Before I begin, Jonesey has probably covered most of this already using his superb and superior literary talent. Incidentally, I think his website is one of the many diversion tactics Jonesey uses to avoid doing any work on his car. So I won’t bore you too much hopefully and will try and concentrate on areas of interest to group C.

Group C looks set to be uber competitive this year, with us three reprobates, Dan Ludlow, Rob Spencer, Barry Holmes and Nigel Pratt signed up so far.

Dan’s weapon of choice this time around is one of those modern MG ZR’s, you know, like the ones in the MGCC Throphy championship that lap about 3 seconds faster than anything else We got our first glimpse of it at Castle Coombe followed by a days testing at Silverstone. The car looks immaculate, Vulcan racing have done a stunning job on it. However, as yet, it doesn’t look as fast as it could be on paper, something those enterprising Vulcan boys will be working hard on (geddit? Sorry Jonesey I’m stealing your lines). Let’s see if the sandbags come out for Brands!

The ever present Rob Spencer has always been the man to watch according the V8 boys. Rob regularly mixed it at the front last year and looks set to continue doing the same this year. The addition of a Team Neaves Racing Pedal Box (shameless plug) could make the difference. After testing at Silverstone and a booking for Brands, Rob is clearly fired up this year and probably fancies it.

Of course many will remember Blaine and Rob locking horns at Brands last year, which made for some cracking video. I imagine both will not want to repeat last years’ tit-for-tat banger racing, until they are fighting for position again…

Barry Holmes completes the list of usual suspects in Group C and had some good runs last year. The most memorable perhaps was at Oulton when he gave us a great insight in to what it is like to be stuck behind Blaine. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there, maybe after a problem in qualifying or a bad start. Barry’s real talent lies in swearing while he drives, something we can all appreciate in the Oulton Park 2010 video. Barry will no doubt be looking forward to me overtaking him in all the yellow flag zones around the circuits this year.

Nigel Pratt is a new face with the PBIC, but a seasoned veteran of the Midget Challenge championship. As I understand it Nigel is a regular nemesis of Dominic Moon, who regularly wins the championship from Group B in the midgets. To give you an idea how fast he is, last year at Brands his overall race time was less than a second different to Ollie. Yes I worked it out, and no I don’t take it too seriously… Nigel will clearly be a tough competitor this year and I hope that Brands is not just a one off, and that he joins us for a full season.

Talking of quick Midgets, many are asking; where is Simon Hutchinson? The last I heard Simon was taking a year out to do some decorating and work on building his wife a Ford Zetec Midget… Could it be a diversion tactic? Probably not, I think he is actually doing that.

Another notable absence is Terry Holmes. Terry will be out at various intervals throughout the year but at present, I am reliably informed that he is taking a break to concentrate on his ganster rapping career. Peace Holmie.

Alan Brooke is part way through rebuilding the Metro for another assault on Group C. But, as so often happens, reality has taken over and other commitments have to take precedent. I hope to see him back with us soon as I’m sure he will be.

Some of you may have heard that Team Neaves are once again at full strength as I enter back in to the fray, having taken a break in 2010. Of course the in house banter is in full flow as some sort of physiological battle for pole position is taking place. Currently, of course, I am winning!

Obviously this year, in a Ferrari vs McLarren fashion and to Ollie’s annoyance, Blaine and I are copying his exact setup, something which was not possible last year for Blaine. So I expect us to be of the same relative pace this year. Of course this shouldn’t detract from Ollie’s lucky performance last year, which has caused absolutely no bitter resentment at all within the Team.

For Ollie’s benefit, I’ve included a Video of what happened at Cadwell in 2009 – my second race…

And so I start on Group B, which is looking pretty low in numbers this year. I thought the BCV8 punters would come on a mission to show us up, but it appears they are struggling even to register for their own championship at the moment!

Ollie’s main rival from last year, Crippo, has entered his 4 pot roadster this year, which by all accounts is just as fast as the V8 was! Talking of which, the V8 has been given some new breathing equipment and will make an appearance in the Thoroughbred Championship this year. The 4 pot however should be capable of mixing it at the front, so I look forward to some close battles as the season progresses. My only hope is that Simon finds someone to share his biscuits with this year.

Pete Burchill is our surprise pick for the year. Over the last few seasons he’s been going quicker and quicker. With Vulcan backing this year, if Pete hooks it all up he could cling-on to Simon and fight for the Group B championship. Having improved his result season on season, winning the championship would really be the final-frontier for Pete.

Dave Brooke will surely grace us with his presence on the entry list when he is good and ready. In recent testing at Silverstone he was seen to be trying various new setups on his car. As ever, Dave will be looking to regain his recent title and can never be ruled out.

So there you have it folks, that’s my thoughts on the competition going in to the season opener at Brands. I leave you with the freshly uploaded end of season video from last year to get you in the mood.

Dan

  The year has begun with mixed fortunes in the Team Neaves Camp, Ollie has so far kept a clean sheet bar a couple of points where Simon and Rob took the front grid slots at Oulton. Can anybody stop him?

Ollie is driving superbly at the moment but progress is also due to our F-Duct system, simply when Ollie or Blaine covers an air hole with their right knee a middle finger is shown to the cars behind.

Blaine has so far failed to match Ollie for pace this season, but we believe this is down to setup. Blaine is certainly keen to close the gap, not least because Ollie can no longer fit his head into the family home.

Most of you will have seen the various videos from Brands which make for exciting viewing, to quote Vic Reeves (Barry Holmes) “those boys weren’t giving each other much room!” But rest assured, the drivers involved have kissed and made up…

On a personal note the banter this season has been great so far, as well as the pre-race beering sessions with Jonesey, Pete, Alan F and the V8 boys, long may it continue.

Looking ahead Ollie will be the only on-track representative for TNR at Silverstone. We’re down for testing on the Friday so we’ll hopefully see a few of you then.

The usual drivers seem to be attending with the exception of Rob Spencer, who has taken some time out to concentrate on Pimping Ho’s in his Well-Gangster Range Rover. Simon Cripps switches to group B in his mighty 4pot, which should be challenging Ollie for a win if it holds together. Barry “Vic Reeves” Holmes stays true to his beloved ‘mowta’ and remains in group C, Barry is particularly pleased with the absence of king-of-the-road-hogs-Blaine as this means he’ll be able to indulge in the usual gentlemanly racing; where the faster cars are let through by default

Alan Brooke has been on many-a wanted list lately after robbing local stables of their horses. Rumour has it he has managed to house up to 30 in the metro, which is astonishing given that it already housed 160.

John Moon makes his customary Silverstone appearance, beware MGB drivers, some say he likes to take little chunks out of your rear valences… bring plenty of Gaffer Tape…

Yet again the scene is set for an exciting second half of the season and we’ll attempt to keep the site up to date from this point forward! Videos are available from the right side of the page and photos will follow shortly…

See you soon

Team Neaves

In preparation for the race Team Neaves Racing have fitted rudders, anchors and compasses to their cars so that navigating around Snetterton will be that little bit easier. However, this will all be in vein if last year is anything to go by, as you may have guessed, it was a little too wet to race.

In terms of the Championship only one member of the team is in contention for the serious positions, Blaine should secure third in group C. There is a mathematical possibility he could get second in C, but it would have to be a perfect pair of victories… which is unlikely. Of course Dan and Ollie will be competing for championship position, currently seventh and eighth respectively and with three points between them there’s all to play for.

Pre-Race News

Will it be an epic return for Simon Hutchinson in the Midget?? He won last time out at Snetterton, but can he do it again… Recently Simon took some time out to race in the Formula Penguin championship which takes place in the Falklands.

Usual suspects Barry Holmes and Rob Spencer return to their normal line up in group C. Rob is then lending his group B V8 to Terry Holmes, who enjoyed a good race with Blaine last time out.

Ewart Kitson is having trouble getting parts together and although entered may not make an appearance at Snetterton. We hope he makes it…

The Team Neaves brothers Dan and Ollie were in the wars with reliability problems at Cadwell but showed good pace, can they improve further and challenge Simon?

Rob Beasley has fixed his ‘Yellow Peril’ Midget and makes his return.

The VHPD Metro of Paul Rigg is on the entry list again, it has been threatening all year but will we actually see it this time? Fresh from his first race victory at Cadwell we expect Paul to be quick.

Dan Ludlow won’t be at Snet as he has got himself a drive with a Honda works team in Britcar, we wish him every success on his debut for the team. Of course this means that Simon Cripps will take the Group C title, but can he go on to take the overall title as well?

Team Neaves would like to formally welcome James Darby as an honorary member in the 4hr relay race, he’ll pilot Blaine’s number 7 machine. It will be interesting to see the times after the race! Also it will be interesting to get some neutral feedback on the K Series conversion…

There you have it, there’s a lot to look forward to at Snetterton, and we hope to see you all there – or at least in a pub close to the circuit.

Team Neaves

As always there were a few problems. The first of which was getting both cars to the track with one trailer! But that was soon overcome with help from Frank Thompson, who kindly stored one car overnight for us. This still meant that it was a double-run on the way back… which is not much fun. Somehow I don’t think I will be able to persuade my Dad to do the same when we go to Cadwell.

Once there we headed out into the unknown with full tanks of fuel and slightly over-inflated tyres – we later discovered they were 32psi cold! But nevertheless the cars felt good, never mind the cockpit full of oil smoke I suffered 25minutes in. Yes that’s right, another problem, the front pulley had bored / melted its way through an oil line, still at least I did most of the session. Cougar had his own problems, session one for him was the beginning of the phantom-lengthening-clutch problem. He could hardly change gear by the end of the session…

After the great start we suffered we then had to do some fixing, which we did just in time for session 2. Session 2 was great, getting ever more familiar with the cars we were pushing them a bit harder, learning the limits etc. Surprisingly neither of us binned it, but were struck by yet more problems… For me it was a slipping clutch under heavy load, again after about 25minutes. Cougar’s phantom-lengthening-clutch problem returned, to such an extent that it was necessary to discover that the towing eye worked. As if that wasn’t enough Cougar also found out the life of his battery, and that the throttle sensor had come off…

With our work cut out over lunch, we set about trying to fix the cars, unfortunately we couldn’t get Cougar going again, but after adjusting my brakes and setting the tyre pressures I headed out for session 3. By lap 4 I had knocked 1.5seconds off my time from the previous 2 sessions, the car felt very good, I was even starting to be able to keep pace with some of the ZRs that were testing. But what do you know, the clutch began slipping again, accept this time it was so bad that I couldn’t accelerate at all. I then followed the trend set earlier in the day by Cougar and discovered that my towing eye works too.

With both cars unable to be fixed track-side we headed home. It was a shame as I’d have liked to get some more experience with the car and get the lap times down a bit. We believe we know how to fix them up for Sunday, but it’ll be tight! If we make it, I’m sure it will be a day to remember!

Who said racing was easy!

Maverick