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End of Season Report

Hi this is Brian & lee from top banana team,well had a reasonably good year the car went very well with just a couple of problems (but not as many problems as other teams had)first off I (Brian) couldn’t get my head round the car (having been out of the car for I season ) the problem was we had the g/box rebuilt (by bob lees )& the axle r/built (by Mickey colley)the car was reacting so much faster off the line ,every thing was so much tighter I suppose. So had to change my driving tactics? Any way it took a couple of cocks ups before I get my head round it.maybe if it hadn’t of rained so much I could have had more runs & got there sooner (who knows)

One of the problems was at the Euro finals the panard rod bracket broke holding the rod to the chassis ,but having remembered I had a spare one in the  kit a few mods & we were up & running again( only missed one qualifier)good job we had loads of runs.
The other problem we had was the car vibrating from about half track (coming from the rear) it was bad enough to shake the tacho round in its bracket .

It turned out that when we had the new slicks we had them balanced (some people say you shouldn’t balance them) we had to have loads of weights fitted to get them right.and what had happened over the couple of seasons they settled down and now the weights were putting the car out of balance,so had the rear wheels rebalanced and wow it transformed the car (the run was like a Sunday afternoon drive)

We have had some issues with the front shaking aswell the car was built nearly 20 years ago now the front axle never did look right but hay it was running ok (if it aint broke don’t fix it) but this shake was getting out of hand,it got to the stage either drive through it or brake situation(which aint funny)we had tried everything to put it right –tracking-balance-new tyres –steering joints-king pins-in the end we took the axle out & sent it to john Webster’s ( having had words with him at the track) sent it by parcel post would you believe with a very nice man?

John & crew redone the axle , it was out all over the place –king pin angle & camber (it’s a wonder it worked at all) got the axle back by post put it back on drove top banana down to the nearest exhaust tyres & battery depo & put the car on there computerized 4 wheel alignment ramp ,but they didn’t have a setting for a 1932 ford roadster would you believe it.so I said put 1978 ford f150 in to it & it worked.

Everything has been good up until the the finals this year .we had got through to the semi finals in the last two meetings (smiley face) we were up against Johnny Morris in the probe a great light but then the front started to shake about the just after the 60 foot, hang on hold tight we drove through it but it did slow the the car up Johnny took the win (congratulations on winning the meet)

Were looking into it again over the winter months.pro et what can I say what a great class to be in the cars the people all I can say I have been racing for 27 years now & lee about 20 and were loving it-thanks to all the people who organize us –you know who you are very well done (to many to mention)

Looking forward to the bash & getting it on next season.