After the arctic conditions of Thruxton, surely things would be better for Pembrey ? Not according to the forecast, which prophesied rain with cold winds from the east – brrrrrrr - not ideal for camping! So I intended going B&B, but threw a tent and bag in just in case, and arrived mid afternoon on Friday to see some of our guys going round. The main casualty was Stuart K who rather disturbingly had a bottom wishbone pickup come away from the chassis, which caused a fair amount of damage, so John Esser was kept busy putting it all back together. Paul Walton was the quickest – down to lap record mid '2's ! Ian McMillan and John Hesp were also getting some miles in, Ian enjoying driving the Crossle after some useful set up help from Robin. The club welcomed another new driver with Benjamin Hopton, who has purchased David Gathercole’s RF80 – he was still getting used to driving the car, and had an ‘interesting’ experience when the throttle jammed open…

The entry was a bit thin at just 11, so we will need some good grids later this year to get our average back over the ‘yellow card’ threshold of 18….If you are reading this and have a Classic FF sitting in the garage, your Championship needs you  

Saturday started off damp, but the rain stopped before our qualifying session, only to start again just as we went out - make your mind up please! Not sure what everybody else did, but I left the bars on but soft, for the 'in between' conditions. However, the track had more grip than expected, and we were soon down to dry times, with rain getting heavier! I had a few problems - some missed gears, a broken seat mount and ran out of fuel before the end (oops). I then found out the clutch wasn't working, so hoped it needed adjustment not a change.

The quickest laps were run midway through the session, with a dry track before the rain returned. Paul was quickest from Stuart, then me, Simon (with a misfire, cured with a pitstop, which meant his quickest lap was when the track was slippier) and then the class A boys Andy Smith and Jon Davis (no Dave Lowe this weekend for some reason ?) Jon took the Class B pole despite a clutch release bearing failure whilst sitting in the collecting area ! Good effort ! Behind Andy was Peter St Barbe, pleased to have cured his ignition problem from Thruxton.

The meeting was a double header and our 2nd fastest lap was used to make up the grid for race 2 – the order was more or less the same.

So after some work with the spanners and tank tape we were all set for race 1, by which time the weather had made its mind up - wet. Not only that but with the trucks out just before us, plenty of mud, grass, diesel, and other assorted debris to look forward to - great! Jon succeeded in replacing the clutch bearing borrowed from Simon, and was grateful to have been able to do it all (in the open air) before the rain returned.

Race 1 (Saturday afternoon) - A wet one for Simon (or is it Keith ?) :

My normally reliable 'launch control' let me down at the start - must have been the difference in the 'bite point' after the clutch adjustment, so I ended up with lots of wheelspin and lost a few places into the hairpin. With it being wet, Simon soon worked his way towards the front, spent a while getting past Paul to take the lead, Paul then had a spin at Brooklands which dropped him down the order. Behind Simon there was a gaggle headed by Stuart with Jon Davis, Me and Andy all trying to find a way past. Jon eventually managed it to take 2nd and another class win, with Andy and me still behind the rather wide white VD at the end. Paul had another spin later, but still finished clear of 'best of the rest' and 1st Novice - Ian McMillan (good drive). Every driver managed to get home in one piece, so all would be able to go again for Race 2. Time for some grub (at the Red Lion down in Pembrey – decent down-to-earth local, but with a proper food menu, but take cash !), a return to the bar at the circuit for the entertainment (good) and another SAS survival job overnight in the tent (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr), yes the new one - complete with porch!

The Saturday night entertainment was most bizarre. Returning to the circuit at about 9.30pm, we expected it to be fairly quiet. But what was this ? A female singer live on stage ! In the Pembrey shed ! The poor girl had expected to be going to a pub…and she ended up out here in the middle of nowhere, being ogled by a bunch of disinterested blokes (mainly) – apart from the pole dancer girlfriend of the Joe Stalin look-a-like truck driver….who spent more time on his mobile phone than dancing with his ‘chick’ !

FF2000 - a quick word about another name change, Andy Powell (formerly known as 'Pink Panther') was making his debut in an equally tidy RF82, so is now known as the Black Panther, and pretty impressive he was too - qualifying 5th and 4th (in the damp on slicks!) and finishing 5th and 6th. He looked quick, smooth and 'in control' throughout - there's a first time for everything, well done Andy!!

Race 2 (Sunday early afternoon) - A dry one for Paul. Chaos in class B :

Being after yet another truck race, the inevitable happened – a truck smashed its way into the Armco at Debeny (not a million miles away from the paddock gate…), which meant an hour delay, whilst everything was rebuilt. But luckily this allowed for some half decent weather once the sun (!!!) had burnt its way through – atlast !  Unfortunately we lost Ben Hopton on the warm up lap – the jammed throttle problem returned, and he pulled off at the hairpin – an unfortunate end to his weekend, but both father Andrew and son were still smiling afterwards – better luck next time guys ! As we were on just after the trucks, the track was in quite a state with mud/sand on the apex at most corners - is this circuit racing or rallycross?!! A better start this time, but not quite good enough to get in front of Stuart. Simon slipped past me into Honda, and set off after the first two (Paul and Stuart) leaving my mirrors full of the class B battle. This ended in tears when Jon tried a run down the inside into the hairpin, then lost it on the way out collecting Andy. The 2 cars were undamaged but locked together blocking the circuit, so the race was red flagged on lap 9, and a result declared after 7, but with Andy and Jon excluded for not running at the 'red'. This left us with only 8 finishers : Paul, Stuart, Simon, Me and a rather surprised Pete St.Barbe winner of class B! James Gowens was the novice winner this time, finishing just ahead of John Hesp and Ian McM.

The red flag was dubious to say the least, although winner Paul was not going to argue about it, as he had seen his lead being reduced lap by lap – had it gone the distance, it could have been a different story. But nobody was prepared to argue – it had been a long weekend (in crap weather for many), and I think everyone was just glad to be going home…

Thanks to Andy H and BARC for seeing sense on the timetable, we were able to escape over lunch so that Andy could hand over the pots outside the circuit after we'll all loaded up. I did stop to watch the first race after lunch but ............. you've guessed it, Trucking hell again! Time to head for home, next stop Mallory.

Come on – get your cars out for Mallory (and beyond) - remember – your championship needs you !

SP

[back to2008 results and reports]