Well first off I was'nt there competing.. not completed badgerwagen so went to see the competiion and first event of the season.. Owch! is one way of describing how it went from quali to the race itself.. Quali resulted in lap 2/3 oil spread round the track badly after 3 cars blew their engines. 2 x EVOs 1 x Civic type-R - Unlucky to those guys... sounds expensive.. rods sticking out of the block type expensive.. the race itself, managed to get from start line to folly (500yds?) before an almighty pile up from row 2 back to row 6 I think. Unseen from myself as I was @ tower corner, but as the front 2 evo's came into Tower the red flags were deployed and we could hear the commentry describing the array of cars shunted.. 6 class B cars of 9 in all I think were affected. 4-5 of them very badly mullared I saw afterwards. It took the marshalls and emergency crew 40mins to restart the now shortnened to 8 lap race. Tony Dolly was one of the few left running class B cars and took the class lead, but was fighting the first few laps with the very rapid car of Will de-Claudio.. (last years overall saloons winner, previously running 1400cc, this year 1600cc) - that 106 of his is very very quick machine. Dollys 206 did pass and pull away but not as easily as you would have thought.. 2ltr vs 1600cc pugs.. Class A was only 2 cars, both evo's of Squibb who won, and Cox who came 2nd, the others having expired engines in quali. I returned to the pits after the race to see the carnage.. Yikes! It was not pretty. front end wipe outs were a 206, maestro turbo (quali'd 2nd in classB), a 205, astra, and assorted damage on the leon cupra also.. On the Leon Cupra, the drivers front disc rotor had sheered off the bell, cutting the wheel in half!, and a fragment of which ended up in de-claudios boot smashing thru the rear side window! Rear end was derranged with a drivers side rear wheel towing out big time. What seems to have happened is Mark Wyatts Astra snapped a driveshaft or suffered some kind of lost drive when changing into 2nd off the line, and in slowing down so quickly got punted up the rear, which turned him into someone else, and then is pin-ball with cars flying into each other and armco at a rapid rate. Kinda glad I was'nt at this meeting as I would have been by the Astra no doubt.. Maybe it was meant to be. so many of what are quite a few less class B cars tho left intact after this damage. Next 2 races are close together so, its tight in time, and obviously very unwelcome financially for every affected. Its a crowd pleaser tho as its all action packed.. When the race did start some poor guy in an orange corsa blew his engine in spectactular style passing me at tower.... 5 cars exploded engines, 6 cars severely bent.. from just the first race meeting. Great weather tho, and I now look like lobster man.. glowing red face So end of May is my tgt next event I am trying to get ready for.. Its going to be an interesting year me thinks, 42 car grids near as dammit booked for the whole season = chaos/mayhem on track. __________________
Viewed from behind [YOUTUBE]xAZXNuAoe3c[/YOUTUBE] In Car from Mark Wyatts astra which inadvertantly started the incident with its broken drivetrain when going for 2nd gear [YOUTUBE]bF11ywy_MfM[/YOUTUBE]
Bad day. Looks like Wyatt went for the LH grass to get out of there, but 'course nothing he could do, cars everywhere. Has he got a long first gear? Is the grid stacked too closely? Just a thought..
grid is close but its a grid with 40+cars on it... problem was he was @ the front of the 2wd pack, was accelerating hard along with 35+ other cars, when he suddenly lost drive (broken driveshaft or g'box) and then the close following runners clip him try to avoid him, rear end him and the rest is pin-ball. Scarey as...
A grid of 40 rings alarm bells - definitely that many on it? Some tracks are only licenced for high 20s IIRC - Combe must have a stated max?
41 signed on, from the 42 max grid, and every race for the first 3-4 all have up to or more than 5 reserves... its over subscribed so busy grids looks set for the year hectic.. both in quali and races.. only 4 EVO's now
Massive grid.. big track I suppose. Looks like they've changed things - Circuit Guide grid info (2004): Combe - 26-38 Snet - 30-32 Mallory - 28 Cadwell - 24 Brands Indy 28-30 / GP 30-38 Oulton 26-32 Silverstone National 34 / GP 42 Donny National 30-32 / GP 32-34 So, hmmm, I think it looks a bit overly commercial by Combe to put 42 cars down.
wow must drop by one of these rounds. proper entertainment always guaranteed it seems! lol how did norris do in the GT's??
lol - norris arrived on circuit driving his evo 4(?) on trade plates.. ambled round quali just to get a quali spot - last did'nt make the race they were beating the crap out of the front drive shafts in the morning, and had arrived with a faulty car for the race.. last minute build and all that jazz. rarely works out well when that happens. Funny thing, which you would expect someone like him to know/realise, is a F3000 sized rear wing bolted onto the GRP boot lid, is going to simply crack it as the downforce squashes it down.. Guess what. It did. duh! His claims of going out to kick **** and beat the Cossy will have to start next meeting. It will likely be spectacular tho for all sorts of reasons.
they did split class A's into GT's last year on a round or more from memory. only 4 Class A cars so far tho.. Class C is the largest class by far now
Can sympathise massively with the blown engine lot, my old man races the Mk2 Golf in the Gt's at Combe which i built for him, Blew No4 piston out the back of the block on lap 2 of his race!!![:^(]
Yes defo, at least engines can be replaced/rebuilt, not alot can be done with some of those crashed ones!! Need some costs on decent pistons for my new build in that golf, shall i pm or email you? (or call!)
