Anyway Steve “Moggy” Mogg in his Griff 500, Pete Ash (Griff 500) and John “GetCarter” Carter (V8S) competed on Saturday with Shelagh Ash (Griff 500), Moggy and me (Steve “the Picnic” Thomas – don’t ask, it’s long and complicated and you really needed to be there to understand) in my Vixen competed on Sunday.
Shelsley is a fantastic venue with historic and charming paddocks on top of stunning scenery. Oh, the hill you may ask; well it’s 1000 yards of steep (1 in 9) narrow tarmac. The first 500 yards has a few ‘sort of’ corners (more kinks really), then two 90 degree bends, one |
after the other (Esses) followed by 400 yards of dead straight run to the finish line. It really suits more powerful cars than my little Vixen. In his Griff, Moggy says he has to use the brakes for some of the kinks on the way up to the Esses. Personally I think he’s just not trying hard enough. Me on the other hand, travelling a touch more sedately, didn’t need to touch the brake pedal until hitting the first Ess. Lift slightly for the second Ess and then sit back and wait for the line to go past. For me it really is about carrying max speed through the Esses so that exit speed is as high as possible. There’s not much else I can do really.
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Anyway, to the detail.
Saturday morning was very cold and a little windy. First practice and everyone drove fairly conservatively with Moggy posting a 40.14, Pete 43.02 and GetCarter 40.96. It was very slippery at the top Esse and you don`t want to spin there as the track is only 13` wide. Second practice times all improved with Moggy putting in a 35.84, Pete 38.84 and GetCarter a 38.50. |
Over lunch it got progressively colder with a wind blowing in across the Teme valley. But T1 times improved again with Moggy putting in a 33.68, Pete 37.94 and GetCarter a 37.92.
Final run and Moggy didn’t improve due to a ‘moment’ at Crossing. Pete quoted ‘brainfade’ as an excuse for no improvement but GetCarter shaved another 2 tenths to put in a 37.77. This gave Moggy 25 points followed by Pete and then GetCarter. The bar now beckoned to plan for tomorrow over a pint of the local brew. |
Sunday started with a few minor hic-ups. Firstly the Vixen ran out of fuel whilst warming the engine before the first practice run. Very odd as the gauge was reading just over 1/4 which is where I start every event. That’ll be another job on the list for next week. Moggy’s first practice run started with some smoke from the engine bay on the start line. By the top this had increased significantly causing a touch of concern. However it turned out to be the dipstick tube having rubbed on the manifold plate causing a hole from which a small amount of oil had seeped on to the manifold – nothing serious that would affect the rest of the day.
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Moggy’s first practice run of 35.09 led the way with Shelagh and me right on his tail with 44.51 and 42.95 respectively. OK, not quite right on his tail. 2nd practice saw Moggy shave another 1.2 seconds, Shelagh found ¾ second and I found a second. All going in the right direction.
First competitive run in the afternoon and Moggy showed us he was now getting serious with another 1.5 seconds off his second practice run. He was clearly worried by Shelagh and me!! In fairness Shelagh also found another 1.5 seconds and I found a second, even though I fluffed the start. |
Final run and Moggy maintained a similar time, Shelagh found another second and I got the start sorted to shave another ½ second.
So to everyone’s surprise (not), Moggy took the honors and 25 points with me and Shelagh someway behind. But it was a highly enjoyable day, no major problems and some good banter.
So to everyone’s surprise (not), Moggy took the honors and 25 points with me and Shelagh someway behind. But it was a highly enjoyable day, no major problems and some good banter.