Skegness
 13 & 14/ 10 / 2007

(The ballad of Billy ARSE )

Firstly sorry for the lack of updates recently, it’s been all go at 278HQ since the gearbox problems at the last Birmingham.

The initial reaction to the major gearbox failure at Birmingham was that it had ended our season but thanks to lots of help and a kind donation from one of my sponsors we managed to source all the bits and pieces we needed to sort out the problem. The gearbox was basically scrap and it took the nearly new clutch, flywheel and ring gear with it!! There were several other minor parts damaged (floor panel, prop, clutch fork, gear selectors, clutch slave cylinder and clutch fork) but these have all been repaired and refitted.

Right up to the Wednesday night it was still uncertain as to whether we were going to make the meetings but the news we had won the September Fans Tyre Fund vote spurred us on even more to get back out on track.

Richard and I left the garage with the car loaded up at round 11PM on the Friday night but not until I’d managed to have a few twirls round our yard to check everything felt OK.  What the customers must have thought in the neighbouring pub is anyone’s guess but we got no complaints fortunately.

Making the journey down with us this time were Hil and Cath who look after my (and several others) website and we arrived at the track at about 2:30PM.  We were initially told there would be NO practice (which has been the norm at Skeg this year) so I was very apprehensive about the gearbox and clutch at this stage but as luck would have it a short practice period was granted. I took it easy on the first run, the car was very choked up at first but this soon cleared and I was pleased with the general feeling of the car.  The car handled well and most importantly the box felt fine!!

In my first race I had basically kept my nose clean, had a few tussles with the other whites and had a moment with Mark Helliwell (170) eventually coming home in my now regular 11th place!!  The second race got off to a good start, I managed to force my way to the front but a period of waved yellows bunched us al up again and a visit to the turn 1 fence courtesy of Ian Brickley (246) relegated me down the order somewhat, I eventually fought back for about a 13th I think.  The waved yellows again intervened in my 3rd race but this time I managed to somehow hang on for a top 10 and one point.  To be honest I was more than pleased with the night, the main thing was that the car had gone OK, handled well and I’d managed to keep it in one piece (well nearly) to race the following day.

The evening report cannot end there however as Trish, Kirsten, Anna, Richard, Cath, Hil and I were booked in at the Bell Hotel in Burgh-le-Marsh that evening and we were treated to entertainment that any X-factor heat would be proud of . Entertaining the pub’s guests that evening was a solo singer whose name I cannot divulge but I think it’s safe to say I don’t think I’ll ever see the like again!!  In a room no bigger than your average sitting room this guy had two 25000 watt speakers and insisted on dismembering every 50’s classic you could name…it was truly awful….so bad it was actually good!!!  No amount of insults from Richard such as “do you know any instrumentals” and shouts of “you’ve got that right” as he sang “Lord Jesus help me” could put this guy off and I’m sure I heard some smart Alec comment that This bloke was the singing equivalent of me in a stock car….CHEEK!!!  On a visit to the little boy’s room I also noticed that some clever dick had amended the billboard outside the pub to amend the “artists” name.  Now I can’t divulge his name but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “Billy A R S E”!! Who would perpetrate such an act is not my business but the finger of blame seemed to be pointing two ex-ministockers.  The most bizarre event of the evening was still to happen however as after escaping the “ballad of Billy A R S E once “Aunty Pauline” and “Uncle Barry” Tempest actually re-entered the bar for a second helping of acoustic mauling but each to their own I suppose!!  With the strains (and I mean strains) of “Oh Boy” ringing in our ears we called it a night and retired to the sanctity of our rooms for the night.

Anyhow…back to the racing. On Sunday morning I left Richard to check over the car as I had to go and help with Kirsten’s’ V8 as she was also racing on the same bill.  Richard, along with Steve, rechecked everything repaired some damage to the front bumper with some help from Derek Fairhurst and basically sorted my car out for me to just jump in and race.  The first race went OK and was looking on for a good place until the dreaded waved yellows were again thrown which negated any advantage I had over the chasing pack.  I reckoned I was in 8th or 9th with both Carl Pickering (141) and Michael Scriven (12) right behind me.  Knowing the history between these two probably took my concentration too much and I made a complete hash of the re-start allowing them both through (along with Chris Cowley who seemed to come from no-where).  I decided to stick on the bumper of Carl in anticipation of any fall out from his battle with Michael but as it happens they followed each other over the line with me a short way behind.  I was then gutted to find out I had again finished 11th which made me regret my mistake on the restart even more.

Determined to do better next time I lined up for the consolation on row 3 of 9 whites and decided that if I was to qualify I needed to get my act together and attack from the start!  This worked fine for 2 bends!!!!  I got past 238, 285 and 24 OK with a bit of bumper and nerf work and was just thinking “right, get on with it” when BANG. Mark Gray (24) returned the compliment on turn 3 spinning me round.  I floored the throttle to try and bring the car back round but got caught on my OSR wheel by Tony Smith (91) who had nowhere to go.  I then seemed to get collected by every car on track before finally managing to find a gear, re-start my engine and flee to the centre green.  I watched the remainder of the race from the centre and after being tractored off an inspection of the car showed up just too much damage to be repaired to race again.

 Thanks to Steve and Richard for trying their best but once we found the rear axle was torn open we had to admit defeat and just get the car fit to load in the truck.  Thanks also to Pete (Pedro) Redford of the 259/172 team, for his assistance, much appreciated Daewoo boy!!

On inspection the damage from the weekend appears to be:
Broken inside front trailing arm.
Bent front axle.
Ripped front bumper.
Bent track rod.
Bent outside rear shocker.
Bent rear panhard rod.
Two destroyed wheels.
Broken outside rear calliper.
Rear axle bent and split open.

I also suspect I have got a problem with the engine as it now smokes quite heavily (but intermittently) on start up so in all probability I will call it a day for this season.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my first season, I have done more meetings than I set out to do and I fulfilled my aim of scoring a few points.  The whole thing would not have been possible without 100% backing from my family, friends, sponsors mechanics and everyone else who has contributed to the effort. There’s too many names to mention here, you ALL know who you are and to each and every one of you thank you and see you next year for an assault on a yellow roof!!

Mike