History 2014 -
For 2013 and before... Click
here
The cart has had a stronger, slightly lower, symmetrical
roll bar fitted.
This was the first welding I'd actually done by myself
on the cart.
This roll bar allowed me to build another canopy using
the same roller system as before as it had proved quite
successful. Naturally, the back end bodywork had to be
changed to match the new front...
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Border Bogies 2014 Border Bogies has
been bathed in sunshine for the last couple of
years... 2014 saw a damp start to proceedings.
A new roll bar had been fitted which allowed
a reduction in the height of the cart.
We had made a new canopy and taken the
opportunity to increase the slope of the
windscreen.
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Run 1 had an eventful finish...
Though not on a par with Dom's spectacular
events of last year, I had a real wobble coming
into the last couple of bends... However, being
given the time of 1:09 I discovered we were 5th
out of 28 starters... Not a bad start to
the season... (I recorded a top speed of 45.54
mph)
This made me a little nervous for run 2, where I
decided to have a good look at the finishing
corners to assess where I should be to avoid the
cone/sand-bag/holes around the grid... I braked
into this section and had perfectly smooth
finish... Great - I would now go for a blast
down the track - Racing line from the top, no
brakes... I was hoping for around 1:07.
However... The rain started as we prepared to
have our third runs...
Being No 23, by the time I set off the track was
soaking and I could hardly see through the
canopy. I elected to live to race another day...
and cruised down at around 30 mph. |
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Coleby 2014 This was a new event for
2014.
There is a slow start, followed by a hairpin
bend....
Then the course gets steeper very quickly !
We had a great two days racing here. We even
managed to get the 'Best Team' medals !
We will run here again if the organisers run
it...
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Worlaby 2014 Bit of a disaster here...
I'd made modifications to the rear axles to
further improve the bogie.
I welded the brackets for the rear brakes using
the wrong material... They failed...
No dramatic crash, but I elected to halt
proceedings until we had "Working" rear brakes.
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North Wales 2014 This was a practice
weekend spent with Ffestiniog and Black dog.
We ran down the roads at Drws y Coed and the
quarry road at Cwm Teigl.
Fantastic !
Dom described the run at Drws y coed as "More
frightening than Cairngorm Extreme" !
The run down Cwm Teigl just has to be one of the
best runs we've ever been down.
Many thanks to Steve Pritchard and Rick Kent.
Aside... This was the last event for Black Dog
as it paid the ultimate price for speed !
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Dalby Forest 2014 This was another
fantastic weekend hosted by Andy Ash and Michele
Beckwith.
It was to celebrate Andy's 50th.
Saturday was bathed in sunshine and the teams
all had 8 runs...
Sunday saw the 2nd runs destroyed by
torrential rain.
The poor visibility through the canopies led us
to abandoning the racing for the safety of the
cartie drivers...
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Border Bogies 2015 Once again bathed in
sunshine, the village of Denholm played host to
our cartie madness...
We ran with an open top this year as I
believed we wouldn't be too much slower...
This turned out to be correct as we recorded our
fastest time of 1:06 - And I'd performed some
'Comfort braking' into the narrow finish area.
Unfortunately, there was an accident today,
with the organisers making the correct decision
to cancel the event before all the drivers had
run down the hill.
The good news is that there were no broken
bones or serious injuries.
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