MGOC Racing etc - Snetterton

[Maria]

This coming weekend is not only the next round of the MGOC championship at Snetterton, Norfolk, but also the 24 hour 2CV race. There will be the usual MGOC qualifying and races, as well as practice and qualifying for the 24 hour over the Saturday-Sunday period. The 24 hour race gets underway at 4pm on Sunday.

Not only is there racing going on, but the chaps at pistonheads.com have decided to bring their annual event (http://www.pistonfest.com/) to Snetterton.

I've been refuelling personnel/pitwall timing personnel/photographer for our 2CV team for the last 3 years and can assure you the event is very good fun indeed with a great atmosphere and fantastic cameraderie. The feeling you get when the car makes it to the end of the 24 hours is tremendous. 2CV racing is very close, and relies a lot on drafting, so expect plenty of bumper to bumper action.

Camping is freely available at the circuit, and the facilities have recently been upgraded. There is a bar on site, in addition to the pistonfest amenities.

So come on, drag that tent out from whichever hole it's spent the winter in, and get yourself over to Norfolk for a weekend of serious fun! Tickets available at https://www.motorsportdirect.co.uk/events/event-details.asp?ProductID=1761

[Maria]

Full timetable information here (http://www.barc.net/timetables/hq0608-02.htm).

The MGOC racing is on the Saturday. There is some racing on Sunday (Caterhams and similar), then the 24 hour race into Monday.

[carnumber19]

unfortunately, I wont be racing as i am completely skint. I am saving up for the double header at Croft which is £305 race entry fee plus the long haul up to Yorkshire. I think Snett is a superb circuit and i think i will drink myself into a stuper and pretend that this coming saturday never existed.

P :(

[e692wtt]

That's a shame, Phil. W'll raise a toast to you in your absence.

I spoke to the circuit today (well, a very nice lady who works there!) and there is plenty of space for Camping despite the big 'pistonfest' event.

Camping is also complementary, part of the ticket price.

I'm hoping to get there around midday Saturday, look for Rich's Silver 1.6HL Montego Saloon.

I'll also be bringing a cooker and/or some 'satans cookers' so we can have a bit of a BBQ in the evening, if people want to bring some sausages/burgers/whatever and some bread rolls (we will have some with us too).

Looking forward to it now - the first 'event' of the season, can't wait...

[Austin-Rover]

What a good weekend away! I am now hooked on 2CV racing, its simply superb. Something very odd about seeing such cars tear around the track. The MG’s and other series’ were just as good. The weather may have been a tad cold to have been camping, but I survived non the less. I didn’t envy the many people who had to stay awake in the cold all of Sunday night to keep their teams in the 24 hour 2CV race.

I have put a selection of my pictures in the Gallery for you all to look at. >Click Here< (http://www.maestro.org.uk/pp_gallery/showgallery.php?cat=545)

[Andy]

unfortunately, I wont be racing as i am completely skint. I am saving up for the double header at Croft which is £305 race entry fee plus the long haul up to Yorkshire. I think Snett is a superb circuit and i think i will drink myself into a stuper and pretend that this coming saturday never existed.

P :(


How much is it to get in as a spectator do you no? as I will be coming to the race at croft as I only live a few miles away.

[Miracle maestro]

Snetterton looked fun.:)

Sorry, I couldn't make it.:(

[carnumber19]

How much is it to get in as a spectator do you no? as I will be coming to the race at croft as I only live a few miles away.

probably £10, its the usual price. However, i may have a spare or two, pm me as i will know in the next two weeks :D

[carnumber19]

What a good weekend away! I am now hooked on 2CV racing, its simply superb. Something very odd about seeing such cars tear around the track. The MG’s and other series’ were just as good. The weather may have been a tad cold to have been camping, but I survived non the less. I didn’t envy the many people who had to stay awake in the cold all of Sunday night to keep their teams in the 24 hour 2CV race.

I have put a selection of my pictures in the Gallery for you all to look at. >Click Here< (http://www.maestro.org.uk/pp_gallery/showgallery.php?cat=545)

J, mind if i borrow some of your pics for the official site?

[Jonathan]

J, mind if i borrow some of your pics for the official site?

No problem. I only uploaded a few, the full set are on my personal webspace: http://www.jpsellars.co.uk/motoring/sn290406/

Saturday was great, I'm only sorry I couldn't stay for the 24hr race which must have been quite something if the various messages on my mobile from Team Stinky's live text update service were anything to go by! I'm sure Maria will fill us in when she's caught up on a day's sleep.

[e692wtt]

Hahaha, that was a good weekend :thumbup: - from seeing Chris Yates' MG Maestro 1600 finishing 7th in class (out of 10? beating a couple of 2.0 injected cars after starting last in the class!) and the improbability of Andy Campbell's Monty Estate winning the same class... to the 2CVs in qualifying and also the first two hours of the 24 hour race (with a leading pack of 3 and a different leader every lap!).

Weather was cold at night (frost on the car) and the wind was sharp - but the sun was warm and it was dry.

A good weekend :) .

[carnumber19]

No problem. I only uploaded a few, the full set are on my personal webspace: http://www.jpsellars.co.uk/motoring/sn290406/

Saturday was great, I'm only sorry I couldn't stay for the 24hr race which must have been quite something if the various messages on my mobile from Team Stinky's live text update service were anything to go by! I'm sure Maria will fill us in when she's caught up on a day's sleep.

thanks J

[Maria]

I've finally sorted out my 650+ pictures from the weekend and have uploaded them to here (http://maisie.accelerator.org/Snet06/). The MGOC race was entertaining as usual with a good battle for the ZR and overall win between Martin Gilchrist, Doug Cole and Scott Tanner with Martin getting his first win. Yet another class win for Andy Campbell in the Montego. Chris qualified our MG1600 in 15th place - not great, but OK for a post-brake and suspension rebuild and first race of the season. Chris managed to snatch 5th instead of 3rd going into the first corner, and was flat last for the first lap! He caught up a couple of places though, and had a very entertaining dice with Stratton McKay and Neil Jackson, finishing 12th in the end.

As for the 2CV race, I'll copy and paste Chris's race report from another forum:


Oh dear.. That wasn't very good at all, I'm afraid. I'll try and make this brief as my arms are knackered!

Pace-wise, we were up with the top 4. In fact, I honestly believe we could have made the podium, were it not for the reliability problems we had. We were setting times in the race that were just as good, or sometimes faster than the leaders, and I'm proud to say that I was setting some damn good times, especially overnight in the rain. I was the 2nd quickest driver in our team in qualifying.

The first disaster struck on the morning of the race. Neil Thompson caught some kind of stomach bug (from his daughter we think), and couldn't do any of the driving. In fact, he spent the entire 24 hours in his van, either on the chemical toilet (which yours truly got to empty later), or wrapped up in his sleeping bag, shivering despite the 24 degree warmth in the van! Not a happy bunny.

I made light of it both in the commentary later, and in an interview for some TV coverage (no, I don't know if/where/when it will be shown) - by saying Neil had developed 'personal oversteer'.. When the interviewer asked me to explain, I said he was "a little loose at the rear" :D

He was supposed to be our starting driver, so it was decided that I would start the race instead.

The start of the race was a rolling start, and although I've done one rolling start (not particularly well), I've never started the 24hr race, so I was quite nervous. However, it all went well, and I made up some places on a few fast cars that we assumed were going to give us trouble.

We started in 10th, and got up to 6th when I was driving. After 2hrs and 20 minutes, I came into the pits with the fuel light flashing. Handed over to Neil Savage.

Unfortunately that's when the problems started.. Not due to the driver, but the gearbox broke. The 4th gear selector ring broke in two, resulting in lack of 4th gear.

The gearbox is a little more involved to change on a 2CV than the engine. First, you have to remove the front-end of the car, then the engine. Then the driveshafts are hooked up to the 'box, and things like the brakes are too (inboard brakes!), so when you change gearbox, you're also changing discs, pads, and the fluid needs bleeding. Also the handbrake connects to the 'box as well, so it's a lengthy process that probably cost us about 3/4 of an hour.

From then on, things didn't really get much better on the mechanical front.. To save time, I'll just say that over the course of the weekend, we broke/replaced 2 gearboxes (we only had one spare, so one was borrowed, and hadn't been run for years - the brakes were 'interesting' for a while!), 3 alternators (and had belt slippage), 1 voltage regulator, 1 coil, 1 steering rod, 1 damper mounting bracket, 1 front end including bonnet, 1 breather pipe, 1 twisted chassis :eek:, 1 jammed throttle cable, 1 carb throttle cam, and 1 engine - which was buzzed up to 8,000 rpm because of the jammed throttle :eek:

Personal injuries include arms that don't work after hauling a 2CV around Snetterton for a whopping 8 hours, unexplained bruises, legs knackered from running down the pitlane with said 2CV when one of the alternators packed up, bruised knuckles when I tried to shut the window and missed - grating my hand on the sharp window surround, and I'm sure something's broken in my foot after I ran into the steps outside the race sponsor's motorhome when I was in a hurry! Ouch!

However, even after all that, I stil loved every minute of it, and can't wait to do it all again next year - with a few less mechanical problems, and perhaps less injuries! :D

I should point out that everyone finished the race.. Well, perhaps except for one non-classified runner, who ran out of fuel on the very last lap..D'OH! And yes, one 2CV rolled, and continued the race - the drivers actually said it was faster after it was rolled ;)



My star of the weekend actually goes to my camper van. Since it's been tweaked last year by a very nice diesel specialist, not only can it outrun Chris's Mondeo and trailer combo uphill in 5th, but the fuel economy is amazing. The light was on as I left home, so I gave it 20 litres just before joining the M6. It got all the way to Norfolk and some of the way back, dead on 250 miles as I got to the services with the light on again. I make that 57mpg!! :eek::D:D:D