Shelsley Results 180813

Shelsley Walsh 18th August 2013

This is one of the largest meetings held at this historic venue and the Association was well represented by 14 drivers in 500’s and three more in V-twins in the shape of Tom Cowley, Ruth Ross and Steve Lister. It was nice to see Chas Reynolds out again in his immaculate Kieft. The Saturday weather was warm and the track dry, so hopes were high for good times. The forecast said showers could well come during the day but thankfully none materialised until well into the afternoon, by which time most of us had completed our practice runs.

Practice
Finlay Macintosh had never been to Shelsley before and was keen to learn the route before any change in the conditions and by late morning had managed to squeeze in three runs, all in the 42’s – pretty good for a first visit! Times for the rest of us also got shorter as the day wore on.

Mechanically things were not bad. Alistair and Tim had both had the car jump out of top gear compromising times a little. Chas had broken a throttle cable and Tom had the cam drive in the engine shear. Fortunately Ewan Cameron had a spare drive back at base in Malvern. Otherwise, ingenuity came to the fore as Chas improvised a throttle stop with a spanner and Alistair was forced to fashion a shim to repair the original gearbox, this after borrowing and fitting a spare unit only to find the linkage to the lever could not be made. He therefore did two full changes.

An unusual sight was Mark Riley using spanners on his own car – the extra grip from the new season tyres was causing the gearbox to move back and over-tighten the primary chain. Soon fixed however.

Other than that the main topic of conversation revolved around the black arts of gearing, with several saying they were over geared.

Dirty bit........ just there Ruth.......now run like hell!

Event day
The forecast was fair and everyone was optimistic for a great day. All the cars were now running and it was just a case of awaiting our turn. Without exception the first runs were quicker than in practice. Ted had managed to cure his domestic plumbing problems, which had kept him from practice, and joined in with gusto. Four drivers had broken the 40 second barrier so the competition was fierce.

The gap between the first and second runs saw some small amounts of tinkering over lunch, but nothing serious. The second runs saw even more determination, which was rewarded in all bar Tim going quicker. He was very unfortunate, as the gearbox cried ‘enough’ on the final straight and he only just crept across the line, but had also been on course to better earlier times. Xavier had managed to join the select group under 40 seconds, no doubt urged on by son David snapping at his heels. Demonstrating how close things are, third forth and fifth were covered by 4 hundredths of a second over the course length of 1000 yards, which must translate into inches apart! What a great day.

Tally Ho, Alan

Classified Results

Pos	Name	Car	Run 1	Run 2	Best	N/T: David Kingsland - Staride-Norton Pics: Angie Baby Words: Mike Wood Ted Sharpe - RGR
1	Mark Riley	Creamer-JAP	37.96	37.95	37.95
2	Steve Lawrence	Cooper Mk VIII-JAP	38.60	38.48	38.48
3	Alistair Dent	Hornet-JAP	39.87	39.54	39.54
4	Xavier Kingsland	Staride-Norton	41.37	39.57	39.57
5	Jan Nycz	Staride-Norton	39.59	39.58	39.58
6	John Dent	Cooper Mk VIII-JAP	41.33	40.34	40.34
7	Fin Mackintosh	Cooper Mk VI-JAP	40.51	40.38	40.38
8	Ted Sharpe	RGR-JAP	42.98	41.28	41.28
9	Mike Wood	CBP-JAP	42.13	42.03	42.03
10	Alan Hartfield	Cooper Mk V-JAP	43.25	42.33	42.33
11	Mike Lawrence	Cooper Special-JAP	44.44	43.58	43.48
12	Charles Reynolds	Kieft-JAP	46.87	44.95	44.95
13	Tim Ross	Cooper Mk IV-JAP	52.50	N/T	52.50

Think.... relax.... focus...... breathing...... Just like having a baby really.....

Charles Reynolds at Bottom Esse

Oh, to be at Shelsley, in the summertime, with my love or..... Man with "99s" exits stage left. As you prefer.