Tel's Tales Issue 049 -Snetterton May 2015
Entry posted by Terry Everall
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Tel's Tales 049– 2015 Season- Snetterton 16th and 17th May 2015
This venue is quite a long haul for most people but the one and threequarters laps on a wide and technical tracks run by Borough 19 is a great attraction and the trip is now better following completion of the A11 upgrade. There were 13 of us there including Matt Hillam and Paul Morcom in the J classes and it was good to see John Loudon back out with his rebuilt engine. The weather forecast was promising but as we left the bar on Friday night, after an earlier trackwalk it was worrying to see it start raining. The rain even kept me awake in trailer but it did stop at about 2am! Most of us had signed on when we arrived Friday and incredibly I had been scrutineered by 0715hrs on saturday morning. Colin Way was out in the ex Mark Stanton car which was re-bodied in purple.
Saturday
P1 saw most people coming back into the paddock shaking their heads as they had found that there was no grip at all on the dry track as it was cold and no rubber had been laid down. I was last to and can confirm that the reports were correct as it was an interesting and somewhat sideways drive as the oversteer kicked in everywhere. Most of us were about 10 percent off the target times and it looked like it was going to be a challenge.
P2 saw a better grip level but even so John Loudon showed us how to do a 360deg spin at the fast Hamilton corner and then he stalled it as well. Steve Everall outbraked himself at the end of the start finish into Agoustini corne but just made it. John Hoyle was on a good run but caught the car in front so he just practiced sliding it, rally style, around the corners.
T1 luckily produced a cleaner and drier track so it was game on. However, Gary Bunn was thwarted as his water pump pulley came off and he lost it somewhere and dropped ater on the track. Mike Skidmore threw his alternator belt and over the weekend he got through quite a few as even when we realigned his pulleys there still seemed to be a problem which cured itself by Sunday afternoon but we don't know why. A lunchtime track search found Gary's lost pulley and he and Mick Cooper set to and refixed it quickly and my rather large centre punch came in handy. That was not Gary's only problem as he began to suffer from an intermittent fuel pump problem as the runs for T2 commenced. Everyone was now pushing hard and still finding that the high speed Hamiltons and Palmer corners were not easy and a variety of lines were tried. Whilst Mike Skidmore was looking at how Steve's upper alternator bracket was attached we noticed that Steve's was split in half!. A couple of washers and that was fixed and it lasted the weekend. In class D John Hoyle beat the target time with a great run of 91.49secs (target 91.90secs) and I was doing ok with 93.56secs (target 92.94secs) in class G. Steve Everall could not better his first run of 97.58secs which was a PB and he was leading Stephen Herbert on 102.10secs and Simon Broadbridge ran well with 103.53secs as did Mike Skidmore with 106.63secs.
T3 was the final run due to the British Sprint and their top 12 run offs etc.( AKA faffing around!). Stephen Herbert was pleased to improve to 100.00secs and Peter Goulding blasted round to record his best of the day wit 94.98secs and John Loudon put in his quickest run with 96.61secs despite some issues with his brakes. John Hoyle threw it off at the Hairpin and circumnavigated the bollards and the tyre wall but went four wheels off.
Final times achieved
Class A Simon Broadbridge 103.53secs
Class C John Loudon 96.61secs
Colin Way 108.13secs
Class D John Hoyle 91.49secs new record/Fastest Westfield
Steve Everall 97.58secs
Stephen Herbert 100.00secs
Mike Skidmore 106.63secs
Class F Pete Goulding 94.98secs
Gary Bunn 96.55secs
Gerry Houghton 100.16secs
Class G Terry Everall 93.56secs
Class J Matt Hllam 82.68secs
Paul Morcom 103.14secs
Sunday
Despite being the last lot to leave the bar on Saturday we were all up early and ready to enjoy the sun and tackling the track again. I had got over the embarassment of nearly falling off the fence as we accessed the track last night. The track was found to be much better for grip and P1 times were good compared to yesterday. In P2 John Hoyle recorded his best run so far with 91.80sesc and I was a second behind on 92.74secs. As Gary Bunn was at the start line his fuel pump failed to start up so I raced back to my trailer and got a screwdriver and small hammer..... Off came the boot cover and I tapped the fuel pump gently and hey presto the car fired up. Mike Skidmore spun and showed us how to execute a 180deg spin which he claimed was caused by Steve giving him some “advice” on speed and gear choice through Oggies corner.
T1 saw John Hoyle go quickly but his clutch had gone so that was game over for him and robbed him of another record time. Gary's car kept running as Mick Cooper threatened it with a hammer again. T2 saw me, gary and Mike Skidmore record our quickest runs whilst John Loudon spun at the start/finish hairpin. T3 was good for the two Steve's with Steve Herbert at last getting under the 100secs again after his T2 run so he was very pleased with his first visit to Snetterton and Steve did a PB. Pete Goulding whacked in his best time as he chased points and this year his halfshafts survived. So we had a great weekend and the results were as follows:
Class A Simon Broadbridge 103.25
Class C John Loudon 95.85
Colin Way 107.86
Class D John Hoyle 92.43
Steve Everall 97.17
Stephen Herbert 98.78
Mike Skidmore 104.32
Class F Pete Goulding 93.77
Gerry Houghton 99.91
Gary Bunn 96.09
Class G Terry Everall 92.17 (new record) Fastest Westfield
Class J Matt Hillam 84.11
Paul Morcom 102.38
Terry Everall
Speed Series Correspondent
Class G competitor
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