golspie sprint
Discussion
wight jr said:
Mr Kiltie, Driving around a problem in the form of the Coc crossing the track in front of him, did well to compose him self, win the class and set a record.
Thanks for the kind words Graeme. Compose myself? I was far from composed - believe me. 
There's actually quite a bit more to this that people may find interesting.
Apologies in advance for the long post.
Prior to the event, Lenny and I had been doing some analysis on how we stood in the Highland Speed Championship. It boiled down to the fact that I had to take one ten pointer from the Golspie weekend to take the class in the championship. If I failed, Lenny would take it.
Now this is all theoretical and will have to be verified by the championship coordinator (who incidentally admits to lurking here). Nevertheless, Lenny and I believed this to be the case - and that's the point.
As it happens, the Alford result is academic since Lenny will be on holiday. Interestingly, I’ve just had a look and if Lenny did come to Alford and beat me in to second – we’d tie the class – even on count-back!!! Come on Lenny, see if you can get a refund on those flight tickets!
When GB told me on the Sunday morning that I had a place, I was delighted but Lenny was equally happy as we've been nip and tuck all season ... and the craic has been brilliant.
I was faster in practice and Lenny was a good bit quicker on the first timed run.
For the second and final timed run, I was out before Lenny. I thought I was on a stormer until the track crossing incident. At the time therefore, I was a tad peeved that I'd had to back off and try it all again. As it happens, on later inspection, my split time would indicate that I wouldn't have beaten Lenny's time from the previous run. Lenny didn't improve the target on his 2nd run.
Having gone faster on the re-run, with nice warm tyres, I now feel quite guilty that I got the lucky break that I did.
The only conciliation is that I did take it by a convincing margin (a second and a half). Nonetheless, it isn't as satisfying as if it had been fair and square.
I know that when Len reads this, he'll tell me not to beat myself up about it and that I'm being daft ... but that's how it is and I can't change how I feel.
Now, the story doesn't stop there - something else happened later which has left me a bit sad and disappointed.
A bit of background first. Immediately after the track crossing incident, I held up my hand. The intent was to make it known that I'd had to back off and would expect a re-run. By the way, I was still carrying too much speed when I approached pits corner to go in - hence why I went round for another lap.
Following the prize giving, the CoC asked to have a word with me. There were two things on his mind.
The first was to apologise for the incident and to explain what had happened. Basically, he'd been focusing on a situation in the spectator area which was a potential threat to the safety of some spectators and had misjudged my position on the track. It was all perfectly understandable and I didn't have any problem whatsoever.
Item two on the agenda, however, was a corker. Apparently, a member of the public had reported to him that I had made a one finger gesture at him as I passed. I couldn't believe it! It took me no time at all to convince him that such a thing wasn't in my nature and we both parted on the best of terms.
The fact that some small minded gossip had taken the time and effort to tell a tale of what they thought they saw completely astonished me.
In my book, if I see someone displaying disrespectful behaviour, I'll either ignore it or go and have a word to tell them to wise up. Indulging in tittletattle is about as low as it gets.
What should have been a happy up-beat journey home turned out to be a real downer. What a shame.
Anyway, good weekend overall even if the win was shrouded in controversy and someone spoiled my Sunday night.
Thanks again to CCC for yet another cracking event.
Cheers,
Eric
Edited by Kiltie on Monday 10th September 18:43
Kiltie said:
The fact that some small minded gossip had taken the time and effort to tell a tale of what they thought they saw completely astonished me.
Eric - having been the victim of something similar recently, I know how you feel. Rest assured that we all know you are a bigger man than that, and don't let these people drag you down. You had me worried when I saw you stopped on the way home - I was passed before I realised it was you, but was pleased to see you go past me later. I think we both ended up following Keith Weeks - all we needed were CBs and we could have started a convoy...
It did not look like a F1 type of gesture from where we were all watching, and your arm was up for a split second. A lot of people make a right a**s of a rerun, and it would if anything only be the first corner that warmer tyres would have helped and by the time you got back on they would have cooled a lot. was Lenny not the second of a dubble drive? Sounds pritty even to me so pat your self on the back you did good!
Edited by wight jr on Monday 10th September 20:34
Well - I had a blast! I had forgotten how much FUN racing cars can be. And guess what - when you are slower than the others, the fun just lasts longer!
Caithness Car Club ran another great event, despite the unfortunate circumstances. Where they found a road-sweeper for 8am on a Sunday morning, who knows... My sincere thanks to everyone who put in the hard work, especially the volunteers on Saturday night.
So - where are all the photos from Golspie then?
Caithness Car Club ran another great event, despite the unfortunate circumstances. Where they found a road-sweeper for 8am on a Sunday morning, who knows... My sincere thanks to everyone who put in the hard work, especially the volunteers on Saturday night.
So - where are all the photos from Golspie then?
johnnymack said:
David - your comment on being slower than everyone else on the track (except yours truly) hit the nail on the head for me! It's a bit like my golf. I get far more shots for my money than the people I play with.
Sounds like you and I ought to play golf sometime - I am a better racing driver than I am a golfer (which doesn't say much!), but enjoy both...I to would like to thank CCC for another great weekend.
Congrats to Eric for his class win, don't beat yourself up, you can only race what is presented to you, and put the nonsense about the hand waving incident behind you I am sure John Burke and anyone how knows you knows how ridiculous the suggestion is.
I have looked at the Championship positions and it and I think it is now over in C1
with Alford now academic. It has been close between the 3 of of us all season. I think a good advert for one make racing as the cars are so closely matched. Thanks to the great skill and determination of Malcolm to keep stiglet in the event!
I sincerely hope gsinky gets his cylinder head fixed and gets an entry to Alford as the competition this year has been great fun between the three of us.
Last year (with all due respect to Alasdair in the ZCar Mini) I really only had the class records to compete against.
Good to see G4 out racing again, now if only one could reset the bogeys then he (and I) would be able to score points in the SSC
Congrats to Eric for his class win, don't beat yourself up, you can only race what is presented to you, and put the nonsense about the hand waving incident behind you I am sure John Burke and anyone how knows you knows how ridiculous the suggestion is.
I have looked at the Championship positions and it and I think it is now over in C1
with Alford now academic. It has been close between the 3 of of us all season. I think a good advert for one make racing as the cars are so closely matched. Thanks to the great skill and determination of Malcolm to keep stiglet in the event!I sincerely hope gsinky gets his cylinder head fixed and gets an entry to Alford as the competition this year has been great fun between the three of us.
Last year (with all due respect to Alasdair in the ZCar Mini) I really only had the class records to compete against.
Good to see G4 out racing again, now if only one could reset the bogeys then he (and I) would be able to score points in the SSC
Edited by k13job on Monday 10th September 22:17
Edited by k13job on Monday 10th September 22:20
Edited by k13job on Monday 10th September 22:57
G4Addicted said:
Eric - having been the victim of something similar recently, I know how you feel. Rest assured that we all know you are a bigger man than that, and don't let these people drag you down.
Thanks David ... maybe not apples with apples though.G4Addicted said:
You had me worried when I saw you stopped on the way home ...
Aye that was just short of Nairn. There was a coo loose on the verge and I stopped to phone the bobbies (I've had a bad experience in the past with trying to round up loose livestock myself 
).Cheers,
Eric
k13job said:
Good to see G4 out racing again, now if only one could reset the bogeys then he (and I) would be able to score points in the SSC
It was good to be out again, and I am sure the G22 will get quicker as the cobwebs blow away....Tell you what - I'll dig out all the times set by Ollie Ross in his winning season with his Radical Prosport, and ask the championship committee to set all the C1 bogeys to those - ah, but that's what they have already done, isn't it?.....
If anyone is that interested, dig out the results from 5/6 September 2004 for C1 at Golspie, then tell me I am wrong to say that the current C1 drivers - me included - just need to try harder - Ollie was in the 95's on the Littleferry circuit!
k13job said:
Hmm Eric, After you flew past me at inverness, what is the speed limit whilst towing a trailer? 
Ah, I wondered who it was. Couldn't quite see in the failing light.I felt like a complete nob. I hadn't anticipated the A96 turn-off and I overtook you only to take the off-ramp moments later - sorry.
... and yes, I am aware of what the Highway Code says.
Cheers,
Eric
G4Addicted said:
k13job said:
Good to see G4 out racing again, now if only one could reset the bogeys then he (and I) would be able to score points in the SSC
It was good to be out again, and I am sure the G22 will get quicker as the cobwebs blow away....Tell you what - I'll dig out all the times set by Ollie Ross in his winning season with his Radical Prosport, and ask the championship committee to set all the C1 bogeys to those - ah, but that's what they have already done, isn't it?.....
If anyone is that interested, dig out the results from 5/6 September 2004 for C1 at Golspie, then tell me I am wrong to say that the current C1 drivers - me included - just need to try harder - Ollie was in the 95's on the Littleferry circuit!
.........
....now where's Radical's phone number.....G4Addicted said:
I might be wrong, but I recall Ollie's car was one of the very early Prosports, which was basically a clubsport with a wing and wider wheels, wasn't it - I think I recall it used the same 1100 Kawasaki engine?
Whilst the Chassis was not greatly different they had slightly nore sophisticated suspension and all the Prosports had (at least)1300 Busa engines, as did Ollies. Ignoring the extra talent, the extra 50? BHP would be nice... Don't get me wrong, I know if Ollie, Douglas or one of many drivers were in my car the results would be very different, but in other forms of motorsport you don't compete against names from the past, just who is out there today.
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