Hi chumz… thanks for all the encouragement, and yeah…it’s true the racecar finally reached the end of the line at the Hot Rod Drags – A real Colin Chapman moment for us, it made it to it’s last race and then promptly fell to bits !!  Well, almost … too many random breakages to list !!

We’d already decided to retire the car at this one…I bought the first bits for it at the Hor Rod Drags in 2003 - The engine was rescued from a Jensen Interceptor that had been sitting in a barn covered in Pigshit , there was even umskau in the bores !! It was a bit of a mess inside and out – so to have restored it and competed with it for the last six years has been a real joy – and with a re-build it would still run 11’s all day long … BUT …

Since day 1 it has been the case that as soon as all the team drivers were ready to go faster then we would upgrade the engine – and that time has now come There’s a beautiful in-house competition going on here with us all determined to go quicker than each other, and this season it’s Ashleigh that has the record (11.20 @ 124mph)  - We’ve all arrived back at the pits having heard all the valves bouncing around in the engine so ….Time for a new motor

So…earlier this year I had a little chat with Uncle Roy (Wilding) and took his advice … and throughout the summer I’ve been quietly collecting bits and ideas for a fresh look for the car and team

We’ll definately be racing with the Wild Bunch again in 2010 if they’ll have us  and we may even go and have a play in a Vw class too with racecar projectNo2 – the Vw pro racers are a great bunch and it’s a really competitive class - of course a lot depends on ‘budget’ and the WB racing takes priority cos they’re  ’the roots’  :-)

A sponsor or two would definately help things along but hopefully our ‘team family’ attitude will ensure that we can continue for a while yet … we’ll continue to support the Multiple Sclerosis Trust and promote their services at every opportunity..

Whatever, you can be sure that as long as there’s drag racing there’ll be fReQ’s around, ready to race you, crew you or just make you smile .

<<< freqmikey bimbles off stage left, to return to the laboratory and  polish more components – ahh, winter re-builds  >>>

the end of The Dream?

well, the fReQs have come to the end of their 2009 drag racing season that’s for sure!
With Hula P behind the wheel they turned out for the 21st birthday of the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend.
The weather was lovely, the company was terrific – Good Times!
(about 4.30 mins in you catch a glimpse of the fReQs)

but…
all together a bunch of stuff came together for Living the Dream – and it was NOT good stuff
For example: a niggly oil leak that has been recurring through the season (despite much attention) came back in a BIG way
and a front brake caliper destroyed itself and wedged bits in places they shouldn’t be!!!
Now, it must be remembered that The Dream is a ‘venerable lady’ and has been doing ’sterling work’ as the centrepiece of fReQracing for a few years.
The sad conclusion of inspections at the track and back in the garage is that she’s probably run her last race
Even with the greatest effort – love and attention, adjusting and oiling, cleaning and polishing – ‘nothing lasts forever’.
So there it is… good times and sad times…
a race team with no car… what happens now… who knows where the fReQs will turn up next!

ooops, missed this one!

here’s a lovely pic of The Dream ‘in motion’ at Gary’s Picnic back in May!
We need to say “thanks” to the lovely people at www.eurodragster.com for this one – only sorry we didn’t spot it sooner – cheers Tog and the Team

Living the Dream, nostalgia slingshot dragster, Gary's Picnic & Yanks Weekend, Shakespeare County Raceway, May 2009, Wild Bunch and Real Steel Championships

bog jam?

a few fReQs are at Santa Pod right now, crewing for Holly Baldwin in her beetle Whirligig!

Holly is looking for that elusive 14second pass – only a couple of thousandths to shave off – go for it Holl!!

fReQMikey is piloting his beloved LandRover as the tow-vehicle – could be very useful for dragging things out of the mud if the weather gets bad

WOOHAA!

there and back

the Mini Showdown meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway was wet and dry and wet and dry…

we were THERE and got wet and dried out and got wet and dried out…

there were LOTS of Minis…

between the rain and the Minis Ashleigh put in a few good passes – she’s developing a *storming* burn-out style!!
and her ‘drive’ is getting more and more confident with every run

the shift into 3rd gear is apparently nice and solid now (well done fReQ Mikey!)
the mods to the starter-mounting have done the trick too it seems – all tickety-boo there (“well done” again!)

sadly the fReQs had to miss out on the last run due to an annoying little ‘weep’ from the rocker cover – BUGGER!
it was a soppy little smear from under the gasket but it wouldn’t respond to ‘persuasion’ (despite the combined efforts of Andy, Hula-P, Ben and Mike) so ’safety first’ meant Ash couldn’t get out there again
buggerbuggerbugger!

now we’re all BACK and the jobs are already stacking up to be ready for the next Wild Bunch championship round at York 1+2 August – Hula-P will ‘take the controls’

before that there will be a bit of fReQ-crewing for Holly Baldwin in her Beetle ‘Whirlygig’ at BugJam (Go Holly! shave off those thousandths and get into the 14s!!)

there should be a bunch of photos up soon

Lorna

ps we failed completely to get-it-together for the ‘fancy dress’ – oooops – but Ben’s ‘new recipe’ race biscuits were a huge success! s’pose you can’t have everything <shrug>

getting ready again

brief highlights from the pre-race-prep department…
Ashleigh is confirmed as Driver for the Mini Nationals meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway next weekend,
Mike has been ‘fiddling’ with the race car,
Lorna has eventually written all the dates on the calendar and
nobody has sorted out their costumes for the fancy dress!

Nostalgia

waaaah what a weekend!
totally scorching weather, cracking racing and some groovy Hot Rods around the place too.
‘the Old Man’ showed that he can still get-his-foot-down…
here’s a groovy video from Ashleigh’s camera

getting up to speed

Hi Chums … Great to have a place to keep fans of the team up to speed with where we’re at.

We’re all really happy with the way this season is going for us so far…some solid runs and a good ‘team’ feeling with everyone doing their bit and the MS Trust logo being seen regularly.

We’ll be racing at the Nostalgia Nationals (June 27&28), with fReQmikey behind the wheel again.

The current in-team positions are: Ashleigh = fastest et, @ 11.27 …
Andy = Fastest reactions @ .03
Mikey = Oldest driver in the team haha… but look out, I’m not gonna let you pesky kids take it away from me that easily !!:-)

No major changes planned for the racecar for the Nostalgia’s though we’re seriously considering getting rid of the on-board battery and the entire cooling system to save some weight and maybe get those front wheels up …whatever all the team drivers will be trying to lose those final tenths and run a 10sec pass ! – Remember, the engine is 44 yrs old and still basicly in stock tune – still has some original bits !! woo-ha, lets work it hard

Whatever- we’ll be out there for the Wild Bunch races all season – continuing to promote the MS Trust and having loadza fun all the way Hope to see you all at the track

he’s here

fReQracing is proud to welcome the legendary Ed Baldwin to The Internet!!!

everybody CELEBRATE!!!!!

Gary’s Picnic photos – Ashleigh drives them wild!!