Don't you just love road works?!
Work was a breeze Saturday morning, no problems, no real work as such and out the door smack on time! Sorted!
Short journey home - loaded tent, food, sleeping bag AND beer into the car. Re-checked beer was in the car, said my goodbyes to Lynda before re-checking the beer and off I set.
Six miles from home and I hit my first problem! The road I need around Nottingham is closed! Came as a bit of a shock - didn't see the cones across the road until I was almost through them! Ok, think, where do I go now? One quick lap of the motorway island later and I have a route in my head! Again, sorted!
Apart from the odd slow car or tractor the rest of the trip to Cambridgeshire was an easy run - for me! Friday night I had found that the A14, which I would have used, was going to be closed so I changed my route and also let Gary know not to go that way. He still did! I did the trip in just over an hour and a half, he did around twenty miles less and took an hour longer!!
So, at the track it's a case of finding a parking spot, the rest of the Melton club and opening the first beer whilst watching a bit of racing. I knew it would be busy but not this busy! The site was heaving! And it was hot, very hot. Glad I didn't need overalls on this weekend. In the hour that I waited for Gary turning up I saw one car through the fence, one hit it hard and another two get together in a big way! I'm not saying a thing about lady drivers other than this lot did not mean taking prisoners! And this is a non-contact sport!!!!
When Gary eventually arrived it was time for putting up the tents, before the beer really started flowing. OK, where are we putting them? Blank looks from everyone! This site really was busy! Never mind, just stick them on the first bit of grass that looks big enough. I finished up in a hedge bottom with a rather upset Robin one side of me and an equally upset Wren the other!
Tents up, open more beers and get the BBQ going! About time too, I'd hardly eaten since 7:00am! Soon sorted that out - sausages, burgers and steaks made the air smell much better and my stomach feel full again!
After everyone had eaten their fill it was time for a stroll around camp to see who else we could find, and also so that one or two of the group could go back to being kids again at the small fair that was set up at the far end of the track.
The rest of the night was spent sat around the fire chatting and drinking before we all eventually turned in at around 12:30am.
Sunday morning and for both the Robin and the Wren it was pay back time! Both started singing their heads off at around 5:30am! NO NEED! By 7:00am they had started working on the track with rollers and I gave up on sleep! First view out the tent was of mist and a grey sky - didn't look that promising - but by 8:00am it was sunny and getting hot again. Breakfast was our normal race feast of sausage and bacon cobs. Straight after eating it was down with the tents before it got too hot for working.
Before we knew it they were calling cars for the first race of the day so off we went track side. Most of the races went off without much incident or drama apart from one or two re-runs for jump starts or cars that had stopped in dangerous positions on track. Quickest car of the day must have been the NS1 car of John Gaffney, being driven by Diane Jones, then again what would you expect of a little Fiat with such a big Cosworth turbo engine in the back!! Come the class 7 final and the car was flying, Diane winning by a comfortable margin, much to the delight of "The Gaffer" who was jumping around like a man possessed on the start line for the whole race!
The rest of the finals started to get a little out of hand, with re-run after re-run, and by 6:00pm Gary and I were thinking of hitting the road for home with still 3 or 4 races left to run. That decision was made for us when two specials came together coming on to the back straight, leaving them both through the fence! Knowing that it would take a while for the fence to be sorted we made our move.
All in all another great weekend, made better by having a good crowd of people with us and a chance to just sit around watching the racing and chatting without worrying about working on a car or, in Garys case, having to compete! Roll on the next two day meeting!
Work was a breeze Saturday morning, no problems, no real work as such and out the door smack on time! Sorted!
Short journey home - loaded tent, food, sleeping bag AND beer into the car. Re-checked beer was in the car, said my goodbyes to Lynda before re-checking the beer and off I set.
Six miles from home and I hit my first problem! The road I need around Nottingham is closed! Came as a bit of a shock - didn't see the cones across the road until I was almost through them! Ok, think, where do I go now? One quick lap of the motorway island later and I have a route in my head! Again, sorted!
Apart from the odd slow car or tractor the rest of the trip to Cambridgeshire was an easy run - for me! Friday night I had found that the A14, which I would have used, was going to be closed so I changed my route and also let Gary know not to go that way. He still did! I did the trip in just over an hour and a half, he did around twenty miles less and took an hour longer!!
So, at the track it's a case of finding a parking spot, the rest of the Melton club and opening the first beer whilst watching a bit of racing. I knew it would be busy but not this busy! The site was heaving! And it was hot, very hot. Glad I didn't need overalls on this weekend. In the hour that I waited for Gary turning up I saw one car through the fence, one hit it hard and another two get together in a big way! I'm not saying a thing about lady drivers other than this lot did not mean taking prisoners! And this is a non-contact sport!!!!
When Gary eventually arrived it was time for putting up the tents, before the beer really started flowing. OK, where are we putting them? Blank looks from everyone! This site really was busy! Never mind, just stick them on the first bit of grass that looks big enough. I finished up in a hedge bottom with a rather upset Robin one side of me and an equally upset Wren the other!
Tents up, open more beers and get the BBQ going! About time too, I'd hardly eaten since 7:00am! Soon sorted that out - sausages, burgers and steaks made the air smell much better and my stomach feel full again!
After everyone had eaten their fill it was time for a stroll around camp to see who else we could find, and also so that one or two of the group could go back to being kids again at the small fair that was set up at the far end of the track.
The rest of the night was spent sat around the fire chatting and drinking before we all eventually turned in at around 12:30am.
Sunday morning and for both the Robin and the Wren it was pay back time! Both started singing their heads off at around 5:30am! NO NEED! By 7:00am they had started working on the track with rollers and I gave up on sleep! First view out the tent was of mist and a grey sky - didn't look that promising - but by 8:00am it was sunny and getting hot again. Breakfast was our normal race feast of sausage and bacon cobs. Straight after eating it was down with the tents before it got too hot for working.
Before we knew it they were calling cars for the first race of the day so off we went track side. Most of the races went off without much incident or drama apart from one or two re-runs for jump starts or cars that had stopped in dangerous positions on track. Quickest car of the day must have been the NS1 car of John Gaffney, being driven by Diane Jones, then again what would you expect of a little Fiat with such a big Cosworth turbo engine in the back!! Come the class 7 final and the car was flying, Diane winning by a comfortable margin, much to the delight of "The Gaffer" who was jumping around like a man possessed on the start line for the whole race!
The rest of the finals started to get a little out of hand, with re-run after re-run, and by 6:00pm Gary and I were thinking of hitting the road for home with still 3 or 4 races left to run. That decision was made for us when two specials came together coming on to the back straight, leaving them both through the fence! Knowing that it would take a while for the fence to be sorted we made our move.
All in all another great weekend, made better by having a good crowd of people with us and a chance to just sit around watching the racing and chatting without worrying about working on a car or, in Garys case, having to compete! Roll on the next two day meeting!
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