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/

BAS Round 5 Debate!!

Well BAS Round 5 due to take place this weekend at St Neots has been cancelled due to the weather conditions but who knew the cancellation could spark off such a heated debate!! The whole debate stems around the proposal to reschedule the round for a fortnights time.

Reasons to reschedule the event for a later date:

• Those class titles that are undecided will have a chance to be decided on the track

Reasons not to reschedule the event for a later date:

• People have commited to the series based on the dates set before they entered and will have made other commitments around these dates such as work and holidays. Some people will not be able to attend the final round as a result of a date change therefore they do not get to fairly complete their BAS challenge. It's not their fault the date changed!
• Other clubs have meetings scheduled to avoid the BAS and these might now clash with the revised date thus putting clubs and their members in an awkward position. Do they support their club and the club points scheme or abandon their club for the BAS?
• BAS rules state that if a meeting is cancelled the results are taken over the best 3 of 4 rounds. It does not state the cancelled meeting will be rescheduled!
• What president does it set for the future? How many rounds next year can be rescheduled when the time comes because the weather has been poor? What is the point in setting the dates if this can be done!

I think my opinion is clear to see from the above!! Some will win and some will lose from not having a last round but at least everyone is in the same boat. If you lose because you haven't collected enough points at other rounds then that's your own fault/bad luck really, harsh i know!! If you lose because you can't make the rescheduled date due to other commitments then that is certainly not your fault and it's unfair! And if you can't make the last round then all the money and time spent on the last 4 rounds was a waste!

From what i gather today, NASA and BAS are both in favour of rescheduling the event and so now it's up to St Neots to make the decision. How wrong is that!! Surely NASA should have the best interests of all clubs in mind (particularly those running on the rescheduled weekend) and BAS should have the best interests of it's members in mind, therefore St Neots have no decision to make as it should have been made by BAS and NASA.

In reality, the only ones to really lose out from this are St Neots. They have invested time and money to put on the event and it's not their fault it has had to be cancelled. But surely the better way for St neots to recoup some of their costs is to reschedule their East Anglia Open meeting as planned on 27/28 September and encourage people to support this. There is just no need for it to be a BAS round though. As Helen Richards has pointed out on the forum perhaps it needs to be looked at as the needs of the many (clubs and members) agains the needs of the few (St Neots). Well said Helen!

Ladies Nationals 2008

What a weekend!!!! You are reading a post written by the Double National champion!! Believe it or not, considering the last post, i won the Nationals in my car AND my brothers 8. I'm over the moon and still smiling almost a week later!

I think the Nationals is about the only meeting i experience full on nerves and boy did I have them last Saturday morning. Following my crash at the Fastest Man i was already in 2 minds about whether racing the 8 was the right thing but too late to back out now. I just needed to get that first heat in both cars under my belt and then i would feel much better. Well the first heat couldn't have gone any better, the track was great and the cars were superb, nothing faltered and I won quite comfortably in the 5 and very comfortably in the 8. Now i could settle!

Heat 2 brought another win in the 5 but a dodgy start in the 8 due to a very dug up start line meant i could only manage a 4th. To be fair though, the first 4 of us, Sandra, Sue, Clair and Me, were all bunched up and as fast as eachother. I new i didn't need to do anything stupid though and was happy to sit on the back of the other 3 and just bring the car home in 1 piece. Even in fourth the confidence i felt in the car was amazing, i knew i could race it 100% as if it was my own. The comfort and set up was spot on.

2 more wins in heat 3 took me into the final as joint top qualifier with Sandra in 5 and 2nd qualifier in the 8 with Clair Horner just in front of me by about 8 points.

Sat on the start line of the final in the 5 i felt so much pressure. I feel like people expect me to win because i ususally do but in all honesty it's probably me that most expects myself to win! At first i was glad to avoid Sandra during my heats in the 5 but come the final i realised i had no idea where i stood against her and really i would have felt more confident having had at least a heat against her. Well there was nothing that could be done now so all i could do was give it my all, drive to win the race and hope it was enough. I got a cracking start and was into the bend first and just threw myself in with the confidence i knew i had to have. Looking at photos now i see i was only slightly ahead of Sandra into the bend and so there would have been no room for hesitation, i needed that confident fast entry into the first bend to get my lead and pull away. I stayed about quarter of a lap infront of sandra for most of the race i think and took a good win.

It was strange sat on the line in the 8 for the final. I wasn't sure whether i felt pressure to win or not. On one hand i was 'just having a go' in the 8 because i could, no-one would expect me to win and so i was pleased to make the final, anything else would just be a bonus. On the other hand, i'd won 2 heats, i was 2nd qualifier, and i wanted to win!! I sat there knowing i could get the good starts and the only downfall i might have against Clair was the confidence into the first bend. That's what let me down last week at fastest man, i could get into the bend first but not commit like she could and thats where i lost out. This week was a little different though, i had the confidence in the car and the track and so i sat on that line just bullying myself to commit into that first corner.
Another amazing start saw me first into the first corner and boy did i commit. It felt amazing, i threw it in and came out a few car lengths in front already. What a world of difference that half a lap had made! I never looked back from that moment, just kept up my speed and confidence through to the end. I won class 8!!!

It felt great to win in 5, but as mentioned before the pressure is on me to win that anyway. It was a totally different feeling in the 8. The moment i crossed that line i just cried, and all the way back to the pits i cried, and sat in the car and cried! Yeah ok i'm meant to be a tough racer and racing is in my blood, but even i can be overcome with emotion at such an achievement as this! And what's kind of ironic is that my mum won the nationals in 5 and 8 in 1994, so it definitely is in the family!

Fastest Man on Grass 2008

I think we may have given racing a miss this weekend if it wasn't for me needing a practice in Mark's 8 before the Ladies Nationals. There just seems to have been so many weekends in a row packed with racing and travelling far and wide!

It was nice to have Saturday to do a few jobs at home, make my way down to Lincoln in my own time and then chill-out when i got there. Nigels bar (see pics) was a welcome addition to the event and i have to admit to spending a bit of time in there on Saturday afternoon!

This weekend I was racing the 5 to test the set-up for the Ladies Nationals and also having my first go in Mark's 8 for years! In fact, 2 years ago the nationals it was his old 8 that i raced so this would be the first time i this particular car. I needed to get plenty of practice! With my seat in the 8 there was no way Mark could get in the car so my partner in the car for the weekend was Phil Cooper, and what a good partner he was!

Sunday started off good with a nice win in both cars, i felt much more confident with the 8 straight away. Over the weekend things stayed pretty much the same in the 5 with another heat win, final win and winner of Fastest Saloon on Grass, beating the 7 of Charlotte Pugh. Things got worse in the 8 with a Black Flag for a hige wheelie (see pic), a 5th or something in final, 3rd in Fastest Special on Grass and a big crash in the Fastest Lady on Grass!! I braked hard to avoid someone and spun (my own fault) then got collected by a 7. It hurt!!!

2 very bent wishbones, broken shocker and stearing arm, lots of bruises and aches, and a very demotivated me took a slow and sombre drive home on Monday night. I was ready for giving up, in the 8 at least, and seriously questioning whether to race it at the Nationals. Was it just going to interfier with my confidence in the 5?

An Irish Adventure

We set off for the English port of Holyhead on Wednesday morning with the sun shining all the way. Our ferry sailed on schedule at 3pm and the crossing was relitively smooth and fast, docking in Don Louaghaire (just south of Dublin Docks) at 5pm. The sun was still with us in Dublin but we went through a few showers on the journey up North to Belfast.

The track at Maghberry had clearly suffered from lots of rain over the last few days and weeks so we were relieved to have all the old airfield concrete to park up on. This was probably a life saver for this weekend! Fortunately, with just 260 drivers, the concrete hard ground was enough to accomodate everyone with very few chosing to venture onto the grassy areas.

Thursday and Friday were both decent days. Rick and I went out on our bikes on both days and did a few miles around the country roads. There were lots of hills though and i have to admit that i ended up pushing my bike up them a couple of times! Meanwhile the Down Autograss track crew worked hard on the track all day on Friday and created a great looking race circuit.

On Friday night the rain came and boy did it come! In fact it didn't stop until late on Saturday night. On Saturday morning we were all relieved to here the start time had been postponed until 10am, and after the rain didn't stop we were even more relieved to hear of a further delay until 12pm. At 12, with the rain still beating down, all the drivers took a vote to cancel Saturdays racing and start the meeting on Sunday at 8am no matter what.

For the rest of the afternoon the world of autograss hit the local pub and i don't think the pub knew what had hit it! Needless to say there were some sorry states by early evening and a wise move made by most to come back to the field at around 8pm for the beer shed disco.

A promt 8am start on Sunday saw the first heats over by 11am, the second heats over by 2pm and the third heats by about 4.30. Time may have been tight for those catching the 9pm ferry but I think it was a wise deicision by the BAS committee to give everyone a 3rd heat and we did indeed still have time to run the finals. The track turned out incredibly well considering Saturdays rain, the slope of it allowing the water to run off albeit creating a very muddy pits!

We made the decision to set off to Dublin on Sunday night even though our ferry wasn't utill 11.30am Monday. With all the local weather warnings and stories of roads closed and ferries cancelled, we just couldn't risk leaving it too late. So we parked up just North of Dublin for the night and set off again at 8am for the ferry. We set sail a little late at 11.50am and took slightly longer to arrive back in Holyhead but with the company of Shuke and the Price clan we couldn't complain about a boring journey.

So it was a long, expensive weekend, for weather that we could have got back in England but it was an experience, and an adventure that was well worth it. Even with only 260 drivers no-one ever expected us to complete 3 heats and finals plus champ of champs in just 1 day after all the rain on Saturday, but Down Autograss and all of the other clubs helpers pulled it off and did grassin proud.

Mens Nationals 2008

I feel like it's a bit late to be writing about the mens nationals considering it was 5 days ago but i've just been too busy to write anything before now. That's no excuse really considering MY BROTHER IS A NATIONAL CHAMP and i should be shouting it from the roof every day!!

The nationals hosted by the Wiltshire league at Stroud was as well organised as we all expected. They've hosted enough nationals on their spectacular venue now to know excatly what is required of them and once again they didn't fail to come up to scratch.

My brother got off to a fantastic start on day 1 with 2 wins in his own class 8 and 2 wins in our dads class 5. He was on form and the cars were just amazing. It was a fantastic buzz at the end of Saturday and everyone i spoke to was congratulating Mark on a successful day and putting their money on him for at least 1 win in the finals. Was that good or bad luck? He's joked about it before saying 'I don't know which car i'll race in the champ of champs if I win both finals' but all joking aside, I have to admit for the first time i actualy thought it was just possible he could win in both classes.

Both feeling a bit rough on Sunday morning (self inflicted), Diane and I were on form in Pits Control. Plenty of banter on the PA to liven things up a bit and to humour our hangovers! The racing was again fast and clean and we were ready to start finals at 1.30.

With Mark as one of the favourites to win class 5 I was seriously nervous as the race began. The usual carniage in the first corner caused by Ryan Griffiths was to be expected but fortunately Mark kept his head and made-up for this set-back by coming through to 2nd in about 1 lap! Waiting on Antony Jacksons rear bumber he made his move when Antony slipped up slightly and through Mark went. Now all Antony could do was sit and wait for Mark to do the same but fotunately he never and Mark took a fanatstic win from Antony and Dan Lewis in 3rd. I was nearly in tears at various points throughout the race. I've been in Marks position and i knew exactly what it was like for him during the race, i was just willing him to stay calm and keep up his winning driving. The cheers and congratulations from the crowds and all of our racing mates were fantastic, a well and truly deserved win to a well liked, nice guy.

The family are all really proud of him but i have to feel a little bit sorry for my dad who has tried for this title for tens of years and still not won it! Mark then goes and borrows his car for the year and is winning the BAS and claimed his first National title!

Top qualifier in class 8 Mark managed to achieve 5th in the final after major understear in the first corner. Still, he had a good battle and got as high as 3rd at one point, and he is very pleased with his performance and the performance of his car. Roll on BAS 4 in Ireland next week and then all pressure on me for the Ladies Nationals!

T-shirts for racing

With my husband being in the design and sign industry it's great for getting freebies in the way of stickers and print. The latest phase for me is printing t-shirts! Rick has the facility to print the actualy lettering and logo's for t-shirts and his brother has a heat press to press the print onto the t-shirts. My role is to order the t-shirts and bring all the processes together!


Earlier in the year we did a couple of t-shirts for me, my dad and my brother and this week i've done a couple more for us and also some for the Almond family. Check out the cute little pink ones that i've done for Shelby and Erina to wear this weekend at the nationals.

The t-shirts are great for wearing at racing. They're fairly cheap so it doesn't matter if they get mucky and worn and the design can be updated easily every time new ones are printed.

Now that Rick has a big new vinyl printer and cutter we might be able to do actual photo-prints on t-shirts instead of just 1-colour lettering and sillhoute logo's. We're also probably going to get our own press so that we can keep all of the work in one place and i can do the whole job myself rather than getting Rick and Dan to help. I'll be a t-shirt printing expert in no time!