any news from the isle of manx?

[robmar]

[Mcalvert]

Have just had a call with Shaun - sounds like it's been eventful.

 

I'm sure we'll hear all about it after the weekend!

 

Michael.

[ruff seven]

Caterhams 1st, 2nd and 3rd

[Irrelevant]

What happened then . . . . I'd like an event by event breakdown please and all results

 

BTW: The venues look good - well the ones I've been able to find on YouTube do at any rate.

 

 

[rgrigsby]

I suspect we won't hear much for a while yet, when I looked at the ferries I think it meant arriving back at about 15:00 on Sunday followed by a long drive back from up north.

 

Rob G

www.SpeedySeven.com

[Shaun_E]

Gill and I got back home about 6.00 this evening as we were on the early ferry - the others won't be home until nearer midnight. It was a brilliant weekend and the courses were exciting (scary ). A very eventful weekend that I am sure will be the subject of an amusing Low Flying feature. I'm knackered and about to go to bed so will provide more details tomorrow.

The only person from the club to win anything was Gill but we're not yet sure what the trophy is for as we weren't at the awards bash .

 

Yellow SL #32 - member of Drowned Rat Racing

[robmar]

Gills award - FTD 🤔

[Irrelevant]

Guess this is 2 of the events?

[Shaun_E]

Well what a weekend. We all had a great time and were welcomed everywhere. The seven owners on the island were especially helpful and gave us tips on driving the courses. Most of us arrived on Wednesday and we were able to spend Thursday morning driving the TT course (backwards 😳) in search of the 3 hills so we could get a feel for them. We never found the Sloc though!

As reported elsewhere, Bray Hill was abandoned. The timing gear wasn't working and that combined with rain and the big off by a Morgan meant it was daft to continue. At least it meant we could get to the bar (the event wasn't due to finish until 11:30 pm). Most of us managed 2 runs before the event was abandoned.

Friday was dry but very cold - the course is out on the West of the island on a very exposed hill. All was going well until, as I was sat lined up for my first practice run, smoke started to pour through the bonnet louvres . I leapt out of the car shouting for marshals but had the presence of mind to hit the electrical cut off. Once the bonnet was opened the smoke subsided revealing the remains of a small electrical fire. The main power feeds to the engine loom had chafed on the bell housing and shorted out. A quick trip into Port Erin and I managed to buy some cooker cable which I stripped to a single core and using chocolate block connectors replaced the burnt out section. We were back running for the afternoon and the organisers kindly let me compete. I did eventually get 2 runs in and Gill managed 3 as she had at least got 1 practice in the morning.

Saturday was bright and sunny but still cold in the shade but it was looking like a great event. The hill is long and challenging but very fast. Gill had her first practice run but when her batch returned down the hill there was no sign of our car . A minute or so later she appeared - the car had refuesd to start but eventually bumped started rolling down the hill. I got in leaving the engine running but an incident on the hill caused a delay which meant I had to stop the car (was getting a bit hot!). Of course it wouldn't restart even when pushed. We all assumed it would be down to the previous day's fire so I set about stripping the insulation back further to check there were no more exposed cables. We swapped MFRUs with Mike's car and we got a meter across everything - no sign of a problem. Having given up and resigned to going home on the back of a flatbed, I suddenly realised the symptoms were similar to when the immobiliser hadn't been deactivated. I walked back to the car - the immobiliser fob was there in the handbrake recess where the loop aerial is (its a passive proximity device) but moving it slightly allowed the car to start . Again the organisers let us run so I got 2 timed runs and Gill got a single timed run (event overran so dual drives never got their second timed run).

I also had a very blonde moment when at scrutineering I couldn't find my timing strut 😳. Mark quickly made one from cardboard and I ran with that for the weekend - it was only on packing up on Saturday that I found the proper one in the tool bag where I had been looking for it *redface*.

I'll leave Martin to tell you about his challenge for the "blonde of the weekend" trophy ❗

 

Yellow SL #32 - member of Drowned Rat Racing

[Martin S.]

Julie and I have just got back after staying a few days longer on this friendly petrolheaders paradise of an island.

 

Shaun, i take it by "Blonde moment" you mean my high speed "off" that resulted in the rear end damage 😬

 

Edited to say I've put a few photo's here

 

Edited by - Martin S. on 22 Apr 2008 22:12:28

[The Comp Sec]

I heard your "dismount" was completed extremely efficiently and in no time at all.

 

Go to the top of the class 😔