Knockhill rallycross adventures

golfvanman · 30 May 2005, 11:02 (Ref:1314528)

i could never say it was a dull and boring meeting !!!!!!

my knockhill experience started on tuesday night travelling down south for a rolling road session to try and find out why i keep melting pistons.we solved that problem ( hopefully! ) but on thursday morning the new motor just fitted the week previous rattled a big end bearing out

almost 300miles from home no motor and only 3 days before a 150 mile trip to scotland. after a few phone calls a motor was sourced and on friday night we again had life . saturday morning was spent fitting new panels to the car and off we went about 4.00pm

first heat went ok except for a windscreen wiper which decided to work when it fancied

second heat was going great leading my heat quite nicely until a driver mistake sent me into the tyre wall on the loose removing the driveside front wheel and making a large inpact on my underwear !

the car was rebuilt by some sort of miracle ( a massive thanks to all my team and team chicken who worked wonders

) and out we went in the third heat with around 10 degree's camber on the front wheel, a bent and knackered shocker and no power stearing with the intention of just qualifying and set the fastest time of the third heats

5th place in the A final was 3rd place into the first corner a position held until lap 3 when a driveshaft failure put us out

p.s. suffering badly from rayburn after welding my shox with no mask, then getting the job of welding somebody else's still with out a mask. Who was this mystery man with the broken shox did it hold together ?

After all of that had a brilliant weekend we got lots of work to do before the next meeting but you aint seen the last of me yet.

p.s.s if anybody recognises me on crime stoppers please dont phone ive got a long repair bill

sihorton · 30 May 2005, 14:20 (Ref:1314710)

Looked like a well orginised team repairing your car, really good effort to get it back out in the afternoon (a lot would have packed up and gone home).

AND.. i can't believe you won the 3rd heat after the repair, inc your wonky damper and a huge amount of gaffer tape!

A small selection of images of the TT (more images from the day now online at www.hortonracing.co.uk).

http://hortonracing.co.uk/hralbums/a...1750.sized.jpg
http://hortonracing.co.uk/hralbums/a...1751.sized.jpg
http://hortonracing.co.uk/hralbums/a...1796.sized.jpg
http://hortonracing.co.uk/hralbums/a...1803.sized.jpg
http://hortonracing.co.uk/hralbums/a...1836.sized.jpg

si

sihorton · 30 May 2005, 14:36 (Ref:1314728)

Had quite a few incidents myself down at the hairpin which involved me been on 2 wheels incto the bankings in 2 different heats. I'm sure someone down there will have some good piccies.

I'm also sure the marshells where having a laugh on the gravel section, watching my car bounce around like and out of control pogo stick. The car was set far too low and the track was fairly rough compaired to last year on the loose which made for an entertaining drive to say the least. Without a hydrogas pump there was nothing i could do to adjust anything and had to drive with the same settings all day

Also, in the B final i had to think about using my wiper to clear my windowscreen, but not from rain! Oh no, i was getting showered in body panels from brians armstrongs saxo. There the bumper, there the mesh, the plastic trim, the splitter.

Still, a good days racing was had by all.

si

denver01 · 30 May 2005, 15:00 (Ref:1314751)

Darren Gass, what happened him. Didnt go very well did he ? Everyone in another thread said he was very good driver. Any comments

Cryos · 30 May 2005, 16:00 (Ref:1314805)

He is a very good driver for his age!

**silver bullet** · 30 May 2005, 17:32 (Ref:1314863)

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfvanman

Who was this mystery man with the broken shox did it hold together ?

That would be me

Many thanks golfvanman you did a great job it held fine

, also thanks to the Rodney Green team for lending the welder. I will remember to load mine (and mask) in future

but don't ask me to do the welding

my welding can only be described as agricultural,

quater plate, angle iron, fine, delicate things like shocks not a hope in h***

My meeting started well, with the car recently rolling roaded, and a new gearbox fitted (on Friday night, why do we always leave things till the last minuate) I was'nt sure how we would come on, but after the first heats I was very happy. In the second runs something was wrong, the tyres shouldn't be squealing all the way around the corner from the bottem of the hill to the top, couldn't put my finger on it.
It all became obvious in third heats, when on the righthander after the dip on the loose section the car just went straight on. I aimed for what looked lie a soft heap of soil and came to a sudden stop.
With the shock expertly welded by golfvanman, we couldn't quite get it refit for the BTRDA final, but got out in the BRDA final. I was a little nervous for the first couple of laps, but it held together and I finished the race.
Thanks to all the organisers and marshalls for a great meeting everyone in the Silver Bullet team enjoyed themselves.

PS. Could someone get radio Knockhill to cease 24 hour broadcasting?

golfvanman · 30 May 2005, 20:18 (Ref:1315048)

radio knockhill nearly ceased broadcasting about midnight but could only get the cover off one of the load speakers so at least our end of the paddock was a little more restful.

Glad to be of assistance to silver bullet , but think i will pack a mask myself not much sleep tonight its very painful when i close my eyes due to the very red skin on my eyelids, but hey thats what they call the joys of motorsport

grasser26 · 30 May 2005, 20:27 (Ref:1315061)

Quote:

Originally Posted by denver01

Darren Gass, what happened him. Didnt go very well did he ? Everyone in another thread said he was very good driver. Any comments

Couldn't see a problem with his driving. His gearbox/ drive train decided it had had enough!!

denver01 · 30 May 2005, 20:36 (Ref:1315069)

oh right, was he driving well ? i wasnt there jus reading the reports

HrRACING · 30 May 2005, 22:50 (Ref:1315204)

A sarcastic attitude is hardly the thing to have of and up and coming young driver. Belive me, he is not slow, and as said above, the weekend just held a few mechanical problems for him!!

Simon Ross · 30 May 2005, 23:12 (Ref:1315210)

Having attended the British Rallycross event at Knockhill on Sunday, i certainly wont be attending any more British Champs Rallycross events. It was a disgrace, resembling something more of a level of banger racing than a British championship. The event was also advertised as being £10 in the Motorsport News, but i was charged £13, for a day which had no more than 45 cars.

The racing was poor, with only 5 top spec cars, of which only two were left at one stage. If the heat order and 1 and a bit hour luinch break wasnt taken then there would have been even less cars, but still there was more tank tape on the cars than anything else. ALsio How can a so called British championship be propped up by Clubmans cars, which consists of drivers who appear in both. The commentator guy had no chance, no wonder he couldnt understand what was going on.

I have been at the event with freinds for the last two years, and each year it has become more poorly supported (not surprising after the finals were cancelled last year). If it wasnt for the Knockhill circuit website then i wouldnt have even known it was on.

Roll on Wednesday evening for the F2 Stock Cars !! (and they only charge £8!)

HrRACING · 31 May 2005, 11:45 (Ref:1315626)

If you go to ANY other round you will see a lot more 'top spec' cars, eg supercars and supermodified cars.

Scotland is a very long way to go, we live in shropshire, and it takes us easily 5 hours. Anyone further south will have second thoughts about traveling that far. We are not all on unlimited bugets!

If you had been at the first round of the championship at Lydden you would have seen a very different meeting.

Don't give up on rallycross just yet!

Cryos · 31 May 2005, 12:09 (Ref:1315668)

Darren always drives well, hes a very neat and quick driver. Then again he was doing rallysprints since he just turned 16 in his 1400 nova(i think) so he is no stranger to these surfaces. I havent personally met him yet but im told he is a nice chap!

**BertMk2** · 31 May 2005, 12:14 (Ref:1315683)

The entry for Knockhill was disappointing but from the reports it sounds like the on track action was pretty good. I don't know if the distance was a deciding factor - Lydden is a long haul for a lot of drivers and the entry there was good. Some were certainly absent with car troubles but that doesn't account for all the absentees.

Don't be too quick to knock the clubmans stuff either, the clubmans rounds last year were great fun to watch - the tops names may not have been there but it was still door to door stuff all day

(and welcome to ten-tenths Simon

)

grasser26 · 31 May 2005, 14:53 (Ref:1315862)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxie

Darren always drives well, hes a very neat and quick driver. Then again he was doing rallysprints since he just turned 16 in his 1400 nova(i think) so he is no stranger to these surfaces. I havent personally met him yet but im told he is a nice chap!

Met him briefly and yes he is a nice chap

**silver bullet** · 31 May 2005, 16:05 (Ref:1315943)

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your day Simon, but please give rallycross another chance.
If you can make it down to Blyton in July, or Lydden in August, or Croft at the end of the season I'm sure you will see 80+ cars.
You find there are hot spots of competitors who live near the well established rallycross venues that is why places like Knockhill & Pembrey struggle to get full entrys. The more we go to places like this the more local people will want to get involved.
On the subject of admission prices I would think that has more to do with Knockhill than the BRDA
I didn't think there was that much contact, the racing I saw (from both sides of the fence) seemed quite clean, so to compare it with bangers is a bit unfair, I was at the racewall earlier this year

HrRACING · 31 May 2005, 22:16 (Ref:1316268)

You won't get more races in a day at many other motorsport events!

Mr Atspeed JR · 31 May 2005, 22:53 (Ref:1316292)

sounds like the usual Knockhill screw up!

sws1968 · 1 Jun 2005, 06:38 (Ref:1316444)

The Knockhill screw up as you refer to it has nothing to do with the officials that attended that meeting, it was the organisers that kept changing the timetable. I should know as I was observing along with a radio and could hear all the nonsense coming out of race control, so please do not think it had anything to do with the hard working marshals.

**silver bullet** · 1 Jun 2005, 09:42 (Ref:1316567)

The only change in the timetable that I know about was a change in the running order of third heats due to heavy watering during the lunch break. Apparently there was standing water on the entry and exit to the loose section, so race order was changed to give the track chance to dry out before the super mods & supercars.
At least thats what we were told.

sws1968 · 1 Jun 2005, 10:12 (Ref:1316602)

Well Silver Bullet, looks like you were told more than us poor marshals:

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