So, the middle of the season, Frankie had started the season well, and a lot had been changed since Donnington; new brake callipers, brake discs, brake pads, wheel bearings and water jets along with a different turbo too. So, fingers crossed for the Iveco.
Practise on the Friday set the scene for the weekend with Archie having a failed alternator and a big oil leak from the turbo. We had another alternator, but not a wiring diagram for it which was not so good, but a leaky oil return pipe was soon exchanged from the spares box.
On the Iveco the new turbo caused an issue with the pipework, but luckily, we were able to find a local welder who was able to sort that out for a few quid and re-manufacture a new piece of pipe for us, or at least “cut and shut” our old one! In addition, some modification to the new water jets was required to maximise the brake cooling.
Frankie was on the pace with a very lively performance from the new Turbo and a higher boost pressure than we’d had all season so far.
Saturday was going to be good……or so we thought.
Qualifying saw the end to a power steering pump in the Iveco, and a brake valve on the Volvo – these trucks certainly know how to keep us on our toes, but we’d not seen anything yet! At least we had pole for Race 1.
Race 1. From Pole, Si brought Franckie home in 1st place in Division 2, but in 8th place overall. As the grid for race 3 (the first on Sunday) is the finishing positions of race 1, with the top 8 reversed, that put us on Pole overall on Sunday, right at the front, ahead of the Division 1 boys! But there was bad news, and even for us, a lot of it. Both water tanks, brand new ones, had parted from their new straps and the truck (if you watched the live stream on YouTube – yep those were ours). So, for most of the race Si had been driving with next to no brakes as they had overheated. He had also been hit from behind (not for the first time this season), damaging the suspension again, sheering some bolts and damaging the prop-shaft. And he still won the race, but the truck was poorly! Everything at the back of the truck was a bit twisted, we suspected more from Pembrey than the nudge today.
For Archie a bit of racing contact had robbed him of a side panel, that is racing, but without a working alternator the battery was requiring constant charging.
The team all applied themselves to Si’s “Frankie” and were so close to getting her back on the track for the second race of the day rebuilding the rear suspension, water cooling, and water tanks within the time. She would have been on the track but for a prop shaft. We did track one down in the paddock (a big thank you to Warren and Bradley) but not quite soon enough to have it fitted. So, Frankie missed race 2 on the Saturday. Archie’s day was no better in the Volvo with electrical issues rearing their head and the truck just stopping, for no apparent reason, and refusing to restart.
A team member was sent back to Kent for additional water tanks, fittings and two prop shafts – it was going to be a long night!
Sunday – the 3rd race of the weekend and Frankie on pole – or not. The repaired truck completed the formation lap, but Si pulled her into the pits with a very bad vibration from the rear (the truck not Si’s). A further inspection suggested the prop shaft was at fault, but there was possibly something more significant too, as the vibration had caused a bolt holding the gearbox in to fail. We had some “options”, having collected props from the yard the day before, so a different prop was chosen. And as if to add insult to injury the radiator had also started to leak too.
Archie’s truck was doing ok – if the battery was permanently left on charge ! Thanks to Jake and his team for having a look at the wiring – which they could not figure out either !
To race 4 of the weekend – and more problems for Si and Frankie, the Air Compressor failed on the way to the grid meaning no air and no way to release the brakes so game over for us. That also explained the radiator as the compressor had over pressurised the coolant and caused a pin hole, as well as blowing a heater hose off immediately before leaving the paddock for the race.
Ovlov kept trundling on though …. and brought us a podium position in the last very wet race (see the gallery).
So, a weekend that started with so much promise, ended up with so many failures – but that’s racing, if winning was easy, it would be called “winning” and not racing!
Check out our “Gallery” page for more pictures from the event!
Thanks to J H Haulage, Weavers 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, Dave and Zeki
Recent Comments