HSCC season opener....

[simon drabble]

Anyone else going on Sunday? The weather forcast thankfully seems to be getting better every time I look. Now only cloudy! We are there in the Turner and Merlyn

[brands]

Going as a spectator and snapper, that assumes there's anywhere to shoot from.

Entry list and timetable http://www.hscc.org.uk/resources/Sil...try%20List.pdf

[Fay]

As you probably know we are using the F1 startline for this meeting. As there are only F1 markings, I expect you all to stagger yourselves properly!! I will probably have time to do the front 2 rows and hopefully the rest of you can sort yourselves out as per the gridsheet.

For once prove me wrong and get it right!!

I hope it does not rain, as I hate having wet lapcharts!!

See you all tomorrow. A cup of coffee would be nice!

Regards

Fay
Chief Marshal - Chief Startline

[john ruston]

SD.Whats this about you representing TNF.Are they paying you?

[grantp]

A good result for Mr. Mackay -

6th overall, class win and class fastest lap according to the MST information sheets. Pretty good from 13th on the grid and beat the Pole Sitter.

Looks like it must have been and interesting race.

[zefarelly]

How was it for the darlings? Lord D?

Who's site are the results on ?

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

How was it for the darlings? Lord D?

Who's site are the results on ?

MST- here

[Alan Morgan]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

How was it for the darlings? Lord D?

Who's site are the results on ?

http://www.mstworld.com/

Edit - Bah, beaten to it!

[Mike Bell]

Sorry Alan!

Good results for Morgans in Road Sports- !st & 3rd in HRS and 1st in 70s. Well done guys!

[grantp]

If you are prepared to risk the vagaries of the Adobe PDF reader you can get the full set of results here in a PDF file.

A class win for Simon D I see and also for Compte de Graves' Volpini, albeit with le Comte absent from the hot seat.

Not such a good day for Richard T in the CF3 races though.

Who have I missed?

[The Flagman]

HFF1600 battle for 2nd 3rd between Messrs Hadfield and Simm a real highlight. Side by side down the straight under the bridge lap after lap.
Great driving no daft behaviour. Sadly a slow car at Luffield split the pair for the last couple of laps. Dominant win by Darren Burke and no sign of last years troublemakers!

High standard of driving decent battles reasonable weather made a worthy day out. Looking forward to the rest of the season - promising start compared with other race series suffering from entry shortages.

[brands]

A good start to a new season and I agree the FF1600 battle was the highlight of the day. Apart from Luffield infield looking like a landfill site the only real issue today was the lack of any PA on Luffield terrace for the spectators

[simon drabble]

we had a great day. Had teh Turner out in HRS and Guards with my co owner's 17 year old son stalling on the start of his 3rd ever race and then carving through to get 8th overall and 1st in class in HRS and his father having mixed fortunes in Guards and I (admittedly through attrition) got a class win in the Merlyn in Guards finishing 10th overall but 4th after the invitation cars (B8's etc) are stripped out. After a day like yesterday it makes me wonder why on earth I am selling but sadly I have broken rule one - I have told my wife I am selling!!
Good to see a decent number of GT's in Guards and hopefully that will continue as the season develops.

[HRSTR5]

Not a great day for me, the Elva FJ ran okay in the morning (as it had in the morning at Goodwood on Monday), although I spun at Brooklands and was unable to restart (men in orange: thanks for the assistance).

Unfortunately the car seems to want a sleep after lunch (wonder where it gets that from!?), and gets very stroppy when forced back on track ... ran rough in the CRC race. Despite only 20 minute break, we changed plugs, points, rotor-arm, dizzy cap, coil and condenser, and refuelled, and then got the nice chaps at the end of the pit lane to keep pushstarting me (thanks again, and again, and ...) as we waited for the FJ race to finally get underway - only to find it frankly running worse ... very disappointing to spend two entire races trying to stay out of the way of everyone else.

All a bit stressful, especially when you factor in a 3 year toddler, her identically aged cousin, and a 7 month pregnant Mrs... fortunately they all dozed off in the motorhome on the way back, so I weaved my way through the backroads to Delta's shop and dumped the car outside in the rain (no less than it deserved frankly!!)

Still, I actually had a better day than some of my chums, who won't be making it to Cadwell (shall we say).

James

[grantp]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

After a day like yesterday it makes me wonder why on earth I am selling but sadly I have broken rule one - I have told my wife I am selling!!

Hmm.

Well as has been discussed, the value of the asset increases with success (and a falling pound ?) and so yesterday's result would potentially add to the value. A few more good results would do the same. Thus it would be wise to increase the selling price in anticipation. I would have thought that it should be quite secure at, say, £200k when valued as an appreciating asset. Of course that might mean it takes a while to sell .... but your wife would surely not want you to sell at below market valuation would she?

Of course you would need as many opportunities as possible to add to the value by results so I would prescribe an intense season of racing on as many weekends as there are opportunities.

(Of course where wive are concerned such a logical argument is not guaranteed to be greeted with a logical response. )

[simon drabble]

I like your train of thought!
James were you in that glorious sounding 2 stroke Elva FJ?

[grantp]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

I like your train of thought!

There is a weak point in the argument though Simon.

The way the pound is going the international market value of the Merlyn might reach £200k rather more quickly than you would wish. Some other form of 'currency' as a base valuation might be safer for the success of the scheme.

[compte deGraves]

Grant, Thanks for noticing the Volpini's win in Michael's hands. He also got fastest lap in class. He tells me that the "do it yourself" lining up on the grid was pretty shambolic by the time you got back to his end of the grid!

A special thanks to Iain for once again preparing the car to perfection. It looks and sounds glorious.

[RICHARD.T]

I did niot think I had such a bad day except I still wonder how I am going to get on the pace with Bill, Ben etc.
I only intended it to be a test for the car to make sure it was ok for Monaco and we did have a fair share of problems. Broken 5th gear in quolifying, a plug lead coming off in race 1, a starter moter packed up before race 2, but in the second race the engine was good and the car was handling well, so stop and go home whilst it is still ok.
I started from the pit lane in the races so as not to risk anything, and rightly so as poore Albert Clements found out to his cost that now he has a car to repair for Monaco.
On an earlier point about selling a car for possibiliy £200k, I would sell it and but a FF1600, as you can see, you can lots of fun racing in cars that only cost £15k, possibility more fun, because you are not so worried about you valuable car.

[HRSTR5]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

James were you in that glorious sounding 2 stroke Elva FJ?

Yes, that was my BMC engined -200 sounding like a DKW ... heading for a rolling road sometime very soon!

[simon drabble]

no I was being serious - somebody had a DKW engined Elva there yesterday in teh next door pits - it sounded like the Crazy Frog!!!!

[morninggents]

Who have I missed?[/QUOTE]

Simon Benoy in the HRSR Historic Touring Cars race. After making his Imp engine air cooled in practice he zipped back home to pick up his spare engine and got it fitted just in time for his race (including having to add ballast as it was a bigger capacity engine). A stellar performance from Simon saw him battling the whole race with Andy Jones's similar car with many place changes rewarded with the class win despite a trail of steam for the last couple of laps.
Another great scrap was the Minis of Barry Long and Mike Smith - this pair also trading places every lap whilst in the midst of a great 5 car battle which included the 'S' Type Jag of Colin McKay, David Betts' pole sitting Mustang and John Dunham's Cortina.

[HRSTR5]

Sorry Simon, I thought I'd detected a large dose of irony ...!

[Rob31]

Originally Posted by The Flagman

HFF1600 battle for 2nd 3rd between Messrs Hadfield and Simm a real highlight. Side by side down the straight under the bridge lap after lap.
Great driving no daft behaviour. Sadly a slow car at Luffield split the pair for the last couple of laps. Dominant win by Darren Burke and no sign of last years troublemakers!

High standard of driving decent battles reasonable weather made a worthy day out. Looking forward to the rest of the season - promising start compared with other race series suffering from entry shortages.

who were last years trouble makers?

[Colin McKay]

Originally Posted by grantp

A good result for Mr. Mackay -

6th overall, class win and class fastest lap according to the MST information sheets. Pretty good from 13th on the grid and beat the Pole Sitter.

Looks like it must have been and interesting race.

Not quite the clean sweep it might appear, I was the only car in class after Nigel Webb's Mk1 didn't come out to play. Nevertheless a great race, a nice dice with Bett's Mustang followed by the same again with John Dunham's LC (even though he was a couple of laps down after an earlier off) which lasted to the flag, at least he kept the minis off my back. I was content with 13th in qually, so chuffed with a 6th finish.

Winner Roger Cope (who built my car all those years ago) was over the moon. He turned up to test on Friday in his new BMW straight out of the box, b******d the clutch after only a couple of laps, then came back on Sunday and led start to finish, happy bunny.

The self-sort grid was a bit of a melee after the first few rows, some drivers didn't seem to know which side they were supposed to be on, never mind row number. Must have been a tad confusing for Simon Miller out for his first ever race in a Mustang, still, it all got sorted out by Copse