Here are the following dates to add into your diary:-

Rounds 1&2     - Brands Hatch     - March 28th & 29th

Rounds 3&4     - Rockingham       - April 18th & 19th

Rounds 5&6     - Croft                    - May 2nd & 3rd

Rounds 7&8     - Oulton Park        - June 20th

Rounds 9&10   - Rockingham       - July 18th & 19th

Rounds 11&12 - Thruxton             - August 15th & 16th

Rounds 13&14 - Rockingham       - August 22nd & 23rd

Rounds 15&16 - Rockingham        - September 5th & 6th

Rounds 17&18 - Pembrey, Wales - October 17th & 18th

Rounds 19&20 - Brands Hatch      - October 31st & November 1st

There is also the possibility of an extra date but it is not formalised yet.

Hope to see you all in 2009!

Yung.

Mechanic.

Saturday morning and the temperature was warming up so no chance of snow so we had rain instead.  We had a full team with Michael Russell and Chris Stubbs returning and so while Chris Millett and Michael was working on the setup, me and Chris Stubbs was doing our usual checkups before the trucks went out for Qualifying.  We went out on wet tyres as the track was still wet and Richard ended up 13th fastest with a 59.311.  Tech Inspection was after qualifying and we failed the Sound Test as the exhaust was emitting too high decibels although we passed it in Pembrey two weeks ago and nothing was altered.  Me and Chris Stubbs again done our usual checkups after qualifying and Chris Millett and Michael worked on repacking the exhaust to pass the Sound retest the next day.

Sunday morning and it was foggy but the track was wet from the overnight rain.  Due to the fog our first race was delayed.  We passed the Sound retest and waited for the fog to dissipate.  The track was still wet and so we went out to Race 1 with wet tyres on.

Sunday Race 1 and Richard would start in 7th place with Neil Tressler (#37) ahead of him and Chris Dawkins (#10) behind.  Antony Hawkins (#98) who is ahead of us in the overall championship was alongside Richard for the start.  Richard finished the race in 15th place behind the #98 pickup truck with his fastest lap as 57.595 seconds.  Richard was going well until near the end where the wet tyres started to go “off”.  Pete Stevens (#4) got wide at Paddock Hill Bend and picked up some gravel and on the same lap he spun after Surtees corner.  After the race Michael found a small leak on the left rear corner and it was found that the leak was coming from the half-shaft.  After close inspection there weren’t any signs of wear on the half-shaft and so he refitted it with a change to the O-ring. 

Sunday Race 2 and it was sunny and dry track so full slick tyres were on the pickup truck.  We started 4th and he finished 13th with the fastest lap as 54.435.  Nic Grindrod (#22) came into the pits before the first lap and retired from the race with a problem.  Michael Smith (#93) had a problem with his door and so he borrowed the door from Nic Grindrod (#22) and then continued racing.

We finished the season in 11th place in the Overall Championship with 2780 points.  Only 40 points ahead of Julian Arnold (#3) who finished in 12th and 133 points behind Antony Hawkins (#98) who finished 10th in the Overall Championship.

Many thanks again for the team of Michael Smith (#93).  Without their help I think we wouldn’t get to sleep at all at some race meetings with the problems we sometimes receive.

Congratulations to Gavin Seager (#54) for winning both races and also sweeping the 2008 season with 4410 points in the Overall Championship.  Well done to Richard Novell (#24) for finishing 11th which is so much better than last year.  2008 was a season of improving and learning and so things look good for the future.  Hope you all enjoyed the racing this year and those with withdrawal symptoms can search for videos of the pickup trucks on YouTube.

Hope to see you all in 2009.

Yung.

Mechanic.

On the timetable it was shown that our qualifying was on Sunday morning and practice was on Saturday afternoon.  We were told it was the opposite prior to going on track on Saturday.

Saturday Qualifying and we were only allowed to do three flying laps as we had radio problems.  Before we completed our first flying lap, the red flags were out and the session stopped as there was an incident involving Julian Arnold (#3) and Tony Mumford (#7).  It happened on the opposite side to the pit-lane and so we couldn’t see what happened.  From what I heard, the #7 truck spun on a corner and the #3 truck couldn’t avoid a collision.  Julian Arnold is ok and he continued to race on Sunday.  Tony Mumford suffered a dislocated shoulder and will not be able to race for six weeks which means he will not be racing at the season’s finale at Brands Hatch in three weeks time.  It took approximately 25 minutes for the marshals to clear the track and the session then continued.  Richard’s fastest lap was 1:09:104 on his last flying lap available.  Richard said that the front end of the truck was pushing and so we decided to do some setup work on the front end after qualifying.  End of the session and Richard was having trouble starting the #24 truck so we decided to charge the battery overnight.  We also found we have a clutch problem as well and it was all sorted by 2am on Sunday morning.  Thanks to Poodles (#54) for his assistance and especially the whole Michael Smith’s team (#93) for their help and for us to borrow their equipment.

Sunday morning and I woke up at 7am to do the normal checks on the #24 pickup truck as we had to get ready for practice just after 9am. 

Sunday Practice and Chris Dawkins (#10) and Lee Rogers (#69) missed this session.  Richard’s fastest lap was 1:07:099.  A big improvement to Saturday qualifying time.  Richard was saying that the front end of the pickup truck is better but can still be improved.  After practice Richard was having problems starting the pickup truck again.  As there is only a short time before Race 1 we decided to concentrate on the setup work and leave the starter motor problems until after Race 1.

Sunday Race 1 and Richard started 4th and finished 13th.  Richard was keeping up with the leaders until lap 3 where he was 3.5 seconds slower than the previous lap and got dropped down to 14th place.  He gained back a place on lap 6 where he overtook Neil Tressler (#37).  Richard’s fastest lap was 1:07:177.  After the race we had the starter motor problems again and this time we had enough time to change the starter motor and the battery.  Thanks to Tony Mumford (#7) for his battery.  Richard also complained that the #24 truck is now not totally balanced and so we altered the setup again to reach that sweet spot.

Sunday Race 2 and Richard was on pole position.  He got a good start and like Race 1 he lost a lot of places on lap 3 down to 11th place but this time Richard only lost 0.7 seconds from the previous lap.  Richard would battle the rest of the race with Julian Arnold (#3) and Chris Dawkins (#10).  Richard finished 11th with a fastest lap of 1:07:180 with Michael Smith (#93) beating Richard at the finish line in 10th position.  After the race has ended, Paul Saunders (#26) received a penalty and was penalised 25 seconds and this put Richard into 10th place in the final results of Race 2.

In the end, we survived an incident-packed weekend and Congratulations to Gavin Seager (#54) who now has won both the Oval and the Overall 2008 Pickup Truck Championship.

Many thanks to the following teams for their help:-

#3 Julian Arnold

#7 Tony Mumford

#9 Pete Wilkinson

#10 Chris Dawkins

#26 Paul Saunders

#54 Gavin Seager

#63 Phil White

#69 Lee Rogers

And a special thank you for everyone at Michal Smith’s team (#93) for everything and sorry for waking you guys up on Sunday.

See you all at the season’s finale at Brands Hatch on weekend beginning 31st October 2008.

Yung

Mechanic

That being said the team had a very late night on Friday as all effort was mode to return the truck to the Rockingham setup instead of the circuit. This may have been the reason that in the Saturday morning practice Richard reported that the truck had massive push.

After a slight change and a few more laps the decision was made to return to the pits and try to find the
problem that was making the car so hard to drive. The schedule wasn’t in our favor either as we would be lining up around 4:15pm.

The first race of the weekend happened on Saturday evening and I will admit that the truck not being fully ready was mainly my fault. With the schedule being brought forward I just plan ran out of time trying to get our setup correct and as a result Richard suffered during the race with a car that still pushed. Although the truck was running a good pace at first the tyres soon overheated and Richard ended up having to put full lock through turn 4 just to get round. So bad was the handling that we wore the front right tyre to the canvass! Still least it gave Richard a good work out and a healthy dose of adrenalin!

It became apparent that I would have to spend some time on the truck to find our setup. We were being turfed out our pit garage in the evening for the end of season party so I wheeled the car to Michael Smith’s garage and prepared to miss the celebrations and get the truck right for tomorrow.
As it turns out the setup was found in good time. Thanks to Steve for showing me a useful way of changing castor and camber without having to take things apart. With the correct settings on the front and the wheels properly aligned the corner weights were pretty good. It was decided that a small change in pressures for the race was all that remained and we headed of to join the party.

Sunday arrived and the whole team was pretty up beat apart from Richard who seemed to have been poisoned slightly from Yung’s red wine! Breakfast was had (something we missed yesterday) and the build up to the race was full of minor jobs that needed to be done.

As it turns out the calm experienced by the team before the race was to be followed by a storm! When lining up to go onto circuit it became apparent that we had radio problems as Richard and Jamie could hear each other! What was stranger was that I could hear both and they could hear me? As it turned out the antenna cable in the car was broken so a quick fix had to be made as the National Anthem was played. With Red Dog and Blue Leader talking again the trucks rolled out on the warm up laps.

I was particularly nervous that the problems from yesterday would return but as racing got underway Richard began what I believe to be his best race all season. Richard dropped from the front as the fast trucks made their way through. We dropped to 11th place as is the norm and I began to hop that the truck would at least keep working so we could finish in this position. Little did I know that Richard would soon begin a fantastic drive back into the pack that would see the number 24 truck fighting for 7th place for the remainder of the race!

With my nerves climbing every lap that was completed Richard pounded the oval constantly changing places with Phil White, Pete Stevens, Anthony Hawkins and a few other I forget in all the excitement! Although the top 6 trucks were pretty far ahead the tussle for 7th to 12th raged on and I am pleased to say that Richard was never out of 7th place for long.

The final lap began and I lost sight of the trucks heading into turn 1 with Richard being challenged for the 7th place he had fought so hard for all race. When they re-emersed from the blind spot I was gutted to see that Richard had been demoted to 9th! As it turns out all had got pretty scary and a small coming together with Pete Stevens had resulted in a loss of momentum that allowed a few other past. A Thank You here is needed to Anthony Hawkins for pushing Richard straight again. Something that truly did aid in Richard keeping in 9th.

With the chequered flag waved the race was over and although being robbed of the 7th place we thought was in the bag, the team was very happy with the 9th position and the knowledge that the pace was there.

The good news that followed was even better. In the Oval Championship we had finished in 9th place! An amazing achievement for RMN Motorsport and one at which I know the whole team is very proud. The challenge now is to topple the 115 point deficit we have to 10th place in the overall in the last few rounds.

Lets hope lady luck stays with us at Pembrey and Brands Hatch and RMN Motorsport can finish the year 10th or above!

Chris Millett
Crew Chief

P.S apparently developing push as the fuel tank empties happens in NASCAR,
so at least we are not alone in this problem!

Friday morning when I got there, we had to put all the small parts back on the pickup truck as the paint was still drying on its way to Brands Hatch.  We tweaked around with the clutch all day as we were continuing to put things back on.  Only had half the decals on the pickup truck before Friday practice began. 

End of practice Richard was 13th fastest and just over 2 seconds slower than the fastest pace setter that was Gavin Seager (#54).  Richard was pushing on all the left corners and was spinning the inner wheel on Clearways.  The fan motor was also loose as one of the bolts holding it in place was missing.  Got it tightened as soon as the pickup truck got back in the paddock.

Friday night we done some setup work on the rear to improve traction on Clearways and on Saturday morning we altered some of the settings on the clutch.

Saturday Race 1 and we started in the middle of the pack and was going well until Richard stopped just after Druids.  When the #24 pickup truck got back in the paddock the alternator belt was snapped off along with the cam belt.  As we dismantled the engine head, we found 12 bent valves.  A new engine is required to get the pickup truck back out and running again.  Richard and Chris Millett decided to head back to Bedford to get his old engine from last year while Michael, Chris Stubbs and I get started on removing the rest of the engine from the truck.  Richard and Chris got back to Brands around 9:30pm and we fitted the engine and connected the clutch and gearbox back on by 11:30pm.  We all decided to have a few drinks and relax a bit with Michael Smith’s (#93) team.

Sunday morning came and we refitted all the hoses, wires and cables back on the engine.  Started it up for the first time and a lot of smoke was coming out.  If I remember correctly, that’s what happened when the last time we changed an engine at Rockingham October 2006 so I was hoping all the smoke was normal.  After a while the smoke stopped coming out and the engine was running smoothly.

Sunday Race 2 and the predicted thunderstorms didn’t materialise and all we got was bits of rain now and then.  We were starting last because we changed an engine but we didn’t break any seals as the seal from last year was still on the old engine.  The officials only asked us if we broken any seals which we didn’t.  Richard was battling with Neil Tressler (#37) during the race until Richard reported of clutch problems over the radio which set him back behind the #37 truck.  Richard nearly got pushed off the track by Kelly-Jayne Wells (#21) as he was letting her through but then later on Tony Mumford (#7) got a coming together with the #21 truck and Tony drove back into the pits and retired from the race.  Richard finished the race 16th and behind the #37 truck in the end.  After the race the #24 pickup truck was leaking clutch fluid and so will need to be sorted before the next race at Rockingham at the end of September.

A big thank you to the following teams for helping over the weekend:-

#2 Dave Briggs

#7 Tony Mumford

#9 Pete Wilkinson

#10 Chris Dawkins

#22 Nic Grindrod

#37 Neil Tressler

#54 Gavin Seager

#63 Phil White

#93 Michael Smith

#98 Antony Hawkins

See you all at Rockingham weekend beginning 26th September!

Yung

Mechanic