Well , what can I say , a great day out thoroughly enjoyed by everyone , I'm sure . We all finished in one piece , no major dramas but a few minor ones .

On a personal note I would like to say a BIG thank you to my co-driver Mark , for his encouragement and support , and also for most of his directions

Thanks also to Jon for completing my list of mods

As for the day itself , well the runners and riders assembled at Chepstow Racecourse for the 1st stage , a short sprint stage .

Onto the 2nd stage at Caerwent (my personal favourite) ,then onto Llandow for a few exciting laps , then to Pembrey for another rally stage (my least favourite) and finally several laps round Pembrey Circuit itself .

I could say loads more , but I'm sure plenty of other people will tell you their own tales .

Good to see everyone either again or for the first time and hope to see you all at the National meet .

mellow in action............

And the award for best driver (ffelan)/nav (tavia4x4) at Chepstow Race Course

Great day spectating and chauffering ...

John

great day out... thanks to Ian"I said chicane not flat over crest" Cooke for the co driving...

lets see some more pics

Yep,

Great day out, as with the last RPM organised event a very varied choice of venues with something for everyone, even those who like driving on grass !!!

Also forgot to thank the Elise driver for leading us so well between the various stages so if you see this "THANKS"

Guess we will all meet again for the next spring tour.

Stuart

, oh, wait, let me just check in the mirror again....

My first taster of track running has really whetted my appetite now... I can see myself doing this a bit more often, if only I could.

1st track: Chepstow - given good slidey run by Jon, who was quite cautious about all the sump marks in one of the compressions, not that I blame him...! 2nd run needed an "HAVE IT!" down the gravel, which was quite amusing if not a little visibility impairing...

2nd track: Caerwent - amused when the SAS showed up in a white tranny... Given good run by Jon, thanks to my "90 left, short straight, 90 right, left,right,left, hard right, cattle grid under braking for hard left!" navigating. Given a run in Goss' scooby as well, which was just as quick if a little more sideways. I still enjoyed that just as much - goss' swearing as well.

3rd track: Llandow - First run with Jon after a double cheesburger - went well, and the turbo pipe trouble we had between the stages did not re-appear. ( It went pop, crack, BANG! - and the boost had all gone. :( ) Also got a run in Goss' scoob again, and he really got it sideways around the track. I'm of the opinion though sideways is good for the grin, but the RS' were getting around a bit quicker.

4th track: Pembrey testing route - First run a bit tentative due to not really being familiar with the directions, plus the concrete was a wee bit harsh on the suspension. I got to drive the 1.4 15 metres in a queue whilst Jon went to water the roses. Can't say I really got the chance to test the boost... 2nd run was much quicker as familiarisation helps.

5th track: Jon took Goss' Ju out on the first six laps, and I think she did OK after a bit of an "off" at Llandow. I got a lift to the pits with marshall, and then got a final ride in the scooby again, during which Gossy managed to get the car LITERALLY at 90 degrees to the track around a bend, but still managed to recover it! I realised upon exiting the bend there was a photographer on the track... Then he blew the turbo, which kind of didn't surprise me because it had been working bloomin' hard for the day.

Finally, thanks to Mr Parker, err I mean,, oh well, for the lift back to my car, to Ian for the 2 foot Briskoda sticker for my rear window (still not sure if at the top is the best place...), to Des for the sub - I'm still worrying about the Amp's strength...? and to RPM obviously for organising one hell of an event!

Had a really good time and it was great been able to meet everyone and put some faces to names. :lurk:

We became celebrities in chepstow for the weekend. I called at the texico garage there on the way back, only to be greeted by the garage attendent who asked "How did you go on lad?? I watched you at the racecourse this morning!"

The tour was a great mixture of stages & venues (something for everyone)

My personnal favourite was stage 2 (i'm sure this was most peoples favourite)

I must apologise to stuart j for pushing him a bit to hard round this stage after we caught him, sorry mate!!

The good news is the scooby was ultra relighable and no real damage, apart from my new "50p" shaped wheels :(

Man of the day award: Has to either go to..

A, ffelan for winning an award and representing briskoda with the winners.

or

B, Goss for his sheer entertainment and enthusiasm.

great fun:D

Oh yeah, and a big thanks to steve in the yellow elise leading the convoy and getting us to places :cheers:

Okey dokey, my turn

A fair few of us had arranged to stay the night at the Huntsman on the Saturday night, I was hoping to get there mid-afternoon however, due to certain technical difficulties like traffic and brakes on a certain Scoob never having been bled properly and the holes in the nipples being completely blocked, I was later than expected. Anyway, I got there eventually.

We had a pleasant meal and I must say the view was quite acceptable as was the food. It was then decided that we should go find some Optimax. Well, the fuel station that my Satnav said was a Shell station wasn

My review of the day:-

SS1 Chepstow - Pass 1

"Maximum Attack from the line... light over the crest in to first bend - which was shaper and a surface change - im sure the wood chips were smooth for the first cars through but with a start number of 51 it was like grizedale when we got there "all crossed up with nowhere to go" anyway made it round with lots of wheelspin... then the long straight.. crest followed dip both taken nearly flat despite the cars protests... into the chichane called by Ian properly as "caution chicane r-l-r " however i deciced it was doable flat using kerb kerb kerb... and it was sort of... apart from bending something on a rock.. kept it on the road and crossed finish well into 3 figures.. missed stage exit and nearly mowed dow a marshall...

SS2 Chepstow- Pass 2

After much looking at car to figure out what was causing the bumping and grinding we decided to throw caution to the wind and run through again at 8/10ths - much smoother ruts at the wood chip much deeper but actually braked for the crest/ chicane. Completed the stage with much banging and clunking. Still hadnt figured out what we bent...

Road to Army Training ground

Soon became clear we had bent front offside rinm and it was catching on the strut. Made it to training ground and swapped it to rear. Tyre not looking healthy.

SS3 Training Ground Pass 1

Great fun, wasnt ready for start so helmet comms were not on - much shouting from Ian - very tight - very hard on the brakes felt like rally deutschland:D exit stage into chaos - an SAS van had driven on stage into the path of an Esprit GT3 - near collision but thankfully missed. Brakes very hot and bothered.

SS4 Training Ground Pass 2

Comms on this time... top wheelspin from the start, much faster and smoother less brakes - felt really good.. clear run off the kerbs no damage.

Road to Llandow

Easy run apart from Jons pipe problem... vibration from the bent rear but car running good.

SS5 Llandow Circuit Session 1

Word of the day was understeer, car did not feel right and was missing my slicks badly, still did our laps reasonably cleanly and retired to the pits for a rethink...

SS6 Llandow Circuit Session 2

Tyre pressures up to 38 at the front - much more bite, instantly felt more like a track car again, found could take small chicane very quickly, seemed to lap quick but not sure how it looked from the outside.

Road to Pembrey

Road Trek 3 The search for fuel.... having got gas for thirsty scoobs it was on to pembrey, just avoided federal involvment on the m4 then on to the next sprint

SS7 Pembrey Sprint Pass 1

Very bumpy, ultra tight, good fun again top pace notes from Ian and we made it through, apart from understeer on last corner which nearly involved running a photo guy over was a clean run chasing Colin.

SS8 Pembry Sprint Pass 2

Same again little bit quicker and smoother, Gossy in the Scoob went off behind us - no major damage good fun though but very bumpy as Si"50p"Horton about his rims.....

SS9 Pembrey Circuit

Went out for a few laps of fun, we seemed to suit the circuit had a little play with Gossy again till he went off, Des did some mowing too! Great fun loved the first right hander round the back... taken flat;)

...and on to the awards ... I / We were amazed that we got a gong ...especially for SS1/2 when we felt we werent at our best.. ho hum... on to next year to defend our title:cheers:

'Twas, indeed another fun RPM day. Many thanks to Colin for the ride - car MUCH improved from last time and Colin was certainly doing his best to bed in the new tyres. No drama apart from a minor run out at Pembrey circuit onto some nasty hard ridged concrete, but no damage visible.

Have loads of pics which will be in the gallery later when I have some time. Thanks to Si for taking so many at Llandow - although I never worked out what the attraction of that particular bit of fence was - 3 shots of it in total :p - and I hope Richard's camera really is OK :eek:

A special thanks to Gossy for all the entertainment - bad luck on the turbo mate - let's wish it a speedy recovery.

Congrats to Paul and Ian on their trophy.

sounds like a fantastic day out!

congrats to paul and ian!

Originally posted by ncarring in this post

Congrats to Paul and Ian on their trophy - Best Prepared Modern Car.

Nick, was for Best Driver/ RIO on stage 1 (or maybe 51 was the only number in their minds?) - the Cobra won best prepared car - and rightly so... it was "lovely":cheers:

Does that include my new sticker pic? I'm not sure about it's location and wondering if I'd have better visibility if it was down just above the rear wiper pivot, rather than the upper brake light?

Nice to be referred to as the "ace co-driver." I've never done anything like that before, and I thought the best way to tackle it was to shout out what I thought the road did and it seemed to work. Forgot to add I was a bit embarrassed none of the helmets would fit on my FAT head! Didn't really matter though. I suppose one small tiny niggle would be not getting a go in an RS around pembrey circuit, but I still got "gossy'd" so I was happy! He was not as he uttered "OH ****!" - as we trundled into pits without any power...

so whens the next one... Jon mentioned they may do a France run to Lemans?

Originally posted by ffelan in this post

Nick, was for Best Driver/ RIO on stage 1 (or maybe 51 was the only number in their minds?) - the Cobra won best prepared car - and rightly so... it was "lovely":cheers:

Whoops! sorry

Just realised after looking in the octaviars gallery, there's a certain dodgy bloke's car used as the main link piccie to the Midlands Meet in May... I wonder who that can be?

and weren't the wheels nice and shiney and un-rubbed then?

Forgot to add that I have an incriminating photo of Des [Jon,quote] "being a tart" [Jon, unquote] brandishing his duster over the naughty little bits of dust that had maliciously gathered all over his shiney motor! As soon as I get the camera downloaded at Dad's office... just wait! (unless someone else got a shot too?)

is that "the bandit" behind you? ooof.

I think so.

There is a shot of that car too, but I think mine got the link piccie just because it was the first one in order... Not that it especially stood out from the crowd. ( Well, it did because I parked it away from the crowd. )

so who has some more pics of the tour then? im gonna sort some vids later... when team cadburys/polygon wheels returns my laptop....

who me??

Anyway, the team cadburys label was completely unfounded, mine ran perfect all weekend. If a little bumpy on the way home... probubly the same as your's eh!!

Sounds like you all had lots of fun! More wanted ads for wheels in the offing?

They are all fixable.. just a quick refurb... maybe next year Denis you could join us?

OK guys - some pics are up here. Apologies for the quality of some of them, but you get what you can at the time. Many thanks to Si for most of the pics at Llandow.

Nice pics...John S's latest acquistion looks jolly nice...

Rob.

no probs, lots of good pics.