A Great Adventure

Trying to condense what was arguably the best two weeks of my life into an acceptable size blog is going to be a hard task so excuse me if this turns into a bit of an epic.   Even finding a place to start is proving difficult!

Obviously going somewhere new and so far from home was a little daunting but as soon as I stepped off the plane in Cape Town and felt the heat I knew my decision to leave a wet and dark UK behind for a couple of weeks was the right one!  Due to being the most disorganised bunch of people in the world we couldn’t all manage to get on the same flight so the first two hours was spent doing several runs to the airport to collect everyone.  Altogether there were eight of us on the trip; the man himself Deane Wood, Paul Frost, Stuart McLaird, Kym Weaver, his father Hughie, his mechanic and friend Smiffy , Trevor Dibnah from the 2-litre Stock Cars and myself.

Our first port of call was to collect our transport for the week, a brand new minibus lent to us by the local Hyundai garage.  It had been sign-written with our names and UK racing team down the side.  From here it was straight to the track offices to meet everyone and let them see exactly what they’d let themselves in for!

The racing in South Africa is run very differently to here and the Monday before every race meeting all the drivers have to go to a meeting at the track to draw grid positions and just have a general briefing about how the race will be run.  After getting lost a few times we finally managed to arrive pretty late!  It was a good chance to get to meet all the other drivers and find out a bit about what we would be doing.  What anyone failed to tell us was that after the meeting finishes the bar stays open and everyone stays and gets drunk, something that surprisingly enough suited us all down to the ground.

The next day it was time to have a look at the cars we would be racing.  Now the principle of the cars is similar to ours but obviously as they are racing on dirt they have lots of differences too, the biggest of these is the tyres.  Although there are no rules on tyres everyone chooses to run a 15-inch Dunlop road tyre.  The cars had Corsa shells which had all been painted and sign-written to look like our cars from home.  The car I was going to race had a Mazda rotary engine under the bonnet but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Practice was arranged for the Thursday evening so we could get a bit of seat time in the cars.  The track isn’t dissimilar to something you would see Sprint Cars racing on in America - it is much bigger than any track we drive on in the UK and is made up of clay.  As the meeting goes on and it dries out it packs down like tarmac giving more and more grip each race.  Due to the heat they spend all week watering the track so it doesn’t just rip up into one giant dust cloud as soon as a car puts a wheel onto it!

Now as soon as I pulled onto the track I scared the absolute life out of myself!  The noise and speed from a rotary is incredible, it sounds like there are twenty engines revving as soon as you touch the throttle!  This coupled with the fact they don’t slow down when you lift off the throttle makes it an altogether very scary experience!  I’ll be honest with you all and say that in truth I was pretty rubbish at the whole racing thing and struggled a bit to adapt to the flat-out sideways driving style of the dirt racing . . . but what an amazing experience it was to drive round that track.  I will just say that Deane was on a mission and having only done a few laps he was throwing his car around the track as fast as any of the South African guys!  We do all forget that he was actually a world champion on shale - albeit before most of us were even born!

After the practice it was straight into the bar for another night of chaos.  Unfortunately we had made a reputation for ourselves on the first night so we could hardly let it slip now!  The way of life is so different there and although everyone takes the racing very seriously they always meet in the bar afterwards for a chat and everyone gets along without any of the nastiness we seem to get here.

Saturday arrived and it was time for race day.  I know we have some keen fans at home but these guys were mad for it and the stadium was packed out by 1pm.  Lots of the spectators were keen to chat so we spent a long time talking to folk before it all got started at 6pm.  In the international race there were twelve South Africans, three Namibians and the six of us.  After the grand parade we all headed out on our parade laps before stopping at race control for the national anthems to be played and to meet the South African Minister for Sport.  Looking around the stadium you could see it was packed and the atmosphere was like the World Final at Ipswich.

You line up for the race in the pits, then pull out onto the track and do one rolling lap before the green flag drops.  Now one thing I will say is the drivers have so much more respect for each other than we do back at home and there is very little contact because they give each other enough room to pass cleanly.  It’s also the only time I have ever felt old at racing as some of the guys out there racing us were just 14 and 15 years old.   Watching them throw the cars sideways through the corners was pretty impressive.   The car control they will have when they get older will be something amazing.

I kept myself out of trouble and finished all the races but like I said I didn’t perform any miracles.  Deane was flying only to be hampered with an engine failure, Kym was on a mission as well but also suffered a few car problems, Paul was flying and ended up fifth overall at the end of the night.  Stu was having a good night as well but unfortunately Trevor had to retire due to a snapped steering arm.  One thing I did have to show for my night though was a very burnt leg! The exhaust of the rotary runs right up the tunnel and I have never felt heat like it in my life!

After the meeting there is a big trophy presentation in the bar and I’m sure you don’t need to be a genius to figure out where this is all going!  It turned into a very epic night that ended up with lots of water and ice being thrown around and a very wet ride back to the hotel in the minibus!

We didn’t just spend two weeks solid racing and drinking - we went out and did the tourist stuff too.  We took a trip up Table Mountain (something I would recommend to anyone), visited Robben Island and went on boats trips and spent quite a bit of time at the Cape Town Waterfront.  We had a great time but if I was to go into detail about everything we did we would be here all week and I‘d miss the first meeting at Birmingham!

That in a nutshell was our first week.  Instead of making this too long I’m going to split it into two parts and come back next week and tell you all about the second week of our trip and more exciting racing.

One thing I would like to say before I go is “Thank you so much” to everyone who voted for me to win Most Improved Driver at our awards night recently.  It really means a lot to me.  That was another very eventful night and I will no doubt get round to putting that into a blog soon!

Thank as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey

A great start to the year

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season. I had a quiet Christmas at home before heading off to Scotland to stay with John for New Year.  We spent a fair amount of time in his garage getting the new panels ready for their paint job.  Not complaining though, I’m as happy working on Hot Rods as I am doing anything, especially if I can have a beer whilst I’m doing it!  John had a small party on New Year’s Eve, which in true Sibbald style went on until six in the morning.  I started the year in Scotland so it seemed right that I end it there too!

I must admit that even though John and his guys always turn out a good looking car, they have really excelled themselves this year.  The new paint job is brilliant and a real credit to Bob who painted it . . . it really wasn’t bad for a second attempt!  I had to head back to the airport just as he was finishing it and I really had to fight with myself not to stay and see the finished product!

As soon as I was back home it was all systems go to get my car finished for the Autosport Show and I went straight off to Ipswich to pick it up from TPR Signs.  Each time it goes to be sign-written I think it looks amazing, but this time Jay has really outdone himself and the new stickers along with the freshly painted white wheels from Dale at Paint Dynamix has left me with what I think is my best looking car yet.  We didn’t have that much to do but found ourselves short of time as usual!

I love the NEC weekend and whenever I think about it I always end up smiling.  I have some really great memories from the years I’ve been going but I think this year came out as one of the best.  It was more of a ’week’ than a weekend though, as my two friends Besty and Norden flew over from Northern Ireland on the Wednesday morning and didn’t head home again until the following Monday night.  I can honestly say that from the minute I picked them up until the minute I dropped them off I didn’t stop laughing!

I picked them up from the airport with a car and trailer and then we drove to Bristol to collect a van.  After them being scrap men for a day we headed home to load the racing lorry and set off to meet John so we could go in convoy into the show and park together.  Me not having a lorry license made things difficult with dad driving the lorry to a lay-by 20 minutes from the NEC then driving my car home, leaving us to fend for ourselves from there!  The plan was John would leave at 8pm, drive to the same lay-by, we’d all get a few hours sleep then head off early together all driving whatever vehicles we had licenses for.  This wasn’t to work out though as John’s trailer had a blow out before they’d even crossed into England.  With no spare they had to wait to be rescued putting them several hours behind and resulting in them having no sleep at all and everyone having a mad rush to make it into the show!

With everything sorted and in the arena it was time to concentrate on the practice. The only way I can describe the live action arena is like the world final in a night club; the lights and the fact that you’re inside makes the atmosphere absolutely out of this world.   I love driving in there, the cars are great fun and you just touch the throttle and the back is sliding all over the place.  With three practice sessions and one show we had plenty of time to wander off and look round the main halls of the show before retiring back to the hotel ready to prepare for the madness that lay ahead!

Birmingham is renowned for some legendary nights out but I think the events that followed will be very hard to beat.  What started as a pretty standard night out turned into one I shall never forget.  Not for any one reason except everyone was having a good time, as they would say in Northern Ireland the craic was mighty!  Considering it was a Thursday night and all the sensible people in the world had work the next day, we wandered between a few bars before ending up in the world’s cheesiest night spot - a club called Pop World.  It’s known for being full of racing folk and sure enough over the weekend it didn’t disappoint.  I would hate to think how much drink was consumed and rumour has it that the world champion himself had to have a little sleep in the corridor of his hotel because he couldn’t find his room ….. (sorry John!)

Friday was a pretty slow day for us with only one show in the afternoon. We decided to take the car out to the lorry and just check everything over.  It was a good job we did as a joint holding the axle in had snapped completely leaving the axle free to move around at will.  Had we not changed this, the outcome doesn’t really bear thinking about!  Friday night was a lot more subdued.  I planned an early night and headed off to get some sleep but my friends had other ideas and after almost knocking my door from its hinges they dragged me back downstairs.

Saturday and Sunday were a lot more intense for us with 13 shows over the two days.  Everyone was getting a lot more confident too so the racing was getting better.  The stands looked pretty full each time and I think it gave the formula really good publicity.  Everyone made a big effort with their cars and tried to do National Hot Rod racing justice - it is the best formula in the world after all!

Saturday night saw us all head out for a meal then back to the hotel for a quiet night.  Things were going well until 1 o’clock when I decided that it’s the last night and I really should be heading into the town.  So after rounding up the other hardcore members of the squad we got in a taxi, bound for Pop World.  Now I wasn’t drinking so I saw all this through completely sober eyes and I can honestly say I have never seen so many racing folk in one place at one time.  I remember looking over the balcony and onto the dance floor just to see it packed full of familiar faces - I counted nine National Hot Rod drivers alone, not to mention other formulas and mechanics!

Sunday was much the same as Saturday with 6 shows to do before heading home.  It really was such an amazing weekend with great people.  I saw all my friends and made plenty of new ones.  I can’t thank Besty and Norden enough for coming over, both for the laughs and helping with the car. . . and of course to everyone else who just made it such an amazing few days.  It will always be remembered as the birth place of S.A.F. Motorsport (best you don‘t ask!).

Back here in the real world things are back to normal.  John’s car came back from the show with us and has been and had a new exhaust fitted by Edwards Motorsport.  It now needs a few little jobs doing and then it will be ready for the test night in February.  My car is in bits again and the engine is with John Toovey for some fine tuning.  It also has a shiny new Quaife sequential gearbox waiting to go in and I can’t wait to get out and try it!

I’m heading off to Cape Town next week to try and do the UK proud in the International Challenge at Tygerberg Raceway.  It’s going to be such an experience and I really can’t wait.  If anyone is interested and wants to keep up with how it’s going, please check out their website www.tygerbergraceway.co.za

Things are set to be pretty hectic when I get back too - in fact, it’s shaping up to be another amazing year!

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey

Organised, for once

I can’t believe that it’s Christmas again - another year has flown past.  The fact there’s not been any racing for a few weeks hasn’t slowed things down at all and I’ve been busy working on the car and visiting friends during the run up to the holiday season.

I’m delighted to report that for once I’m pretty well organised and the bulk of the work on the car is actually done!  It’s currently at TPR Signs getting its stickers and when it comes back here we have to change the diff, check everything over, set it up and it’s ready for the Live Action Arena at the Autosport Show in January.  Oh, and the wheels - well, I keep putting them off.  The idea of stripping them all down, painting them and rebuilding them doesn’t exactly fill me with Christmas cheer!

As the Tigra has been blue and silver since it was built in 2009 I decided to change things a little for 2014.  I really like the blue and have a garage full of spare panels that colour, so I’ve kept that the same, but the top half of the car has been spayed in a crisp frozen white.  Our company colours are blue and white, and my dad’s rally cars were always that colour too, so it just seemed a natural choice really.  There are a few little details left to do whilst it’s at TPR but I’m really happy with the result so far.

 

 

With December being my birthday as well as Christmas there’s always plenty of celebrating to be done, and so far this year has lived up to all expectations.  A pretty hectic weekend in Scotland for my friend’s 21st was followed by an even more hectic night in Northern Ireland for my own birthday.  What was meant to be a quiet country music concert was turned into a pretty rowdy event when twelve of us arrived . . .all I’m going to say is the twenty-foot Christmas tree was very lucky to survive the night unscathed after it was nearly brought tumbling to the ground!  It was a brilliant night though and a birthday I won’t forget in a hurry.   Thanks to everyone who made it such a good couple of weekends.  I managed to travel thousands of miles, visit three airports and drink beer in three countries all in the space of a week!  Pretty proud of that one - although maybe I’m now old enough to know better?

I’m very excited to say that I’ve been given the opportunity to head out to Cape Town in South Africa to race next February.  It’s a large shale oval which races Hot Rods similar to the cars here, although they run larger engines.  It’s a once in a lifetime chance; my flight is booked and I can’t wait to head out there.  Two weeks of sun and Hot Rods sounds perfect to me.

With lots going on at work it’s going to be a short Christmas this year, but I’m looking forward to spending a few days with my family - without any mention of racing cars or van spares.  These are pretty much my dad’s and my only topics of conversation and I think at times we must drive my poor mum mad.  I’m heading off to Scotland for New Year to spend it with John and all my friends.  He’s having a party . . . he just doesn’t know it yet.   Oops . . . he will now!

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year.  I’m sure I’ll be blogging again before the NEC but if not I’ll see you all there.  Make sure you all drink far too much and party way too hard - I’m sure I will!

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey

 

Another year over

Well, that’s that - the 2013 racing season is over.  It’s certainly flown by with all the expected highs and lows that come along the way.  Overall, the first season with the Duratech has gone well and has left me in a good position for next year.  I have a few small changes planned for the car over the winter but nothing too major.  Although I am unfortunately sitting outside of the top twenty at the moment a good meeting when we start back will put me straight back in the mix of things.

The last two meetings didn’t go to plan at all for me and although nothing went seriously wrong, nothing seemed to actually go right either!  I could look for all sorts of excuses but don’t really think there are any valid ones - it was just racing and it didn’t work out!

It was a glorious November day for the Hednesford meeting and although it was cold it stayed dry all day.  The car carries so much speed round that track and it always feels like you’re going so fast.  It was just one of those meetings with nothing to report and although I got points in each race with a tenth, an eleventh and a twelfth it wasn’t anything to write home about!  Due to some good organisation by the Incarace staff we were able to load up and leave straight after the final even though it meant we missed the fireworks.  It’s not a bad run for us either so we found ourselves back at home nice and early.

With only five days to get the car ready for the last meeting at Birmingham we were lucky that we didn’t have much to do; a good check over, a diff change, a quick set up and a general tidy up and we were ready to go again.  I’d been complaining that the brakes had been feeling inconsistent all day though so a deeper investigation was needed into what was causing that.  It didn’t take long to find the problem - the pads had overheated and started to separate.  A quick phone call to SHP soon had this sorted and a new set of pads arrived next day ready to be fitted.

Birmingham was a disappointment for me.  I love Birmingham and I had talked myself into a good meeting before we even arrived.  The car felt great in practice but once again when the racing started I couldn’t get it to come together.  Looking back this was down to the driver more than anything else.  I did manage points in the first two races with a ninth and an eighth but from where I was starting I wasn’t happy with these results at all.  I vowed to make the final count but this plan was over before it had really begun with me ending up getting spun just a couple of laps into the race.  This put me last but I kept going and was catching the main pack but still ended up outside the points, a really disastrous way to end the season.

I came off the track in one of those moods every racing driver has where everything is for sale and if I ever saw the car again it would be too soon!  Of course I’d calmed down again by the following morning and the car was unloaded and I had all the panels off ready for its winter rebuild by lunch time!

I’m racing in the NEC again in January 2014 so the next few weeks are going to be spent getting the car ready for that.  I have some new panels ready to go on and a slight colour change planned just to make things look a little different.  The paint has very kindly been supplied to me by PC Paints and Components of Ballymoney, Northern Ireland.  The chassis has all been cleaned off by my neighbour Chris who runs EasyLife Valeting and we have a couple more little jobs to do before everything can go back together.  The biggest decision at the moment is what colour I should paint my precious wheels!  I’m also in a dilemma as to whether I should show everyone the car or keep it under wraps until January!

I do just want to stop now and say “Thank You” to everyone who has made my racing possible; my family, my friends, my sponsors and everyone who supports me.  Without everyone’s help, especially my dad, the racing wouldn’t happen - simple as that!  I also want to thank everyone who picks me up when I’m feeling down and convinces me to get back out there and do it all again.  I’m very lucky and do appreciate everything.

I am really determined to have a good go next year.  We are so close and I’m going to make that final big push just to get up to speed with the top boys.  I love my racing and one day I am going to crack it!

Over the coming months I have a few exciting things in the pipeline and I’ll keep you all informed of what’s going on.  By my calculations we’re getting towards the 100th blog mark now so I’m thinking of something special for that one.  Thanks to everyone who keeps reading my musings - I still enjoy writing them so you’re all stuck with me for a while yet!

Finally, before I go I just want to say congratulations to Neil Rowe, the webmaster himself, on his marriage to Eimear.  Sorry I couldn’t make it to your big day but I have such a lot happening here at work that I just couldn’t get over.  I wish you all the best though and many happy years together!

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey

Time to dry out...

I’m just starting to dry out from the meeting at Northampton on Saturday.  I can honestly say I have never been that wet in all my life!

I am lucky enough to be able to spend a fair amount of time in Scotland.  I love the Hot Rods up there and try and get to as many meetings as I can.  I’ve managed to get to each of the four tracks this year.  My friends Bob and Leeann got married recently and after a few beers on the stag do I agreed to wear a kilt on the big day.  This seemed like a great idea at the time until my flight to Edinburgh was delayed for two hours and I found myself getting dressed rather hurriedly in the car going up the M8 with the surprise Mini Bob had bought for Leeann on a trailer behind.  It was a great night from what I remember and I woke up next morning at Robert’s house with a pretty sore head!  It was straight from there to Lochgelly for what would turn out to be the last meeting for John in his 206, although none of us knew this at the time!

Typically, John flew in the old girl and was on the pace all day.  At some time during the day the deal was done in secret with Graeme Callender to buy his Tigra, and I have never seen anyone look so surprised when it turned up on John’s drive later that evening.  This new car left me with no choice but return two weeks later for the Sibbald anniversary party and a trip to Knockhill for his maiden run in it.  The Sibbald party turned into another pretty epic night and when we arrived at Knockhill I had actually driven the car more than John had - just by doing a few laps around his yard.  I think Knockhill is a great track and the Hot Rods look awesome going round there.  The day started with disaster though as the prop snapped on the way down to practice.  This meant we missed the first heat but it was sorted and good to go again for the second heat.  John had a couple of good races and picked up a few much needed points.

I decided to jump in my car last weekend and go to one last meeting at Lochgelly before the end of the year.  John is well and truly on the pace now and is flying in the new car.  After a small adjustment in practice the car was running round like it was on rails, and he had a good day getting a second, a third and then another second in the final.  It was good to watch the Ninja Karts too . . . some of those little guys are absolutely mental!

Between everything else going on I took a trip over to Northern Ireland to watch the British and Irish open.  As usual the Irish hospitality lived up to its reputation!  It was a complete riot of a weekend starting with Room to Race in Bangor, the racing simulator that lets you race around all the tracks we race at week in week out.  I think the lads treated me a bit unfairly here and wouldn’t let me finish a lap let alone a race without being rolled or turned into the wall.  The madness started later at the Ballymena Social Club then progressed to 15 of us crammed into Glenn’s lorry singing songs and having a good time.  I found myself helping Robert on the Sunday and after a quick diff change spent the flight home stinking of diff oil!  It was a brilliant weekend.   I always love heading over the water to see everyone and I can’t wait to go back.

My own racing has been pretty exciting too, with our first ever trip to the Mendips Raceway down by Bristol.  In all my years of racing I have never been racing in the West Country before and it was good to go somewhere different.  When we arrived in the morning you could barely see your hand in front of your face - let alone the track - due to thick fog.  When it cleared it turned into a lovely day and left us with a brilliant little track.  It’s relatively small, maybe Birmingham size, and it’s on a hill.  You drop down into a tight turn one and two then climb up a steep hill with a hump in the middle of the straight heading into turn three and four.  The speed you carry around it is incredible though and I have never come off from a race feeling so physically worn out!  I had a really good day though with a fifth in both heats and a ninth in the final.  It would have been a fourth in heat one, but me being stupid slowed down a lap before the chequered flag!  I really enjoyed the day and hope it becomes a yearly fixture for us.

Saturday night at Northampton was more suited to boat racing than cars but after 6 years of racing Hot Rods I can finally say I’ve found a set up for the rain that I’m happy with.  It started off dry in practice and for a while it looked like it was going to be a nice night.  That soon changed though and as the start got closer the rain moved in.  I headed out on wets and for once had actually made the right tyre choice.  The race started well but a bit of contact saw me heading towards the wall.  I managed to lock up and avoid any damage but it put me right to the back.  I got going again though and worked my way back up to thirteenth.  Luck wasn’t on my side for the next race either as I got involved with a spinning car and ended up stuck on the kerb; this brought the yellows out and unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to restart the race.

The weather worsened before the final and was more like a monsoon than a rain storm.  I could sit and give you all sorts of excuses as to why I didn’t finish but I just couldn’t see anything.  My glasses steamed up, my goggles steamed up, even my mirrors were steamed up, and I was struggling to see the corners let alone the cars around me.  If I’d kept going it would inevitably have resulted in an accident so I did the sensible thing and pulled off.  It’s left me with a car that needs very little work so that’s a good thing.

With two meetings left to go there’s still plenty that could happen.  It’s been a really exciting year so far and I’m really enjoying it.  Just typing this has reminded me what a great few months I have had!

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey 

Mixed Results

So much has been going on since you last heard from me.  I’ve been at one race meeting or another for the last goodness knows how many weekends and I have clocked up some serious miles in the process.  At one point in time I’d been to 4 meetings in 10 days in 3 different countries!

I’m going to split this into a two part blog: first one is about my own racing and the second will be about all the other adventures I’ve been on of late.  I’ll begin by telling you how the season has started for me whilst I have last night’s events still fresh in my head.

The season kicked off for us at Ipswich, a track that, thinking back, I can’t actually remember the last time I finished a race at!  The meeting seems like ages ago now but it turned into a complete disaster.  The first race was a non-finish after getting taken out onto the speedway track and snapping a bottom arm on the passenger side of the car.  There were only two formulas racing and this was followed by a blind panic to get the car ready for my second heat.  I just made it out onto the track as the gate was closing.  The next two races weren’t much better really but I did manage two points’ finishes.

Things certainly weren’t due to improve at Northampton either.  I was staying up at Robert McDonald’s for a wedding and we left early to come down in his van.  We pulled up into the pits just as the cars were heading out for practice - but ‘good old dad’ had everything sorted and I literally stepped out of the van, put my overalls on and strapped myself into the car.  The car felt good in practice but things headed downhill from there.  Once again I was starting from the yellow grade and the first race got going pretty uneventfully.  I was struggling with the car coming out of the bends and had cars starting to back up behind me.  As you would expect I ended up getting spun thus putting an end to the first heat.

The second heat started relatively well but as the laps went on the car got worse and worse to drive.  I presumed I’d got a puncture and pulled off into the centre once again.  Back in the pits all became apparent though.  The bolt that attaches the wishbone to the hub had come undone and wound itself down into the wheel, in theory opening it up like a big tin opener.  We presumed it was just “one of those things that happens occasionally” so bolted it all back together, put another wheel on and headed out for the final.  It just wasn’t to be my day though because the exact same thing happened in the final!  The thread in the hub had stripped completely and the bolt just kept falling straight back out.  All in all it was a completely disastrous day.

We’d made several changes ready for last weekend’s Birmingham including a trip back to Toovey’s for some upgrades to the engine.  It came back a completely different weapon and even from the first lap in practice I could tell it was fast.  I had several runs in practice changing things to try and dial out some of the understeer and then Robert jumped in and had a run round too!  There have been some fast guys drive my car over the years and it doesn’t get any less tense watching someone else going round in your pride and joy!

Birmingham has always been my favourite track and I absolutely love racing there.  The first race was a bit of a challenge though as the sun was really low in the sky and you had to pretty much guess where the pit bend was, just braking when you saw the car in front do the same!  It was a good race though - without any major drama and the car was flying.  I crossed the finish line seventh.  The time between the races was spent changing Robert’s diff for the second time in as many weeks!  The second heat was a good race too, the sun had gone down and you could actually see where you were going again.  I really enjoyed the race and crossed the line in fifth so collected some good points again.

I enjoyed the final more than any other race I have ever been in; the car was absolutely flying and was going round like it was on rails.  For the first time in a long while I was actually going forward and gaining places.  At one point I even got onto the outside of Gary Woolsey and was trying for the lead.  It wasn’t to be though and just like at Northampton the car suddenly went off.  There were only a few laps to go though and I managed to limp the car home collecting a sixth place in the process.  Back in the pits we soon saw the problem, the bottom arm had snapped clean in half and I was lucky not to have stuck the car in the wall let alone finish!

All in all I had an absolutely fabulous evening.  It was great to finish every race in the points and brilliant putting all the doubters to bed about the Duratech!  We certainly have a long way to go yet but I am really enjoying it.

We have a few little jobs to do ready for Bristol next weekend then we’ll be ready to go.  It’s the only track on the Hot Rod calendar that I haven’t visited and the only one except Tipperary that I haven’t been to this year.  It’s good to visit new tracks and I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ll be back soon to tell you all about my other antics - from John’s surprise new Tigra to twenty of us crammed into Glenn’s truck on the way back from Ballymena…

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time.

Mikey

National Weekend 2013

The weekend after the World Final was the Skegness Speed Weekend and with the car needing to head that way too I decided to miss the Friday night chaos and head up to SHP early on Saturday morning with the Hot Rod so it could have the chassis repaired.  I then cut across country to pick my cousin up and we went straight to Skegness.  Along with a couple of friends, I’d rented an apartment right on the seafront at Skeg and once I’d found a place to park the recovery truck for the weekend we headed off to watch what I think is some of the best racing of the year.  As much as I love my racing I’m not a huge fan of watching it.  I can, however, get into the F2s at a big meeting as it’s pretty much ‘all action’ right from the green flag.  It was a great weekend and certainly not one I like to miss.  Hopefully next year I’ll manage the Friday night too.

I seem to have spent a lot of time in Scotland recently and I think poor John is sick of the sight of me.  After a single weekend at home it was straight back up so we could head out on our friend Bob’s stag night in Edinburgh.  Because of my flight times I missed the go-karting (probably a good thing!) but arrived in time to partake in all the other antics.  It was as chaotic as you would expect when a group of racing guys head out into town.  Bob was very much ‘worse for wear’ the next day so it was definitely mission accomplished!

After all the partying it was time to get down to the serious business of the National Championship - we had the car back from SHP and were well on the way to getting it ready to go.  Now as much as I’ve never finished the World Final, I’ve never been able to qualify for the National either, so I headed off with some serious determination and some unfinished business so to speak.

Seeing as we’d done a lot of work to the car we decided to go up on the Thursday night and stop at Birmingham Wheels to give the car a few laps and make sure I was happy with everything.  Jason was there too so he took the Duratech out to see what he thought of it.  I’m 23 now and have been racing cars in some form or another since I was 10, and in this entire time - although he used to rally - my dad has never once driven any of my cars around a track.  I don’t know what got into him this particular night but he decided to have a go.  I feel nervous watching video playback of myself racing when I already know exactly what the outcome is, but watching dad go round was a tense moment for me!  I will admit though, he did well and kept it pointing the right way with all four wheels still attached - something I regularly struggle to achieve!

It would have been rude not to stop at Big John’s after going to Birmingham so after a satisfying feed we continued on to Hednesford and joined the queue waiting to be let in.  Dad jumped in my car and went home as he had to work next morning and left me there to fend for myself.  I’m lucky to have such good friends though who are always prepared to help me out over the weekend.

Before I could practice, the car needed a diff change so it was lifted up into Jason’s lorry and we set to work.  It was the standard National Weekend practice procedure - three runs throughout the afternoon.  Although I had no real problems with the car I wasn’t happy with it and was feeling very down and convinced that I wouldn’t qualify.  This left me miserable and generally unsociable for the first couple of hours on Friday night.

The social side of the weekend is always as big a deal to me as the actual racing.  I like to see everyone and have a laugh and it’s the only time I get to see some of my friends throughout the year so it’s good to make the most of it and have a catch up.

The weather forecast for the whole weekend was terrible, and sure enough Saturday didn’t disappoint with on/off rain soaking the track, then letting it start to partially dry and making tyre choice an absolute nightmare!  It’s almost always guaranteed that I get tyre choices wrong and I headed out for my first race of the weekend on four wets.  It became obvious after about half a lap that once again I’d got it wrong and was left struggling with the car for the rest of the race.  The next two races were dry, but whether it was me or the car, I found myself fighting the car again.  I’d set myself high standards for the weekend and was struggling to live up to them.  I finished all three with no damage though and enough points to get into the big race on Sunday.   After all these years trying, I had finally managed to qualify!

This put me in a much better mood for the Saturday night and a few drinks in the bar and the thought of a hotel bed and a hot shower left me looking forward to Sunday.  It looked like it was going to be a nice day when we got up in the morning.  My mum and dad were coming up to watch and bringing our new puppy and my aunt and cousins were there too.  I just wanted to stay out of trouble and finally finish a championship.  Just as we lined up the weather had other ideas though, and as the race started so did the rain!  All the cars were running full dry setup on slicks which was making them hard work to drive.  I was still determined though and despite my goggles falling to bits on the first lap I managed to limp round slowly at the back for the full 75 laps and cross the finish line.

32 cars started the race, 14 finished.  I was 14th and had been lapped countless times and even though it was probably one of my worst drives ever it was also one that I am proudest of.  I’ve been racing Nationals a long time and this was the first championship that I’ve managed to finish.  It was pretty hard going in the heavy rain and I was thankful that I didn’t spin out or park the car in the wall.

Once again I made a tyre choice error for the NHRPA Championship and pulled off after just a handful of laps when it became obvious that wets weren’t the tyre to be using.  All in all it was a great weekend though, every year I say I’m not going to do it, then come away saying how glad I am that I did.  I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped me with the car, fed me and supplied me with drink!

I’m running a bit behind with my blogs, for which I apologise.  Plenty has happened since National Weekend and I’ll bring you up to date next time.

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time.

Mikey