Firstly apologies for the some what less than prompt post, only we haven’t been all that enthused after Brands!
The scene was set for a great day’s racing at Brands Hatch, the early morning sun was heating the track up nicely, and the Maverick and Cougar were up bright (maybe not…) and early for their first experience in the danger zone. All three well polished Team Neaves cars lined up in the paddock and ready for action next to the immaculately prepared cars of Simon Cripps, Barry Holmes, Rob Spencer and Brian Radcliffe. With scruteneering passed and the briefing for the rookies out of the way the cars headed out for what was hoped to be an exciting qualifying session…
Jonesey was especially excited and was heard saying “I feel the need… the need for speed!”
Qualifying
The Team headed out onto the track, line astern, the plan being for the junior Team Neavesers to keep up with Viper, the more experienced Squadron Leader. As Viper and Cougar were winding up to full speed it was clear Maverick had a problem. If any of you have read the previous post you’ll recognise this problem… Yes, it was the clutch again. After completing the mandatory three laps Maverick headed for the pits, and was unfortunately never to return to the track.
The tow rope that Cougar had attached to the Viper car was paying dividends as, on lap 5 he put in a time quick enough for the 7th grid slot. That was as high as he’d get though as on lap 10 the session was stopped for Rob Beasley, who had made a bid to escape the circuit at Druids. Fortunately the gravel trap put a stop to his valiant attempt. The experience of Viper shone through as he managed 3rd on the grid for race 1. Unfortunately for Cougar, the car only wanted to do the 10 laps, inheriting the same clutch problem as Maverick, with the same result. Check out the video below kindly posted by reigning champ David Brooke.
Race 1
With grid slots 7 and 31(not last!) empty, and true to form the commentators none the wiser, the lights went out for race 1. Barry Holmes had a great start from 4th seeing off Viper in the drag race to the first corner. On lap 2 the safety car was brought out for an incident at Paddock in which Rob Beasley and John Yea discovered it was impossible for two cars to inhabit the same piece of track! Viper then fell asleep. As the safety car peeled off into the pits it seemed that Viper was informed of the situation by a hand delivered postcard, clearly much slower than the other drivers, who had been watching…
The positions remained static for the rest of the race, despite Viper closing Barry Holmes down towards the end. You can see the race 1 video from Barry below. The vid from Viper will follow shortly…
Race 2
It was much of the same for race 2, with the commentators that is. Perhaps we should fill out those commentator information forms! Again Holmes powered clear of Viper but this time also claimed 2nd from Dan ‘Sandbag’ Ludlow at the first corner. Viper couldn’t keep pace with the hard charging trio in front for long however, his tyres were pretty shot by this point as you’ll see from the in car footage below (to be added later). A bit of excitement came later though when Simon Cripps, possibly suffering some of the same, had an off on the exit of Druids. It has to be said at this point that Simon’s car was remarkably well hooked up, as he then came around the outside at Paddock to take 3rd.
All in all a good days racing for Viper, but a disappointing start to the Team Neaves campaign!
We have now taken the engine out of Car 4 to have a better look at the clutch. Have a look at the picture below… it seems the friction surface on the flywheel side of the friction plate is missing! I’d invite comments from anyone who has any idea how this could happen with only an hour of running?!
We hope to have the team back out soon, but realistically it’s looking like Cadwell before we can all get out together with transport etc.
Team Neaves
Gutted for you both. Is the flywheel alloy or steel? Is the central splined area clear of the crankshaft/spigot bearing, could it be holding the flywheel side away slightly? Is the thrust release bearing/slave cylinder releasing fully if it’s one of those posh inline items that all mounts to the gearbox over the 1st motion shaft. I know a guy up near Norwich that can re line clutches with kevlar or most uprated materials. Might have his e-mail address with me out here if you’re interested. Keep on spannering chaps #;-)