Roy B

Front corner damage for John Thompson (701) A jubilant JP with his Final winners trophy. Trying to get him to stay still long enough for a photo was a challenge!

The new Polley tar car Speaky was in the 101 car

New pit access route Nice artwork on the Phil Mann (53) bonnet

Hi there folks, Skeggy report from yesterday. Apart from a rain shower midway through the meeting it was a gloriously sunny day. There was a bitterly cold biting wind at the start but this eased off thankfully. A careful selection of where to park was necessary as the amount of recent rain had left the ground very soft, and the potential to get stuck was a high probability. The Skegness team were on hand to make sure everyone got away ok at the end. The new plating at turns 1 & 2 has been installed, and a metal barrier at the entrance to pit road has replaced the chain. Also, similar to the bridge over pit lane is another container which you now go through to access the pits. It's located behind the bar in the same area as the pit access route we have used for the past couple of years. The meeting began at 13:00 and finished at 18:30. A nineteen race programme consisted of F2, 2L Saloons, ORC Ministox, Junior Rods, GT Hotrods, and Rookie Bangers. Richard Kaleta made mention that the on track H & S procedures may add a bit of time, but to be honest i think it was more the amount of races than anything. Thirty-three F2's raced a two heats, Final & GN all in format. Ht.1: A thrilling race long battle between Jon Palmer (24), Dave Polley (38), Charlie Guinchard (183), and Rob Speak (218) saw some big hits going in. Tar F2 at its best. Tremendous stuff! Whilst this was all going on Liam Bentham (488) had shot off from the blue grade to claim the first of his three victories. Top 3: 488, Ben Germany (190), and 38. Speaky in the Kelvyn Marshall (101) car was 7th. Ht.2: A multi lap duel between the dynamic duo of 24 & 183. Both drivers gave a great display of side by side passing and repassing. It ended though when Jon piled Guinch into a back marker in turn four. Top 3: 488, 38, and James Riggall (527). A flat outside rear for 218. Rob did'nt come out again. Final: A win for the 24 car made the six hour journey for Jon well worth it. He got the 2nd and 3rd finishers to sit on his knee on the podium. The look on James Riggall's face was a picture. Top 3: 24, 527, and Ben Goddard (895) GN: Another flier for the 488 car. Top 3: 488, 527, and 183. The Polley cars were quick all meeting and look as though they will be strong on tar this season. Eighteen Saloons raced a two heat and Final format. Speaky doing double duty today. Ht.1. Top 3: Charlie Santry (368), Aaron Totham (561), and Billy Smith (161) Ht.2. Top 3: Ryan Santry (389), Diggy Smith (116), and Wes Starmer (525) Final. Top 3: 561, 161, and 116. The new pit road barrier Plating at turns 1 & 2

Speaky Michael Allard

New paint job for Timmy Barnes Diggy's

Hi there folks, Just a short report on the F2 & Saloon's opener from King's Lynn. A large crowd were on hand to witness a very good meeting. A full pits, and a track that had been prepared to the usual excellent standard even with the amount of heavy rain there's been. Even needed watering later on! Plenty of new and refurbed cars on show from all three formulas. Close to 80 F2's in the pits. Ht.1 (26 cars) Top 3: Billy Banwell (277), Luke Wrench (560), and Jon Palmer (24) Ht.2 (29 cars) Top 3: Ben Chalkley (69), Stephen Mallinson (788), and Neal Smith (657) Ht.3 (22 cars) Top 3: Tony Blackburn (225), Ollie Skeels (124), and Liam Bentham (488) Consolation (40 cars) Top 3: Kyle Taylor (136), Brian Shadbolt (70), and Josh Rayner (414) Final (38 cars) Top 3: Courtney Finnikin (55), Jack Aldridge (921), and Mark Clayton (81) GN ( 40 cars) Top 3: 69, 921, and Michael Wallbank (524) Speaky was in the Bingley car that he has raced before. A heat 8th, and Final 9th for Rob. He had some close dicing with Dave Polley. Gordon Moodie failed to finish his heat after ending up facing the wrong way in turn two. He then pulled off at the start of the Consi. Courtney was flying in the Final and took the lead from 921, and pulled away again on a late caution restart. Both Daz Kitson and Jon Palmer put up a good fight against Dave Polley. On to the Saloons. Following on from a W & Y heat 1, heat two saw a continuation of the Billy Smith (161)/Timmy Barnes (131) feud with both trading big hits. Going into the last bend Ryan Santry (389) was leading until Tommy Barnes (26) piled in and Diggy swept past both for the win. Top 3: Diggy Smith (116), Tommy Barnes 926), and Lewis Gallie (182) Ht 3. Top 3: Shane Emerson (888), Charlie Santry (368), and 116 Final. Top 3: 26, 888, and Terry Garrod (338) New RCE for James Riggall Neal Smith, "The Prince" is back.

The ex Richy Ahern car now with Niels Tesselaar, and looking good. Many thanks to Bas for the pic.

Hi there folks, Last week as you know we paid a visit to Arlington Stadium nr Eastbourne. Well two days later sees us 486 miles away at Armadale Stadium where by coincidence the Eastbourne Eagles speedway team are competing against the Edinburgh Monarchs. They had’nt been to this track since 1995-6, the days of the all-in Premier league. Of all the clubs Edinburgh had raced against their record with the Eagles was the worst. Starting in 1985 they had only beaten them three times on 21 occasions. They were in luck this time though, winning the match 51-27. Unfortunately the bad weather which had dogged the F2 racing in the south-west last week reappeared here. The preceding 24hrs had seen lots of wet weather, and this meeting was abandoned after Ht.13 owing to a massive rain storm. The venue opened in 1939 for greyhound racing which continued until 2016. Motor sport has played a part here as well. It opened as a tarmac track on the 28th May 1971, and was modelled on the shape and size of Wimbledon as most major Spedeworth championships were held at that venue. This enabled the Scottish drivers to get more practice on a traditional oval. Cowdie had an even squarer shape then than today. Interestingly it was number 9 John Duncker who won the opening Superstox heat, the opening F2 heat at Cowdenbeath in 1965 was also a number 9, Peter “Pepso” Dent. The stadium has a “lived in” charm about it much like some of our tracks of the past. Rumours abound each year that the track is due to close soon, but no announcements so far. What does’nt help is the fact that Glasgow Tigers home fixtures invariably clash which reduces the crowd attendance here. A decent turnout for this one though as Glasgow had postponed their meeting. There was even an F1 driver spotted in the crowd (307). Fellow Stoxnet member Steve Harris was there to see the 1989 Saloons WF. Ray Goudy (156) was the winner that day. The Open Scottish for the Saloons was also raced for that weekend, and Steve has very kindly sent me the attached link to the race on YouTube. Plenty of action in this especially towards the end. Many thanks Steve for the info etc. The main reason for travelling up to Scotland though was for the 2019 Saloon Stock Car World Championship so let’s head to the Cowdie WF weekend over the 17th/18th August. Day one. GMP Scotland last staged the Saloon WF back in 2013. Two years ago it was an Autospeed staged event there. The 2019 event was the tenth time Cowdie had played host, and it is the track that has held it the most. A Saloon Stock Car World Final at the Racewall is something that should be on everyone’s to do list with an atmosphere that is electric. The fastest time in practice was initially set by Graeme Shevill (661), and then equalled by Adam O’Dell (171). At 4.00pm the seeded drivers brought their cars on track for the hugely popular grid walk. Posters were handed out as you entered the track. These had all the cars on with space for autographs. Following this was the last chance qualifying race. Stuart Shevill Jnr (618) won this one, and with the next five cars over the line they would start on the last six rows of the grid for the main event. The World Finalists (incl. one driver from the Netherlands, and five from NI) came on track in a cloud of smoke through a tunnel that had been erected at the pit gate. Just at the wrong moment a big rain shower arrived and soaked the track. All their car set ups from practice were now of no use. The grid was as follows: Outside Inside 600 Barry Russell 116 Diggy Smith 399 Cole Atkins 730 Deane Mayes 306 Daniel Parker 661 Graeme Shevill H16 Jeremy van de Kraats 711 Anthony McIvor 171 Adam O’Dell 56 George Boult Jnr 157 Max Stott 349 Michael Allard 153 Ryan Wright 811 Kieran McIvor 670 Ross Watters 902 Bradley Compton-Sage 570 Simon Venni 120 Luke Dorling 951 Robert Mawhinny 747 Matthew Stirling 26 Tommy Barnes 38 Barry Glen 684 Ian McLaughlin 470 David Vaughan 214 Tom Yould 5 Tam Rutherford Jnr 199 Philip Powell 131 Timmy Barnes 125 Euan Mathieson 85 Kyle Irvine 389 Ryan Santry 618 Stuart Shevill Jnr 229 Graeme Anderson 507 Paul Honeyman 800 Scott Greenslade 124 Andrew Mathieson At the drop of the green Diggy just got into the turnstile bend ahead of fellow front row starter Barry Russell. H16 and 747 spun on the home straight, with 661 doing likewise on the top bend. Michael Allard hit a marker tyre, and Deane Mayes retired after spinning and hitting the pit bend wall. The wet conditions were playing havoc with cars spinning at random throughout the field. Smith was clear of Russell, but Ross Watters had come up into third. On lap 12 the yellows came out after Honeyman hit a tyre, spun backwards into the wall and came to rest on the racing line. He was collected by the pack and needed assistance from his car. The restart had two backmarkers between 116 and 600 but it only lasted a short while before another caution for a shed wheel. At the next green Russell was right on Smith’s tail and made two attempts to pass going into both bends. The action continued with Allard spinning Stuart Shevill Jnr out of fourth, and then Parker and Yould bounced off each other in the pit bend. Smith had opened the gap by now but with three to run Russell closed it slightly. The home fans were willing the 600 car on but Diggy managed to stay ahead to cross the line to become the 2019 World Champ. Emotional scenes at the start line as family and friends mobbed him when he got out of his car. Top 10: 116 600 670 661 214 684 171 26 120 389 A Consolation followed which saw Billy Smith (161) out for his first race of the night. He hunted down and passed early leader Marc Honeyman (107). Within a lap though 107 was back in front and remained there for the duration. The Final was for the Inter-Nations Cup. The opening lap saw 161 spin, and following a heavy shunt into the turnstile bend wall a caution for Ryan Wadling. Tommy Barnes had also been treated to a trip around the wall. At the restart Colin Savage stayed out front for a few laps until Ryan Santry forced a way past. Russell was on a charge through the field and soon caught the leader. He stayed on his back bumper for a few laps until sending him wide as the race wound down and he took the victory. Top 3: 600, 389 and 730. The F2’s were racing for the Mac 100 Trophy in honour of one of the all-time greats of Scottish stock car racing – George MacMillan (100). A season’s best turnout of 27 cars, with six from England, and a trio from NI. After an unsuccessful trip to St.Day the previous weekend, Liam Rennie (3) won both his heats. Steven Burgoyne (674) won the third heat. The Final was a drawn grid and saw Rennie on the front outside of the reds. After the early lap sort outs he made his way quickly through the field to victory again, with Euan Millar (629) and Garry Sime (480) following him home. A great disappointment was losing the F2 GN, and the Saloons Allcomers because of the totally pointless inclusion of the Mascars and Jascars causing the meeting to run over time. Day two It was a day of mixed wet and dry conditions. Another good display from the Saloons who raced a two from three format. Ross Watters (670), Marc Honeyman (107) and Willie Mitchell (96) all scored heat wins. The Raymond Gunn Tribute race came next. It was an action packed affair. Honeyman took the early lead until a race suspension to retrieve Matty Stirling’s (747) roof panel after it became detached following a big hit from Timmy Barnes (131). At the restart the 107 car continued to lead despite the best efforts of Watters to close him down. Top 3: 107, 670 and 730. The F2’s were down to twenty cars for day two. Rennie continued his winning ways with victory in the opening heat. Robbie Dawson (854) won heat two, with Steven Burgoyne (674) getting the lead in the closing stages to win the Final. Top 3: 674, 184 and 852. The GN rounded off the afternoon with the win going to Euan Millar (629). Pics in the gallery when up and running again. Later this year we have the Scottish weekend coming up. Most folks will be coming from the south and will use the A74(M), M74, M8 route. There is a glorious alternative to this mundane motorway slog. How about allowing 30 mins longer for the journey and going by a fantastic scenic route away from the boredom of the motorway? Join me now as we take the road less travelled. We leave the A74(M) at junction 15 and head into Moffat. This was a centre of the wool trade, a spa town and is home to the famous Moffat toffee. This is more of a boiled sweet than traditional toffee. Over 300 kilos are made every week. It is produced to an old family recipe. In the late 1800’s the present owner’s great-grandmother first sold it commercially and it was made by hand in batches of 7 pounds (3 kilos). The Star Hotel is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s narrowest hotel at a mere 20ft (6m ) wide. The town is the ancestral seat of Clan Moffat, and nearby is the Devil’s Beef Tub which was used to hoard stolen cattle. We’ll pass this on our way. It is a 500ft (150m) deep hollow in the hills north of the town. It gets its name for a resemblance to a tub used for preserving meat. The Border Reivers( cattle raiders) used it for hiding the cattle, and their enemies referred to them as “devils”. On the 12th August 1685 a fleeing covenanter John Hunter tried to escape pursuing dragoons by running up the steep side of the Beef Tub. He failed, and was shot dead on the spot. A monument to him stands on the south west rim. From 1633 Moffat began to increase in size from a small village into a popular spa town. Moffat Spa contained sulphurous and saline waters which were believed to have healing properties for skin conditions, gout, rheumatism, and stomach ailments. The water smells very strongly of sulphur, and if you’re that way inclined you can drink a glass of it. Mind you I would’nt want to risk it on the way in case it gives you a “loose” weekend requiring frequent changes of underwear! The prominence of the town in the wool trade is commemorated with the statue of a ram which was presented in 1875. The ram’s ears are missing, as they have been since it was first installed. Moffat is a great little town for a stop off on the way. We now head out of town following the A701 to Edinburgh. This is brown signed as a scenic route. After a couple of miles we reach the last junction with a classified road for a long way. Shortly after this we cross a stream known for the connection with a gruesome murder case which took place in 1935. Dr Buck Ruxton of Lancaster killed his wife and nursemaid, then cut up their bodies and placed parts of them under this bridge and the rest at other spots in the area. We soon come to the aforementioned Devil’s Beef Tub on our right hand side. There is a layby to park in if you want to take some pics. A sad tale to tell now. Just north of here on your right is the “Postie Stone”. It is a memorial to the guard and driver of the post coach who both died in a blizzard in 1831 while trying to deliver the mail. The inscription on the tablet reads: “Near the head of this burn on 1st Feb 1831 James McGeorge, guard and John Goodfellow, driver of the Dumfries Edinburgh mail lost their lives in the snow after carrying the bags thus far”. On the morning of the 1st Feb 1831 the driver and guard had set off from Dumfries for Edinburgh. Snow had begun to fall heavily and they had occasionally to force the vehicle through ever deepening drifts. Both were experienced men with a strong sense of duty, and "a bit of snow” was not going to stop them. Having taken on two more horses and some extra passengers they were forced to abandon their efforts in the intensifying snow. Two male passengers returned to Moffat on horseback to raise the alarm, whilst the several female passengers sheltered inside the coach. The driver and guard decided to proceed on horseback with the mail. They then freed the horses and struggled onward on foot with the heavy mail bags to try and make it to the Tweedshaws Inn. This was where the horses were due to be changed over. Tragically, both men succumbed in a fierce snow storm after a few more miles. Their horses survived and made it to a nearby farm, thereby raising the alarm. Although the monument is beside the A701 evidence has shown that they were on the old road slightly to the east when they died. Part of this old route can be followed on foot today, and there is a sandstone block to mark the point where the guard was found. The men were buried in the Old Churchyard in Moffat, where there is an inscription and memorial to both men. We leave this spot now and continue on to eventually run parallel with the River Tweed. The river’s source is in the hills to your right and starts out as a barely visible stream. We are in a wide river valley now and among a vast area of forest plantations. We next come to the only settlement for many miles. The tiny village of Tweedsmuir, where an unclassified road leads to the Talla Reservoir. Let’s stop, and I’ll tell you a bit about this section, and as a bonus it is railway related as well! There are various embankments to be seen from this point on. These are from the long closed railway used for the construction of the reservoir. In the late 1800’s the expanding city of Edinburgh was in need of an increased water supply. This area in the hills 28 miles from the city was chosen. A natural loch in an area of high rainfall was ideal. In 1897 Victoria Lodge was constructed at the southern end of the site as the headquarters of the Edinburgh Water Company. All materials were lifted from there by a ropeway called a “Blondin” after the famous tightrope walker. Stone and aggregates from quarries in North Queensferry, pipes, valve gear, and pumping equipment from Central Scotland, as well as clay, gravel and sand for the embankments. Puddle clay was used to make a watertight barrier and this came from Carluke. This type of clay had originally been developed to line canals. Over 100,000 tons of materials were transported for the building of the reservoir, and at least 30 of the workers died during construction. How did they get all those materials to build Victoria Lodge and the reservoir in the first place though? Well, given the remoteness of the location and the fact it was 1000ft (300m) above sea level a railway was the only answer. Eight miles to the north was Broughton station which was on the Caledonian rail line to Peebles. An approach was made to the railway company and agreement reached whereby they would double the track to Rachan a mile east. The Talla line would branch off here.The cost of this being met by the water company. By 1896 all work associated with this new line had been completed by the Caledonian. Sidings, together with a shed and platform were built alongside the A701 south of Broughton. The one extravagance on the line was the Tweed Viaduct. This was a 100ft girder bridge built to carry the railway and water pipeline across the Tweed. The abutments for this were of high quality granite obtained from a quarry in Italy. A stone laying ceremony took place to mark the start of the lodge construction. Members and guests of the water company were brought from Edinburgh by a special train dubbed the “Tweedsmuir Express”. Owing to the tight curves on the Talla section the locomotive had to be changed over to two short wheelbase tank engines. The main contract for the reservoir construction eventually fell to a man by the name of John Best. He had a canny idea to take a financial interest in the Crook Inn which was situated two miles north. This was built in 1604 and reputedly the oldest licensed inn in Scotland. He constructed a wooden platform alongside the locomotive watering facility at Crook. It was only a short walk from here to the other “watering facility” – the Crook Inn! Events here on a Friday night after the men had been paid can only be imagined. It was said that Best paid his men their wages on a Friday, and by Monday had most of it back! The official opening of the reservoir was on Sept 28th 1905. Once again special trains brought dignitaries along. Flags and banners festooned the works, and the lodge was decorated with crimson cloth and shields. A Union Jack waved over the whole scene, and at the head of the terrace was a flag which was the Scottish Lion on a field of gold. Following the opening of the reservoir the railway fell out of use. A plea to the Caledonian to continue the operation of the line for passenger trains to serve the village of Tweedsmuir was declined. The population was only 196 and declining. Between 1910-12 the track was lifted by a contractor from Glasgow for the sum of £6,431. Only the ballast and track outline can still be traced. The lodge is now a private residence. The viaduct however is still used to support the pipeline which carries millions of gallons of water daily to Edinburgh. Have a look out for the Crook Inn on your left. It has been closed now for some years. Broughton is the next place we come to. It is home to Broughton Ales, Scotland’s original independent brewery. The village contains six listed buildings including a private house built in the style of a 17th-century Scottish tower house. A couple of strangely named villages are passed through after this. Firstly, Mountain Cross, and then Romannobridge. There is now a long level stretch for several miles until arriving at Leadburn. It’s a left turn at the Give Way and on to the last three mile stretch to Penicuik. The main industry here used to be paper manufacture, the first mill opening in 1709, but this has now long gone. The paper for banknotes used to be manufactured here. The town was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for French soldiers during the Peninsular War. 309 prisoners died at the camp between 1811-14. Penicuik is now mainly a dormitory town for Edinburgh nine miles away. Well that’s a trip along the A701. It is well worth the extra time and is actually a shorter distance. It’s always very quiet, and if you do happen to come up behind a slow vehicle there are loads of overtaking opportunities. On the homeward journey you’ve got Killington Lake services on the M6. There’s even a bit of history there. The lake is actually a reservoir formed in 1819 when Killington Beck was dammed. It was built as the main source of water for the Lancaster Canal, and supplied 22.7 million litres of water a day to the canal. Next week: The opening F2 & Saloon meetings from King’s Lynn and Skegness. Extra: I've just watched this super interview with the "Captain". Some great black and white pics of the early days, and Roger's views on the state of play within motorsport's today.

Aah yes! Richard Baldwin Motorhomes. I missed that one. Nice one Graham. There was a good boozer on the canal side called the Commercial Inn. It was closed when i was there last, but worth checking out if you go. It's not far down from the Top Lock.

Hi there folks, Let’s head back south and finish off the F2 Crazy Week with a look at the other two meetings at Taunton and Eastbourne. Taunton – Roy Goodman 800 - Tuesday August 13th The entry for this evening was originally around the 40 car mark but owing to damage from St. Day and work commitments etc. this had reduced to 29. The cars were competing for the Roy Goodman Perpetual Challenge Trophy, and the Ash Sampson Memorial Trophy. Amongst the entrants were Robbie Dawson who had won the Final at Birmingham on Saturday using a Zetec for the first time, and regular attendee Aaron Vaight from the north-west. These two were amongst a small number of drivers who had stayed on in the region to race here. Roy Goodman was the man who started it all here at Smeatharpe. After claiming nine National Points Championships he moved into promoting. He constructed the circuit in the winter of 1973-74 at the west end of Upottery Airfield. The first meeting was on Sunday 7th April 1974, and Roy enjoyed 21 years as a promoter under the banner of Five Star Promotions. In the winter of 1994-95 Roy retired from promoting, and Trevor Redmond’s Autospeed took over. He continued to race on for a further ten years. 2003 saw the start of Roy’s incredible achievement of 50 consecutive years of racing. Following his retirement the Perpetual Challenge Trophy has been raced for here. In addition tonight was the first running of the Ash Sampson Memorial Trophy. Ash was Roy’s step –grandson who sadly passed away at an all too young age in June. The trophy was raced for in the GN. Ht.1: Cameron McColm (134) continued his good form with victory in this one ahead of Matt Stoneman (127). Ht.2: The 134 car led a fair distance in this as well until Julian Coombes (828) launched a backmarker into him on the last bend to claim the win. Ht.3: Joe Marquand (689) won this. Behind him a fierce battle was going on between Steven Gilbert (542), Ben Borthwick (418), and 127. It hampered their progress but made for a classic piece of stock car racing. Final: 27 cars took to the track for yet another superb race. Attrition hit most of the fancied runners and it was Robbie Dawson (854) who came through to take the 800 trophy back to Aberdeen. Top 3: 854, Sam Weston (468), and 689. GN: The 21 cars were led onto the track by two of Ash’s cars driven by his grandad Mick Whittle and step-grandad Roy Goodman. Another fine effort by the flying white top McColm sees him bag a top three finish. Dale Moon (302) takes the win. Eastbourne – Wednesday 14th August Onto the last meeting of the quartet now. A first time visit to the Arlington stadium for the F2's. It was billed as, “The Brisca Invasion”. Unfortunately with it being the fifth meeting in a row, summer hols, and a diabolic weather forecast there were only six cars on hand. Even accounting for these factors it was still a very disappointing turnout. Opened in 1955 the track is situated nine miles north of Eastbourne and has excellent facilities. There is a centrally heated covered grandstand on the home straight, and another covered but open one on the back straight. If the weather’s nice there is a mixture of grass banking and terracing around the bends. The circuit is concrete at 350 yards (320m) long with banked corners and an armco fence. The catch fencing is close to the track which means the spectators can also get close to the action. The pits are amongst the trees, and there is plenty of car parking space for spectators. It rained continuously from morning until night and was more like November than August! Not a lot to report about the racing obviously. The Final went to Matt Linfield (464) following on from his victory in the wet at Bristol two days earlier. Top 3: 464, Cameron McColm (134), and Jack Bunter (128). Both heats and the GN went to 134. A qualifying round weekend with Arlington on Saturday, and Aldershot on Sunday would be good to see. It surely would attract more cars as well. So ended five meetings in five days. Three drivers did the first four. Jon Palmer (24), Julian Coombes (828) and Robbie Dawson (854) who won Finals at two of them. He clocked up 1600 miles of travel. Matt Linfield (464) did the last four and also won two Finals. The star of the run however was Cheddar based teenager Cameron McColm (134) who was the only driver to contest the full five. He was rewarded with race wins at each of the last three. Pics in the gallery when it’s back. A return to the north-west now as we head for Wigan. We’ll take a walk along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal into Wigan, and back out along the disused Lancashire Union railway line. The canal is the longest single waterway in Britain. It is 127 miles long and has 91 locks. In the mid 1700’s there was a desperate need for a trans-Pennine canal linking the east and west of England. Trade and industry was flourishing at this time and the busy port of Liverpool needed a cheap supply of coal for their shipping and manufacturing businesses. On the other side of the Pennines the growing towns of Yorkshire wanted to transport their textiles to Liverpool. A decision was made to establish this vital link. Construction was a lengthy process and it was only completed in 1816, some 46 years after work began. A tunnel nearly one mile in length had to be dug at Foulridge nr. Colne. It is the longest in the country to allow passage of canoes. In 1912 a cow fell into the canal near the southern end of the tunnel and swam the full length before being helped out and revived with brandy at the Hole in the Wall pub! Coal was the most important cargo. Over a million tons were delivered to Liverpool in the 1860’s. The locks were built to wider dimensions than other canals which enabled broad gauge “short boats” to navigate the canal. These were capable of carrying twice the payload of conventional narrowboats. Owing to this, and local heavy industry the canal was able to compete successfully against the railways throughout the 1800’s. Traffic began to dwindle with the introduction of natural gas and subsequent closures of the canalside collieries. The last cargo of coal was carried to Wigan power station in 1972. Commercial freight ceased in 1982 with carriage of aggregate from the Trent wharves to Shipley. The canal continues to flourish today with boaters and pleasure craft making use of the recent Ribble link which connects to the Lancaster Canal, and the creation of a passage directly into the heart of Liverpool and its historic Albert Dock. Let’s get going shall we? Here's our route. The red circle is the start and finish point. We start about three miles out and do a circular tour. The first point of interest we come to is Wigan Top Lock. Prior to 1864 when the Liverpool & Leeds took it over this was part of the Lancaster Canal. It continued straight on through to the Wigan Coal and Iron Company nearby. However, only a short partly dried up section exists today. This is the point where the canal takes a sharp right hand turn and starts descending into Wigan. It is a two mile descent of 200 feet and goes through 21 locks. Not long after entering this section we come to the stone abutments of a railway bridge. This was a part of the Roundhouse branch of the London and North Western Railway/Lancashire Union Line. It went across the canal into the splendidly named Kirkless Semet Solvey Coke Works. The line was a link from Roundhouse junction. It got its name from an ancient roundhouse on the site dating back to the Iron Age rather than a railway roundhouse. (When the gallery’s back on there’ll be a late 1800’s map view which shows it well). On the day I was there a steam barge was coming up the locks. It’s called “Whistle Down The Wind” and has a fantastic steam whistle which sounds tremendous. Next to come by were two narrow boats and a dredger. Quite a busy day. As we get into Wigan there are some marvellous old buildings still standing to remind us of its rich industrial heritage. Porcelain and clock making had been its major industries until the time of the Industrial Revolution. It then became known as a major mill town and coal mining district. At its peak there were 1,000 pit shafts within a five mile radius of the town centre, and fifty four collieries. A town councillor remarked that, “A coal mine in the backyard was not uncommon in Wigan”. In 1818 the eight cotton mills in the town saw the introduction of power looms. These mils became infamous for their dangerous and unbearable conditions, low pay and use of child labour. Trencherfield was one such mill. It had the country’s first fire sprinkler systems installed, and its steam engine was the largest of its type. The two halves of the engine were called Rina & Helen. They drove a 26ft flywheel with 54 ropes. It produced 2500hp which was enough to run machinery over five floors, and the central heating system. The mill was very humid to stop the cotton snapping when it was spun. The cotton workers were on a 12 hour, 5 ½ day week. The noise was deafening and they had to stuff cotton from the floors in their ears. Working in bare feet as well to stop sparks from their clogs on the concrete floor setting the cotton bales alight. Children were used to go under the spinning machines to tie the broken threads back together. A steam whistle summoned them to work each morning. The slogan was, “England’s bread hangs on Lancashire’s thread”. The mill is now used for other purposes. Outside close at hand are two items on display from the past. One is an indestructible ventilating fan built in 1910 which was used in the ventilation of coal mines. It was built by Walker Bros of Pagefield Ironworks, Wigan. Like a lot of engineering companies in those days they had a large and varied catalogue of products they manufactured. They were classed as mining engineers, and commercial vehicle manufacturers producing vehicles under the brand name of Pagefield. A steam powered hammer is the other item. It was made by Glen and Ross of Greenhead Engine Works, Glasgow in 1862. Installed at the Clarington Forge in Wigan it was used for many years in the manufacture of crankshafts, connecting rods and printing rollers. Unfortunately both of these are unsuitably located in a car park. There are three warehouses at Wigan Pier. Number 1 (built 1777) was for grain, sugar, spices and dried fruit. Number’s 2 & 3 (1890’s) were for flour, grain, spices, cotton and even cement. All three are under arches so were sheltered from the weather when loading/unloading etc. There is an excellent museum of Wigan life situated in the library. On display is an Ellison’s turnstile. These were manufactured in Salford from 1890 to 1960. Used throughout the land at football, cricket and rugby grounds, swimming pools, amusement parks etc. They fabricated and installed 100 turnstiles at London’s original Wembley Stadium in 1923. We head north out of town now to make our return. Within a very short time we come to some delightful woodland. You would not think that a busy town was so close. It has the unusual name of Bottling Wood. In here can be found the trackbed of the long gone Lancashire Union Railway. This is the same line that used to cross the canal which we passed earlier. The main line ran between Blackburn and St.Helens. It opened to passengers in 1869 but its main use was to carry goods to Garston Docks on the River Mersey, and also to serve the Wigan coalfield. The line we are on was a loop constructed to bypass Wigan on the eastern side. Its name was the Whelley Loop, and was primarily a freight line. Surprisingly two stations were built but they turned out to be the shortest lived in the country. Opened in Jan 1872 and closed three months later! Their goods yards remained open until the line closed in the 1970’s. All lines through Wigan were radial and this loop connected to every one of them. Diverted passenger trains were routed along the loop from time to time to avoid gridlocking the centre. Summer seaside specials to and from Blackpool being a prime example. The part we walk along can get waterlogged very easily as the embankments channel any rainfall straight down. After a while we leave the trackbed at a fine stone and cast iron bridge. The craftsmen have been at work again. Superb stonework. A track leads through the grounds of Haigh Hall. The hall was built between 1827 and 1840 by the founders of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company. Sandstone for the facing was brought by canal and dressed on site using steam driven saws, and all the ironwork was cast at the estate’s own foundry. Soon we come to the canal again and make a right turn back to our start point. This section is absolutely glorious and very quiet indeed. That completes our brief tour. It’s hard to comprehend the amount of industry that was in this area when you see it today. I can heartily recommend a visit to Wigan for anyone interested in the industrial past. Pics in the gallery when it’s finished the upgrade. Next week: A look at the Armadale track, and the Saloons World Final at Cowdie. I’ve got a wee tale to tell you on the way too.

It sure is linky

Just testing the new upgrade. This week's tale will be on tonight minus pics for the time being 👌

Not sure which track Stuart. It's 1977. Dave Seed (ex 450) is stood alongside the car of Manchester's Nev Davenport (ex 201)

The latest pics from Pascal Spigt's (H6) workshop are in the gallery. More to come soon. I've found a few old photo's that i have acquired over the years. I'll put them in the gallery when i've sorted them out. Here's a good one to be going on with:

Thank you for these Chris . Many congratulations to Tom and King's Lynn. Two thoroughly deserving victors in the awards

A crackin' interview. The amount of work Mat puts in to keep his stock car fleet going is phenomenal. He is well overdue a championship that's for sure.

Cheers lads . Nice idea about a book but way out of my league. It would need the expertise of Neil Randon to do it justice.

Hi there folks, Get yourselves a brew, put your feet up, and sit back as we‘re going on a road trip this week. Last August the F2 fraternity had a five meetings in five days “Crazy Week”. It all began at Birmingham on Sat 10th and moved south to the Semi-Final meeting at St.Day on Sunday 11th, Bristol 12th, Taunton 13th and Eastbourne on the 14th. Having Bristol on the Monday as opposed to Taunton added time and distance to an already high mileage week as you had to head north from St.Day past Taunton and then back south again on the Tuesday! Co-operation from one of the promoters for the easier option was obviously not forthcoming. The reason being the risk of a shortage of cars at the Tues meeting. The purple and white team would have been quite happy to swap dates however. As it happened the Tues meeting had a higher car turnout than Monday so maybe a bit of karma there. We’ll have a look at the first two of the meetings this week starting with St.Day, and the other two next week. With the Buxton F1 Semi on Sat 10th it mean’t a five and a half hour overnight trip for Sunday’s meeting but at least the roads were quiet. Many people had been waiting years for the Semi’s to be held at the United Downs Raceway. It is a real gem of a track with its five corners. It is similar to the much missed Knockhill Trioval with the unusually shaped bends, and inclines/declines. It is actually pasty shaped which is very fitting given its location. A backdrop of the disused “Ale and Cakes Mine” engine house and chimney complete the unique setting. A track record of 71 cars made this the biggest stock car event in Cornwall since 1976. That was the year of the World Final held at St. Austell. Nine Scotsman were in attendance including Robbie Dawson (854) who broke his mammoth 12 hour journey down with a Final win the previous evening at B’Ham. In the weeks preceding this meeting there were a fair few withdrawals from either shale only drivers, or ones that were not prepared to travel. Extra reserves were therefore added to the list. All Semi-Finalists received miniature stained glass window versions of a tin mine engine house. The top three in the meeting Final were presented with some absolutely stunning Cornish serpentine lighthouses which had been hand turned by a jeweller from the Lizard. Crispen and his team at Autospeed had put a lot of time and effort in the month prior with a programme of tidying, smartening up, and improvements. A new section of safety fence and progress on the VIP/Hospitality area were very evident. Alan McLachlan, one of the most knowledgeable commentators in F2 was on the mike. He is from Edinburgh and is usually to be found at Cowdie and Crimond. At least a 9 hr 30 min journey down for him for this weekend. He regularly commentates at the sister track of Smeatharpe as well. Alan absolutely loves the ferociousness of the Taunton action and wishes his home track’s struggle for cars can improve in the future. The link between Autospeed and the Racewall Cowdenbeath go back to the days of Gordon McDougall when Crispen was a regular visitor and behind the scenes helper. That close bond between the two still exists today. On to the meeting then. The rain came at start time and made for a wet track for the 15 car non-qualifiers heat which saw Marc Rowe (526) take the victory. The cars entered the track for the Semi-Final pre-race parade in their exact grid order which saved a lot of time as they received their trophies and then gridded up in race order which was: 606 7 488 124 101 78 542 527 127 24 578 647 183 26 480 302 400 38 817 828 960 344 689 674 969 854 844 976 Another heavy downpour unfortunately soaked the track just before the start.The inaugural F2 World Champion Roy Goodman in his role as Grand Marshal gave the command to, “Start your engines!” Andrew Palmer (606) was away into the lead from Gordon Moodie (7), whilst Liam Bentham (488) was sent into the wall on turn four before taking the flag. Several others piled in including crowd favourite Jon Palmer (24). Matt Stoneman (127) was now into 3rd from 9th on the grid. The leaders were soon into the backmarkers and Moodie closed up enough for a couple of taps on 606. On lap six however he was through and gone. James Riggall (527), Chris Burgoyne (647) and Robbie Dawson (854) were up in the top ten now. 647 the 2002 World Champ retired soon after though with a trip around the turn four wall. With it being such a wet track few took any chances and the 7 car reeled off the remaining laps to take the victory followed over the line by: 606, 542, 127, 101, 854, 302, 527, 38(in his shale car), and 817. Gordon said, “Once we got away I thought Andy and I will hopefully get a gap. I did’nt want a battle as it brings everybody else up to us”. Andrew had these words to say,” I was going to try and come back at Gordon but I got held up by a backmarker. Buxton is my least favourite track so it means I’ve got to AUTOMATICALLY DELETED WORD go there now!” The track had dried up for the second Semi so some last minute set up changes were the order of the day. Luke Wrench (560) and Micky Brennan (968) only just made the grid which was : 905 560 618 788 629 184 418 564 801 16 980 251 464 895 325 3 105 315 142 968 111 91 468 419 126 41 979 761 The start did not go to plan for Stephen Mallinson (788) as he crashed into the turn four wall causing Matt Linfield (464) to spin, and in the ensuing pile up Liam Rennie’s (3) race ended with him upside down. A complete restart allowed drivers to fix their cars but with no outside assistance. Ben Borthwick (418) who had been turned into the turn one wall was a major beneficiary of this second bite at the cherry. The 560 car had suffered steering damage and Luke was attempting a repair with a rock he had picked up from the St.Day lunar landscape, the sole of his boot, and some brute force. At the start Rob Mitchell (905) made too quick of a getaway and received the black cross. At the end of lap one it was: 905, Ben Lockwood (618), Euan Millar (629) and 418. Lap three saw the 968 car spin across the entrance to the back straight getting collected by Lewis Geach (111) who ended up on three wheels. When racing resumed the aforementioned Borthwick (the track specialist) battled his way into the lead before halfway with a nerf bashing pass on 905. 560 had come up into fifth at this stage and soon demoted 629, 618 and 905 to move into 2nd. The race settled down in the second half and saw Borthwick take the victory and banish his British Championship disappointment of two months earlier. Following him home were: 560, 315, 618, 184, 905 (docked two places), 801, 629, 468 and 895. The 418 car was not declared the winner until after the meeting. The position of the camshafts were under investigation and could not be proved illegal or legal to the regulations! An unfortunate honest human error prevented a defining decision being made so it must fall in favour of the driver. A 28 car Consolation followed which saw a massive turn four crash which almost blocked the track and left Jamie Avery (126) in need of assistance. The victory went to Joe Marquand (689) after the 16yr old novice Harley Thackra (9) had jumped the start and was docked two places. For the Final the qualifiers from the Semi’s had either green or chequered flags attached to denote which Semi they represented. 24 brought the action big time to get the lead before half distance, followed by Charlie Guinchard (183) who chased him all the way, and Justin Fisher (315). The top two remained the same until the finish. 127 was the first man home from the Semi’s claiming 3rd thus clinching the World Final inside line for the Semi 1 qualifiers. That handed pole to the 7 car who failed to finish in the top ten. The GN saw 127 take the victory after long-time leader Cameron McColm (134) was overhauled, and Mark Gibbs (578) despatched on the last lap. Apart from a rain spoilt first Semi the racing was excellent. Whilst wandering the pits during the meeting I witnessed something that brought a tear to the eye. There was a young lad with his carer who was becoming agitated and distressed. They were close to Micky Brennan’s car and he saw what was going on. He invited the lad over and got him to hold the funnel whilst he refuelled the car. The young fella absolutely loved being involved and his mood completely changed. He was then given a t-shirt by the team and went away so happy. It was a joy to see. The Brennan’s are such a kind and thoughtful family. At a Buxton meeting a few years ago my lad wanted a t-shirt and we saw Micky had some on sale. He included a cap for free and asked us if we would like to get on the bus and have some dinner with them! We can’t go wrong with people of this calibre in the sport. Next stop was to drive past Taunton and up to Bristol. A case of the night after the morning before. A rare weekday evening meeting in the Mendip hills saw 19 cars race a two heat, Final and GN format. The meeting started off nice and sunny with both heats run in bright conditions. Jon Palmer (24) won the entertaining first one. Top 3: 24, 127 & 134. Ht.2 saw Luke Wrench (560) take the victory. A roll on the back straight for Dan Kent (576) added the action feature. Top 3: 560, 127 & 24. The heavy rain then started and got progressively worse as the meeting went on. A long delay to extricate a Junior Rod driver saw the Final not starting until 10pm. By this time the track was starting to flood at the bottom of the dip into turn three. Matt Linfield (464) claimed the victory, with Aaron Vaight (184) and Robbie Dawson (854) rounding out the top three. As rivers of water coursed through the pits only six cars made it out for the GN. Cameron McColm (134) scored his maiden victory in this one as the last lap challenge from 184 into turn three saw a tidal wave swamp his car. Only a few pics from this one owing to the deluge. Ok then. Let’s head to the main event. A four hour trip north finds us back in Halifax. A few weeks ago I showed you the opulence of the Town Hall. Grand as it was what you’re about to see is the complete opposite. The derelict delight that is Old Lane Mill. The history of this site is just amazing. The Akroyd family had founded a worsted and wool textile manufacturing firm in the middle of the 1700’s. As early as 1816 Jonathon Akroyd had a mill here. The mill we are going to explore was built in 1825 by his brother James, and pre-dates both the world’s first steam powered passenger railway and the Victorian era. King George IV was on the throne at this time. It was a steam powered worsted mill producing a high quality type of wool yarn. When steam power was introduced into the mills it set off the Plug Riots. The workers feared they would lose their jobs. Groups of men from Bradford and the surrounding districts marched from town to town removing the plugs from the boilers of the mills, and emptying the mill dams as they passed. One of Akroyd’s power loom sheds at nearby Haley Hill came under siege, and one man was killed and several wounded when soldiers were brought in to fire into the crowd. Child labour was prolific at this time. In his mill at Copley (which is around 4 miles from here) a ten year old girl was working on a spinning frame when her clothing got caught in the driving band. She was pulled round the drum and suffered horrific injuries to her legs and feet. She died the following morning. This remaining structure is the oldest and largest surviving example of a stone floored, multi-storey, steam powered, iron framed, textile mill. The stone floor was to support the heavy machinery and was the first of its kind in a mill. There were acres of weaving sheds on this same site but all were demolished many years ago. In 1827 Akroyd built and installed the first Jacquard Looms in England here. He worked on building these in secret in locked rooms. They were a device fitted to a power loom that simplified the process of manufacturing complex patterns. The machine was controlled by a number of linked cards with multiple rows of holes punched through them. A complete card would produce one row of the design required. It was really a very early form of computing hardware. They are a complex machine which has to be set up to the loom so that the punched holes align with rods and hooks which determine the thread weave. The threading of the machine can take several days. A material called camlet which is a combination of silk, cotton and wool was supplied to a Mr Mackintosh of Manchester for use in the production of raincoats of the same name, or Macs as they became known. The night watchman used to fire a blunderbuss each evening to signal that he was on duty! In the mid 1800’s it was the largest textile company in Britain and employed around 2000 combers, weavers and spinners. The Yorkshire Bank owes part of its existence to this very site. Back in 1852 the Woodside Penny Savings Bank was introduced and based within the pay office of the mill. It was a savings scheme for the employees. A penny a week was deposited with an interest rate of 3% per month providing you had at least £1 saved. With there being 240 old pennies to the pound you’d have to save for over four years until you got that first pound! After absorption and takeovers it eventually became the Yorkshire Bank. A pub called the Old Lane Inn and a working men’s club used to exist nearby but both now long gone. The Rawson family became the owners in the late 1800’s, followed by Moxon Kirk and Sons. In 1905 it was listed as Old Lane Dyeworks and was the largest in England. The mill suffered a serious fire at this time but owing to the iron and brick construction the building survived virtually unscathed apart from the roof. That was replaced by asbestos sheeting. After this date the trail goes cold as to subsequent owners etc. but it was eventually used in association with the massive Dean Clough Mills complex. Now it’s time we had a look around. If you’re uneasy about the dark, rats, or falling through, falling out, or falling down things it may be best to sit tight and have another brew. As you walk towards the mill you can sense it knows you’re approaching. All the windows and frames have long gone and you can feel it watching you. The exterior is very clean for its age so I think it has been sand blasted at some point. The boiler house is the first thing to encounter. The stonework on this ruin is superb. It’s just as sharp and well defined as the day it was built. The triple arched frontage is excellent. The roof is missing and has revealed the iron framework. A chimney rises up the centre, and this has a frame around the top. A large crack has appeared at the upper level. The chimney has been capped at some point as it would have been higher than this originally. One side of the chimney has the connection to the boiler, and on the other is an access hole to clean the ash out. Between the boiler house and mill is a large fuel tank. Obviously a later addition when they used diesel or oil to replace steam power. We’ll go in through the basement. It is as black as ink in here. Without a torch you feel as if you have gone blind. Not a chink of light gets in from anywhere. The stone slabbed floor has been removed and it’s left a mass of rubble. You’ll find a lot of mill floor slabs on the moors in the north. They are prevalent on footpaths to prevent erosion, or to get across particularly wet and boggy sections. The Pennine Way has sections where mill floors have been laid down. You can see the holes where the looms etc. were bolted down. Usually there’ll be some rust around the hole edges left from the bolts. Anyway back to it. In this darkness a scurrying sound was heard. Shining the torch around i saw a rats tail disappearing down a hole. At least it was’nt up for a fight! The full length of the basement has to be crossed to get to the engine room. It is very creepy to say the least. Lots of blind corners, passageways, and small rooms. Not only supernatural forces exist down here. There could be an axe wielding maniac around that next corner!! All was going well until I saw the silent girl with the torches. She had long flowing hair, eyes like saucers, and a screaming mouth, but no sound came out. My heart literally missed a beat. I had turned a blind corner and my torch beam focused directly on the life size wall painting of this girl. Every credit to the artist. It had been positioned so it was the first thing the torch beam picked up. In some ways I wish she had been real. She would have made it a fun day. The mill was powered by a 60hp steam engine. In the engine room you can see the semi-circular recess where the huge beam engine flywheel was situated. Ropes, pulleys and belts went up through the floors to power the machinery. The large window in here has a quite fantastic decorative wooden surround still in situ. An amazing place. You can see from the gallery pics that there is an external tower adjoining the centre of the building. This is known as a polygonal privy tower and would have been where the toilets/washrooms etc. would have been situated. Having successfully negotiated the basement we leave the rats and screaming girl behind to terrorise their next victim. Each of the six floors is to an identical pattern so I have’nt taken pics at every level. They are connected by a stone stair well which is nice and solid. However, you can easily fall straight out of the external wall. The steps have been worn down by years of use. Above basement level the whole place is a glorious Health and Safety nightmare and all the better for it. You get a real appreciation of the site in situations such as this. I would never put myself in danger but just use a little common sense to get around. The things to watch for are various holes in the floor where the belt system used to run down to the engine house, trap doors, and machinery attachment points. Openings where the windows used to be, and the lift shaft are obviously the biggest risk. Fortunately all the floors are solid stone. Cast iron pillars interlinked throughout support the whole structure. On the first floor at one end is some unusual arched stonework. It looks to mirror the flywheel dimension but is not situated near it. A strange one for sure. What I love about these places is that you would never consider putting bricks on the ceilings. Well they exist here. All the ceilings are vaulted brick arches. Absolute craftsmanship of the highest order. It was apparently to add strength because of the excessive weight of the looms above, and also to reduce the risk of a fire destroying the whole mill. The upper floors are in a poorer state than lower down. The exterior wall has started to break up, and without a complete roof water is playing its part as well. Having said that the whole place was very dry to the point of being dusty. The very top storey was quite windy. At one end is a doorway with a pulley system which would have been used to move stuff around from floor to floor. The roof is a beautifully constructed iron frame with large stone lintels. The angle of these look as though they could slide off at any moment. The floor has been exposed up here. You can see the top of the cast pillar and how it connects to a cross girder via a wishbone/lynch pin arrangement within the brick arch. Just incredible from nearly 195 years ago. At one of the gable ends is a beautiful round window frame which used to house a clock. Some of the mechanism still exists. From here you can see the stunning Corona (not the virus version) chimney in the distance which has a crown on the top. We’ll go back down to ground level now and have a mosey around outside. Ovenden Brook runs directly under the mill and leads to a mill pond. This must have fed the other mills in the area as water power was never used here. Even the stonework for the brook culverts are of the highest order. A couple of blocked up archways in the external wall are visible. I wonder where they led to? It is a tremendous place to spend a few hours. The amount of labour that went into places such as this. The brickwork, the stonework, the ironwork. Not only did they build them to last but they made them look appealing with arches, decorative chimneys tops, intricate stonework etc. Think of the amount of families and people who spent an entire working life here. Within a short distance is the Dean Clough mill complex. These are truly massive. Refurbished and occupied by many small businesses, bars and leisure facilities. The Corona chimney stands on this site. Built in 1857 and rising to 297 ft it stands proud over the surrounding land. It has a distinctive corona of triangular cast iron plates which gives it its name. Some of the mill buildings reduce in height at one end depending on the gradient they are built on. Truly magnificent. Well that’s it folks. The pics in the gallery show all of the above. If you’ve any questions, or extra info regarding the mill please feel free to comment. Next week: We’ll head south to finish off the F2 tour taking in the remaining two meetings at Taunton and Eastbourne, and then it’s up to a north-western town for a wander in along a canal towpath, and back out on a disused railway line. There’ll be a bit of history thrown in for good measure as well.

Thank you for the kind comments lads. A few more pics from the show today. A far better crowd this time. Some great news from Colin North's brother Gary is that he himself is going to carry on with the Teng tools input and take on Colin's role within the sport. The North family chose the top three best in show. A superb trophy to remember Colin was awarded to the first place recipient. This trophy is to stay with Gary for the time being to be displayed at various locations. All three received trophies to keep as well. The top 3 were: 3rd - Jenson Brickley, 2nd - The Yarrow team for the 2 car, and the winner was Matt Linfield F2 464 for the memorial steering wheel. Speaky was present today and was having a look at the new 7 car to see which corner to hit first. Funnily enough Jon Palmer was thinking the same thing about Speaky's new car yesterday That's it folks. Next week (well Friday) we'll pay a visit to the first two meetings of the Brisca F2 "Tour of the South" which took place last August. The St.Day Semi Final meeting and Bristol the following day are our destinations. Next we go off the beaten track once again. You all need to bring your head for heights for this one as we explore an abandoned six storey mill. For anyone involved in Health and Safety you ain't goin' to like this one bit Until Friday then

It did'nt seem as busy as last year. For the second year running the gate was'nt opened at 9 owing to an unexplained issue. Finally got in at 9:45! No F1 demo, and a lot more barriers everywhere. Apart from this it was good to meet up with folks and get to see some quality cars from all formulas. Hope you enjoy tomorrow stox74 👌

Pics from first day of MWA show in the gallery. Possibly a few more from Sunday to add.

Cheers Bas. Seeing as orange is the colour of the Dutch Royal Family i thought you would appreciate this: Molly, an absolute mint Scania R520 from Total Environmental Technology based in Carnaby in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Hello folks, We start this week with the F2 Qualifier from Taunton on Tues 9th July. Racing here on a school night is an annual event at Smeatharpe for this qualifying round. It is certainly far more exciting than after school detention! With only the final round to go at Skegness on July 18th this meeting would give an indication of who would need to race at the Lincolnshire venue to try and make the semis. St.Day held their Q.R on Sunday so a good number of visiting drivers stayed down for the three days. Notable extra’s for Taunton included former World Champion James Rygor (783) racing from the blue grade for the first time since 2013, Charlie Guinchard (183) fresh from a heat and final double at Buxton on the Saturday, and Liam Bentham (488) in his new Polley built tar car. Add Aaron Vaight (184), Matt Linfield (464), Ollie Skeels (124), and Henry King (78) to the above to give a 45 car turnout. Heat 1: A battle between the main men from the British Championship race at the previous Taunton meeting saw Steven Gilbert (542) hang on to finish ahead of Ben Borthwick (418) by the time the flag fell. This was for 5th place however as up ahead the dynamic duo of Jon Palmer (24) and Charlie Guinchard (183) were decimating the field with some spectacular hits on practically everyone. Tommy Farrell (667) had got away to lead from the yellow grade, but with the 24 car scattering cars everywhere he had to give best to Palmer and ended up 2nd at race end. Where did Guinchy finish you ask? Well after plenty of giving and receiving the bumper he came in 6th. Top 3: 24, 667 and Aaron Vaight (184) Heat 2: Liam Bentham christened his brand new car with a fine victory. Top 3: 488, Paul Rice (890) and Julian Coombes (828) Consolation: A large field of 22 cars for this one. Rob Mitchell (905) took a rare tarmac victory. He had rolled it at St.Day on the Sunday so the win proved all was ok with car and driver. Top 3: 905, Ian England (398) and Joe Marquand (689) Final: An absolute cracker of a race from start to finish. This was hard surface F2 racing of the highest order. Thirty cars on this track is guaranteed to be action packed. 890, 418 and Ben Goddard (895) were all early spinners as 667 hit the front once again. 488 began well, but 183 had already identified him as the man to beat so hoofed him fencewards at the first opportunity. Next on Guinchy’s radar was 184 who resisted the onslaught for a short while before 183 was through and after 667. These two traded blows for a few laps until Charlie gained the upper hand and set sail at the front. Behind him all hell had let loose with up to ten cars battling for the positions. There were some ferocious hits going into the bends, and three and four wide racing into and out of them. As is usually the case with this type of hard racing it can delay the protagonists so they were not able to close the gap. With a lap to go 667 who was lying in 3rd got steamrollered by the 24 car and that allowed 184 through for the position. 183 duly clicked the laps down to claim his second Final in four days. He’d only had two meetings from the blue grade and won both Finals. A truly enthralling race. Top 3: 183, Ryan Sheahan (325) and 184 GN: 21 surviving cars for this one. Another belter to end the meeting with a last bend decider as 418 managed to overhaul 542 for the victory. Top 3: 418, 542 and Dale Moon (302) The top qualifying points scorers at this meeting were: 183 - 30pts, 184 - 29pts and 24 also on 29pts. Another superb meeting from Autospeed. The attached pic is another view of the last meeting tangle up on the back straight. It took some sorting out! Let’s head to Skegness now for the Thurs meeting of Speedweek. 53 cars for this one with plenty of overseas entrants. 5 from mainland Europe and 4 from Northern Ireland. Scotland was well represented with 12 drivers making the trip south. A monsoon swept in prior to the meeting which req’d pumps to clear the track. The pit office was also temporarily marooned by a lake! Ht.1: Paul Rice (890) from the West Country made the most of his yellow grade start to win. Top 3: 890, Daz Seneschall (376) and Robbie Dawson (854) Ht.2: A good battle between Aaron Vaight (184) and Liam Bentham (488) was decided in Aaron’s favour. Top 3: 184, 488 and Craig Wallace (16) Consolation: 27 cars on track. Martin Ford (4) from the yellows managed to hang on for the win despite the attentions of Chris Burgoyne (647) and Jon Palmer (24) Top 3: 4, 647 and 24 Final: A large 33 car grid set off with the 488 car making swift progress from the blues. He soon got to the front and was chased to no avail by the James Riggall (527) and Gordon Moodie (7) RCE’s. Liam would go up to the red grade at the next meeting. Top 3: 488, 527 and 7 GN: Another 33 car field. Jon Palmer hammered his way to the front in his very entertaining hard hitting style. Luke Wrench (560) made an attempt to challenge but no luck. Top 3: 24, 560 and 890 The Saloons were also on the bill and had a very respectable 57 car attendance. 16 from Scotland, and 3 from Northern Ireland. Stuart Shevill Jnr (618) debuted a new car which he took to an inaugural Ht. 1 victory. However an engine change was forthcoming after smoke appeared on the slow down lap. Diggy Smith (116) won Ht.2, and the Consolation went to Euan Mathieson (125). The Shevill team had completed the engine change in time for the Final which saw the 618 car lead into the last bend. Ross Watters (670) & Deane Mayes (730) piled into him though which saw Shevill spin out and 730 take the win. The Allcomers race went to Brad Compton-Sage (902) with a Shevill in 2nd. Graham (661) this time though. From one seaside town to another now as we go east to west to have a look around Blackpool’s Rigby Road tram depot. Blackpool Transport’s history is immense. The tramway dates back to 1885 and is one of the oldest electric tramways in the world. 135 years of unbroken service is an incredible feat. To try and do it justice in one go would mean missing out on many momentous happenings and notable achievements over the different eras of its existence. With that in mind next winter i’ll do a series all about it. Even if you’ve never visited the resort or travelled on its buses and trams it still makes a fascinating and compelling story. The depot we are going to visit was opened in 1935 to replace two earlier ones. It was one of the last to be built in England and also one of the largest. It has a capacity for 108 trams with 18 tracks and a tram washing facility. Storage of buses has also taken place here. It is now used for the “B” fleet (called into service at peak periods), illuminated trams and the 1930’s stock/heritage fleet. There had always been various works on the site from the early 1900’s. A foundry and smelter was one of the first operations to be installed. Castings of tram stops, railings, brake shoes, bases for the overhead standards, and plates to hold the tram rails were just a part of the output. The Engineering and Body Workshops constructed and modified many trams over the years. A saw mill was set up to produce thousands of wooden sleepers, and to provide the seasoned timber required for the frames of the tramcar bodies. In recent times there has been a depot constructed at the south end of the line. This is for the new trams, or light rail as they are called nowadays. I hope to have a look around there in the near future. I hope you enjoy the pics. The black and white shots are courtesy of John Woodman and show the finished building, and testing of the tracks and overhead. The trams used for this test were housed in another two depots and would not be based here. Next week: It’s showtime! All the pics from the MWA show at Peterborough.

Hi folks, Great news about Birmingham is’nt it? I certainly did’nt expect that! You’d better take a seat as there’s a lot to get through this time. We’ll start this week with today’s visit to the TMR Open Day at Fulshaw Head Farm, Barrowford, up in the hills of East Lancashire. It was a glorious morning with just a touch of ice around to make things interesting. A friendly welcome greeted everybody with plenty of brews and even some homemade TMR cupcakes! Here’s a list of the cars on show: Brisca F2’s 446 Josh Vickers (whose wife had made the cakes) 962 Martin Bentley 905 Rob Mitchell’s new shale chassis 735 Mick Howarth Warton F2’s A brand new no expense spared car with a Rover V8 in it! and 767 Colin Parr (raced as a Brisca F2 previously) Outlaw 241 Andrew Carter Waller In the “for sale” shed were F2’s: 202 Will Knight 969 Bart Smeets 598 Jamie Taylor An unraced TMR shale chassis and a Junior grass tracker with a Vauxhall engine. Pics in the gallery. 53 Philip Mann and 788 Mally popped in for a look round. 219 Chris has sold his kit and has no plans to race partly owing to Belle Vue and Stoke going but also he has two young’uns that he wants to spend more time with. However, 905 Rob is continuing. It’s well worth a visit if you’re local and a nice way to spend a few hours on an out of season weekend. Barrowford has quite a history. It is situated on the old Marsden to Long Preston turnpike. One of the original toll houses dating from 1804 is still situated at the junction with the road to Colne. There is even an old packhorse bridge which dates back to the late 1500’s! From that early date the village became a centre for textile production. The manufacture of woollen cloth was the main industry until around 1780 when cotton became king. One of the cotton mills was powered by a water wheel and the mill reservoir survives as the ornamental pond in Barrowford Park. Along the village’s main road are the handloom weavers’ cottages which saw cotton cloth woven for nigh on 50 years. In the 1820’s power looms turned it into a factory industry and production moved from the home to massive weaving sheds. One of the last examples of a working weaving shed until quite recently was at the East Lancs Towel Company which still produced Terry towelling on Lancashire looms. However, they have now ceased production in the UK and the former mill has become a Booths supermarket. Sounds familiar eh? Within a couple of miles is Nelson. Apart from the legendary stock car track the town is also known for the William Roberts heavy engineering works at Phoenix Foundry established in 1862. They produced many of the steam engines that powered the cotton weaving and spinning mills around the district. Coal mine and waterworks pumping engines were also manufactured there. The foundry closed in 1954 and is now a car park. Did you know that Nelson also produced Jelly Babies and Victory V’s? The package holiday company of Airtours, which unfortunately for them became part of Thomas Cook also started life here as Pendle Travel. As we’ve seen an Outlaw at TMR’s we’ll just nip up to Barford for last May’s meeting. Only a few cars in attendance and the races were won by the promoter Cyril Whitfield’s son Charlie in 301. Only a few pics from this one. With Swaffham being a hot topic at the moment we’ll shoot down there next for the April meeting. This was the first of three planned F2 meetings for 2019. It was run under the Skegness Stadium banner and 16 cars were present. The flying white top of David Shearing (564) won both heats and the Final with Jason Cooper (682) in the borrowed Bradley McKinstry (747) car following him home each time. Jason has plenty of experience here from his Superstox days. Luke Wrench (560) won the GN. Mick Sworder and family were on hand to see youngest son Harry win in his Ninja Sprint Kart. It’s a great pity that Brisca won’t be there in 2020 but fingers crossed for the future. Just a handful of pics from here. We’ll start to make our way back north now towards the highest point of the A57 midway between Glossop and Sheffield. Before we get there though we’ll make a detour and call into the rural village of High Bradfield which is only 5 miles from Owlerton. There is an abandoned farm I’d like to tell you about. About 30 mins walk from the village centre brings us to the ruins of Rocher Head farm which dates from 1741. The buildings have walls but no roofs. Rusting farm machinery still stands where it was left. The Saddington family occupied the property from at least the 1800’s and had 11 children! A brother and sister were the last people to live there and were forced out after Agden Reservoir had been built. The farm is in the water catchment area for the reservoir and was not served by mains sewerage. Sick Brook (nice name) runs past the farm and eventually empties into the resy, and much of their waste water probably ended up in the brook. It seems to have been standard practice for the Water Corporation to move people off their land around its drinking water reservoirs in order to reduce the risk of contamination. It makes good sense, but it must have been a wrench for them to have to leave. There are a few pics in the gallery including another toilet shot! Honestly it’s just a coincidence after the Halifax Town Hall one last week. The comparison between the two could’nt be more different though. This one is outside and it must have been horrendous on a cold winter’s night with the amount of snow they must have got up there. Ok, let’s get to Snake Pass and park up at the top. We’re here to find the wreckage of two F-86 Sabre jets which were lost here in the Peak District. The Sabre was a transonic jet fighter developed and produced by North American Aviation in the late 1940’s. It was the United States first swept wing fighter that could meet the challenge of the Soviet MiG-15 in high-speed dogfights. It was considered as one of the best and most important aircraft in the Korean War (1950-53). It proved itself many times until the last active operational examples were retired by the Bolivian Air Force in 1994. It was the most produced Western jet fighter with a total production of 9,860. Prior to the design stage the United States Army Air Forces had stated a requirement of a top speed of 600 mph for any jet developments. The idea of the swept wing achieved this aim. The F-86 set its first official world speed record of 671 mph in 1948. It was produced as a fighter-interceptor and fighter-bomber. The prototype had an engine built by GM’s Chevrolet division but production was given over to Allison. Various modifications were carried out and a thrust of 9,250 lbf was achieved. The Allison company was eventually sold to General Motors, and then in 1995 Rolls Royce acquired it. The fighter-bomber version could carry up to 2000lb of bombs including an external tank that could carry napalm. Both interceptor and bombers carried machine guns in the nose with electrically boosted feed, or cannons on the later versions. Armour piercing incendiary rounds containing magnesium which were designed to ignite on impact were used in the Korean War. The swept wing and jet engine configuration made for a totally different flying experience compared to the propeller driven fighters of the time. The technical developments throughout its long production history resulted in some significant handling differences between the various F-86 variants. As a result of one of these design changes an increase in combat performance was achieved but a dangerous and often fatal handling characteristic upon take off called “over-rotation” was created. This occurs when the nose wheel lifts off the ground too early and the aircraft continues to rotate nose up until the tail hits the runway. An accident caused by this over-rotation occurred at an airshow in Sacremento in 1972. A privately owned Sabre failed to take off and over-ran the runway. It ripped through a chain link fence rupturing the external underwing fuel tanks causing a massive fireball. The aircraft continued across a main freeway colliding with a car and struck an ice cream parlour at 150 mph. Twenty two people inside lost their lives, plus the two occupants of the car. The pilot suffered a broken arm and leg. The accident investigation ruled pilot error due to lack of experience as the cause. He had accrued less than four hours flying time in the Sabre. Even experienced pilots were involved in accidents and incidents in this transition period between props and jets. The remains of the two aircraft we are here to see were built under licence from North American Aviation by Canadair at their Montreal plant. They produced a total of 1,815 airframes in six variants. The Mk.4 was destined for the RAF and overseas air forces. The RAF took 428 jets between December 1952 and December 1953 under a mutual aid programme equipping eleven squadrons. The majority served in West Germany with NATO, with two squadrons being based in the UK as part of RAF Fighter Command. In 1956 they were replaced with Hawker Hunters, and the surviving Sabres were overhauled here and handed to the USAF who had funded these aircraft. ZD707 & ZD730 are the serial numbers of these two here in the Derbyshire Peak District. On the 22nd July 1954 four RAF Sabres from Number 66 Squadron had been taking part in “Exercise Dividend”. Air defence practice against a simulated nuclear attack on Britain by Soviet nuclear bombers kept the crews busy. It was the largest undertaking since the war and a total of 6 aircraft were lost across the country that day. At completion of the exercise the jets were returning back to base at RAF Linton-on-Ouse near York. Flying in pairs Flying Officer James Horne led Flight Lieutenant Alan Green down through dense cloud at around 18:00hrs. The Sabres were seen tearing above the Kinder Reservoir apparently unaware of the steeply rising plateau corner of Kinder Scout directly in front of them. It appears that the lead aircraft’s pilot saw the slope at the last minute and did a sudden pull up to try and get over the top. Details are sketchy about the actual impact. At least one of the jets hit the corner of the plateau and then both somersaulted out of control down onto Black Ashop Moor on the other side. There are a number of theories as to what happened: 1. Did the lead jet clip the ground and bring the other one down? 2. The following jet could have seen his leader’s wingtip go vertical and just got too close. 3. Perhaps both simply failed to clear the hillside. No one knows for sure. In flying formation they would have been cruising at 500mph with ten feet of clearance between wingtips so hardly any room for error. Their bodies and wrecked aircraft were not discovered for three days until a passing hill walker noticed a partially opened parachute billowing in the wind. The crash site is about 90 mins walk from the highest point of the Snake Pass. It’s not easy to find as the wreckage has been there for 66 years and has a fair bit of ground cover growing around it by now. There are not any big pieces that can be seen from a distance so it’s a case of a needle in a haystack time. The terrain is very rough and has a lot of dips and hollows in it which does’nt help. One of the jets ended up a fair bit further along the moor. With a pair of binoculars you can just about see from one wreck site to the other. It was a sobering thought standing amongst it as there was no guarantee that both pilots were killed instantly. Pics in the gallery. Next week: It’s back to Taunton for the F2 Qualifier, and then off to Skeggy for the Thurs of Speedweek to see who came from overseas. After that we’ll meet back here and I’ll take you on a behind the scenes tour of Blackpool’s 1935 built Rigby Road tram depot.