Mopar Muscle Association UK

just got home what a fantastic weekend,its good to put names to faces like ivor,alex,kev,blue,(with a big thanks to blue for helping me out) + loads of others, and a big thanks to the organisers what a top job you lot done, and i ran a 14 then broke an engine mount but do i care not a chance,also looking like a tomato

For my first Nats - what can I say.... most impressed enjoyed it more than some of the bigger events!! 8)
Apologies for those who I said I would catch up with later, wife wasnt feeling too good (being 33 weeks pregnant and the heat didnt mix very well) so we left Saturday afternoon.
Nice to put names to faces - didnt get the chance to speak to Kev - though wont be able to miss him next time
All being well - I should be there next year, but putting times on the board

was an excellent event, first of the MoparNats that we have been to and hopefully first of many.
Yes we got burnt but well worth it.
We wanted to test the car in the Stock Appearance class but looking down the fire up lane the queue in the morning was huge so decided against it .... took the tent down, packed the car - amazing how much stuff 4 people need for a weekend. Wandered down to watch the racing and then saw that the queue was no more. Lesson learnt for next time - race in the afternoon!
Anyone know the winning time for the Stock Appearance?

Great weekend , thanks to all who worked hard to make it happen , and a big thanks for the essex boys + blue for making us welcome , will definattely be back next year , i might even race the duster. apologies to the essex croud for getting you lost on the way home

Really good weekend was had by us.Many happy returns to Alex today. Hope you enjoyed the cake & balloons. A special thanks to Adrian who let us eat & sleep in the motorhome (THE SANTA POD HILTON). Weather was superb & really good to see everyone. TOP WEEKEND .

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. What a great day, i'll be back next year for sure, well done to everybody for making it possible, it gets bigger and better every year

Where do I start???

Thursday night at 10.30 we finally realised we could get to the Nats, so a major panic and run around to get everything loaded etc, more than once I thought about calling it a day and having the weekend off ! Prepped the car at midnight (prep= checked the levels and connected the battery ) and went to bed..

Friday morning and we had agreed to drop Matt at Rockingham so he could do the race support thing, collected him at 8 and off we went, hit the M6 and it started to rain, a lot... not happy at all by now, we pressed on to the Rock, dropped Matt, had a coffee, saw the folk we needed to see, agreed things would be better now the rain had stopped and set off on the hop to Santa Pod, almost ran out of gas so had to fill up at Tesco's in Wellingborough (not recommended!) got to the Pod set up camp next to Guy and the rest of the Rugby team (pun intended) we were made so welcome by tham all it started to make sense at last ! Pete turned up later so the gang were all there, wandered around tired and confused (age..) said hello to everyone and did the noble thing,i.e. light the barbie eat and get drunk...

At this point I would like to thank everyone there for the evening Ivor & Co, Pete and Ronnie, Guy, Dean, Adrian and their families and friends, James and Laura and all the others who dropped by, you guys reminded me what the Nats is really about and lifted my spirits and helped put the other stuff aside for a few days, cheers guys !

Saturday was fun...ran the Dart a few times, very poor not happy (again!) so parked it up and helped Pete who was having hassle with the Sox car, then anyone else who needed a lift, there seemed to be more problems this year than others I remember, Sat night was calm and laid back until.....

Midnight, by this time I had forgotton it (Sunday) was my birthday, however, the cool folk hanging with us had not and popped a suprise little party with a cake and singing and balloons that looked like little animals ! again, all of you involved, thank you, I had no idea and it was very cool of you to do that !

Sunday we ran the Dart again a coupe of times in the morning, much better, on it's red streaks and in full street trim it pulled a 14.4, I am happy with that !

Anyway we parked it in the show and shine for the afternoon and did a bit af hanging around the MMA tent and drooling over the cars, every year the standard just gets higher, the race cars faster and the restored cars are getting amazing, hats of to all of you pat yourselves on the back for a job well done ! end of Sunday we were suprised to see the Dart had got a top 10 award, how cool is that ! what a great little car and what a great weekend it had !

Set of home, got stuck in a jam on the M6 (for a change !) and just got in!

Highlights:

Actually getting there!

Seeing all the great people that make this club what it is

Guy running a 13 second pass, I am so chuffed for ya mate !

Hugh getting a car to the Nats and actually running it down the track !

Hugh going deep into the 11's ! remember this was his first time down !

My birthday 'party' and the birth on the Hemicopter (don't ask!!)

Getting a trophy, thanks Nats commitee !

Bad points..

Pete struggled with the Sox car, that was a shame.

Dave R having hassle with the Chally, hope you got home safe mate...

Ivor and co spending most of the event working on the Plymouth instead of racing it

having to come home !

To the Nats committee, THANK YOU ! this was one of the biggest and best Nats to date, you have a superb event and you give us THE weekend to look forward to ! so Jim, Tim, Tony and Richard you are da boyz !!!

Alex

First time i was able to attend the nats, and it was great apart from, i didnt manage to get my Charger there.

I was here at home on sun morning at 3:00am and realised the Charger would not play ball, so i jumped in the C (body) and proceeded to burn rubber the 120 miles to the Pod. Car running like a dream, got nearly to the M1 and by this time it was 04:30 and i got SO TIRED (working 3 x 15 hour days on the Charger really took it out of me) i pulled off at the next exit and curled up on the big comfy front bench seat and slept until 7am. woke up to the sound of curious anglers walking in the gravel around the car and talking (how dare they!)

Rubbed my eyes and fired up the 360ci and an hour later of traffic-free driving i was at the Pod and was surpried to see so many people up and after half an hour of driving about and chatting (and a much needed cup of tea) i decided on another snooze before racing started. 11:30 i awoke and was a bit more compus mentis.

Fantastic day, really pleased for Hugh going from a 14 to a 12, to an 11.4 or something (or did you beat that?) and was nice see those of you that i have come to know, and one or two new'n's

trawled though the trade stalls and picked up some engine parts to replace those on the 383 that i threw at my car on Thursday. (Thanks Duncan, Matt, Andy (OTE) etc

Hope i have a car to race next year, anyone know the dates yet?

Will

Get your holidays booked for next year chaps just before I left at 20:30 Jim W and Tony O told me that santa pod had allready given them the dates for next years nats as they were most pleased with the attendance

Friday 29th July until Sunday 31st July 2005

Fantastic weekend as usual. Actually got to see the band this year (third attempt) who were brilliant. Friends we brought along loved it, one so much so he has joined the club even though he has no car and can't drive. Great to meet up with everyone again, shame it's only once a year with some people. Our Friend Stefan from Germany made friends with Carsten and I think a few of the other German contingent. Can't wait to see some of the pics of the show, will be getting mine developed today. Once again Fab time had by all and looking forward to next year already.

I reckon this was the best Nat's ever. The weather was brilliant, the show cars were gorgeous and the racing was fantastic.

Everyone came this year. What made the event so good was the people that brought their cars and had a good time. What can I say? Thank you to everyone. The Nat's doesn't happen on its own, - and it only happens once a year. You gotta be mad to miss this.

My first nats too. Full credit to all involved, nice to meet people off the MMA board finally too. Many thanx to Commander P for the lift, no racing but, an e.t (of sorts) of 300 miles x 60mph average speed on the way home is no mean feat in those temps!
Succumbed to heat stroke on the way home and spent all last night hallucinating, ah well, its free and legal!

Oh yes, - I can already confirm the dates for next year:

29/30/31 July 2005.

Put it in your diary, and don't even think of being anywhere else.

btw:-
We are also negotiating the possibility of a little night racing on Saturday evening next year. If we can do it there will be a time limit of 9.00, - so not exactly dark. It's only worth doing if enough people are up for it?
No promises at this stage, but what do you think?

Night racing would be cool. In more ways than one... I am lobsterman this morning.

Whats with having to drive through the water though? Heard a few people having traction issues with street tyres due to this (although I didn't run myself this time) and at previous RWYB its been like this too. Nobody seems to know why though?

Nice to put some faces to some names and turn my Fifth Avenue into a lowrider with all the stuff in the trunk! on the M1 going home I hit a subsidance repair at about 70 and the rear end bottomed out - not the kind of rear wheel steering which modern sports cars have I guess.

Looking forward to the next one already

Yes To night racing!

Massive thanks to Richard Berry, Jim Wilson, Tony Oksien & Tim Holmes for making this event happen. What a weekend!

We left the track at 6:30pm and got home at 11:30pm. Not bad considerating we stopped for a steak dinner and I also took a wrong turn.

The Chally held together but was quite rattley by the time we got to Newcastle. But to be honest, once I got to Scots Corner, the traffic got light and the sky dark, I really really enjoyed the drive. I found I just didn't care about the broken rockers and who knows what else. Here I was driving a real honest to goodness big block Challenger at 70+mph. Forget the problems! There are people who would give an arm to be in my position. I am one lucky person to have such a car and because of it I had just spent a weekend in the company of some very fine people.

HUGE thanks to all those that offered help, parts, tools, sealant, support and advice to me on Saturday. You guys are all heros.

I have a special thank you for Trevor Young though. Not only did he find and extract the missing rocker adjuster locknut in the engine but he spent a lot of time with me walking around the pits talking to people to try to find what was needed to get me home. Thanks Trev.

It is a shame we had problems. On the one good run the car left the line harder than it has ever left. I felt we could have knocked a couple of tenths off our best time if I had not have accidently kicked the overdrive off just at the worst moment (about 6000rpm I think). A rev limiter would not have helped here. It was like changing down a half gear. The revs probably hit 7500rpm which is a bit much for our set-up and may have been the cause of what happened later.

Oh well. Maybe next time eh?

PS
Message to Kev and Phil from Diana. Come on up for a weekend and she will put the chip pan on for you.

Why she would want to wear a chip pan is anybodys guess but there you go.