may i wish Team 'Tete Rouge Stealth Time' best of british luck at the Spa 24hr race next weekend. Sorry i cant be with you all but I'll be there in spirit and watching with interest. This Prototype entry is looking strong, keep your eyes out for them. Car no. 39.
Also to our friends running from the Whitwell stable, Phil, Nick and co, who are running an almost british spec car, good luck.
Lets have some british beef on the podium in both classes your running in.
Bully
Thanks for the luck Andy, it worked for us.
The Rent Boys, Nick, Alec and Philip (standing in for Meyrick) running with Whitwell Motorsport in the Snetterton 24hr winning car had a fantastic weekend finishing in 14th place overall, having qualified 38th, one place in front of Tete Rouge Stealth Time.
During the race we competed in 3 different classes, starting in the Ameorilee Class we were 2nd after 12hrs when the organisers decided that we were too fast so we were moved into a guest class, totally in a "class of our own" as there were no other competitors in this class!! Having queried this we were then moved into the experimental class where we finished 2nd in class. So two 2nd places in class and one win all in one race!!!
Just need a few more English cars over there so that we can have our own class.
A fantastic race that is remarkably good fun in an English car.
See you all next year?
Philip
Well done to the team, it sounds like a lot of fun.
I'm not sure if Wild Thing is up to it though.......
Did it rain as it usually does at Spa?
It was gloriously sunny all weekend!!
The downside was that it was unbelievably cold during the night.
Do you think our relatively slow 24 hour car would get in the way of other faster cars or would it be acceptable?
all the English cars would be quicker than the "Classic Class" cars.
I noticed that the Classic class entry had increased.... was it foggy at night again?
Mary, you'd be fine!
I was in Burton again this year with a wonderfully friendly Belgian team
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LtU3y0fWv9w/Tp1nq7DiK5I/AAAAAAAADzQ/r1XFHSmldIY/s1152/506.JPG)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-siNGNF60MQo/Tp1Rh8n6JbI/AAAAAAAADyU/Vesi9nwwC0M/s1152/DSC_0034.JPG)
Number of European 'Classic' 2cv's increased to 8 this year - they are probably slower than UK economy class. 12 Hours in as they were reliable 6 of them were in the Top30 (out of 52)
Rent Boys did brilliantly, probably because I was in the same garage as them
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3WG4uQOyGFA/Tp1nZDieWGI/AAAAAAAADy0/xf7jZOoMPsQ/s1152/490.JPG)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v_qxNoWi4vc/Tp1O-m6FDzI/AAAAAAAADxQ/Qc7hUMlMyF0/s1152/DSC_0055.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-RRGgxL4YrX0/Tp1O5eb1rkI/AAAAAAAADxI/qxNBQvfzreQ/s1152/DSC_0056.JPG)
Tete Rouge Stealth had a bit of a nightmare - car 39 which did fewer laps than its race number
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xVcs1dHAgsM/Tp1Oo0gPKyI/AAAAAAAADw4/Ee9afoZ4zFo/s1152/DSC_0027.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Um1Rz5Y7cDM/Tp1PE7D1T3I/AAAAAAAADxY/svnUQtberGI/s1152/DSC_0066.JPG)
One car only completed 7 laps and quite a few did not finish so they were lots of other teams with problems.
If the Burton is not racing next year then I would definitely try and bring my car. Club are trying to get an attractive deal so that UK cars will get a discounted entry for Spa and vice versa to cover the greater distances etc.
Track is very wide and easy to pass with the different speeds. Hybrids were lapping under/around 3'30" while Classics were over 4'30". Rent Boys somehow were lapping around 3'56" and Philip managed a 3'51". A more realistic target for a UK spec car would be to try and get under 4 minutes.
Racing is not as close as in the UK as the track is so much easier to pass on, and maybe as they Europeans don't seem to like cars slip-streaming.
IF TEAMS ARE INTERRESTED IN DOING SPA AND SNETTERTON NEXT YEAR AS A POSSIBILITY IT WOULD HELP IF THEY COULD CONTACT PHILIP, PAUL OR MYSELF SO WE HAVE AN IDEA OF NUMBERS.
Well done to all, great achievement to all involved, we all know how hard it is just to organise ourselves racing at Snetterton, let alone to take it on in a different Country.
Quote from: Simon Crook on October 19, 2011, 09:45:12
Well done to all, great achievement to all involved, we all know how hard it is just to organise ourselves racing at Snetterton, let alone to take it on in a different Country.
Well here's one for you to all mull over then,we have been approached by the Spanish 2cv club whilst at spa who are holding the 2cv world meeting in 2013,they would like to have a 24hr race running over the course of the weekend,10,000+ visitors are expected. The circuit is alcaniz(motorland aragon) they have also invited the belgian club as well.Some major logistics/costs involved but a huge opportunity.
Paul
;D sounds interesting
Spannish 24H sounds very interesting, at least we won't have to worry about the carbs iceing up in the middle of the night unlike at Spa !!! 8)
not that hard to get too either - Portsmouth Bilbao ferry - then a little drive (450k) down to the track or for me (Swindon) a little under 1000m if we drove through France!
Do you need an International C licence for this event?
That would depend on the organisers! If they did it as a National event and got it NEAFP'd then I would expect the minimum requirement would be a National A.
If not, then unless you were a professional driver, I would expect International to be the minimum.
Of course, that all depends on the Spanish governing body's regulations.......
It looks much cheaper to go to St Malo on current prices ,although dover /calais would be the cheapest option
Either the entry would have to be very cheap/non existent or everyone would have to be very keen to go.
Portsmouth /Bilbao £1580
Fuel return 28hrs driving 1420 miles £ 450
Total £2030
Return Ferry Portsmouth/St Malo £850
Fuel return 38hrs driving 1900 miles £550
Total £1400
Dover /Calais £140
return drive 44hrs driving 2184 miles £700
Total £840
Trevor please can you explain what is "NEAFP'd"?
What sort of licence do you need for the Spa event?
A national A is all you need for spa mary. And fia safety equipment!
How many hours' driving?! Using the Rosyth ferry, Spa was the closest (by road) track to me with the exception of Knockhill.
And the late, lamented Ingliston, obviously...
Mary
It stands for National Event with Authorised Foreign Participation. It is how National race meetings / events can allow foreign entrants / racers to compete without being a full FIA International event.
As Paul says above, the licence requirements for the Spa race are Nat A licence and FIA 2000 spec overalls including balaclava and full underwear (shirt, longjohns and socks). I believe this is because the Belgian regs follow to the letter the International Sporting Code requirements, whereas the MSA regs only advise the use of underwear, gloves, boots and balaclava in national events
You also need in date seat and harness.i'mnot sure what the rent boys did about the extinguisher.
Yes.... It adds considerably to the cost of the event when you need to buy new seat, extinguisher and overalls AT THE EVENT! I didn't even know that seats HAD a date on them until we arrived at Spa...
National A is easy to get - just send 6 race results with your name on to MSA. Download them from TSL timing if you have done 6 races in last few years and send them in.
Belts - mine were found to be out of date at Silverstone this year despite being only 5 years old and in very good condition. This was expensive to sort out on a Saturday afternoon.
FIA Fire Proof LongJohns - very useful at Spa in open top car or for simply standing around in the Garage/Igloo at night due to their good thermal properties..
FIA Gloves - I was told these are not mandatory in UK this year at Anglesey - they are at Spa
Seat - not sure what the regs exactly are for the seat at Spa. I bought a new MSA approved seat 5 years ago for my race car which was found to have cracked and broken one its mounting brackets when doing pre snet preparation last year. went back to the old seat...
Nick
The correct way to get the required signatures for a National A upgrade is to get them on the upgrade card at the events. If you dont get the card signed there and then, you have to speak VERY nicely to both the organising club, and the MSA, as it has to be confirmed by the Clerk ofthe Course for the events you are claiming a signature for that your performance was satisfactory.
The reason people have to have full FIA 2000 spec underwear etc for Spa is because they run it to the Belgian regs which mirror FIA International Sporting Code. It is feasible that other countries do the same.
Golves and boots are not mandatory at all in UK motorsport, it is only advised that you wear them.
Quote from: Trevor Williams on October 25, 2011, 09:44:17
Golves and boots are not mandatory at all in UK motorsport, it is only advised that you wear them.
That's changing next year isn't it? I seem to recall reading somewhere that flame-retandant gloves and boots are mandatory as of January 2012.
What's a golve?
Where is it worn?
Chris, you are correct! Mandatory from 1st January 2012
Paul, I couldn't possibly say! Look in the Blue Book! ;p
Paul, it's descriptive of a Volkswagen giving birth. Cows calve, VWs golve.....
Just as an add-on (having read Nick's post again), I had a look back and found that our fastest lap from 2008 was 4.07-ish.