Cadwell Park

[pbove]

Well, a small, but perfectly formed bunch assembled for a weekend of fun in the, er, mostly sun at Cadwell. Sadly we were short of the King of the Mounting who had to withdraw due to a bad back, and a bunch of people who decided that anything else was better than being at Cadwell..... oh and Paul who as we all know was on a free holiday.....

Practice
The track wasn't completely dry for qually, but it was mostly there although the times were fairly slow, due to probably a combination of a slightly damp track and wind (no, not the drivers.....). I managed to encounter quite a lot of traffic considering the length of the lap and the rather compact grid, but managed to get a couple of OK laps, way off my best. The car felt OK, but for some reason, I didn't feel able to really push, a problem I've had since getting the car back last year. In the end, Bill Cowley caught me and I was about to duck into his slipstream for a tow round when he saw through my cunning plan and backed off. So It was P1 and P3 for Bill, P2 and P1 for Mark and P3 and P2 for me, with the evergreen Rod Hill P4 for both races, his new front wing again working well.

Race 1
Obs they called us to the grid just as it started to rain properly..... would it last, did we have time to change..... what to do??? In the end, I changed to wets (thanks for the help Ed and Andrew) and was the last one into the collecting area. It turned out that half the grid were on wets and the other half on slicks. Lights out and I got a dreadful bogged down start and ended up behind Bill, Bob, who got away like a streak of lightening, Mark and Rod. Damn. I closed down Rod on and squeezed past between the two Charlies..... configure your own joke if you must.... and then closed down Mark. When I caught him it looked as though he had a puncture or something wrong with the offside rear wheel and, indeed he did, with the wheel not having been properly fitted during the change to wets. I crept past Mark between the two Charlies again, which was becoming a favourite spot for me.... and then set about closing down Mr Simpson. It took a lap or so before I managed to go around the outside at Mansfield to take 2nd. Bill by this time was in Louth having a comfy post race drink.... or may as well have been, so, given the volume of oil that had been laid on top of the water, I settled for a fairly comfortable 2nd place.

Race 2
The clouds were starting to build again, but this time we were more troubled by perspiration than by precipitation. I got a better start and went side by side with Mark through Copice and Charlies 1 before he got ahead on the entry to Charlies 2. I gave chase, but then the SC boards came out..... despite the car in question not being in a dangerous place (2/3rds of the way down the straight and on the left hand side). We trawled around looking very F1 but being fairly bored until the SC pulled off and we were up and running again for three laps. All in all a bit of a waste of time. Well done to Mark for the win and to Bill for giving spirited chase despite loosing a splitter....

So another long(ish) break until Donington where, hopefully, everyone will have finished their knitting and be ready to race again.

[tdriscoll]

A safety car? I didn't know that was possible in the 750 Formula!

[Conway]

We were rather hastily briefed on it being a possibility instead of red flags while we sat in our cars in the assembly area!

And I'm still not convinced that the briefing exactly matched the reality.

Just a shame we needed it at all. Martin now has three wheels on his wagon

[suebmick]

Thankyou for your race report Peter...we can only glean so much from watching Live Timing! But actually, we guessed most of what happened by watching the race before yours & then the 750s. Actually Peter, I think you'll find that your Freudian mind has changed Mick's nickname. Always been the King of the Mountain, as far as I know, unless his reputation goes before him!!

IT IS NOT NICE having the car on the trailer, the van packed & ready for a 4.30am set-off on Friday, only to realise that on Thursday, Mick couldn't get out of the car after a 5minute journey. The look on his face said it all, & anyone who's had a back "go" big-time will know what he was going through. There was not a hope in Hell of getting him into the van, let alone do a 3 1/2 hour journey there & back & pour him into my car 3 times. We managed to get him an emergency appointment with our (very good) osteopath on Friday morning so at least he could stand, but it'll be a few days yet before he's off the Naproxen & I allow him to bend at all! The car's still on the trailer & the van's still full & he's as bored as hell! We were both looking forward to it SO much. It's Mick's favourite circuit & I so wanted to see my car really FLY the Mountain. I can get it a bit light, but I don't fly. The car would've loved every minute!

But what a fabulous race on Saturday? Eh? Boy oh Boy did Bill show the field a clean pair of heels. Wowsers. I remember Mick doing the same a few years ago & it was awesome to watch the maestro at work & win by 37seconds from Young Bill C. Bill, it seems, showed the onlookers this year what awesome looks like. Well done, that lad. You are up there with the best, & we're proud of you & the Cowley team. Believe us when we say we will miss you both. In the paddock & on track. You have been a pleasure to know & we hope we will meet you at a track on 2 wheels for a spot of fun & knee-downs somewhere soon!!

A few battles going on by the looks of things through the field, & we must mention Ulrich Hilliam who seemed to be on fire through the weekend. Well done you! We should see you out more often. And a quick mention of Conway too....bet you had your mirrors full!

We thought either the heavens had opened on sunday as you all hit Charlies for the first time, or else the live timing had gone wrong. To suddenly go 1/2speed was a bit weird. And to learn this evening that it was a safety car? A what?? The only time I've seen one of those was in the Relay. Ok, better than a red flag. But by the sounds of it, was there any real need for either? Ah well, what happened, happened. New CoC and all that! And bad luck, Danny Ruta. I would think each & every one of us has missed a yellow flag or two in the heat of the moment, & especially at Cadwell! Smacky wristy is the norm, but rules is rules, I suppose.

So....as Peter says, we'll get the knitting finished, I'll finish redecorating the sitting room & stairs/hallway that I started at the weekend to keep myself busy (total mayhem reigns at the moment), & get our heads around some cupboard & shelving carpentry (!), & we'll see you at Donington. Hopefully.

Sue & Himself

[geofff]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a link to an in car video of the races? It was the wedding anniversary last weekend so I missed spectating. Happy wife happy life......

Ta

Geoff

[pbove]

I’ll be posting mine when I edit them in the next couple of days I should think.

[geofff]

Thanks Peter

[Martin Kemp]

I have a very short video of race 2

Martin

[geofff]

Hi Martin,

Were you alongside Conway for that one? I saw on his in car video, what looked like the front end of a Falcon, hit the rear of a red car (SDAR?). I assumed the red car missed a gear and the car behind had no where to go....

Thanks

Geoff

[GregSwan]

That was the weekend that was....

Friday testing:
I'm hoping I didn't trigger any speed cameras on the way up, just got there as the first session started. By the time I got the Ingham off the trailer, I did manage to get on track for three laps... my first in the car. Decided there and then I've got to get in it for Donington! A further three sessions were a good opportunity for Danny to get used to track and to the changeable conditions on both slicks and wets. Dave Hodkin looked quick until his woblink mounts failed, the first casualty of the weekend. Running in another group, Jim's ADR came back looking very damaged... I thought better of saying hello unsure of his mood, gutted I imagine. Hopefully both might be out for the next race.

Saturday: Ingham got round safe and sound in qually. And then the weather started. With a rebuilt rear axle and new wheels and studs all round, it had been a ball-ache changing to wets on Friday, juggling old sleeve nuts with rubbish threads off the previously stretched studs. Decided to send Danny out on slicks for the race as I didn't want to risk cross-threading and I don't think we would have made it otherwise. Obviously as frustrating for Danny on a very wet track as it was for me seeing those making a last minute change to wets. I'm grateful he remembered to dump the clutch and not touch the brakes when he went off at Park... saved him from the tyre wall... just. Well done Danny. Up the other end, watching BillC from the sidelines was a real privilege. The lap times speak for themselves. Respect.

Sunday:
Summer arrives, and the prospect of a good race for everyone. From Danny's onboard, it looked like BillR baulked the start and Martin lost a front corner trying to divert, ending up on the side of the track... or something like that. Another casualty, hopefully repairable for the next race. Unfortunately, Danny missed a couple of waved yellows and nipped inside Bill going slow into the Mountain... as if it would be that easy! Tunnel vision and a rookie mistake caught up in first lap excitement. With apologies to Bill and the CofC, Bill was very forgiving, the CofC much less so. One compensation was Nige welcoming Danny into the naughty boy club btw. Cheered us both up (and as far as I know, Danny not even excluded from any upcoming events!). Anyway, seven laps behind a safety car with the Falcon stranded on the grass off the racing line just killed it for everyone... very frustrating... but I suppose that's racing... or in this case, just three laps of racing.

Anyway, my back finally pinged in sympathy with Mick unloading the car when I got home, to cap it all off. Waiting to crawl to the chiropractor tomorrow. Nevertheless, another enjoyable weekend... walking the paddock admiring every possible way of engineering a car... learning from everything I see... and getting to know many of those I've looked up to for so long. It's great to be involved... thank you all... and see you at Donington.