| Croft - CSCC - 11th September » |
DDMC Centenary Race Weekend
An event not without it's traumas. The alternator packed up just as we were loading up on Friday and it is not the easiest thing to change.
The NSSCC B, C & D race was first to practice on Saturday morning and, for once, the track had dried from overnight rain. I really got stuck in as our best two times were needed, one for the Saturday race and the second for Sunday. About four laps in however things took a turn for the worse. On braking for Tower the car started squirming and a quick glance in the mirror showed nothing but white. Pulling up on the inside of the track steam billowed from the engine compartment so it was a straight tow back to the Paddock. I needed to allow the engine to cool properly before filling it with water which promptly ran straight out of the exhaust pipe!
A phone call to ETS Services saw me leaving the Circuit about 11am and driving the 20 minutes to the garage. Toni got stuck in and removed the Head to discover a cracked cylinder liner. He then dropped the sump off, took out the rod and piston, changed the liner, rebuilt the engine and had me back on the trailer by 1.05pm. I had changed in to my race suit but was going to be running late for my race which was due to start at 1.30pm!!! A number of phone conversations had most of the DDMC Car committee and two scrutineers waiting for me. These guys strapped me in whilst unloading the car, fuelling it in the process and I hit the grid just as they were leaving the Assembly Area.
My race went well with me up with the 2 litre of John Parton and taking the class lead until Darren Flounders caught up with me. We then circulated together until -BANG. The engine had had enough and coughed its last. Still I now had my fastest ever lap of Croft at 1 minute 38.7, an improvement over this most character building year of some 4 seconds.
So its a new engine for 2006. This one had done 2.5 seasons on a standard bottom end and revved regularly to 8300 so I can't complain.
I thought my season was over but on Sunday morning David Cox rang to offer his Honda Civic Type R for the Allcomers so at last I got to see the chequered flag.
If you would like to see pics of the car (and the rest of the guys in the NSSCC) then visit www.whatnonegatives.com