Spa and Ring....

[Ryan]

Glad to hear a trip like that is working out in the end. Have a great time

[campbell]

Bummer. What's the holdup?

[Ryan]

[campbell]

Ah, right. Need a time warp too then !!

[Andy G]

i'd be bringing CMC a gift next time your passing McK!

Have a great trip

[campbell]

Chateauneuf du Pape. Red. Wink.

[mwmackenzie]

Right O... The saga, doesn't end there...........

So I get to the Ring on the Thursday Afternoon looking to get on the GP circuit but there's been a bike crash on the track and we're 3 sessions back, track closes at 6...... We didn't get on as the track didn't open again after the crash which saw someone being airlifted away Hoped they're OK!! So we went and checked into our Hotel, Had dinner and some beers and decided to use our Ring passes on the Ring itself, so an early start of 8.00am was the plan to hopefully hit a quiet track... we got there and straight out on track, I just tucked in behind my Mate john in his Nissan 350z as he's driven it before and does it most days on his computer games thingy.. I don't do games, no time.

Anyhow after a bit I was getting a little bored behind him, figuring I was maybe half way in during the second Carousel he was on the tarmac at the top so I dropped into second and slid down into the carousel to pass him, when I got my front wheel in front of him I lost drive completely and coasted to the side onto the grass on the inside of the next bend. I quickly got out and jumped the armco and sat for a while, the marshals arrived after about 30 minutes and soon after the recovery truck. We pushed the car onto the truck and I jumped into the Marshals car... We set off round the corner and low and behold there was loads of cars on the right on a straight, I was actually only 1 corner off the end of the lap, I could probably have coasted there if I only knew the layout .. Gutted does't even cover it! My trip was over before it had begun, and I was 500£ lighter for getting my car off the track

I kept this quiet as the recovery guy said that the UK Recovery Company wouldn't recover me if they knew where I had broken down so I removed my Facebook post as he said they check the Ring Pics and Facebook to get out of any claims. The only pics did not show my plate, phew, not sure if he was telling the truth with that one though?

Anyway, the car was recovered to Craig a week past Tuesday and he today informed me of the problem........ The new AP clutch had completely sheered off the center spline Craig is fitting a new LUK one tomorrow .. He said not to hold my breath for a warranty claim, he has sent the old one back with a claim form for me today although not best pleased to be paying for two clutches within a month I have to have the car back this week as I want to put some miles on it before next Monday as I have Walshy days next Tuesday and Wednesday and I do not want a repeat of the last clutch drama down at North Weald where it will get used much harsher than it was in Germany, It broke at less than 35 MPH in 2nd! we had data logging via an ap so I can tell where on track I was and what speed I was doing, My mate was driving pretty slowly hence I felt the need to pass him.

The rest of my trip was spent in the passenger seat of John's Nissan and I'm not a good passenger so my dream holiday turned into my worst nightmare on the 2nd day through to the end.... Needless to say I'm somewhat excited to be getting my car back tomorrow after Craig works his magic one more time and hopefully I'll get a decent run in it this weekend to make sure she's OK for a couple of Walshy days next week

Hopefully not to be continued................