Details of my first AWDC championship race at Hardwick, Northhamptonshire.
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The course was over farmland and was mostly fields. There were a few jumps and an interesting slalom through the trees along the boundary of two fields.
Run one went very well, I now have an opening window and can see to the right even when muddy! There were some fast sweeping corners that let me play with under/over steer on the throttle, great fun. Then there was a field of undulations (remnants of strip farming?) which sent the car into a series of wild pitching moments, 23 in a row apparently, with each end of the car going from airborne to crashing onto the bump stops on each one. During this a brake line got free and was minced between the axle and chassis. This section was later bypassed! We came in about 4m30s over the PFTA which was again towards the lower end of the spectrum but only 3m off the fastest out there (bearing in mind that this is only a class 7 and there were some very serious cars out there including an RS200 and an Metro 8R4).
The brakes were in poor shape and I performed an emergency repair sitting in mud whilst it rained then hailed! An hour later I was out again, this time without a navigator. I did the whole run without touching the brakes just incase, fishtailing the car into corners to scrub off speed. This time was 3m54s. Half a minute faster without using the brakes. I was pleased with that. On returning to the pits the engine began a slight misfire, oh joy.
The third run started badly, a good launch off the line then the engine died in the middle of the river, just ten yards from the start line! As I was without a navigator for this run I had the honour of attaching the tow rope which meant wading up to my knees in muddy water. Funny thing people do for a hobby!
Again, the car showed its potential and modifications to improve it will be made to both the car and my driving.
© Ralph Hosier 2004