http://www.completekitcar.co.ukRACE DIARIES
76 September 2019engineer, I had it all re tted in no time, but they still insisted on
towing me up.... luckily we had tted a towing strap for the rst
time ever. Once back in the paddock, I re tted it, noticing that
this joint had no swaging on the pipe to retain it. Due to too many
incidents, we didn’t get another run on the Saturday so it was
straight into the time runs on Sunday.
And what happened... the pipe came o again. At least this
time it was near the nish and I was able to coast over the line to
record a time, but I then had to let it all cool so I could re t it and
drive the mile back to the paddock. Here there was much head-
scratching. Nothing had been changed on the car, but it was very
hot. Our thoughts were that maybe it needed better seating and
that the powdercoating on the pipe was not helping so we roughed
it up, cleaned everything and put it on tight. And it blew o even
sooner on the next run. Not funny.
So for the last run, we drilled it and put screws in to give it more
purchase. And they cancelled the last run. So it was back to the bar
to ponder what might have been, but the one time recorded was
still pretty competitive, but this is un nished business.
If it was not for the social aspects being so great, we could have
been upset, but the last night there was a ‘shite shirt’ competition
which was hilarious and added to a slow start on the Monday.
e turbo pipe came o the following week and was properly
swaged and the rubber hoses changed. It worked – at Doune near
Stirling in Scotland two weeks later, there were no problems.
If you get a chance, search for video of Doune, they also do live
streaming during the event, as it is a very di erent kind of hillclimb
challenge. e rst part seems barely a car wide and you have to
get up close and personal with the Armco or stone wall that line
the very edge of the tarmac – there is no run o or verge – just
barrier or stone wall.
With mixed weather, I took it steady to start with and in fact
went quicker on every run. In the event on Sunday morning we
led the class and were second in the afternoon which gave us a
good haul of championship points, and a more optimistic view
of the remainder of the season.
e next outing will be a special private event and that is
followed by Harewood again and then deep into the West
Country at Wiscombe Park which we will report on later.T
he last few weeks have seen the AMS Murtaya
hillclimb in three countries with varying degrees
of success. First o was Harewood Hillclimb near
Wetherby where a hot sunny day on the Sunday
saw the organisers run not one practice run in the
morning but three! Trying to space the event so that the paying
spectators did not arrive to see everyone packing up and going
home, the smooth running event gave us so many miles for our
money. It was superb.
It was a shame, then, that I blotted my copybook on the rst
timed run. Trying to nd a slingshot up the hill form the lowest
point, Chippy’s Corner, I went in really deep to rotate the car and
re it out... except when it rotated it continued o backwards
into the barrier. It was not a massive impact, but it dislodged the
rear skirt and creased all of the rear undertray down so that it
was dragging on the road. Otherwise, I would have kept going.
Hanging around with the marshals, I thought this would be a good
place to watch but then the next car along, Eric Morrey in the Imp,
ground to a halt with terminal transmission issues. So I acquired a
fence post and bent the undertray back up and then drove back up
the hill. e second run after removing the undertray and re xing
the skirt was more circumspect.
After a quick trip to the vinyl wrappers, and some undertray
straightening, it was o to France to Saint Goueno. is is a
round of the French championship in Brittany where they invite
UK runners. e hill itself is 3.2km – a lot longer than we have
in the UK – and fairly owing. e French entry was a mix of
Normas and Osellas in the top class, but a host of other interesting
machinery including a fairly trick McLaren sports car.
e paddock and camping is on the top of the hill with
wonderful views, and every night there is an event in the village
and there are minibuses to take you there... and back if you can
remember after all of the free wine. So it is best to remember you
are driving. Untimed practice was uneventful as I just wanted to
relearn the hill then, on rst timed practice, exiting the spectator
lled hairpin, the car lost all power and ground to a halt. It would
start but it had no power and was smoking badly. Oh dear.
Recovered back to the escape road, I lifted the bonnet to nd
a turbo pipe had blown o . Borrowing a screwdriver from the PAThe Murtaya leaning hard at Harewood.Meeting a friendly LB STR.Crinkled undertray needs some
attention after a Harewood o .GOING INTERNATIONAL
John and his Murtaya have competed in
three countries this time, with mixed results...
JOHN
PICK
Discipline:
Hillclimbing
Races:
Adrenaline Murtaya
Championship/Series:
Avon Tyres Motorsport
UK British Hillclimb
Championship
Age: 57
Occupation:
Project manager/directorThe Murtaya leaning hard at Harewood.074 Race Diaries.indd 76 01/08/2019 12:47 pm