Gilbert the Gilbern - The Ongoing Story

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by bauble

R.I.P Mike.

He really looks the bees' knees!

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Don't bother to use the brakes, they never were any good when they were new

First thing I commented on when we tested at Mallory - longish pedal, and not a lot happens. Trying different pads now.

[midgetman]

Any update from Donington yet?

[delta]

No news from Pete or David but looking on TSL they finished P28 and P3 in class . I just wanted them to get some race miles undr their belt ready for Spa . Good job boys . Well done .?

[Lancsbreaker]

I met up with them briefly and had a chat Car was looking good and they were in good spirits, and tucking into bacon butties when I popped in

[MGDavid]

Well that was fun ! Actually ended up P25 after all the penalties and DNFs were sorted out, we managed to keep a clean sheet :-) Reasonably pleased with times especially as I'd not been to Donny for about 12 years. As the car's hardly turned a wheel for almost 4 years we will go through it, rebuild the brakes, look at suspension, maybe a bit of testing otherwise save the car for Spa. Mike must have sorted the weather for us today - scorchio !
Good to meet Lancsbreaker at last, lots of other happy faces too, all just glad to be back out there.

[andy97]

Good to see you briefly before my unscheduled stint as safety car observer. Hope you enjoyed the day, you certainly seemed to be going well around Redgate (the only bit of the circuit I could see).

[coppice]

Wandered round the paddock on a Gilbern hunt - if I'd read this thread first I might have looked in the garages. I hope to see it at Cadwell.

[E.B]

Great to read fun was had, the car is undamaged, and after a quiet few years did not let itself down. Well done all involved. Look forward to reading about the next of Gilbert's Adventures.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by delta

No news from Pete or David but looking on TSL they finished P28 and P3 in class . I just wanted them to get some race miles undr their belt ready for Spa . Good job boys . Well done .?

It was great fun, thank you for inviting me. David and I have honours even for lap times, I was fastest in qually, he got the race fastest.

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

I met up with them briefly and had a chat Car was looking good and they were in good spirits, and tucking into bacon butties when I popped in

Originally Posted by MGDavid

Well that was fun ! Actually ended up P25 after all the penalties and DNFs were sorted out, we managed to keep a clean sheet :-) Reasonably pleased with times especially as I'd not been to Donny for about 12 years. As the car's hardly turned a wheel for almost 4 years we will go through it, rebuild the brakes, look at suspension, maybe a bit of testing otherwise save the car for Spa. Mike must have sorted the weather for us today - scorchio !
Good to meet Lancsbreaker at last, lots of other happy faces too, all just glad to be back out there.

It was interesting when we all lost you! (David disappeared to the assembly area when we weren't looking, cue much scratching of heads. I eventually found him at the head of the assembly queue). I found the car to be much easier to drift than my MGB (which tells me we need to sort that out) and could get on the gas much earlier than I had been able to do at the 1 May meeting. We did get pinged for track limits and lost our fastest lap in qually but we still finished well. Come the race, David took us up to 33rd having spent much time swapping places with an MGB, in my stint we got to 28th but I confess it was pretty busy, on one particular lap I overtook a blue Elan at Coppice and ran down to the chicane where I came up behind a B, when I tried to out brake the B , the Elan shot in front of both of us and having better brakes, brake tested both of us, just as a line of faster cars took advantage! I came through the chicane off cam and lost a bit of time. But crucially it was all clean and no contact whatsoever. This would be the story of my stint, because every time I got into position to overtake, the race leaders or the faster cars would bring out the blue flags so progress was hampered. Anyway, my job was to bring Gilbert home unscathed and we achieved that in spades.

Another humorous episode was the flying stuffed animal. Mike's lucky cuddly toy broke loose and spent my stint rolling around the passenger footwell. Fortunately it endured the experience unscathed! Will be reinstalled using a restraint of some kind.

Yup, good to say hi to Lancy.

Originally Posted by andy97

Good to see you briefly before my unscheduled stint as safety car observer. Hope you enjoyed the day, you certainly seemed to be going well around Redgate (the only bit of the circuit I could see).

Good to bump elbows Andy also good to hear you had a good race on Saturday.

Originally Posted by coppice

Wandered round the paddock on a Gilbern hunt - if I'd read this thread first I might have looked in the garages. I hope to see it at Cadwell.

Yes we were elevated to the aristocracy this weekend.

Originally Posted by E.B

Great to read fun was had, the car is undamaged, and after a quiet few years did not let itself down. Well done all involved. Look forward to reading about the next of Gilbert's Adventures.

This was my first taste of the CSCC and it was a pleasant experience in a lovely car.

[John Turner]

Yes, fantastic effort folks and great feedback, Peter.

I recently came across this photo, which I'm pretty sure that I haven't posted before and decided that this thread probably best to do so as it's current! Taken at the 'old' Pace Products of Gareth Burnett premises in June 2016. Mike with JR & 'Zef'

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Yes, fantastic effort folks and great feedback, Peter.

I recently came across this photo, which I'm pretty sure that I haven't posted before and decided that this thread probably best to do so as it's current! Taken at the 'old' Pace Products of Gareth Burnett premises in June 2016. Mike with JR & 'Zef'

A bit off topic, but is that the Pace Products that Luke Watson is/was involved with?

[Peter Mallett]

And as ever Mike in shorts and sandals. Thanks for posting John.

[grantp]

I watched the Live Stream video in catch up mode. Gilbert was mentioned in the commentary. Thereafter the cameras seemed to pick you up quite frequently.

In the sunshine the distinctive and plain blue colour was easily recognised and did not seem to match any other car. That probably helped the "saw him" count!

Good result chaps. Well done.

Also not to collect a sack load of penalties. Some of the final results sheets look like a lottery of penalties has been randomly distributed. Either that or a lot of people are "very naughty boys".

Still, not as naughty as your pal Tiff, Peter, on Saturday at Brands. Or so the results sheets seem to suggest. At least they let him back in for Sunday ...

[Peter Mallett]

Just looked at the Brands results. Indeed Tiff was disqualified from the Pre 66 touring cars.

[andy97]

There did seem to be quite a few penalties over the weekends - nothing too serious in many instances (altho i benefitted from 4 people not understanding that you cant overtake until the start finsh line at the end of a safety car period) but i do think that many are having trouble timing 2 minute pit stops from pit entry to pit exit.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Just looked at the Brands results. Indeed Tiff was disqualified from the Pre 66 touring cars.

One wonders why.

The video stream shows an incident near the end of the Pre 66 race where a yellow Mustang rotated into the gravel (at Surtees iirc) for the second lap in a row (I think. Might have managed one in between staying on track.). Made a better job of it the second time which is why the race ended under a Safety Car.

One can see a marshal approach the driver's door, presumably to point out the car has dug itself in up to the hubs, and the driver starts to exit the car as a Cortina leaves the track (seems quite close to the marshal but the camera perspective may be misleading), circles around the back of the Mustang through the gravel and then rejoins the track heading towards Clearways.

The video quality did not seem to be adequate to identify a race number but it's one of the oddest incidents I have seen captured on video at a UK meeting. So if anyone knows the circumstances that led to it the explanation might be quite enlightening.

Whether that was in any way connected to Mr. N I have no idea but on the basis of the reasons given for the DQ and that no other such penalties are listed it seems likely.

That part of Brands Hatch seems to attract dramatic incidents.

[Peter Mallett]

He was driving a Lotus Cortina.

[Aysedasi]

I saw that on the stream and it looked pretty scary to me. The Cortina went off at some speed and had the marshal not had his wits about him it could have been very nasty indeed....

[Greem]

Four marshals (three of whom are friends of mine) tried to heave the beached car back onto the track but it was buried. Three of them retreated. One remained to talk to the driver, and Mr N then lost control after passing a single and two sets of double yellows. Luckily, as we know, nobody was affected by the run wide behind the beached car.

Too close, hence the penalty.

[Aysedasi]

Much too close, it certainly caused me to comment about a crying Messiah when I saw it!

[bauble]

I think this thread should get back on track.

[delta]

Managed to watch some of the race last night. Gilbert looked wonderful.Roll on Spa.Will that do Bob.

[bauble]

The calendar will help, with the June picture, Iain.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

A bit off topic, but is that the Pace Products that Luke Watson is/was involved with?

Well I do recall Gareth and Luke battling it out for the lead at the Le Mans Classic, some years back, both driving John's cars (Talbot & Alta) and they were both prepared by Pace Products but I have no idea whether Luke was involved with the company. It's now Pace Historics and Gareth is sole Director, I believe.

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