Croc

Amen

@John BI think that date works - Columbus Day long weekend I think? Just need the weather gods to cooperate. Count me in.

@panamericano Says the person who bulk buys Just for Men boot polish black look!

Very nice video @DatsunRBZ Great engine audio - one of the hardest things to achieve with a seven video. I guess you need to sort out a wobbly mirror Great photos everyone!

Yes and no. For accuracy, I do arrange a modest amount of gratis time for TJ and Ian to assist the inevitable oops and uh oh moments but it is rationed across all participants since I wear the cost of that. So everyone gets a small allowance of free advice and troubleshooting assistance but soon as it gets into specific tasks which require more time or parts then payment is required by the car owner. I think that is a fair solution to keep people running in the middle of a track day when a surprise mechanical malady or electrical gremlin surfaces. Often their ability to "be on tap" has made the difference between getting in more sessions or having to pack up for the rest of the day.

That looks interesting. A genuine S4 with wire knockoffs - never seen that before. Looks great in yellow. Thanks for sharing. Our resident Elan tragic @JohnChwill sniff this thread out shortly.

Thanks for coming Carl. I love what you are doing to show the love to MichaelD's former car. Its been a big project for you but it is showing!

@Fake IrishThank you for the tip off. Ad still shows as live but good to know it is now sold.

The Award Winners from this year's events "Uh Oh" Award Shaped as an old grenade from Grenadier fighting days - round with a rope wick. Intended to award the person and their car most likely to blow up or otherwise maim a driver. Vlad's @Vovchandrepic monumental saga of woe, coolant bubbles, Exxon Valdez sized oil leaks, corrosion in coolant pipes, etc., fully documented in his own thread towards 'how not to improve resale value of a Caterham', proved the only winner. I mean, how the hell does anyone blow the threads off a accusump cap in a pressure vessel designed to retain pressure up to many many atmospheres? Best Motions in a Moving Vehicle The Oscar statue went to Justin @DatsunRBZ for being new 1) to the event 2) to the track 3) in a new to him car and not just staying on the track but dealing with dive bombs from John and Simon, debris from Jim and others, smoke screens, etc., and still managing to drive fast and have a great time. Debris Rock A real authentic rock from Tom's @yellowss7 garden with red and yellow stripes painted on to resemble a debris flag. A worthy winner was Jim @FE07 who, just to keep us on our toes, left his bonnet on the back straight, just over the top of the blind crest in the middle of the track. It was exciting to pop over the crest to see it right where I would normally place my car. We all missed it fortunately so we did not add to its damage. The rock is also a reminder of the debris flag that the track never showed along with no yellow - presumably because the closest flag station was asleep or stoned? Top Banana Award A banana on a plinth. Intended to reflect either fastest, best driving or just indicative of a banana peel incident, Blake @BlakeJwas a worthy winner. He returned faster than last year and never put a foot wrong all weekend in a very nice looking white Caterham. Golden Skidmarks Award This is a recurring award of a golden commode on a plinth intended to commemorate the person with the most spins, most lurid spin or just fantastically epic off track excursion. There were some good contenders. Jay managed a good demonstration. Someone else did well to go off on the cool down lap - maybe Carl? Simon's son had a lovely rotation at turn 5 where he saw the appreciative waves from all the drivers of the cars following. But the worthy winner was John @John B with a lurid death defying save after the limits of rear tires were reached. It was so good that 3 flag stations radio'ed in their appreciation of the driver skill to bring it back from loss of control. Thats a good win! Gold Rock Award Mike @Kitcat has been at this event from the beginning 11 years ago. He is a multiple winner of Golden Skidmarks and Debris Rock Awards. His feats of off-track excursion are legendary - for example, the one memorable year where at roughly 2pm on the first day, he told the track founder, Don Fauerbach, that he had spun his Birkin something like 8 times already that day! Because this may be his last year as he contemplates selling his Caterham and migrate to opening a hairdressing salon by buying a Miata, Tom and I thought we needed to jump the start and get in early with an award. So instead of a gold watch, he gets the Gold Rock Award. A rock, carefully selected from Tom's garden, gold painted and then gold glittered. It came prepared in a plastic tray as I did not want that gold glitter in my car when I transported it. Tom supplied extra glitter just in case. He then handled that rock at the awards and patted Mike on the back to congratulate him, sadly dooming him to years of finding glitter in his laundry, his car, on his face.....that stuff gets everywhere!

At some point I will get the pro photos from Mike and will post here plus email a group photo around. Patience as he is a busy guy.

Now I have had sleep and slightly recovered, I can write this. I covered over 20,000 steps on each of the two days. It was a great event. Perfect weather. Sensational track conditions on the Thunderbolt circuit. With only 15 of us on track at any one time, there was plenty of room to play, experiment and learn our cars in the environment for which they were originally designed. It was a a good group of fun people having a great social time over 2 days - the dinners are always a highlight to chat, tell stories and laugh, a lot. Some of us are going home with things they want to fix, change, or upgrades to make. Some are going home with items they have to fix from breakages or oops moments. Time on track always sorts out our mechanical preparation and there is always a level of surprise as to what issues surface. - Me with an overflowing oil catch tank - shares in Scott Towels went up two days ago - Vlad's accusump blow up - shares in Scott Towels went up yesterday - Justin with a fuel pump gasket leak - Blue Hylomar to the rescue - John concerned about his new engine and was always monitoring oil pressure - as long as he did not let his son drive I felt the engine would stay in one piece - Jeff with some light high temps - judicious throttle application and a couple of holes drilled in a thermostat this coming week will fix this - Me with a new gearbox and shifter mechanism not playing nice - gentle application of burly mechanic and brute force improved the situation...except for 5th.... - Tom with a yellow car that would not start despite being charged up the day before - solution was just hop in the orange car - Simon - misfiring car from ECU/harness issue - send son out on track to spin it - Kitcat with failed rear shocks - continue driving but lets have the rear end pogo around to test his driving mettle. - Steve with the world's shiniest car - solution is for all other drivers and flag workers to wear their sunglasses - Kevin - the huge smile for his car being great on track cracked his helmet - nothing to fix there! I want to thank everyone for attending. Its the social element that makes this a step above a regular track day and its the people attending that make it social. Lets see what 2022 brings!