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Tel’s Tales Rockingham Sunday 25th March 2018 So the miserable cold wet winter “closed” season was over and it was a return visit to the fast circuit at Rockingham. Despite the wet weather we have had recently the forecast was ok and so the drivers were looking forward to being out on track again despite the tarmac temperature being cold. I had only changed my engine oil and put a new set of radial slicks on the car but with Steve’s car we ended up changing oil, refurbishing the starter motor, welding up and repacking the silencer ( great service from Wunoff ), a lot of rewiring after a small incident with a wire shorting out on the block, plus a complete flush of the water system after we discovered a lot of creamy emulsion deposits floating in the header tank. This year both cars were going to ready well in advance but it actually a couple of days ….which is what happens every year. My other mission was to take a new set of Force rims to be delivered to Mick Skidmore via Craig Spooner and luckily I did not forget to take them. We decided to travel down on the Sunday morning which meant being up at 0430hrs and on the road at 0500hrs for the 127 mile trip and this was made even worse as the clocks went forward so it felt like 0330hrs. I did not think it had affected me much until after driving 5 miles I noticed I was still wearing my indoor Crocs and had forgotten my trainers. The convoy of 2 arrived at 0740hrs and we rolled up to our garage and met Craig Spooner, Mark Bishop, Matthew Haynes, Pete Goulding, Steve Carpenter and Roz Kennett and I handed over car stickers and SS competitor cards. The scrutineering was so slow that Steve and I missed out on the convoy run but the report was that the track was very wet so that was not good news. P1 did not produce any dramas for us but whoever described the track as a bit wet wants a good talking to! I had looked at the track from a distance and it looked to be drying and not too bad but in reality it was lethal. I had my new slicks on and the understeer was unbelievable and I wondered what the hell was wrong with the car. Clearly everyone else had similar problems as I still posted the fastest Westfield time of 92.88 secs with Steve in second with 97.65secs but my target was 74.31 secs so I was a bit concerned. P2 saw an improvement in track conditions as things dried out but it was still a bit tricky and a few spins and offs were slowing down ( it was mostly the Cateringvans that were having issues and they did have a big entry) the proceedings so we did not finish the practices until about 1300hrs. T1 started late and the lack of a good PA system and no proper paddock marshalling made getting ready at the correct time a bit of a gamble. The delay did have one benefit in that the track was now dry buy still cold as the sun struggled to get through the clouds. Times were beginning to tumble and get nearer to the targets so we all were looking to give it the full beans on the last run T2 saw improvements with most people setting their quickest time apart from Mark Bishop who was towed back to the paddock after an off as his throttle stuck wide open and he took a trip into the kitty litter. Apart from coming back with enough gravel in the car to lay a new path he was ok but he was baffled about what had caused the problem. In the end it was a good day for Pete Goulding in class J2 and we had 3 class trophy winners on the day. BestTimes Class A Mark Bishop 86.31secs Class B Matthew Haynes 84.27secs Class C Craig Spooner 81.85secs Class D Steve Everall 80.66secs Class G Terry Everall 74.45secs Class J2 Pete Goulding 68.35secs Terry Everall Class G Competitor

It's alive. Its been a bit of a Saga, but the guys at https://motorsport-electronics.co.uk/products/ignition-only-systems/nodiz-pro/ have been great. Swapped to the Webcon trigger wheel setup, much happier with that, QED were good and refunded on their kit. Rolling road booked for 14th April !

Thanks bud, glad to know you have my back, giggles, looking forward to seeing the car, with it's new hart ;-]

There one for sale here Can’t answer your questions on other make as I’ve never owned one, I nearly built a Dax Rush before I decided on Westfield. As for long journeys I find it perfectly comfortable even with JK seats, I quite often do 200 mile on a track day.

Yes it is now

The Umbrail pass when I did it wasnt tarmac all the way up which was hugely entertaining on the hairpins - maybe it is now , the Gavia just the south of Bormio is good as well although with Italian standards of road safety barriers ( None)

Perk of being in the British Sprint championship of which he is doing himself proud at the moment

My first Zetec Westfield cracked the thermostat housing on my first trip out. It is a very known and very real issue on Zetecs. If the car is local in Northants, do you want someone to help you view it?

click here to see wheel centre caps nowt to do with me but spotted it

We went to supercars of Southport at the weekend. OK, so there were 1 or 2 supercars, and a lot of Focus ST's, but there were a couple of little gems too. I think we got the most viewers, though the supercar drivers might disagree

.... and we're off, a bit like the Australian GP but with less surprises. Obviously this is the first posting so if there are any mistakes, please let me know and I will kick my own butt for you. Hope to see you all soon, Rockingham (R1) results BTW: Beat posting before Tel's tales once again (he's getting such a slow coach) Tiggs = 1, Tel = 0 Tiggs

Oooohhhh nice big turbo and booked in for custom exhaust 10th April

Steer clear of that one IMO

Both parts are fantastic and spectacular / something to cross off the bucket list, although there are much better driving roads with less traffic in the region the umbrail pass running up to the to the stelvio was beautiful and quiet with fast but tight flowing roads