Foxhall under the lights

Well that definitely turned out to be a good night, and has made all the hard work and bad luck over the last few months all seem worth it.  Once again the car was faultless and everything just fell into place.

It was a dry night but cold and windy, and you can imagine my surprise when I pulled out onto the track for practice to find it soaking wet!   The sweeper had been round and washed all the shale off the track.  We went straight out after it had finished and obviously the track hadn’t dried out.  It made it an interesting practice but you could just about find a dry line by keeping the car really tight through the bends and then running right out to the wall on the straights.  Even in the bad conditions the car felt great so I really had no reason to moan.

I was to start my races from the first couple of rows all night and the first heat saw me starting on the front row outside of James O’Shea.   He had the legs on me at the start, got away and started to extend his lead.   I’m not really sure what happened next but something must have happened to James in the scoreboard bend and I was able to slip by and take the lead.   Although I managed to hold on to the lead until the end the whole pack was bunched up behind me and where the track was still damp there was just no outside line for them to be able to pass.   It felt brilliant to finally have another win, but the track conditions did help me a lot, and I don’t think I would ever have passed James had he not had a problem.   To me, Hot Rods is Foxhall under the floodlights though, so a win there felt great!

My second race saw me on the inside front row.    I lost a place at the line as Danny Hunn slid past me and into the lead.  Danny and I have had some cracking races recently and once again this one turned out to be pretty good, although I never really found myself in a position to get back past him - and spent most of the race chasing him round.   All the credit for this race goes to Steve Burrows though, who came flying past both of us to take the win.   With a third at the flag I was still over the moon.

The final had all the makings of what could be a pretty hectic race; lots of cars, a fast track but absolutely no outside line.   Luckily by starting at the front I was able to avoid all the carnage and get home in one piece.  I managed not to lose any places off the start but James was just gone from the front row and heading off into the lead and try as I might I couldn’t get myself into a position to even begin to challenge him.   This didn’t stop Steve - who was flying once again - from slipping past us both then roaring off into the distance for another win.   The top three didn’t change from there with James getting second and me crossing the line in third.

It had been a really top night and the car had stayed in one piece too, so an added bonus.   Nights like that really do bring home why we race and as you know I love it no matter what the result, but when you do get some luck it makes all the time and money you spend seem justified.   We had a good laugh in the pits and it was just a great meeting overall.

There has been no time for resting though and we have been straight back on the car getting it ready for the European on Saturday night.   Gavin has very kindly offered to take my car over with him in the back of his truck.   Racing in Ireland is another of those dreams I’ve always wanted to fulfil so thanks to Gavin in advance for giving me the opportunity.    He unfortunately suffered big damage at Foxhall and has been flat out making sure his car is ready to go.    We are getting the boat Thursday night so we can have a day off Friday.   We race Saturday night then get the boat straight home so we can all go back to work on Monday!

I know it’s going to be a top class weekend and although I’m probably a bit out of my league in terms of racing, I’m looking forward to trying a new track and just building on the experience.   I know we’re going to have a lot of laughs along the way, most of the jokes no doubt aimed at me!

All in all I have some fantastic friends and some brilliant times at racing and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Thanks as ever for reading.

See you in Ireland.

Mikey

The beginning of a busy month

With the exception of loading the car into the trailer we are sorted and ready for Ipswich on Saturday night.   We have everything on the car done, and probably for the first time ever, we have a night to spare.   It’s definitely not something to get used to though as the meeting this weekend sees the start of a four week back-to-back racing fest with a meeting every weekend leading us into the winter break.    One of these meetings is the European Championship and my first meeting overseas - but more on that next week I think.

All the work on the car was pretty routine stuff - like the diff and the tyres - and we have all that down to a pretty fine art now.   I must also admit I’m a big fan of a Saturday night meeting.   It usually means we can work in the morning then head off racing in the afternoon.   Although it’s a late night home, it gives you Sunday to do the car.   It’s amazing how much you can do in a whole day compared with a few hours in the evening.   My two favourite tracks, Ipswich and Birmingham are generally Saturday night meetings, making it that little bit sweeter as well!

As a lot of you will already know I’m always having issues with wheels for the car and seem to spend half my life bending them, but after a rummage in the deepest darkest corners of my shed I have managed to find three Compomotive Turbos.   You almost need a degree in climbing to get to the back of the shed so getting out alive and with three wheels is certainly an achievement in itself.  Compomotive Turbos are easily my favourite Hot Rod wheel ever, and although these are looking pretty sorry for themselves and all need new outer rims on them, it gives me a nice project for the winter.    I have six of them in total and I’m going to shot-blast them, paint them and fit new outers so they all look like new - so look out for my car on a set of retro-wheels next year.

I was having one of those pointless “If I won the lottery...” conversations the other day and I decided that I would buy a brand new SHP Peugeot 205.   This is easily the coolest and the best looking Hot Rod ever built.   One with all the bits from a modern Hot Rod would just be amazing even if it just sat in the garage for looking at!   Obviously it would be running the aforementioned Compomotive Turbos to complete the retro look . . . . 

Back to reality again, and away from lottery winning fantasies I’m sure some of you will have noticed the banner for our company in the right hand corner of nationalhotrod.com - please click on it and have a look on our website.  As many of you will use vans for work or racing, please give us a thought if you are looking for any spares.   We have literally thousands of parts in stock ready to send straight out, and can send stuff next day to most places!

 Sorry this is short - I’ll be back next week to tell you how the meeting at Ipswich went and share the plans for Ireland – it’s going to be great.

Thanks for reading

Mikey

Hot Rods and Carp Fishing

Well that’s another meeting over.   This year is flying by and it only seems like yesterday that we were getting ready for the NEC and the World Final.  We only have four meetings left before the winter is upon us again!  We’re already planning the winter rebuild and the wheels are in motion getting the bits and pieces we need ordered up.    I’ve put my name down for the NEC Live Action arena again so hopefully I’ll get picked to go back in there.

We had a pretty hectic week after Ipswich trying to get as much done as we could so I could go away with Ross for our annual fishing trip to Devon.   We got most of it done and good old Dad finished the last few bits and he and Mum loaded it all up on the Friday night so everything was ready to go.  Thanks again to you both for everything over the years, obviously without the help from both of you none of the racing could happen.

After racing, carp fishing is my other love.  With so much time being spent either racing or in the work shop I don’t spend anywhere near as much time fishing as I would like so it’s nice once a year to go away for a week, just forget everything and catch some fish.   Waking up on the Saturday morning, catching some carp then coming home to race made for a pretty good day too!

It was a meeting of pretty mixed feelings and results.   Some parts were great and I was really pleased whilst others left me really disappointed with myself.   Once again though the car was just faultless - it just seems to get better every time I drive it.   Just needs a driver to match its capabilities now!

The first race I thought was pretty good although I lost a few places from my start position.  Everything went really well and I had a great race with Carl Waller-Barrett.   For a lot of the race he was on the outside - he got past in the end - but it was just a good clean race for a fair few laps, each of us giving the other enough respect and not beating hell out of one another.  I finished the race seventh so I’m pretty pleased with that.

My second race was going okay for the first few laps until I ended up spun onto the infield.   There was nothing wrong with the car so I rejoined the race, albeit at the back of the grid.   From this point on the car was just superb and I think it was the quickest I went all night, we’ll never know though as the transponder decided to pack up meaning I can’t see the lap times, typical!   I still finished in thirteenth place so managed to scrape a couple of points from it.

Just as we lined up for the final it started to rain, not heavy just really fine rain that turned the track into a greasy skating rink almost instantly.   We went from a rolling start and it all went wrong from that moment.  It was all just stupid errors on my part but I drove like an idiot hugging the inside line and really struggling with the track conditions.   All the quick cars were right out wide against the fence using all of the grip they could find whilst I limped around the inside hugging the kerb.   I’m pretty disgusted with myself but it’s put down to experience and a mistake I certainly won’t be making again.

All in all another good meeting though and as Dick Hillard pointed out at drivers meeting, at times I do seem to be the only one who enjoys it.   No matter what the politics or rules are if I win or lose I remember that it’s my hobby!   It’s my life too but I remember why I am there.  Yes, I want to win, I want to do well but if I don’t I’m not going to let it ruin my life.   I’ve still got to get up and go to work on Monday whatever happens.

I’ll be back next week and I’ll tell you what’s going on with the car and about our planned trip to the European with Gav.   It’s going to be my first International meeting and I’m far too excited already!

Until then thanks for reading.

Mikey