Two weeks later we were at it again, this time we had the RHOCAR meet on the Saturday prior to the second round of the RAFMSA sprint on the Sunday.
Nigel Thursden again made the long trip up from Plymouth to take part this time he had his new Zetec Black top powering his Hood wonder if he will crack last seasons times?
Surprisingly there was not a full turn out of Hoodys for the event! Strange how many people ask for this type of event but when John Walton and Tim Norman arrange it very few make the effort!
Oh well more fool them, gives more track time for the rest of us who do
One newcomer to track days was our friends Gordon and Tim Roy who brought along Gordons lovely 5.7 Litre Corvette to take it round the track
The Big Car looked really good on the track this time it was Tim taking his Dads car round.
Some people can get rather carried away on these track days look at how close this Yellow car was to Tim at the end, this was totally at odds with the Drivers Briefing where you were told NOT to tailgate and harass cars in front, Mind you this car was also seen driving at silly speeds in the paddock in reverse and finally got suspended for 1/2 an hour when he totally ignored 2 Red flags with marshals on the track!!!! Got off rather lightly considering what could have happened with such irresponsible driving.
Must admit it was pleasing to hear the rather vocal Bollocking he recieved prior to his ban
Sensible Sir Chris was driving well without any tailgating, some say there was no chance of that as he could not catch the car in front
Nigels car decided to take a leaf out of Joeys cars book to save weight, It self jettisoned its spare wheel somewhere on track
At dinner time Joey gave Nigel a ride out to collect the errant wheel!
When the afternoor Racing started Joey got some good practice in and posted some very good times in the GTi
The layout is slightly different when the clubs visit, the chicanes are not so tight as they are during the RAFMSA meets
this is because the marshals would have to keep stopping the racing to fish the club cars out of the tyres
Speaking of tyres, Nigel had a bit of an argument with the wall on the last corner now known known as "Nigels Crack Bend"
"You can see an in car video of the crunch on the Video page".
Sir Chris showed some real concern about his fellow competitor!
Is that a smile on that mans face?
Poor old Nigel he had previously lapped at an excellent 54.02, Then the red mist came down, Nigel "NEEDED" that 0.02 of a second to break into the 53's.
Unfortunate for our ageing hero he got bit by the famous "Nigels Crack".
Whilst Irene showed her Sympathy, Sir Chris checked out the car for spares
RAFMSA Barkston Sprint Event Two 2007
Here we have a small clip to show how much Joey has learned from his time at Barkston with his various instructors, Look how well the lad is driving (Oh and more theres a bit more as well) He He
Day two arrived very, very wet Irene and I were now Marshals for the event and stationed at the "Blast Pan" Unfortunately for us it was sunny when we set off so waterproofs were left at home.
It did however give us access to some spectacular views,
Joey was an early runner as usual and we were very impressed with how smooth he drove in the treacherous conditions.
He was not hanging around either, look at the angle the car is entering the second EWS corner.
Broadband fast
Dial up slow
The Manta looked good on track!
Here we see a dedicated marshal (Irene) manning her post so that our heros can wizz round in their cars all day, They deserve medals these marshals!
Actually I mean it really, I'm not reffering to Irene and me in this case as its our first time and quite frankly despite the weather we loved it.
The real heros are the people who do this every meet Organisers, marshals, medical and rescue staff. Well done to all of them.
We look forward to doing our duty at the future events.
After posting some impressive times graduate Neil Fletcher suffered the same red mist that Nigel got caught in and reversed his car at some speed into the final "Tilson EWS" thankfully due to the extra tyres in that area he did not need to call for the coastguard.
The medical and rescue teams were in attendance in just over 20 seconds Neil was given a good check out and neck braced up etc, unfortunately nothing could be done about the "gutted for his car" symptoms that he was showing 
in the end it did not look too bad to fix just some welding and panel bashing and it should be OK for the next one.
The Hood boys were seen discussing their spins in the shelter of the dry Metro with Joey in attendance stationed in the boot.
Tim Swait eventually beat Our Nigel by 3 to 1 in the "Spin quantity" competition, 2 spins on the same lap as well
Luckily for Tim, Nigel narrowly pipped him in the "Spin + Impact" event !
After some valuable "In car advice" from our 2 spinners the fully sandwiched up Joey continued on his way driving almost faultlessly to the finish.
Back home We bought ourselves a Gazebo as a temprary garage as the weather was continuous rain we easily managed to get Nigels car inside and it was sorted a few days later and he was off back to Plymouth in it.
So all in all another excellent motorsport weekend with some great company, thanks again to the other Metro boys for the help they are giving Joey with his car.
At this point we are very pleased (And Proud) to say that Joey is second (Yes Second) in the championship !!!
Roll on the next time
