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Many thanks to Trugga and our new sponsor, Perspective-i, for the photos |
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The weekend of the 16th arrived all too soon after Hixon - just one week later! We just about had time to replace the
front wing after our hay-bale exploits of the previous weekend and then we were ready to take a relatively easy trek
up the M6 to Weston Park, home of the AGBO Stages Rally - opening round of the Heart of England Championship, in which
we are competing. It also held a small place in Dan's heart because it was this venue that was to be his first event
in 2002 but, for a power steering leak and MOT failure, we missed it. So it was with determination to make the first
championship round that Dans (Big and Little), Trevor and Mike Morgan headed to the scenic venue to make their mark... Weston Park is a lovely venue, being a country estate with single-track tarmac pathways linking the grounds. There's a very small degree of 'loose' surface, confined to a water splash and a fast corner at the back of the grounds that works out safer if driver's cut it and take to the loose inside (rather than risk several piles of logs on the outside of the bend!). In general, the only cautions to look out for are bales, a narrow bridge, a rough watersplash and several cattle grids.
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Scrutineering went without a problem, as did noise test, and the team simply sat down and lapped up the atmosphere. Despite
being a non-spectator event, Weston Park seems to inevitably draw a number of speccies into the grounds. Thankfully they never
cause issues and so it seems this 'rule' is never enforced to the letter - which is great because the spectators help lift the
event up in status a little. The atmosphere is really good, even though the stage mileage for an event is pretty low (~25 miles
all day).
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Weston Park is generally quite tight and twisty, made up of primarily 90 left/rights or tighter chicanes, but across the
back of the venue is a long straight with a gentle kink, allowing competitors to get up to a decent speed (we were making
about 80mph or so). Some strategically-placed cattle grids, in the middle of bends, can unsettle the car too. One thing Little
Dan noticed was that, compared to most single venue events, this one was the first to bring in the concept of 'blind' bends.
For the first time Dan found himself going into a bend with no idea of what was 'round the corner, short of what Big Dan was
telling him, and this meant Dan finally got a taste for exactly what separates the men from the boys... balls. And no, his
weren't big enough by far!
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| The whole day went pretty faultlessy, thankfully. Trevor and Mike, back in service, managed to spend the majority of the day
tending to basic checks on the car - tyre pressures, general spanner checks and a dab of WD40 after the first water-splash
excursion. You could never say it got boring, but to make it through the day without having to resort to serious emergency
servicing makes it all the more enjoyable for everyone involved... they even managed to find the time for some spectating!
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We pushed on over the day, getting progressively quicker although this was mainly down to us just learning the venue over
the course of the day (there is quite a lot of re-use of sections and since the venue is so small, it's quite easy to start
remembering bits of it). Towards the end of the day we started to suffer minor brake fade problems, this was proven later
to be down to the brake fluid, which was inferior for the Alcon calipers and pads being used. Still, we made do and got the
car to the finish 9th in class and 22nd(?) overall which, all things considered, we were well chuffed with. Two weekends, two events,
two finishes and both with fairly steady results. Nothing groundbreaking but we're certainly moving in the right direction
compared to last year!
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| A big thanks to all those that have helped us get this far, including Trev and Mikey for crewing, and the usual 'respect due' to sponsors AB Motorsport, AAT and Perspective-i for the coverage and assistance in building a reliable, effective car. |