Oh, what a promising day it was going to be. But, shadows were to befall one or two of us. A great day, all in all, but I think most of us scraped by on a wing and a prayer. In fact, there's a couple of us still scraping
Robin, Tom and I elected to travel to Snetterton the night before as we had to chug along in a truck with Rocky in the back (where we spotted Dynamix enroute. Poesy and his missus also stayed up too, but as it transpired we were too late to see them on the Sunday night.
Sunday did not start well. Without going into the details of the problems Robin faced (
) we ended up leaving around 5PM to head for the track. This was after the challenge of getting Rocky the Racing Rover ready after the problems we had at Mallory. On went new front hub assembly, wheel bearing, radiator fan etc and we were
just about OK to race. Fluids and spanner work completed and off we set.
All went well till just after Snetterton, on our way to the hotel in Norwich when the race truck decided it didn't really like the tyre it had on. Loud thumps and bangs ensued amidst much cries of 'Oh F*ck!' and we careered to a halt after good driving by Robin. We had lost an outer skin on one of the rear tyres which had also shattered the belly box on the truck, scaterring contents hither and thither. More amazingly, the flaying rubber had bent the solid steel of the mudguard up, on, and around the remaining tyres.
Not looking good, we limped to a safe place and got the truck fixed, including some very industrial equipment to sort out the tyre and cut away the mudguard. Arrived at the hotel at 11PM and decided a few beers were in order.
Up early next morning and off to the circuit. Would you believe it!? As we passed the scene of the preceeding night's incident on the opposing carriageway we have another incident of our own, losing a fan belt in exactly the same place
Finally making it the circuit we started to prep Rocky whilst others got about the business of enjoying their track day. New pads went on, brakes were bled, passenger seat and harness were fitted, race seat was prepped for me, fuel goes in, and we're off!!
I only do a few laps and come in, just to make sure the car is holding together. There are perennial problems with Turbo bolts loosening and these are tightened again.
Then Tom drives round.
Oh My F*cking God!!!
I used to hate Snetterton as I couldn't get used to it. That's all changed now. A couple of laps with Tom showed me how bloody brilliant this circuit can be. I would brake on the back straight pretty late (on a 3-2-1 marker board system). Tom brakes after the 1 marker board!!
Sadly it was all to come to a brief shuddering halt. Huss had a few problems which closed the track for a while, then Rocky had problems of his own, loosing all boost. Well, that was the end of the day really, and there was nothing for it but to protect the car, pack up, and go home.
Laps completed: 6
Cost per lap: £115
Not happy
A few snaps....
'Oh Dear! What have I done? Why on earth did I ever agree to go to Snetterton?' Robin reflects an on a pretty crap day
But happily Tom still seems pumped at the idea of more racing
... and here's what caused us to miss an early beer in the hotel. Note the missing belly box (plus all its contents!) plus a rather bent mud guard
'I don't care how good a racing driver you are. It's late. I'm tired. We're stuck here. Find me some chips. I don't care if you have to cross a dual carriageway in front of a speeding ambulance to do it, but get the chips!'
Rocky gets some TLC
... and some more TLC
... and then the b*gger breaks down
... and Huss has a few problems with his monster Evo too
... which is not a problem as he leaves to demonstrate how a six-foot person can still be made to look like the same size as an i-Pod. Tuner's, eh?! Pah!
Great to see everyone there. We had eleven souls in attendance in all, and a great atmosphere despite the problems.
Looking forward to the next one