Tel's Tales Issue 035- Blyton July 2014
Entry posted by Terry Everall
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Tel's Tales 035– Blyton Park 12th and 13th July 2014
Well I don't know where to start really as there was so much going on it was hard to record or remember all the good and bad bits. Firstly I have to say that as our own WSCC organised event this was very well managed and executed by Nick Algar and all the team of volunteers to which are thanks go are offered. Steve and myself set off early Friday afternoon to get settled in before the rush of competitors. It was good to see lots of Westfields blasting around the inner circuit on their trackday and for once the weather was hot and dry so I even had my shorts on which was not a pretty sight! Friday night saw the arrival of Richard Kerr with the long awaited supercharged duratec that he has been putting together with Luke Algar from Playskool. Luke, Nick and family were flying back from a family birthday in France so several of us got stuck in and helped big Rich finish the car off ready for scrutineering the following morning. It has to be said that there was still quite a lot to do........ I found some thin ally sheet to fabricate an alternator heat shield as well as helping to fit bulkhead panels and the scuttle and some careful use of black duct tape etc.... it kept us from the beer for a while!. Paddock parking was a bit tight in places but nice and friendly and several families were camping in the middle of the large grassed area. Pete Goulding was missing after his car suspension/ brakes fell apart whilst out on the road last week but he still turned up to spectate. Several guys went to the local pub with Phil Nicholls acting as taxi driver in his chip fat guzzling Landrover. Most of us managed to walk the track and remind ourselves just how tricky this track really is and how committed and accurate you have to be into the corners on this fast circuit which would be tackled by a full 125 entry.
Saturday
I think there were 6 Class A, 5 ClassB, 2 Class C, 3 Class E, 6 Class D,4 Class F, 5 Class G, 2 Class H and 1 Class J2 car, so a great turnout. Lee Smith's car seemed ok after we had tightened up a water hose to cure a leak as well as putting the alternator belt back on his crank pulley and new alternator which kept throwing it off all weekend as it was not aligned correctly. Lee's excuse was that he was too busy installing his new Cateringvan 6 speed box. Richard and Luke passed scrutineeringok and were seen to be tossing a coin to see who would break the car first... sorry I meant drive it first and experience the wallop from the supercharger.
Practice saw Dave Cleaver showing us the way and Stu Hill frightening the culprits in class G which included Mark Anson (back in the fold) who was suffering a bit from binding front brakes. Lee's belt flew off again and the Tricky (aka Richard) brought it back in one piece to be refitted AGAIN! Drivers were trying hard to stay between the white lines and not have 4 wheels off as well as avoid the hares and rabbits crossing the track. The new guys in class Aand B were realy having good battles as indeed they did on Sunday.
Into the 3 timed runs and the competition hotted up as the guys in G and H put on newer rubber to get every last bit of grip. In class H Del's car suffered a terminal failure of the geartronics ECU controlling gear shifts so the only managed 1 run with Gary beatig Del by just 0.30sec. They were loaned a car by Justin and drove back to Garry's place in Derby to rip the ECU out of Gary's car and get it replaced ready for Sunday. In class A the improving Jason Brown drove well to take first with 73.43secs with James Alexander allowing his mighty crossflow to get him to second closely followed by Dave Richings, Craig Spooner, Barry Francis and John Williams. Class B was blitzed by Phil (vodka jelly) Nicholls (aka Filfan) with an impressive 68.91secs which beat all the class D cars except John Hoyle.. Martin Harvey drove well to get second with 72.07secs followed by Lee Smith, John Walters (Shaggydo) and Christian James. In class E Paul Aspden was struggling to get on the pace against Andy Hargreaves but the guy out front by miles was Adrian Clinton Watkins in the unique 1800cc Duratec he has just completed and he won with 65.83secs to smash the class E record. Andy Hargreaves tried so hard that on T3 he missed the finish and cocked up the timing. Class D was a great battle and John Hoyle won with 66.33secs followed by Matt Hillam,, Howard Gaskin, Keith Adams, Steve Everall, Stephen Herbert and Michael Skidmore who all had their own battles in the group. In F Dave Cleaver won with a great time of 64.56 secs after removing his rear carbon wing on a cone. Rich Kerr shad with a spin after the finish on T3 and was just pipped by young Algar with 66.31secs whilst David Birch had only one run due to technical problems I think. Stu Hill tried hard in G and had a spin during T2 as he attacked Bishop's bend too hard, I broke the record on T3 with 65.26secs but nutter Nunn spun but had already beaten the record to win with an impressive 65.04secs. Matt Turner drove well with 66.63secs chased by Stu Hill and Mark Anson who was a bit short of seat time. Paul Morcom in his immaculate Merlyn had a good battle in his class.
Fastest Westfield was Dave Cleaver and he was 5th overall, Tim Nunn 6th and me 7th overall so pretty impressive performance against some quick cars.
So due to John Fisher's paddock control and the Jane Algar and Jane Loudons efficient recording of results we had a great day and got in 5 runs and all retired for vodka jelly or vodka gin as well as getting the cars ready for tomorrow and nursing our red sunburned faces....what a day!
My day was complete when I saw a T shirt that said “ Racing is living- everything before or after is just waiting!”
Sunday
Two practice and two timed runs today:
Del's car was back running with gear selection possible again, John Loudon was showing off his new orange onesey complete with a brimmed hat and he looked like one of the flowerpot men! Overnight we had heavy rain but the weather cleared and we had a dry warm day. Practice was ok but Phil Nicholls had all 4 wheels off in P2 and Matt Turner repeated last year's feat by removing his rear wheel arch on a cone again and also dented his silencer. Stu Hill took my advice and lowered his tyre pressures and I helped free off Mark Anson's brakes to cure the binding issue. Lee now had a new alternator belt as his other one gave up the struggle and snapped in bits.
In the timed runs Paul Aspden unfortunately had 2 failed runs so did not score. Saturday times were hard to beat and this may have been due to the strong crosswind. Class A was won by Jason Brown again on 73.37secs, class B order was same as yesterday Phil, Martin and Lee in that order. In D John Hoyle's 65,44sesc wrapped it up from a fast drive by Howard Gaskin who beat Matt (Fatbloke) Hillam and Keith Adams chased hard by the two Stephens. Class C was won by Graham (gluten free) Frankland on 72.65sesc so he was well pleased. ACW won E easily with 66.15sesc against Andy Hargreaves(GOM) 69.85secs but he was worried about his noisy R1 after its rebuild. Class F gave Dave Cleaver a chance to show how fast he was again with a win on 64.40 secs being fastest Westfield and 5th overall and Luke sneaked a win over Rich to make it a double. In G Tim won with 65.30secs, with a massively improved Mark Anson taking second on 65.54secs and me on 65.81secs, Matt on 65.91secs and Stu on 66.65secs so all quite close in this very competitive class. Gary Bunn pipped Del and took the win as well as 6th overall. Paul Morcom also won his class on the day.
So there you have it, a well organised and run event that we should all be proud of. If I have missed something or someone I am sorry but there was a lot going on and sometimes I have to keep an eye on my own battle. For those that were not there it was a great spectacle and a fantastic track to drive. Let's hope that whoever takes over fro Nick can get a good team in place and repeat this next year.
Terry Everall
Speed Series Correspondent
Class G competitor
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