Summer Nationals Race Report: 23rd June 2009

After another excellent weekends racing we were all happy with the event win but we all new that the car had SO much more in her, the 6.42 we ran was effortless and my old man was off of it at about 1000 foot as the slicks were badly rubbing the body (new brackets to be made asap) so as stupid as it sounds, we were very happy with the win but unhappy with not running faster. But its because were all out racers, we want to win and want to race as fast as we can every round of racing.

Anyway a few thank yous to our superb sponsors and all associated with Bennett Racing, and a big thanks to Santa Pod track crew, the track was faultless, best track we have raced on for years. (proof below!)

Just a note about our website too, I have updated the Merchandise page with a newer fresher look and also added a Relentless Fuel Altered Anatomy page.

Bit of a change for the rest of this blog entry, I have asked 2 of our crew members to write something for the blog.

First up Alan Scotts entry.

It's been a week since crewing on the Bennett family Relentless Fuel Altered at the summer nationals. It was only my second event with the team, and it's the first team I've ever been involved with and i can tell you it's a whole different ball game being on the pit side of the track. For one thing i go home knackered, the amount of maintenance one of these cars commands is surprising. I could do with Monday's off.
 
After leaving work at 5.00 on the Friday night getting home and having a quick bite to eat, put the camping gear in the van, drive 2hrs down to the Pod get there about 9.30, put up the tent then help the team set up ( the amount of stuff ! you need for a weekend ), that takes you to about 12.30, crash out in the tent and i think to myself I'm getting to old for this.

Come Saturday though and you've had a cup of tea and a bacon roll and everybodys done what they have to do and frank climbs into the hot seat, Luke hooks up starter motor, spins it, then that blown and injected methanol burning baby cracks into life, man it's worth all the effort just to feel that methanol tingling at the back of the throat and trying to pull the tears from your eyes. When i was spectating i never thought methanol could do that not like nitro does, but it does when your under a canopy.

 
Sunday everything done, after running well the day before we were ready to go, but we weren't running till about 1.00 to 1.30 so had a bit of down time which is good sometimes, because you know you'll probably be thrashing later. And we were because we went out and laid down a 6.4 a new P.B brilliant, but we'd only got a two hour turn around to the final. Sweat was standing on my forehead ( it was a hot weekend weather wise ) they were waiting to warm the motor and i had got the allen bolts the wrong way round DOOOOOH! bit of a homer moment there, but soon sorted. Towed car down to staging lanes all the rushing about and we still had a bit of time. We were up against Dave Grabham in Freddy's revenge, frank did his burnout beat Dave with a 6.5 at about 196 m.p.h another trophy going in the Bennett cabinet.

One thing about being with a team you get to stand next to the concrete barrier there you get a real sense of how much power these cars have. Best thing though we can do it all again at shaky in a few weeks.

Joe Riley's Piece

After a very busy week doing A-Levels, a bit of racing at the nationals was exactly what I needed. I unfortunately couldn’t get to the track to help set up our pit on the Friday night, but bright and early on the Saturday morning I jumped out of my bed quicker than Frank can cover the quarter! Couldn’t wait to get there, for some reason I never feel tired the morning of a race weekend getting to the track, I can tell you it’s a bit different to getting up normally.

No sooner had I arrived I was cracking on with the car. Our first run was not for a while so we could have a relatively leisurely start (still very busy though!) getting the motor ready. My main job along with Alan is to check the rear end of chassis, change wheels and make sure the car looks all pretty for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Along with the infamous side panels (zeus clips do require amazing technique!) we got our jobs sorted. After a nod from Luke we fired up for a warm-up, as always the car ran sweet as a nut. We were ready to go.

I got a little job to do this weekend differently to at the Thunderball, Luke handing me the starter and lead after firing ready for a run. It may sound simple, but having to take care with it and putting it in the van while Frank trundles round, and then once in having to leg it to get to my place does get your heart racing. Needless to say I know exactly where to put the starter now!

Frank hopped in and immediately ran a 6.6, not bad for the first run of the weekend! This would set the trend for the rest of the weekend, the second run of the day being another 6.6. After a rather bizarre sleep in my car we went into day two with a quiet confidence. The first run on the Sunday Frank set down a true marker with a 6.4, a best ever ET but with a lower terminal speed than expected, giving us yet more optimism. The following two hours before the final can only be described as manic, we all worked so hard to turn the car round and with not a lot of time to go we pushed out. After my Olympic standard running to get a couple of bits and bobs (the fire up road is remarkably long when you sprint it!) we were up against Freddy’s Revenge in the final. Managing to drive round that car was the icing on the cake. A 6.5 was still ultra consistent but the win mattered.

What a way to round off another fantastic weekends racing. Two wins out of two races this year can’t get much better. We were all really exhausted to say the least, even Adam was feeling weary! But as always with the Bennetts I had the best fun, we were working even better as a team than at the Thunderball and no doubt we will get stronger thoughout the season. Now exams are all over a great summer lies in store, with another round being only a short time away. Just one thing to end on...has anyone got any skyhooks?!