Tel's tales Issue 008 - 27th April 2013

Aintree report :Speed Series & other gossip

Terry Everall

Speed Series Correspondent

Aintree 27^th April 2013

Terry Everall

Speed Series Commentator

(Class G competitor & SSOT

Well for me this was event number 2 and had a lot of the Yorkshire guys out playing including brother Steve , John Hoyle and Kevin & Paul Jones (first double drive this year). Early start from York at 0530hrs and joined Steve on M62 with our trailers heading east for Liverpool hoping for a sunny dry day and another FTD after my 3 sisters success. Well I did have an FTD but it stands for flat tyre day! Somewhere near the infamous Saddleworth moor, I was minding my own business listening to the radio 4 weather when, I suddenly heard a noise like I was on a concrete road suface rather than tarmac. Quick check in my mirrors and trailer looked ok and was still towing well but a closer look at nearside rear of car show a smoke so I pulled onto hard shoulder. Sure enough tyre was split on inner sidewall and knackered. Quick unload of boot and Steve and I just started to get out jack and spare wheel (yes my car has one thank god or I would have been goosed) when John Hoyle pulled up in front of me. It took us only slightly longer than an F1 pit crew to change tyre and we were on our way again. Thanks guys. The weather began to improve as we got closer to Aintree and it stayed good throughout the day apart from a couple of very light showers which did not affect the track. For those who dont know Aintree not only hosts the grand national but has a golf course and driving range inside the course as well as the old grand prix circuit which is used for the sprint. The outright record is still held by Nick Algar in his Gould Judd 2010. We all got through the scrutineering ok so I wandered up the paddock to have a chat with a few of the “circus”. Del and Gary were in action again after a new crank and bearings were fitted last week and John Williams was there but as I approached he was stood looking at his car holding his “nuts “ in his hand and an unwashed car. Enough said about what he was doing with his nuts at 0830hrs but there was no excuse for his dirty car so I wrote “wash me”on the rear boot but he ignored me... tut tut. When I got back to my paddock place Steve was warming his car up whilst scoffing more food (no change there then) but it was not running on all cylinders so it was out with all the plugs and bang a new set in which cured the problem. I glanced across at Stephen Herbert's car which was looking nice and I commented that he had a small k**b. His wife Sally looked a little red faced but had to agree especially when I pointed out how long Steve Everall's geark**b was!

The millions of Cateringvans had their own briefing and were apparently told not to worry about the Westfield times as they were just showing off and likely to be much quicker....

Conditions for practice were good and got better as the cars cleared away some of the dust and mud off the track and we did not have a headwind down the Railway Straight and finish. The close battle between Stephen Herbert and Stephen Everall started in practice and continued throughout the day with a lot of leg pulling and debate about the fastest line through the first right hander (Village) where the outside line was very dusty and lacked grip. I was pleased to open with a P1 very close to the target but on P2 I pushed too hard into Beechers and just managed to hold a wild slide. Marshall Rowland was out in the Sports Libre class driving very quickly and John Hoyle was making the best of his powerful engine and long diff down the straight. Gary Bunn and Derek Hodder were getting used to the wider tyres and suspension set up as well as having a technical problem with the water jetting used by their supercharged Honda but times were good. (They solved this later in the day.) The Jones boys missed first practice due to both front tyres losing pressure, i.e. they were flat and in second practice they were a little down on power with the turbo busa.

The silencer fell off Kevin Jones car for some unknown reason or maybe someone forgot to tighten the bolts up? (its just a thought I had). Despite the fact that we got a little bit of a headwind later in the afternoon the drier and cleaner track ensured that the times came down.

David Cleaver in F had some good runs finishing with 49.90secs and John Williams had a good day but his road going car was a bit off the pace. Marshall Rowland was out there and had some great starts and the Elise aerodynamics helped his terminal speeds ending with a best of 52.25secs aginst a target of 49.41secs

Several of us got reruns due to a problem with the timing but due to start line queues nobody got the advantage of warm tyres.

In the end John Hoyle broke the class record with 46.13secs (target 46.97secs) even with a windscreen on and I reduced (dare I say smashed??) the class G record down to 45.34secs from 46.61secs. Gary Bunn ended on 43.95secs with Del on 43.96secs !!!!!!!!!! both great times and so so close(target 43.88secs). Steve Everall on 49.83secs could not quite match Steve Herbert's 49.14secs but was struggling for terminal speed and rev limiter problems did not help

After the awards Steve, John and I got ready to set off for the convoy run home when guess what..... John jumped out of his car and pointed at my rear front trailer which was, guess what, flat! We set about pumping it up but were getting nowhere when I noticed that the top of the rubber valve was perished so it was on with the spare (deja vue) and away at last after another great day at a well run Aintree.

John Hoyle in the powerful redtop

Terry Everall

Speed Series Correspondent

aka “Tel's Tales”