Shelsley Walsh Results 200811

Warm sunshine and dry conditions allowed all members to enjoy this two day event. There was a very large entry in many classes for this popular event and a few competition cars even had to share the officials camping area because every inch of space in the paddock was full. The 500's were allocated the grass adjacent to gate 'A' and this is ideal for push starting the cars down the slope to the start line; it is also just behind the bar!

For the 500 Owners Association the event was very family friendly. We had 3 pairings of father and son, and many of our ladies and children, and even grandchildren were present, to help and to enjoy the weekend. On Saturday lunchtime we were all treated to a cup cake to celebrate John Dent's birthday; no candles were in evidence and so no age can be stated!, but each cake was decorated by his granddaughter with an edible picture of John driving his Cooper Mark 6 - just wonderful. Ted Sharpe had a birthday on Sunday and his family came to help him celebrate at lunchtime; Champagne was seen but Ted had to decline as he was driving! Alex Brown and team were relaxed and well organised as usual.

Some of the cars were giving problems: the well prepared Arnott of Dennis Williams sheared the key on the engine sprocket drive but he was able to fit another during Saturday in time to get practice runs in. The gearbox on Steve Lawrence's Cooper Mark 8 gave up and he unfortunately had to withdraw from the competition. The engine on Humphfrey Collis's JLR was not performing at all well and in spite of a magneto change it was difficult to start and would not run reliably, so he also had to withdraw. So 12 drivers competed in 11 cars.

Saturday practice went well and the times of the faster cars were very close, causing their drivers much thought and more preparation. Laura Dent took a clipboard to record details of all the runs and showed these to the drivers; this was most helpful, so thank you Laura.

The excellent conditions on Sunday gave good competition and the results show fast times. On our first competition run we were called to the start hurriedly; not all of our cars were in number order and we rather scrambled to get started. Some cars had to go straight onto the line without any warm up time but the engines seemed to run OK; maybe we need a Sergeant Major to organise us prior to the start! The second runs were more orderly and all drivers improved on their times. There was only 0.88 seconds separating the first three and many congratulations go to Jan Nycz for the class win in the fast time of 37.71 seconds.

Our thanks to the Midland Automobile Club members, to the Officials, to the Shelsley staff and helpers, and especially to the long suffering Marshals.