Hello
This is my first report proper this season.. And what a meeting to start with...
Hedno 7-9-01 PRE 68 Meeting.
Wet wet wet wet wet... It erm rained a little.well a lot!!
To be fair this meeting would not be for everyone. Folks who renovate cars would be turning in their graves.. Asuming they were dead anyhow :) No this was not a meeting for the squemish :)
As predicted it started to rain just after the parade lap,of well over 100 classic cars.. We had Dan & Dean Steele, The Invaders and even Pat Woods from Ruabon.. TNT, Real Motley Krew, Demons and many many more.
Heat 1 of the Under 1750cc (UNDERS) Wheels fell off ,cars spun and metal mashed.. It was destruction not unlike areas affected by last nights gales!. 37 Fizz in a Morris Oxford Traveller got going again minus 1 wheel as did a few others. 190 Dominic Gumbleton (made up name ??? - only joking!!) in his Morris Oxford won the heat. After the wrecks were moved we got ready for..
Heat 2 of the UNDERS. Three fantastic rolls and an impressive follow in on 252 John Wibberley (Someone taking the p*ss here ??? - JOKE) in his now trashed Austin Cambridge Estate. Get ready for another made up name.. The winner was 82 Keith Richens (Ex Rolling Stones ??) and his BMW 1600 Coupe.
Heat 3 UNDERS. 125 Roy Preece (I give in - JOKE), Austin Cambridge, had a nasty roll and for one moment I thought his head had fallen off. It was only is helmet tho and he was OK. Car 38 Alan Huckle (I am saying nothing) had his Austin Cambridge A55 Mk2 in a nice hit then he too was hit, even better, 201 Oh no name,no model. :( . Anyway it was the highlight of the heat for me :)
217 Dave Truman (no not a cricketer) with his Austin Cambridge A60 took a win, by now the heavens had opened and it was peeing down :(
Heat 4 UNDERS and loads more action including a red flag after a nasty looking roll, with another car on top of him, for 53 Dave Cuthbert in an upturned Hillman Minx 1725cc. He was Ok and the race restarted.. Another roll and yet more follow in action, this time it was 244 Wayne Bunyan (Austin Cambridge) into 234 Darryl Edwards (Austin 1300 Estate). There was also a nice ding dong between 64 Mark Dawson (Wolseley 16/60) and 775 (no name) on the infeild.
The win was taken by a happy 342 James Stone (Austin Cambridge Estate) ... Then it wastime for the Big Boys :)
Race 5 Heat 1 -Championship Race- of the Over 1750cc -Championship- (OVERS) NINE Hearse along with many others,inc. Limos,Jags and Rovers.. We knew this would be good... and boy was it!!
One of the/if not the highlight of the day was an awesome follow in double, 60 Kevin Camden in one of the hearse from HITMEN was well followed in by another car 409 Carl Pears (Rover P5B), in fact the roof of the hearse almost decapitated Carl.. But that was after he was hit and pushed further into the hearse by 666 Graham Charnley in a Jag 420!. 141 Dan Steele was also attached to this mess in his Daimler DS420 Limo and was out, for the day. Deano had done better, he had avoided trouble, but his motor had broke down.
There was a winner and that was .. ERM either 516 Gary Weldon (Rover P5 3 Litre) or 216 Nigel Baker (Jag "S" Type).. Hey I was wet & cold by now... but having a great time :)
More UNDER action followed and a roll from 425 Pat McPhillimey (Where are these names from - JOKE) in a very bent , afterwards, Morris Oxford Estate. 452 Adam Eyles in an Austin Cambridge won the race..
Loads more action followed in another UNDERS race. Good roll for 238 (No name) and big hits all round for cars 310-46-383,911,102,99,407,814 and 777... Not sure who won, but it was like a DD.
Back out came the OVERS and once again we had some action, Deano Steele pushed through to the front and sped away for an infactic victory in his Daimler DS420 Hearse. Only four other cars finished.. 3 rodding Warlords and a Motley car!.. Devastation abounded.. Yer gotta Laff :)
By now things were very wet indeed.. my cameras were misting and my notes ran.. So I will skip to the DD's, there were two, one for each class..
DD1 the OVERS ! Not many turned out but tho it was very fast the action was faster.. One car got span 360 and before he stopped was hit hard again and span 360 the other way round, he sat there looking stunned by which time all the other cars were out too..
DD2 the UNDERS ! Much bigger turn out and and long DD. Highlights being car 62 Dave Kingston in an sturdy Austin Cambridge A55 Mk2 that just kept going.. Other cars came in and out of the race but Dave just kept going and deserved to be the winner... The other highlight was a very high and impressive roll from Ruabons very own Pat Woods 756 (1963 Hillman Minx). The rear axel was a goood foot from the base of his car,and rear wheel drive to boot. What did Pat do. he set off again and gave out some stick! Go Pat Go!!!
That was that, it was a very good day. Wet but good :)
But why was there no UNDER & OVER DD ?? We could have had an UNDER hit and OVER get follwed in by another OVER which would go OVER the UNDER but may well have pushed the UNDER OVER the first OVER.. Na thats to complicated.
I got home without incident, by 7:30!!, and had to have a shower and put on some clean/dry clothes :).. Looking back.. It was a very good day.. I hope that the, no any, photos come out :)
