Tel’s Tales

Blyton July  weekend 2018

After 3 weeks way down in the south of France with our motorhome I arrived back home with just enough time to get everything ready for an afternoon arrival on Friday to get set up and see the back end of the trackday. I was hoping for a great weekend of sprinting. The Friday was well supported as was the GF pub meal in the evening. Dave Cleaver and Simon Waterfall were getting in some practice for their double drive and it was good to see Tom Frankland in his immaculately wrapped car. At the end of the day  I helped someone ( forgot his name) to reassemble his jenvey throttle body linkage which had come adrift from the throttle linkage. We eventually held it together with a nylon cloths peg that Steve found in his boot and some thin tie wraps so I hope it got him home. I also had a look at Mick Skidmore’s suspension set up with John Loudon and we discovered that It seemed to have restricted wishbone movement due to the wishbone bolts being overtightened. We sorted that and then softened the shocks and ARBs at both front and rear. Some of us managed to sign on and then got scrutineering completed as well to make a more relaxed start for Saturday.

Saturday

First job after breakfast was to slap on the suncream ( factor 50) and attend the briefing ready for 2 practice runs and 4 timed runs on the Outer track and it was already very very hot and as soon as we put on our race overall’s (babygrows)it was going to be very uncomfortable. In P1 John Loudon was trying too hard and he went off at Bishops. I followed suit and ran so wide I even missed the wide outside yellow rumble strip. A few others were trying too hard as well and had problems staying within the track limits. For me the next 4 hours were a nightmare. I got in the car ready for P2 and guess what?…. the bl**** thing would not start! It turned over ok but no spark and no fuel. With the help of Andy Hargreaves, John Hoyle, Steve Butcher and our kid we checked all circuits and changed the ECU, cam sensor, 2 relays, coils , plugs and everything else we could think of but nothing worked so it was game over. Anyway some people had a good day and after changing Mick Skidmore’s suspension he achieved a PB and beat Paul Dew (aka Tigger). Iain Hooker was out in the Andy Bates beautiful Arion S2 and went well but was only on cheap slicks so he could have been faster with better rubber. Chris King was enjoying his first sprint and getting quicker all the time. Keith Adams went well again in class D and Stephen was trying hard to keep up to him. Adam Phelps was blasting around in the family Busa and Garry Bunn was out in his Cosworth engined car double driving with Derek Hodder and having their usual battle as Del’s engine is still being rebuilt.

During Saturday and Sunday Siltech Racing ( Dennis and Andy Silman) had a display of their fabulous fabricated products and other services offered. They had a lot of interest and we are appreciative of their support of the speed series and competitors etc.

Saturday night saw Ian Told ( Tolfree)  BBQ Master and Chris King as the BBQ king cooking people’s burgers, sausages and steaks whilst we all enjoyed the club banter in the warm evening sun. Plenty of beers and wine were drunk and our non competing mates Luke Algar, Tim Nunn and Matt Turner were still singing at 0230hrs in the morning but luckily they were at the top end of the paddock.

Sunday

On Sunday a guy opposite me ( driving a blade engine MNR) in the paddock came over with a laptop and some diagnostic software and it suggested that my engine had a primary injector fault so I was goosed. Eventually after further checks by John Hoyle and Andy Hargreaves we decided that the power commander was at fault. Thankfully my big mate Stephen decided  that his older brother could double drive his car so at least I would get some track time.  Today it was the more technical Eastern circuit so the first half was going to give us the main problem as we got to know the corners and braking points. Before we started Paul Dew asked me  to look at his set up and like Mick Skidmore’s I believed both front and rear were set way too  stiff so we softened it off a lot ( shocks and ARBs) and guess what it worked and he beat Mick Skidmore to get his revenge. 

P1- I decided to be Steve’s tyre warmer but nearly outbraked myself into the first lefthander as I discovered that his brakes were not the best ( new pads have already been ordered.) 

In P2 Andy Hargreaves recorded a great time but he had missed out a complete corner so it did not count.. 

In the timed runs John Loudon spun and Andy Hargreaves hit a cone at Bishops and gave a few people reruns as a result. Ian Davenport broke his alternator so John Hoyle helped him remove it so he ran total loss all day with no problems. 

The best performances appeared to by Graham Frankland who scored 99.31 points, Simon Waterfall beat Dave Cleaver (who was sharing his car) and scored 99.96 points, Adam and Charlotte Phelps did well in class H and Keith Adams put in a cracking drive to score more than 100 points by beating the target time.

So for me a frustrating weekend but for the club another great event with all the usual club and paddock banter as well as help when problems arose. Thanks to John Williams and all the helpers. I am already looking forward to next year!

Terry Everall

Class G Competitor