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Classical GasMichael's Blog, Reports, Opinion, Useful Stuff, Cr*p, It's all here
May 09 Here it is!Hadn't actually decided when this picture was taken but a few minutes later and the deal was done. Many thanks to Don Stringer for coming up to Yorkshire and looking at it with me. It's still there at the moment so I have to sort getting it back to Chaos Manor. Hasn't been used for six or seven years so will need a good check over. May 07 A busy day at Chaos ManorThe plan had been to take an early morning bike ride. Started biking again yesterday. A nice eight mile route along Bromham ridge and back through Stagsden. All but a couple of miles off road. There was to be no biking this morning though. It all started to go wrong on Tuesday night when there was a power cut from around 9pm through to the early hours. Restarting the computers, yes there is more than one here now, I immediately noticed the the Raid on the new Dell wasn't initialising. OK lets talk about Raid. I specified Raid 1 on the new Dell. It has two 750GB hard drives that Mirror each other. So if one goes down you can just carry on working using the one remaining as they are exact copies. Then when you fit a replacement drive it rebuilds the data on the replacement, from the good one, all by itself. Back to this morning. What to do? Answer panic! Looking at the Disks I could see that both were there, working and apparently OK. call Dell. Lets start with the weather. "It's always Sunny here in Bangalore". OK sarcasm aside I have found Dells Phone Support un-failing helpful. I gave them remote access to the computer and they checked everything and said it was OK. But no Raid 1! They said that the Hitachi Drives should rebuild themselves and they would ring in two days to see all was well. The computer still worked so lets try. The drives churned away, the disc light flashed and three hours later it initialised the Raid configuration and all seems to be well. I can only think that the power outage sparked some data loss, Raid 1 recognised it and set to work. nervy time though. I think I will invest in a UPS and a 1 TB USB Drive to provide extra insurance. No biking tomorrow. I am off to Yorkshire to look at a possible new trials car!! More Stoneleigh Stuff Had a note from Brian Colman which I am sure he won't mind me publishing here:- John Rhodes and I were at Stoneleigh too yesterday - but in my
yellow Caterham, rather than the Yeller Dutton. It cruises a little
faster and more comfortably!
We too saw the Tempest, but didn't actually realise it was back in
production. We spent a little longer looking at the Chinese made
off-roader on the Pipercross stand - road legal, loads of suspension
travel . . . but which class would it go into? Not a special in the
true sense as I bet they've made 100's of them worldwide, and probably
not quite a production car . . .
You weren't looking hard enough at the Marlin club stand - or at
the wrong time. There was a red Marlin, complete with 14" wheels, body
damage, jacked up suspension and loads of dried on mud under the
arches, towing a rolling chassis/body on 13" wheels which was for sale
. . . John likes the idea of doors, so we looked at it, but not very
hard. Now if only I was allowed to use a Ford axle . . .
Did you spot the RS200 replicas outside - a sawn off Subaru
Impreza with GRP bits stuck on top. Not too sure about the engineering
in that one, so we moved swiftly on, straight past the four quid for a
baguette stands - it's the first time I've know John baulk at buying
food ;-)
I first went to the show about 20 yrs ago - and the main row of
sheds was FULL all the way down - although the custom vans right at the
bottom weren't quite my thing then - or now! Either I've grown up, or
I've too much junk already, but I find I don't need to look in every
box on every stand anymore - still, a relatively good day out - only
rained on the way home and we were travelling fast enough for it to go
over head.
May 04 Stoneleigh Kit Car Show - The Tempest is BackMike Hayward talking to John Melody who has bought the rights for the Tempest. He has all the jigs and moulds and a stock of brand new, galvenised Kitten chassis! Click Here for the new Tempest Website. The show didn't seem as comprehensive as in the past. Not so many cars and far fewer trade and autojumble stands. Only trials cars I saw were the Leiges which were in one of the covered areas. At least six so I guess there was a Legion of Leige's! Lots of Marlins but no trials versions although I did meet Mike Hobbs brother who is a regular marshal at the foot of Axe. More pictures below or Click Here for the full Stoneleigh Photo Album. Windows Live Spaces May 02 Bovey Downs Trial Notes from Anne Whellock39 entries. Four withdrew before the closing date due to various post Lands End, Kyrle maladies. So 35 entrants representing a good range of novice, expert, saloon and sports cars enjoyed a day out in the woods. The weather was kind to us and only rained at the end on those who were loading up their trials cars on to trailers for the journey home. Tim Whellock showed he still has a competitive streak left and took the overall win. Dudley Sterry won Class 8. He lost one of the blower belts on flint ridden Marilyn. Time for some new belts! Roger Ugalde also still has a competitive streak and won Class 7 in the Allard J1. Mark Wills from Leicester in a Marlin came fourth overall and highest scoring novice. Mark's experience of driving classic trials amounts to 3 MCC trials when he has managed to get a finisher's certificate on all three. Class 1 was won by local man Nick Cleal in a Peugeot 205. Another local - Nick Farmer took Class 3 in his BMW318is hotly pursued by Terry Flay in Emma's Escort and Simon Groves. Tony Lee won Class 4 in a VW Beetle. Tony's first trial. And Brian Alexander abandoned his Fiat to take Class 5 in a Suzuki X90. Windwhistle Motor Club would like to thank all entrants for their support. And all marshals for their diligence. 26 sections for £25.00 must be the bargain of the year. If anyone has any photos perhaps they could send some in to Pat Toulmin for Restart magazine. Videos found on YouTube Click here for the playlist where you can read notes etc Draft Snetterton Group 1 ReportBrian makes it Two Brian Stevens won a rain influenced Group 1 race from Roger Stanford’s BMW after challengers Jim McLouglin, Mark Fowler and David Howard fell out or fell back. Neil was the only starter in his class, finishing seventh overall after overtaking faster cars when the rain came down. There was rain in the air as Group 1 gathered in the assembly area. Neverless it was still dry when the lights went out and Jim McLoughlin stormed into the lead from his second row slot. It wasn’t too last as Jim’s Capri first slowed, then pulled off, at The Esses. So it was the two mighty Jaguar XJ12’s of Brian Stevens and David Howard that thundered past the line at the end of the first lap. Doubtless both hoping they could avoid contact this time! They were followed by Mark Fowler, his Capri flying as usual; Roger Stanford, back in his 2 litre BMW and Adrian Fuller, returning to the circuits after a break with a real tiger in his Capri’s tank. The Capri’s of David’s Weir and Margalies had both started at the back of the grid. David Margalies after problems during qualifying and David Weir as he had too work on Saturday. They were both flying and carving their way through the field, David Margalies getting up to seventh at the end of the first lap, just in front of Neil. It was clear that Brian Stevens’ XJ12 was faster in a straight line than David Howard’s, but the man from Newbury managed to get by under braking and take the lead on the second lap. This made the order Howard (XJ12) - Stevens (XJ12) - Fowler (Capri) - Stanford (BMW 2002) - Fuller (Capri) - Hickton (Opel Asona) - Margalies (Capri) - Roper (Rover Vitesse) - Weir (Capri) - Bray (Fiesta) - Jenkins (BMW CSL). Neil had slipped further back and was now in tenth as first David Weir’s Capri, then Alan Ropers Rover Vitessse powered past the Fiesta. By lap five David Margalies had pulled into the pits to retire and William Jenkins had slipped his BMW CSL by Neil. Up at the front Mark Fowler had briefly taken over in second place, but only for a lap before Brian Stevens retook the place. Then half way trough the race it started to spit with rain and lap times started to slow. The slippery conditions allowed Neil to pass both Alan Roper and David Weir and he gained another place when William spun his beautiful BMW. He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t keep it on the island. David Howard gave way to Brian Stevens pressure and spun at the Russell chicane. The slippery conditions also played into the hands of Roger Stanford who passed Mark Folwer to take second place. David Howard regained the circuit to cross the line in fourth place. Then came Adrian Fuller, who had dropped back when the rain came. David Hickton bought his Opel Ascona home on sixth after a lonely race. Neil ended up in seventh. If only it had rained sooner as he was the second fastest car on the track once the rain came down! Draft Snetterton PHTC reportPole sitter Brian Stevens had a narrow win in a closely fought PHTC race, coming over the line just in front of Nigel Garrett. David Howard had dominated the early stages of the race, despite a poor start. However, Brian slowly closed the gap until they had a coming together at the chicane, resulting in David spinning off. Neil finished seventh, dropping back a couple of places after he to spun at the chicane.David Howard didn’t get away from the grid very well, but still took the lead during the first lap. David’s XJ12 was going much better, after he found a rag that he had put into the carbs to keep the water out at the Jet Wash! At the end of the first lap the order was David Howard (Jaguar XJ12), Brian Stevens (Jaguar XJ12), Nigel Garrett (Dolomite Sprint), Tony Crudgington (Dolomite Sprint), Steve Primett (Escort RS2000), Neil Bray (Ford Capri), Mark Lucock (RS 2000), Roger Stanford (Lotus Cortina), Len Allgood (Escort RS2000), Mark Osborne (Dolomote Sprint).Steve Primett was fortunate to be there, as he had lost 3rd and 4th gear in practice. Steve was pretty annoyed about this as he had just paid for an expensive rebuild to the box after Lydden. However, Jason Christie lent him his spare so Steve could take his place on the grid. It was nice to see Jason back on the circuit, debuting his very smart silver and blue RS2000, more or less a new car after his accident at Donnington back in 2006. Brother James wasn’t so lucky, as his Avengers head gasket went in qualifying. The same fate befell Tony Crates’ Lotus Cortina and neither started. By lap five Brian Stevens was right on David Howards tail. Coming into the chicane they were side by side. They touched and David ended up sideways across the track, restarting behind Roger Stanford. The order was now Stevens, Garrett, Primett (who had passed Tony Crudgington on lap 4), Crudgington, Bray, Lucock, Stanford, Howard, Allgood, Jenkins. Things didn’t stay that way for long, as the next lap Neil went wide at the chicane and went on the grass. This allowed Mark Lucock past but suddenly he was out when a new clutch cable parted. David Howard was wound up again, passing Roger Stanford and then catching both Neil and Jason Christie to finish fifth. Up front Brian Stevens won, but only just, as the neat and tidy Nigel Garrett had started to pull alongside as they crossed the line. Steve Primett was third, happy his borrowed box had stayed together. Steve was only just ahead of Tony Crudgington, another whose mechanical luck hasn't been good lately. Then came David Howard in 5th, Jason Christie 6th, Neil 7th Roger Stanford 8th, Len Allgood 9th, William Jenkins 10th. April 27 Brıan Stevens takes another wın ın Group 11. Brıan Stevens XJ12 2. Roger Stanford BMW 3. Mark Fowler Caprı 4. Davıd Howard XJ12 5. Adrıan Fuller Caprı 6. Davıd Hıckton Opel Ascona 7. Neıl Bray Fıesta 8. Davıd Weır Caprı 9. Alan Roper Rover 10. Tım SA Rover PHTC Results1. Brıan Stevens XJ12 2. Nıgel Garrett Dolomıte 3. Steve PRIMETT RS2000 4. Tony Crudgıngton Dolomıte 5. Davıd Howard XJ12 6. Jason Chrıstıe RS2000 7. Neıl Bray Caprı 8. Roger Stanford Lotus Cortına 9. len Allgood RS2000 10. Wıllıam Jenkıns BMW Brıan Stevens wıns PHTCCould have been dıfferent had Davıd Howard not gone off when Brıan Stevens came past at the chıcane and the two had a comıng together. A few laps later and Neıl went grass trackıg at the same place loosıng a posıtıon, droppıng a place to fınısh 7th overall but takıng the class wın. Nıgel Garrett had an excellent race and was almost alongsıde Brıan when the flag fell. April 26 Snetterton Group 1 QualifyingClassic Touring Car Racing Club, CTCRC, BARC Race Meeting
Notes
Click here for on the spot race reports and new from Snetterton tomorrow Click here for full reports, detailed results and pictures on Monday Snetterton Post Historic QualifyingClassic Touring Car Racing Club, CTCRC, BARC Race Meeting
Notes
Click here for on the spot race reports and new from Snetterton tomorrow Click here for full reports, detailed results and pictures on Monday April 25 Kyrle Draft ReportAdrian Marfell wins tough, high scoring, Kyrle Trial Adrian took an early lead, clearing both of the unbelievably steep hills near Monmouth and going on to drop only one mark in the mud bath at Ropers. The trial was won on these first three sections, as second place man Dean Partington dropped thirteen in this group, compared to Adrian's one. There had been a fair bit of rain during the preceding week, adding slurry to the Kyrle's near vertical sections. The first two hills were just up the road from the start, competitors briefly entering Wales as they headed west on the A40. Both Pillbox and Goldsmiths 2 were un-believably steep, muddy and rutted with a re-start on Goldsmiths 2 for seven and eight. Adrian was one of ten class eights to clean both of these two horrors. The other classes didn't fare very well, especially on Goldsmiths 2, where it was very hard to get around the 90 left just up from the start. A special shout-out to Derek Tyler (VW Baja), Sticker Martin (Ford Escort) and Tony Young (VW beetle) who not only got around the corner but went on to clear the section. Ropers was one of the few non-forestry sections on the event. Approached by a steep descent down to the River Wye, the section is a PCT style muddy bank, with penalties for hitting the markers. Apart from supermen Adrian Marfell and Simon Woodall, who both got as far as the one marker, nobody else got more than half way. Then came the next challenge, getting up the exit road, fearsome enough to be a section itself. Not so bad for the sevens and eights, but a problem for some of the lower classes, causing an appreciable delay. It was back to forestry for the next group of sections, comprising Jack, Jill the first special test, and Pludds. All familiar Kyrle favourites. Dean Partington threw down a challenge here, cleaning all three to close the gap on Adrian Marfell. Elsewhere most others floundered on some, or all, of the sections, apart from Adrian Dommett whose supercharged Wolseley Hornet stormed up all three, not bad for class two! In class four Emma Robilliard had already had three punctures and Tony Young was struggling with a dead starter motor and wasn't enjoying the delays. Next came a whole string of muddy forestry sections, many of which had no exit at the top, necessitating a perilous descent with the handbrake as they were all pretty steep. Snompers was the only one to see many cleans. The last two sections offered some respite from the gradient, but not the mud! They were both new to the event and Paul Bartleman and Simon Groves are to be congratulated for finding them as they were different to all the forestry and consequently added character to the day. Shapridge was in forestry but no tree weaving here. After a short time it turned into a real Crackington, only much more so, the mud and ruts extending as far as the eye could see! No problem for most of the class eights but event leader Adrian Marfell dropped six, dropping him within seven marks of Dean Partington. In class three Richard Hayward cleaned both this one and the last section to pip Sticker Martin for the class win. Tony Young was still going, despite his starter problems, powering his raucous Beetle through the mud for a resounding class win as he was so far in front he could have dropped twelve on the last one! Keith Sanders was another to do well here, his clean giving him a class win in a class five rather decimated by retirements. The final section, called High Hope, was another new one, approached by a long, very muddy track, which was nothing compared to the section to come. It was a great section though, skirting a farmyard before an assault up a semi-surfaced track before a "chicane" and more mud. No problem to class eight but tough for the rest. Class seven was decided here, Ray Goodright (Arkley) just holding onto his lead despite dropping four. Derek Tyler (VW Baja Beetle), Murray Montgomery-Smith (Marlin) and Brian Colman (Dutton Phaeton), all cleaned it but Ray held onto his class win by two marks. April 24 Its all go with the computersThe Dell seems to work OK. Have spent all day sorting out the office here at Chaos manor so it sits in prime place on my desk. Cables-bloody-cables! have still got the old HP live as there's stacks off stuff on that still to be transferred. The LAN will help with that! Still can't get the Internet to work on Mike's computer. It's connected to his ISP but will not connect to Explorer - Firefox - Outlook Express or Skype. Pretty much exhausted the possibilities I can come up with so all that's left is a Windows re-install and I have never done one of those! April 21 Adrian Marfell wins Tough Kyrle TrialThe tough, steep sections and the mud combined to make this a high scoring event. Unofficial; results:-
Computer Problems at Chaos Manor Sitting here on the throne typing this on my MacBook. However, the main machine here is an HP PC running XP that is the best part of five years old and has been creaking at the seams for a while. Finally took the plunge and ordered a new one (A Dell with Raid 1 etc) and it came yesterday. Took all day to get it up and running but I think I have finally succeeded. Not installed my software yet of course. But we have a working LAN here at Chaos Manor. Thats necessary as I have to keep the old machine because of course my printer doesn't have a USB port and my old scanner won't work with Vista!
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