Late summer run - 21st Sept

[Tentenths]

You missed an absolute corker of a day, Chris.

The Ipswich contingent was reduced to just three. John (Simpo Two) in his 5.0 litre Griff, Steve (tankerman24) in his completely bonkers V8, 3.9 engined Westfield (see Owen's last pic) and yours truly in the Scoob.

Having quickly established that none of us exactly believed in hanging around, what followed was an epic 40 mile chase across almost deserted B-roads. The Scoob acquitted itself remarkably well against such exalted company, especially through the bends. The sound of the two V8's, together with my remarkably quiet flat four, on full chat had to be heard to be believed!

We then met up with the Cambridge & Norwich contingents for an hour or so's chat, tyre kicking and lunch before splitting up into three groups for the second phase of the day. I was delighted to find myself in the same group as the AEG/LEF Esprit contingent but, unfortunately, the antics of what must have been the most sedately driven Lotus ever meant that the following Esprits were constantly held up and separated from the lead three cars (two Foresters and a remarkably quick, decatted Elise). Despite stopping several times to allow the stragglers to catch up, it seems they eventually took the wrong exit on a roundabout and that was the last we saw of them for over an hour. Having waited for 10 minutes or so we eventually gave up; back down to three cars we then made our way (even more 'enthusiastically') back to final RV. Happy days!

[andydclements]

Looks like you had a better day than me, lucky so and sos.

Glad you all enjoyed the run, did Kimbers manage to keep up then, I know how he's considered a slow driver?

[OwenGT3]

We then met up with the Cambridge & Norwich contingents for an hour or so's chat, tyre kicking and lunch before splitting up into three groups for the second phase of the day. I was delighted to find myself in the same group as the AEG/LEF Esprit contingent but, unfortunately, the antics of what must have been the most sedately driven Lotus ever meant that the following Esprits were constantly held up and separated from the lead three cars (two Foresters and a remarkably quick, decatted Elise). Despite stopping several times to allow the stragglers to catch up, it seems they eventually took the wrong exit on a roundabout and that was the last we saw of them for over an hour. Having waited for 10 minutes or so we eventually gave up; back down to three cars we then made our way (even more 'enthusiastically') back to final RV. Happy days!

We were going slow at one point, I remember seeing the silver Forrester then it disappeared over the hill, I think this was the point at which we lost the lead cars, at this point we were only doing 60mph on a straight road, unlike the morning, which even with all the piss take I get I was keeping up reasonably well with the lead cars, only occasionally a gap forming before we reformed the line.

I luckily had programmed my sat nav so was able to lead the lost Esprits to the destination, arriving at the final destination before the rest, ok it wasn't the route planned, but it was B roads and nice straight ones so I didn't hang back. from what I gathered it was felt by some that perhaps the lead cars should have kept the immediate cars, perhaps first 3 or four cars in sight, then the last marker in that group keep the proceeding cars behind them in sight, so no one never loses the trail. This was done as we crossed the A140, the cars travelled at 30mph for some time at reasonable spaces to allow the whole line to join up once all cross that road and so the last ones don't have to drive like a bat out of hell to catch up.

I've got nothing against anyone having a blast, but if you do lose the group at least pull up at some point in a visible spot to allow the other to catch up, but don't drive the whole way like that, that wouldn't be a collective drive really. I had no problems with the general driving in the morning and the occassional leap frogging, even Darren at times was snailing on daul carriage ways, and he was the lead car so unless you knew the exact route you couldn't really zoom past him.

A part fromt he minor detour it was a reasonable driving day, I wonder whether AEG should do a coast one in October, then have some chips somewhere? I'll post in the AEG section.

Owen

Edited September 25, 2008 by OwenGT3

[Tentenths]

...but if you do lose the group at least pull up at some point in a visible spot to allow the other to catch up.

Owen, in fairness that's exactly what we did, on five or six occasions! The last time we sat by the side of the road for no less than 10 minutes.

Two or three lessons for future reference.

1. Firstly and fundamentally, avoid having markedly slower cars/drivers within one group. Whilst I suspect we may have perhaps strayed over the limit on a couple of occasions (but certainly NOT within 30 & 40 mph zones which were observed religiously) the driver in question seemed very reluctant to peg it through the gears when the opportunity arose, even on the straightest and most inviting stretches of road.

2. Ensure the group leaders have mobile numbers for two or three of the cars towards the rear of the group. And vice versa.

3. Distribute two or three additional copies of the map throughout the group.

[Kimbers]

Yes Andy I was there, 3rd in the queue for the first Hoon (behind Nifty and iluvmercs), though people seem to have taken all their pictures after I left. Unfortunately I had an issue I had to sort so had to leave early.

I will post up my pics when I get a second.

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

I don

Edited September 23, 2008 by OwenGT3

[Tentenths]

As I've said already we did slow down to a crawl/stop several times. In each case it was on a straight, clear visibility stretch of road having due regard for other road users. In fact in all but one case it was just before the junction where we were due to turn off. Sadly, in the specific case you mention (the roundabout on a very busy stretch of single carriageway road) it would have endangered us/other road users if we had simply stopped before the roundabout. We therefore had no choice but to take our exit (the first); just as soon as we realised the rest of the group had disappeared we stopped once again.

Please don't misunderstand me, Owen, I'm in no way accusing you of being Captain Slow and hindering the rest of the group. In fact, quite the opposite, I'm confident that had you been the 4th car you and the rest of the group would have had absolutely no difficulty in maintaining position... and without endangering anyone's licence.

At the end of the day it is as much for the drivers of the following car to try and maintain pace/contact with the one in front as it for those in the lead to try and maintain contact with those behind. Hand on heart I can honestly say that the three lead cars did everything possible to achieve this (I even tried ringing Brendan at one point!) but the driver of the 4th car appeared to be quite content to simply bimble along, seemingly oblivious to the frustration being caused to those in front and, presumably, behind.

As you'll remember we were divided into three separate groups. These were based on the perceived ability of the cars/drivers. Group A comprised the quickest cars such as the M3, the 400bhp P1 pictured above, the GTO, Westfields & Caterhams, and some of the TVRs.

Group B included the two Elises, our Esprits, a TVR and the two Foresters. You'll have to trust me on this but I can assure you that even the lead cars did not stray into licence losing territory. Yes, we had some fairly exhilarating WOT through-the-gears runs; points territory on the odd occasion perhaps but certainly not bans. Frankly, the relatively narrow, undulating and twisting B roads we were on for much of the route were simply not conducive for such high speed antics.

Anyway, be that as it may, the fact remains we all had a great day. I know from chatting to Mark both before and after the event that he spent a huge amount of time organising it on our behalf and I for one am very grateful to him for putting together such a thoroughly enjoyable day