Hednesford - Spoiler ;)

[LessThanSte]

Well it must be said that today was a blast. First time ive managed to get to Hednesford in about 4 years but well worth it with terrific racing throughout the day.

Ive missed the V8's. Seeing the cars powerslide out of turn 2 was a lot of fun and reminded me of those days sat in turn 4 at the Rock.

It started in a way though that i thought for a while might have put people off, with two attempted starts before the race was red flagged. It quickly became apparent that the marshall's attempts at cleaning away the oil from the Legends crash in the race before had not worked and more cement dust was needed. Happily, the Hot Rods did a cracking job of clearing it up.

Race 2 and the final were interesting, though not spectacular, put down to the lack of firmiliarity with the track for most drivers. Indeed i assume that aside from a quick practice on the morning track time was limited.

But it meant that when the first race was rerun at the end of the day (and a good job it was, too!), the drivers all had it figured out and the race was an absolute blast. First the 88 got into the lead and had a big gap before the 07, 48 and 13 began to close the gap around half way. Then a titanic 4 way battle for the lead lasted for numerous laps before the 07 got a, you would have thought safe lead with 4 laps to go. But a late charge from the 13 left everyone wondering what if, coming up just short. With one or two more laps the result could have been very different.

Best of all though the crowd seemed to enjoy it, with the cheers for the winners being amoungst the loudest of the day in the West Bend grandstand. That can only be a good thing.

I did notice that the ex-SCSA cars seemed to have a bit more difficulty getting round the track than the ex-CAMSO's. Speedwise they were similar but it did seem like the 73 and the 07 could put the cars wherever they liked. Still, i did some timing and saw that the V8's were lapping faster than the Legends and only marginally slower than the Hot Rods. Be nice to see them with a more tuned up setup on the cars. It also seemed that the lining up was very haphazard, I would personally prefer to see a bunched up field, 2 wide off turn 4 before hitting the gas, instead of having some cars starting the best part of a lap behind, though understand that this is the short circuit was. That said it didnt affect the 48 too much in the 3rd race!

The only disappointment really was the short race distance, though this was perhaps expected.

Otherwise Hednesford was a treat. The Legends and Hot Rods were both superb, with some very nice paintschemes on show, best of the day without doubt going to the 61 for a Jeff Gordon inspired flame-job. The Bangers initially failed to excite when racing as side-by-side pairs, but following the change to a single car format and with a much swelled grid the racing was actually quite good with some decent racing and not just people being fired off (though that did happen). Infact the winner of the first race didnt spin anyone on his travels, despite starting mid pack.

The Reliant Robins also deserve a shoutout as, despite a grid of 7 cars provided much hilarity for the crowd. The change to a figure-of-8 final was a good one that the crowd loved and the post race destruction derby was a battle of tactics, finished only when the two remaining cars got stuck together both with a wheel in the air, that ultimately left the entire crowd trooping home with great impressions!

[DannyBoysUK]

I thought the late model final was fun to watch. We had numerous lead changes and some good battles down the field. Paul and Lee were good to see leading in the early stages and then we had Keith going ahead on his own for a good few laps before the CAMSOs caught up. Jean, Xavier, Kelvin and Gary were all entertaining and really going for it. Should look good on the TV!

[LessThanSte]

Dan, do you know how the rerun worked out? Was the 2nd race run as the 'final' as in the programme or were the first 2 races made into heats and then a final at the end?

[DannyBoysUK]

After the aborted first race I think the initial plan was to run the first proper race as the second heat, the next race as the final and, if there was time, the last race as the restarted first heat but as I didn't start the last race of the day I'm not sure what was said on the radios before they went out!

I have a feeling that the last race of the day will now be considered the feature final given that it was run without too much incident. One of the others might know a bit more though.

[scubie]

Hi,

I had a lot of fun yesterday in the #39 Ambulance Services Benevolent Fund Car. Good racing

after the aborted first race, where I must say my parking was millimeter perfect to the armco in turn one , the races were run as per program, with the last race being the replacement for the aborted heat 1.

[turn 4 mad]

The day was brill, and all the racing, from the national hot rods right to the 3 wheelers, just a shame the marshalls didnt know what to do on track making it like an ice rink, well done to Tractor boy and Paul for brilliant drives, just a shame everyone didnt drive like you two, just one thought though, i think Keith Whalley should have taken one of his wheels off the #88 car and entered into the 3 wheeler demolition derby at the end, as he managed to hit every thing else out on the track!!!

[Reynard]

Actually, Gary Ellis and Scrumpy indulged in a fair bit of argy-bargy too - although Keith Whalley did try and mate his Pontiac with Paul's Chevy at one point... *ooer*

I thoroughly enjoyed the racing, though have to admit the circuit was a *bit* of a culture shock. The ladies toilets were just gruesome.

Ended up being a tough day because my camera wasn't playing ball. It was working properly when I put it into my kit bag on Sunday night, but by the time I got to the circuit, the camera wasn't communicating with any of the lenses I'd brought with me.

So I had NO autofocus and NO aperture control - so was shooting with lens stuck wide open (f5.6 fortunately) and was having to focus manually. Exposure control was purely juggling the ISO settings.

Having said that, I got some absolutely cracking shots including the bonnet of Gary Ellis' car going *whoosh*. Should have gallery up soon.

Arrived back home at 11 - not bad, having left the circuit at half 7 and stopped off for food and fuel on the way.

[LessThanSte]

Ah yes, i forgot about the bonnet going flying. A few people on that front straight wall were lucky. Then again, the catch fencing worked.

Yes, the toilets arnt great are they, though the mens doesnt consist of a lot, really! Whats more, they've been that way as long as ive been going, which is probably the best part of 15 years, maybe more. I seem to remember last time i went there being some nicer toilest somewhere but i may have imagined that!

[english4ever]

At least there were some toilet facilities there! Was a good day out and for me was first time at the track so i had a blast!! what i liked about it there was you can see the racing from the pitlane so you could just walk a few yards and see the track. Was a nice little track. The Camso's are on rails but the Ascars are slowly catching up, Shane went well at Ipswich and there monday, he'd be hard to keep up with after a lot of testing and messing about with the car! Keith and Colin are short oval veterans so there soon gonna be up there! Paul and I are learning and getting there too!! Roll on the Budweiser weekend this weekend at Warneton i feel the liver is gonna get punished!!

Tractor

[Reynard]

LOL at least you blokes can just go duck behind a bush or something...

Facilities aside, I did like the track though, but thought Ipswich had a better atmosphere.

Think you and Paul are doing fine, Lee - you're both getting there.