“LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE”
This conjures up pictures of old codgers in Yorkshire getting up to all kinds of mad stuff and mischief. That is exactly what happened: except the old codgers were from HRCA. They came up with the daft idea of driving in the Fiesta 6 hour endurance race at Mondello in November. They would do it to raise money for St. Catherine’s Association in Newcastle, Co. Wicklow which provides vital services for clients with intellectual and other disabilities. Hopefully they would also have a bit of fun to end the racing season.
They bought a four door Fiesta, one lady owner who only drove to church and the local shops in it. She wouldn’t recognise it now. Interesting number on the car 288. Why? Because it is the total of the four drivers’ ages! It was established that the average age of other drivers for the event was
32, so possible fitter and with a tad more stamina. Many weeks of work by Liam, Blazej, Ken and Ed took place in a top secret location in Wicklow. The end result was a super looking Fiesta beautifully prepared and looking better than new. Let’s hope it looks the same at 6 p.m. on the 7th of November. The sponsors were the HRCA and Impact Ireland (Metals) Ltd.
Drivers picked: Ken McAvoy, Edwin Rynhart Liam Ruth and Wolfgang Schnittger
Chief Mechanics: Blazej and Johnny Flynn (and Stevie Griffin on engine)
Team Manager: Willy Fenton
Fuelling: Ryan Stafford and Gerry Bradley
Pit Wall timekeeping: Ger O’Connor
Transponders: Paul Dalton
Cameras: Clive Brandon
Catering (very important): Roberta Ruth
Strategy meetings over and testing on a very wet Saturday at Mondello. All went ok with the statutory amount of spins – all part of the learning curve also driving in the dark was a new skill. Sunday dawned cold and bright and scrutiny went to plan. The nerves were jangling at the clock ticked way too fast to midday. Maybe some people were wondering at their madness to take on such a race when normally a 15 minute race is tiring enough.
Wolfgang took the first stint from 23rd on a grid of 24. The aim was to keep out of trouble and finish the race. Suddenly huge puff of smoke from the exhaust – had the head gasket blown which would have been awful as only about 30 minutes of the race had transpired. He was black flagged – oops.
It turned out to be a coolant leakage as the pipe had burst. Frantic work took place and all fixed within about half an hour. Brilliant work by all the team but they had lost a lot of laps. Re-fueling and driver changes went to plan with no shouting or hiccups. The driver change is interesting to watch as the incoming driver just hauls the driver out of the car as fast as possible quite inelegant to say the least.
Lap after lap with no problems, although there may have been a dent in the offside driver’s door but no-one would admit to it. Someone knows who was responsible. Two of the drivers came into the pit lane when the safety car went out – no names named you know who are. One driver had to go
to the control tower to grovel having crossed the line coming out of the pit lane, luckily he just got a naughty warning and no penalty.
Roberta kept everyone watered and fed and had everything ship shape and very tasty. Sterling work.
Quite a few people (Bernard and Denise, Billy and Ray and Noel and Andrea) came to support the team which was great. Everybody chatting and catching and wondering were they mad to do such a long race.
Liam volunteered to do the last stint which is in the dark. Very difficult driving and the arc lights around the circuit are very disconcerting and are inclined to blind you. It is also difficult to see the marshalls’ flags.
Half an hour to go – everybody is very tired, cold and anxious as you cannot get towed in at the time if you go off or break down. Our pit garage neighbours were lovely and managed to change a wheel bearing in 20 minutes but heartbreakingly lost the gears 5 minutes before the end.
What a day the team finished 16th overall which is some achievement well done to all. There is a possibility that they may be upgraded to 14th as two cars were impounded in Parc Ferme after the race. Some very tired bodies at the end but it was worth it.
We all hope a lot of money was raised for St. Catherine’s Association – c €8,000+.
Roll on next year…….. (or maybe not!)“LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE”
This conjures up pictures of old codgers in Yorkshire getting up to all kinds of mad stuff and mischief.
That is exactly what happened: except the old codgers were from HRCA. They came up with the
daft idea of driving in the Fiesta 6 hour endurance race at Mondello in November. They would do it
to raise money for St. Catherine’s Association in Newcastle, Co. Wicklow which provides vital
services for clients with intellectual and other disabilities. Hopefully they would also have a bit of fun
to end the racing season.
They bought a four door Fiesta, one lady owner who only drove to church and the local shops in it.
She wouldn’t recognise it now. Interesting number on the car 288. Why? Because it is the total
of the four drivers’ ages! It was established that the average age of other drivers for the event was
32, so possible fitter and with a tad more stamina.
Many weeks of work by Liam, Blazej, Ken and Ed took place in a top secret location in Wicklow. The
end result was a super looking Fiesta beautifully prepared and looking better than new. Let’s hope
it looks the same at 6 p.m. on the 7th of November. The sponsors were the HRCA and Impact Ireland
(Metals) Ltd.
Drivers picked: Ken McAvoy, Edwin Rynhart Liam Ruth and Wolfgang Schnittger
Chief Mechanics: Blazej and Johnny Flynn (and Stevie Griffin on engine)
Team Manager: Willy Fenton
Fuelling: Ryan Stafford and Gerry Bradley
Pit Wall timekeeping: Ger O’Connor
Transponders: Paul Dalton
Cameras: Clive Brandon
Catering (very important): Roberta Ruth
Strategy meetings over and testing on a very wet Saturday at Mondello. All went ok with the
statutory amount of spins – all part of the learning curve also driving in the dark was a new skill.
Sunday dawned cold and bright and scrutiny went to plan. The nerves were jangling at the clock
ticked way too fast to midday. Maybe some people were wondering at their madness to take on
such a race when normally a 15 minute race is tiring enough.
Wolfgang took the first stint from 23rd on a grid of 24. The aim was to keep out of trouble and finish
the race. Suddenly huge puff of smoke from the exhaust – had the head gasket blown which would
have been awful as only about 30 minutes of the race had transpired. He was black flagged – oops.
It turned out to be a coolant leakage as the pipe had burst. Frantic work took place and all fixed
within about half an hour. Brilliant work by all the team but they had lost a lot of laps.
Re-fueling and driver changes went to plan with no shouting or hiccups. The driver change is
interesting to watch as the incoming driver just hauls the driver out of the car as fast as possible
quite inelegant to say the least.
Lap after lap with no problems, although there may have been a dent in the offside driver’s door but
no-one would admit to it. Someone knows who was responsible. Two of the drivers came into the
pit lane when the safety car went out – no names named you know who are. One driver had to go
to the control tower to grovel having crossed the line coming out of the pit lane, luckily he just got a
naughty warning and no penalty.
Roberta kept everyone watered and fed and had everything ship shape and very tasty. Sterling
work.
Quite a few people (Bernard and Denise, Billy and Ray and Noel and Andrea) came to support the
team which was great. Everybody chatting and catching and wondering were they mad to do such a
long race.
Liam volunteered to do the last stint which is in the dark. Very difficult driving and the arc lights
around the circuit are very disconcerting and are inclined to blind you. It is also difficult to see the
marshalls’ flags.
Half an hour to go – everybody is very tired, cold and anxious as you cannot get towed in at the time
if you go off or break down. Our pit garage neighbours were lovely and managed to change a
wheel bearing in 20 minutes but heartbreakingly lost the gears 5 minutes before the end.
What a day the team finished 16th overall which is some achievement well done to all. There is a
possibility that they may be upgraded to 14th as two cars were impounded in Parc Ferme after the
race. Some very tired bodies at the end but it was worth it.
We all hope a lot of money was raised for St. Catherine’s Association – c €8,000+.
Roll on next year…….. (or maybe not!)
