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Tel's Tales 026 – 3 Sisters 6th April 2014 Some of the competitors had a few preparation problems before the event including Steve Everall not being able to find any polish for his car and having the rear of the tub resprayed after a shunt last year. Matt Turner was still waiting for a new clutch which seemed to have got lost en route. I had a panic when the car would not start and I quickly traced this to a battery at 12.2 volts which will not power the MBE ECU. Nick Algar was also working until 2330hrs on Sat night to get his Force ready for an early morning start. I woke up at 0330hrs to hear rain hammering down on the house roof so things did not look promising for the morning. Up at 0530hrs and away at 0545hrs without breakfast (no time and as a racing snake I needed to keep my weight to a minimum). As we got closer to 3 sisters and crossed the pennines the rain eased up and it looked a bit brighter. It was great to see a lot of the usual guys and new faces in the paddock and during the day many Westfield guys came to support us or just for the craic. After signing on we all got through scrutineering without problems and a brisk walk of the track showed that although the rain had stopped the surface was still very wet and practice was a bit hairy ( especially on slicks) with most of us posting times that were about 7secs or more slower than target times. Immediately it became clear that a few cars had problems but that always happens on the first event for most people. Steve Everall had a misfire which John Hoyle helped cure with a new set of plugs, John Hoyle was playing around with his new launch control and traction control gizmos, I could not use the flatshifter to change gear for some reason and this persisted all day, Nick Algar was having gear selection problems and eventually a clutch fluid pipe burst after an electrical fault blew a hole in it so he only did a practice. The worst issue was Matt Turner who initially bent the gear shifter rod and later the newly fitted clutch gave up the ghost in a cloud of smoke from the bonnet and that ended a frustrating day for him. We had 2 practice runs and then we managed 2 timed runs before lunch and on each run the track was getting drier but was never really ideal/dry with some patches of damp remaining. Indeed most cars looked like they had been involved in motocross or grasstracking as the were covered in water and mud spray so Del decided he had to wash is immaculate car between runs! Lee Smith, who visited the green stuff earlier on, nearly missed his curry and chips lunch and had to leave it in the trailer as he forgot we were having T2 before the break. Still, he is a young lad and maybe thinks food is better than sprinting but he will soon get his priorities right! Steve Wilson and Andrew Lowe ( who also took some good photos) were having a great time despite being new to the scene. In the end the times gradually came down and everyone had their best run as T2 just before lunch when the official description of the track was warm and damp. John Hoyle won his class closely chased by Stephen Everall and both got trophies. I just held off Tim Nunn to win the class and come 4th overall, Tim was 6th overall, Derek Hodder was 7th overall and John Hoyle 8th overall so quite a good result. Andy Hargreaves, Del and Marshall Rowland (in his Elise) had no competition in their classes which was a bit disappointing. The anticipation of an afternoon with lots of runs soon turned into the reality of steady rain and that ruin my battle with Tim Nunn and put a dampener on it for everyone. Some of kept going out to get some seat time but the conditions gpt worse so we had slower times and also some sideways action to amuse the spectators. Finally a few of us were left with repairs and mods to carry out before the next northern round at Croft on Easter Monday and we all hope it will be dry! Terry.everall@virgin.net Speed Series Correspondent Class G competitor

This brief film of Damon driving the Lotus 25 of Jim Clark (who was killed at Hockenheim in a formula 2 race on April 7th 1968). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtpPv4QIQX0 Clark had no need of screaming from the cockpit, leaping in the air on the podium, nor even raising a finger. He simply drove and won.

Happy Birthday Matthew, hope you have a great day, specially at your age!

Happy birthday sir!

You look like you have lost weight , certainly slimmer in the face !

Are they hair crimpers Paul..new hair style for Bond ??

MHR Matthew Bob

I have a small square stick on. It's not legal but I've never been stopped (in the 10 years it was like it in the UK)

Full size metal one but it is bent backwards at about 30 degrees due to hitting the lump at the end of the drive. I'm considering a stick on or a small one but don't fancy getting nicked, also wondered about breaking it off and just carrying it around, but of course i would never do that now it's on a public forum

Madonna impression - perhaps?

Happy birthday Matthew, enjoy the day!

You kept your birthday quite..... Happy birthday mate

Nice on chaps Sorry I didn't make it, I hope to be there for the next one

That's how it starts....

Cheers. Those Mega S2000 look tempting

Bit of back ground. I've been sprinting since around 2004 in a K-series S1 Elise then in a S2 111r Elise from about 2007, but in 2010 I became a dad and was getting married so the Elise had to go and sprinting was put on hold until funds and time would allow me to get out there again. Last year i managed to pursuade the wife that i should buy a new toy to get back to sprinting... after all we did now own a house with a garage and not having a car in there was obviously a crime! I knew i wanted something road legal as funds/wife wouldnt allow purchase of a trailer and tow car as well, but after having a go in my Dads Jedi mk4 single seater at one event i knew it had to be silly quick and a challenge to drive compared to the Elise which felt about as fast as a fiesta afterwards. After about 6 months of investigation and hunting through classifieds a Westfield Megabusa cropped up only 40mins away (huge bonus as most cars seemed to be 100s of miles away). The car was a little more expensive than I really wanted to pay, but it had everything I wanted from a road legal Sprint toy. 1300 hayabusa engine which shouldn't be under to much strain and has plenty of torque making road driving bearable, full fia roll cage and stupidly fast. So a deal was done and I collected the car late July... Perfect timing as the summer was glorious ideal for cruising around in my new toy. Unfortunately there were a few issues which needed sorting, a dodgy Speedo reading erratically and a vibration. Also before doing any event we'd need to give it a once overake sure everything was straight and safe. Good thing we did, the prop was missing a few bolts and the bolts which were there were only finger tight and not the right spec! Gulp! This explained the vibration and also the Speedo issue as the sensor had taken quite a few wacks. Every bolt we touched was loose on all corners of the car and the geo was all over the place. I think the car has just been a weekend toy for most previous owners so not maintained or checked over with the same vigour as a competition car. All this took time which meant i missed all the great weather, thankfully my retired dad was at hand to help out otherwise i'd probably still be putting it back together (Beesley sprint car automotive will open it's doors soon ha ha!)