the nats

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Mon Aug 02, 04 11:57 am

Fantastic weekend!!
definately yes to night racing
I managed to scare a 12.3 out of the big old lazy charger so I was pretty pleased, the only change I made from the 150+ mile drive down was some stickier street tyres
talking of the drive down it was perhaps the worst I've ever had without actually breaking, highlight was watching the temp gauge climb as we crawled across the thelwall viaduct in blazing sunshine
full journey took 5 hours 40 mins

some great cars there, and some fast stuff too I didnt beat a single car to the end on saturday running consistent mid 12's
huge thanks to everyone who helped put this weekend together

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Aug 02, 04 1:04 pm

Very nice to see everyone again. It just seems like one great big extended international family now.

Thanks to the Nats committee; Jim, Tim, Tony and Richard, (and the judges, Tony, Jim and Carsten, of course)

Thanks to Matt and Mandie and James K. (and Laura) for taking care of the MMA stand and promoting the club, and congrats on cracking the 500 member mark. I would be interested to know how many new members the weekend attracted.

Adam and Carolyn for a top evening, (it's Roses Lime marmalade, remember).

Disappointed for Dave and Linda and their car troubles, but best wishes for the work about to ensue.

A safe, happy (and surprisingly economical) trip down and back in Ted's old wagon, but after dropping Linda at Lancaster on the way, getting home at 0300 in the morning has dubious appeal.

All the best

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Aug 02, 04 7:49 pm

I'll add my vote for a great event.
After getting delayed due to my boss not letting me out of work when she was supposed to, we hit some bad traffic on the first bit of the run down, arrived about 8pm and it just got better from then on.
Ran a NPB of 12.48 in the same street trim I arrived in, annihilated a pair (my only pair) of Hoosiers in the burnout comp and generally beat on the car all weekend, before driving it home on, erm, tyres of questionable legality, (but still just about OK officer, honest).
Now there's a pale yellow 69 Road Runner sitting in my garage, dirty, dusty, covered in tyre rubber and on one flat tyre. Fantastic!

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Aug 02, 04 8:51 pm

Awsome show guys, well done.

Great to catch up with everyone and meet some new guys that I only knew through here.

The old Aussie Charger didn't run as well as it had at Shakey (15.2) but I managed consistant 15.5's on the Sunday and my reactions are getting better all the time. Main news is I managed a clean sweep on that XB GT Falcon, so Mopar remains king of the hill on the Aussie muscle score.

Band were fantastic, encore.

Night racing... what a great idea! Yes please Jim.

Thanks to Alex for resetting my timing on the Saturday morning, and thanks to all those who have offered me valuble advice on the upcoming Charger modifications.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Aug 02, 04 9:08 pm

What an excellent weekend that was. A special thanks to everyone who played a part in organising the event and making it one to remember (that includes everyone who had a seriously good time!). Too many good cars to remember - I'm just going to have to buy the video again.
Highlights- Doing my first run of the weekend with Terry Robbins 'Little Red Express Truck' Magic! Two rare trucks having a go together. ( I hope someone somewhere took a photograph)
Lows - Having to drive through a puddle of water before going down the strip. It definitely didn't do a lot for my steering.

Holly · Post by **Holly** » Mon Aug 02, 04 11:46 pm

That was one good ... hot ... weekend. Hats off to Matt & Mandie, they put shedloads of work in over the weekend! (never realised just how much 'till I tagged along).

Nice to see everyone, especially all the new faces from here - Matt and I did a tour of the campsite on Saturday night, and must have introduced ourselves to at least 30 people from all over, plus those that came to the club stand - funny darting back and forth to the back of the stand to spot the odd snippet of the racing

My flim will be going in to Boots tommorow, hope some of them come out (many 'action' shots), and now I'm going to go and get some sleep - lots of work to do tommorow!! (and I might even find time to start on project Hemicopter

)

... guess Kate & I need new avatars now, too ...

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Aug 03, 04 12:08 am

YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!

what can i say !!

thanks to all those who wished me luck and said how cool it was to see pinkie going down the track again,

[b]need to personally thank....

Alex, thanks for the advice and encouragement dude ! (ps, happy birthday for sunday !)

Pete, for the above and for also showing me how to gap points !!

Duncan, for selling me the car, encouragement and advice, and for not relieving all my money at the end of the weekend..for a change !!

Brother for help and looking after the 'minimal' stall over the weekend, and most importantly, for getting the car sorted in the few days before the event, had knackered alternator among other things, thanks Ewan !

Alan knight, for letting me have my holley jet kit back after my daughter sold it for a tenner !! phew !

Steve and Lisa from brighton, for endless enthusiasm and help down the pairing lanes, and for the much needed turkey roll (made on pinkies trunk) during the lunch break whilst stuck in the pairing lane !

Lad from Holland, forget his name but he left his mates car to help push down the pairing lanes !

the nice 57 chev guy for also pushing down the lanes,
Dave R for seeing me into the box on the most successful burnout, and consequent run !

Brian, for letting me beat him by 3 tenths on that run, very kind of you !

Dave 'Tache' simcock, for loan of jack,

Nigel, loan of numerous things !

Ivor, nearly forgot ya ! big thanks for gunning into town to get me more fuel on sat night, owe ya a drink mate, thanks,

Mo, just for saying HI and offering encouragement and tales of pinkies past !

and who-ever else i've forgotten.. THANKS !

had an amazing time on the track,
first ever pass both on the track (any track !) and in the Pinkie (with full street equipment) resulted in 14.166@100.44mph,

12.36@?mph second pass, getting better !

11.61@116.54 third pass, (sunday, now uncorked) felt awesome !

11.461@118.76, blew me away ! only .57 secs and 6mph off the car best ever on the motor !!

11.75@118.76, poor burnout and messed up 2nd gear change,

11.92@117.41, slipped away from the line on the sand they'd put down !!??, otherwise a very strong run,

most pleased with the times, to prep the car i did little more than change the plugs, gap the points, change the oil and set the carb to factory settings on the mixtures, that was it !! i really couldnt be happier with the results, cant wait til i can afford to get to another meeting now !!

As for next year, night racing is a must, be great to get some cooler air thru the motor, aswell asobviously getting more runs in !

this year ?? for me, for obvious reasons, the best ever, for the event, seems numbers were up both on cars running and people thru the gates, a job well done yet again, and yes, we do look silly for panicking over the street racer boys, they dun goode !

oh, and the price has gone up now !!!!

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Aug 03, 04 10:07 am

Well done Hugh. Weve all seen your trials and tribulations on the board so it must have felt great to nail those 11 second pases. That really was your your first time out? Us 'new' guys can take hope from that!

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Tue Aug 03, 04 10:17 am

My bad luck seems to have been good for others. Glad that help on the line paid off for you Hugh. I did the same for Tim Ellison just before you and he ran a best ever of 12.99 so maybe I should charge for this service?

I do believe help at the start line makes for better runs. No way can you tell exactly what is going on without it. I know I hate doing it on my own.

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Tue Aug 03, 04 12:51 pm

That enormous list of thank yous from Hugh tells the real story of the Nats...everybody willing to help everyone else get the best they can from the best muscle car event outside of Ohio.

OK, we spent far too much time messing around with Martin's Satellite, but a 13.7 right out of the box is not to be sniffed at and we had more fun than you can believe, despite not having the opportunity to sample Kev's snake wine...looking forward to next year already.

Tony, Tim, Jim, Richard and the rest of the team deserve a great big thanks from all of us. 8)

Philth · Post by **Philth** » Tue Aug 03, 04 4:38 pm

I also had a good weekend re-aquainting/meeting with some fine folk.
However, I was also a bit plaged with car troubles all weekend (yes that was me shutting the track for 1/2 hour Saturday morning), what with dodgy fan belts and popping valley pans (please don't mention the screwdriver incident, those who know!). Then to cap it all my clutch gave out between junctions 14 and 13 on the M1! All smoke, smells, revs and slowing down. I had to wait 4 hours on the hard shoulder before help would come (45 minutes was promised), then spent the night at the Newport-Pagnell services (a la Alan Partridge) 'cos there was no-one available to relay me. Still, I got home in the end, after forking out ?300 on a relay...
Oh well, c'est la vie!

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Aug 03, 04 4:50 pm

i was only there sunday arrived at 7am maybe a bit too early! went up the strip for my first time ever. met a few people there. spent most of the time queing in the fire up lane but had a great day. i had a trouble free drive there as most of my journeys are, but a very droney rear axle on the way back, oops. i have already booked the whole weekend off for next year. i think i may even stick to another mopar when i sell mine. thanks to everyone who gave me some tips shame i couldent get into the 15's, oh well next year!

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Aug 03, 04 5:13 pm

Wow what an event!
Thanks guys, I am a virgin to this type of event and it blew me away!
Really great putting faces to names, more so personalities to their rides.
Went up in my Chally, with Miles, and she performed really well (the car that is

) on the 580 mile round trip. Only thing was sticking throttle cable which meant my brakes got some brutal treatment at the Northampton end

.
The car is really comfortable on long journeys and I was well pleased with it.
For me this is the first time I have seen such exotic machinery static, let alone giving it hell down the track. Kinda wished I had a go now, but I needed to guarantee getting home!
Anyway I am now converted and will try and get there every year and will try and have ago.
Thanks to you MMA guys and particularly the organisers of what must be the best event outside of the USA. 8)