Round 5 of the Dunlop Mini Miglia Championship set at Croft, Darlington.

The weekend started when we arrived late Thursday night at Croft circuit. We had been delayed by traffic and didn’t arrive until 10.45pm. As we setup camp things didn’t look good for testing the following morning with the weather forecast.

With rain forecast for Friday things didn’t look good for our 2 x 30 minute test session. Our first test session was scheduled for 11.00am and the second session scheduled for 3.30pm. As our first session drew closer the rain started. The Mini Se7en’s took to a wet / damp track a little under 1 ½ hours before the Miglia first session. A dry racing line was starting to appear, but offline was still very wet with pools of standing water. We were hopeful that come our first session things would improve. By the time we got on track it was starting dry, but still wet offline. I hadn’t race at Croft since 2003 in my Mini 7 and Owen had never been to the track before. Owen had only seen the track weeks before watching the BTCC on TV.

Both cars had undergone engine rebuilds since the last race. So with that in mind we elected to take the first session easy and run the new engines in. I managed to set a low 1:38 and Owen failed to set a competitive time due to engine problems. The oil pressure warning had appeared on the dash so his session was end early. The first session was end early after Colin Peacock had managed to out brake himself in the wet conditions and hit the tyre wall. Both Colin’s car and the tyre wall had sustained major damage, so the session was ended.

Once back in the pits Endaf and the Sheepspeed team set about the task of finding the oil pressure problem. The team checked the oil pressure relief valve, oil pressure sensor and even resulted in connecting the oil pressure sensor from my car and dash to Owen’s engine. The car had very low oil pressure, but it sounded fine no knocking or signs of damage. The team elected check the oil filter for debris. Upon cutting the oil filter for inspection the problem was obvious. The filter had loads of brass swarf in the filter element.  So the engine was damaged beyond repair for the next session. The problem being that the team was also out of time to swap to the spare engine. This meant Owen had to sit the second session out.

My car had a complete check before the next session. Mark and Jim noticed that the N/S CV joint had started to break up. This had caused the bearing to seize on the CV joint and cause breaking issues. So Mark set about the task of fixing the CV joint, wheel bearing and checking the brakes.

The weather was much the same for the second session. The session was end early again, this time due to me parking my car in the gravel trap and the end of the start straight. I was braking later and later each time going into the corner, trying to find the limit. Well I missed the limit and ended up in the gravel trap, no more than 2 /3 inches from the tyre wall. As I climbed out of the car to inspect the damage all I could think was Endaf and the team are going to kill me. The car looked fine externally, but the car was full of gravel. So the team had a load of work to do and not much time to get the cars fixed before qualifying.

Qualifying the weather was dry. On the last lap in the session I managed to set a 1:38:832 securing 6^th on the grid. Owen qualified setting a 1:39:820 securing 8^th on the grid. Paul Thompson secured pole with a 1:37:829.

All the cars were called to the assembly area at 4.40pm, before the 5.00 pm race start. When the cars were in the assembly area the rain started. An anxious few minutes waiting to see if the rain would stop. It looked like being a repeat of the Snetterton race, but luckily it was only a shower.

So, from the 3^rd row I made a good start and managed to get into 2^nd place going down the inside of Paul Thompson into the 1^st corner. We crossed the line to complete the 1^st lap, Ralph Saunders from Paul Thompson, Dave Edgecombe, Mark Sims, Paul Simmonds and Andy Hack in the lead group. Lap 3 saw Paul Thompson pass Ralph on the run out of Sunny out. We crossed the line to complete lap 3, Paul Thompson from Ralph Saunders, Dave Edgecombe, Mark Sims, Andy Hack, Paul Simmonds and Mark Smith. The changes we had made to my car after qualifying had worked. The car was working well, easily staying with Paul & Ralph. My car was quicker than Ralph’s on the run through Jim Clark esses and on the run down to Sunny in. This was looking the best place to attempt a pass on Ralph. The lap times were getting quicker with each lap and on lap 6 I set the fastest lap of the race 1:36:602. On lap 7 things took a turn for the worse when Andy Hack hit my car in the driver’s side rear corner. I had turned into the apex of Sunny out when Andy hit me in the rear corner and pushed me sideways. In an attempt to save the car I selected 2^nd gear and pinned the throttle. Andy then hit me again in the driver’s door and pushed me off the track into the tyre wall. So with a heavily damaged car I had 2 options, park up and leave the car or try and get some points with a finish. So I selected 1^st gear and attempted to move the car. Once back on the track it was soon evident that the car would struggle to make the finish. In the impact the rear wheel had been bent (see gallery for pics) and the car had a massive vibration and was very unstable. So for the run through the complex I was very slow, checking the extent of the damage. Once on the start / finish straight the true extent of the damage and the handling issues came to light. I had to turn the steering wheel ½ a turn to the left to go straight and under braking this was a big problem. So I had to adjust my braking points and find the limits of my modified car. My lap times had gone from 1:36’s to 1:50’s due to the contact. So with 3 laps to go I need to defend my position from my team mate Owen Stinchcombe. With each lap that past Owen got closer and closer. I managed to hold on a crossed the line in 6^th place 0:0:226 ahead of Owen.

The top 10 finished as follows;

1)      Paul Thompson

2)      Ralph Saunders

3)     Mark Sims

4)     Mark Smith

5)     Paul Simmonds

6)     Dave Edgecombe

7)  Owen Stinchcombe

8)     Sarah Munns

9)    Gordan Pocock

10)  Phil Harvey

An excellent result from a very hard race. Overall Team Edgecoms / Sheepspeed had a good race. Owen qualified 8^th and finished 7^th; I qualified 6^th and finished 6^th complete with heavily damaged car.

So with some good points to help us in the championship we head to round 6 in Castle Combe. Currently I’m 4^th in the championship and Owen is 6^th. Owen is also leading the novice championship from Colin Shipton.

As Dave  Edgecombe was away on holiday, the race report was left to Owen. Owen made the mistake of bringing his girlfriend Sam to the Oulton Part with him, so during the race she was left with Jim. Owen was so worried about Sam and Jim (and his love for pretty ladies) he forgot to take his notepad in the car with him so no race report for croft, sorry.

Larry the Lamb

Click here for the photo's of the last Mini Miglia round 2 & 3 at Pembrey

Round 2 and 3 of the Dunlop Mini Miglia Championship set at Pembrey, Wales. Home of Endaf and the sheepspeed team.

The weekend started when we arrived late Friday night to a very wet Pembrey. We had been delayed by traffic and didn’t arrive until 11.30pm, too late for last orders. As we setup in the rain things didn’t look good for qualifying the following morning.

With heavy rain and thunder storm overnight things didn’t look good for qualifying. The Mini Se7en’s took to a wet track a little under 2 hours before the Miglia qualifying. A dry racing line was starting to appear, but offline was still very wet with standing water. We were hopeful that come qualifying things would improve. Qualifying for my part was good. The weather was excellent, the track was dry. After the problems I had in qualifying at Snetterton I was keen to post a good time early in the 20 minute session.  With the change in weather the tyres were soon going to drop off in the temperature, so getting a good lap in early on was key. Early in the session I managed to set a 1:07:113 securing 5^th on the grid. Owen qualified setting a 1:07:709 securing 9^th on the grid. Andy hack secured pole with a 1:06:527.

Race day, the weather was dry, sunny and very hot. The race start time was delayed due to 3 out of the 5 races being stopped due to accidents. The biggest being the massive accident involving 5 Mini Se7en’s. Daz Mullen had been hit exiting Honda, and pushed sideways across the track into the path of a helpless Tim Joslyn. Tim had nowhere to go, but in the side of Daz’s car. This then started a chain reaction of cars trying to take avoiding action of the two mangled cars. As a net result a further 3 cars were heavily damaged. The 5 cars were left stranded across the track for a further lap until the red flags were final produced, thanks to only a member of the public getting on the track, some 70 seconds after the incident. The 5 cars and 2 drivers were stranded on the track, on the racing line while the front cars passed through the wreckage at full race speed at one of the quickest point of the circuit. Luckily all the drivers involved in the incident were all ok. As a result of the damage and the time taken to remove all the cars the Miglia race was delayed until 2.00pm. Not the best preparation before a race to witness your friends and club members involved in a massive accident.

All the cars were called to the assembly area at 1.40pm, before the 2.00 pm race start. When the cars were in the assembly area the rain started. An anxious few minutes waiting to see if the rain would stop. It looked like being a repeat of the Snetterton race, but luckily it was only a shower.

So, from the 3^rd row I made a good start and managed to get into 3^rd place going round the outside of Paul Thompson into the 1^st corner. We crossed the line to complete the 1^st lap, Ralph Saunders from Andy Hack, Dave Edgecombe, Paul Thompson, Mark Smith, Colin Peacock and Mark Sims in the lead group. Lap 3 saw Andy Hack retire with a stuck open throttle and Paul Thompson passed me. So the lead group completed lap 4 with Ralph Saunders from Paul Thompson, Dave Edgecombe, Mark Smith, Mark Sims and Colin Peacock. Lap 5 saw Paul Thompson take the lead and Mark Sims take 4^th from Mark Smith. Lap 6 saw my chance of attacking the lead 2 ended. I managed to get good drive out of hatchets hairpin and attack Ralph Saunders through Spitfires. I went to the inside on the entry to Dibeni, but rather than selecting 3^rd I got 1^st. Bendy strikes again, more bent valves (sorry Endaf & Dave). A quick check of the Stack dash, no warning lights so ok to carry on. From that point on I didn’t have the power of the other cars around me, so it was a case of defending my position. Mark Sims was clearly quicker than me, but defending the inside line into Hatchet’s and Brookland’s gave me a chance. As result of me slowing down the group it allowed the cars behind me to trip over each other.  Mean time Paul and Ralph created a 2.5 second gap. On lap 8 Paul and Ralph touched when Paul clipped the inside curb at Debeni and was sent onto 2 wheels and into the path of Ralph. Ralph move into the lead, but the contact had pushed his rear arch onto the left rear tyre. Paul then retired on lap 10 with a damaged gearbox. So Ralph Saunders led from Dave Edgecombe, Mark Sims, Tony Le-May, Mark Smith and Colin Peacock. Lap 11 saw Mark Smith lock up going into Hatchets and drop back down the field. The following few laps I came under more pressure from Mark Sims, Colin Peacock and Tony Le-May, as they looked for a way past my slower car. On lap 13 Mark Sims and Colin Peacock had contact going into Hatchets, this gave me a small gap back to Tony Le-May. The end was insight, I just needed to defend for 1 more lap. I managed to defend Tony Le-May off on the entry to Honda, so it was a straight drag race to the line. The top 10 finished as follows;

1)  Ralph Saunders

2)  Dave Edgecombe

3)  Tony Le-May

4)  Owen Stinchcombe

5)  Gordan Pocock

6)  Paul Simmonds

7)  Phil Harvey

8)  Mark Smith

9)  Andrew Worsley

10) Mark Sims

1)     

So in only my 2^nd Miglia race I managed to get on the podium. An excellent result from a very hard race. I had to defend the following pack for 8 laps. We raced very close for 8 laps and didn’t receive any damage. Testament to the driving standard, given the fact I was clearly slower than the chasing pack.

Overall Team Edgecoms / Sheepspeed had a good race. Owen qualified 9^th and finished 4^th; I qualified 5^th and finished 2^nd. The only issue we had was 4 bent valves and very little time to repair the engine.

After race 1 we set about the task of repairing the damage caused by my miss gear. We had a major problem in the fact we had very little time between to 2 races. The Sheepspeed team set about the task of repairing Bendy’s (my new name give too me by the team after the previous races) damage. A quick check of the Stack dash showed a max rpm of 9800!!! Endaf said it was an improvement on the 10,000+ from Snetterton, so a step in the right direction. I’m not sure Dave Wells will share are view of a step in the right direction! The Sheepspeed team replaced the 4 bent exhaust valves and made the usual pre race checks before the 2^nd race.

So for race 2 in started from the 3^rd row I made a good start and managed to get into 4th place going into the 1^st corner. Things were looking good for the race until lap 2. On the entry to Brooklands i changed from 3^rd gear to 2^nd, but I had no clutch. The clutch pedal had gone straight to the floor. Great! 12 more laps with no clutch or stop and lose points. A quick check of the Stack dash, no warning lights so carry on. As a result of no clutch I locked up on down change into Brooklands. My exit was slow and i was passed by Colin Peacock and Tony Le-May.  So the same as race 1, a slower car than those behind me and 12 laps to the finish great! On lap 3 i managed to get back to 5^th passed Tony Le-may. So lap 4 saw Andy Hack, lead Ralph Saunders, Mark Smith, Colin Peacock, Dave Edgecombe and Mark Sims. The order remained the same until lap 9 when I was passed by Mark Sims. On lap 12 I was passed by Tony Le-May on the run down to hatchets. The car was quick, but having to change down with no clutch was causing the engine to lock the wheels. So hatchets and brooklands were a big problem and the car was very unstable through both these corners. As a result of keep locking the front wheels the tyres were shot. I managed to defend for the remaining 2 laps and cross the line in 7^th place just behind Tony Le-may. The top 10 finished as follows;

1)   1)  Andy Hack

2)   2)  Colin Peacock

3)   3)  Ralph Saunders

4)   4)   Mark Smith

5)   5)   Mark Sims

6)   6)   Tony Le-May

7)   7)   Dave Edgeccombe

8)   8)   Sarah Munns

9)   9)   Owen Stinchcombe

10) 10)  Gordan Pocock

Overall Team Edgecoms / Sheepspeed had a good weekend. Owen qualified 9^th and finished 4^th in race 1 and 9^th in race2. I qualified 5^th and finished 2^nd in race 1 and 7^th in race2. The only issue we had was 4 bent valves and a broken clutch release bearing.

 So with some good points to help us in the championship we head to round 4 in Oulton Park. Currently I’m 2^nd in the championship and Owen is 8^th.

Dave Edgecombe

Click here for the photo's of the last Mini Miglia round 2 & 3 at Pembrey

A Quick update from trackside at Pembrey

All going well today at pembrey, the sun is shining, the beer is flowing, and all the sheepspeed and bullspeed cars are running without problems.

Jimbo & Endaf are both topless which isn't pretty. My wool is very hot.


In the miglias:
Dave Edgecombe has qualified 5th
Owen Stinchcome has qualified 9th

In the Seven's
Jabez Dyer has qualified 5th
Daz Mullen has qualified 7th

Larry the Lamb

Click here for the photo's of the last Mini Miglia round 2 & 3 at Pembrey

Team Sheepspeed are a team involved in a few different areas of motorsports:

Autograss, Mini Miglias, Drag Racing, & Mighty Mini Extreams. More details to follow on each of these.

850 peanuts are needed to make an 18 oz. jar of peanut butter