Rounds 18 & 19 - Loton Park, 4th & 5th August
All the Small Things
It’s the small things that make the differences. When the margins are so close throughout the field, minor adjustments in technique, mechanicals and mindset can dramatically alter the results. Loton Park is probably the fairest hill we go to. Harewood, with all its twisties, suits the “pesky Vixens”. Shelsley, with an incredible incline and effectively only two corners, needs power! At Loton, with technical sections, a long drag, and big stopping zones, cars from any era have a perfectly good chance of winning. As demonstrated this weekend. |
The contenders at the top of the ranking were Steve Mogg (high powered Griff), Alan Hugh Davies (medium powered Griff) and Iain Stallard (pesky Vixen). Right from the off, AHD and Moggy were slugging it out. This was a revenge match carried over from Wiscombe early in the season. Iain was still a little ring rusty on Saturday morning, but started well, and improved all day.
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Going into the final timed run of the day, AHD was 0.01 ahead of Moggy, with Iain a chunk behind. Iain was first up the hill, and knocked 0.8s off, putting him 0.01 ahead of AHD; so the first three stood at 25, 24.99 and 24.98 points with the other two yet to go. AHD always claims that practice runs should count to the total – maybe because he always seems to ease off
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towards the end of the day. This time was no different, so still just 0.02s between the top three. Moggy has one mode – full attack. It either culminates in fast times, or falling off. This time, it was a fast time. Over 0.7s off, which meant he won be a reasonable margin in the end, but frustratingly, was only 0.04s off Paul Edwards’s all-time record.
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These three were at it again on Sunday. Going into the final runs, Iain was in the lead, followed by Moggy and AHD. Uncharacteristically, Iain didn’t improve, AHD did, and Moggy’s “full attack” was fast, but not quite as fast as yesterday. Victory to Iain, then. Moggy second this time beating AHD by just 0.06s.
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The midfield battle was contested by a mix of cars. Geoff Stallard double driving the “pesky Vixen”, Shunter and Jo Briars in the Chimarsala, Stevie Dennis in the 1600M and Dave Barrowclough in his Chim 500. Stevie D suffered yet another diff-failure. He complained that mate John built engines that were too strong for any known
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differential. It’s a good job he’s a good cook though, as their annual romantic campsite meal didn’t need a drinks curfew this year. (The rest of us congregated at a local pub, for BBQ food, live entertainment, and just one or two pints!)
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Geoff couldn’t quite match Stallard Jr, but finished fourth, (on both days). Shunter got within 0.04s of his Personal Best on Saturday, and finished fifth, (on both days) while Jo just pipped Dave (but not on both days).
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Rob Pack made a small change to his entry – while the programme said he’d be in his Chim 400, the sale of that to fund another project meant he arrived in his Sag. Same size engine, but slightly different power delivery. Although he said he “would take it
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steady”, he knocked lumps off his time all weekend, and finished just behind the midfield pack.
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Honours were even in the Northants contingent. Richard Blacklee was ahead on Saturday, but despite an improvement the next day, Jim York sneaked ahead on Sunday. Paul Moakes split the two on Saturday, but had to split on Sunday to pack boxes for his imminent house move.
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Steve Thomas joined us on Sunday in another “pesky Vixen”. Common advice to newbies is: get there early enough to walk the course. Not only does this allow you to convert all those hours watching YouTube runs into reality, it also gives the smallest of hints – especially at Loton, where all the
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turning in points and apexes are courteously marked on the track for the hill school (if you haven’t done it, do the one at Loton, it’s tremendous). Steve didn’t arrive early enough to walk the course, but enjoyed learning it during the day, making big improvements.
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Peter Ash has been fettling the car over the past year – it was good to see that it paid off as he was the only competitor to achieve a PB on Saturday. Handing the reins over to Shelagh for Sunday, she complained that she couldn’t see the corners. A spare cushion was sequestered, boosting her
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visibility and confidence, finding Shelagh a massive 6s on her final run.
What a difference an inch makes! Shunter (Photography: Shelagh & Pete Ash) |