HSCC Nostalgia Weekend

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Yep, hope to get some wet practice

You should come to Portimao then, Colin. Cross their palms with silver and they will turn on the circuit sprinklers for you!

Have fun, everyone. Sorry not to be there, but I'm in workshop concentrating on Spa, now Goody and finishing the new car for Iberia at end of season.

Just remember the size of those naan breads when you order rest of the meal.....

[Colin McKay]

Thank you for the photos Grant, very encouraging! And I've just washed the motorhome too....

[gary396]

Bit of info re drinks / catering availability over the weekend:

[Colin McKay]

Croft press release says "Friday Night party with live music from The Ian Gee Roadshow" which sounded good but having googled Ian Gee it seems it's not live at all, just a disco.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Thank you for the photos Grant, very encouraging! And I've just washed the motorhome too....

It's quite a way up the A1 Colin - it will probably benefit from another wash at some point over the weekend.

If you didn't get around to underneath an offer to undertake "track clearance" runs in the MH might be worth considering.

On the other hand, as Mike mentioned previously, sometimes the local weather looks threatening but passes over.

My first visit to Croft, back in 1974 iirc, was a little damp. At the time it was still very much based on the remains of the WWII airfield with the original field toilet buildings in use. The nearest facility to the paddock seemed to lack a roof (and just about everything else that one might expect. After a few hours of heavy showers one was unsure whether the material underfoot was the (assumed) earth floor or something slightly different.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by gary396

Bit of info re drinks / catering availability over the weekend:

If the Larger bottles are £3 just like the smaller ones why would anyone buy the smaller?

[grantp]

Just following the Live Timing and it looks like the HFJ race turned a little watery in about half way through.

Sadly no commentary seems to be getting through the 'net connection but I'm sure some photos/video would be even more informative.

[Heightswitch]

I was testing yesterday in the rain and the circuit was very slippy. Hope the racers fare better today..some lovely cars in attendance.
N.

[gary396]

Ref weather today (Saturday) the forecasts had been quite bad but seemed to improve overnight - one reason why the so called 5-day forecasts are not to be trusted. In fact it was largely dry although damp from overnight rain, gloomy for a good while but lighter clouds and a little blue sky and sunshine around lunchtime into early afternoon.

Then of course we had 'one of those' downpours for about 10-minutes in the middle of the FJ race causing a slightly early finish and a delay of about 30 minutes to mop up. Result - the clubmans race held over until tomorrow (for which the forecast is quite reasonable sunshine and light clouds, time will tell).

Sorry Grant - no 'action' photos from me as 'on duty'.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by gary396

Ref weather today (Saturday) the forecasts had been quite bad but seemed to improve overnight - one reason why the so called 5-day forecasts are not to be trusted. In fact it was largely dry although damp from overnight rain, gloomy for a good while but lighter clouds and a little blue sky and sunshine around lunchtime into early afternoon.

Then of course we had 'one of those' downpours for about 10-minutes in the middle of the FJ race causing a slightly early finish and a delay of about 30 minutes to mop up. Result - the clubmans race held over until tomorrow (for which the forecast is quite reasonable sunshine and light clouds, time will tell).

Sorry Grant - no 'action' photos from me as 'on duty'.

So, so far a reasonably typical and glorious Croft weekend?

[Heightswitch]

Video from Testing…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zey...ature=youtu.be

[gary396]

I was unable to photograph any of the races but a couple of batches of photos to hopefully give a flavour of the event:

[gary396]

Second batch:

[gary396]

And not forgetting the work to prepare the cars for racing. This chap got his priorities right by setting the table for breakfast before getting the car ready.

[Colin McKay]

I experienced a new challenge at Croft.

Quite apart from the aforementioned transport difficulties, unfamiliarity with the circuit, the weather quandaries (sp?) and the wipers that wouldn't switch off when dry and wouldn't work when wet I had a loose thread on my balaclava which found its way up my right nostril on lap 1 and tormented me throughout most of the race......no amount of huffing & puffing or rearrangement of balaclava could persuade it to go somewhere else.

A new one for the Driver's Excuse Book!!!

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

I had a loose thread on my balaclava which found its way up my right nostril on lap 1 and tormented me throughout most of the race......no amount of huffing & puffing or rearrangement of balaclava could persuade it to go somewhere else.

A new one for the Driver's Excuse Book!!!

Does that come under the heading of wardrobe malfunction? Don't suppose you tried holding your breath..... Truth is you have my sympathies as I have a similar baclava, so thanks for reminding me to sort it out before using it again!

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

I experienced a new challenge at Croft.

Quite apart from the aforementioned transport difficulties, unfamiliarity with the circuit, the weather quandaries (sp?) and the wipers that wouldn't switch off when dry and wouldn't work when wet I had a loose thread on my balaclava which found its way up my right nostril on lap 1 and tormented me throughout most of the race......no amount of huffing & puffing or rearrangement of balaclava could persuade it to go somewhere else.

A new one for the Driver's Excuse Book!!!

Colin, unless my mental 'rithmetic is way off target tonight (possible) the timing results suggest that the 'normal' difference between the early laps of the race and the later laps was, for solo drivers, about 9secs. More or less. On average. Taking all thing into account.

It's about the same for car 19 other than. perhaps, laps 5 through 10 where one or two cars, having made stops, seem to have suddenly found a little extra pace..

I'm not sure you have a full excuse described yet. Seems to me it would only count if the "thread" was causing "issues" for laps 5 to 10 (or thereabouts.).

What say you?

Have you considered that it may have been, counter-intuitively, a performance aid? (Shhhh. Must not make too much noise lest it is banned!.)

This makes me wonder

[Colin McKay]

Regardless of lap times it was absolutely the sole reason for finishing last in class. With a better balaclava I could have had that Cobra.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Regardless of lap times it was absolutely the sole reason for finishing last in class. With a better balaclava I could have had that Cobra.

Well quite. Goes without saying.

That chap with the cavalry fighting the Turks in the Crimea said much the same thing iirc. Mind you I think that was some sort of rally and he had a pace note and map reading error to give ready excuses.

On the other hand there are theories around that being distracted - to the point where one performs entirely intuitively - may in some cases be an aid to performance.

Was the Cobra running 4WD perchance?

[Colin McKay]

No, but perhaps he had a thread up both nostrils

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

No, but perhaps he had a thread up both nostrils

Surely that would be cheating?

[Chigley]

Was the Cobra running 4WD perchance?

No, but the Cobra wasn't aware of the officious ogre at Tower Out waiting for him to drop a wheel in the mud. Colin was being a respectful gentleman and preserving his reputation for observing track limits.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Chigley

No, but the Cobra wasn't aware of the officious ogre at Tower Out waiting for him to drop a wheel in the mud. Colin was being a respectful gentleman and preserving his reputation for observing track limits.

I've read that a few times Ian and am getting just the slightest sniff of an impression that you may have originally intended to finish that sentence with "from afar" but though better of it.

Hmm?

[Chigley]

Originally Posted by grantp

I've read that a few times Ian and am getting just the slightest sniff of an impression that you may have originally intended to finish that sentence with "from afar" but though better of it.

Hmm?

I could say "wasn't quick enough to get that close to the limits", but that would be misrepresenting the truth.

[apriliadriver]

I had a pretty good weekend in the Chev Camaro in Historic Road Sports, combined here with 70s Road Sports on a two-race schedule - 34 cars on the grid for a damp-to-slippery Practise and the circuit felt quite crowded.

Race 1 on the Saturday was in the dry (given that the forecast for Sat was heavy rain all day, thunder etc., thank the Weather Gods) and a good tussle. I won the Class A by default when Andy Shepherd, Lotus 7, had a coming together with Kevin Kivlochan in his Class A Morgan Plus 8 on the last lap.

Race 2 on Sunday was a different story, dry again, but the start caught two-thirds of the grid unawares, still shuffling around and trying to get their balaclavas out of their nose. Even so, I managed to make a shambles into a complete ocean-going c*ck-up by being in the wrong gear, which would not have been that tragic had the gear not been reverse.

By the time I had sorted that out, most of the grid had passed me apart from those helpless with laughter. Played catch up for the whole race but could not quite get to Adam Simmonds in his Boss Mustang by the time the race got redflagged after a Lotus 7 got tee-boned by an E-type when spinning.
The restart was equally shambolic - the 30-Second board was shown three times, more overheating cars conked out and could not restart, but at least this time I got the shambles right. Adam won Class A, I got fastest Class A lap so a good result.

Croft is such a friendly place, though, and a joy to drive which you don't expect for an airfield circuit. I got a Clerk-of-Course call after Race 2, but when I got there was told it was a mistake. Great relief, I thought I was going to get a beating and detention for my start.

The only slight downside is that driving the Chev to-and-from amounted to 600+ miles over the 3 days and just a wee bit fatiguing. Still, it was doing 14mpg on the M1, so only a two-stop strategy to get home.

Anyone got any pictures to post ?
Nick