HSCC Autosport 3 Hours - Snetterton

[grantp]

Originally Posted by McMuttley

As for the graveltrappy stuff, i'll be carrying the choccy biscuits with me in the footwell for qualifying to hand out to the lucky post that gets me - suspect it'll be a low number.

More than likely if the biscuits are not well attached to something.

Could you disguise a biscuit tin to look like a fire extinguisher perhaps?

[Colin McKay]

I was told of an FF driver who disguised a nitrous bottle to look like one so a biscuit tin should be no problem.

[McMuttley]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

I was told of an FF driver who disguised a nitrous bottle to look like one so a biscuit tin should be no problem.

The nitro's in my 'go faster' flask of tea !

[Terry Scannell]

Originally Posted by McMuttley

As for the graveltrappy stuff, i'll be carrying the choccy biscuits with me in the footwell for qualifying to hand out to the lucky post that gets me - suspect it'll be a low number.

Please don't forget the other packet of Choccy Biscuits for the team upstairs afterwards!!


Terry

[Mike Bell]

Official 'Drought' declared in Norfolk today so more than likely rain this weekend!

[105 Mad]

Will HP Tyres be there, with the impending downpours sure to arrive my plan to make the tyres last one more race was probably a little misguided?

Touring cars in the wet are loads of fun aren't they Colin, remember Croft last year.

[terence]

Latest report is fine tomorrow but more ****istant rain on Sunday.

[Revvedup917]

Anyone going there from good ol' London ?

[john ruston]

Train to Thetford!

[Revvedup917]

Will the venerable Mr. Ruston be there ?

[john ruston]

No, or I would collect you from Thetford!

I'm playing golf in Abu Dhabi in 47 degree's.

Yellow car with Father Ted giving inter round commentary should win!

Obviously will be back for Tour Britannia should all work here be complete.

Any decent navigators available for Gstaad Rally in late August.Have a need!

[John Turner]

Well a great day; no rain and some great cars and racing for the 3 hours despite a smaller than usual grid. Nick Fleming and Luke Stevens won and it was mainly Nick's work, as Luke did a very short middle stint, diving into the pits when safety car was deployed having realised that he couldn't match Simon Hadfield's pace in Ed Lovett's B8 which came 2nd having lost time early on. I'm sure Nick felt the victory was due after last year, and he duly delivered. Simon H was absolutely on it in his stint and he posted a best lap about 1.5 seconds quicker than anyone else; no fluke since he kept banging in fastest race laps. The Shipman/Hales Crossle was 3rd. I was delighted that Simon Drabble and his son, Alex, won 'my' Trophy with a solid, consistent and reliable troublefree run in the Merlin - a well deserved and classic endurance outcome. All in all, an excellent day for 10-Tenthers. Well done to all those who finished in this race which should now be well established as one of the premier races for historics in the UK, but we needed more GTs out there. Time for bed methinks as back to Snet in the morning.

[terence]

Nice report John,good to see you looking more like your old self yesterday.
I think congratulations are in order for the excellent efforts from Suzann,James and our very own Mike Bell for taking a fine third in class in Suzann's trusty B.
Anyway,back to 'The Office' and to call in for a 'Delta Cuppa!'

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Well a great day; no rain and some great cars and racing

Yes, can't disagree with that! First' I have to add my congratulations to the Drabble family for winning John's trophy in the Merlyn. A well deserved result.

Although the GTs were lacking quantity, there were some quick Elans and Bs out, plus the speedy little Turner that may be an ex Simon D car? Best Elan was Watson & Watts that finished 7th with a very quick GT fastest lap of 2:16.479. Next was the Brooks family Father & Daughter pairing- a very good drive from both. Battle of the Bs after practice looked like it would be dominated by the Boyles Father & Son team with an impressive 2:23.167 qualifying time, followed by team mates Nick Smith/Field/Field in their indentical coloured car 1.4 secs slower. However the latter put a rod through the side just after setting it's time, and the Boyes car suffered a half shaft failure early on the the race resulting in the first SC period while it was recovered. Meanwhile the quick & very experienced Richardson & Bentley pairing had a fault free run to 11th o/a with fastest lap of 2:25.568- set in true endurance tradition during the last 5 minutes of the race! Tony & Pia Bianchi put all their engine troubles of last year behind them to finish 14th, followed by Suzanne, James & myself in her trusty red car. Suzanne was watched by her Dad from the pitwall for every lap of her stint, and it was especially pleasing that as winner of the 1964 race (in the one-off Willment Cobra Coupe) he was asked to present the trophys afterwards. With Ian Titchmarsh doing the MC bit complete with his original 1964 race programme it was a superb end to the day.

My proposed hour stint in Suzannne's B didn't exactly go to plan as after 40 minutes the oil light started to come on in corners followed by oil pressure dropping, so I pitted immediately for oil to be added. Rather than waste time with another stop to change drivers, we did our one fuel stop at same time and James went out for rest of race. Of course 'Murphy's Law' should dictate that just after our early stop the SC would be deployed again, and that is exactly what happened, allowing other crews who wanted to change drivers during the long gap between it coming round. Didn't change our finishing position however. Other than that another good 3rd year running finish, so big thanks to Suzanne & James for allowing me to share again!

Incidentally, the B that broke it's engine in qualifying finished the race after the guys went out and bought a 'scrapper' standard engine from MG Mecca and fitted it before the race! They deservedly won the 'Spirit' trophy for that and getting the other car that broke it's half shaft running again, although sadly it wasn't qualified as a finisher due to the amount of time lost.

Must compliment everyone (especially the fast boys) this year on driving standards. OK, less traffic, but looking out from the second slowest car in race, sensible overtaking and no intimidation. Good stuff, guys.

[Andrew Kitson]

An interesting race, sorry to miss you JT, will catch up with you at the circuit today.
Pics from the 3 hour ( plus F500s and 70s road sports ). Well done to all 'tenthers'!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3&l=4d4bac6567

[John Turner]

Sorry we didn't get to chat Terry, but my 'report' was just a spontaneous light brushstroke following a great day at Snet and a pleasant liquid evening up the local. I was a little punch drunk and tired. I wasn't able to get many of the stories as photographing around the circuit for most of the race and had to leave before the presentations, so very happy for fellow 10-tenthers to fill out all the detail to this terrific event. I will, of course post pics eventually.

Great report, Mike, and by the time you'll have read this we may well have met up again as shortly will be leaving to return to the circuit for what will no doubt be another excellent day.

Andy, yes will catch up today, and also hoping to see Mr Rowley if he can fit me in to his busy life!

[Mike Bell]

Great pics Andrew, thanks! I see among the 500 F3 pics, the polished Cooper No13 of American Charles McCabe. First met him the week before at Monza where he was driving his 1961 ex Jim Hall Lotus 18 in HGPCA. Few weeks before that he was racing with VSCC in his ERA (that just happens to be Remus!) and apparantly he has a 250F to race as well....... Top man and 'doing' Snet in true clubman style!

Sadly the reliability of the 500s in the Jim Russell Trophy race wasn't too good and it was, I believe, eventually red flagged. A large flat bed recovery wagon was sent out, and I envisaged a Brockbank cartoon moment of it returning with a dozen or so of the tiddlers neatly arranged on the back......

Talking of Jim Russell, there was (and expect is today as well) a superb paddock display in honour of him put on by FORC including 4 JR cars of various vintage, and the man himself was present at lunchtime.

[Andrew Kitson]

One of the 500s took up flying lessons at the back of Tyrrells..hence the red. The Jim Russell display was indeed nice, Jack Sears there too of course to honour Jim and cheer on your team Mike! Today the late Norman Greenway will be honoured with the second presentation of the annual 'Motorsport Norm' trophy for FF cars, (awarded to the winner of their second race). Former circuit commentator Norm lived near Diss and 30 of his family members will be there in force to present it.

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kitson

An interesting race, sorry to miss you JT, will catch up with you at the circuit today.
Pics from the 3 hour ( plus F500s and 70s road sports ). Well done to all 'tenthers'!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3&l=4d4bac6567

Great photos Andrew - can you send me an email as to how I can get a copy of a couple of them?

John great seeing you on form again and thank you for your kind words in park ferme and here! It was a great result for tortoises everywhere!!!

After a very extensive amount of work over the winter that ran into the early part of this season it was nice to bag a result and great for Alex as he is still starting out having returned from his gap year travelling Latin America last wednesday night!!

The race went like clockwork for us which is mostly a testamont to WDK who ran us. We still have some set up issues as the car is too soft at the front (which Andrew's photos clearly show!) and the engine is most definitely (at 160 bhp) endurance rather than sprint but that might have been our advantage!!

Now the Six Hour no longer allows sports racers this is the race of the season for us and it is a shame it clashed with several other races depleting the grid to 27 cars. I dont think any other organization could do it better than HSCC - definitely a club for clubbies....

[simon drabble]

thanks Mike - glad to see you guys at the finish as well. I love watching the 500 guys at play - they are clubbies in the very best sense of the word.

I brought a very old family friend yesterday who has been involved with Snet since it started and I think she collared your senior team member for a stroll down memory lane. Loved the anecdote Jack Sears gave at the prize giving about the3 hour back in 64, I could listened all night!!

[one-two]

What a great weekend's racing. Only concern is the number of races that were safety car'd or red flagged. I have a feeling it might have been most? Unfamilarity with the new infield section and difficult conditions partly to blame, but perhaps circuit could work out a quicker way to retrieve or move cars from that section - not criticising anyone, but seemed to be a bit more awkward than it ought. Interested in what others thought. Best, Robert

[Revvedup917]

Originally Posted by john ruston

No, or I would collect you from Thetford!

I'm playing golf in Abu Dhabi in 47 degree's.

Yellow car with Father Ted giving inter round commentary should win!

Obviously will be back for Tour Britannia should all work here be complete.

Any decent navigators available for Gstaad Rally in late August.Have a need!

Best of Luck ! How experienced should one apply for navigation duties ?

[terence]

Originally Posted by one-two

What a great weekend's racing. Only concern is the number of races that were safety car'd or red flagged. I have a feeling it might have been most? Unfamilarity with the new infield section and difficult conditions partly to blame, but perhaps circuit could work out a quicker way to retrieve or move cars from that section - not criticising anyone, but seemed to be a bit more awkward than it ought. Interested in what others thought. Best, Robert

SC was used to allow the 'snatching'of the failed/stricken cars. The majority of those cars in the 3hr,actually got fixed and went back out to re-join the race,possibly those owners were glad of the sc intervention?

[john ruston]

Navigation-Very good!Idea is Top 5 finish in only Pre War car in event.
Entry fee is to much to just bugger about!

[terence]

Good luck with it John,hope all goe's well.