15 August 2010 - Alternative 6 hour? (YES, organised by the 360MRC)

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by terence bower

It used to happen for the Willhire!!

Yes Tel, I know the guys responsible for hiring the complete "spares" package !!!
Everything worn out except the drivers seat !

[jerryk]

Originally Posted by johngee

Why on earth not? I always understood that hire cars were much quicker than the equivelent privately owned model .

but stolen ones are even faster , I'm told !!

[terence]

Originally Posted by jerryk

but stolen ones are even faster , I'm told !!

Hot Hatch series?

[terence]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Yes Tel, I know the guys responsible for hiring the complete "spares" package !!!
Everything worn out except the drivers seat !

Used to be a bit awkward explaining the tyre condition.

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by DILLIGAF

.....We entered a four driver, double husband and wife team. Surely a rarity in motor racing of any sort..

Got me thinking about our team; Al is my eldest son and has started sharing the Midget with me. Then there's Midgetman and PennyP, why were they there? Max is the one who was brave enough to be bouncer and navigator in the years I did the MCC Classics and who eventually persuaded me to get a speed licence, some slippery slope that was! And Mike is the one who sorted me out my first race in his Metro at MG Silverstone and made me wish I'd started 30 years earlier. They're both MG family... does that count?

[Martin O]

Hopefully this works dont want to batter the bandwidth

http://yfrog.com/59c244745jx

If it is not the right way to do things let me know

[John Turner]

At the end of 2 hours, the Ed Simpson Jaguar had a 72 second lead over the Eleiko Corolla GT, both on 75 laps, with the Mallett Capri up to 3rd, just one lap behind. Team Dilligaf's (don't ask!) Escort was on 72 laps, as was the Climax Motorsport Peugeot. The Montego was on 69 laps, 4 laps up on the gallant little Lancia:-

[Martin O]

Post Race (ish)

http://img121.imageshack.us/g/c244749.jpg/

[johngee]

Originally Posted by Martin O

Post Race (ish)

http://img121.imageshack.us/g/c244749.jpg/

There's some really nice informal shots there Martin - thank you

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by John Turner

The Montego was on 69 laps, 4 laps up on the gallant little Lancia:-

That gallant little Lancia was my favourite car. And the team just wouldn't stop smiling!

I think at that time, had we been able to maintain the pace without the delays later on, we would have been second. But as with some others we hit the dreaded 4hrs "wall"!

[John Turner]

My timings aren't exact here by the way. I wasn't clock watching! Anyway now in the Esses:-

[John Turner]

The quickest car on track for much of the third hour appeared to be the Corolla GT with Will Arif aboard; he was really trying through the Esses, lap after lap and making up ground. The big problem for this car was not on the track but in the pits where it was taking so long (6 minutes!) to refuel, that they were losing something like 3 laps and having to play catch up each time:-

[andy97]

John

Have sent you PM!

Andy

[John Turner]

Andy, received and responded to.

More pics:-

[John Turner]

At the end of the third hour, the Jaguar, on 116 laps had established a 4 lap lead and had been the consistent front runner for more than half the race at this point. Those behind were changing positions with some regularity depending on pit stops and misfortunes, so that it was now the Peugeot which was in 2nd, with the Capri two laps further down in 3rd, and the Corolla GT, on the same lap and closing. The Dilligaf Escort RS2000 was 5th, another 2 laps down, and in 6th, on 97 laps was the Lancia Zagato. The Montego had dropped to 7th and was in trouble I believe at this time, stationary in the pits, on 90 laps. I'm now on the inside of the Esses!:-

[midgetman]

Ooops! Sorry MGDavid, I *was* taking it easy, honest, just missed my braking point cos I was watching Peter in my mirror. It didn't look that lairy *every* lap.

Wasn't Wil Arif a "hotshoe" back in the dim & distant past? Hugely quick car anyway, very impressive. Altho we all felt that using the rev limiter as a shift light was a recipe for a non-finish.

Superb pics as ever John, thank you.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Ooops! Sorry MGDavid, I *was* taking it easy, honest, just missed my braking point cos I was watching Peter in my mirror. It didn't look that lairy *every* lap.

No, not quite every lap. The long pitstop wasn't to renew the brakes by any chance, was it?

[Peter Mallett]

Will Arif.

http://www.wilarif.co.uk/

[midgetman]

John - wheel bearing........ahem! It felt quite smooth inside.........

Wil Arif - some photos there that take you back.

[John Turner]

Now at the entrance to Russell Chicane. I have to apologise to the Jaguar driver here because I was following him through Coram with my camera lens, thinking that I hadn't seen a spin or an off all day and wasn't likely to, when this happened. Shame that it is not in focus. A little later the Corolla went straight on but that was it really!:-

[John Turner]

More:-

[John Turner]

More:-

[John Turner]

The Jaguar was still 4 laps clear, on 153 laps, but this time it was the Corolla GT that was 2nd, with the Mallett Capri, 3rd, on 147 laps with the Peugeot 205GTi a further lap down in 4th. 5th lay the Escort RS2000, another 7 laps back and stationary in the pits, and sadly not to again venture forth onto the track, and we've been given first hand account of why earlier on. The Lancia was next on 128 laps but shortly to hit problems with the Montego back and running after the wheel bearing problem was resolved, on 124 laps. Arty phase, the last pic of the Lancia probably my favourite of the whole set:-

[johngee]

I hope everybody appreciates how many strings that we had to pull and how much money we had to pay to get the Lancaster flypast.
Nothing is too much trouble for 360MRC

[John Turner]

I think that's probably my lot for today. I'll save a few shots around the pits for the fifth hour and final 6th hour pics at Riches and exit of Sears for tomorrow before the final shots taken back at the pits before the fall of the flag.