Messages

only first 5 minutes really interesting, then it gets verra boring, except Glen not liking Paddock Hill exit in 2nd race(timecode 6:30)  ;D
race1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLrFKuAFKOg

race2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hukuhHYcBNo

do not hesitate to admire&comment my wonderful start in race 1...

Thanks again to the 2CV community for rapid fire responses declaring a willingness to act the transporter, Chris Yates proved a millisecond faster up to bat so its now been sorted and you will all be forced to suffer the Scandinavian accent also this coming weekend   ;D

That would indeed be fantastic, I thought to ask you direct via email but had no idea where you are sitting so did the general call for help instead! Hold on, will check with Alec and get back to you offline from the forum in case it's all OK :)

Hi all, Mr Nicks car ie the one i am driving in all the sprint races, has spent the last near week at Richard Daltons workshop(Newcastle-under-Lyme) and sadly the end-to-end of that arrangement was not planned through in advance.
This boils down to that Alec is working way more than is healthy and has no possibility to collect car from the workshop, the bloke who helped getting it there was not arranged with to also bring it back and I am now looking at the car being stuck there, me stuck at Brands without car(arrive at LHR fri evening).

Long help request short : Can anyone/someone in the greater area go there, collect car and bring it up to Alec(outside of Manchester) today/tomorrow morning, or tomorrow afternoon get it down all the way to Brands and deposit it with on our of colleague teams for holding until me or Alec arrives? Costs incurred and time spent naturally to be agreed and paid  :)

The schedule is also very hungover friendly so it would imho be a shame not to (ab)use the opportunity.

New version issued yesterday(18th) but still unchanged for 2CV's
http://www.barc.net/competitions/race-meeting-timetables

Must say I find the timetable quite OK, late start on Sat and lots of time to fiddle with car if something is bad after qualifying, then fair amount of time between race 1 and 2 on the Sunday.

My point here is that if Paul R., Phil M. or Mark T. would have been present also this year I am fairly sure the weight-issue would have turned out differently than it did, since neither is one who hesitate to step in and will not back down, the social consequences be ........

What I am most curious about is what will be the lessons learned for the club from this incident? Since right now there is a very obvious uncertainty introduced for the future ie : will the uncertainty remain unchanged, will the book be re-written giving some guidelines on acceptable exceptions(ie fix ABCD before next race, ELSE get DQ) or will there be much more strict controls during scrutineering to ensure less likelyhood of tech. infringements?
Imho the least desirable option is to move forward without some change(s) compared to current situation.

This being clubracing and me being swedish I lean to have some soft interpretation(as done this WE) also written down to make sure its then explicit ie -> "In case of minor infringements these can be taken up for an immediate majority vote amongst all active participants".

Since I was one of originally 6(or 7?) cars pulled and only made it above the limit by the silliest of margins(scale varied between 0.0 and 0.5 above legal) in the 2nd weighing I am surely also entitled to stating my opinion.

At the time I found it highly unlikely that so many 2CV's would be underweight and a downright shame if it would lead to exclusion of anyone, but in retrospect(yes yes, having gotten off the hook its easy to say) rules are called rules for a reason, else the whole book should be renamed to "technical racing guidelines".
[removed at chairman's request]
I find it odd that the race-director did not get called in, or that the scrutineers made sure a very thorough examination and re-calibration of the scales was performed, but that is obviously all within the discretion of the person(s) responsible for the technical sign-on? There is now a precedent set for the future, which is not very nice...

Having said this, on the 2nd weighing on Sat afternoon my car was 656-656.5 kg, on Sunday morning(ie car untouched from previous evening) we put in almost precisely 8 litres of petrol = 5.8-6 kg then rolled down to the scales and(incl helmet) did the whole thing again. Now the scales showed 664-665.5 DEPENDING on how the car was aligned within the white markers. Ie if the car was always within the white stripes but angled slightly different the weight shown went apart with as much as 1.5 kg...not to mention that if the weighing was correct on the Sat, then an added 6kg would mean that the car should've weighed in at 662-662.5 so something is/was definitely iffy with said scales.

For me the logical conclusion is that ones car should never to be closer to the limit(if pre-weighing and extrapolating) than 3-4 kg's, else you may find yourself being a very UNlucky person the next time we all get pulled onto the scales.

Christer

I guess that, compared to my experience from 2012 1st race-meet, I should feel happy but for some reason the joy just cannot seem to arrive!
I mean, last year I got stuck in Amsterdam in transit and had no chance of arriving before midday Sat. Last WE I instead due to <insert various rude words> missed out on qualifying, but was at least allowed to start in both races, albeit from the back...

I then met the car I drove in 2012 24H in a rather unexpected way in the 2nd race so all-in-all I now feel persecuted by a higher power.
Looking forward, hmmmmm, well last year my 2nd race-meet I got DQ:ed for illegal chassis, meaning that the 2013 2nd race-meet "must" become a more joyful experience than the 2012 one.

I just hope the "more joyful" is not along the lines of what I had last WE at Donington but will actually see me qualifying AND finishing in both races WITHOUT any major issue or accident, plus being allowed to keep the results(whatever they may be) ::)

Many thanks to Alec for helping out with transport and mechanics, Sammie for taking time to fiddle with the carb and Merv&Tim for just being very helpful and friendly, thank God I got an easygoing and cheerful disposition else I do not know if I can take much more of this.

Most amusing was the look on all marshals faces when I drove onto the MG's qualifying-session, this to complete my mandatory 3 laps.

Hi, i personally agree to 100% with 11 am being the better starting-time since it made for a lot less tiredness come race end, it also gives everyone a more relaxed time with packing up and departure.
Thought the Minis were a nice addition and its also adding a bit to the complexity with having vehicles doing a fair bit more speed down the straights. I found the Euro-class 2cv's trickier in the regard that they were loads quicker down the straights, but seemed to struggle more with speed through the corners.

Much praise to you the organizers of the radio, webstream etc possibilities to follow the race live!
And a general big thanks to all, drivers and crews alike, for being friendly to us foreigners ;)

Car #44(whitwell, Nick Patons 2nd car) is looking for 2 drivers, having had precisely that number of drivers backing out in the last week and a half for workrelated reasons. Its kinda urgent since either I will have to get the manpower up to 3 drivers or not enter the car, which would be a shame seeing how fantastic I did last WE at Croft, trailing Alecs fastest racelap with a mere 0.05 seconds.
So basically the car is good for fastest racelap with the right driver. Which i was until 5th lap when Alec proved me wrong ;)
Car is good for a top 5 or better, assuming no dodgy stuff happens and everyone driving is fairly equal in speed.
PM pls if interested, price for sure not the cheapest but about the same as the other wellsorted cars run by the big teams.

Else by Sunday I will be in the market for a seat, with about the same aim as above  ;D

Up until now I did not know that me and James Sutcliffe was one team, that makes it extra ironic that he T-boned me on the exit of esses  :P
Of course it was a comfort not to have the most damaged car in our team so I guess I might also be grateful for James' valiant effort

Christer