A long trip for only 7 or 8 laps at this meeting.  Suffered damage in the Heat after a collision with a couple of cars on turn 4 about 6 laps in, causing the rear suspension to break in a couple of places, but nothing that we weren't able to fix.

The consolation was over as soon as it started, 206 Nick Bradley climbed over the bonnet of the car, ripping his sump off on the rad guard in the process.  We were left with a flattened bonnet, a damaged air filter, a snapped bumper and a bent rad guard.

Unable to fix this at the track, we loaded up and left after watching the final.  Plus it was snowing anyway and who wants to race in the snow!! 

Not the greatest start to the season ever, but then.. the seasons never seem to start well.. 

Adam

I can't remember what happened in the heat, I know that it was yet another DNF but why has slipped my mind...

A spun car left Keith with nowhere to go in the consolation and the impact ripped the front bumper clean off (notice a theme yet?).

A quick trip back home after the consolation to fix the damage to the bumper seemed like a good idea at the time, but once home we realised there was too much work that needed to be done and it was simply not worth the effort, so the car was loaded up onto the drive and we went back upto the track to hit the bar!  It beats working or going to Uni though so cannot complain.

Adam

Got to the track early to take advantage of the paid practice session (still don't agree with the idea of having to pay £15 to practice BEFORE a meeting.. but needs must and all that..).  It did help though, as we managed to get the car cornering a lot better than it had been at the previous meeting.

In the heat Keith spun out on turn 2 and sat facing the on coming traffic for the remaining half of the race but for a change did not get hit while sat there.

In the consolation the car was going well and seemingly getting quicker as the race progressed and it looked like a finish was on until spun out on the last bend on the last lap.. so close yet so far!

The GN was where it all went wrong.  An early crash on turn 3/4 left several cars on the racing line, but because this is Brafield and they have a curfew  the yellow flags weren't show and a few laps later the track became blocked and several cars were stuck with pretty bad damage.  It somehow cleared enough for there to be a 1 car gap between the dead cars, but this was closed when Keith was fired in by 249 Joff Gibson into the back of 307 Mark Elsden.  The track was then blocked again as more and more cars piled in at racing speed, yet it took AGES for the marshalls to even consider throwing the yellow flags and even then they were going to restart the racing leaving 3 or 4 cars still stuck on the bend!!!

Damage to the front bumper and a broken front wheel was somehow all that the car came away with this from, many others were not so lucky.

Adam

More damage.. 

A pretty short meeting again this one.  Did practice, got going in heat 1 (30 odd cars all in!) but Keith was involved in someone elses accident and leant up the fence coming out of turn 4, basically taking the front end up.

Unfortunatley we didn't have enough bits to fix everything to get it back out on track, so it was an early load up without much luck really.  But we'll be back!

Adam

Another Brafield... another load of damage and some more DNFs!

The car was flying in paid practice earlier in the afternoon, it was cornering really well and things looked good.  Front row for the heat, 205 got away, Keith didn't.  Spun round on turn 4 and then hit again over the back wheel while sat on the bend; he got out in the end as the car was stuck on the bend.

More broken bits to fix.. but we did just for more of the same in the consolation.  131 and someone else were spun facing the front way on turn 4, Keith came out of the bend saw them and hit the brakes, 249 behind him didn't.. and straight in for the head on he went.

Off came the bumper... the opposite wheel to the one from the heat went and the rad had a nice hole in it!  Load 'er up!! 

Adam

18 cars? Lone White top? 

Well you can only race against what's there!

Tangled with 464 in the first heat and spun out onto the shale where he stayed to admire the view.  Second heat got off quickly but the pack caught up and he ended up 13th.  12th place in the Final after some messing around with the grades before the race and a good battle with 420 in the second half of the race.  10th and a solitary point for the days efforts from the GN, so that's the National No Points title chase out the window 

European in a few weeks... wonder if he'll get a booking?  Anyone got directions to Cowdenbeath? 

Adam

Bloody tractor drivers..

3 hours worth of work and repairing, all because the tractor driver was USELESS.  All the car needed was a tow back to the pits and the front corner of the bumper smacking round a bit.  Instead.. we got the car dropped off nowhere near where we were actually parked and they managed to rip the (new!) front bumper clean off and bend it.

3 hours of hammering, pulling and a lot of head-scratching it took to get the bumper straight again.  Andy (#909) lent us his welder so we could weld it back on and we got the car out for the consolation.  It was wet.. there were plenty of cars on track.. but it was a finish.  WOO HOO!

Lots of tyre swapping before the GN. Global warming.. don't you just love it!  Went out on intermediates in the end but the track had dried out the race before so there was no grip with the tyres on it.  A few pirouettes later and enough was enough.. onto the infield.

2 races.. 1 more than we normally manage at Brafield, but there is now welding to be done (AGAIN) to fix the bumper before the next outing.  European booking? Anyone have some directions to Cowdenbeath?

Adam