Carl H

There's a couple on here.

I was intending giving Hard And Fast a makeover during the closed season, with a new look and a fancy new logo, which would hopefully have been the result of a "design a new logo" competition that I was thinking of staging. (I am completely talentless when it comes to art). But for whatever reasons, I haven't got around to it, and neither have I written up the last two Belle Vues, or my own second outing in an F1. I've also got two articles about various historical aspects of the sport nearly complete, but I haven't mangaged to finish those either. The thing is, I can't help but notice that the number of visitors to the site increased dramatically when I started putting the updated (and unofficial) points charts on it. This seems to suggest that there's a lot more interest in points charts than in the waffle that I churn out by way of meeting reports and the occasional other item. For personal reasons, I will definitely be doing considerably less meetings this coming season, which gives me less to write about. I will also be taking my lad to more meetings next year, and looking after him takes priority over making notes for race reports, so I may not be able to report on every meeting that I go to. And I may also have some other stox projects on the go next season too, which might overlap what I'm doing on Hard And Fast. So, what to do with Hard And Fast? It seems to be either:- 1. Just can it and take it offline. I an always put it back later if necessary. 2. Abandon it but leave it online until the webhosting runs out. But I don't like seeing websites that haven't been updated for ages. 3. Leave it online and try to keep it updated as and when I can, other commitments and enthusiasm permitting... I can continue doing the points updates, as that doesn't really take very long or require much thought. Whether I keep the charts on HAF or find another outlet for them is something that I can work out later. I've already got one possibility on that front. I'd like to keep it going, just as I'd like to actually do all the things that I've got planned for it, but I just don't seem to have the time any more. In short.... read it while you can!

Unless the weather is really bad, then I would imagine that I'll be taking my lad to Belle Vue. Even though it clashes with Warton's Xmas bash. My two local tracks running on the same day....

Great stuff, Colin. Love those old pics. What's it say on the front of the bus? Just hurt my eyes trying to read it. The top line looks like Casserley, can't read the two below it. And I do like this picture of Burt Reynolds meeting that bloke from ZZ Top.

Link to eBay

Ordered mine 20th, got it yesterday.

I've just read the intro. Colin, you're welcome. A lot of great photos in there, and a good chunk of them ones that haven't been in the mags or the net. And I especially like page 114.

Mine just arrived. Absolutely superb! Money well spent. Nice one Colin. Just need to stash it somewhere now before the elves come round and send it off to Father Christmas. I'm comparing and contrasting it with my newly purchased Stock Car Monthly mag, September 1975 edition.

It took my card no problem. You sure the card hasn't expired, or something like that? You could try emailing the publishers, details here.

I've ordered that one. When it arrives, I'll tell you.

That's Baz of BWP Live fame. You can PM him on here.

Latest update:- F2 & National Hot Rods photos from Birmingham now added. F2 Ladies race from Belle Vue, along with a few f1 photos before his camera cried enough also added. Coventry and Birmingham F1 gala night pics to be added soon. This message typed out while listening to my 3 year old singing in the bath.

Points chart now up to date, although they probably don't quite match the official ones. I'll have another go next year. http://www.hard-and-fast.com/stx/2008/main_chart.htm

I am. If I can wait that long.

A bit of a report on Saturday's Cov now added, although with not much happening apart from brown cars splashing around slowly, I didn't find that much to waffle on about.

This ain't a banger forum, you know.....

http://forum.stoxnet.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=11819&view=findpost&p=163387

At least Jeremy has been up front about it. When the Ochiltrees were running Coventry, the November meeting was always a quid more expensive - and then come the following April, they would be proudly claiming "same price as last year". Every year!

Updated with reports from a couple of meetings that happened ages ago. And my increasingly inaccurate points charts are up to date too.

Fair play to Mat Newson and the Scrivens. That's an awful long way to go on a Monday night.

337 and 364 have cancelled.

Exciting news about this Sunday's Belle Vue meeting now added. http://www.hard-and-fast.com/?p=171

More nostalgia..... I've now added a report on the 2002 British Championship, which was the last to be held at Coventry before tonight. Read it here. Like the Stoke reports, this was originally written for the Opposite Lock website. If you spot any typos or mistakes, or if you have the results for this meeting, please let me know.

It's almost 7 years since the epic Stoke weekender that saw Rob Speak and Frankie Wainman Junior knock lumps out of each other, and I've dug out the race reports I did for Opposite Lock and added them to Hard And Fast. Have a look here.

Report on Ipswich now added.