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LAST UPDATED
26/9/03
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COVENTRY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP |
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After a week of late nights, it
was finally time to load the car up and head for Coventry.
This was the first time the car was able to move under its
own steam since the heavy Sheffield damage,
and we suddenly had strange noises from the gearbox,
and no reverse gear! A short time was spent investigating,
but it became obvious it was a serious internal problem,
and with time running short, the
decision was taken to get to Coventry and try to fix it there.
The 490 car was just
about the last one to arrive in the pits,
was quickly unloaded and pushed for weighing,
and pushed back again! The gearbox was then removed from
the car, and stripped down to find
reverse gears were completely smashed,
with all the bits in the casing (Good job Mark didn't decide to
take a chance and race it without reverse!).
The necessary gears
and other bits were bought from Murray Harrison,
everything was cleaned and re assembled,
and the gearbox put back in the car. Just as we were having
a sigh of relief, it was found that we now could only get 1 gear!!
So, out it all came again,
and stripped again. It was then found that one of the new
gears was fitted back to front, which
was causing us the headache! (I would like to point out that this
was done by someone from outside the 490 team,
who shall remain nameless, and
red faced!!) Anyway,
with a full 15 minutes to go we were back together &
ready!!
In the World
Final itself, Mark had a fairly good
start, and made as good a progress as
anyone in the extremely wet & muddy conditions. There were a few
hiccups along the way, but ultimately it
was a rear suspension failure that caused retirement at about the
half way stage.
We just managed to get
the car fixed (In a fashion!) for Consolation 2,where the car was
looking pretty quick , with good progress being made,
until a tangle on the back straight knocked the car down
the field. A good recovery netted a 5th place finish,
just outside the top 4 qualifiers.
However, at the last minute
another car was disqualified from the consolation,
thus moving us up into the all important 4th place!
Again , in the final,
the car was going at a respectable pace,
with Mark seemingly taking out the days frustrations on
any car in front of him! Eventually an outside front puncture
brought the race to an end for us again.
We were going to race
the Grand National, but were unable to
get to the transporter due to drivers queuing to enter the next
race, and blocking the whole of the pits
up. Subsequently we were at the back of
the queue, with some damage, and a
puncture, and were unable to make the
race, which ended a very tiring week,
and a somewhat disappointing and problem fraught day for
us. Still, better things are to come I'm
sure, and congratulations to Peter
Falding on his 3rd Gold Roof!
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PRE WORLD FINAL |
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As most of you will have
noticed,490 hasn't been racing much this year,
still due to a lack of helpers,
and Marks increasing business commitments. This has also had a bit
of a knock on effect with the website,
which we apologize for, and hope to put
right in the forthcoming months, and
into next year! At the moment, spirits
are a little higher in the 490 team,
with a recent win, and of course the
World Final at Coventry on Saturday!
At the moment we are working flat
out to get the car raceworthy for the weekend,
after sustaining major damage at the last Sheffield
meeting. A quick summary of damage is a smashed back axle,
Diff, Battery & carrier,
wheels & tyres, rear link bars
and A-Frame either bent or broken,
smashed shock absorbers, broken
propshaft and rear bumper/steelwork damage!! And no doubt a few
other things will appear along the way.....it was a 1am finish in
the 490 workshop last night, and we are
expecting this to be the story for the rest of the week! So if we
all look a bit tired at Cov, and the car
isn't sparkling, you know why!!!
After the last 'replacement'
transporter was sold, Mark purchased
another vehicle yesterday. If all goes
to plan, (which things haven't yet this
year!) this will be the winter
'project', and we can all travel to the
meetings in new comfort in 2004! The vehicle is a Volvo powered
Jonkheere (?) Bermuda 53 seater coach,
which has private plates on it so I haven't a clue of its age yet!
It's straight out of service and should make a nice thing once
Mark has done the conversion....which will mean the Iveco we have
now will be up for sale again!
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SHEFFIELD 25.8.03 |
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This was 490's last outing
to date, and as I wasn't there myself
reporting is tricky!! However Mark said the car was the best it
had been for a long time, presumably due
to new springs we were trying. A win in
heat 2 went to prove this, and was well
deserved, after such a lean spell.
In the final, a few more
modifications improved the car even more, and a battle with 515
ensued, the cars trading blows lap after
lap. A hit from 515 then put Mark wide,
just as the yellows came out for another incident. The car was
struggling to pull out of the loose however,
and whilst doing so was hit very hard by Mike Kingston
whilst still under caution. We think the car had a puncture prior
to this, which was why it wouldn't pull
away properly, but after the Kingston
hit it was hard to tell due to extensive rear end damage.
490
then had no option other than to load up and head home.
(Via the Bar!)
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BELLE VUE - BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP |
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It seems a long time ago
now, and the memory is fading,
apart from the fact that the British at Belle Vue was a bit
of a disaster for us! Marks Belle Vue form has been excellent ever
since it opened, but at the British it
all went wrong!! We were allocated our heats,
which unfortunately turned out to be all the 'watered'
heats, with the car struggling to grip
in the early stages, and tangling up
with various people along the way. 7th place was the result for
the first heat, which improved to 5th
for the second race. On the third heat,
a halfshaft broke causing retirement.
490 did however qualify for
the British final, and did rise as high
as 5th place, until the halfshaft broke
on the other side! Plagued by bad luck again!
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