Autosport Show

Knowing it's always the same every year and has been steadily getting less interesting i wasn't going to go to the Autosport Show this year but with Mark's car on a stand we got free tickets so it would have been rude not to go! As expected it was the same old stuff again this year and felt much quieter on both the exhibitor and the visitors side.

Marks car looked great though and so did the other grassers on display. It was a great opportunity to show off the 2 new cars (Marks and Phil Coopers) built by Rade Race Developments. Ian and Colin of Rade are from a rally background and both still heavily involved in this scene but have turned their hands to a spot of grassin over the last couple of seasons and fancied a go at building some cars. Ian has his own class 9 which he raced last season and then Mark and Phil have the first 'customer' cars. We'll see what this year brings in terms of their performence and the outcome of Rade.

The grassers were again invited to perform in the Live Action Arena at the show and this year was the turn of the class 7's. Another great demonstration from our sport alongside the F1 & F2 stock cars, hotrods and many others. I can't help feeling though that the specials last year were just a little but more exciting than the 7's. I personally felt there wasn't enough chopping and changing of positions and close racing as seen in the other sports and as seen by the specials last year. Still, a good performance and definitely shows off our sport well.

Christmas & New Year

We went to Tenerife in December, our first real holiday of the year and a desperately needed one! The weather was a little cloudy but we fulfilled our main aim of just chilling out, relaxing and doing nothing! On our return we had our 20 week baby scan (that's what the thing on the left is!) which was all quite exciting, it's actually starting to look like a baby now! All is well with me and baby and there's definitely a good strong racing driver in there, probably a class 7 driver based on its strength!

Christmas was quiet with family visits on Christmas day but then no real agenda either side of that. We went up to Scotland for a couple of days, spent time catching up with family and friends, and just chilled out really. We took a trip over to Runcorn to visit the Almonds and deliver Christmas pressies to Shelby and Erina and had a nice meal out at the pub with them.

Dad has been working hard on the new bus, the back is pretty much complete, the inside is boarded out (ceiling and floor) and he's beginning to set out the interior layout. It's just that extremely cold weather that's putting him off going out there all day every day!

Remainder of 2008

Well it's been ages since i last blogged, partly because i've been busy, partly because i'm lazy, and partly because i've been getting myself pregnant! The pregnancy was all planned of course, to fit in with the racing season, and we have a baby due on 7th May 2009. Ok, so the planning went slightly awry and the baby will arrive just into the start of the season but so what, my priorities are all different now!

What else have i been getting up to then since the Ladies Nationals. Well the debate of re-scheduling the last BAS round ended in the decision NOT to re-schedule but i went along to spectate at the re-scheduled St Neots Open anyway. Obviously i couldn't race due to pregnancy but also we sent our engine off for post-season checks by BAS offficials so i had no car to race anyway. All came back clear with the checks so Mark and I are officially winners of class 5 BAS 2008! Not forgetting both winners of class 5 Nationals 2008 - what a successfull year for us and our car! (pic of my BAS and Nationals trophies left).

There were a couple of club events held at York over September & October but unfortunately i had to give these a miss due to morning-sickness!
Early November took me and Mark over to Runcorn, Lancashire, for a couple of days at Lisa & Lee Almonds to celebrate the girls birthdays and catch up with the rest of the Almonds and Coopers.

Later in November brought the BAS dinner which was pretty much same as usual except alcohol-free for me! It was great to get our trophies and celebrate everyones achievements, catch up with people, and just have a laugh away from the track.

December brought a bit of a manic time for my bro, and others involved helping and building him a brand new class 8 within a few short weeks. It has all been a bit last-minute for Mark to step in to display his car on the NASA stand at the Autosport show at Birmingham NEC in January. With his car barely started at the beginning of December it has been all hands on deck to finally get it finished today with just 1 week to spare. Just a few final stickers to be added by my capable husband and then it will be off down to Birmingham. Look out for it on the NASA stand, it will look awesome with it's stunning vinyl wrap courtesy of Dogtooth Moto Art http://www.dogtooth.co.uk/