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A BRIEF TEAM HISTORY
In
2001, the crossroads of do I? don't I came to
pass. I did!! After a call to Wayne to guarantee his services, we set
off on the road of discovery, to find a car to live my childhood dream in.
After looking at a couple of cars, we settled for the ex Phil Stockdale car.
Small block engined, leaf sprung car. A great, strong car to take to the track
for my first year. The car did me proud and took all the punishment that
was dealt it.
During
that first year, a second car at a decent price became available, this was a
Falding chassis with a big block Chevy in it, coils all round and became our
tar car. With this it was hoped that I'd be able to settle into the faster
more technical aspect of tarmac racing.
Into
our second year, trying to keep two cars going
crippled us, so we made the grey car fit for both surfaces, enabling us to
concentrate on keeping the car in good working order. Impsport vinyled the car
from top to bottom to save on the respray costs. Unless you were at
close quarters you would never know that the grey was only vinyl. Took
us all year to get the grey car to handle anywhere near right on shale, but on
tar, the steep learning curve was being climbed.
In
the third year, Flags were the design of the day!
Mainly because I'd forgotten what a chequered looked like, One of those years
where everything had the habit of not fitting together. Still running with the
ZF gearbox we were at a disadvantage on shale and tarmac, due
to not being able to fine tune the gear ratios. The engine let go at the
Skegness mid week special, ending the years racing.
In
the fourth year, we invested in a Doug Nash Box,
allowing us the options to change ratios easily, along with this came our
first ever win, at Coventry on the hallowed shale that is Brandon. Together
with the new
gearbox the rollcage was heightened to allow me to sit more upright in the
cab. This had an immediate effect of making the car more comfortable to drive
and relaxed in 'situations'
In
the fifth year of the teams existence a new
engine was purchased after the old one had been prepped for rebuilding.
Although mechanically sound, the old one needed some casting work doing to it
and a rebuild. The cost of a new one was weighed up against a refurb of the
old one. Dave Powell at Performance unlimited was the keen supplier of our new
Engine. True to his word, the new engine would not make me win races, but I
would certainly hit the armco harder and faster. In May at Skegness, the
falding chassis went to the scrappy in the sky, after trying to move the
immovable object that is the Skegness turn 1 /2 armco!
2006,
the new car was finally delivered, sprayed by J.D Car and Commercials, all
coming together at the last minute for the opening Skegness meeting of the
year. With teething problems on the day, all the practice session was missed.
However 5 laps were granted to shakedown the car before competition. We only
went and won the heat!! Chuffed? I thought I was dreaming!! This year
the new car has seen us climb through the grades, achieving a career high blue
top and settling down to a mid yellow position. We're still learning about the
car, but it has been very positive start to the new car.
© Lincoln Imp Racing 2006, All Rights Reserved.
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