2012 memories

[delta]

Just over 24 hours to go and I thought we should finnish the year posting our highs and lows of the 2012 racing season.
No rules just must be about motor racing and open too all,spectators,marshalls,mechanics,photographers,drivers ect.
I will kick off with my low! being Monaco at the start of qualifing race and injector pipe splitting,thus out of the race and not getting into the finnal. This was a big dissapointment after a lot and I mean a lot!! of hard work ,time,money ect and after the little French F3 Oliroy was going so well in qualifing.
High's, a couple,Stoke Row Motor Sport Day and our very first classic car tour organised by Craven Motor Club,seeing the first car arriving and interviewing the driver and navigator.Brilliant high that was.
Co driving Colin McKay's E Type at Oulton in Guards race with a class 3rd place,then last but not least a good race in F3 March beating a lot of the British and European heroes just missing 6th place by 1/100th of a sec.
Happy and a safe new year.
Sorry forgot one thing,meeting uncle Eric at Spa.

[Mike Bell]

Hmmm, try not to have low points but in 2012 probably lowest when my Delta FF2000 got away from me at Snetterton and I wiped the nose off on a barrier. Schoolboy error.

Highs? Tango at the 360MRC 6hrs was good. With team of Mrs Ryan (catering) Daniel Ryan (crew chief) and Cliff and me doing the fun bit, the 924 was faultless, tactics nearly spot on, and pit stops slick. Brilliant teamwork.

Racing at Croft for first time was great, Although the Delta suffered suspension failure had a fabulous Guards Trophy race in 'Baby Blue', with excellent pics from Grant P to remember it by. Again at Oulton Gold Cup the Morgan was a delight to drive, as the worn out tyres will testify!

'Lairy Canary' ventured out four weekends and finished on the podium with 3rd at HSCC Superprix. Best race though at Portimao- when it was dry!

Looking forward to 2013 and whatever transpires. Happy New year to everyone on 10-Tenths!

[Al Weyman]

Low point loosing the engine big time in my 2nd gen Camaro at Mallory, a good engine it was as well, hi spot the HVRA V8 race at Brands, mega and loads of action.

[delcomb]

Low - finding the rear leaf spring broken when arriving at Mosport (lucky it was still on the trailer at the time). It turned out well in the end as we found a place to make a new spring and didn't miss a session.
High - finishing 3rd FJr at Lime Rock behind a couple of Coopers which made me top drum-brake Jr, won Endeavour Award for Group#2. First time at this track.

[Avanti]

Well hi everyone, first post here even though I've been lurking around this forum for quite some time. Thought that a post like this would be a fine start to my membership and maybe for you to get to know me bit

I'll start with the lows; bad and unusually cold weather at the start of the season made the change of one of my drivers even more difficult with having to throw experimental, but not crazy, setups on the car to try to keep up with the competition. Worked to an extent but with no permission to run a splitter or rear wing, it was hard to keep up to Porsches, Chevrons etc and that left us on the back foot for the first half of the season. Other low being Alx crashing in quali for TTA at Tierp Arena even though he was going to race in our sister car in Swedish GT and not the one I'm responsible of.

How about the highs then?

Well, getting the car hooked up for every race in the second half and Mattias getting a much better feel for the car won us the last three races of the season, meaning we got the championship was the absolute highlight. Catching the leading Porsche and pulling in a time deficit of 34 seconds in the last 25 minutes of the race and taking the lead with two corners left at Karlskoga was a real thriller, especially after not taking a race win since 2011. Oh and watching Daniel in the sister car coming from last on the grid to second within six laps at Tierp was incredible, the car had a few dents afterwards though..

Cheers!

[Mike Bell]

Hi Avanti, welcome to 10-Tenths. I suspect that your motor racing is not historic with references to Swedish GT and TTA , but perhaps you have got a GpA Volvo 240T or 850R Super tourer hidden away....

[Avanti]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Hi Avanti, welcome to 10-Tenths. I suspect that your motor racing is not historic with references to Swedish GT and TTA , but perhaps you have got a GpA Volvo 240T or 850R Super tourer hidden away....

Haha well crap, just saw the thread on the front page so missed the historic part well I'm turning a Porsche 914 into a race car, not for historic racing though!

[zefarelly]

Lots of Highs . . . . Its been a great year, 100% reliability has helped, thats the real achievement.

Pole, FL and outright win at Snetterton on the 300 circuit, a first for me.
Arthurs splendid first races at Goodwood, on his birthday as well.
Wound the year up with another win at Mallory

The only racing low was the hugely dissapointing turn out at Spa and the rain, both there and at Castle Combe, I didn't mind it at Spa, but Combe has F all creature comforts and not a lot of scenery, whereas Eu Rouge looks good all the time!

[midgetman]

High - rolling the 924 off the trailer at Snetterton and realising I'd actually managed to get to the 360 for £160

Low - rolling the 924 off the trailer at Snetterton and realising I'd actually managed to get a ratchet strap around the brake pipe, and that puddle under the car was brake fluid.......

Didn't do any other car racing, but Alex's TKM season has had its own highs and lows, from a podium in March to one of the worst race weekends ever in October. All part of life's rich tapestry, and such good fun all things considered.

[Alan Morgan]

Delta's missed out the fabulous weekend we had at Phoenix Park in August - we had a lot of laughs and made several new friends. It's not often historic cars get to race in front of 58,000 spectators.

[Cliff Ryan]

Highlights were taking a podium at the 360 with Mike in Tango 924 with my family as crew, participating in the Shelby American Club's race at Watkins Glen celebrating 50 years of Shelby cars and racing two cars in Barry's race at the Spa six hour weekend!

Low was putting Mustang into barriers at the first race meeting at Monticello after gearbox failure.

[Tim Falce]

Best memory for me was driving uncle Eric's Mk1 Escort at Spa in September. The most frightening day of 2012 for me was being driven round the Nürburgring by uncle Eric in his Fiesta.

[Chigley]

Not getting bored in a Safety Car somewhere.

That depends on the company and the internal/external entertainment.

[terence]

Originally Posted by Chigley

That depends on the company and the internal/external entertainment.

Chris and I have always gotten on very well,we've also had a great selection of cars to use when working with Masters,culminating in an SLR [no,not a camera Grant] Should anyone need an excellent SC Observer,now you now his name btw.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Chris and I have always gotten on very well,we've also had a great selection of cars to use when working with Masters,culminating in an SLR [no,not a camera Grant] Should anyone need an excellent SC Observer,now you now his name btw.

Not just me Terry. We come as a crew. Anyone interested?

[terence]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

Best memory for me was driving uncle Eric's Mk1 Escort at Spa in September. The most frightening day of 2012 for me was being driven round the Nürburgring by uncle Eric in his Fiesta.

Novice drivers Eh Tim.

[socram]

High - Monaco historics and seeing some magnificent machinery with some great people from the McLaren Trust.
Low - Monaco's long drawn out days with nothing happening on the track for most of the day whilst penned in a small stand area - and not being allowed to wander far.
High - Actually finishing all races I started and being able to just park the car afterwards, still being driven under its oown power.
Low - Missing rounds through being overseas and overheating at the very last race which means I'll have to lift the bonnet and probably do some work on the car.
High - Ferraris at Maranello
Low - Not doing the Ferrari factory tour because there were too many in our group so I volunteered to stand down.
High - The Lamborghini factory and museum
Low - The coach getting us to the factory so late that the workforce had just knocked off.
High - Taking some superb photographs at Hampton Downs and seeing the slow but steady progress with the circuit development.
Low - Getting to the Donington museum and seeing so many of Kevin's historic military vehicles through the doorway and the receptionist not being able to supply a list of current race cars on display, so for the first time since about 1976 and numerous previous visits, we didn't bother to go in.
High - Almost getting the MG Magnette project on the road after 8 years of blood, sweat and a lot of tears (and expense).
Low - Not getting the MG Magnette on the road through unbelievable red tape requirements for a modified car in NZ.

High - Surviving 2012 without succumbing to any form of age related injury or illness and looking forward to 2013.

[zefarelly]

Me too, without that none of the other good stuff can happen. and That's where all the work goes generally (and a little slice of luck)

Originally Posted by socram

High - Actually finishing all races I started and being able to just park the car afterwards, still being driven under its oown power..

[Ben Shuckburgh]

Low....second head gasket failure testing the Cunningham meaning we got to Revival with about 10 minutes running time...

High....Finishing Freddie March Trophy and racing into the sunset with the Cunningham running like a dream for 90 minutes..

[apriliadriver]

High : racing the '69 Chev Camaro for the first time at HSCC Oulton Park Gold Cup. Wow !! after 21 yrs of racing tiny Alfas, suddenly realised 'there ain't no substitute for ...etc'; and the sound !! Starting up is always a pleasure. Also, at my last race of the Season, HSCC Silverstone Finale, finding that the Chev was quite controllable in the very slippery bits - bound to get my comeuppance sometime in 2013 !

Lows : 2-hr traffic jam on M6 in the Chev on the way to Oulton - reached my lowest weight this year, poor old clutch; then patiently trying to pass the noise test (4th time lucky) at Oulton, not sure I was going to get a race. God did not give me a long hand in patience ....

Nick

[Paul D]

High: definitely Bernie's V8s at Donington. My first attempt at Donington, having failed to make it there several times before despite the best laid plans. Anyway, after spinning at Redgate in torrential conditions and dropping to about 17th, managed to claw my way back through the field to finish 7th O/A and 1st in class - against some pretty serious looking V8 machinery. And I never changed to 'wets'! Not my first class win, but definitely my best I reckon, in very tricky conditions and against some far superior machines. I was well chuffed!

Low: what's that they say about pride coming before a fall? A few weeks later during qualifying at Mallory, took my eyes off the ball for what turned out to be longer than recommended and found myself with two wheels on the (soggy) grass at a ton plus - spun across the track and went in hard and fast side-on into triple height armco (no tyre wall to absorb some of the energy). Almost rolled over the barrier, but luckily didn't! Still the biggest shunt I've ever had though - put me in hospital, and I don't think the damage on the car is gonna buff out.

[Greem]

High: The Donington Historic Festival. Elevated to the heady heights of Post Chief on both days (albeit on my own on Saturday) which meant I could stand back a bit and actually observe some amazing racing. The Group C race was *amazing*, especially the bit where a driver pulled up alongside the Exhibition Centre with a broken car and proceeded to get out and have a wee up the fire exit door while waiting for recovery (if he'd walked 100m he could have used the portaloo!). HF2 was similarly impressive and it was good to see some famous drivers (Rudernst and some bloke called Stirling Moss) thundering round in other classes or demos.

Low: You guessed it, The Donington Historic Festival on the Saturday. I simply didn't have enough eyeballs to keep up with what was going on, especially in HF2 qualifying where I had to report the same driver overtaking under yellows for 3 laps on the trot.

[Rudernst]

Originally Posted by Greem

High: The Donington Historic Festival. Elevated to the heady heights of Post Chief on both days (albeit on my own on Saturday) which meant I could stand back a bit and actually observe some amazing racing. The Group C race was *amazing*, especially the bit where a driver pulled up alongside the Exhibition Centre with a broken car and proceeded to get out and have a wee up the fire exit door while waiting for recovery (if he'd walked 100m he could have used the portaloo!). HF2 was similarly impressive and it was good to see some famous drivers (Rudernst and some bloke called Stirling Moss) thundering round in other classes or demos.

Low: You guessed it, The Donington Historic Festival on the Saturday. I simply didn't have enough eyeballs to keep up with what was going on, especially in HF2 qualifying where I had to report the same driver overtaking under yellows for 3 laps on the trot.

Örmm
how very flattering to be mentioned together with that Moss chap.
Buuuut, I didnt attend the Donny Historic Festival.
Wasnt me, honest, I swear

Rudolf

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Rudernst

Buuuut, I didnt attend the Donny Historic Festival.

Ah. That must have been the Masters weekend then! I know you were there for one of the meetings I was at.

[Rudernst]

Originally Posted by Greem

Ah. That must have been the Masters weekend then! I know you were there for one of the meetings I was at.

yes, I did the October Masters Donny meeting in the March F1, freezing cold, wasnt it ?

hope I waved enough at you guys

did You get to see the safety car tossed at Redgate ?

Rudolf