Spedeworth V8 Stock Cars
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Back On Track After Nine Years

I decided to hire a Hotstox for my return to racing as there is no Spedeworth V8 hire car at present.
To hire the car cost £250, plus I was liable for any damage, including the engine! I decided to take my chances, hired the car, got a day license and booked in for Kings Lynn on Saturday, 16th June.
I even managed to get my old Spedeworth number, 252. Two or so weeks before the meeting, I was told the hire car wouldn't be ready but a better car had been sorted out. That suited me fine, apart from the fact it only had left foot braking.

I turned up at Kings Lynn and hoped I'd fit the car. I sat in it and it was quite comfortable. Got the car scrutineered and waited for the first race of the meeting, which was my race. I was graded white and lined up on the outside front. A couple of laps and it felt like I'd never been away. The car was quick and I was competing for the lead, although the car didn't enter the bends as I would have liked. Nevertheless, it was competitive and I felt OK and I was leading the race. A misfire developed and slowly the other cars reeled me in. I dropped down to third place but then the lead car went out and I managed to get back into the lead on the next bend, just as the yellow flags came out. I think there were about 6 or 7 laps left at this point. On the restart, all the cars were now close to me, and with the misfire they soon came past. I eventually finished 9th which I was happy with, considering the misfire and not having been behind the wheel for many years. A plug lead had come off so the misfire was quickly rectified. In that first race the car was revving nicely and I was competitive.

The track had been watered just before my second race but I wasn't too worried - until the flag dropped! It handled the same but I was running out of revs on the bend, hence no acceleration and unable to compete as I did in the first. It wasn't my imagination either as I was told by quite a few different people who were watching, that it sounded flat and it was popping and banging where it had run out of revs. I managed to finish the race but cars I was competing with in the first were strangely now lapping me! After the race I told the hire car crew that I was running out of revs on the bend and that it wasn't as quick as in the first race. They disputed it and put it down to the wet track and said that I should be feeding the power on as opposed to going flat out too quickly. The wet track incidentally, had dried out after a few laps. They checked the rev counter and told me it was revving to 6,500, which in their opinion was fine. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought I'd try feeding the power on in the last race, although I basically knew this wasn't the problem.

I wasn't looking forward to the last race as I knew I wasn't going to be competitive again. Anyway, the flag dropped to start the last race, I tried feeding the power on for a couple of laps and if anything it made it go slower still. I then decided to just enjoy myself cornering and once again I was running out of revs on the bends. Bearing in mind I would have to pay for any damage I did to the car, as the main bunch of cars came up behind me, I let them go and then started throwing it in the bends again. I again finished the race and the car was still in one piece so I didn't have to pay any extra for damage. Back in the pits I told them it was still running out of revs on the bends and that it was like a different car to what I drove in the first race. A different person checked the rev counter and told me it was revving to 6,000 rpm! The car was flat out in all the races, the last race was similar conditions to the first, yet cars I was competing with in the first race were lapping me in the second and third.

At the end of the day I had got back on the track and overall I had enjoyed myself. However, in my opinion, the rev limiter or something else was played about with after the first race. I may be wrong, but that is my opinion. How else would the maximum rpm be different in races 2 and 3 when it was being driven flat out in both races, and how else was I able to compete with certain cars in the first race but be lapped by those same cars in the other two.

I have been contacted by the person who I hired the car from and he has told me that the rev limiter doesn't work and the car was not messed about with. The drivers apparently use the first race to see how their cars are going and then alter their cars as they see fit, for the other races.
He also told me the track was wet in the second race and everybody was struggling for grip. He
also thought my expectations may have been too high!

So there you have it, a few adjustments to their cars and nearly every cars goes round twice as fast,
except my one. I imagined it was running out of revs and the popping and banging spectators heard was from a firework display in the distance. My car was going just as quick as it did in the first race, all the other cars got quicker because their cars were now set up! That's why the same cars I was racing with in the first race were lapping me in the last two races. And as for my expectations, all I expected was a competitive car, like the one I had in the first race! F1s and the ministox had similar times in all their races so perhaps someone should make them aware that with a few adjustments after the first race, they could go twice as quick in the other races!

If you were there, please email your opinion to v8stockcars@googlemail.com
 

Unless things change, I should be on the track again later in the year, this time in a Spedeworth V8

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