Saturday dawned bright but a little chilly for practice. Some work had been done on Friday, so we put a similar set up on the kart but adjusted the pressures and made small gearing adjustments.
The day continued in a similar vein with timed practice in late afternoon. This was disaster for us, having been at the front of the pack most of the day the track suddenly cooled down, under steered, no grip, 31st place was not where we wanted to be.
Sunday dawned bright and a little warmer, our three laps of practice were bang on the pace, what a relief! Our first heat went quite well working up to 4th place, however with more rubber down the track it was changing all the time. More adjustments where made to the axle positions, wheel positions and tyre pressures, meanwhile the red flags are flying for the juniors, more roll up laps because they can’t seem to keep grid positions yes, they have got clutches, brakes etc. but still can’t keep in line. Our second heat was a real boost, a win at last, hard fought initially but a few seconds were pulled out towards the end. Still not happy with the handling, too much grip, more rubber down, warmer track temperature etc., more adjustments, different axle, adjustment to wheel positions and rejet the carb etc. Our third heat was right off the back, so twelfth out of twenty four wasn’t bad. However, the juniors were still in trouble with the Clerk of the Course, black flags were flown with gay abandon, licences were auto graphed, stewards were on overtime rates and tempers were on a knife’s edge.
An extra driver’s briefing preceded the finals where it was laid on the line what would happen if drivers didn’t toe the line. When the grids went up we were eighth in the final, somewhat better than the previous round. The C and B finals ere quite uneventful after the chaos of the heats, however, the juniors were doing more roll up laps that anyone else. Our A final went reasonably well, but a drop off in temperature made it a bit of a lottery. We made it up to 4th, the leader had made off, while 2nd down to eighth were in a tight group which was changing all the time. Unfortunately, having made it to 4th a nibble at 3rd resulted in a time loss, so back to 7th we went at the flag, why attempt to pass on the last lap when in a safe 4th? Four more rounds to go, points win prizes etc. More discussions and inquests on the weekend, was I glad it was all over except the A13 and M11 traffic jams, I finally arrive home at 10.30pm totally worn out.
Some of our longer serving members may remember Chris Guy. He sprinted and hill climbed my 970 Cooper S for a few seasons then tried an IMP for a short while. He has since moved to Guernsey, working in the Hospital. Some 18 months or so ago he acquired another IMP, this one was rebuilt by
Practical
Classics as a project car. Iit was not however, a standard rebuild. The
brief was to turn it into a road going competition car, full cage, no carpets
or sound deadening, some Perspex and fibreglass panels; disc brakes were
fitted to the front, together with lowered springs, adjustable ride height
and dampers. The radiator ended up in the front and 13” alloys finished
it off. Two people from Practical Classics did the Val de Terre hill
climb when they delivered the car, however the quick engine went back to
England with them and a mild one left behind. One thing that was discovered
was that the standard gear ratios were not at all suitable for hill climbing.
The outcome was a very second hand and very broken Jack Knight dogbox.
It arrived at my house with instructions to rebuild it into a second hand
casing. I managed to source the necessary parts from various places,
rebuilt the box and sent it back to Guernsey.
I received a phone call with instructions to book a flight for the Easter weekend, “Oh and by the way bring some overalls, there will be some small jobs to do on the car. I have got you an entry for the hill climb on Easter Monday, don’t argue, I know it’s about 20 years since you last did one, that doesn’t matter”. So that was that.
I arrived at Chris’s house at teatime on the Wednesday before Easter to be greeted by an IMP with no engine in it, no carbs on the engine and a very long list. A few small jobs I thought he had said! A
major
problem had occurred when the throttles wouldn’t operate when bolted on
the engine. Thursday, Friday and most of Saturday was spent working
on the car, but we eventually got it running reasonably well until we drove
it down the road. A massive flat spot occurred when the carbs went from
the low running jets to the main jets and guess what, the only man on the
island who stocks Weber jets is away for Easter. Needless to say it was
left with a flat spot. Sunday was a day of rest after going out on
Saturday night, time spent on the beach was relaxing which was just what
I needed.
Monday dawned bright and sunny but a little overcast at times. After signing on, scrutineering etc. it was all hands on deck to erect the Armco and block off pedestrian access routes. Competitors assist in marshalling duties on the hill, it is a precondition that club members must marshal three events every year. It can be hill climbs, sprints or motorcross, with nowhere else to go it is done without question. What a good idea, if only it could be done in England.
Believe it or not we were entered in the production road going class, no questions were asked about homologation or the fact it was nothing like a standard IMP. It was assumed that times we could achieve would be closest to the other vehicles in our class, mainly two Subaru Impreza’s and an Evo 5. The only other similar class was for rally cars, they ran slicks which makes a lot of difference on a very slippery surface.
Our first runs were held on a damp surface and we were fairly close to the competition time wise, but the cars behaviour was very bad; no balance, no grip and a throttle that only worked flat out or nothing. The hill was brilliant to drive except I could not get used to the pavement being part of the track, a psychological problem I think. Second runs were held on a dry track which showed up the fact that the front turned in very quickly which is why it was tail happy. However Chris’s second run was a disaster, a nasty rattle in the engine signalled the demise of a big end bearing. A tow rope was required to get home, this was after we marshalled the afternoon runs.
I can highly recommend a trip to the Island of Guernsey to either watch or compete in the Val de Terre hill climb, the wide selection of cars from quick single seaters through to sand racing specials, 250 gearbox karts and a wide selection of motor bikes. Everybody is very helpful with information, or in times of trouble, spares arrive from all directions, so do people to assist. Nothing is too much trouble to make a good day’s motor sport, that combined with brilliant views from the paddock make it a day to remember. Hopefully, I will have time to do more events over there; it is a breath of fresh air compared to most events in this country.