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“Diaspora drive into downpour”
I downloaded 3 weather forecasts for the weekend (just to be sure) including one from the RAF site at Valley. Not good, they all said rain on Friday, Saturday fog and drizzle with improvement on Sunday. Wind speeds didn’t look too bad. Never trust anyone except the locals to give you an accurate forecast in Anglesey.
Some battled on testing through the rain on Friday afternoon while other socialised and barbecued. Only the Irish can do this in the rain. Friday night was when the weather really bit back with lashing rain and strong winds. We had secured our gazebo to Mondello Park standards. Big mistake. Many thanks to all who braved the wind and rain tying it down and moving trailers to save it. It was a bit bent when we arrived on Saturday but had, against all the odds, survived. Noel owes all a pint.
One of the awnings on the 40 foot trucks was completely destroyed and apparently they had to cut through the fabric to stop it taking off completely. The paddock on Saturday morning looked a bit like the day after a rock concert as everything was blown all over the place. Mercifully away from the mayhem near Llangefni I slept well. Billy Crosbie had a bit of trouble talking his way into the circuit at 1.30 a.m. off the late boat but managed. I don’t think it was the fact that he had no tickets I reckon it was the 1960’s flower power camper van. He did well racing on Sunday with 2 gears.
Alan Kessie received a special award for Horticulture as he did a marvellous grass cutting job at The Banking corner - watch out Diarmuid Gavin. He also had nose cone trouble which warranted some nifty work with cable ties and gaffer tape. There were some unusual starts from the pit lane Bernard from pole with clutch trouble and Alan with “a sense of fun” in the last race.
There was fabulous dicing over the 3 races as the International Circuit was been used.
Clive got a 10 second penalty and the pit wall marshall was highly amused and said it was fastest start on the red lights he’s seen.
Pamela’s exhaust box blew a hole and she was immediately rescued by the gallant crew at Ask Racing and the car was lifted onto their truck tail hoist and expertly welded by Vinny. As if this wasn’t enough she struck oil on Sunday afternoon as a pipe burst as the car was being warmed up and a gust of wind blew a 3 foot geyser of oil over Noel’s car. He returned to find 3 girls frantically polishing his car and thought it was very kind of them. It had a nice matt patina for the last race.
A lot of the HRCA cars had trouble with the noise level test. Noel being one of the worst. Bernard kindly fitted a “dimple” to his pipe and he passed the second test. There was talk of failure on the noise levels from the snoring drivers during the night but I am treating this as hearsay!
Dave Maloney failed scrutiny as his front wheels were not inside the bodywork. In the spirit of things they let him out in qualifying and would be allowed race if he could fix the problem. Liam with a burst of lateral thinking cut up two spare wheel arches that Alfie had and put them on. Not the best fashion statement to have a psychedelic car, but needs must.
Bernard decided to re-arrange the tyre wall and create a chicane – the tyres faired worse just a few scrapes on the car and also had to deal with a puncture. He also attempted to break his thumb twice during the weekend and failed, it still looked very nasty.
The Fun Cup and Saker drivers were amazed at the selection of Historics on track and the disparity in age of the drivers.
Paul Hickey was brilliant over the weekend doing everything including filming. Matt Dunne made all the races without missing breakfast. Alfie was keeping the spectators happy by having his Mini on 2 or three wheels for a good part of the circuit and Pete was booting it in the BMW. Barry kept our spirits up with lots of banter and Leo got in touch with his feminine side when receiving 1st prize. Garth apparently fell into bad company on Sunday night but what goes on tour stays on tour. It was nice to welcome some UK guests to the HRCA races at the weekend and hope that they enjoyed themselves.
No one had Sky TV at the circuit but I heard that Jackie had a brilliant weekend at Donnington with 5 wins and a 2nd place out in 7 races. Fantastic result. He ran out of brakes in one race, very scary.
There was a myriad of clutch, brake and gear problems but despite these it was a good weekend and the HRCA was again made very welcome at Anglesey. It was fantastic to see such a big grid and it was very much appreciated by the organisers who make a special point of calling around to everyone to thank the HRCA for their commitment to the event. If your name is not mentioned here it means that you didn’t come to my attention, which is probably a good thing!
The writer has been banned from ever bringing the gazebo anywhere near a race circuit as the weather is jinxed when I do. Just to annoy us the sun came out on Sunday.
Personally, as Anglesey was occupied centuries ago by Druids, (that where the “mon” name comes from) I think they organised the weather as they were not happy to be invaded by the Irish.
(Full race results will be published in due course)
Andrea
@ Druid
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