I get bored of all the unsubstantiated 'my cars quicker than yours' BS by the bedwetting 13 year old trolls on here. For those of us with real cars who want to see how fast they can be driven in competition there is an RAC MSA sprint with a featured Jap car category at North Weald Airfield on the 26th September.

My brother Spence, who posts on here as Sprint Chief, organises 2 sprint meetings a year at North Weald Airfield for the Harrow Car Club http://www.harrowcarclub.com. We are currently promoting a class for roadgoing Jap import cars that wouldnt normally be allowed under RAC MSA regulations as they dont appear in the production car lists of the nominated motoring journals of the time. A certain amount of modification is allowed, but the category is intended for genuine roadgoing vehicles with an MoT. (See http://www.motorsport.demon.co.uk/SRs_nopics.doc for more detail on the tech regs and an entry form).

I tried the class at the last sprint in May in a 93 WRX with a decat, induction, scoobyecu and 325mm godspeed brakes. I posted competitive times, beating all the regular B6 competitors in Cosworths.

It costs £52 to enter and those without a licence will need to apply for a non-race national B, available at http://www.msauk.org/pdfs/2004_Licen...ence%204pp.pdf. It costs £31 and can be used for the rest of the year and is possible to apply for on the day. Membership of an eligible club (of which Harrow CC is one) is the last thing needed, usually costing in the region of £10-15. For that you get a minimum of 5 runs, 2 practice and 3 electronically timed with the best to count. I think this is a more rounded test of car and driver than drag racing and would be great to see some of the Scoobynet community there. Please feel free to mention this to any other Jap car enthusiasts that would like to try entry level motorsport. I'll be talking to some of the performace mags about a feature if the response is good.

UK turbos are more than welcome to enter the regular B6 category. Wilder, slick-shod cars will be eligible in other categories.

Please post any questions you have here and we will do our best to answer them. I hope to see some of you there.

Cheers

Andy Stevens

P.S. Mods; is it possible to leave this in General? I'd like to give it maximum exposure. My Thanks.

 

Heres a write up I did of the last one:

It’s been a while since I‘ve driven in competition (and longer since I’ve written about it), due in part to lack of time and money but mainly through the dreadful apathy I experience whenever I think about the first two.

Having done all that racing entails for a few seasons, i.e. taking out second mortgages, sleepless weekends, tattered social life, looking in despair at the recently wrecked vehicle you’ve poured all your money and effort into, etc, I was always attracted to the notion of cost effective motorsport with minimum hassle and maximum fun. Harrow Car Club’s North Wheeled Sprint offered that promise, so I set out to investigate.

Preparation for this event included getting up, getting in and driving to the airfield. Once there, a swift application for a licence followed by a swift application of competition numbers to the scoob and, after a quick chat with the ever friendly scrutineers I was ready to practice.

If I’m not ragging a car, I like watching them being ragged, and the variety of machinery that lined up to blast around the circuit didn’t disappoint. From the pocket rockets such as the AX, 205 and Nova, turbocharged saloons and kit cars to the rarified atmosphere of the modifieds, full house WRC rally weapons and motorbike-engined race machinery, I defy an automotive pundit with even the extremist of tastes to find something that didn’t satisfy.

Peter ***’s circuit layout was interesting and challenging. A drag strip launch and run to a long sweeping right-hander that tightened up before turning sharply left and back again into a slow right handed hairpin before racing out of the exit to repeat the process. The sharp left into the finish box at the end of lap two was a twist on the end of a technical course provoking some discussions about ideal lines and requiring accurate driving. With the course being tight and just over a mile in length, lap times in the order of a minute upwards were anticipated.

The event was under the control of an electronic timing system, the coolest bit of which was a big board over the paddock that everyone could see apart from the driver. The clock is notoriously indifferent to driver’s excuses, which is why I don’t like it. However, it did have fab jape potential as when the driver returned you could pretend that he or she had done much worse than they had done, leaving them temporarily deflated but ultimately happy, or vice versa, for the more perverse wind up merchant.

I was quite glad of the two available practice runs, as a quick jog around the cones beforehand never quite prepares you for the reality of navigating the course at speed. As the early indicators came streaming in, it became apparent that club chairman Brian Cowan and his snarling caged-up 928 GTS had pretty well obliterated the early competition with an insanely quick time. A bit of sleuth however revealed that Brian had negotiated the cones in a subtly different manner to the one recommended by the officials. When asked about this novel approach, he simply replied that as he was chairman he’d go whichever way round the cones he pleased. I believe that every club should have a Brian in charge; in fact, I think every country should have one (if there are enough to go round). Imagine how much more relaxed the world would be.

Anyway, I digress. With practice over the serious work of the day got underway. Actually I should mention that Steve Scott’s awesome Escort WRC actually set what would have been FTD by over a second an a half with 58.06 if it hadn’t have been recorded in practice, but I seem to have digressed again. With three runs and the best to count, strategy is important. Should one put a smooth banker run in and then go into banzai attack mode or chip away at a target time? I got confused and tried to do both at the same time resulting in what I thought was a smooth lap apart from some minor grassy moments. Some spectators disagreed with my interpretation of the word smooth however.

As the 3 competitive runs ticked away the class results began to shape up. In the standard classes, Bruce Aitkens little AX posted competitive times whilst a battle royal ensued amongst the 205s, Richard Dykes coming through to win. The Cosworths had a tussle, Barry France having trouble with his gear selector and was unfortunate to have a spin just before the end of his best run. Roger Newnham looked sharp and posted consistent times not too far behind Les Beerling’s powerful Sierra, despite fading steering assistance. I was on my lonesome in the newly formed B6J class, primarily for standard Japanese turbocharged 4WD machinery. Rob Spalding took a convincing victory in C7 with his first run of the day whilst Hazel Webster piloted her Elise to pick up the Best Lady award and Roger Burgess took honours in the battle of the Escorts in D10.

The WRC car inevitably won D11, which was quite something to watch as it blasted through the course as it looked all the world like a powerful single seater clothed in a full Escort bodykit. The slick-tyred Impreza of Andy Burrell took the runner up spot. Nick Cook dominated E12 to take best Harrow and FTD fell to Rick Tomkins using bike power to propel the OMS round the course in under a minute.

So in summary I had a full days motorsport action for about the third of the cost of a race entry fee, used my road car without breaking it and got back in time to go to the pub. Budget motorsport mission accomplished.

As ever a big thanks is due to the organisers and marshals for their efforts. See you all in September.

Sorry for the long post!

Andy

 

Thanks for the write up, I couldn't have put it better myself

These sprint events are a lot of fun, with a nice club/amateur motorsport atmosphere and always lots of interesting machinery.

We have no space for spectators, so only people who are competing will be allowed into the venue - having said that we don't care if you turn up in a Lada Riva, as long as you intend to bring it in and get it sideways.

The events are non commercial and not for profit, all money is injected straight back into club motorsport.

Finally, if you lot don't come along, the EVO boys will walk away with all the silverware, we don't want that now do we

Spence.

 

Any interest? I thought you lot would be well up for a timed event for Jap Cars. If youve ever thought about getting into motorsport this is a gentle introduction and where I started to go on to five seasons of saloon car racing.

Fun guaranteed. We are here to help you get the bug!

 

I reckon we will get more interest over at the Lancer register. I heard a rumour they know how to take corners

 

that an insults !
AndyF .... responed !

 

i am the quickest when i'm late for work (most mornings)

 

Eeeeeeee Heeee. Am just aboot to post over at the MLR so we shall see. I'll enter my scooby again so I know we'll get at least the one for comparison purposes (Tho its running on 110000km shocks but I'll do my best).

 

I'm up for it, it's only round the corner from me.

Paul

 

Wicked Paul your a licence holder already arent you? I owe you a beer for those cam cap bolts you send me a while back. Or maybe a burger from the van at lunchbreak would be more appropriate as you'll be competing. I'll be coming past you on the way down n all.

Cheers

Andy.

 

Andy B and Rich G have entered their slick-shod STi in class D11 which should give us four impreza entries so far - so we should stand a chance of a good showing!

There will doubtless be some sierra cosworths and TVRs; it would be great to see Darren Bly in his Skyline vs. Steve Scotts' WRC escort, might be a few chasing phone calls in order!

bighead - if only - I've never seen AndyF in action but heard the stories - I somehow think a trip from Scotland down to Essex is a little bit far for a sprint meeting

 

I am pretty sure I can get sorted by he 26, but do not currently hold a race licence of any sort. i am pretty sure that capacity would need to remain standard to compete in class B yes?

Paul

 

Just a quick update!

Paul, for class B6 the original block and cylinder head castings are supposed to be used but you can remove as much metal as you like from them! The crank, con rods and pistons are free. Hope that helps! Road tyres should be used in B6 and the car must be taxed, insured and MoT'd (where necessary) for normal road use.

Class D11 is more open, the car does not need to be road legal, slicks etc. are acceptable.

You need a National 'B' Non-Race competition licence which you can apply for on the day if need be.

The current entry list (entries so far received in writing) can be found at http://www.motorsport.demon.co.uk/ProvEntry.rtf. Sorry about the rich text format, the HTML my database generated was totally useless

Currently 1 Skyline, 2 Evos and 3 Impreza entries although scattered across a load of different classes!

 

If you want to enter a 2.5 Paul you might find youre competitive in D11. I wasnt that far off the slick booted impreza in my tired old nail. Spence, have you got a link to the results for last time?

Im looking forward to seeing how mine compares to the 'line and the 6!

 

I will be able to upload some results and link to them later today!

Spence.

 

OK, june '04 results can be found by clicking on this link

File is .rtf again...

 

bighead - if only - I've never seen AndyF in action but heard the stories - I somehow think a trip from Scotland down to Essex is a little bit far for a sprint meeting


Hi sprint chief......try emailing him, you never know

 

Are you allowed to come and watch....


always read the first threads......so whats with the non spectating then??

 

I would love to run is poss. I am local and am looking to beat my 13.11 at the last scooby shootout.
Pavlo please contact me if you got some time
Cheers
Barry C

 

Hi folks just to give some answers

Simon57: we run these events to MSA safety standards which impose a minimum requirement on spectator enclosures which North Weald airfield does not meet, as a result we close the event to spectators which also reduces the venue hire. However, there are ways around this - if you come along as a volunteer marshal, that is fine! The marshals, of course, also get the best view of the track Speak to our chief marshal, Keith Warner, on 01923 672917 to find out more.

Barry C: the event is not a quarter mile drag race and there are no facilities to support this - it is a sprint meeting, which is a timed 2km course executed from a standing start, a mixture of fast and slow bends, separated by straights of approx. 250-300 metres, and a flying finish. If you are still interested let me know!

 

PS. Buzzuk - I didn't answer your question - I'm afraid the event is on a Sunday, so you probably won't be late for work... Assuming you work office hourse, what I would recommend is that you don't go to work on Friday, then you'll be REALLY late and you should win the event

 

Penultimate update to the entry list!

We now have a healthy 56 confirmed entries - no more Subarus though, disappointed! Massive entry from the Cosworth fans; perhaps being held in Essex this was always going to be

Late changes to the entry list include the loss of the Skylines - which is a real shame, because I've just got the message Steve Scott in his impressive WRC Ford Escort will be coming down and I would have loved to see a showdown between a big power skyline and a supremely well sorted world rally car, would have been an awesome contest!

Entries close TODAY!

Almost final last but one entry list

 

Added last entry or two to the list.

[scary]Just spoke to Steve and apparently his WRC Escort Cosworth has about 200bhp more than at our last event.[/scary]

I think I'd put him odds on for FTD - even with the Radical SR4 present! If it translates into seconds on the track, that's got to be close to the fastest Escort Cosworth in the country around a track???