8/7/01 Armstrong Massey. Car 43 G. Steggles/E. Bain
I have just been contemplating the weather for the weekend and been worried
if its going to rain or not. Then I realised that it doesn't matter cos I've
got road tyres for if there's standing water, intermediates for if its damp
and moulded slicks for if its dry. Great! I can now rush around like an idiot
trying to outguess the Great British summer weather like every one else on the
day!
I've upgraded the rear torsion bars by 1mm diameter and swapped to tarmac front
billies with Peugeot Sport tarmac springs, fitted 1.9 shafts, hubs, calipers
and discs.
I borrowed a 1.6 Astra van, hired a 16' trailer and set off on Sunday after
scrutineering on Saturday. The weather looked like it would hold only being
damp and overcast. I fitted my inters and set out on stage 1. It went OK but
I seemed to find less grip than had been reported to me. In places it was extremely
slick. Stage 2 was a repeat of 1 and I took a bit of time out of it.
Stage 3 saw us meet an Escort cossie at the split. Being too nice according
to my service crew, I allowed it into the 45 degree complex only to find I was
stuffed in his boot and he wouldn't move! I know I should remain calm in these
situations but a cossie should have gone? Finger on the horn and still he was
in the way with a couple of corners being a bit dodgy cos the Pug nearly made
his boot a lot shorter. Frustration at not being able to get past meant that
I was being a little heavy with the throttle and coming out of a 90 left reduced
me to an engine on tickover and a throttle pedal pinned to the floor. I knew
at once the cable had gone so I stopped to see if it had just jumped off the
spindle. It hadn't and it had snapped at the pedal end! Coming out of stage
with hazards going and on tickover in 5th is a little disconcerting and with
the fact that I had no spare with me could have meant that it was all over!
Was this going to be the first that we didn't finish? We took a maximum which
put us 6 minutes down and not much chance of being up there now. No. Service
crew at the ready, due to Emma and Simon Marsden who was marshalling phoning
them, they set to work clamping the broken end between two washers through the
hole in the end of the pedal and out for 4. We knew that our chances were blown
but we were determined to finish. And claw back as many places as we could.
The inters were getting very hot and sliding all over the place so for stage
5 we fitted the moulded slicks. These were instantly better and although still
sliding it hung in there controllably. When the inters were stacked up they
remained nearly as warm as the barby that was on the go for an incredible amount
of time. I was enjoying the event now and pressure seemed to be off as I knew
we could finish but not in the place we were expecting.
There were a few places that were interesting enough to play to the "spectators".
I say spectators loosely cos technically there were none. Coming out of a 90
right into a 45 left between a hut and a bank into a 45 right saw the pug drifting
all over the place and reaching a fast speed through the gap which I made every
time we did it through skill and judgement. (Ha, Yeh right. Ed.) I even had
time to smile for the videos now and again, until on one fast 90 right I waved
to Phil Andrews at a high rate of knots to look back and see the front end wiping
out a load of cones and off track by a few metres. I don't know why but we both
found that incredibly funny and couldn't stop laughing for the next 3 corners!
The last 2 stages saw us meeting up with some sort of Mitsi that was slow through
the bends but we didn't have the pace on the straights to pass it. I bottled
into a tightening 90 right 3 corners before the split and when coming in my
service crew again told me I'm too nice and to just forget about the car and
go for it. I don't know what the etiquette is for these situations on track
but on the last stage I went for it and turned in as if the car wasn't there.
I was to the left of it and had at least 3/4 of a car in front for the tightening
right hander. Does this mean I have the line? It doesn't matter really cos I
came out the other side in front. Having just watched Coulthard do a similar
manoeuvre on tv has answered my question. Well if its good enough for F1?!
So another finish with help from Jim and Michelle Plevey, Jan and Malcom Jagger
and Steve Lancaster as service, thankyou. We ended up 70 th and 24th in class.
This has dropped me to 2nd in class, 5th in Multi venue and 4th O/A and Emma
is the same for navigating except she's 1st in class in the ANCC. Without the
maximum we could have been 47th ish and 14th in class but that's like saying
if I could drive better we would have won! Next one at Manby another place I
cant say I've been so it could be interesting and I will be going for it!
