HSCC Opening Meeting for 2011

[retrognome]

All at retro-speed would like to thank the HSCC, particularly Alan Jones for his help on Sunday.

[gary396]

Race 3 proved to be a battle between the top two on the grid - Matthew Truelove (TVR Griffith) and Paul Tooms (Lotus Elan) - those two finishing in grid order separated by just over 3 seconds.

The first two photos below are from the red-flagged start - the coming together between cars 36 & 69 was (I think) contributory to the collision shown in an earlier post above.

Ooops - forgot photos! See below.

[gary396]

Race 3 photos now included!

[gary396]

Another batch from race 3:

[SAMD]

I trust No 68 on the program shows the driver to be Simon Templar.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

wow, a pink scimitar with siliy tyres, thats not something you see every day.

Zef,

Have to say it looked a little odd but I assume it is still a 'work in progress'. It seemed to get a good work out during the day.

[delta]

Originally Posted by SAMD

I trust No 68 on the program shows the driver to be Simon Templar.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa cant be him. Not got one of those round things over the car.I just so wanted to be Simon Templer "when I was nine"

[grantp]

Excellent shots Gary. Superb panning!

[SAMD]

Originally Posted by delta

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa cant be him. Not got one of those round things over the car.I just so wanted to be Simon Templer "when I was nine"

I know what you mean, I even taught myself how to jump in the car and take off with the door still closing
I do it all the time now

[grantp]

How unlucky can you get?

HFF regular Loius Hanjoul travels from Belgium to Donington to enjoy a few minutes racing his HFF. The circuit has a new safety developement at Redgate that involves a much larger gravel trap with the removal of Redgate lodge but part of the gravel immediately adjacent to the end of the Start/Finish straight has been replaced by tarmac, thus affording an over-shoot facility without the race continuity threatening need for extraction from the depths of the gravel for a minor braking error (or whatever).

See photo 1 (the race leaders in the background enjoying a yellow flag free Redgate for once.)

Poor Louis is involved with something (unseen by your correspondent) that results in a minor spin but just fails to stay on the track and also misses the new tarmac. Attempts so drive out have the rear wheels digging in rather deep and the car has to be abandoned.

See photo 2.

How unlucky can you be to end up parked exactly where Louis ended up?




Qualifying in the field he sets

[Greem]

Originally Posted by grantp

How unlucky can you be to end up parked exactly where Louis ended up?

I have a feeling that may turn out to be the single most "popular" bit of beach on the circuit in the coming months, in an "I can turn round there, oh whoops" sort of way.

Thanks for all the photos, folks - thoroughly enjoyed running around after errant or broken cars at the Old Hairpin on Sunday.

[Rudernst]

Originally Posted by delta

Mixed day for 10/10thers today. We had a class win, Ben won the F3 race but i here had a missfire in FFord.Colin threw away a good place in Historic saloons. Bad luck ,actually rotton luck poor old Robyn lost oil pressure in collecting area. Good too see you still smiling mate.Thanks for the help with the Volpini.Im sure Grant will post some pic's.

ormmm...
I came 4th in CF3 and am quite happy with that....
spraying the car in German national colour made it quicker..
rather a fun day and not a mixed day...

Rudolf

[Rudernst]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

THere can't be many marques that can bost a 100% survival rate of any one model after 45 years I think they only made 3 GT160's?)

there are some marques that boast a 125 % survival rate or better..
Cobras
Ronnie Petersons and Clay Regazzonis F3 Techno
the list goes on



Rudolf

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Greem

I have a feeling that may turn out to be the single most "popular" bit of beach on the circuit in the coming months, in an "I can turn round there, oh whoops" sort of way.

Thanks for all the photos, folks - thoroughly enjoyed running around after errant or broken cars at the Old Hairpin on Sunday.

I think you could be right.

The old Red Gate position seems to have a 'gate' built into the guard rails (but behind the continuous tyre wall). and plenty of tarmac leading to it.

Could be interesting to consider siting a 'fixed' winch at that point so that one could simply open the gates a tad, run out with the cable, attach it to the miscreant vehicle and pull it back into the area behind the fence.

In reality I assume that the tarmac is to offer, eventually, an alternative exit from the circuit at the end of a race (or whatever event) with fairly direct access back to the paddock.

[Robyn Slater]

Well as some of you already know i didn,t make the grid for the HTC race.

It was my first visit to Donington and was looking forward to getting back in the Anglia again,having built a new 1500 engine and moving up to class C.

Qualifying went fairly well for me.As normal i thought i'd better take it easy first time out, until i got round redgate,then i forgot what i,ve just said

I ended up in 20th place on the grid,might have been better if it wasn't for the spinning imp!!! Car seemed to be going well.

Anyhow come the time to form the grid in the assembly area as i pulled up into position the oil light was on and the gauge was on ZERO!!

End of race for me.

I took a look at the car today,drained the drysump pan first,expecting to find bits of pump gears and other stuff.Not much appeared (magnet in the funnel trick).
Went to drain the oil tank,took the hose off the bottom, prepareing to get covered in oil,,,,,,,,,,nothing came out?????????
Hmmm,sure there was some in there,wasn't there???
Stuck a screwdriver up the hole and the oil dribbled out rather slowly.

Now the embarrassing bit,,
in the bottom of the tank i found a plastic hose bung that i,d put in the scavange return pipe fitting when i'd taken the old engine out last october.
I didn't realise it was still in there when i reconnected the pipe to the tank.
The scavenge pump must of blown it through the tank fitting and then found its way through the baffles to the tank outlet,completely blocking the oil flow.

Problem found and solved. Engine now running again,hopefully no damage done.
It could of been much worse/expensive.

[gary396]

Originally Posted by grantp

Excellent shots Gary. Superb panning!

Cheers Grant. Decided to risk using slower and slower speeds on the day and got a few that aren't too bad.

I was just reading your other post about the car getting stuck at Redgates. From your position I wonder if I was VERY briefly stood next to you at one point? In all innocence (honest) I walked up that point and was about to take a few shots when one of the security chaps politely pointed out that I needed a media pass to be there, so I had to return infield. I had just assumed that Redgates would be public access!

Anyway during my brief stop, there was a photographer there (with an equipment bag on a small cart I think) - was that you?

[gary396]

This race was won by Benn Simms who started from second position in his March 803B, leading on all laps. There was a great battle behind him between Jamie Bradshaw (2nd in his March 793) and Paul Smith (3rd in a Martini) who were rarely more than one second apart.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by gary396

Anyway during my brief stop, there was a photographer there (with an equipment bag on a small cart I think) - was that you?

More than likely Gary - I think I was the only idiot hauling a stack of kit! Yellow beach cart thingy. Balloon wheels. I got it to haul my heavy 600mm lens but on Sunday that stayed in the car.

I spent a bit of time there since it was an OK location (if a little dusty) and was easy enough to get back to the paddock to keep tabs on what people were doing. In fact Team Delta were just a few meters away on the other side of the paddock fence.

Fortunately the latitude afforded to DPRAC members to allow us to get to the club facilities meant that my presence in the general area could be justified. There are a couple of places near the compound that are quite good for snaps when the sun is in the right place and you can't beat the price of the refreshments available to members.

I have to say that with the work in progress and there being a few small holes to fill where fence runs join AND with the potential for problems from people attending the Sunday market (the boundary there is in a state of change) I think the security guys had quite a tricky task to perform and from what I saw they handled it well. It might have helped them if there were some signs up explaining the situation but I got the impression that things were quite fluid up to the day so I guess it was not something anyone thought of. The computer contractor was busy on site as well, adding to the people presence and therefore attracting visitors to the area.

That said I heard that the new esses was viewable from the infield - did you manage to get down there?

It seems to me that we should probably wear 'secret' 10 Tenth's identitiy badges when out in public. I know there were many more Tenthers at Donington on Sunday that I failed to manage to make the time to meet and must have been many others that I may have bumped into without knowing it! Like yourself for example.

[grantp]

Robyn taking it easy in qualifying heading into Redgate.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Robyn Slater

Problem found and solved. Engine now running again,hopefully no damage done.
It could of been much worse/expensive.

Phew, Robyn- close call! Nasty things, bungs, when they are not doing the intended job! Had a similar problem- but in fuel tank- couple of years ago. Turned out a plastic bottle top had got in the new fuel tank somehow and despite foam guess where it finished up....

Car looks very nice- good luck with next outing!

[Giraffe138]

Originally Posted by grantp

That said I heard that the new esses was viewable from the infield - did you manage to get down there?

By giraffe138 at 2011-03-22

[Giraffe138]

From a spectators point of view, the circuit is currently a dog's breakfast with no facilities whatsoever within the heavily restricted infield. I am told there is no phone system running from the marshal's posts necessitating a last minute solution by walkie-talkie. The tannoys are either deafening or inaudiable dependant upon where you are standing and the midges on the infield were irritating! God knows how the Superbikers will cope next weekend, and if it rains...............


By giraffe138 at 2011-03-20

By giraffe138 at 2011-03-20

By giraffe138 at 2011-03-20

By giraffe138 at 2011-03-20

I did however have a great day at Donington, as I have continued to do since 1977.

[Giraffe138]

Many thanks to Dick Dixon for his help on Sunday. Pity he got nerfed at Redgate tho'!


By giraffe138 at 2011-03-21

[Giraffe138]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

that is a tasty motor . . . .

And here it is in action with Alex Ames at the wheel on Sunday


By giraffe138 at 2011-03-21

[gary396]

Originally Posted by grantp

.... In fact Team Delta were just a few meters away on the other side of the paddock fence.

That said I heard that the new esses was viewable from the infield - did you manage to get down there?

It seems to me that we should probably wear 'secret' 10 Tenth's identitiy badges when out in public......

Funny you should mention Delta - as I was driving back up the M1 listening to the radio I heard the word 'Delta' mentioned and suddenly remembered that I had meant to say hello to Iain and the team - competely forgot! Must be getting old!

I only got around the infield from Redgates down to Craner - access was okay but pretty rough and with no facilities. Wouldn't like to be there if it rains.

Good idea re 10-Tenths badges! As long as no one suggests wearing red-roses!!!