Mini Tempest Stages 2006

Longcross, 26th March 2006

"The Off" by Richard Upton

The day started out ok, Paul Diamond, Ian Hucklebridge and self all set off to Longcross. It was overcast but dry, we were seeded all together, Paul, Ian and me. The only change was I had Steve Beck as navigator, [poor chap, he did not know what he was letting himself in for!!] as Paul was busy at Santa Pod.

SS1, Off we went, at a fast place, all felt good until the first time through the"snake" when the gear lever snapped off! We were stuck in second. I threw the broken lever in the back, grabbed the remaining stub which was sticking out of the box and carried on. It was hard work changing gear but we pushed on and finished the stage. On a plus point we had taken 20 seconds out of Ian who was running in front of us!!

SS2, New gear lever fitted, all ok, good clean run, had a big jump out of the truck slope, but managed to hang on! We went past car 24, a Mk2 Escort which had just hit the big kerb at the top of the truck slope, did not look good at all. We finished the stage ok, but it was cancelled later due to the escort off, they cut the roof off to get them out!!

SS3, All OK, no probs!

SS4, We all must have been asleep or something, the 3 of us got a 20 second penalty for lateness! I don’t really want to comment about it!! We had a run in with Mr Fossey, I did not spot him behind me at first, when I did we where coming to one of the big straights so I moved to the right, stuck my indicator on, but did not back off the throttle, after all I am racing the clock! He did not come past so back online for next chicane, it took him two more to get past after I missed a gear. He came over to me in the pits and said he would ram me if I got in his way again!! Nice friendly sport this!!

SS5, All ok, getting low on tyres now, the surface is eating them up fast!!

SS6, Down to my last set of "runners" tyres now, all seemed ok, it had just started to drizzle, second time down the truck slope, took a different line into the down ward slope, trying to square the corner before and go over the brow straight, when the back end broke away very fast, no time or room to correct, we went backwards at about 50 mph into the 2 foot high kerb/bank. We mounted the bank, with the front wheels hanging over the large kerb about a foot off the ground!! We are ok but its game over! Major damaged to n/s/r quarter panel, roof, front inner wing, all n/s front suspension and of course all n/s/r suspension. Plus a lot more when I had a good look when it was back home!

See photo’s for the full gory sight!