NOTTINGHAM SPORTS CAR CLUB

June 2011 1 CLUB WEBSITE

www.gosprinting.co.uk Don’t forget to visit the Club Web Site. Its full of useful information from Club events and dates to results, Championship positions, downloadable regs and membership forms and details. If you’ve got something that could be useful to other NSCC Club members, then why not advertise it on the Web site. For further details contact Andrew Warren on :- [email protected]

SPIN OFF ARTICLES

Breaking news, adverts, for sale items, letters, views and race & event write ups should be sent to the Editor. Copy date for the next Spin Off:-

14th July 2010

And sent to : Paul Marvin. 4 Marriott Drive, Kibworth Harcourt, Leicester LE8 0JX Tel : Mobile : 07715 353440 or Email : [email protected]

2 IN THIS ISSUE

Chairmans Chatter 4 Editors Mutterings 5

WSCC Curborough Regs 6

2011 NSCC Speed Championship Calendar 7

Invited Event dates for 2011 8

Major Motor Sport Event dates for 2011 9

Target Times 2011 10 - 11

Event Contacts List 12

Classic Corner 13

Marshals Update 14

Caption Fun 15

Mole Racing Report 16 - 19

La Vie En Bleu - Cinq 19 - 21

Urgent Marshal request - Huntsman Rally 25th June 21

Supplementary Regulations 22

MSA News 23 - 26 Official & Committee contacts 27

Acknowledgement The artwork on the front cover is re-printed with the kind permission of the well known motorsport cartoonist Jim Bamber. Jim has very kindly allowed me to use his illustra- tions. For a sneek preview why not visit his web site www.jimbamber.co.uk

3 Chairman's Chatter

Cala Galdana, Menorca

BMI Baby wouldn´t wait for me to pen a few thoughts for this month so here I am sit- ting on a beach missing the Editor´s deadline- It´s a tough life! The problem here is in the 10 years or so we´ve been visiting the island I can´t re- member seeing an interesting car never mind a whiff of motorsport - the budding Alonso´s must be up in the hills somewhere. Thank goodness for Eurosport which is a bit of a luxury for someone like me who refuses to bolster Murdoch´s billions with a subscription to Sky but, I must admit, it´s tempting - there just aren´t enough hours in the day though to be earning a living and watching what´s on offer. I know we sprinters and hill climbers think we have touched "the edge" after a blitzing run and get out of the car with twitchy hands and shaky knees (or is that just me) but the bravery of John McGuiness and co on the Isle of Man is at a different level. Sadly there have been more deaths this week including the bravest of the brave, a sidecar passenger. Car safety has improved beyond measure in recent years although the exploding car- bon fibre is pretty spectacular, witness Alan McNish at Le Mans, but the road racing bikers have no protection from lamposts, trees, walls etc as they touch 200 mph - breathtaking for someone like me who has never ridden a bike, and they go back year after year. Sir Stirling called it a day this week, at 81, after scaring himself in practice for the Le Mans Legends race in his Porsche - one of the greats bowing out gracefully with hon- esty and dignity. It´s different for us oldies on the hills, we only put ourseves at risk, racing is a different matter. Vettel seems well on his way to a second championship but there´s been some pretty good racing behind him and Monaco could have been one of the best finishes in years except for the safety car. There is hope, the are getting better and you feel Lewis and Jenson are there or thereabouts - Lewis just needs to calm down a bit but then he wouldn´t be Lewis. I´m impressed with new boy Paul de Resta, he is holding his own in the Force India team with the mimimum of hype or fuss in the media, an all round nice chap. Blyton, now known as Blyton Park, looks more likely for next year if we can afford the fees - 1.5 miles new tarmac with a licence to run both ways if the MSA approve. Must cool off - the water is crystal clear so got to go See you at Curborough next month

Roger C [email protected]

4

Editors Mutterings

To those of you who have received this edition of Spin Off via the post, you will have noticed no change. However, I have now taken the step, with a little help from our new webmaster Andrew Warren, to email Spin Off where ever possible. This not only saves me time, but more importantly, also saves the club some valuable printing and postage costs during these rather difficult times. Any of you who responded to the flyer that was sent out with the membership re- newal forms in December last year have had your wishes carried out; that is you’ve either elected to receive future Spin Offs by email in pdf format or to continue to receive a hard copy by post. Any members who did not return the form or are new members, then if an email address was provided on the membership forms for 2011 then I have used this to email the magazine to you. The membership forms will probably change for 2012 and a discount may be offered to members who elect to receive their 10 issues of Spin Off by email thus encouraging as many of you as possible to take the email route. Watch this space…….. Our July event, which I am “secretary” for, is now filling up fast. If any competitive members were considering entering this event, I strongly recommend you get you entry in quickly as you could be disappointed if you leave it much longer. The Curborough sprint cir- cuit is a very popular venue for us and the traditional July double lap event that NSCC host has even more championships participating now and therefore even more likely to be over-subscribed. Finally Jenson Button has broken through and won another F1 Grand Prix. Well deserved I’m sure. Didn’t actually see any of the practice, qualifying or the race its self as, quite frankly, it now bores me to tears! Only highlight of the weekend for me was when I happened upon a YouTube clip that was emailed to me of that arrogant Red Bull driver parking his F1 race car in the wall on Friday ….. Superb!!

PM

Westfield Sports Car Club Curborough June 19th

Supplementary regs and entry forms are on the BARC website for drivers to download

Go to ……… http://www.wscc.co.uk/regs.htm (Discount available to NSCC registered members)

SPIN OFF

Have you received a copy by post and you would sooner receive an elec- tronic copy and save the club a few pounds? Email me at [email protected] and you’ll receive future copies to your email in-box. Plus……… If you received an electronic copy and would prefer a “hard” copy, then please email at the above email address and I’ll make the necessary amends.

Paul Marvin

Classic Touring Car Racing Club

Mallory Park Sunday 18th June 2011

We have been told that the Supplementary Regulations and Entry Forms for the above event are now available to download on the website. This is not a championship round of ours but still worth a visit! Go to ………. www.classictouringcars.com

If any member has a problem accessing the site then I do have some electronic forms that I can email.

Paul Marvin 6 2011 NSCC SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR

Round Date Day Circuit Organising Club 1 17-Apr Sunday Harewood BARC (Yorks)

2 17-Apr Sunday 3 Sisters Longton & Dist’ MC

3 17-Apr Sunday Silverstone Sheff’ & Hallamshire

4 30-Apr Saturday Aintree Liverpool Motor Club

5 07-May Saturday Shelsley Walsh MAC

6 08-May Sunday Shelsley Walsh MAC

7 14-May Saturday MIRA MAC

8 04-Jun Saturday Pembrey BARC (Wales)

9 05-Jun Sunday Pembrey BARC (Wales)

10 11-Jun Saturday Anglesey Chester MC

11 12-Jun Sunday Anglesey Chester MC

12 19-Jun Sunday Curborough Westfield Sports CC

13 25-Jun Saturday Aintree Liverpool Motor Club

14 10-Jul Sunday Curborough (L) NSCC

15 16-Jul Saturday Llandow BARC (Wales)

16 13-Aug Saturday Mira NSCC

17 28-Aug Sunday Harewood BARC (Yorks)

18 03-Sep Saturday Aintree Liverpool Motor Club

19 10-Sep Saturday Loton Park Hagley & District LCC

20 11-Sep Sunday 3 Sisters Longton & District MC

21 17-Sep Saturday Thoresby Park NSCC

22 18-Sep Sunday Thoresby Park NSCC

7 INVITED EVENTS Events to which we have accepted an invitation, but do not form part of the NSCC Championship. Keep watching this space as it will be updated as more invites are accepted.

DATE VENUE CLUB CONTACT

noreenward 20th March BARC Midlands @tiscali.co.uk MG Car Club’s ormerod. 3rd April Curborough Midland Centre [email protected] martin. 7th May MIRA Bentley DC green- [email protected] noreenward 7th May Curborough BARC Midlands @tiscali.co.uk Classic Touring www. 18th / 19th Mallory Park Car Racing classictouring- June Club cars.com noreenward 13th August Curborough BARC Midlands @tiscali.co.uk noreenward 1st October Curborough BARC Midlands @tiscali.co.uk

8 MAJOR MOTOR SPORTS EVENTS FOR 2011 F1 Round 1 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX March 13th Round 2 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX (Melbourne) March 27th Round 3 Malaysian Grand Prix (Kuala Lumpar) April 10th Round 4 CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) April 17th Round 5 TURKISH GRAND PRIX (Istanbul) May 8th Round 6 SPANISH GRAND PRIX (Catalunya) May 22nd Round 7 MONACO GRAND PRIX (Monte Carlo) May 29th Round 8 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX (Montreal) June 12th Round 9 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX (Valencia) June 26th Round 10 BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone) July 10th Round 11 GERMAN GRAND PRIX (Nurburgring) July 24th Round 12 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX (Budapest) July 31st Round 13 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps) July 28th Round 14 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX (Monza) Sept’ 11th Round 15 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (Singapore) Sept’ 25th Round 16 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Suzuka) October 9th Round 17 KOREAN GRAND PRIX (Yeongam) October 16th Round 18 INDIAN GRAND PRIX (New Delhi) October 30th Round 19 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX (Yas Marina Circuit) Nov’ 13th Round 20 BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX (Sao Paulo) Nov’ 27th MOTO GP Round 1 QATAR (Losail) March 20th Round 2 SPAIN (Jerez) April 3rd Round 3 JAPAN (Motegi) April 24th Round 4 PORTUGAL (Estoril) May 1st Round 5 FRANCE (Le Mans) May 15th Round 6 CATALUNYA June 5th Round 7 GREAT BRTAIN (Silverstone) June 12th Round 8 NETHERLANDS (Assen) June 23rd Round 9 ITALY (Mugello) July 3rd Round 10 GERMANY (Sachsenring) July 17th Round 11 USA (Laguna Seca) July 24th Round 12 CZECH REPUBLIC (Brno) August 14th Round 13 USA (Indianapolis) August 28th Round 14 SAN MARINO (Misano) Sept’ 4th Round 15 ARAGON MOTORLAND (Aragon) Sept’ 18th Round 16 AUSTRALIA (Phillip Island) Oct’ 16th Round 17 MALAYSIA (Sepang) October 23rd Round 19 SPAIN (Valencia) 9 Nov’ 6th NSCC TARGET TIMES 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP

3 Sis- Hare- CLASS Capacity Aintree Pembrey Short Long ters - wood April up to SA Standard Saloon & Sports 59.04 144.53 39.86 72.10 74.90 55.59 1400cc 1401 to SB Standard Saloon & Sports 55.09 134.13 36.99 67.10 69.49 52.82 2000cc over SC Standard Saloon & Sports 54.14 127.35 35.12 64.70 68.60 52.82 2000cc Road Modified Saloon & up to 1A 54.15 135.36 37.33 66.26 67.65 50.98 Sports 1400cc Road Modified Saloon & 1401 to 1B 52.79 130.89 36.20 64.46 66.92 51.45 Sports 2000cc Road Modified Saloon & over 1C 49.52 130.88 34.52 64.23 65.63 49.78 Sports 2000cc Road Modified Kit, Rep- up to 2A 48.80 117.64 32.67 60.40 61.54 48.18 lica, etc. 1700cc Road Modified Kit, Rep- over 2B 46.74 121.74 31.43 56.27 59.74 47.30 lica, etc. 1700cc

2E Road Modified Lotus Elise 1800cc 49.62 122.32 34.20 62.00 63.88 47.80

Mod Prod exclu kit/space up to 3A 51.18 127.11 33.15 60.12 63.70 46.92 framed 1400cc Mod Prod exclu kit/space 1401 to 3B 48.04 129.97 32.27 60.61 60.51 46.59 framed 2000cc Mod Prod exclu kit/space over 3C 47.36 115.85 31.95 59.03 59.32 44.46 framed 2000cc up to 3F Mod Prod Kit/space frame 46.21 114.11 31.12 59.65 57.32 44.60 1800cc over 3G Mod Prod Kit/space frame 43.93 110.05 30.35 54.71 58.10 42.93 1800cc Sports Libre & Hillclimb S/ up to 4A 45.14 108.35 29.88 53.21 54.34 43.12 Sports 1700cc Sports Libre & Hillclimb S/ over 4B 43.78 110.77 28.88 53.28 52.98 44.02 Sports 1700cc up to 5A Racing Cars 41.80 99.11 28.59 52.95 52.97 40.38 1100cc

5B 1600cc 48.43 119.13 33.37 58.94 60.95 45.65

1101 to 5C Racing Cars 40.30 94.95 28.55 51.23 51.34 40.76 1600cc 1601 to 5D Racing Cars 40.09 92.69 28.07 51.39 51.87 40.10 2000cc over 5E Racing Cars 35.82 91.53 26.84 49.21 49.13 38.60 2000cc

10 NSCC TARGET TIMES 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP

3 Sisters - Silver- Anglesey Anglesey Loton MIRA Thoresby Llandow Shelsley Alt layout stone Int' Nat Nat

55.10 69.98 61.45 59.62 99.23 39.56 131.44 118.52 149.91

53.78 64.00 57.20 54.93 90.29 36.71 124.33 109.98 139.11

53.10 63.58 55.48 53.16 90.62 34.85 115.81 104.42 132.08

51.65 63.66 57.98 56.67 90.80 36.67 123.10 103.94 143.74

51.93 61.91 55.32 55.40 86.70 36.02 119.37 107.63 129.90

52.20 61.33 53.90 50.92 82.66 33.47 113.83 98.14 122.09

49.20 55.77 50.96 51.00 79.52 32.78 107.73 96.05 122.69

47.53 55.57 48.72 50.19 80.01 29.41 103.64 93.31 118.20

50.08 58.39 51.66 51.29 83.49 32.73 112.78 106.30 128.62

48.59 57.52 49.00 54.06 82.98 33.31 109.31 98.57 123.13

48.34 56.96 49.86 53.42 80.36 31.02 106.41 103.56 130.75

46.69 54.71 47.71 49.95 80.88 30.40 105.36 95.00 123.34

45.24 52.10 46.33 45.76 76.80 30.85 122.35 89.63 114.49

44.81 52.22 46.17 46.86 72.88 30.12 100.08 90.24 114.14

45.61 49.48 45.95 49.33 71.79 27.49 101.34 98.39 113.06

45.28 48.33 46.43 46.50 76.79 25.83 95.23 88.96 108.61

42.52 47.62 43.69 45.61 69.39 26.09 93.76 82.60 101.78

46.51 57.82 51.03 52.25 80.76 36.68 112.51 97.11 117.77

42.32 46.62 43.61 44.51 67.84 25.12 87.88 85.34 103.53

43.25 46.33 42.63 n/a 67.73 25.39 88.45 81.06 99.35

36.51 45.03 41.13 n/a 64.84 23.15 85.87 75.50 93.80

11 Contact [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Pickles [email protected] MikeSimpson [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] tba tba Clubwebsite / BARC(Yorks) Longton District & MC Sheffield Hallamshire & Liverpool MotorClub MAC MAC MAC BARC(Wales) BARC(Wales) ChesterMC ChesterMC WSCC Liverpool MotorClub NSCC BARC(Wales) NSCC BARC Yorks Liverpool MotorClub Hagley District& LCC LongtonMC District & NSCC NSCC Venue Harewood Sisters 3 Silverstone Aintree WalshShelsley WalshShelsley MIRA Pembrey Pembrey Anglesey Anglesey Curborough Aintree Curborough(2 lap) Llandow MIRA Harewood Aintree Loton Park Sisters 3 Thoresby Park Thoresby Park

Date 17th April 17th April 17th April 30th April May 7th May 8th 14th May June 4th June 5th 12June 11th June 12th 19thJune June 25th 10thJuly July 16th 13th August 28th August September3rd 10thSeptember 11thSeptember 17thSeptember 18thSeptember Classic Corner – December 2010 Incorporating Memorable Moments

I was sorry to read in the last edition that Frank Sytner had been in- volved with an accident at the Donington Historic Festival. I hope he gets on OK as sadly we older people don’t mend so well as we used to.

Some of you will recall that when he still controlled Sytner BMW dealerships, he provided a small sponsorship to the Club when we opened Thoresby Park in 1992 with a trade stand on display. Frank started both his motor sport career and his motor dealerships in Nottingham. When I first became involved with marshal duties circa 1961/62, he had a garage on Woodborough Road at Mapperley and competed at NSCC race meetings in a roadgoing car (sorry can’t recall which model).

Another 1960s memory was prompted with the item about the Mini show at the Little John at Ravenshead – I can recall a rally starting from there, but not sure which club involved and the area was still known as Newstead Abbey then. The event included a site just off the road at Longdale Lane where there was a special stage which was unusual then as rallies were freely allowed on public roads at the time.

The third historic pont was the mention of in the MSA news section, the NSCC is known to have organised just one race meeting at that venue, before my time in the early to mid 50s. It was said that the main race was won by Les Leston, but there is no documentation available to substantiate this. However, there is a small film clip in the Club archives of a sports car race that Austin Nurse was leading, but the camera failed after only a short run!

Anyway I’ll try and think of a few more historic snippets for the next issue.

Bruce Widdowson

13 Marshals Page

Hope you are all enjoying your motorsport. I am looking forward to our first event in July. Thanks to two marshals who have responded and volunteered for Thoresby Park I will be contacting those of you who have booked Simon Hadfield's kind invitation to visit him on July 13th I am sure it will be a great evening. I am out of circuit marshalling now, still waiting for a date for my hip replacement hope it doesn't clash with 10th July!!

Vi

If you want to marshal at any of the NSCC events listed below and require a Marshals Availability Form, please contact me on [email protected] or 01159 261286 (mobile) 07976 961974

Round Date Day Circuit

21 Sept 17th Saturday Thoresby Park

22 Sept 18th Sunday Thoresby Park

14 CAPTION FUN

If any of you out there fancy having a “pop” in jest at a couple of long-standing club members then please feel free to send me your printable comments and I’ll add them to a future Spin Off. I have no idea where they are in this photo, why there are smiling so broadly, or why they both have their hands stuffed firmly in their pockets!

Paul Marvin

Email comments to [email protected]

15 mole racing – with K2 Consultancy & TEW Engineering

2011 Event report from British Sprint Championship rounds at Castle Combe & Silverstone What a Winter! At the last event of 2010, I purchased the identical car that Bill Gouldthorpe had run for several years, a Van Diemen RF96. What attracted me to this car was the engine, an SBD Duratec with 272bhp, compared to my engine that was only 242bhp back in 2005. Both of these 96’s came from a team in Portugal in the 90’s, and here I was, owner of both! They were completely stripped and the best bits of my 2010 car, the wings, floor, hubs and dampers were swapped to the new one. I decided to try to sell my old car with its carbon bodywork and full datalogging and dash intact, so I had to get new bodywork for the 2011 car. Martin Pickles did a fantastic job repairing and modifying the moulds, and Hansell Composites did a superb job in turning this in carbon fibre reality as you can see from the pictures. Up to Christmas all the effort went in to getting the old car ready for sale. During these months I had about one enquiry/week, but these never materialised into anything significant. As I became increasingly concerned about the space the 2010 car was taking up and how difficult it was going to make the ’11 season with a ‘spare car’ in the way, I had just one serious buyer who ironically came from Portugal and that is where the car is now again. So with additional funds the new 2011 car has been steadily developed, but for the first event we have had to trade off getting a reliable car against putting all the new technology on it. This objective has been achieved, the car has been reliable and upgrades are steadily coming out during the first events of the season. mole racing support in 2011 Ongoing support from K2 Consultancy is most welcome. The company is continuing to expand, with a good order book in 2011 and recently a significant multi-million pound contract for work at Sheerness Port. The new Guildford Civic Arts centre has been recently completed and K2 Consultancy continues to manage a number of major jobs in the NHS and health sector. TEW Engineering based in Nottingham is a leading supplier of custom built control and information systems for rail, utili- ties and the petrochemical industry. The bespoke machine build division

16 of TEW is Industrial Automation who supply mainly into the automo- tive industry, offering a wide range of specialist custom built ma- chines. Both IA and TEW are also doing well, with significant orders from around Europe and the UK.

Pre Season: With many a late evening, we went to Curborough for a ‘fluids shakedown’ i.e. does it leak, does it go and does it stop? type test, the answer was “Yes” to most of those, but I didn’t fit in it and the brakes were rubbish! New push rods were already on order be- fore the test as brake pedal geometry improvements were antici- pated. 3 days later we were at Mallory Park for a proper meeting where the car could be pushed hard. During the days 4 runs, body work was being changed, fettled and fitted, plus in cockpit ergonomics and position were fine tuned. A misfire towards the end of the day gave cause for concern, but new sensors, leads and plugs cured this before the important Castle Combe round. A great cheeky video from Gary Thomas, of the car ‘secret launch’ can be found on the YouTube ‘moleracing’ site.

Castle Combe 2011 Further additions and hard graft meant it looked rather mean on its official Debut at the first round of the SBD 2011 British Sprint Championship at the Wiltshire circuit. With the modification of an ancillary top up fuel tank of 3 litres to supplement the main 4 litre tank, I had ‘long range capacity’ and was able to complete the 3 practice laps. A disaster was averted as it turned out that in the preparation and warm up I had pulled at a hose and dislodged the connection. This resulted in a slow release of all the engine coolant on the first lap, followed by 2 laps with no water! Luckily all was well, the new engine was undamaged and the season continues! This was the first time I could compare the car against last year’s times and I was not disappointed. At the end of the meeting last year – practice, two timed runs , and two run off runs I had man- aged to get down to a 128.11 on brand new tyres. This year, after the second timed run on old tyres, I was below this at 127.8, that’s what an extra 40 bhp gives you. I cannot imagine what it is like to have an extra 300 - 400 that the big V8s are running! This was 9 th fastest and hence we qualified for the run offs, ahead of Mike Musson who rejoins us after several years having got his blood pressure down and weighed in a good 10kg lighter than last year! Phil Lynch, who’s season upgrades amounted to a slight polish of the bodywork and a new setof tyres and Kev Lealan, whose car was

17 drinking so much methanol that it was running dry before the 1.75 laps, so he didn’t start it until the green light came on at the line! All of these cars posted a time but I was pleased to say that some com- mitment, confidence and putting the best tyres on lowered the time to 124.44 and any remaining increases in final position were going to be at the expense of failures by others! Championship sponsor Steve Broughton was the only obliging driver who aborted his run when the trigger wheel and crank sensor came adrift and shut the engine down. His co-driver Mark Smith got a stunning time to come 3rd overall on 121.3 but Stewart Robb, with 720bhp on tap almost set a new outright lap re- cord for the circuit with a stunning 112 second blast. So 3.4 inside my PB and 7th in the run off was a very good start and worth all the hundreds of hours over the winter!

Silverstone Inside the main grand prix circuit there is a smaller circuit called Stowe. We visited this for the first time last year and I managed a 92.8 second run and came 7 th in the run offs. We were hoping for an improvement based on the Castle Combe results and again were not disappointed! After analysing last years data, I put a set of ratios in the ‘box to maxi- mise acceleration on the short straight, with the rpm peaking at 8800 in 3rd then after changing up to 4 th starting at 7000! The field was strong, with 10 V8s and 14 2 litre cars plus a good number of very quick bike engined pilots, so top 12 qualification wasn’t going to be easy. Many thanks to Glyn Sketchley for running the car for me all day, allowing me to concentrate on being with guests and sponsors and the driving! I managed to catch ‘young George’ up on the first practice so had a rerun. This made the first practice times a bit misleading as basi- cally it was my 2 nd practice and I did it on hot tyres, but I few eyebrows were raised as I posted the second fastest practice time of everyone! However by next practice I was 5 th and then on first timed runs I’d dropped to 7 th but pleased with a PB time of 91.96 and still on old tyres. We analysed the competition and decided that a top 12 position was safe and did the next run on old tyres also. Due to some experimentation with gear choice on corner exit, I ended up going slower, but luckily my first of the two timed runs stood me well enough to qualify 12 th for the run off. So best tyres on and first away. The circuit had a very strict 6pm finish curfew. It was now 5.35 and very unlikely that we were all going to get 2 runs in. A committed run in all areas some how found a few seconds and 90.27 secs was a new PB by 2.5 secs. The demise of Tom Potter – engine/clutch detonated again! meant that I would move up at least one place as long as I posted a time. However it got better – well for me - as Ross Napier driving a V8 broke the suspension so at least 10 th then! The

18 V8 of Heather Calder was lower as well as the 2 litre of Phil Lynch. Terry Holmes in the V8 chip shop special had gear trouble and so I was sitting in 7 th , but...... … The recovery of the Napier’s car threat- ened to use up all the time and we would have not had a full run off, so points would be null and void, but literally with all the top 3 cars blasting round with seconds to spare, Stewart Robb, V8 Pilbeam, put new tyres on and took 2.5 seconds off last years record and maxi- mum points to head the championship. The next two rounds in Scotland I shall miss, but with every remain- ing round of the championship scheduled the 2011 campaign has got off to a good start! Steve Miles

LA VIE EN BLEU - CINQ 29th MAY 2011

Now I know this event isn't part of the NSCC Championship, but your Editor needs articles and features, so I thought this may be of inter- est.

La Vie en Bleu, for those not familiar with the event, is a special 'French Car' themed weekend held by the Bugatti Club at Prescott. This was the fifth year the event has been run, and again it attracted a massive crowd due to the amazing cars running and on display, to- gether with an aerobatic air display, Gendarmes, Can-can girls, onion sellers, crepes, car club displays in the French Quarter and much more.

Renault Historic bring along historic cars and usually an older F1 car for demonstration. This year, Michel Leclere (ex F1 and Sports Car driver) came along to drive a couple of cars in the event courtesy of Renault Historic. Citroen UK also have a strong presence in the dis- play area and obviously there are lots of Bugattis competing and on display.

At lunch time there are cavalcades of cars and runs up the hill by several Veyrons of different specification - so much value of cars in such a small area! (If you enter the raffle you could win the chance for a ride up the hill in one of these fantastic cars.)

19 The event is designed to cater for all ages of French cars from the early 1900's to the present day and includes pre and post 1971 Sports & Sa- loon cars, 14 Classes in all and some 150 cars in total. There is also a 'catch-all' class called the Franco-Brittanique Challenge for people want- ing to enter non-French cars, which are run on a handicap basis. We have some close friends who live in Cheltenham and my pal, Duncan, took me to my first British Championship Hillclimb round back in 2005 at Prescott, which se me off with the Hillclimb Bug! I had stopped racing in 2000 and after my visit to Prescott I entered a Renault Megane race car I had at the time at Harewood later that year - my first Hillclimb event.

This event was my first for my re-built ex-racing Renault 5GT Turbo back in 2007 and I was looking forward to this year's La Vie en Bleu as I thought I had a good chance of a Class win and hopefully also pick up the Fastest Heritage Renault trophy again.

Over the winter my son Peter and I have been restoring a 1994 Clio Wil- liams. We plan to share this car in the NSCC Championship this year in Class SB. Having only finished the car a couple of weeks ago due to pressures of work, Peter entered the Clio at Prescott for a shakedown. Due to the Class structures, he ended up in the post '71 Saloon Class along with me.

Despite the weather forecast, we had a dry though windy day with per- fect temperatures for our sport. Also in our Class was Phillip Dallow in a Peugeot, who holds the Class record for this event and was Class Winner last year. I managed to keep in front of him all day and eventually came out on top on the last run with a 47.49 (a PB) - just 4/100 quicker! Also, for most of the day I held FTD, only to lose it to one of the Franco- Brittanic cars on his last run - curses! I also picked up the Fastest Heri- tage Renault Trophy for the third successive year, so a great day for me.

Peter, on only his second event, finished 6th out of the 10 cars in our Class, with a respectable 55.23 in the Clio - only 1 second short of the SB record at the Hill - so not bad for his first event there. Several other competitors from the Nottingham area were also competing, including Richard Black in a 1939 Talbot Lago and Ron Birkett in a 1909 GP Proto- type. Another driver came from Buenos Aires to drive a Bugatti T51 and several others made the trip across the Channel to compete.

So a really great event with a very special atmosphere. French car or not, it is quite an event to compete in with a 'festival' spirit,

20 knowledgeable crowd and so much to see and do, all in a beautiful setting. I really do recommend it as something to put on your 'bucket list' or just come along and go around the Bugatti Museum.

Peter and I are due out in the Clio at Curborough in June (NSCC Championship) which we are both looking forward to, so we hope to see you then. Lets hope we have picked the right car - for us it has to be Renault!

Tony Hart

URGENT

MARSHALS REQUIRED

25th June

Huntsman Rally

If you would like to come out and marshal for us reply to Chief Marshal [email protected]

Its going to be a great event I’ve ordered the weather and …... The venues are great.

Hope to hear from you all soon

Richard Carr Chief Marshal Huntsman rally 2011 CONTACT No.07815 956844

21 Supplementary Regulations

These are all available to download from the club website now for all 4 of our upcoming events.

The NSCC Curborough event on July 10th is now filling fast after a slow start. If you want an entry to this event I highly recommend you send your entry in smartish as the event is limited to just 70 entries and I have 60+ as we go to press.

MIRA should be better supported this year as a result of the increased number of champion- ships visiting the event.

Thoresby Park will, as usual, will be a full house for both days with the evening social in the Perlethorpe Village Hall being a favourite gathering place for all the drivers and their families to mull over the days proceedings.

Please get your entries in early to guarantee a place at any of the above and remember that you cheques are not banked until just after the closing date.

22 MSA News ISSUE : June 2011 National Motorsport Week events listing grows The MSA and the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) have revealed the full line-up of events for the re-launched National Motorsport Week, a week- long celebration of motor sport that runs from 25 June to 3 July. All eight of the UK-based teams are set to run exclusive ‘money-can’t- buy’ factory tours, as is , the engineering company behind Mini’s FIA World Rally Championship programme. MSA Chief Executive Colin Hilton said: “We are delighted that the UK’s top motor sport teams are leading National Motorsport Week from the front by opening their doors to the public, particularly at the height of their busiest period around the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the British Grand Prix. “While their participation helps to underline the UK’s leadership in international mo- tor sport, National Motorsport Week is about much more than Formula One; it’s about people getting out there and getting involved in motor sport for the first time.” ********************************************************************************************** MSA Clubs support celebration of motor sport Many of the MSA’s registered clubs are lending their support to National Motorsport Week, despite the late confirmation of this year’s date. Richard Egger, Go Motorsport RDO and hugely experienced club member, has spent several weeks liaising with a number of clubs across the country in an effort to generate ideas that will bring new blood into the sport. “Initially I sat down and wrote a ‘hit list’ of clubs,” said Egger. “On contacting them I found out that about a fifth had already planned an event for NMW and almost 50% were willing to pull something together at short notice. It’s a really important initiative because attracting new members means more active clubs, which in turn will lead to more events and more organisers, marshals and officials.” The scheduled club activities range from displays at county fairs to taster events for novices. For example, Peterborough MC, Warwickshire Drivers MC and Farnbor- ough District MC will run Autotest and AutoSOLO events for beginners, and the South Wales Automobile Club is displaying a range of competition cars at the Porth Carnival (see the forthcoming MSA magazine, Summer 2011). Meanwhile the Scot- tish Motor Racing Club is offering free entry to its Knockhill event on 2-3 July to any- body who shows a Go Motorsport logo at the gate. For further information and a full list of events, visit www.NationalMotorsportWeek. co.uk *********************************************************************************************** Coulthard samples the grassroots for BBC film BBC Formula One commentator and 13-time grand prix winner David Coulthard vis- ited the historic Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire, where he tried his hand at Hill Climb, Autotest and Sporting Trials. Coulthard’s exploits will be screened during the BBC’s coverage of the Valencia Grand Prix, which takes place at the start of Na- tional Motorsport Week on 25-26 June. 23 Q&A with Richard Egger What are your thoughts about National Motorsport Week? “I have always been a believer in the concept of National Motorsport Week but as the years went by the concept seemed to lose momentum. When I heard that the MSA had thrown its full support behind the week I thought ‘brilliant’, even if it was in a very tight time scale for this first year.” What are the challenges? “From my experiences, club motor sport has evolved a mindset of doing its own thing and often not selling itself to the wider public – possibly for valid reasons such as PR sensitivity or good old fashioned lack of time.” How did you get involved? “Because of the shortness of time I suggested that the only way to get some clubs en- gaged in setting up some trial taster events was to pick up the phone and do some talking. Guess what; I got the job! So I have now spent some happy evenings ringing clubs the length and breadth of the country.” What kind of response have you received? “It’s been very positive with just about every club willing to have a good think and see what it could pull together to place our sport in front of potential new members. One club did state that it would have nothing to do with National Motorsport Week until it is better organised – which, after all, is why I’ve been asked to help! Hopefully clubs will be impressed and inspired by what we achieve this year and be encouraged to start planning their 2012 activities before I start calling them.” ************************************************************************************************** CRB checks for Licensed Officials As part of its Child Protection responsibilities, the MSA is authorised to undertake Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks at Enhanced level on its Licensed Officials, who are likely to work with under-18s in the course of their duties, and on Club Child Protection Officers. The MSA therefore kindly requests the co-operation of its Licensed Officials when con- tacted by TMG CRB in Nottingham, which is providing administrative support. All checks are being undertaken without any cost to Volunteer Officials, thanks to grant aid from the British Motor Sports Training Trust. ************************************************************************************************** Dan Wheldon scores second Indy 500 win Briton Dan Wheldon claimed a sensational second Indianapolis 500 victory last month. Wheldon triumphed when American rookie JR Hildebrand crashed out from the lead at the final corner, just 200 yards from the finish of the 500-mile race. MSA Chief Executive Colin Hilton praised Wheldon’s success. “Dan marked himself out as a talent for the future with his success in British karting as a youngster, and over the last decade he has established himself in the US,” said Hilton. “His second Indy

24 500 win was certainly dramatic and we send him many congratulations for this suc- cess in the famous race.” Weldon began his career in British Cadet karting in the late 1980s and moved to the US in 1999. He secured his first Indy 500 win en route to the IndyCar Series title in 2005. *********************************************************************************************** Renew your licence now Any 2010 licence holder that has not yet renewed for 2011, should do so as soon as possible. Not only will it enable you to retain your licence grade without any hassle, but it will also ensure that you will continue to receive MSA communications, includ- ing this newsletter and the recently relaunched MSA magazine. Renewal is easy and can be done online at www.msauk.org or by post. To speak to the MSA Licens- ing Department, please call 01753 765050. *********************************************************************************************** Supercar convoy commemorates Tourist Trophy A convoy of 30 supercars travelled under police escort from the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall to Silverstone on 3 June to commemorate the Tourist Trophy. First awarded in 1905, the Tourist Trophy is the most long-standing trophy in British mo- tor sport, and is awarded to the winners of a prestigious sports car event each year; on Sunday it was presented to the winners of the FIA GT1 World Championship round at Silverstone, Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr. ************************************************************************************************ Brundle spends evening with South Mids marshals Former grand prix driver Martin Brundle attended a social meeting of the South Mid- lands Region of the British Motorsport Marshals Club at The White Horse in Silver- stone last month. Peter Minchinton, who organised the evening, said: “We hold social gatherings once a month and always try to get a well known motor sport personality to come along. Martin chatted about his career, from the early days through the F3 period with Ayr- ton Senna, and on to F1, sportscars and his current role as the BBC’s grand prix commentator. The meeting was very well attended by our members, who appreci- ated the support that Martin showed for the vital work that they do.” The guests this month were GT drivers Jamie Campbell-Walker and David Brab- ham, the MSA’s National Race Coach. Brabham said: “Both Jamie and I had a great time talking to the marshals; it was a chance for us to give something back to the men and woman who give up their time to make our racing safer. I know all the driv- ers appreciate the hard work and dedication the marshals give.” *********************************************************************************************** Big jump in BTCC viewing figures Viewing figures for this year’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship have risen by 34.6 per cent, according to ITV. “We are delighted by these figures,” said Niall Sloane, Controller of Sport for ITV. “An increase of this sort of popularity in any sport on mainstream TV is terrific and very much a testament to the BTCC’s fantas- tic on-track action, dramatic storylines, rivalries and levels of professionalism which make for compelling viewing.”

25 Special clothing offer Link Up Ltd, the MSA’s official clothing supplier, is offering the new MSA micro-fleece at a discounted price of £30 this month. Customers can also add a shower-proof jacket that zips onto the fleece for an extra £28.20. For the men’s fleece, click here:http://www.linkupltd.com/msa/product_info.php/ cPath/24/products_id/38 For the women’s fleece, click here: http://www.linkupltd.com/msa/product_info.php/ cPath/24/products_id/152 *************************************************************************************************** Nicholson McLaren MSA British Hill Climb Championship Alex Summers and Wallace Menzies took their maiden wins – the first for DJ Racecars – at Shelsley Walsh, but Scott Moran has extended his championship lead. Championship positions (provisional) after Round 10 1 Scott Moran – 90 points 2 Trevor Willis – 72 3 Roger Moran – 62 **************************************************************************************************** SBD Motorsport MSA British Sprint Championship Stewart Robb Snr took control of the championship with back-to-back wins at Pembrey. He also set a new Outright Course Record, which had previously been held by his son Stewart Jnr. Championship positions (provisional) after Round 8 1 Stewart Robb Snr – 86 points 2 Mark Smith – 61 3 Colin Calder – 56 **************************************************************************************************** Helmet standard labels The MSA Technical Department has been made aware of competitors presenting hel- mets with missing standard labels during scrutineering, and presenting in their place let- ters from the Standards Authority “confirming that the helmet is of the required stan- dard”. Competitors are advised that such letters are not an acceptable substitute for standard labels, as the Standards Authority cannot confirm that a particular helmet has been manufactured to a quoted standard. As soon as a standard label is removed from a hel- met it becomes unacceptable under MSA – and FIA – regulations. **************************************************************************************************** MSA issues data logging regulation change The MSA has issued a regulation change, to be implemented with immediate effect, re- garding on-board data logging. The amended regulation, with changes shown as double struck through deletions, is as follows: D7.1.7. Championship Organisers may specify in their Championship Regulations pro- cedures for the gathering of on-board data logging information which shall be in accor- dance with MSA guidelines. The reason for this change is to remove reference to guidelines that are no longer held by the MSA. 26 NSCC OFFICERS & COMMITTEE MEMBERS

PRESIDENT Vi Selby

Roger Carrington. 152 Egypt Road, New Basford CHAIRMAN Nottingham. NG7 7GZ. 01159 781997 Email : [email protected]

Martin Pickles. 21 The Lea, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leics SECRETARY LE8 0SE. 0116 2796125 (home): Email : [email protected]

Paul Marvin. 4 Marriott Drive, Kibworth Harcourt, Leics TREASURER LE8 0JX. 07715 353440 (mobile) Email : [email protected]

ASSISTANT Vi Selby. 29 Grasmere Road, Loughborough, Leics TREASURER LE11 2ST. 01509 261286 (home) / 07976 961974 (mobile)

COMPETITION Steven Brown, 16 Beech Avenue, Groby, Leicestershire. LE6 0EJ SECRETARY 0116 2991135 : Email : [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP Kim Marvin. SECRETARY Email : [email protected]

CHAMPIONSHIP Lee Griffiths, 5 Melrose Park, Beverley, HU7 8JL SCORER Email : [email protected]

Keith Graham. 16 Farmlands Lane, Littleover, Derby DE23 7UR. 01332 772389 Stephen Miles. 01159 227974 Email : [email protected] Mike Mayfield. 4 Lime Close, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottingham NG12 2DF. 01159 119714 - 07989 279660 Email : [email protected] COMMITTEE Mike Simpson. 6 Sherbourne Drive, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicester LE65 2QT. 01530 411349 / 07824 773922 Email : [email protected] Val Street. 50 Charnwood Fields, Sutton Bonington, Leics LE12 5NP 01509 672728 : Email : [email protected] Andrew Rollason : 3 Clifton Drive, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire LE65 2QL Email [email protected] Brian Allen : 15 Wilne Close, Sawley, Notts NG 10 3AQ

MARSHAL CO- Vi Selby. 29, Grasmere Road, Loughborough, Leics ORDINATOR LE11 2ST. 01509 261286 (home) / 07976 961974 (mobile)

Paul Marvin. 4 Marriott Drive, Kibworth Harcourt, Leics MAGAZINE EDITOR LE8 0JX. 07715 353440 (mobile) Email : [email protected]

27 DDDisclaimerDisclaimer Spin Off is the official magazine of Nottingham Sports Car Club. Views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Club, its Officers or members, unless expressly stated. Nottingham Sports Car Club accepts no liability for any loss, damage or claims occurring as a result of modifications, work or other action carried out on advice or suggestions given in any article or letter published in this magazine. Publication of advertising does not imply endorse- ment, approval or recommendation of the goods or services offered. Nottingham Sports Car Club admits no responsibility for the accuracy of the copy or veracity of claims made by advertisers.

DATA PROTECTION ACT It is the practice of the Nottingham Sports Car Club Limited to hold membership details on computer files, although it is not the Club’s policy to release members details to outside sources. Should you object to the holding of such details on computer files, your literature will be addressed manually. This may, however, cause delays. 28