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Post by Mike Hogg on May 10, 2003 21:23:10 GMT
It certainly would! Now where's my car keys....
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Post by JamesHerriot on May 11, 2003 0:25:48 GMT
Yep, you guys are right about the weather today , all four seasons in one ! the weekend was going really well until the 2nd f/ford qual/ session which was stopped by the clerk of the course (SMRC) with 6 mins to go , the red flag was shown and all the cars were brought in and the drivers made to get out and take a roasting from the clerk of the course about cutting the white line at the chicane, this went down really badly considering the F3S put all four wheels over the line every lap ! matters got worse when two of our more well known f/ford drivers were hauled back before the clerk of the course(SMRC) for so called bad driving in the pit lane after said roasting ! feelings are running a bit high after this and the drivers were considering whether to race on Sunday or not, there seems to be one rule for form/ ford and another for F3 . p.s. GR & KF don`t know if this should be here or on the Scottish club section, feel free to move it if you want.
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Post by davefiddes on May 11, 2003 21:01:03 GMT
See that nobody's posted so far...so I'm sticking my oar in on this thread. What a great day out. Hope everyone had a good time. Loads of great racing and exotic cars...The GTs even managed a decent amount of racing up and down the field...even if some of it was due to the second Mosler falling off on the poor Jags spilt fuel KF: The Ultima racer looks OK but it has quite an ample bum (or wider track) than the normal road/race car which looks nicer...probably because I wish I had their kevlar bodywork Great to see it getting a decent reliable run (:gasp: 2 x 45 minutes without a breakdown!) even if it is a long way from being a Mosler beater. Liked the Jag too. Shame it fell/was push off in the first race and still seemed to suffer related problems in the second race. Didn't half smell of petrol when they hauled it away I know the Moslers dominated things race wise but they really are incredibly well built cars from what I could see. Very nice. Sadly didn't get to see under the covers at the back (so the sportscar geek in me could see if I could recognise the gearbox they were running ) Very well built at the front though. From an engineering standpoint I can see why they are where they are. It was great that they still had the US style blinking side-light indicators too.... Thought that the F3 lads did little to dispel the myth that they are spoilt rich kids...no-overtake under waved yellow applies to you too guys! That said I thought that there was some good racing in both races though...the bigger grid/combined race was definitely better to previous years...even if they were more than a little loud . Also hadn't realised till I had a good oogle at some of the F3 cars in the paddock just how slender and light weight the cars are these days. There isn't an ounce of unneeded weight on them..definitely make FF look cumbersome by comparison! I guess that in F3 there is the budget to replace entire corners a lot more frequently than FF. Legends were the stars of the day racing wise for me. Love 'em. Shame about the last FF race being so soggy...bet you guys will have something to say about that....
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Post by DuncVincent on May 11, 2003 21:07:39 GMT
I didnt get a chance to see the legends but they are always mad,,,,the weekend was real good for me..Two 2nd places behind me mate(rival) AlanK(only joking al)..Second race was a little hmmm!!!!slicks on a rather wet track,lots of fun!!! NICE ONE...BEST RESULT TO DATE bring it on bro!!!
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Post by Blair on May 11, 2003 22:01:50 GMT
nice one Duncan. Didn't see the last race - had to "race" home, and it p-d down all the way home. I'd echo what Dave said - I had a good day - always enjoy a bit of noise and some earth shaking... Good to see some variety in the GT's this year, how weird is it to see a Golf and a Clio out there?! Off topic but on the way home passed Neil Dugans Mini on the back of a trailer heading down the A77 at Kilmarnock - didn't know he was from down my way - the programme says he's from Castle Blaney - where?! Anyone know? Also noticed no park & ride system this year - made the circuit much busier but also meant my car was 100 miles away
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Post by JamesHerriot on May 11, 2003 22:16:19 GMT
Well done again Dunc, couple of good finishes there, on a serious note though the way the 2nd race was started as a dry race on slick tyres could have ended in tragedy, i think we were really lucky that there wasn`t a bad shunt, the clerk of the course showed a complete disregard for drivers safety by starting the race after he had been asked not to, the rain was pelting down and it was clear the conditions required wet tyres, there were drivers out there 17 and 18 years old who had never raced in the wet before never mind being made to race in the wet on slicks ! questions need to be asked about this mans ability to do this job after this weekends meeting , any of you zetec guys got any opinions on the matter ?
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Post by Mike Hogg on May 11, 2003 22:40:44 GMT
Had a blast today - enjoyed the big boys as usual - the GTs were fun, the Cup class was pretty good with the Porsche and the Morgan all over each other (though I still maintain that the Morgan both looks and sounds terrible!) All the cars had their own unique looks, sounds and speeds which is what attracts me to that type of racing I think. The F3 races were somewhat eventful - a couple of pretty violent accidents, especially Andrew Thompson colliding with a stopped car... Piquet's spin almost into the barriers whilst celebrating his win was pretty amusing at the time but I think his Dad was giving him a roasting for almost destroying the car afterwards as we saw the two of them round the back of a truck having a very animated discussion while the teams were packing up!! Good FFord races though the decision to send them out on dry tyres in the second race was a bit crazy! Two good wins for Mr Kirkaldy again though. Well done to Dunc on those hard fought results too. As for those in charge of the several very dodgy decisions made on behalf of the FF guys this weekend - they should be taken outside and shot. Legends were just brilliant as ever - especially the final which was great fun - like seeing how far Steve Reynolds and Finlay Mickel could go into the gravel - they were both mad! Good stuff from Lance - his overtaking manouveres at the hairpin were great to watch and it was nice to finally meet him! Gary had a bad start to the day but had a good final - fought with the best of them and may have even led the first lap (I think)? Mad mini race - 4 wide up the front straight was always going to end in disaster and it did - a *lot* of damage in the minis this weekend. Good stuff and I hope it all comes back again next year.
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Post by RocketRacer on May 11, 2003 23:44:47 GMT
yes the legends where good fun even with the damage! (Well from my point of view anyway) can't say much about it tonight but will add something mon/tues i think. my arms are killing me at present because i have faught a legend all day long. as for the racing i seen it was good stuff and great to watch ( was at clark's for the second GT race ) then the hairpin. but there was only one LEGEND at KNOCKHILL today
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Post by Catriona on May 12, 2003 12:53:39 GMT
Great day's racing overall - myself and KF hardly had a chance to get to the paddock all day, because everything on the schedule was too good to miss! Never been to a meeting like that before... there's usually something boring out there, but not this time Have to say I was very disappointed at some of the organisational things that happened, though... for a start, what's the point in giving us season-ticket holders fancy orange parking passes if they then let everyone in anyway, so leaving those of us fans who committed to a full season's racing stuck at the very top of a hill half a mile from the track? Also having some police around directing traffic in the morning wouldn't have gone amiss... there were two very long lines of traffic sitting at the entrance looking at each other when myself and KF arrived, and I suspect the system in progress at the time where we went one at a time from each line wouldn't have lasted too long... The FFords really got messed around with bigtime by the powers that be - I don't blame Derek Butcher in the slightest for quitting race 2, and I have to say I'm amazed just about everyone finished that race, considering the weather conditions Another thing I was somewhat unhappy about was the accident at the hairpin in the first F3 race - when there's two cars stuck on the track not going anywhere, surely it makes sense to bring the safety car out straight away, instead of waiting until after the whole field's gone through and another car's been wrecked by hitting one of the stationary cars? And to then only put the safety car out instead of redflagging it, and to pull the safety car back in again before the marshals have had a chance to clear the track of debris is downright dangerous - it's very lucky that no-one got a puncture after all that Beyond that, though, it was an excellent meeting, and fantastic to see so many of the club series out there. Seems most the spectators didn't bother watching, but hopefully those who did will have seen just how good the club racing really is The Legends in particular were fantastic out there, especially in the final - the drying track was perfect for some very sideways moments at the hairpin, especially from a certain Mr Mickel, who always seems to push it right to the limits, and more often than not over them! Seems the Minis finally got over their fear of door-to-door racing, too, by the end of their race - there'd been a group of about six or seven of them running right together for some time, and then a few laps from the end they decided to go three wide up the start-finish straight, banging door panels very hard... and from the sounds of things that continued round most of that lap, as a bunch of rather beaten-up Minis came round the next time The Tuscans looked really entertaining, as well, especially as we had a local driver to support with Derek Butcher out there. Considering he's probably not driven Tuscans much, he did well in the races, with two 9th place finishes, which gave us plenty to cheer for Surprisingly the events I was least interested in were the F3 and GTs, as I've not really seen much of either this year, and didn't find them hugely interesting... the GTs had some gorgeous cars, but got very spread out, while I just don't seem interested enough in single-seaters to care much if there's no drivers I particularly support It's more fun supporting the smaller series, anyway, as the crowds tend to be a bit smaller for them
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Post by davefiddes on May 12, 2003 13:05:58 GMT
The Tuscans looked really entertaining, as well, especially as we had a local driver to support with Derek Butcher out there. Considering he's probably not driven Tuscans much, he did well in the races, with two 9th place finishes, which gave us plenty to cheer for Derek had taken the car over from Tim Barlett who'd qualified it (which is why he was at the back). AFAIK he had no track time in the car at all before the race. It was obvious the first few laps were very much a getting to know the car type experience before he could start to make inroads on the back of the field. All credit to him for doing as well as he did. I didn't think the Tuscans were as great as they have been in the past but that was probably due to the numbers. Think that the championship coordinator was saying that they'd been at Croft last weekend and there wasn't time to fix the inevitable attrition that had occurred...
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Post by RocketRacer on May 12, 2003 15:03:27 GMT
hi all Here's A driver's view of the weekend's racing. start on saturday after noon 15.45pm-ish and practice for the legends, the car was good and it was just like the last meeting a fortnight ago. so real happy about that. then the rain started four laps in to it and the track was really slick so i just came in and parked up for sunday. got up sunday morning for the racing to start . i was 13th on the grid again (same as last meeting???!!!!) anyway it started well into the top of duffus i got into line with the rest of the cars through mcintyre's as you do,i flooredthe car itto butcher's and the dip and then "BANG" someone hit me and i went striaght on into the pile of tyres at the chicane done a 360 and floored it up the striaght to clark's then couldn't turn the corner. i managed to turn before the gravel on the out side of clark's so i pulled the car to the right side of the track and drove the car to the end of the rally track. end of race one for me. ( should have driven the car to the pits and not stopped) . it was a hasty fix with 1 hour till the next race so the car got a new front corner added with no real set up added just bolt it on, does it look like it's pointing in the right places and GO. after checking the cars steering as i drove to the pitlane all seemed ok ??. race two was a "suck it and see" kind of thing. it didn't help i was at the front third row inside but i did get it around the first corner , even if i didn't feel the wheels turn at the front. ( the steering was very light ) with the steering the way it was it was hard work keeping it pointed in the right direction at the corners loads of wheel turning and opposite lock kind of thing going on in side the car. plus the weather didn't help either. don't know where i finished but it was hard work. after some more work on the car, toe'd it in a bit and lifted the front left corner up on the spring because it was locking that wheel under braking. the car was ready of the next race. (went and watched the end of the F3 and the whole of the GT race from around the track.) race three . i change the tyres for my wet ones because of the rain thing just before our race and went and lined up. on the start i just went for it the lights went green and i just went straight up between the front two and i was in the lead ( oh the feeling is good Nick) anyway the track was kinda in two havles so to speak from mcintyre's to after clark's it was dry and from before the hairpin to duffus it was very wet . so it was tricky to drive. the car was handling better but the pack soon caught up and started to pass me .i noticed everybody seemed to be quick at different bits off the track and all the way round everybody was off at one point or another,( mainly the hairpin and duffus) i had a few dodgey times myself at both these places.it was weird being passed by finlay (69) so many times in one race. he was all over the place. anyway the car went and it got home in one bit again so i am happy with the day's racing. the TVR's sounded great coming into and out off the hairpin ( who needs a stereo in there car with that note coming from the exhuast's) if anyone was watching the legends final at the hairpin and wondering why i kept to the inside line well thats easy i saw the jag dump the oil on the outside line two races before i went racing.so i kept away from it.( got me round the corner but i couldn't get the power down coming out so there you have it the rocket racers eye view of the racing
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Post by jaffa6 on May 12, 2003 19:43:09 GMT
Just thought I'd chip in my tuppence worth too Another excellent day of racing all round I thought, congrats to Alan & Duncan on their brilliant double 1-2 and to Lance as well on his 3rd and 4th places (sorry Lance I didn't see the second race and have no idea where you finished in that one...lol). Apologies to any other drivers who come on here that I haven't mentioned as still being kinda new here these are the main 3 guys that I am aware of who are drivers ( apart from that English guy who drives the XR2... :evilgrin: ) The GT's were awesome as always and despite 2 easy victories for the Moslers there was enough going on to keep up the interest. Shame about the Jag, personally I think it's a beautiful car and it's a pity it didn't really get to race. And it didn't half stink when it spilled that fuel at the hairpin in the second race. The FF's were there usual entertaining selves and Alan, thanx for proving me right. I bet my mate that you would win the first race and you didn't let me down...lol...my mate bought the burgers The minis, (as has already been said here) seem to have gotten over there fear of denting the cars and as a result it seemed IMHO to be a better race than previous ones. The legends were their usual fun packed selves too. Watching the final at the hairpin was brilliant especially as Finaly Mickel seemed to think that the gravel there was part of the track he went over it so much...lol...but credit where it's due, no matter how many times he went into it he still came round on the next lap giving it 100% every single time. The F3's were enjoyable too. We watched the second race from the bottom of Duffus and ( as has also been mentioned ) when they all came round together and turned down the hill towards Butchers the noise was something else. Can someone fill me in on why the second race was red flagged??? Couldn't hear the commentary too well. The TVR's I'm not that into but were decent enough. Although Derek Butcher seemed to be having trouble with his around Clarks as he spun off once and had trouble just about every time he came through there. Have to agree with the previous posters ( think it was GR and/or TL ) about the lack of a park and ride system. Although we were there early enough to be quite near the bottom of the hill, it did seem as if anyone and everyone could bring their cars in. Does make it kinda pointless to give out car park passes with the season tickets, especially if the season ticket holders aren't going to next weeks BSB meeting. Maybe Knockhill were just looking to save money not having to hire fields/buses/cops etc. Anyhoo, all in all another great day out ( except for the usual Knockhill weather...lol). Was it just me or was that wind bl**dy freezing? And the fact that we didn't get to see Nelson snr Jaffa6
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Post by historicracer on May 12, 2003 20:24:56 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]TEXT[/glow] Definitely that has to go down as my best Legend meeting so far, we have been working hard understanding what the car ( and me ) is doing and starting to make it go in the right direction. Things started to go right on Saturday afternoon, when we were lucky enough to get a mixed dry wet practice session !! I haven’t driven the legend in the wet for ages and it didn’t go well last time, so I was one of only 5 who stayed out and completed the 16 laps in pouring rain, taking all sorts of lines and braking positions for reference. Come Monday morning and the first heat off pole got a poor start and Ray Davidson came past but from there I glued to his bumper for slipstream ( 1200 untuned against 1250 engine ) and we made a great getaway from the pack aided by me taking a long long outside line at the hairpin which was way the fastest. Anyway lost the tow going onto the last lap alowwing Jamie clark to motor past me asif I was standing still for a good 3rd ( best result the car has ever had ) Race 2 started 17th and again fighting with Ray and Derek pierce , just missed a spinning alex knight , and then Ray spun leaving me and Derek to chase in on the pack, slipstreaming so much ( well touching and pushing , its faster 2 cars running together down the straights ) that one of the marshals asked if we were getting married, I was up his chuff so much down the back straight. Didn’t see the last lap board so no lunge at hairpin so finished 9th That qualified me 4th overall which meant starting 14th on the grid. Mad panic in ally hunters garage 5 mins before line up as me the clarks and Derek pierce all went on the wet ( unworn) rubber . This paid off spectacularly on the first lap as I jumped 7 places to 7th including a spectacular bit of outbraking at the hairpin then fought with Finlay and Jim clark for a couple of laps until finlay decided scenec routes were best. Jumped our Gary up the straight to start lap 3 and found myself in a comfortable 4th. Realised I was too late to catch the first 3 and settled down keeping an eye on Jim Clarke to finish a comfortable 4th to cap a good day Hope u all enjoyed it , I reckon that car can outbrake anything in any conditions into the hairpin from crazy distances back, but we said that last year about the TR3 I raced as well !! Cheers lance
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Post by historicracer on May 12, 2003 20:27:03 GMT
spot the errors above maybe i should of raced the legend on Sunday not Monday, hey my spellings so bad the checker just guessed
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Post by DuncVincent on May 12, 2003 20:50:19 GMT
I have to agree with JH on what he is saying,VERY wet track and on slicks,session in qualifying wrecked by the clerk,,not a good weekend for him in my eyes
Having never raced a zetec in the rain i found out it could be and was a hand full and if i had known that alan was trying to get the race stopped i would have to..... but it was both hands on the wheel for me!!
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