Race day February 6th

David Piper--a weekend best forgotten!! Poor Neil, he never made it to the grid. An experiment using a verniered camshaft sprocket went awry when the timing chain started jumping sprockets. Could it have something to do with the crank sprocket being imperial and the cam sprocket metric? Who knows? No sarky comments about Neil this month, I think he has suffered enough. On Saturday I blew the rings and/ or piston(s) on the Alfa during qualifying, so guess who was also a non-starter on Sunday? The Macau replica qualified an excellent 8th out of a field of 39, a mere 0.24 seconds behind a Ferrari 308 GTB. Come race day the cooling system decided it could not cope with the 39 degree ambient temperature and it also joined the has beens with a blown head gasket on the penultimate lap-a fate suffered by many that dreadful Sunday. So what could Ashley do in order to have something cheerful to write about? Not much it would appear.



Friday's free practice sessions saw the Lola running on 3 cylinders instead of 4. By 8 o clock that night, after having replaced the entire ignition system and hours of carburettor fiddling in the pit area, it was discovered that some poopall had put two of the venturis' in the Webers upside down!! Some people. However it was all smiles-for the time being. Saturday qualifying. The car has now developed a miss during cornering, and just to keep Ashley busy is also jumping out of gear. During one of these out of gear experiences Ashley runs off the track and rips off one of the rear brake hoses. The fantastic thing about Killarney is always finding some one willing to lend a hand. Quick as a flash a new braided hose is manufactured and fitted. Now that IS service.

Sunday race day: The miss has been improved but not entirely cured. Heat 1: Good grief, suddenly he has found some pace and is mixing it with some quick company, despite that elusive miss. Penultimate lap, and what is this? He is pulling into the pits!! A total lack of brakes can do that to you. Oh dear. As if that is not enough the oil pressure is very low and the oil catch tank has almost a litre of the precious fluid swilling around in it. Ashley's left arm is starting to resemble that of a tennis player from the effort of holding the car in gear. What to do? Retire from Heat 2? Not for nothing is Ashley a member of the TSCC!! In true double rugged tradition he decides to do battle in the 2nd heat. Mind you he does promise daughter Maggie that he will pit if the brakes fail. Ja, right!! Off he goes and once again is soon locked in fierce combat with a rotary powered Tigra. To make sure that I have something to write about he entertains us with a spin (brain fade), loses a lot of time to the Tigra, and then sets about the most spectacular "red mist" chase in order to catch up again. A Hollywood ending would have him catching the Tigra at the finish line-unfortunately this is not Hollywood. He is however right on the Tigra's ar, uhm, OK, he is right behind the Tigra at the finish line. He is, as are we, well pleased with his inaugural sports car debut, and the 2005 season holds much promise.

PS: Big thank you to all the Triumph Club members who popped into the pits Saturday and Sunday. Excuse me if I was a bit pre-occupied but I had a thing or two to worry about. Fantastic though to see a good number of Triumphs' doing the lunch-hour parade lap. Well done!! Now if you will excuse me I have two racing cars that need fixing.

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