22.06.07 - Six and Out For Gold RV Racing??

It was great to get another car into the sixes in Super Pro, and I would like to thank all my crew for getting us there, we have managed to trim at least .2 seconds off our new cars ET's at each outing, so if we carry on like this we should be in the fives by the Euro finals next year, if only it was that easy!!!

We would also like to thank all the crew at Santapod for the excellent work they did in getting us a run at all on Saturday, especially as it turned out this was our last and only run, but we were very happy with it, after dialling in a 6.8 we then broke out with a 6.796.

Thanks also to everyone in Super Pro who have made us feel so welcome, we now have so many great friends in this class and we are a little sad to be leaving, but if they change the rules on screw blowers then as Arnie says, "I will be back". We had a goodbye Super Pro BBQ on the Saturday night and I would like to thank all those who attended, despite the adverse weather conditions, and a huge thanks to Dave & Pam who fed & watered over 40 people that night.

Unfortunately our Super Pro exit did not quite go as planned and I have thought long and hard how to best describe our exit and whilst I do feel quite strongly that the situation has to be explained, mainly so that this sort of thing does not happen again, as it results in engine damage and also slows up events, but perhaps my views should not be aired here so if you would like our full report please go to our racing web-site www.goldrvracing.co.uk. Congratulations to our good mates Steve & Pat Johnson on the event win, the old guy has still got lightning reactions, and can run consistently quick numbers too, in one of the best finals I have seen in Super Pro.

The meeting was put on hold after our burnout due to our opponent who decided that he wanted to be in our lane and refused to burn out. First and foremost and as usual, we did not care which lane we were in, however, we did observe the sportsman's etiquette of nearest to your dial in has lane choice, although this is not a rule just etiquette, in fact if both drivers want to go in the same lane in sportsman's racing then it should be decided with a flip of a coin, according to the rule book, although in my experience it is usually decided by the crews or drivers before the fire up. My crew chief Gary and my starter Mole asked our opponents crew man which lane ? just before we were about to fire up as we had no instruction from our opponents as to which lane they would like, and they were both advised that we would be in the right lane, after the burn out Gary advised me that our opponents had not burnt out yet and we should slow down, (this gives your opponent a little more time to overcome whatever problem they may have, etiquette again), Gary then advised me on the radio that it looks like they are out as they were being pushed back, so when Ian came to the car I was expecting the single finger indicating we were on our own, but I got a signal to go all the way back and switch off, which left us all rather confused. We were then advised that our opponents now said we were in the wrong lane?? After explaining to the track crew and race director what went on, it was decided to re run, and if we did not mind which lane, would we go in the left, as before no problem, but we would have to refuel and cool down, again, thanks to the track crew and race director in assisting us with this. Unfortunately our car did not like doing the second burn out and back fired and died, and the only thing we can think is that we were still a little too hot as this car has never done that before, and alas that was us out of the event and Super Pro, as well as a bit of a repair job to our engine.

Super Pro now has quite a few blown alky set ups, and more coming, especially since the class index has been lowered from 6.3 to 6.0 and other racers need to be aware that whilst gamesmanship can be a part of our sport, who goes in first, staging duels etc. common sense must prevail especially when a meeting is under pressure to finish and also racers must consider the opponents setup, Blown Alky cars can easily over heat or even run out of fuel on the run if messed about too much at the line. I would like to think this was not a deliberate ploy in this case, just a misunderstanding between the opponents crew, driver and the rules, as the opponents crew man also went up the other lane before being called back by his driver. However, this is sportsman's racing and does it really matter which lane you run in, is it not better to beat your opponent on the track rather than damaging their engine or slow up an event? This has been a rather disappointing and sorry way for us to end our Super Pro endeavours, but as I say in the main Super Pro has been good to us, and I only hope that the other racers in the class think we have been good for Super Pro. All the best Super Pro'ers and bye for now, here's to more sixes and 200mph runs in super pro, the fans just love it!!

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