Bernie's Historic V8's at Brands Hatch Speedfest 9/6/13

[Moosehead]

Fantastic weekend.......I'm totally shattered!! So much to see and do and I never got chance to see most of it. Every time I left 'our' camp in the paddock the missus called me back as yet another visitor from the Mustang Owners Club had turned up to say hello. From the comments I recieved this event has attracted a huge number of new spectators to the historic racing scene, many had no idea that classic Mustangs, Camaro's, Corvettes etc were raced in this country.

Big thanks to Stephen Green who accomodated us all so well in the paddock with the minimum of fuss (ps - next year can I be near a hookup )

Obviously huge thanks to Bernie for pulling it all together - we maxed out our entries and unlike the Euro NASCAR thingies we DID fill the grid

Despite a number of car issues I had two enjoyable races, not much in the way of decent results among many more highly specced cars but still had great fun.

I even saw Al with a smile on his face a few times does now owe me two more Magnums

Can't wait till next year

[Al Weyman]

I raced on the knackered dunlops to give you a chance Wayne

[jay23]

Originally Posted by Bodysnatcher

There were some marshals who think they saw something in the steering/wheel break. However, with the amount of the green bit he was using, it has to be said he was never giving himself much room for error coming down Paddock Hill.

Hi

The right hand side bottom ball joint failed going into paddock there was nothing i could do pretty gutted!!!!

Plus if they put extra Tarmac down i'm gonna use it we've only got 380bhp!!!!!

Jay

[Al Weyman]

Oh dear Jay thats such a big shame, obviously those standard joints just are not man enough for such big wheels with sticky tyres, I dunno what the joint is like but have a a look at Howe Engineering in the US I have theres on mine they are adjustable for wear and very strong.

[The SpeCTator]

Jay, such a shame.
A highlight of the weekend was your wheel to wheel with Andrew's Capri

Hope to see you back on track soon.

[jay23]

Yeh we got to upgrade a few things we keep finding weak points!!
I'm prob a bit harder on it then Gerry plus running on the r888..

Thanks that was the highlight of my weekend also can't beat a battle like that...

[Al Weyman]

I will be straight with you Jay when I told Gerry of the accident and the marshals comment on here he straight away said that may be the problem as the car was only ever designed to run on list 1a's and built for ModProd regs. The lower joint is stock. A timely warning to some of the Rover SD1 Group A cars currently being prepared for JD Classics prehaps.

[Peter Mallett]

Al, the Group A cars being prepped for the MRL series are originals. They'll be running what they ran quite successfully in period! And of course they ran on slicks.

It is a shame when cars suffer damage due to componentry but sometimes it's the only way we amateurs can learn the limits.

[Al Weyman]

True Peter and they are running much narrower wheels than Jay without arche extensions also a period slick is probably less sticky than a modern 888 although I dont know but technology moves forward. Something worth keeping a beady eye on though.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Tom Barley

Well that was a brilliant days racing. Here's some race 2 footage. Race 1 will follow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTIWF8VL2TM

Just watched this... 2 gear changes per lap... one up and one down !

[Stephen Green]

Originally Posted by Moosehead

Fantastic weekend.......I'm totally shattered!! So much to see and do and I never got chance to see most of it. Every time I left 'our' camp in the paddock the missus called me back as yet another visitor from the Mustang Owners Club had turned up to say hello. From the comments I recieved this event has attracted a huge number of new spectators to the historic racing scene, many had no idea that classic Mustangs, Camaro's, Corvettes etc were raced in this country.

Big thanks to Stephen Green who accomodated us all so well in the paddock with the minimum of fuss (ps - next year can I be near a hookup )

Obviously huge thanks to Bernie for pulling it all together - we maxed out our entries and unlike the Euro NASCAR thingies we DID fill the grid

Despite a number of car issues I had two enjoyable races, not much in the way of decent results among many more highly specced cars but still had great fun.

I even saw Al with a smile on his face a few times does now owe me two more Magnums

Can't wait till next year

It was a pleasure to meet you all and I look forward to next years event (and getting you close to a hookup)

[Al Weyman]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Just watched this... 2 gear changes per lap... one up and one down !

No three, you need 2nd for the hairpin! I think Tom did as well unless he never used 4th down the straight I will have to re-watch it.

[Tom Barley]

Nope, he's right. 3rd for the hairpin for me. 2nd promotes a lot of wheelspin on exit and the torque in third pulls me out nicely. Such an easy track on gears for the Camaro!

[davyboy]

Incredible stuff guys... at first I thought you were using an auto box until I saw you change up coming out of clearways. The torque those things have must be something else.

[Al Weyman]

Tom you probably have a 6.2 stroker then, my standard stroke 350 has less torque however I did manage to get into the power too soon coming out the hairpin and had a bit of a lurid spin so next time I may try the 3rd gear trick , I did take Clearways in third but noticed Craig in his video was using 2nd around Clearways and 2nd around the hairpin. What diff was you using and tyre size, I was using a 3.5 with 225 x 55 x 15 Dunlop Formula things that are basically street tyres only harder! Terrible things. I would have put some nice 16" Kumhos on but at last minute couldnt find any nuts to fit (they are metric studs I fitted as have loads of chevy studs) so had to run with the awful Dunlops that were actually Brian Steven's 5 year old cast offs from his XJS. I will fit these next time out so maybe able to get lapped a little less!

[Moosehead]

I was using 3rd for the chicane too having swapped to a 3:89 rear end. Think you'll find Craig was using 2nd for Clearway cuz that thing does like a zillion revs

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Moosehead

I was using 3rd for the chicane too having swapped to a 3:89 rear end. Think you'll find Craig was using 2nd for Clearway cuz that thing does like a zillion revs

They've installed a chicane at Brands?

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by Moosehead

Think you'll find Craig was using 2nd for Clearway cuz that thing does like a zillion revs

There's no way that engine can rev as high as that without exploding!

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

They've installed a chicane at Brands?

http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?ei...0me%20al&type=

That's me off Al's Christmas card list!

[SAMD]

Originally Posted by Dave Brand

There's no way that engine can rev as high as that without exploding!

I thought a zillion revs is ok as long as it (the engine) is balanced adaquately. Although you may have to adjust the rev limiter
Also get those new points that are able to rev to 1/8 of a zillion

[Al Weyman]

Very special engine in the Mustang, listen to the exhaust note it sounds like it may have a flat plain crank as it doesnt sound like a Ford V8?

[Clive Brown]

You can achieve this with crossover exhausts , though.

[Al Weyman]

It hasnt got those. Thats wahat the Penske IROC racers ran, I would like to get one made up for mine but would cost an arm and a leg. I saw the Mustang race at Daytona before Craig bought it, its a very special and very well developed machine.

[Moosehead]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

They've installed a chicane at Brands?

Doh, thats what you get for writing and actually paying attention to what the missus is saying Obviously I meant Druids hairpin

BTW - take a look at Craigs revcounter in the Mustang - it goes 1 thru to 10 then ''A Zillion''

[Al Weyman]

And at last a view from the slow end of the field, plenty of shots of the other cars from here Apalling old road legal 1a tyres and a fresh engine are my excuse plus first time out for a year and starting at back because of a qually missfire lol! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gw6rx81SqQ