Phoebe and I were at Coventry on the Saturday and the boys were in Ipswich.
In her first heat, she didn’t look very quick off the start and didn’t do many laps before we heard a bang and she stopped in the corner. Two waved yellows came out but no attempt was made to remove her to safety, and David cottrill 575 got fired into the back of her.
We found that her cam gear had stripped. Quite a tricky time consuming job. Once again Guy Jolly came to our rescue with a spare, and Karl and Trevor Hawkins helped to change it over.
We didn’t make Heat 2 but managed to get out in time for the final. Phoebe finished in 11th and said that she felt the car was running on 7, so down on power. We decided not to go out for the National as we needed to look into things further.
Frankie and Danny line up at Ipswich
Meanwhile, down Ipswich… FWJ was in heats 1 & 2. He was the fastest car in both heats, and was pleased with how the car felt. He got some good results with fourth and fifth.
Danny struggled with his brakes in his heats but managed to bag a place in the final with two ninth places.
Young Frank struggled a bit and found it hard work. He drove well in both heats but no top ten placings.
Final time. Young Frank didn’t have a great start and struggled with clutch problems. He got going, got tangled and lost couple of laps, but he kept going and finished.
Danny was going better in this one. He got up into seventh place before retiring with a flat tyre.
FWJ struggled to get close to the lower graders, but was the first superstar through and he finished sixth.
The National saw no clutch for Young Frank. Danny got his best result of the night with sixth, and FWJ had a good race with Todd Jones and finished in second.
Celebrating the 270th Final
So the boys team and the girl team reunite at Northampton.
Phoebe was out in “Neville” seemed short on power in first race. She got hit into the corner, kept going for a bit but then pulled off with a bent back axle – DNF.
A bit of repair work was required to get her back out. We didn’t have time to investigate why the car was slow, and we got stuck into repairing the axle to try and get her back out. She almost got locked out!
Slowish again, the engine wouldnt pick up coming out of the corners, but she kept going and finished.
Before she went out for the final we found that the timing was out. Some adjustments were made, and she looked much better until the power steering shorted out causing the engine to misfire. Still managed to finish seventh.
Just the national to go now, and the car was sorted for this one. She looked loads better and crossed the line in fifth, her best result of the weekend.
As for the F1s… Young Frank 555 was still having issues with the car after Ipswich. He missed practice due to release bearing failure. A time consuming job, but he managed to get out for Heat 2. He looked good, finishing 11th which put him in the Consolation, where he qualified with a sixth.
Danny & FWJ both qualified for the final with a ninth for Danny and a fifth for FWJ in their heats.
Young Frank was going well in the final until 108 was used as a cue ball hitting the 555 car into a stationary 318. He continued his race and managed a few laps before retiring when the isolator switch packed up.
Danny did better. He had a few battles, which cost time, but he managed to keep going and finished with a decent sixth.
FWJ was the back superstar. He steamed up the inside passing a few, managed to avoid the oil that Stu 390 had lost. On a mission and started to pull away making ground with about 5 to go. The newly crowned British championship went on to win his 270th final! Cracking!!
Just the National to go on what seems to have been a very long weekend. Danny finished in 8th, Frank 555 got put wide then struggled to get back in line. He finished but no top 10 placing. FWJ retired from the race early on due to the diff breaking.
Got to hand it to the team once again this weekend! Certainly had their work cut out with time consuming, fiddly jobs. They definitely earned their Magners!
Sam
Neville had problems at NIR.
FWJJ in the pits at Ipswich (Steve Harris pic)
In the pits at Ipswich
Trophy presentation at Northampton
Diff repairs after Northampton
Well earned!
