Easter, the time when
we celebrate our Lord being nailed up by some Eyeties with a four-day
weekend, perfect for a spot of drag racing. And this year saw
something that has been rather lacking from too many rounds of NSCC
for the past couple of years – people. Lots of them.
Rocking up just after
dark on the Saturday night, we were greeted by an NSCC pit more
packed full than the Pope's happy-sack. The people had already made
camp, and suddenly the NSCC was looking like a force to be reckoned
with once again. Late arrivals included James Murray (to nobody's
surprise – I believe Biff won the sweep with his guess of 10.54pm,
within two minutes of James's actual arrival time) and, a welcome
return to to the fold after far too long, Ian Walley.
Some of the usual
suspects were absent, many still with unfinished or damaged cars;
fortunately, there were plenty of new faces that more than made up
for the shortfall. By a long shot. A couple of new Foxes had swelled
the ranks, including Mark Butterworth's, fresh from a serious engine
rebuild, and Paul Hughes' supercharged hatch out for a shakedown.
Andy Errington came out to a few NSCC events last year in his TVR,
but this was his first time in competition at the drag strip proving
that, at 70 years old, you're never too old to start. He had Simon
Boot for a crew chief, but that seemed to mostly involve Andy
drinking Simon's booze for him. Another (sort of) new face was Shaun
Cockcroft in a MkII Escort Harrier with Harris brothers' stickers
that promised to be entertaining. Nigel Swift finally brought his
beautiful blue big-block Firebird out to play, and would spend the
weekend remembering how to change gear. Nigel Henderson was another
face back after a long lay-off, now with a sweet 105E Anglia looking
lovely, low on steels, and powered by a Zetec.
There were a few
people out taking advantage of the new rule stating that a newcomer
can come out to play in whatever car they can muster for their first
year of NSCC competition, one being Nad, Mrs Cattell, out popping her
cherry in her daily-driver Celica. Second-generation NSCCers Dec
Hughes and Kevin Winstanley were out in their Golf and Punto
respectively, representing the next wave and, frankly, making a damn
fine showing of themselves.
Sunday dawned bright,
but with a considerable headwind that varied from 10mph to 50mph,
depending on who you asked and how far they were off their expected
times. Qualifying got underway with Jamie Hughes' turbo big-block
Land Rover defying aerodynamics by blasting off a 10.29 at 135mph to
set the benchmark. Next up was Ian Walley, heading towards the sort
of times that car promises with an 11.0 at 126, with Russ Pursley hot
on his heels with 11.2 at 120. Then was James Murray, the old Cortina
still turning in the numbers with a 12.6, followed by Mark
Butterworth shaking down with a 13.0 on the motor. Billy Cattell put
the Austin in sixth with a 13.94, Biff Bailey a coat of paint behind
on 13.96, then Paul Hughes enjoying the vagaries of the T5
transmission with a 14.2. Another racer having fun with a manual
shift and street tyres was Nigel Swift on a 14.5 at 105mph, that
terminal giving a clue of plenty more to come, followed by Shaun
Wilson with a 14.8 from the Syclone. Andy Errington was next, after
trying his damnedest to sabotage other racers until 3am that morning,
his 15.4 being an opening salvo, followed by Shaun Cockroft's Escort,
its Kent motor kicking out a 15.6. The two youngsters were next,
Kevin's turbo Punto with a 15.97, and Dec 12 thousandths behind. Next
was Dave Smith, way down with a 16.0, the car still in shock after
its annual wash some weeks previously (plus the 60mph headwinds, of
course), then Nigel Henderson in the sweet Anglia on 16.7. Nadia
Cattell was next with a 17.8, and looking like she was enjoying every
minute of it, followed by Mark and Scott Presland respectively, the
little Crossflow rods still out pounding the strip every chance they
get.
That's right, 19 cars
qualified for NSCC, and with a couple more in the pits for
decoration, that was the biggest competition class at York that day.
Excellent effort.
Straight into round
one, which started badly for Shaun Wilson with a red light against
Andy Errington, the beginning of a sensational string of luck for
Andy. Nigel Swift knocked out Shaun Cockcroft, then Ian Walley hit
the tens, his 10.98 being a full nine seconds quicker than Scott's
Pop. Another red appeared in Biff's lane letting Dec Hughes cruise
through, before Mark Butterworth put Nigel Henderson out with a
12.77, bettering his time with the old motor on gas. Yet another red
light shone in Dave Smith's lane against Billy Cattell, but Dave was
clearly overcompensating for the 70mph headwinds. Russ Pursley wasn't
arsed about headwinds with his 10.58 at 123mph against Mark Presland,
while James Murray showed no gallantry with Nad Cattell, putting her
out 13.7 to 17.4. Paul Hughes then beat Kev Winstanley to finish off
the first round, the biggest news being that Jamie Hughes, number one
qualifier, had no-showed after some suspicious bottom-end rattles
caused by a loose oil pressure restrictor to the turbo.
That no-show meant
that Andy got a bye in the second round, and a mysterious burning
bush was seen on the return road. Mark put out Billy 12.7 to 13.5,
before Ian beat Nigel 10.8 to 14.2. James ended Dec's good fortune
13.6 to 15.4, then Russ stamped his authority on proceedings with a
10.7 to Paul's 14.5.
Ian Walley got the
lucky bye in the third round, while James got a lot closer to form
with a 12.3, nowhere near enough to see off Russ's 10.9 though. In
another case of divine, or possibly satanic, intervention, Andy won
against Mark, Mark suffering from Palsy, a plague of frogs and being
turned into a pillar of salt whilst recording a time of 25.48 seconds
at 694mph... Famine, plague and pestilence will surely follow.
In the semi finals,
Russ got the bye and still chose to run a 10.9, but then Andy's run
of luck came to an end at the hands of Ian Walley, who also ran a
10.9 against Andy's 15.7. Balance was restored to the world, and good
triumphed over evil. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, the
septuagenarian assassin got to park the car and put his fluffy
slippers on.
It also set up an
all-yellow final, Russ's Dutton versus Ian's Cortina. With both cars
showing high ten-second form all day (despite the 80mph headwinds) it
should have been a really climactic end to the best round of NSCC in
some years. In the end, it was all over at the start line, as Russ
picked a cherry and Ian stormed away to a 10.66 at 126mph and maximum
points from the opening round of 2014.
After racing had
finished, the NSCC crews got together on the startline for a team
photo. It was certainly a better photo than last year's picture at
the same event, where all seven race cars lined up in the bitter cold
for the photo; this year, two rows of cars posed in front of the
tower before all heading off to the Barnes Wallis for a nosebag. On
the way, Biff's Mustang lost fire and died at the side of the road.
It spoke a volume that everyone else on the cruise stopped to help
and stare at the open bonnet, possibly not realising that they were
only 300 yards from the pub – they could have pushed it there, and
stared with a refreshing pint in their hand. Anyway, it spoke another
volume that, after calling reinforcements at the track to bring a
trailer, Paul Hughes brought a trailer that was slightly too small,
then went back for Ian's! After a damn fine face-filling, we headed
back without incident, where Biff diagnosed a dead MSD coil as the
source of his problem. He would sit the next day out, but then as
soon as racing was over, fellow 5.0er Paul Hughes would donate his
coil to the cause so Biff could drive home and post the coil back to
Paul. That's what mates are for.
After a few rounds of
beer and a few more rounds of bullshit, everyone sacked out for
another full day's racing on bank holiday Monday.
