Jeremy Braithwaite (Lotus Cars list) wrote....
"I promosed Andrew Pursey I would write something for the list .... this =
is
the Historic FF story .. he can write the Na News!
We had our first historic meeting of the year in the most atrocious
conditions I can ever remember at Amaroo. After a fine Friday practice
with quite good grip, a combination of steady rain and an amazing amount =
of
oil on the circuit made everything quite treacherous.
It wasn't a case of one person having dropped some oil on line in a =
couple
of corners ?. The stuff was spread quite liberally across the entire
circuit."
Jeremy, et al....
I watched a number of the races for open-wheelers and open sports cars - =
I thought the drivers did a great job under very difficult driving =
conditions - now I know why I continue to be a tin top person (unless, =
Jeremy, you'd like to swap cars at the HSRCA Family Day?).
Qualifying was in the dry and our (slower) race group of Group N Saloon =
Cars (pre'58 and pre'65) had a clear run. I had heaps of fun as I went =
onto the track just behind a Cortina GT and we spent the whole of =
qualifying dicing with each other (my Oxford clocked 1:13.44, whilst the =
Cortina clocked 1:13.55, but, we were separated on the grid by a Zephyr =
MkII @ 1:13.54).
The Saturday afternoon race was wettish (that word is relative to Sunday =
morning's race conditions) and wheelspin off the line was the norm. The =
charge up Bitupave Hill for the first time was in a wash of spray and =
the Zephyr out-dragged me to Skyline, whilst the Cortina stayed =
alongside almost to the crest but then decided that maybe "Axeman" was =
going to hold the line.
In Group Na (pre'58) the leader was Michael St John Cox's Jaguar MkVIIM =
(in the wet he can't smoke the tyres as he usually does) followed by =
Aaron Gabriel in a Morris Minor followed by Paul Rodenhuis in a Ford =
Zephyr MkII followed by your scribe in the Morris Oxford; after that =
came Don Titcume in a Morris Major followed by Terry Thompson in a =
Volkswagen Beetle. Arthur Huxley in another Morris Major didn't start =
the race due to losing the brakes at the end of qualifying.
During the race a number of the Cortinas spun out of contention (sorry =
Rob) as did the Zephyr (which stalled at Stop Go Corner and couldn't =
restart) after I had spent 4 laps sitting tight on his tail (no Jeremy, =
I didn't touch him). Na thus finished Jaguar MkVIIM, Morris Minor, =
Morris Oxford, Morris Major and Volkswagen Beetle.
Sunday morning's race was wet, wetter and wettest - running water across =
the track in several places, plus several large pools of standing water. =
However, being the mature sensible types that we all are we immediately =
adapted our driving to the conditions (I wish, says the Clerk of =
Course!). The start was fairly interesting in that visibility was not =
of the best and the run up Bitupave Hill was undertaken in the blind =
belief that the cars in front of you were still heading rapidly in a =
forwards direction and that everybody's lights were working properly =
(fortunately, this turned out to be true).
After a couple of laps, which saw a number of cars have some hairy =
moments, the gaps increased to the point where visibility was no longer =
a problem. =20
The Oxford decided that it didn't really want to run cleanly above =
4500rpm with result that whilst I could stay with the Zephyr I couldn't =
get past and attack the Minor - this was extremely frustrating for an =
Englishman who loves racing in the wet (my wife was not impressed by my =
dummy-spitting routine on my return to the paddock). =20
The Jaguar was holding the lead in Group Na until it all locked up and =
slid straight on into the tyre wall at Honda Corner; fortunately the =
damage wasn't too bad so Michael was able to drive the car home after =
the race meeting (well, Na is a "road-improved" category). The Minor =
inherited the lead and Aaron kept a cool head and sensible right foot to =
get his first first in Na. Paul followed in the Zephyr with me a second =
away followed by Don's Major, Terry's Beetle and Hux's Major (brakes =
better, but not that good). Interspersed amongst these Na cars were a =
few of the Nb (pre'65) cars who had been over-enthusiastic at one, or =
more, of the corners - wasn't it Frank Gardner who said something about =
"in order to finish first, you have to first finish".
Sunday afternoon was a drying track, as was pit lane (or it was until my =
heater hose split just as we were lined up to go out on the track). Na =
had a bad run and some non-starters - in addition to my DNS in the =
Oxford, Terry had the throttle jam open on the Beetle coming off the =
line, Aaron destroyed the clutch in the Minor, Michael was already =
driving home (slowly) in the Jag, whilst Hux was back in the shed trying =
to rebuild his brakes. As a result Paul in the Zephyr and Don in the =
Major were left to uphold the honour of Na and run to the finish.
The only thing left to be said about the race meeting was that the HSRCA =
organisation was excellent and both days finished without anybody having =
to have their race cancelled; given the conditions, that is a pretty =
good record. Finally, talking about conditions, let me publically thank =
all those officials who stayed at their posts in the most dreadful =
weather - without these wonderful men and women we weekend warriors =
wouldn't be able to go out and play and have our fun.
........regards....Andrew "Axeman" Pursey=20
1954 Morris Oxford, 1955 Morris Oxford (racing in Group Na pre'58 =
Classic Saloons), 1955 Morris Isis, 1956 Morris Isis, 1994 Land Rover =
Discovery, plus 1996 SAAB 900S Coupe (more trouble in under 500 miles =
than any LBC - if this is typical of the marque, don't buy a SAAB)
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