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MSA British
Hill Climb Championship |
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Moose Mail 30th May 2006 Gurston down rounds 9 and 10
FRIDAY PREP Well this weekend was yeh was going to be so much better prepared for, the master plan yeh we do plan you wouldn't believe it. My flight was due to leave gsy at 07.00 on Friday morning. This was going to be such a great day arrive in Southampton collected by pigpaws, cup of tea with the rest of the newbies (muppets nickname for the bigpaws clan) get car out of lorry, remove g/box reshim clutch, change clutch seals (m.g take note, yes we do seals every 6th meeting ) and have a final sort of the body work to fit back on Zeus fasteners better ,new body work teething trouble, load up chill a bit ,collect muppet once she had finished school then travel to Gurston unload relax and unwind these last few meetings have sapped so much energy have been really struggling to get a grip and find the zone. sat morning had arranged to borrow Kezza's car (Mrs new) and shoot to Southampton to pick up g'string and then dash back and show g the ropes on how i want the car prep done. Reason no Mark this weekend still building so trying to teach g string to take over when he is not there . Sounds great don't it. (time mark had a nickname) Well this is how it really did happen. Friday up at 05.10 leave house 05.30 arrive at airport park car check in at 5,45. 06.00 flight cancelled due to weather. Queue for 1 hr at airport ticket desk, next flight i can be booked on with definite seat 16.10 on Sunday (about as much use as chocolate tea pot )so opt to take a standby flight option for 09.30 and 13.00 to Gatwick. while watching the weather get worse not better (real bad fog for 2nd day running) I got to car and get laptop and mobile out and book a boat ticket to Poole on line which is scheduled to leave at 12.o clock although not ideal at least would be in UK by 15.00.then just a case of sitting around waiting not good when i have so much to do. (what would i do without the gadgets). It's now a sensible hour 07.00 phone big paws and break the news .fortunately i have great mates and tom offers to see what he can do on the car when he's finished his day job. Webbo has been the weekend before and sign written the car. So tom puts car in his workshop and checks the gears for me just as a precaution so that we know all the dogs are okay, and leaves the car up on trestle's. By 11 o'clock I make the decision to travel by boat so down to my workshop leave by wheels there and arrange a lift to the boat. With 2 days of delays i was so pleased I booked on line as the ticket desk queue was mega. And there was definitely more people than places available. At least i was sort of back on track, then we get an announcement the boat is late and not due in till 13.00 just as well as it took 2hrs in the queue to get in terminal building. Eventually get on the boat at leave gsy harbour at 13.40 we arrive in Poole at 16.30 usually i would now a taxi to train station, train to Southampton at taxi to Toms, I was lucky and a friend of mine is on boat and offers to take to toms great by the time we clear customs etc, etc and meet all the rush hour traffic i arrive at toms at 18.30 not bad considering . Now get changed put on some overalls and start to remove g/box to check clutch, reshim and clean.. Webbo arrives at 7.0clock with some chips great i needed that. I then get to work, when your are tired everything takes twice as long the journey has sapped my energy and to say my enthusiasm for the sport and all the efforts that we all put in is not really at an all time high. and as they say the season is just starting. We break at 21.30 to go and collect muppet not bad only 6 hrs late for pick up ,back at toms by 22.40 and floor and body work ,brakes clutch etc to bleed ,the plan to be loaded by midnight and then see how i feel and drive to Gurston. not quite we load by 00.40 ish and breathing a sign of relief that we are almost done .while loading due to lorry position and time of night for reposition lorry (i.e. trying to be quite, and not wake neighbour hood. we struggle to load at an angle (bad move) this was about to cause another 2 hr delay. While raising tail lift race car wheel on r/h side catches the rear lens unit 1 ton lift 5oo kilo car and two bob rear lamp only 1 out come really !!!!! after loading webbo repairs lamp unit great job !!!! we forget the most important thing we haven't check the lights,great no indicators and no side light not good for a early journey, so remove lamp fit new bulb in indicator and check connection for side light. No drama well yes its gets worse after checking side lights one is dim because it has two bulbs and one is smashed to bits, Webbo attacks this with pliers before i can switch off lights such a bad move there's a flash and now we no lights ,no worries only a fuse we think we should know better we are not that lucky while attempting to test fuses in the cab moose clambers over drivers side and catches overalls on horn button i mean its only gone 02.00 sorry newbies, its not funny but Webbo and are in fits of laughter. And after all that the fuses are okay. So as a last resort we wire r/h lights from l/h side. great we lock up and leave by 02.45 not bad at this rate bed wont be worth getting into thanx webbo your help was much needed, just don't give up your day job sparky. Muppet and i arrive at Gurston at 03.50 with a good chance of rain on sat (today even) moose wakes muppet up ready to unload car words like dad your are joking !!!!!!,at this time of the morning humour is not top of list. we unload everything and put the moose mobile awning up. we park truck and settle in to sleep just as sun is rising not bad clock says 04.50 i have been up 23hrss.40 minutes what a day and some.!!!!!!! SAT PRACTICE Alarm goes off at 06.00 i have had 1hrs 10 mins sleep i look great.not !!!!!!question is will bigpaws remember that i need kezza,s car keys to go and get gina.sure enough 06.15 he arrives ginas phoned the planes delayed and flight is cancelled. sound familiar. paws and I have are usual cup of tea , everything's better for a brew and then i set about car prep moose crew as follows : just moose, muppet asleep gina delayed and tea lady now multi tasking this is not anyway to go racing but you have accept what life throws at you but we seem to get more than our fair share !!!!!!! Moose and headless chicken are phrases that come to mind everything triple checked i so tired i cant remember what i have or have not done. 1st practice everybody has a dry run exempt the last half dozen in our batch its drizzling really hard at the top and i post a 31.78 and end up 14th quickest, its only practice but i hope to be in the top five by end of day, then i can sleep better. 2nd practice is a high 27 we are 4th quickest 3rd practice drizzling again and with a practice available in the morning i opt out. I await a phone call from gina ref her travel its not good by 20.00 its a no go, shame was looking forward to some company but in another way could quick grab some tea and a drink and get to my bed.
I sleep till 07.30 big paws wakes me up i needed that sleep. We grab a cuppa and do are usual track walk (I am missing jnr my long time track walker ,i hope he is out soon the sport is not the same without him ) webbo ,tea lady and tea ladys dad assist thanx very much (i have used so many favours already this season ) and muppet its not the same i need constant attention some times ,and like to have it. last season my points tally from this meeting was 2 2nd place finishes 18pts i would have to dig very deep for a repeat i am sure the odds at a bookies would have been good if you wanted to blow some dosh 1st timed 27.32 we qualify 3rd quickest groves 1st and jam strangler 2nd (scott) run off i post a 26.71 good enough just for 2nd scotty 26.73 for 3rd it was close groves on 26.39 take the win. we stop for lunch i am running on adrenalin 1st mission accomplished 1 to go 2nd time 26.77 we qualify on pole . Run off i know the time to beat grovesy with a problem has posted 26 .41 and scott next with 26.95 we are the3 only to post 26 sec runs all day. with my qualifier time the class win goes to me but i am so close to taking that elusive first win , and all the hype round the moose crew and paddock its hard not to be caught up in it, even i ask myself the questions while sitting on the startline waiting to go` is today my day `grovesy split was a 14.60 to beat him i need to get close i post a 14.61 i tried but he is the master on the throttle out of slow corners (that's why he is champion i suppose) the clocks stop at 26.76 a new pb and 2nd place ,still despite the weekend travelling woes i am so pleased with my 18 pt haul the season is a long race not a sprint so will keep working at improving.
next meeting next week shelsley walsh !!!!!!!!!
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The
season has not started how moose or the moose crew would have envisaged this
down to moose's accident at Loton park at season start. With numerous tales of
woe and late night early mornings still getting moose mobile back to a1
condition and moose getting up to speed and did I mention the bloody weather
some start to the summer eh!
SUNDAY
RACE DAY
Last
(yeah?) but not least grovesy has the last laugh on
me while starting his speech I am as usual extracting the piss, but didn't
bargain what he would do next as he says mike dean will do my speech for me
cheers mate. !!!!!!!!!