Tel's Tales Issue 063 Harewood May 2016
Entry posted by Terry Everall
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TEL's TALE's 063/16
Harewood Hillclimb 7 & 8 May 2016
This is the only hllclimb I usually do as it is 25mins from where I live, its in god's own county and I used to spend lots of time when I was about about 16 yrs old watching along with crowds of approxiately 1000 to 2000 people. How times have changed! Even the RAC rally used it as a special stage and its other claim to fame is that its the longest hillclimb in England.
Saturday
Eight speed series guys were entered for both Sat and Sun although Mark Schlanker did not turn up until Sunday morning. For Dave Richings and Martin Harvey it was a first visit tio the hill and I think they enjoyed the weekend. Early issues were that I appeared to have a slow puncture in my right rear slick and Mark Anson pulled the wires out of his trailer connection as he forgot to unhook the connector. Luckily I had a wiring diagram available and over the weekend we put it all back together so he wasnt pulled up by PC Plod on his way home...that would be embarrassing! Due to the British Hillclimb guys being at the event practice and runs were unpredictable in terms of when we would run but as the weather was fantastic nobody seemed too bothered apart from our early finish on Sunday afternoon when we could easily have had a third timed run. Stephen Herbert and Sally turned up to spectate as did John Hoyle who is still wanting to test the mods on his car before coming out again. P1 went ok for everyone but the track was a little bit green. P2 saw everyone knock a couple of seconds off their times as the track gor warmer and a bit of rubber was laid down.
Some early morning banter saw us looking at Mark Anson's purple OMS and his matching overalls. We were all very impressed when we saw that he was not wearing his speed series T shirt but a perfectly matching purple polo shirt …. he even had a small purple note pad in his hand (for recording secret details and car settings, times etc ) We all took the P a bit but then, not to be outdone, Matt Turner showed us that his carbon fibre helmet had orange padding inside and he was using orange work gloves...both in line for the “poser award”
Our T1 was announced at about 1500hrs so we all got helmeted and belted only to sit in our cars for at least 35mins as we had been called too early. I fell asleep twice but avoided snoring too loudly.
After T1 I was quickest with 60.89 secs followed closely by Matt Turner on 61.10secs in class G but we were both well off target time. Keith Adams ( who was quickest through the speed trap) was leading Martin Harvey with 64.46secs in class D. Andy Hargreaves was pushing hard on 62.93 secs whilst Mark Anson n his OMS was having his own battle with Graham Millar in his amazing Mk 2 Escort. T2 followed fairly quickly and Dave Richings got down to 69.25secs in class A1, Martin Harvey was pleased with his 66.05secs but was beaten by Keith on 64.46secs. Matt pulled out a great drive to easily beat me with a time of 58.97 which was very close to the record. Mark was getting to grips with the OMS and went well, ending with a 62.34secs whilst Graham showed how to slide the Escort through the corners and finished with a best of 65.99secs but Andy Hargreaves ended up in the kitty litter (gravel trap) exiting farmhouse. Matt was very pleased with his well deserved win (revenge) for my win at three sisters earlier in the season.
Sunday
Mark Schlanker arrived with his new OMS to compete against Mark but frst he had to change a broken halfshaft which looked a stright forward job. He was also a bit worried about a high revs missfire which he suffered from at his last event. The day went well but finished early after 2 practices and 2 timed runs on a very dry and warm day. We had Nick Algar, Paul Aspden, Howard and Alex Gaskin supporting us as well as John Hoyle again. Everyone was pushing much harder today including the newcomers. and Graham survived an excursion into the gravel trap at the very fast and difficult at Quarry bend. Apart from lots of gravel the car was fine!. Dave Richings with a best of 68.94secs and Martin Harvey was pleased with getting down to 64.27secs even though Keith improved and got down to 63.35secs. Andy Hargreaves stayed on the black stuff today , in his Yamaha R1 car, and finished on 62.97secs. I had given myself a good talking to overnight and drove more agressively to beat Matt with a good 59.15secs against Matt's best of 59.52secs. Mark Anson won the battle of the OMSes and finished with 60.76secs as he got to grips with the car and its handling. Mark Schlanker had a good day and recorded 64.14 sec on his first timed run but was slower on T2
Due to his off in T2 Graham had to settle for a best of 66.73secs.
In summary I think it was a good weekend but next year we would get mor track time if it was not a British Hillclimb event and we might even get better paddock locations.
Terry Everall
Class G
competitor
-
1
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