Well you guys that couldnt make it didnt miss much, after a 2 hour drive to Ballykelly we pulled the cars off the trailers, the organisers let us go out an test out the track, and to be fair, its a really good runway with plenty of dry grip, the site itself is a disused army barracks and it is HUGE!!!!
I popped out and grabbed some food, a couple of tins and tea and it was bed early as i was knackered from an early start. It rained heavily all night and i woke up to a miserable and wet airfield, we grabbed a cuppa and let the organisers get on with things.
The racing was scheduled to start at 11 am, but didnt get going until well after 12, on a wet track.
We both decided to put in a pass each just to get out, Dave ran a 15 @49mph after coasting from the 8th, on slicks!!!!!!
I ran a 14.1 and a 13.6, terrible 60fts 2.8 and 2.6 sec, I couldnt get the car off the line as my brain didnt engage to release the front brakes on the line loc doh!!!! So theres a ton of practice to be had there, Although for running it wasnt a good event with just 2 passes, those 2 passes gave me lots of good information, A. the car felt amazing stable at speed having done some suspension work whilst it was all in bits and it paid off i think, the car was arrow straight and felt great. B. the new gearbox was worth it, every gear is just on cam all the time, which is great as it less stress on the motor. C. comparing my times and 60fts to dry running suggests the car should be easily capable of going 12.2's on treads, if not slightly quicker.
So overall a bit of a washout, particularly in the morning, we could have stayed on but they didnt get going again until 3pm and by this time we loaded up and decided to head home.
On the plus side, i could see the being an awesome event for the calendar, i hope they put it on again next year.
