RICK @ the RACES. (June 2011 England Trip)

8th June             Arlington Raceway, Sussex , England

11th June          Norfolk Arena, Kings Lynn  BSCDA CHAMPIONSHIP

12th June          Standlake Arena , Oxfordshire.

This weeks report will be a little bit longer than normal to cover my 2011 trip to England. It’s been done in the form of a day to day diary, which should make it easier to understand ! Many of the people and places that are mentioned also appear in my ‘RETRO’ Reports on www.rickattheraces.com so if you want to find out more, please check them out in the archives.

Sunday 5th June

Although it was a Sunday, I’d be missing the races at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway. I had a flight booked from the Pierre Trudeau Airport in Montreal which departed at 11-30 pm. The early arrival times required for security checks these days, meant I had no time for racing. I drove the HHR from my home in Cornwall, Ontario to my employers Montreal depot in Baie Durfe , Quebec, where I’d arranged with manager Tom Frost to park it for the week. Barb Forsythe, one of my co-workers, then kindly drove me to the airport. I was flying with Air Transit to London Gatwick. There is free Wi Fi at the airport and I was able to keep up to date with the racing at Cornwall with the help of www.rickattheraces.com webmaster Craig Revelle.

Monday 6th June

The overnight flight went well, except for an incident when the attendant accidentally missed me out when delivering the meals ! After it was pointed out to him, the problem was rectified, but my choice on the menu had diminished. The next thing to annoy me happened after I’d  landed at Gatwick. Once I’d exited the plane I looked around for a baggage trolley, only to find a ‘pound coin in the slot’ deposit system like the grocery stores operate. How ridiculous can you get ! In a place where thousands of folk from all corners of the world are arriving every day, people are expected to have the correct  loose change. After finding an exchange bureau to break up a 20 pound note, I was on my way.

The next bit of aggravation came at the adjacent rail way ticket office, where for some unknown reason, it would not except the chip on my credit card. After the clerk finally decided to type the info in to the system the ‘old way’ it worked, and I was ready to board my train… or so I thought !

The delay at the ticket counter caused me to miss the train. As I arrived on the platform the carriage doors closed in my face. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long for the next one and was soon heading for London and the ‘ Bed Pan line’ to Harlington, Bedfordshire.

Mum and Dad were at the station waiting for me and within ten minutes I was at their new home in Toddington. It was now mid afternoon so I relaxed and got to know their new place. After forty years of living in the same house in Totternhoe , Bedfordshire , this January , they moved to a new home closer to amenities.

Mum had a quiz night planned with her friends for the evening, so I drove Dad to the local Chinese Buffet in Dunstable.

My set of wheels for this years UK tour was their 2010 Hyundai. After the meal Dad and I dropped into see Mick Black (‘Blacky’) , an former traveling companion and crewman from my racing days. Mick was going to be my ‘side kick’ for this years UK races so we made arrangements for the coming week.

Tuesday 7th June

I had some personal business to attend to in Northampton that day so combined it with a day trip to Corby for Mum and Dad. My dad is originally from Aberdeen in Scotland, and one of the most famous eating delicacies from the ‘Granite City’ are the Aberdeen ‘butteries’. They’re not normally available in England, apart from a small store we know about in Corby ( a town with a large Scottish community) , that has regular shipment sent down. Our plan was to buy a few dozen for the freezer. Unfortunately we came away empty handed , as the store had sold out !

Corby is not far from Rockingham, so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of dropping in to check out the Rockingham Speedway.

It’s an American style track that was built shortly after I moved from England to Canada, so I’d yet to see it. Being a week day, of course it was closed , so the nearest I got was the security gate. From a distance, I got a rough idea of what it was like, and posed for a photo shoot by the gate!

Also while on the way home from Corby , we dropped into the village of Hartwell ( Northants) and Stony Stratford ( Bucks) to take a look at two of the houses I once lived in. When we got back to Toddington, it was time to relax , until about 9-00 pm when ‘Blacky’ came round. We’d planned a night at ‘The Bell’, a pub within walking distance of Mum and Dads place, where the Beds & Herts Stock Car Club used to meet for their monthly get togethers back in the mid 1970’s.

Wednesday 8th June

‘Blacky’ picked me up from Mum and Dads place in his Vauxhall Corsa around 10-00 pm for the first racing event of my 2011 tour. Our destination was the Arlington Raceway, in Sussex for a night of Spedeworth Superstox.

We arrived nice and early, so had plenty of time to visit the seafront at Eastbourne, and sample some Harry Ramsden’s famous fish and chips.

Once back at the track, we met up with my good friend,

Paul Huggett, track announcer and Short Circuit Magazine’s Asst Editor . Paul arranged with the management for me to join track photographers Matt Bull and Keith Hobson on the center.

While wandering the pits, it was a great pleasure to meet up with Sophie Natasha Jackson again. She is one of the Spedeworth trophy girls that I met at the Hot Rod World Final at Ipswich last year. She’s also the girlfriend of top superstox driver Ryan Eaton # 17 , who is the grandson of Spedeworth’s founder, Les Eaton.

Joining the Superstox on the program were the ‘kids’ Ministocks and bangers.

The racing was all over at a sensible time, so Mick and I were on our way back to Bedfordshire just after 10-00 pm.

Thursday 9th June

I’d kept Thursday free so I could take Mum and Dad out for the day. We decided to head for the coastal town of Felixstowe, close to our roots and ‘home town’ of Ipswich. We found a nice pub in the old part of Felixstowe , close to the Bawdsey Ferry (aptly named the Ferry Boat Inn) where we had an excellent lunch.

After wards we spent a bit of time down by the water watching people crabbing, before heading back to Ipswich.

While we were in town, and before heading for home,I wanted to pay a visit to the supporters shop of my favorite football team Ipswich Town FC as I wanted to buy some souvenirs .( that’s soccer to my friends in North America, even though the rest of the world call it football ! )

Friday 10th June

Friday was going to be a busy start to the day so Mum , Dad and myself were up early. We were driving down to London’s Heathrow Airport to pick up my daughter Carla who was flying in from Miami. The main reason why I make trips back to the UK each year is to see my parents, family and friends, so I try to organize my visits around this ideal. At the weekend, my nephew William was getting married to his partner Kelly, so Carla wanted to be there too. She lives in Ft Lauderdale , Florida and was making a weekend dash across the Atlantic to attend. We picked her up from Heathrow around lunch time then headed back to Toddington. We then had a relaxing afternoon before all of us revisited the Chinese Buffet in Dunstable.

Saturday 11th June

Saturday was the big day for Will and Kelly and during the morning many of our family members congregated at Mum and Dads place, which is just a short walk from St Georges Church in Toddington. The wedding commenced at 12-00 pm and once the ceremony and picture taking was over, the happy couple were driven away in a vintage Citroen.

I’d already declined the invitation to the reception , as I had a lot of old friends to meet up with that night , nearly two hours away at the Norfolk Arena in Kings Lynn. At about 1-30 pm my dress suit was quickly discarded in favor of more casual attire as I jumped in to Blacky’s Corsa in the direction of Norfolk.

The big event that was attracting so many of my old friends was the BSCDA Championship for BriSCA F1 Stock Cars. This race, which in recent years has become known as the British Championship, is the second most important annual oval race in the UK and dates back to 1955. ( the BriSCA F1 World Final being the countries premier event)

With it being a big race occasion, there would be a large crowd so we wanted to be there early.

I met up with so many old friends that night, I’m going to apologize in advance to anyone I leave out.

There was Paul and Joan Jenkins, of the Veteran Stock Car Association,

Race Fans, Vic and his daughter Mandy, Rosemary , Kelly , and Mandy Gale, Ray Froggatt , Stephen Cording and Ailsa Haigh,

 

Peggyann and Annika Lilley.

Derek Hinds father of defending Champ Paul # 259,

Tim Warwick # 307 an old friend who’s still racing as well as Rob Harrad # 258,

Former racers Dave Peters # 231, Gerry Peters # 172, Ray Peters # 171, Colin Hayward # 167, Alan England # 24, Willie Harrison # 2, Keith ‘Bonzo’ Palmer # 105, Des Chandler # 213 , Roy Hart # 446, Dave Abraham # 93, Stu Blythe # 235, Guy Parker # 516, Mick Stecko # 419, and last but not least Colin Casserley # 176 who is now a track photographer.

I have to give Colin a big thank you for ‘pulling the strings’ to get my photographer credentials. Track photographers in the UK are not as highly regarded as we are in North America, and suffer plenty of ‘BS’  generally attributed to the OTT ‘Health and Safety’ regulations. There is a limit ( quite small) to the amount who get accredited and the ones that do, even have to pay a license fee for the privilege ! It’s no wonder that UK oval racing misses out on the exposure it deserves ! So it’s a big thanks to promoter Paul Butler and for Colin who arranged it.

I was able to park my self on the first turn with Dave Bastock ( another of my UK photographer friends) and get some great shots.

I also made a couple of new friends from the Netherlands during the evening , Dutch media man Patrick Stuard  ( www.ovalnews.nl ) and fellow Dutchman , F2 driver Ronald Claes # h277. Ronald is the son of the late Jac Van Claes, who in my opinion was one of the best promoters of all times when he was running the NACO organization.

The BriSCA F2’s were the nights back up formula for the F1’s and put up a great show. Their meeting final was won by Brett Townsend # 710. ( son of Brian Townsend # 710 who raced in my F2 days of the mid 1970’s)

When it was time for the big race of the night I made my exit from the center as I wanted to become a ‘ fan again’ for this one, and watch it from the stands. It was a really good race with Stuart Smith Jr # 390 making the early running and holding the lead until the last lap. Paul Harrison # 2 ( son of Willie) had been gradually catching him and as they entered the first turn Smith received a big hit from the Harrison bumper that sent him wide and enough to dash past. Smith made an effort to come back for retaliation, but it didn’t work, giving Paul Harrison his third BSCDA Championship win.

His first was at the High Edge Raceway at Buxton in 1991 and his second was at the Long Eaton Stadium in 1993. The racing was over by 11-00 pm and we were back in Bedfordshire long before 12-30 am.

Sunday 12th June

As mentioned earlier, my daughter Carla was only visiting the UK for the weekend, and had to be back at work in Miami, Florida on Monday, so first thing Sunday morning Mum , Dad, Carla and I , all set off for Heathrow again. Her flight was around lunch time, so once we’d dropped her off and said our good bye’s the plan was to head out towards Oxfordshire.

When I was a small child, our family lived in the picturesque Cotswold town of Witney and we were going back to take a look at the ‘old’ place. Unfortunately, this was the day that Mother Nature decided to spoil things, and it rained continuously throughout the day.

It wasn’t the right kind of weather for getting out of the car and walking around town so we went to a pub opposite the old Buttercross, close to my first ever school , and had a nice roast Sunday lunch.

There were TV screens on the wall and we were able to watch the final laps of the LeMans 24 hour Sports car race live from France.

Next stop on our agenda was the Standlake Arena, a few miles from Witney, where I’d planned to meet some more of my racing friends. Back in 1977, I was regularly racing in BriSCA F2 and my traveling partner at this time was Brian Holmes # 542 from Eaton Bray , Bedfordshire.

Up until last year, Brian who is now over 70 years of age was still racing F2 stock cars. He has since moved down to Devon in the West Country and has been making the three hour drive up to Standlake to race in their independent F2 division.

A recent hip replacement operation has kept him out of action this year, but was there on Sunday to watch , his two grandsons Paul # 422 and Wayne Quick # 142 in action.

It was still pouring with rain when we arrived but unlike North America, the racing continued.  There is a facility at this track where you can watch the racing from the comfort of your car , so that’s what we did.

We drew the Hyundai up beside Wayne’s VW tow car , where I chatted with Brian and his wife May about the old times while we watched the races.

There were about six different formulas racing on the quarter mile paved oval that day , and we saw all of the Finals before making our exit. This was the first time I’d visited this track and Standlake Arena became # 196 on my TRACKCHASING Totals.

Once back in Toddington, I had a relaxing ‘last night’  watching the live coverage on the BBC of a very wet F1 Canadian Grand Prix from Montreal.

Monday 13th June

It was time to head back to my home in Ontario, Canada, so after saying my farewells to Mum and Dad before boarding the 6-30 am train from Harlington , I was bound for Gatwick via the ‘Bed Pan Line’.

The return trip went much smoother than my inbound journey, even if the 12-35 pm plane took off over 30 minutes late ! It must have made up the deficit whilst in the air, because it landed in Montreal on time, and it wasn’t long before Barb was whisking me off to Baie Durfe. Once there, the HHR roared back into life after its week of rest and was soon transporting me back to my home in Cornwall.