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Old 3 Sep 2006, 19:59 (Ref:1700964)   #45
sunbeam73
Rookie
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
England
MULBARTON, near NORWICH
Posts: 63
sunbeam73 should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Hi all,

Wow all those names brings it all back, I've still got all the results etc from when I was in Toyo SRS in the early to mid90s.
I used to race a Sunbeam Ti (No. 73) but had loads of problems blowing engines because of cooling problems and never really developed the car in the correct way. The racing was brilliant though, packed grids, close action and prize money too.
For some stupid reason I then converted the car to run in 750mc hothatch then realised that racing against fiestas with no metal left in the bodywork wasn't going to work really, the car was totally useless on the Yokos and the car had been smashed up a bit so I decided it needed a new shell.
Then I snapped up Vince Mitchell's Falken Mod Prod Sunbeam which had been festering in his garage for a few years and converted it to Hot Hatch spec - another mistake, hardly any faster. I then discovered on the internet CSCC Championships and bodged the car to Gp1 spec, buying panels and trim from Steve Quenby, turning up to its 1st outing at Snet in Sept99 just to test the water, the car and tyres were awesome and I smashed the lap record for class D, and decded this was the series to go for winning the class in 2000 and 2001 - 4th then 3rd overall. Friends I'd made in the series then went on to Kumho BMW's, I was persuaded to move on, part with my beloved Sunbeam for a Princely sum and build a 325i - ouch! Where did all my money go? Finally the car was finished (almost) in Sept 2002 albeit with a standard engine exhaust and gearbox - this would do for now. I raced it at Snetterton, something was wrong with the cooling system and I retired before things got too hot, then realised I was never going to have the money or the time to compete at this level so sold the whole lot and have never raced since.
I now have a family with two girls of 2yrs and 8 weeks, a hefty mortgage and no freetime or money to play with so that's that!

Good to read all the posts on this, for those that are still racing good luck!

Cheers.

Sean Cockrell
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