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MSA British
Hill Climb Championship |
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Team Flintstones - Stone Tablet - Ulster Speed Weekend [I need to provide some background to the story. Everyone seems to get a nick name, so comes about Team Flintstone in the orange Gould GR55. Consisting of Roy (Bam Bam) Dawson, Paul Johnston (Barney) and Brian (Fred). Top Sprinters at present but being tempted to the dark side.?..... - Richard]. Barney writes for the team. The Ireland weekend is the biggest weekend that we tackle
in the whole year, 3 days of non stop activity starting on the Friday at the
Kirkistown sprint onto the Craigantlet hillclimb with the big boys and their
toys on the Saturday and back to Kirkistown for the 2nd sprint on the
Sunday. I’ve been looking forward to the weekend for a while. A full weekend
pass obtained from the other half (most of you will know what I mean) and a
chance to put right our failures from last year when the rear wing collapsed big
style at 160mph at the, will I, won’t I Thursday , set of from Roy’s pad mid morning cross country in the truck to pick up Brian just outside Lockerbie then off for 60 miles of the most torturous road in Scotland from the M74 to Stranraer to catch what must be the most impressive ferry anywhere in the UK. Nice leisurely journey, no rush, plenty time, bobbing along in the new truck cab mile after mile after mile of crap road, That was until someone actually looked at there watch !!!. S*** 20 minutes to get checked in for the ferry and 10 miles to go, That would still have been no problem had it not been for the mother of a motor home towing a Dastle box at 20 mph for the last 5 mile, starting to get a bit tight for time, get your foot down, 10 minutes to check in, 5 minutes to check in, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, at 2 minutes to check we in turned in the gate, please, please, please don’t stop us, get round the corner,……..GATES CLOSED, ooh dash it (was actually something else, way more Scottish) !! we drive up to them anyway. Could not believe our eyes as they opened for us, checked in, last vehicle………..relax, Spotted Tim and Will Mason, Scott and Rodger Moran and Steve’s mole race mobile waiting to board. 2 hours later arrive in Belfast, place our trust in technology (much to Brian and Roy’s annoyance) and let tom tom take us there. We didn’t go this way last year, yes we did, ooh no we didn’t, ooh yes we did.
As normal Tony Isles had beaten us there and invited us to join them for dinner at a local (7 miles and a ferry ride, irish for local) restaurant. I jumped in with Will and Tim leaving Roy, Brian Steve and Lorna to go in Tony’s motorhome, remember motorhome… for later, Dawson disappears for a leak, “Quick lap of the circuit” said will “why not” answered Tim. Set off in the pickup for a lap, back round to the start and Dawson’s still MIA eventually showing face, oops waiting for me ? Blink once and Tony’s gone, Where the **** did they go, follow the black lines, A true test of Wills driving skills trying to keep up with Tony, After 7 miles of being bounced around including a couple of airbourne moments arrived at the ferry and still only glimpsed Tony a couple of times. The look on Roy’s Brian’s and Steve’s faces as they emerged from the back of the motorhome was a picture, looking a lot like one of 007’s martini’s, shaken not stirred, 2 hours later after munch munch slurp slurp learned another valuable lesson, quote “when in a seafood restaurant, don’t have the steak”. Anyway back to the circuit to settle down for a good nights sleep.
Friday, Up early morning, managed about 2 hours sleep, car unloaded got to work, There’s not really that much to do, bleed the brakes, set up the incar camera, change wheels, add fuel, new battery, set up the datalogger with the venue etc, warm it up ready to go. Some of the hillclimb boys and there toys appear, Mike Dean, Paul Ranson, Tom New for support. An hour later and mikes has his car is in 100 bits, time to do the clutch…..again 1st practice, Almost Dry, No grip of the line as per normal this year in the GR55, The car sounds amazing coming up the back straight, everyone very amused at the showers of sparks from the underside of the car, circuits bumpy as the tide’s in. There’s about 4’ of titanium bar strategically placed to save the carbon undertray from wear, convinced the clerk of the course that this was normal for the car and that it was not damaging the car, round Dettors bend lifting slightly, Good shakedown run, I’m happy, somewhere in the 1:34’s. 3rd behind Tony and John
1st timed run, Dry With a 64’ time of 2.55 it’s the slowest in the class finishing with a 1:32.41. There must be 0.5 secs to come out of the 64’ time at least. FTD so far, 175 on back straight, 168 round Dettors, no drama’s. Everyone else also improving, Stuarts car starting to develop a misfire 2nd timed run, mildly Moist, Put on new slick to run them in for tomorrow so not pushing it. This time a 64’ time 2.99 so it not going to be any faster, turned my back to walk back up the pit lane, red flags, heart sinks, where, what, damage ? all thoughts that run through your head. Luckily no damage, loose wheel nut, thankfully retaining clip held it on. Out in the ambulance, tightened nut, started car, back to pits.
2nd runoff, Chucking it down harder, 1st time in new car in the wet, Wets on the car, tyre pressures all adjusted. 3.32 64’ time, 2:08:59 now down to 4th place overall. Roy had a play with the car to find the limits in the wet and yes he found it spinning the car at the hairpin. Overall a disappointing finish to the day but left with some points towards the championship so all was not lost. Everyone disappears up to the bar for prize giving and a well earned beer. We pack up all we can back into the truck as everything is now well soaked and disappear for a shower. Fantastic feel much better after that. Up to the bar quick beer and kept well amused by Mike and Tom as they goes for a lap on the way out in there trucks …quality. Off to the lay-by at the top of the now traditional overnight stay. A Chinese was the food of choice for the Friday night with Billy getting the short straw. A quick (2 hour and several bottles of wine later) chat and were ready for bed Saturday Long lie, aah luxury, 6:30 am is a long lie for Mike AKA “Uncle Albert” got parked up on the hill.
Found all the fixing between the undertray and sidepods having been torn off after previous days activities not a problem for today as much lower speeds but makes the second sprint very doubtful 1st Practice, Dry, Back on the slicks, Poor start, not sure of the times something like 7th place not that bad for the 1st time up the hill in the car and only 2nd ever hillclimb having competed in a DJ Firehawk 2 years previously. A lot still to come from the others 2nd Practice, Dry, Better start, again not sure of the times. Uncle Albert giving us a proper slagging for state of the front tyres so pinch his bucket and surform and set to work. Got 1 done in time for first timed run, Looks like new but was it any better, who knows. Brian MIA eventually found horizontal in the truck making strange contented noises which were heard from across the road. 1st Timed Run, Dry, Reasonable start, uphill with a 64’ time of 2.28 best of the weekend with a split of 20.47 and run of 43.26 something like 7th . A lot still to come from the others 2nd Timed run, Dry, Put on the new rear rubber, Ooh why not, A better start 2.25 against best of 2.05 split of 20.07 third fastest behind Scott and mike and a 42.62, 5th overall, Not bad for a car set up for circuits with the totally wrong gearing and knackered dampers Not entered for championship so that was it for the day got packed whilst helping mike prep his car for the runoff. Whilst packing up the truck found all the fixing between the undertray and sidepods having been torn off after previous days activities not a problem for the hillclimb as much lower speeds but makes the second sprint very doubtful. A good day was had by all, cannot believe how tired I now feel. Quick shower in uncle Albert’s truck, good fun when parked on a hill then off to Bangor for a few beers and a bite to eat. Pizza in a sauna (pizza hut) was not the most enjoyable, A few more beers and vodka red bulls later they were starting to take effect, Big shout out to the 2 budding John Travolta’s. Back to the truck for a cuppa and off for some sleep. Not sure if moose found the sheep he mentions in his scribblings, suspect not, no hills near. Sunday, wake early, like 7am to the sound of the rain battering off the window, Sprint now looking very doubtful bearing in mind the damage and not forgetting a poor performance in the wet on Friday however we Pondered over this for hours and eventually decided against The journey back to Kirkiston as the damage could only get worse with the high speeds. A bite to eat then head off for the ferry, watched most of the GP only for it to switch off 10 laps from the end and we miss all the action with button winning his first (moose must be your turn next) Not that bloody road again !!!
Thanks to all for the laughs, See you soon, Please let it be dry for Doune
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As ever
were made most welcome by the circuit staff, even a 240V hook-up, great cold
beer.
2nd
practice, Dry, Adjusted tyre pressures, Slightly better grip of the line, rest
of the lap a repeat of the first time slightly better somewhere in the 1:33’s.
Don’t really pay that much attention to the times as the info’s on the
datalogger. For anyone who thinks they are a gimmick you couldn’t be further
from the truth. Last year it actually saved us an engine and a bloody big bill.
168 on the back straight, 164 round Dettors, were getting there
1st
runoff, Chucking it down, 1st time for Roy in new car in the wet,
Wets on the car, tyre pressures all adjusted. 2.90 64’ time better than in the
dry earlier ??, 1:56:07 Not the time to be learning how to drive the car in the
wet. 3rd place as Tony must have had a moment on the track
somewhere. Stuarts has an excellent run with misfire still there (I think it was
secret traction control)
In a prime
position, well as good as it gets struggled somewhat to get the 2 orange Goulds
out there beds and on the ground, Everything is twice as difficult when on a
hill and went for a quick wake up walk round the track getting rid of the buckie
bottles and other offending items from the cars path. Takes a damn site longer
to walk than drive, Back to the car to get prepped for the day, the usual tyres,
fuel, camera (battery flat, left on overnight) logger etc