was. The communication was free - flowing, as was the honest and relaxed enthusiasm to try and coax them into racing (though not much coaxing required). Although did hear some scare stories about 1 make - racing which gave them something to think about. Now saving hard for car and budget, who is taking car to CTCRC track day?
How did you do on Sunday Tony, and Stacy did you win a third race??

[Peter Mallett]

Glad it was a good meeting.

I hope to be at the track day.

[Stacy]

Originally posted by monster
[B Congratulations to Stacy on his class win (2nd overall)& not forgetting his overall Pre90 win, though group1 race looked alot harder.

How did you do on Sunday Tony, and Stacy did you win a third race?? [/B]

Hi,

Thanks for that. Pre-83 was indeed a lot harder to be fair, one of the RX7 foibles is that the setup for speed with my driving "style" is suicidal in the wet.. Since it was damp I had to lose that, and because it was really dryish especially towards the end I struggled.

Pre-90 had the dry setup on it which made life easier, although to be fair Pembrey does suit the more nimble cars because of all the direction changes. I knew Pembrey was my last chance for an outright result, so was pleased with that.

As for Sunday, well, we never sorted the bad misfire which was painful to live with. Other than that it ran quite well, but Dave retired it with 10mins to go with a lot of axle noise - it wasn't bad considering it had been in a shed for 18 months.

I had a good race with Peter Brown's Dolomite sprint and got past a few laps before I handed over. That took some thought though, as most key corners had the Escort misfiring on the exit with the shift lights blazing and the rev counter telling me it was "somewhere between 4k and 8k" ;-) Peter got a bit sideways through the fast right hander before the 2nd hairpin and I pulled alongside.

Enjoyed it though, it was a jolly after all and the Escort is a lot of fun. Really controllable and easy to drive, and when the engine's running not short of go I suspect. Recommended starter car if you ask me...

Stacy

[josvandeperre]

Well lets see - the best mobile phone signal all weekend was whilst paddling in the sea behind the circuit about a mile offshore as the tide was out - the RAF sent some Tornados thro the vile weather on Friday above us at about 100 ft which made testing interesting - I discovered cars start races better if they are not in third gear - also less grippy tyres grip less well so if you try to do the things you do on more grippy tyres it doesn't work so I missed a corner in pre 83 and after some autocross went 3 seconds a lap slower ! the pre 90 race was fun however - good weekend except I rushed back for an extremely borign GP.....

[Tony Harman]

What a fine weekend. The weather stayed good, though I heard from Jos that testing was a trifle damp on Friday - glad I didn't go now.
We changed the setup and went back to what we ran in testing last year and low and behold it worked. So qualified 4th but only finished 5th mainly due to a poor start and a lot of pressure from behind. The new Dunlops are difficult to get enough heat into to work straight off the line. Hatchetts hairpin is certainly interesting with 6 or 7 cars all at once on cold tyres !
So at least picked up enough points to take the class lead into the next round which is nice.
Saw Jos and Hugh P, missed Slowcoach though, where were you on Sunday ?
Oh well Cadwell next up - another thread methinks.

[sunbeam73]

what happened tp peter?

[spnixon]

Another disaster.

Qualified OK, though didn't set a remarkable time - circuit was damp and I didn't push anywhere near hard enough, lack of track time I think.

Made an OK start to the Grp One race but the class C Capri's that I'd out qualified just surged past on the way down to the hairpin and cut in front of me before braking early - doh.

Then managed 5th gear entering Spitfire, and noticed car wasn't pulling so well down the straights. Started going backwards down the field, couldn't work out why (except I selected 5th gear twice more at Spitfire, something I've NEVER done before in umpteen laps of Pembrey).

Keating Rover got past then immediately fishtailed everywhere, slowing me some more - then the throttle stuck open round Dibeni, forcing me over the grass. Made it back to the pits and tried to free it up - thought we had so went out to try and set a lap time.

Very next lap the throttle jammed again at the hairpin, I had to take it out of gear to avoid crashing and I buzzed the brand new engine before stopping forlornly on the grass (I hadn't got round to fitting a new rev limiter). Spent the next 11 laps totally fed up, yet again spectating a Group One race - an interesting battle between Marten/Cholerton kept my mind off the engine and what state it was in. The marshalls were quite some way away and it was tempting to set fire to the car.... I assume the lack of performance was due tot he fact that the throttle wasn't fully opening.

Anyway back in the paddock we started it up and it seems I was lucky - engine was fine and indeed Steve Barber raced it to 9th and 1st in class in CT. OK, well only car in class and last place but he at least he finished and got his signature.

I don't know what else I can do - the cable looked fine from the outside, I suppose its just bad luck. I've certainly learned NEVER to risk running without a rev limiter.

So in 2002 (with new engine, competitive car, circuit knowledge etc) I've managed ONE race finish and I even started that one backwards....

I'm gonna give Cadwell and Oulton a miss, fatherhood beckons and I think the car is just fated this year anyway.

Roll on 2003.