North Shropshire

As you entered the field on Sunday morning everyone had a similar expression on their faces  it was horrible weather and a “why do we do this for enjoyment” look

Scrutineering was done in the pouring rain and the day looked like it could be a disaster, however, the rain stopped, the wind picked up and even the Sun came out! We delayed starting for a short while to let the track dry out abit and then racing got underway.

We avoided using grids 1 & 2 and the day went very well, no major incidents to report, the ambulance was only in attendance for Ernie’s trip into the Armco with SR84 in the final open races of the day, Ernie, Ernie…. fortunately, he walked away to be able to race another day ~ Question: do they make race overalls with air bags fitted?

There was a good turnout of away drivers which made for some close racing with our regular club and league racers, we hope you enjoyed your day and you are very welcome back anytime!

Bangers and Smash photography were in attendance all day ~ check out the following link to see photos of the day http://www.bangersandsmash.co.uk/gallery/north-shropshire/2011-09-25

There was plenty of racing to go round, with lots of open races at the end of the meeting and we had a nicely timed finish.

So thats it, the last meeting of the 2011 season is over.

Many thanks to everyone that has helped out this year and thanks to all drivers who have continued to support the North Shropshire Race Meeting’s, without the helpers it’s hard, but without the driver’s it’s even harder! without you there is no racing, so thanks again for turning up!

See you at the Presentation Evening? 26th November!

The meeting held on Sunday 10th July 2011 was the Cary Evans Memorial Meeting. We had not a bad turn out, nice to see some away drivers (we hope you enjoyed your visit to North Shropshire, you are welcome back anytime!), the North Shropshire members had sponsored all of the trophies for this special meeting so we had some different trophies that to be honest would of looked very nice in my house but it wasnt to be for me! Also a very nice touch by Pete Vermuleon who had sponsored commerative medals for all officials and drivers who attended this meeting.

Before racing started there was a Class 2 parade lap, lead by Cary’s dad, Karl, who was driving Carys car NS249. Thanks to all drivers who took part, I am certain it was quite an emotional site for Cary’s family and friends.

Racing got underway and ran pretty well until the end of the 1st heats when a sudden cloudburst completely changed the meeting (if you check out the link for Bangers & Smash photography http://www.bangersandsmash.co.uk/gallery/north-shropshire/2011-07-10 you will see what I mean, clean cars one race, brown the next!).

Once the ladies had finished their first heat it was decided to have the interval early to give the track a chance to dry out (I thought it was to save the men getting dirty, but Jacko told me to shut up It was pretty amazing to see just how much water drained from the track down to the start line and I am happy to report that the drainage canal that was pre-dug in case we needed it worked very well.

Racing resumed and apart from the odd light shower the worst of the rain stayed away, for me personally this made no difference as I was soaked and covered in mud from my first race, I learnt a good lesson sunday, if you don’t want to get covered in mud get at the front and stay there! but I suppose that’s racing and that’s what everyone else is trying to do.

My driver of the day goes to NW711 who was driving a Junior Special and it was his first time out, he was not afraid of the car off the start line and he did not hold back in his races, I was very impressed, definately a star of the future no doubt! Well Done, and well done to everyone else who raced in very difficult conditions, we certainly did not need the water bowser and I wished I had parked my car behind it when it was being emptied at the end of the meeting as it’s took me all week to clean my car but very good fun and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

At the end of the meeting the top 2 cars from each mens class 1-10 was entered into a Champion of Champions Race, by all accounts is sounded like it was a corker race which Jacko said I should of watched (but I was busy de-claying me car instead), apparently due to the conditions Josh Fowler was the man to try to get past in his class one, eventually Geoff Berrisford got past to take the win, this race was for the Cary Evans Memorial Trophy which will be raced for each year. Well done to everyone that participated, it sounded like a good un!

Special thanks to everyone that worked hard in the build up to the meeting, well done for the new sign at the entrance to the track, very impressive and long overdue and finally thanks to everyone that volunteered to marshall at the meeting, without your help the meetings just could not run. Thats all for now, heres to a dry meeting on 25th September ~ See You Then, Emily

This is just my opinion on the meeting, if you want to add any comments or the day “as you saw it“ its easy to , just email me at startlinem@talktalk.net

I think most drivers attending this meeting will agree that this was a “Slick” run meeting for NS! We started on time, with minimum delays during the day and a nice early finish.

Thanks to all drivers who attended and we hope you enjoyed your day.  Our next meeting is the 10th July which is the Cary Evans Memorial Meeting with some nice trophies it should be a good meeting, All Welcome.

Lucky is the word that sums up this first qualifying meeting at north shropshire, the weather looked promising to start the day off, but the nearer we got to 11.30 the bigger and darker the clouds became ! and we were all watching them blowing over all day long. It was a coat on coat off type of day and anyone that attended should agree that we were very lucky, it could of been a very wet meeting, as it turned out we were lucky and any showers were soon blown away.

Thanks to all visiting drivers for attending we hope you enjoyed your day and we  hope to see you back at north shropshire again very soon.

The day was nearly incident free with just one roll over on the bottom bend, the car was back out racing in his next race which was good to see, a few drivers were struggling to slow down in the sometimes “wet” conditions to get into the pits exit lane without incident, including me  !

It has to be said that we struggled for marshals, but many thanks to everyone that did help out, your help is appreciated

Horse Power Trading set up shop with a nice selection of race suits, helmets and goggles (check out his ebay shop), Bangers and smash photography were in attendance again at this meeting so check out their website http://www.bangersandsmash.co.uk/html/NS-08-05-2011  and maybe even order a photo of yourself.

Our next meeting is Sunday 22nd May, we hope to see you there.

Well we had a corking meeting last Sunday (10th April 2011). I think everyone that attended will have noticed the improvements that were made to the track and field, it all looked very tidy and organised so well done to everyone involved in helping out at the track maintenance weekend, it was well worth the efforts!

The weather was perfect which ultimately meant the water bowser was kept busy trying to keep the dust down. We had lots of visiting and league drivers which was nice to see, we hope you all enjoyed your day (I know I did !).

Bangers and Smash Photography were there all day taking photos, so if you want to check out their link to see if your car was snapped go to www.bangersandsmash.co.uk/html/northshropshire you can order photos from them if you want to.

We had plenty of good racing on the new improved track, it has been mentioned that the bottom bend needs abit more work and this is planned before the next race meeting on the 8th May, which is also the first qualifying round for the 2011 Nationals at the North Shropshire track. I was impressed by the number of cars in each race so I am sure that some good racing was taking place, especially class 10 which seems to be making abit of a come back, class 4 still seems to be low on numbers which is a shame.

Anyway thats all for now, no photos from me this meeting as I was far too busy being a mum and racing to do it

See you next meeting folks !!

We had a good final meeting of the 2010 Season, with lots of support from away drivers and also from dedicated club members eagerly fighting it out for those all important club points for the end of year trophies. Thanks for making the effort to turn up for the last meeting of the year, it was appreciated.

Once again as its been with all of our previous 5 meetings of the year we were lucky with the weather, we had a few thunderstorms on the Thursday leading up to the weekend, this unfortunately made abit of a mess of the start line and took its toll on the track in places, as a few drivers found out ! On the Start Line we had a pond develop, once we had moved the worst of the slops this inevitably left a deeper trench on the start line, good news for the drivers that found it abit too deep is that I am pleased to say that plans are already in place to make sure this does not happen again next year. We are also planning on some other major track improvements such as re-claying the surface, making the start line wider and moving the signing on cabins.

We had some good competitive racing as plenty of the classes were close on the final year points, specifically Class 1, 2, 7, 8 and the Junior Saloons. As the track was abit worse for wear there were plenty of cars getting airbourne on the bottom bend, Ernie did pre-warn the drivers at the drivers meeting about the narrowing on the bottom bend, unfortunately he actually was the only victim of the day… oooops… anyway Ernie walked away with a dodgy arm and broken car but otherwise okay (That Poor Armco )

The officials race took place with Pusher winning in NS48, Jacko 2nd in NS119 and Connor in NS68. Thanks to you for lending your cars out, they really enjoyed themselves.

That just about raps up the year really, the club has survived another year, as already mentioned we have lots of plans in place to improve the track for next year and we are eager to get this work done before winter so that it has time to settle before our first meeting of next year.

Hope to see you all at the Presentation Evening in November and also don’t forget to attend the Club AGM on 10th December, your support is vital and its your chance to get your voice heard or vote on important issues which may affect you.

Once again the weather gods were on our side for last Sunday’s meeting and we were pleased to be able to put on another Sunny North Shropshire (DRY) meeting, how fortunate we are this year, it’s been horrible in Whitchurch today  As with the rest of the country the ground is rock hard, the track was watered on Saturday and Sunday before the racing started, however, Dust was inevitable and I am sure that unfortuntely it spoilt a few people’s day, Martin tried his best on the water bowser but the Dust just wasn’t behaving yesterday.

The turn out was quite good considering it was a pre-BAS weekend and we are now so close to the nationals for alot of drivers, the meeting gave the opportunity for the drivers going to the nationals to be “pre-nationals scrutineered” and to collect their nationals information packs. Don’t forget if you have not been pre-nationals scrutineered or received your nationals information pack you need to get in touch with Ernie Ashley on 01948 663415 as soon as possible. 

I think only class 4, 5 and 10 were thin on the ground but apart from that nice full grids, we had alot of away drivers coming from Leewood, North Wales, BC and York, thanks to you all for travelling to North Shropshire and I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Once Me & Jacko had arrived at the track I did a stint in the signing on van and once it had quietened off I asked Pat for permission to leave so that I could take some pre-race photographs… soon after asking I sneaked away and got chance to wander the pits with my trusty Kodak, take a look at the gallery section to see if you were caught on camera, someone somewhere will have been missed I’m certain of that, but have patience I will be trying to do more photos next meeting on the 15th August 

After the drivers meeting racing got underway soon after 11.30am, overall the meeting ran pretty smoothly with the unavoidable delays for track watering, we had a couple of roll overs later on in the day and Ernie the Chairman decided to test his own personal section of Armco out (Again… ) this was in his first race, looking on the bright side due to the damage Ernie did to his car meant that we gained a full time marshall for the rest of the meeting

The highlights of the day for Jacko was he noticed Tom Chadwick was driving very well~up until his last race when he unfortunately ended up in an incident which was probably dust related, for me Driver Style of the day goes to BC18 Lady Junior Special Driver who had a very nice style of driving and I am sure you are a future champion. Class 1 and 2 seemed to be going very fast yesterday, the track conditions must of suited you, some drivers were saying the track was perfect others said it was cutting up, just goes to show how you get differing opinions from different classes/drivers. We do want to get some more work done to the start line as grids 1 & 3 seem to be suffering quite abit, we are hoping this work can be done before the next meeting on the 15th August. The last Juniors race was very entertaining and the top 5 or 6 cars were all equally challenging for 1st position, unfortunately it didnt quite end without a casualty with NS999 Raife Mcdonald coming off the worst. Never mind, there’s always next meeting. Geoff Berrisford provided some entertainment to those watching by the start line by wheeling off the hump up the start straight, if we ever did Santa Pod style drag racing it would be VERY entertaining please Ernie let us

I think the Most Pleased Award should go to Maurice Powell NS44 who seemed to be having a great day, even if he did try to use his lady’s undergarments as a balaclava I don’t know who substituted the balaclava but it will make us all smile whenever we see him from now on He also discovered that he had no tape in his roll offs, which is bad when your in class 9 Other problems of the day were Ian Roberts NS225 came to the line when he noticed his fuel pump was noisy and then he remembered in time that there was no fuel in his car, so he dashed off to refuel, we held the race for him as we would do for anyone as its just for fun at the end of the day. Gary Merton NS119 managed to pop a driveshaft on the start line and Ernie Ashley NS143 also left part of his break disc on the start, he thinks that contributed to his mishap on the top bend, we’ll never know for certain  I do collect all “treasure” found on the start, I am planning to take a photo at the end of the season just so you can see how many important bits & bobs get left behind in the dust & fume cloud !

We had a few first timers out on the track on Sunday, NS95 Tom Henry made his debut in his Junior Mini Saloon and Rebecca Millington had a go in NS92 on a Ladies class one day licence, you both did well and I hope you come back next meeting for more of the same. NS218 William Spencer Logan has now switched from Junior Mini Saloon to Junior Specials and I must admit he seemed quite at home. All the juniors whether it be saloons or specials always give it their all and Sunday’s racing was no exception, keep it up

On behalf of the North Shropshire Committee I would like to thank everyone that helped to get the track set up in readiness for Sundays meeting, your help is appreciated, without you all the meetings could not take place. I would also like to thank everyone that helped out in some way on Sunday, remember our next meeting is probably going to be the biggest meeting of the year for North Shropshire, so if you can help in anyway either leading up to the meeting on the day (15th August) please volunteer, we will need you

Anyone taking note will of noticed that me & Jacko have kept to our swopped jobs, Jacko doesn’t mind starting the races, whereas I prefer his job, so for now thats how it will stay hopefully. Special thanks goes to Alison Spencer who volunteered to help Pat with the lap scoring in the 1st half of the meeting, with Keith & Jenny Lenton helping in the 2nd half, we really do need to get this position filled by a permanent person, if you are a little bit interested but are unsure on whats involved please just give Pat a call on 01948 663415 and she will be more than willing to explain the job, you can be male or female and as said previously no qualifications are necessary, just a willingness to help is required. I know I keep going on about this job but I am sure there is someone out there thats just itching to get involved

Finally I would just like to add that these comments are my own and not necessarily the comments of the North Shropshire Committee, if you have any highlights of this or any other race meeting and you want them to be included just get in touch with me @ startlinem@talktalk.net

Thats all for now folks, see you on the 15th August, I cant wait, them F600′s sound just perfect on the line Emily.

I posted on the yorkshire dales forum in the week leading up to Sundays meeting advertising the meeting as “Scorcher @ North Shropshire This Sunday“. I think we can all agree that it was a Scorcher ! I don’t know who was the busiest the Ice Cream man or the Water Bowser What a change to last years weather !! and doesnt it make all the difference when the sun shines.

A downside to the meeting was that we still havent got a permanent lap scorer.. we cannot start the meeting until someone volunteers so if you are reading this and want to get involved please call Pat to discuss the job, its a vital part of the race meeting and we need someone to fill this position permanently. Fortunately volunteers came forward at the drivers meeting and the job was covered but this is not the ideal situation to be in. If you know someone who could do it please tell them to volunteer. Thanks

Compared to the qualifying rounds there was not as many cars in attendance, but this is to be expected nowadays. This didnt affect the racing in anyway and lots of battles were happening in all classes. Well done to all drivers from the league and visiting drivers for making the effort in the searing temperatures to come and race!

Some of you may of noticed that me & Jacko swopped jobs for the day, am I allowed to say that I didnt enjoy the last race meeting too late as I already have anyway Jacko suggested we swop jobs for this meeting and we did, and I enjoyed it much better.. Jacko seemed to get abit stressed at times doing the start button but he kept everyone under control on the start I think, the first aiders suggested to me that he should have some Green Tea at the interval I enjoyed myself anyway

The meeting ran very smoothly with a few delays but nothing major, we did have a few incidents out on the track where the ambulance was in attendance, but fortunately it was not required.

Highlights of the day from the startline was definately the class Eights. Full Grids and Total Committment from all drivers ~ Top Marks and of course the ever popular Junior classes, both saloons and specials were closely fought for, so closely fought were the races that you all seemed to be getting lots of re-runs in and we hope you enjoyed the extra racing you all got

Seeing Ben Gould in his class 6 against the class 3′s was interesting to watch , there were a 5 day licenses out on the track throughout the day who gave it their all ~ I hope you all enjoyed your day, if you would like to join north shropshire please give me a call on 01948 666936 and I will send your forms out straight away

We managed to run some 6 lap open races at the end of the meeting, thanks to all drivers that stopped to participate in these races, we like to make sure you get plenty of racing in whenever we have the opportunity.

No photographs I am afraid as I have a Frozen Shoulder, hopefully will be better for our next race meeting 11th July (better had be ) and I will take some photos then.

Thanks to everyone that helped out getting the meeting set up, PA System, Ropes, Rubbish Bags, Rolling the Track, Watering the Track, Putting Signs out, Gate Duty, Scrutineering and Signing On. Thanks to everyone that helped out runnning the meeting, Lap Scorers, Grid Positions, Marshalling, First Aiders, Picking up Rubbish etc… if I’ve missed any jobs out sorry, but thanks to everyone who helped, no matter how small something is if you helped out in some way then its very much appreciated by all of the committee. 

The write up of the racing is very much my own personal opinion, if you have a story to tell about todays race meeting or if you have a highlight of the meeting that you would like to be added onto the website please email me @ startlinem@talktalk.net

I’m sure everyone was watching the weather with interest the week before the meeting, all this volcanic activity seems to be affecting our great british spring weather, cold ~ wet ~ sunny ~ cold ~ windy… so a mixed bag in the weather in the preceeding week. Sunday was lovely and sunny, no rain & a brisk breeze to blow the dust away…. Apparently where Jacko was standing was “tropical” I can say that where I was stood was similar to the end of a wind tunnel and I was completely frozen all day… but hey ho, at least it was dry.

Firstly, on behalf of the NS Committee I would like to express our thanks & gratitude to everyone that volunteered to help run the meeting, has to be said that Ernie had to get tough to get the help in some areas, but it worked and the meeting ran much better than the 1st one of the year, so thanks to you all for your help with gate duties, scrutineering, signing on, lap scoring, towing vehicles, rubbish collecting, setting up ropes, first aiding and last but by no means least “the marshalling”.

Anyway you know who you are !

***** Thanks *****

The day started by Ernie gathering all NS members together to discuss the plan for covering marshalling for the day.  Once that was sorted racing could get underway,  as this was the last qualifing round for the shropshire league the day ran relatively smoothly without too many re-runs or major incidents.

Highlights of the day for me were: the class 10′s were awesome, Class 3′s & 7′s impressive as always and seeing the panic in Ernies eyes when he realised the 3′s were on the startline without him was entertaining !! as if we’d start without you ! Class 4 seems to be abit short on numbers this season, however with only 2 cars in the races Mike and Steve still fought each other hard.

Thats about all for now, no pictures from todays racing but if the sun shines in 2 weeks you can be sure I will make the effort !

Don’t forget, if you are reading this and do not know how to get involved with helping run the meetings just get in touch with anyone on the committee page, we are always in need of willing volunteers, if you are interested in motorsport this is a good opportunity to get close to some Local Action !!

Bye for now. Em.

After the wet build up to our first race meeting I expect most N.S members were getting abit twitchy about how the weather was going to be for our Qualifier… especially with STAR having no alternative but to sadly cancel their qualifier. As you are probably aware the scenic location of the NS track is not suited to wet conditions leading up to the meeting specifically for getting people off the field once racing has finished. Well… fortunately the weather gods were on our side for once, after last year it was with huge relief that the day was perfect. Sunny, Warm and the Wind blowing in the right direction (most of the time!) we couldnt of asked for a better day

Ernie and his team had been busy in the weeks leading up to the meeting, I think it was mainly Ernie & Pusher who we have to thank for the new double armco section (mind you it was Ernie who tested it last year   Apart from a marshal post being dinked the track survived the meeting without any major damage, which is always good.

We did have a delay due to an incident that needed Ambulance attendance in the spectators area, I am sure that everyone wishes Ian a speedy recovery.  We also had an unfortunate problem with Diesel for the tractor (in that it ran out of diesel … oops) and I think the major problem was with NS members not preparing to volunteer for marshalling this is not really very good as the meeting dragged on till nearly 7pm. Mostly my own opinion but I did find it hard to believe that with the meeting obviously running behind schedule I think only 2 NS members came forward to marshall.

I hope that NS members understand that we are all volunteers and we give up our time to run (hopefully) a good race meeting for you. We are not paid. Yes it is our choice to give up our time, but when an appeal is put out on the speakers for marshalls, with the racing stopped until people come forward and to only get 2 NS members I think it is beyond belief and is taking the mick abit… we normally put up with minimal help at normal meetings but Sundays meeting was hopefully an exceptional set of circumstances which snowballed into major delays that hopefully wont get repeated at our next meeting.

Anyway… thats my moan over with. Please help if we ask, we only ask because we need it.

The highlights of the day for me were Ernie Ashley NS143 (chairman) winning the 1st Class 3 race, we knew you could do it Ernie Well Done.

Then Derick James SR3 won the next class 3 race, well fought for as it was a full grid, deserved & very entertaining!

NS123 Rian Rowland showed some good racing spirit after having a heavy shunt yet still coming back out to race afterwards.  

NS83 Gareth Williams was absolutely flying off the start, I honestly felt like I was working on an aircraft carrier out at Sea when his Class 5 started off the Grid right next to me ..

We had quite a few cars doing controlled wheelies off the start line, particularly grid number 1 seemed the best grid for lifting front ends, must of the been the grip in that grid on the day? We think the post in the ground on the start line worked okay and as the starting bungee has been lowered for this year we hope everyone will see it better.

Special thanks goes to Lyndon Williams for some excellent flag waving on the bottom marshalls post.  I hope helping out made up for not racing?

Most races had full grids and on behalf of the committee I would like to thank all of the away drivers that made the effort to travel to NS, apart from the unfortunate delays we hope you enjoyed your visit and you will return in the future. I would also like to thank everyone that DID help in some way on Sunday, whether it was before the meeting started, during the meeting or afterwards it was appreciated.  Our next meeting is on Sunday 9th May, if you are reading this and would like to get involved with helping to run the meeting please just get in touch with any of the committee. You are Very Welcome to join us!

The club points will be updated as soon as possible once they are available.  Thats all for now Folks !