F1 Abbey Disappointment For Historics

[john ruston]

Obviously very few people apart from Terry and Peter had a reply.
What did yours say Terry as we should see the MSA bosses this weekend as assume they will be at Silverstone if only to see the error of their decisions

[terence]

Basicaly just what I said in my earlier posting,about once the people who were jumping up and down about the Nickerbrook episode stopped jumping up and down.More or less implying that it would soon be forgotten about but if the FIA want to grant a grade two license,then thats fine.I cannot post the whole letter on here but I really did not get the impression that the MSA cared much about it anyway!
So strange how just a bunch of "racing drivers" could cause such a thing to happen,I can only assume this was brought about by those people who complained about it after a wet race<that I find totally unbelivable,why are they out there in the first place>?That question deserves an answer!
I sincerely hope that nothing happens this weekend,they will close the bloody circuit down!!!

[Peter Horsman]

My reply seemed to use a number of pro-forma phrases readily recognisable from the original article from Motor Racing News. Seems that cut-and-paste is alive and well in Slough.

I wonder whether i will get a reply from my follow-up? Time will tell. It would be nice to think that they respect their 'clientel' and will put forward cogent arguments to justify ther stance.

Went round GP Abbey today. It was as I expected, just a slam on the brakes and try not to exit wide, No excitment, no exhileration. Just a hoof-ful of middle pedal once braking point sorted.

[terence]

I still have not had a reply to my follow up Peter,I take it my original feeling that the are hoping this will just fade away was correct.
The Abbey/Farm is great for testing your brakes though,isnt it ? not particularly memorable apart from that.!!

[LYNX]

Under racing conditions I can see some FJ cars finishing sans brakes. Qualifying didn't cause too many problems this morning. So tomorrow will be the litmus test.

[TorqueWench]

Originally Posted by LYNX

Under racing conditions I can see some FJ cars finishing sans brakes. Qualifying didn't cause too many problems this morning. So tomorrow will be the litmus test.

You're a clever lady - not just an acid test but the whole hog!

Hope you all enjoy it - I dropped over to see you all yesterday before David's "party" but we are at Brands this weekend (with the biggest grid!)

[Tim the Grey]

Hmmm. Judging by what I saw last thing today, it's T70s as well that may have issues! Plus a few B8s.

LOTS of grassy moments, JUST missing the kitty litter. In fact, I think one A.Newey may have gone lawn mowing in his GT40, thinking about it. I'll have to recheck the pictures, but it's an early start tomorrow.

[terence]

Makes you wonder if any of those drivers will issue a formal complaint to the MSA about the plain stupidity of this unnecessary change!

[john ruston]

The feeling in the 500 is that the change for the cars is both dangerous and ill thought out.We are stuck with it.

[terence]

And I thought that one of the reasons for performing this act of short-sightedness was to avoid any chance of litigation!

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

Hmmm. Judging by what I saw last thing today, it's T70s as well that may have issues! Plus a few B8s.

LOTS of grassy moments, JUST missing the kitty litter. In fact, I think one A.Newey may have gone lawn mowing in his GT40, thinking about it. I'll have to recheck the pictures, but it's an early start tomorrow.

I think that could be as much a case of running out of talant.....

[James Murray]

I may have got it wrong but I thought they were using the club chicane aswell as the one at abbey?

The few incidents at abbey I saw on TV would not have happened if the historic layout was used. The driver of the Cooper in the HGPCA race was very lucky not to spin accross the track into the cars navigating the chicane.

[Tim the Grey]

We saw several instances of what looked like brake snatch into Abbey. Sudden veer left, or right, as the nose dipped...
Not the carnage some had feared, but certainly plenty of cars carrying ballast!

[terence]

I think you'lll find the "Brake Snatch" to be cause by the un-even surface Timm. Glad nothing serious happened obviously,lets hope its not just a matter of time though.

[john ruston]

Tim.They have all run out of Talent or they would be in Modern races.Its a hobby that people occasionally pay to watch other than those have been given tickets.

[James Murray]

Why didnt they use the chicane at club? I thought all this hooha because they were running this event on the current licensed GP track not the historic circuit. From what I saw it was only Abbey that was different.

[terence]

Oh dear!! I suppose theres always one!

[Tim the Grey]

Terence? I thought F1 demanded billiard table surfaces nowadays?

JR? I'm confused? If I seemed to be having a pop, I wasn't? How are the DVDs, btw? Let me know if you wanted anything different done?

[Peter Horsman]

'The driver of the Cooper in the HGPCA race was very lucky not to spin accross the track into the cars navigating the chicane.'

I was the P1 car at the time, and had almost to stop on Abbey whilst the Cooper spun to a halt, thus allowing the P3 guy through to win the race!! Very annoying - it was the last lap!

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by Peter Horsman

'The driver of the Cooper in the HGPCA race was very lucky not to spin accross the track into the cars navigating the chicane.'

I was the P1 car at the time, and had almost to stop on Abbey whilst the Cooper spun to a halt, thus allowing the P3 guy through to win the race!! Very annoying - it was the last lap!

Peter I felt for you when that happened especially after such a great race - he was getting a tad wild on the last lap although I didn't expect to see his back snap out at that point - if you watch it on telly you will see how lucky you really were! In respect to Jac's spin in the 17 that was really sad and given Jac was no slouch when he used to own your car you and you were quicker it was very impressive. Probably the two best races I saw in terms of closeness and entertainment

[James Murray]

Agreed Simon, was really hoping Jac would hold off the etype, was great viewing.

Peter is your Lotus 1.5 or 2.5? Either way a great result.

[Peter Horsman]

I've just stuck a 2.5 in it. and this was my second outing in the thing in that configuration. It's somewhat quicker....... I am beginning to get to grips with it, but need to be smoother which is the way to drive Lotuses.

Jac drove the car well; he would have been taken by Stretton in the Minshaw's quick E type before the end in any event.

The second pre-66 race, I spun at Abbey (oil (probably!)), and saw Clarkey flash past, so had to work hard in the remaining two laps to regain position. My car was jumping out of 4th gear sometimes, which caused me issues especially at Stowe, where the entry is on light throttle in fourth, so I was not able to give Mark P a run for his money which was a bit of a shame.

I was very happy with three P2s.

The pre-66 and GD races had some very close scraps in them, and the standard of driving was excellent. I was jolly close to some cars (and they me) for quite a few laps but our cars were absolutely unscathed. That includes Mr Wills in the Bizza.

[rogerwills]

Agreed, I had some brilliant close racing and not a scrape on any car. Only damage was a cracked headlight in the Mustang and a selection of white/black marks on the front wing of the Bizza, all caused by being a little too close to the marker posts on the entry to the pit straight! I had tried to blame Joe for the Bizza but Motors TV busted me!

[rogerwills]

Back on topic though, I had a conversation with some people at the weekend and the conclusion was that when Silverstone was inspected by the FIA, they were only asked to inspect the Abbey "modern" configuration and were not asked to inspect and licence the "historic" configuration.

The person was saying that if someone would be willing to pay for the historic track to be inspected again, it would likely be certified and licenced for use, probably only for historic events.

They were also saying that if the FIA were asked to certify and licence the historic track for 2009, then it may all be fine again. Or if someone paid to do it for the remainder of this year.

Interesting.......

Perhaps we should be focused then on asking this question for 2009 rather than just accepting the decision and living with something sub-optimal.

Thoughts?

[terence]

We should start lobbying the MSA now,not wait until they re-grouped.!!
Tim,until you have driven that section first in a modern, boring,"[supercar]",and immediately afterwards in a classic do you realize the difference ABS makes to that surface after rain,there are always low points on the left which do hold water.Obviously at speed,whacking the brakes on in this area is not really desirable even in the dry.