Alex Birtwisle Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 While most of you lot were lining up your jerry cans and arranging your spanners in nice orderly rows, did you stop and hear the eerie clang of metal on metal ringing out across the misty Anglesey paddock? Did you stop and wonder which poor fool was hammering his front suspension to within an inch of its life? Well, that poor fool was me. When Guy and I were spanner checking our cars on Thursday noon, I noticed a HUGE amount of play in my upper suspension ball joint – the kind of play that stops you doing track days After a small amount of panic, I tracked down some spares. Chris Wheeler had a couple and so did Mark Hicks. Problem was how on earth to get these parts to Cheshire or Anglesey before 9am on Good Friday (by this time it was 16:10 on the Thursday). I was contemplating a long drive down to Chris or Mark … and back again before getting up at 5am to get ready to head over to Anglesey. Luckily Rach persuaded me that this was a bad BAD idea (I couldn’t help but agree). Mark Hicks put in touch with Redline in Caterham who found the part number and donor vehicle for the ball joint (tis a fiat part should you ever need to know) but there was no chance anyone would keep one in stock and no chance of getting one that night. So… With options diminishing rapidly, and the chance that Good Friday’s trackday would be lost, I called Chris Wheeler to make sure he would be home when I got there after a mad dash down… during the conversation something happened, the gods of sevening and trackdays must have heard my mumblings of dissatisfaction. Chris mentioned he would be back home just after Rob Grigsby had dropped his car off. At this point the skies cleared and I bathed in the pool of sunlight beaming down on me from above. Realising that Rob was supposed to be at this trackday, and would be heading north to see his other/better half, it dawned on me that he could bring the parts with him, I could meet him then all I would need to do is fit them on Friday morning. A plan was born… We met in service station on the A49. I received a package. I drove home. I felt happy. On arrival in Anglesey, Mav’s cousin provided me with a ball joint splitter and a lump hammer. Twixt signing on and briefings and while the novice and intermediate sessions took place I replaced both upper ball joints with some help from Guy. We completed the job with less than 10 minutes before I was due on track. The day was wonderful, my first really wet track day. A032’s work really very well in the wet when you get some temperature in to them. One spin, a couple of very near spins and a whole heap of sideways action made for a thrilling day 😬 Well worth the anguish, stress and ultimate pleasure. Looking back I only wish I could have pimped around the paddock more, meeting more people. Thanks to everyone who made Friday happen 😬 Alex S713UMY 1.8K Viper Blue and Spandex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevSull Too Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Nice little tale, just the sort of thing that could be included in Low Flying..... 😬You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same. 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Gad! And I thought I was struggling with front brake pistons that popped out during bleeding (twice!) on Wednesday night, a very soft pedal on the emergency dash to Mavs to rebleed the brakes on Thursday afternoon, an indicated WT of over 100 all the way up to Chester, a resulting sheared WT sensor - so no WT display during the trackday, being given just 10 mins after the driver briefing to unload all the cr@p from the car (including the rather intimately attached wheel carrier.....) And then on the way home, I forgot to reattach the wires to the radiator fan switch (I'd been hardwiring it for safety given that I couldn't tell what temp the water was doing - and couldn't start the car with the fan engaged)... only remembered in the middle of some heavy, stationary traffic Consequently attracted a small bunch of interested weirdo's in a hotel carpark (one of them had a plastic schoolkid-type recorder! - a sort of Welsh Deliverance, if you like...) Heh-ho! Keep BC free and open for ALL. Membership No. 43xx Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 'tis what touring is all about HOOPY R706KGU Hoopylight R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Mebbe so - and possibly good practice for BtB - but we wuzzent touring this time... Keep BC free and open for ALL. Membership No. 43xx Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachael Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Good idea Kev. Alex is out on site now, but I have a copy of it here, so could forward it on to the lovely Mr Pashley to see what he thinks. Rach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibster. Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 and Myles (aka Mr big enough willy) can write about what it like to spend some quality time with some Welsh good ol' boys Squeel piggy 😳 Paul 😬 Supercheese R250 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossybee Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 [banjo] Deling ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. Deling ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. etc [/banjo] Rrrrrrrrrrroooossssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss !!!!! here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boonie Hound Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Great idea Kev - go on Rach - here's the electronic stamp and you could use a pic from the stuff posted for Anglesey already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibster. Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Just so long that Myles is not required to provide any proof of his claim Supercheese R250 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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