Anglesey Fun Cup 28 April

[Crunchie Gears]

It was a bit of a mare this week.

It started with an 11hour trip to Anglesey on Thursday as we had two blowouts on the trailer on the way up. Eventually we imposed a 30 mph speed limit and got there at 11.45 pm.

Friday Testing was very wet so let the guys set the car up and change the radiator which had sprung a leak.

[Nash]

Blimey, so it started before it started?!

[Crunchie Gears]

Yes it has been trying weekend but the guys have really worked to get the car back in the races.

I cannot remember the order of the problems but we had plenty.

The first race we dnf as we had a problem steering the car

First thing was we thought it was the rack but could not adjust it so got a new rack. When the guys undid the steering column the end fell off where it should have been welded. Fitted a new steering column but is was not the same and was touching the underside of the fuel tank. We thought it might free up so sent Ian out to see. He was back after one lap. Found the problem and moved bits round to make it work and not touch the clutch and brake pipes. Out again and the handling was not as good. It did not matter as we lost drive and gear selection was not right.

Safety car and got it back to the pits. We where out. The guys thought it was the gearbox but fortunately proved to be the clutch and some adjustment to the gear selector.

Got the clutch fixed, a misfire and redo of the geo for the next race.

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Coming down the hill into the corkscrew.

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[Nash]

That’s a script for a movie. Not a good movie! Character building though!

[Crunchie Gears]

The good news is we were running at the pace of the front group and I had gained half a second in the first race and was consistent (to be fair, team manager Tom said I started a bit iffy and then got some consistent laps).

[Crunchie Gears]

So the guys worked hard to get the car ready for the second race and we made the assembly area just in time.

The weather had got a lot colder and we had dropped the tyre pressure to get some heat in the tyres so no change to the setup other than that.

Ian started the race again and he thinks it is worse than the start of a Caterham race. It certainly has some bad behaviour out there.

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We were drawn 14 on the grid and within a few laps were up to 10. Then the temperature started to rise. Safety car out and as we are circulating smoke is bellowing out. We get pulled into the pits and it is the coolant. We empty the contence of the tea earn into the the car and find the cap has given up the ghost. We think we have a head gasket problem so call it a day, I take my gear off and go to race control to see if I can get 2 signatures for the day. I got the signatures and was walking up the pit lane when I hear a shout saying we fixed it. They borrowed a new filler cap but also find the fan switch is not working so they hot wired it on.

I throw on my gear and we are in the race again. Had a ball in this race as I got caught up in a few battles. Got 2 sessions in. The highlights for me were overtaking 3 cars in one bend and pulling away so breaking the tow But the really fun one was overtaking into the fast right handed.

I got back to the pits after the checkered flag and recounted to stories. The crew pointed out that overtaking the pace car did not count and nor did overtaking the safety car, recovery truck and the ambulance in one bend I will be searching the footage from the v-box to prove them wrong

O

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[b33fy]

Bet you took them like a king..

At least it made up for the grief you had during the weekend and no doubt put a smile on your face.

[jeffw]

Was there anything you didn't change? Character building. My fav circuit though

[Dick]

I have to ask the photo b4 the car on recovery truck seems to show someone being forced in or draged out. It cant have been that bad could it

[Nash]

That has to be a caption comp. I’ll post separately haha