At Thruxton, due to noise restrictions, there is no testing on the Friday. Instead of leaving “HQ” on the Thursday, everything is put back a day. For once we were on the ball and loaded and ready before time, rather than just after. I even had time to sweep out the nearly empty workshop!
Arriving at Thruxton we found our place and started unloading, race trucks first then the gazebos. Setting up the paddock takes a few hours with site wiring, tools, kitchen area and seating. Its more or less the same for every meeting.
Then the troubles started…
The old Volvo has, or at least had, sufficient wiring to sink a battleship – with two full engine looms (for either Volvo or Cummins) and two sets of cameras (our own from Vehcam and the championship ones from TMS). The truck had been modified, amended and messed about with for years – resulting in a “spaghetti” of wiring. Between the Pembrey and the Thruxton meetings a lot of the “surplus” wires had been removed – but still a “birds’ nest” remained. And somewhere within this bird’s nest was a fault. Put it this way, usually pressing the horn makes a sound (as one would expect), well on Friday evening it changed gear! Leaving the yard everything was fine – but not by the time we arrived! A press of the horn changed gear from 8th “Hi” to 8th “Lo”, a tad awkward to say the least.
So, rewiring began, actually a “floating earth” was found (so an earth with a positive voltage not zero volts). The “easiest” fix, at the track, under time pressure, was to rewire the necessary items required to compete – lights, indicators, wipers and washers. That took until after midnight but passed the scrutineers inspection on Saturday morning.
So, out for a quick “shake down” on the Saturday morning, and the first red flag of the weekend after barely one lap. A competitor’s engine had decided to fail big time. And for us this delay caused a problem. Race Trucks run standard, off the shelf brake components which don’t work so well cold or very hot. There is a “Goldie-locks” temperature of 300°c to 400°c. Water cooling keeps the brakes within this, otherwise they would be around 700°c. But putting “cold” water onto very hot brakes that are not rotating causes parts of the disc to rapidly cool. This generates huge stresses in the disc, and they fracture. They literally go bang (see the picture on our gallery page) as they tear apart, and on rare occasion explode.
Changing discs and pads is normal – we usually arrive with a fresh set on the trucks, and change them Saturday night, after 2 races, to be ready for the 3 on Sunday. Mostly that is sufficient, but sometimes not.
So, a new disc was fitted, and the truck was out for an incident free qualifying and first 2 races. Sunday saw a good first race and then it went wrong for Archie and the Volvo.
Race 4 saw us “pull into” the chicane run off area and park up. Archie did an excellent job of getting the ailing truck to safety, off the main track, with his years of race-craft coming to the fore. “Ovlov” was towed back to the pits for further investigation. Initial inspections indicated a fuel issue and a suspect fuel injection pump failure. This was not fixable at the track in the time available so that was it for us – a DNS (did not start) for race 5. “Ovlov” was loaded up (thank you Boarhunt Recovery). Further investigations at “HQ” later in the week discovered the problem – a failed “big end” on the air compressor con-rod. (see the picture in our Gallery). The air compressor and fuel pump are connected to the same drive mechanism, so a failure in the compressor would have affected the injector pump.
And now to “Frankie” the Iveco and Simon.
In qualifying the truck was on form getting the fastest lap, and the resultant “Pole Position” start for race 1 (for the third meeting running). Simon also managed to achieve the 2nd fastest lap too and so the resultant “Pole Position” start for race 2 (for the third meeting running).
Race 1 was lead pretty much from start to finish, coming over the line in 1st place for Division 2 and on the tail of the Division 1 trucks. Arguably a little close to the Division 1 trucks. A rogue stone, from a gravel trap, was flicked up and launched into the windscreen. The windscreen was severely cracked and started to collapse into the cab. Have you ever noticed the two vertical bars down the inside of the windscreens on race trucks? They are to stop the screen collapsing inwards totally.
As with any damage sustained during racing, the scrutineers need to re-inspect the truck. Unfortunately, it was deemed too unsafe to race until the screen was replaced, so we had to sit out race 2 on Saturday.
Luckily a team member was able to source a new screen on the Saturday afternoon. It was collected from a fellow truck racer in Portsmouth (THANK YOU) and fitted that night. We were all ready for Sunday and 3 more races.
So, the grid for race 3, is a reverse grid based on the results of race 1, with the newbies to the rear. So, we started mid pack in Division 2. By the end of the first lap Simon was in front and built a good lead sustained to the end of the race. Finishing in 1st place. Now there is “luck” and “good luck” and “bad luck”. And to be honest, we were a little short of the good variety. In race 3 we broke yet another windscreen. However, the scrutineers agreed that the windscreen wasn’t so bad in this case and allowed us out into Race 4.
Again Race 4 was a reverse grid (based on the finishing positions from race 2) which put us in the middle of the grid again. Once again, Simon was leading the pack by the end of the first lap. And crossed the finish line in first place for Division 2.
But, for us, our luck was done. The cracks in the windscreen had propagated further during race 4. And a further inspection of the truck by the scrutineers found us packing up and going home.
So, for “Frankie”, three 1st places and two DNS (Did not start) and for Simon a bill for two windscreens. If anybody has a spare one hanging around, then let us know !
Another disheartening weekend for Archie, driving uncompetitive machinery, with very little modification from the previous year, mainly due to tight team finances. A new air compressor has been sourced as I write and is waiting to be fitted. And, more out of frustration, a complete re-wire is in order before the next meeting! At least “Ovlov” will be a little lighter !
A special “shout out” to “Frankies” superfan bus driver from Brighton – you know who you are with the “CTS Pink” hair and nails especially for the meeting. Thank you for coming to see us.
Check out our “Gallery” page for more pictures from the event!
Thanks to J H Haulage and Povey Transport who are helping us get around – so thank you, without you we would be stuck at home in Detling!
THANK YOU to ALL our wonderful sponsors; to the businesses who help us out in kind, or with cash (although we accept cheques too of course!), we could NOT do this without you ALL. No matter how big or small your help – this team of family and friends could not do this without YOU. YOU made it possible for Simon, and now Archie, and put father and son on the track as much as the rest of this family and friends based team. THANK YOU. (but we always need more help of course).
Please check out our “Partners” page to find out more about our sponsors.
Come and see us all, cheer on Archie and Simon and “THINK PINK” at the Circuit if you can – we are always happy to chat and show you our race trucks – unless we are repairing them of course, in which case best to give us some space to work safely.
If you cannot visit the track, then remember to check out the “BARC” live feed on YouTube – or of course on “catch up” later.
CTS#41 and CTS#40; Simon, Archie, John, Colin, Sam, Toby, Martin, Guy and Dave
Recent Comments