April 27th report thread

[Blair]

Nice one on your first championship points Norm

Races sounded very exciting and controversial(!) just wish I could of been there. Don't think I'll get to the 1st june event either - exam on the 2nd.

Thanks to all for the info, cheers

[norm]

I don't know exactly what happened, but this is what it looks like coming round Duffus from 16th on the grid!

www.xr2racing.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/khill270403.JPG

Had a video camera in the car today for the first time, and it really is fab!

Thanks everyone for the kind words re my championship points (and Catriona for the technical piccy advice).

Norm

[Catriona]

Oh yeah - now I remember seeing you working on that camera earlier today! Looks pretty cool - must be fun to watch the videos after the race

[Blair]

Wow! Good shots!!

Doesn't it add a bit of weight to your car, or do you just swipe something else off it ?

[norm]

touringlegend said:

Wow! Good shots!!

Doesn't it add a bit of weight to your car, or do you just swipe something else off it ?

Afraid that I am not that conscientous on the weight thing! Apart from anything else, the rules assume a driver weighs 85kg, and I am over that so am stuffed already!! Actually, the camera is very light, but the camera mounting is very heavy for its size.

[Blair]

I see, I suppose that camera's worth 3 points lol. make sure you run with it from now on..

[Catriona]

Just realised I'm very sunburnt here... didn't think it was that sunny today! Though the rain showers (um, torrential downpours might be more accurate ) may well have made me think the weather was worse than it actually was... my face feels on fire now!

[NS-R]

Hi all - thanks for all your comments - it really was an up and down weekend for me!

Before I give you a quick run-down, Ian Forrest is officially one of the biggest wind-up merchants I've ever met so I'd take anything he said with a pich of salt.

I didn't hear the comments over the tannoy (although my mates said he was taking the mickey). I spoke to him before and after the race and I learnt a lot from him yesterday - it's not easy keeping him behind you!

Anyway, to clarify what happened, I was originally 8th on the grid but an amended time sheet was released after the timekeepers realized they'd missed off my last lap (the must have checked the transponder printouts??) which then moved me up to 2nd.

After some starting technique training (thanks Cameron) I actually got a good start - hopefully I've cured that problem! I was getting a little too famous for losing places before getting to Duffus...

Andy Martin kept his pole into Duffus but going into MacIntyres I was about to have a go up the inside on the exit when he kept going wide and just overdid it - I had to back off as I didn't know where he was going to end up and he went flying sideways across my bonnet into the infield. Some of my mates said he got out of his car and and was fuming about his mistake - unlucky Andy.

I nailed it and I was thinking to myself - bloody hell - I'm leading!!! Ian Forrest was pretty much glued to my rear bumper and to be honest, the next few laps are a bit of a blur as I was really having to work hard to keep him behind me. The bubble burst on around lap 4 (?) when I overdid it into McIntyres and he just got inside me.

After that I was losing a little time, especially at McIntyres and Clarks with loads of understeer - I think I may have overdone the tyres defending from Ian.

Andy Allan pulled a good move on me and although I kept Sandy behind for a while, he eventually got me at the hairpin as well.

Then it all went wrong. Going into Clarks on about lap 12 (?), Finlay went really wide onto the grasscrete on the exit and I was sliding wide myself. He bounced across and with the slightest of touches, caught my back end which whipped the car around.

I was going into the tyres flat out but I managed to spin the car away from the tyre wall which resulted in me ending up in the middle of the track - STATIONARY! The engine wouldn't start and here's where it got scary: -

The marshall post at railway could not get in contact with race control as the race should have been red flagged immediately. The marshall post at Clarks didn't know I was there as it was over the crest of the corner.

Basically, on that first lap when it happened there were no flags so I was sat with cars coming screaming towards me and they didn't know I was there!

One of the chief observers saw the incident and is apparently fuming about it - I was told this by the Clerk of the Course as they called me up to race control to apologize - maybe Dave knows more details (?).

Anyway, I'm not too unhappy. I've proven that I can lead the race albeit not for too long, and I learnt a great deal whilst in the lead. The other positive from the weekend is that I'm not in hospital although that's more down to luck and the awareness of the other drivers - thanks for missing me guys!

Derek McDougall got a fair bit of damage to his car whilst trying to miss me - I was having my own accident as he arrived and ended up hitting the tyres a couple of times. Fortunately, he managed to finish the race - engine in one piece as well!

I'll put my full report up on the NS-R site later on but i hope this has clarified what happened.

Cheers,
Nick.

PS Let Ian Forrest have his fun - he's nearing retirement anyway...

[mcgarrett]

To be fair to Mr Forrest I don't *think* he intended his comments to sound as arsey as they did, I think it was just a case of what he was saying sounding bad but maybe not meant to be so. But yes, my immediate reaction was that his comments were a bit arrogant.

On a related note - one thing I have noticed is that the commentators *seem* to spend an awful lot of time talking about Sandy Forrest wherever he is in the field, and *seem* to act as the unoffical Forrest cheerleaders a lot of the time. For example, in round one when Andy Allan was leading for most of the race the general tone of the commentary was "Come on Sandy, you can do it, pass that pesky Allan, rah! rah! rah!." Also on Sunday the commentary for most of the first few laps was pretty much concentrating on Sandy's battle for 4th or 5th (at the time - can't remember exactly) and hardly any mention was made about the action at the front.

I've got nothing against the guys by the way, apart from the fact that I didn't choose Sandy in Nick's Fantasy XR2 league - my group 1 choices were Forrest Snr. & andy Allan - so I almost got the perfect result yesterday.

[Dave]

Well they work with each other day in day out so I suppose he has to have one fan!

Is Ians car his super dooper new one? Was it so expensive he couldnt afford a paint job or stickers?
It looks like the ICR trackcar.

Dave.

[NS-R]

Dave - I like your new signature piccys - what's going on there?

Ian's is the new "all singing - all dancing" car. I was surprised that I kept him behind me for so long to be honest.

Looks like there are a few cars in need of paintwork. The ICR cars are not too bad (mainly bumper work), Derek McDougall will be busy with the old hammer, the Burnbrae guys looked to have picked up a fair bit of damage and Ian Mackie's car looked a state as well.

We managed to get the right matchcode for my car at last so I tidied it up before the race. Iain Cowie was winding me up as we still have loads of paint left and Iain was saying that I'd probably need it after the race!!!

BTW, the ICR trackcar is still for sale (£995) - if anyone is interested, contact me via the NS-R site.

[IanM]

Well, that was an interesting day. Neil and I were having a great race to ourselves keeping Ross Marshall at a safe distance behind for the midlle part of the race then coming in to the hairpin, it went somewhat wrong. I was on the inside and Neil was on the outside line, with Ross behind a couple of car lengths back from Neil. I turned in tight to avoid Neil taking the inside line and then CRUNCH, Ross had mistimed / locked up ? under braking and caught my Door, sill and front wing. I am told it lifted the car up. c'est la vie thats racing or is it? Hope to have car back out as no.67 (Neil) in next race as I can't race due to other circumstances. I am sure Neil can give the eye witness account.

[Catriona]

Glad to hear Ian Forrest was probably just joking around, as certainly the comments didn't sound too respectful... can understand them if they were supposed to just be a joke, though

Have to agree with Jim on the commentators bias - I couldn't help noticing they seemed to be a little more interested in when Ian Forrest would get past Nick, than in the fact that it must've been the first time Nick's led a race, and that he was actually doing a bloody good job of it! I know the Forrests are fairly big names in club racing and all, but personally I think it's good to see some new names up at the front... ah well, one day soon either Nick or Andy Allan will show those Forrests they aren't the only people who can win XR2 races

Major ouch there, Ian... that was a very loud bang from where me and KF were! Can't for the life of me remember if I got a photo of that or not, but I've put my photos in for developing now, so I'll find out tomorrow.

Myself and KF are going to be away for a few days from Wednesday, btw, so this weekend's photos will be delayed until we get back next Monday or Tuesday... I'll try and finish the last meeting off, though, and if SMART get the results on the website by tomorrow night, I'll put the link to that up, and hopefully KF can get a report written before we leave, too - just have to see how much we can do in the time we've got left

[davefiddes]

Ghirlracer said:

Hey, you must've been just opposite me and KF, Dave (Fiddes)! We were in the stand at the hairpin (well, at the barrier in front of it when it wasn't raining), and KF's car was parked not far to the left of that shot - just next to the doughnut stand, actually

We probably walked by one another a dozen times... We'll have to meet up sometime.

Knockhill said:

Interesting machinery on show in the Saloons and Sportscars along with the visiting Northern guys. Loved the Porsche GT2, Marcos Mantis and John Muir battle - real sportscars!

Yeah. Not half! I love the way Tim Bartlett's Porsche starts flaming on the overrun once its exhaust has had a chance to warm up.

It was a shame that Colin Simpson and Tim Bartlett had a coming together. Sounded like Colin made a bit of an over enthusiastic move.... I hope he doesn't have too much more than a new bonnet to build...it was quite a mess. Bit of a shame what happened to John Muir as well. That was one sick sounding motor come the end of the race. Couldn't tell if it was a blown turbo or just a chronic misfire...probably expensive anyway

It was also cool to see the Westfield XTR2 as well. Neat little motor. It looked very new though. I'm sure when it gets sorted a bit more it'll give the Radicals a bit of a run for their money.

I know that others have said it already but that was a damn good days racing yesterday. It's the KH showers that do it!

[Mike Hogg]

I love it when theres a good grid of Sportscars out in the Saloons and Sportscars as it's a fantastic sight and sound spectacle to have the likes of the Porsche and Marcos out. Muir's Toyota is a tasty bit of kit these days too as well as Kevin Adam's Sierra when it runs properly!

Remember the yellow Venturi that used to run in S+S years ago? Loved that car