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#126 | |||
Rookie
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 80
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Light metallic green E-Type, think I have seen it run in GTSCC previously. It was being loaded onto a trailer as I arrived back at the circuit on Sunday. I asked after the driver and was informed they were "not good". Didn't wish to pry any further - hopefully there is some positive news soon. Side impact into a concrete wall at considerable speed is never going to result in a particularly pleasant outcome for the driver. On a lighter note, we had a great time at Spa - as always the highlight of the season. Qualified P97 (15th in class), avoiding the chaos as we went, and ended up P46 (6th in class). We were into the 3:13's this year, and the best sectors put us in a 3:12 - not bad for a bit of old Welsh fibreglass! Sadly the prolonged safety car period took up most of my stint, but I enjoyed playing with a few 911's and a not so fast Grantura in the final few laps. Counting down the days until next year now ![]() |
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#127 | ||
Subscriber
Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 8,718
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Back home now. Like you Sam cant wait until next year. I have had a very privileged year, Monaco, Le mans, Goodwood but for sure this meeting is the best.
We only lost one car Brabham BT 2 FJ. "could be ex Roy James " but its not.Broken cam shaft. We had a E Type in 6 hour along with Cooper Maserati and a couple of Sports 2000 in HSCC races. All finished. Happy days. So for my 6 hour story.Go back to Members meeting and FISC Racer sometimes known as Richard Evens asked me if I would be interested in sharing his Marcos. "Daft question ". Did not here from him for some time as it was not known whether regular partner was driving or not. Anyway few weeks back I got the call and deal was done. Richard went out and set a great time in Qualy. After a few laps he was in with fan belt missing. Me and his crew replaced fan belt " good job I have mechanics fingers" sure was hot.I then got sent out in pitch black dark having never driving this car. It was a bit daunting I can tell you. Lights being flashed , yellow flags, blue flags flipping heck. Settle down Rowley, I soon realized that the blue flag being waved was not for me but cars in front of me as this Marcos is blooming quick, "happy days "and get out of my way. I was still some way of Richards pace but after a couple of laps Qualy was red flagged so I pitted and was told by pit crew to pull my finger out. That was good for me to have a rest and think about car and track ,gears braking points ect. Green light and I got a couple more laps and got down to two seconds of Richards best time. All good and Richards team prepped the car for the race. Richard started and drove well for an hour running P2 in class and made his way up the leader board. Pit stop and Alternator hanging off. Bracket broken that is bolted to the block.We all set too getting broken parts off and of coarse this is now a very hot engine. We needed a mig welder and would you believe it the Dutch team next door were welding up their TVR chassis. We were loaned the mig welder then the wire got tangled inside. I was going to do the welding but Mike from the team pushed me out the way and got stuck in and did a great job. The boys fitted bracket and alternator back on but on starting the red light was on so they had to then swap alternator. They did a great job but we lost nearly an hour. I got sent out for around two hours and just had so much fun. I remember coming up to a gaggle of four cars and was thinking I am going pass them one by one then thought "sod it ". somehow i passed all four under braking at the bust stop.I had a good old ding dong with a couple of Elans and a Morgan plus four,not sure if Mike was in the car or not.I had to pit early as we had a bit of oil surge the boys topped her up and Richard let me carry on. After a few more laps the water temp started to go up as I went around some of the slow corners so I pitted again and with race gloves and a rag got the cap of topped up header tank and Richard went of to fuel up and finish the race. He was overjoyed to finish as we all were, Champagne was sprayed and lots of hugs and pats on the back as this was his first finish in six years of trying. I have just looked at results and we were 3rd in class. "sounds good" Be great to go again next year, I really did enjoy driving the car. |
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#128 | ||
Rookie
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 62
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Nigel B |
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#129 | ||
The Honourable Mallett
20KPINAL
Join Date: Feb 1999
Posts: 37,302
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Excellent result Iain. And a great report. Richard must be pleased with that.
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#130 | |
Rookie
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 21
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I have been in contact with Charles Gillett's wife.
He was moved to Liege hospital and has been in an induced coma since the accident. The medical staff are monitoring a number of injuries and he is expected to be "woken up" shortly after which they will make further assessments. If you know Charles and would like more detail (I only have a little more) please PM me. We all wish Charles a speedy recovery. Brian White |
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#131 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,187
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Thanks for the update Brian. I've had the pleasure of watching and photographing Charles drive in many VSCC events - a terrific and entertaining driver. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome.
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Gary Clarke ![]() |
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#132 | |||
Racer
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 241
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You drove very well Iain. A pity about the broken bracket which cost us over an hour. If we'd done 19 laps in that hour we would have been top 12......If.
A thoroughly enjoyable weekend and glad to hear Charles Gillett is OK, albeit in poor shape. Quote:
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#133 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,812
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Just back from Spa, Jackie & I were pit crew for the Grays (father & son) with an E type. As others have said, qually was chaotic due to starting in the pitch dark. Hopefully this trial wont be repeated. We were around P38 overall and P13 in class, just glad to have avoided any trouble.
The race went reasonably well having adjusted the strategy when we realised it was only going to be the 'Spa 5 hours and 20 minutes'. Went for an early driver change and refuelled at an empty fuel station, by the time the 100 litres was in there was a queue of 5 cars. Near the end of a long middle stint it spun on oil at Paul Frere - backwards through the gravel and brushed the tyre wall, but skilfully Mike extracted it and only needed a short pitstop to make adjustments to the brake ducting and reassure him that the rear lights were still attached (one side only just!). Second change and refuel was just before the above mentioned long SC period leaving a 15 minute dash to the end. Final result, 21 overall and P5 in a very competitive class. Possibly the highest-placed finisher not being run by a pro team, we were all very 'appy. The sense of fun being much enhanced by sharing a garage with Delta, Richard and the Marcos mob, everyone mucked in and helped whenever needed. |
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a salary slave no more... ![]() |
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#134 | ||||
Rookie
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 27
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I've uploaded a few photos on my website. I've seen every group at least once on Friday or Saturday except for the Jaguar race, so if anyone's looking for a specific car there's a chance I have something (number and especially car colour would make the search a bit easier). |
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#135 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 10,050
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Si tu as cherché Mirgalet Ferrari 250TR, tu as compris. Je pense que cette litho s'est aussi bien vendue que celle de Don Quichotte d'après Dali, par exemple! Je me doute que tu as aussi compris que je ne cachais aucune critique négative. J'ai beaucoup roulé chez un autre Gérard, du côté de Steppe et j'ai eu pour équipier José Close… Merci encore et bonne continuation. Cheers!
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Celui qui est parti de rien pour arriver nulle part,n'a de merci a dire a personne.Pour ceux qui vont chercher midi a quatorze heures, la minute de Vérité risque de se faire attendre longtemps. ![]() |
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#136 | ||
Rookie
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 27
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C'est bien ce que j'avais trouvé, et je ne voyais absolument pas de critique négative.
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#137 | |||
Racer
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 372
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__________________
Peter Baker reporting historic motor sport full time ![]() |
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#138 | ||
Ten-Tenths Hall of Fame
Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 14,830
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Thank you for the pics, Guys!
On a different note- Reading through comments, from our experiences at the time, and from what was said by others at the circuit, the new qualifying format was a disaster. I can only think it was changed from the normal daylight qually, followed by an untimed night session to set lights or get acclimatised, to fit in an extra grid- Masters Endurance Legends. I sincerely hope the format is not repeated! Other disappointment- once again due to timetable delays the race started 30 minutes late. Not satisfactory when competitors have paid for 6hrs and most calculated their fuel requirements accordingly! OK, the latter can be adjusted during the race, but you get my point..... ![]() |
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Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. (Einstein) ![]() |
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#139 | |||
Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,812
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a salary slave no more... ![]() |
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#140 | ||
Subscriber
Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 8,718
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Thank you for the picture Juha . 😀
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#141 | ||
Subscriber
Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,396
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Mike, I thought it was a tradition that it only lasts about 5 1/2 hours. However the safety car periods seem to have been unfortunately long compared to usual. |
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#142 | |||
Ten-Tenths Hall of Fame
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 14,830
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Quote:
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__________________
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. (Einstein) ![]() |
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#143 | ||
Subscriber
Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,396
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I think I've looked at the results for most years - maybe all years - since then and as far as I recall the pattern has always been much the same give or take a few minutes. Of course if one was running a potentially winning car with a high fuel consumption and wished to try to avoid at least one fuel stop the shortened race and a few safety car laps might not be considered a bad thing - at least in concept. Especially if the driving team was adept at night racing. ![]() |
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#144 | ||
Racer
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 372
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The Nick Sleep/Joel Wykeham/Alex Montgomery Ford Shelby Mustang 350GT lighting up the entry into the 'Bus Stop. Image copyright Peter Baker
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Peter Baker reporting historic motor sport full time ![]() |
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#145 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 897
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First couple of albums from last weekend on Flickr covering F1 and Endurance. Six Hours album to follow soon.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmsoGukm https://flic.kr/s/aHskEUFFbT |
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#146 | |||
Rookie
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 80
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Thanks for the photo Peter! I have a request to pass on from the Gilbern Owners Club, who would like to reproduce this image in their magazine, accompanying a race report (properly credited of course). Would this be agreeable, and furthermore could we have a high-res copy of the image? Unfortunately one of the downsides to the "night shift" is that there are very few photos from my stint. Does anyone know who the photographers are that frequent La Source? I was blinded by camera flash pretty much every lap, so there must be some pictures hosted somewhere ![]() |
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#147 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 897
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https://flic.kr/s/aHsmwfyrAg
Finally, finally, got my Spa Six Hours gallery completed. Includes among other things a flaming Mustang, delta and an illuminated Gilbern. There's probably other 10/10ths'ers in there as well. Albums for supporting races can be found here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwh38/albums |
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#148 | |||
Racer
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 372
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Peter Baker reporting historic motor sport full time ![]() |
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