Tel's tales Issue 006- April 2013

Speed Series

Terry Everall

Speed Series Correpondent

3 Sisters Wigan

The first 2 rounds down south had hightened the anticipation for the first northern round and we all hoped for dry weather and a bit of warmth. The date in April seemed miles away at the start of the year but it came as no surprise that final preparations for several competitors was a last minute job just like every year. In my case the newly built race spec blade posed a few problems with matching the mbe ecu with the engine crank sensor and the engine cranking speed. In the end it produced extra power on Daytuner's rolling road and it was necessary to install a slave battery to use 24volt starting until some new software solves the cranking problem. I also fitted new Playskool ARB's to produce a softer bar than before due to having a lightweight car. I even checked the acoustafil silencer fill and was amazed that it looked just as good as it did at the start of last season. Matt Turner is still not quite ready but Andy Hargreaves made it ok as did Derek Hodder. A late change was Tim Nunn coming into class G with his refreshed blade engine due to Richard James's car not being quite ready and he was supposed to be double driving.

Prior to the event early weather forecasts said dry and 19deg but by Thursday it was looking like rain and 9deg so it was not looking good. So up at the ungodly time of 0500hrs and on the road from home in York by 0600hrs with car and all spare parts etc including waterproofs. Met brother Steve on M62 near Leeds to travel in convoy with weather looking a bit iffy and dark black clouds.

So, down to the event itself which kicked off at 1000hrs with a few new faces to 3 sisters including Stephen Herbert (who was seen legging it round the track because he did not see my Blog on how to drive the track!) and Andrew Lowe in class B. First and second practice was wet and the track was cold so the times were not impressive but the slides and the lack of grip was entertaining. Keeping the car on track and in one piece was definitely the best course of action and all the Westfields managed it. Even Steve Everall managed to keep all his wings attached to the car.

The first timed run was before lunch and the fresh tyres/new slicks came out in classes G and H.

T1 still saw a damp cold track but in class G Tim put in a storming run of 44.89sec to lead the field closely followed by myself and John Hoyle with Andy Hargreaves in the R1 car, Stephen Everall ( car lightened by 40kgs!) and Stephen Herbert chasing hard. Del's car was being double driven by Garry Bunn again and had starting problems on P2 but they both managed to put in times before it returned to the paddock with an obvious problem which is suspected as being a main or big end bearing. More late night work to get it ready for Aintree hopefully but it ended a disappointing day for them. As the day progressed the slick organisation of Longton & District motor club came up trumps and we eventually got 7 timed runs in drying conditions so that it was evident that the last runs would be critical. John Hoyle dominated class D eventually achieving 45.59secs against the target of 46.08secs hence setting a new record on his Avon ZZR tyres. Andy Hargreaves got within 0.7secs of the record despite a sticking throttle and a few hairy moments. It was good to see Kevin Jones out again in the turbo busa but the gremlins hit and he struggled with a wiring/fuelling problem finishing up with 51.60secs.

Marshall Rowland was enjoying his car heater earlier in the day and flew round in the Elise ending up with 52.07secs just outside the record. Andy Lowe had 5 runs in the 53secs range ending a good day on 53.38secs on a new track to him. The two Stephens battle ended with Everall just pipping Herbert on the last run with 48.22secs ( new record) against 48.51secs. In class G times were coming down all day but Tim just had the edge on every run by about 0.2secs on average with both of us looking hard at the class record(target time). The last run saw Terry (me) away first and taking 3^rd gear rather than 2^nd over Cowards summit. For once it was a smooth run and no problems and as I finished I punched the air as I saw 43.35secs on the clock which broke Tim's record. Tim was straight behind me but I did not see his time. Mark Anson had watched us both and went over to Tim but I still didn't know how quick he had gone. As Mark walked back to me he said I had won …..... but only by 0.01secs. Hell's bells that was unbelievably close and whilst being over the moon I did feel that Tim had been robbed. In the end it turned out that I had also got FTD so that was a great start to the season. John Hoyle was the biggest points scorer setting a new record with 45.59secs. Cant wait for the next event and see watch the new engine is like on a long track like Aintree.

Hope I haven't missed anybody out of my report and hope to see you all in the paddock.

Terry Everall

Speed Series Commentator

(Class G competitor)