Thread: Hello from an old member

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Sounds like a wonderful group you guys have! The conservatory is springing up fast! A 74 year old drag racing Grandma with a nitrous dragster....just one word comes to mind, "AWESOME"

Ha Ha!! Old Gwen came to the track with her Son (my good mate Stevie) a few years ago for a day out. By 1pm she decided that she wanted to have a go in her Nissan micra. So we signed her on and got her on track. She just went round and round and only stopped in the pits when her low fuel light came on. One of the guys went to the local gas station and filled a Jerry can so we could top her up. Since then she has had a Rover 75 V6 which then had nitrous fitted, and then a Mitsubishi twin turbo station wagon which we also fitted nitrous to. And then she got a Skoda Diesel estate which we fitted nitrous and propane injection to. She has fun for sure and my mate Stevie tries to keep it safe for her which is why her cars have never done better than high 13's... When she had the sation wagon she got told by the start line marshals that she could not leave her zimmer frame in the trunk next time round. On the other cars she hid it but the station wagon has windows in the rear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNU_...tfRrjw&index=3

Originally Posted by pel

....by the marshals that she could not leave her zimmer frame in the trunk next time round.

Zimmer frame = walker for the Yanks She's the infamous Lil' Ol' Lady From Pasadena, retired across the pond and still running the track!

Walker! OHHHhhhh.. Now it makes sense!

That's awesome!

Ha Ha!! We took Gwens new Stang to the dyno and the Ford Mod 4.6 engine made 219hp on the dyno. I activated the nitrous system with a mild 50 shot and the Mustang hopped up to 273hp with no problems This will be enough to see the old lady hitting new PB's for 2016 !

When I got home from work today at 3.30pm I heaved a sigh of relief as I got home to find that my Son Jason had been at my house since 9.30am getting on with the Conservatory build. I had to only spend an hour with him to get the last two roof panels fitted. He had already fitted and set up the doors so the build is now water tight and wind proof

Its far from being totally finished but we will be having our Xmas lunch in the new addition on Xmas day now

The Conservatory looks great! Glad that you'll be having your Christmas Day celebratory meal in the new space! I expect that the addition will be a wonderful new space for many family gatherings. Thanks for the update!!

Congrats! I'm sure there is a bit of relief for you knowing it is water and air tight now!

Yes, it does look grand with the finial on the peak.

So a message popped up saying that the Shakespeare County Drag Strip complex had closed, and was going to be developed into a housing subdivision? Does this affect you & your weekend racing? Seemed to be a message that was not being received kindly by the car guy & gal crowd....

Yep!
Thats not good news for Shaky Drag Strip to be honest.

Shakespeare county raceway AKA Avon Park has been a favourite of many folk over the years. Its a grass roots drag strip and quite a SCENE place to race at. I have only ever been there once to race but it rained so I had to go home. Mainly because they have no drying equipment for the track apart from brooms from what I saw ?
The folk who use Shaky will now have to travel to Santapod when Shaky eventually shuts down, and i think they may like the change in some ways regarding how fast a flooded track can be swept and jet dried to get racing going again. These guys may not like the clinical feel that the Pod can have regarding "Get as many cars through asap" ?
The pit area at Shaky is very small. It would fit in the small drift car circuit of the pits at SantaPod.
However! When at Shaky to race you have just ONE queue.. And bikes have to take their place in that queue behind cars. At the Pod Bikes just run down the middle of the cars in the pairing lanes and queue up in a small area at the front. On a busy day we can be in the queue for 1 -4 hours and see the same bikes coming past us cars several times before we get a run?
Yet Shaky had all cars and bikes Scrutineered before they can run as does York Raceway and North Weald raceway. But the the Pod (which is an international Drag Strip) any car or bike can rock up at the lights and as long as its not dripping fluids and looks ok to the start line marshalls it can run ?

I'm sure the Hotrod SCENE guys from Shaky who have to eventually come to Santapod will get used to the atmosphere in time. A lot of them do already use the Pod now and then for event weekends such as the Mopar Nationals, Dragstalgia and Retro Cars show.

I hope that Shaky stays open as long as possible so follk can have fun. When the time comes I will try to have my car there for the last RWYB event before the track has to close the gates.. RIP Shakespeare County Raceway

Hi folks!
As its only 2 more sleeps to the Big Day I thought I should pop in to say that I hope you all enjoy the holidays with family, friends and cars etc...
Its just gone Midnight here now so its actually Xmas eve for me. I only have to pop into London in the morning for a few hours to investigate why one of my clients has no hot water to their restaurant kitchen. These folk are there at work every single day of the year so they need hot water. Its one of my secret goverment sites which i cant mention. Its actually good that I'm hitting London tomorrow as I can collect Mother in Law on the way home to save me a journey.
I collected Faiths Xmas present from GanDad today and its hidden in the MPV. She enjoys playing in her electric VW Bug and now he can play in her Airplane. But i dont think she will be able to reach the pedals for a while? Its an Amercian made all steel toy and I love it. If she does not like it I will hang it from the Garage ceiling

A very Merry Christmas to all of you guys and your families. And a Happy New Year to all of you.

Regards
Pel

I have a feeling that Faith will be an Amelia Earhart clone, darting about the house wreaking havoc with squeals of joy! Have a Merry Christmas, but don't take all of the fun out before it gets over to us.....

Ha Ha!!
I'm so looking forward to the morning now. Christmas day officially starts in 3 1/2 hours for us. The kids are all in their rooms doing last minute Wrapping. Faith has just gone to bed with Mummy after leaving milk and mince pies on the fireplace and a pack of reindeer food on the front lawn.
I have been mega busy as I had to write up several gift tags for the wife. My middle Daughter has managed to do all Daddies Shopping for him as I gave her a list two weeks ago and all of Gills presents are now wrapped and will be under the tree before midnight. Gills mother is now downstairs with Gill getting food prepared for breakfast and the Big Xmas lunch tomorrow while I pretend to be working upstairs in my office
I prefer to make the Xmas dinner for the family but since Gills Pops died several years ago we have Gills Mum with us for Xmas Eve and Xmas Day. She likes to busy herself with all the preparations and we like to see her being happy with taking charge of the festive dinner for my family. Then on Boxing day all of her kids and grandchildren and boyfriends and girlfriends and husbands and wives all meet up in one place to have another Xmas day with Mother in Law. Its way too much for her to handle without Pops so we take it in turns to host the annual family get together with Gills siblings. This year its our turn again so we have I think 24 bodies in the house for the family Boxing day dinner and festivities. Its always a good laugh and when the dust has settled after dinner we have all sorts of games going on. And despite alll the hi tech toys etc that are purchased we still end up playing I spy, Whats my trade (mime game) and one of my faves which is "keepy uppy" with just a balloon where most of the family sit aorund the lounge and the object of the game is to keep a balloon in the air by any means while passing it around the room to each other. Its sounds boring but it is great fun
YIKES!! Its now only 3 hours and 3 mins to the Big day
I will stop rambling now and again wish all of you folks over the pond a very merry Christmas.

Peace and love guys

Pel x