StockcarGOLD news and views - BriSCA

Team GB Racing :: 2009 New Zealand Tour

nospam@example.com (John) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:00 +0000

February sees the 28th running of the SuperStock Teams Championships at the Palmerston North track in New Zealand. And the big BriSCA news is that for the first time Great Britain is sending a team over.

Team racing in New Zealand is massive but has never really caught on over here, this could be the subject of another article.

We are sending a team 5 of drivers – Frankie Wainman 515, Stuart Smith 390, Tom Harris 84, Murray Harrison 97 & 490 Mark Taylor – although only 4 drivers will compete at any one time. There are 12 teams taking part in 4 groups of three and each team will race twice in each group.

The clip below shows some of the type of action the team is letting itself in for – rest assured there is no love lost between the NZ locals and the GB interlopers. Many will find themselves on the receiving end of some pretty evil bumper work. WARNING - this is not for the faint hearted!

I wish them well.

Hopefully I will post more about this over the coming weeks. In the meantime there is a Team GB Racing site here.

BriSCA F1 World Champion 2008 Andy Smith 391

nospam@example.com (John) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:00:18 +0100

Congratulations to Andy Smith 391 on taking the gold and his 3rd World Championship last night at Ipswich.

Unfortunately it was probably one of the least exciting World Championship deciders there has been. Not that F1 world finals have a history of being spectacular races but there are plenty that are memorable. This one will be consigned to the “didn’t live up to the name” bin.

The thing is I don’t think there’s any blame attached to anyone for the let down.

You can’t blame Andy Smith that’s for certain. It’s not his fault he lead from start to finish without serious problems. That’s what racers aim for and he achieved that. Nor can fellow racers brother Stuart Smith and Paul Harrison be faulted for being unable to get on terms with the 391 car. Frankie Wainman, the major rival to the Smith dynasty just seemed to go backwards through the field – not one of his better performances but not the reason for a dull race.

My favourite John Lund 53 started 8th on the grid and was running a steady 7th getting ready for a characteristic late charge ( I wish) when he got caught out by some water on the track, ending up facing the wrong way and losing a lap.

The track at Ipswich is a super smooth extremely fast tarmac surface and again has seen some tense racing in the past and even in other races last night.

Despite what some supporters may have to say the failure to excite isn’t the fault of the promoters either. In a not entirely unique break with tradition the World Final was run as the first race of the evening. There is a consensus that the world final should be under lights in the dark. At 6:45 it was still light but the same race under floodlights would still have been a yawn. Yes the promoters are responsible for the build up to the race and the presentation but the 7-8 minutes of the race is out of their hands.

The simple fact is that BriSCA F1 thrives on the fact that most races the top guys start at the back and have to work their way through the field. During the course of the season there are a few races where better performances are rewarded with a start at the front of the grid. These races can be a let down. Occasionally there will be classics (1972 Belle Vue Manchester Stuart Smith v Doug Cronshaw springs to mind) and they stand out all the more because of their rarity. Perhaps we need the dull races to make good ones great and stand out as World Championship deserve to.

Mick Noden 306

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:42:13 +0000

Sad news day on Sunday, Mick Noden 306 passed away.

Mick was rising to a peak when I first started to go national and was one of the first to put Stuart Smith’s dominance from 69 under pressure, challenging for the points title circa 72 and even at one stage heading the points table. At the time 396 Doug Cronshaw was my favourite driver but Mick was perhaps the more consistent.

A regular final winner he didn’t take any major trophies to my recall but that should not detract from the value and entertainment he provided in the late 60s and early 70s. A gentleman by all accounts in the Tony Neal 100 mould and a man of principal based on his decision not to take his place on the front row of the Haringey World Final in 1973.

Deep respect to the man and condolences to his family.