Novice tries old hand manouvre

[Paul Robertson]

Yes  its brands hatch and this time Helen Deeley has tried the Ainslie Bousfield Manouvre .
She is unhurt the car however has a few scars to say the least.Can Tete Rouge's No 1 mechanic get it back on track for tomorrow we will have to wait and see.

[Trevor Williams]

The anser to Paul's question above is yes!
The entire Tete Rouge team pulled off an amazingly fast rebuild on the car, and from some angles you could even see parts of the car that werent damaged.
Helen didnt have any sense knocked into her from the accident, so she went out in  the car for qualifying and the race. Finished without incidents, well done to both her and the Tete Rouge team for getting the car back out there!!
Trevor

[helen deeley]

What can I say! I thought for a few minutes on Friday i was going to have the shortest 2cv race career ever! Huge thanks to everybody who pulled out all the stops to get parts to us, fix the car, & get me back out there!  :lol:

[Pete Sparrow]

To anyone that wasn't at Brands, you missed a good weekend. thrills and spills in equal measure. Also good to see so many new names out on track popping their cherries.
I have to say congratulations to our chairman for a brilliant drive to his first trophy (of the year) and for cooking a fantastic meal, might be short, might be welsh and might be c--t but not a bad team mate, who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
Well done to Paul and Phil on a excellent drive as well.
Driver sandwich anyone?
:shock:

[Derek Coghill]

I enjoyed that, got home in time for tea at the pub too. Has anyone seen my skateboard?

[Oli Hall]

What a great race and what a great day...

It was really good to see you and well done Phil, Paul and all of team TR on your win.

I have to confess to being close to shedding a tear (or was it just dust in my eye?) when the silver bullet came through paddock for the first time without me behind the wheel, but as some of you will know, Catherine is now wearing the silver bullet on her engagement finger... sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good...

HOWEVER.... regular members wont need reminding of this, but if you are new to the club or looking to get involved then I promise you that you will go VERY far to find a more friendly, helpful and competitive racing club. The extent to how much I was going to miss it and all its characters hadnt fully sunk in until being at Brands without a racesuit on!

So....

Lessons learnt by O.S.Hall esq:
Don't stop racing 2cv's, it makes you sad.
If you are not already then do start racing 2cv's, it makes you happy.
To avoid embarrasment, securely fasten your shorts when Pete Sparrow is standing behind you.

Thats all for now folks, but in the immortal words of Vinny Jones "Its been emotional".

Oh and come to think of it, while im quoting movie stars...

"I'll be back!"

[David Sullivan]

Well what can I say, what a weekend for a starters, here's how my first weekend as a driver went.
David Sullivan, Driver 2 Car #9

Got to Brands about 2:15am on the Friday morning, had a beer & then went to sleep, awoke again a 6:15 & just couldn't get back to sleep, must have been the excitement or something.
Things were going well in Friday testing until about 13:30pm when I came round Paddock Hill to be met my a row of panels & then Crash Test Deeley (as Helen has fondly been nicknamed by the majority of Tete Rouge) sat in the gravel. The session was abandoned & that's pretty much where the fun & games started. Tim went to retrieve his battered vehicle from the outside of Paddock & upon return began to list everything that was needed to make the car race able again. As there was really only a skeleton pit crew with us on the Friday, a mate who id bought with me purely because id told him that the 2CV club like to drink beer, got himself overalled up & when Tim threw a spanner in his hand & told him to start removing bits of the front end he just kept going & going. Replacement parts for the car along with mechanics turned up throughout the day & well into the evening. The car finally looked like a racer again by 2am Saturday morning & with only minor tweaks to do everyone retired for the night.
Saturday morning consisted of signing on, the new drivers briefing & qualifying. In the 3 laps I managed in qualifying I managed to take 2 seconds off my previous best time from Friday testing until the crank broke & I found myself perched on the grass on the inside of clearways waiting for a tow home. A swift engine change ensured that we'd be racing by 4:00pm. Within laps of the lights going green the signs from the car were not good as Sammie gave the thumps down signal it was clear the engine was lacking in power compared to the original. At 4:30pm the pit lane opens for driver changes, I'm strapped in, ordered by Sammie to keep it in 3rd gear all the way from Druids until the start straight as the engine wasn't revving high enough & sent on my merry way. As the end of my first stint is coming to an end a broken down Steve Panas & a healthy amount of on track gravel brings out the safety car & I'm forced to wait until were under green again before I come in.
I sit & watch the clock at the end of the pit straight reel of the numbers as I wait for my second stint, as Sammie becomes visible at the start of the pit lane, an unnamed member of the team tells me to "Go out & drive the b*ll*cks off it!"
An uneventful final stint meant that we stayed 15th which was probably the best we could have hoped for after the engine change in qualifying.
Congratulations to Paul, Phil & all of Tete Rouge on their victory & thanks to everyone who made my first race weekend possible, especially Sammie & Paul.

[Trevor Williams]

I just wanted to congratulate and thank Olly Sparrow for selling £100.00 of club merchandise at the weekend

Rest assured that he will be press-ganged into selling more at Snetterton, though hopefully we will get our sh*t together and actually set the eezzee up out!!

Trevor

[Steve Cowell]

Well, we had a great weekend as well, amazing what new arms can do !!  Cheers Paul  :D