2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

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Andy Downes
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2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Andy Downes »

Well it's that time of year again.

Saturday the 24th October 2015 sees the 65th Anniversary Birkett 6-hour Relay Race at Silverstone.

Kate and Simon Orebi Gann are unfortunately (for us) in Portimao Portugal, racing the beatiful red SLR for the last time this season - as a result Andy Downes is flying solo this year and Morgans For Fun are making their 17th consecutive outing (2 in 2000 and then every October since) and this time they are;

Team 36 in Garage 9A
36A - Paul Burry +8
36B - Barry Sumner 4/4 4str (unfortunately 'Black Sheep' with its awesome new V6 motor is not quite race-ready)
36C - Jack Bellinger +8
36D - Stuart Anderson +8
36E - Tim 'hero' Harrison 4/4
36F - Kelvin Laidlaw Roadster Lwt

In the absence of Andy Green's Morgan Lady & Gentlemen we have some competition from Kathy Sherry's Kathy & Co;

Team 25 in Garage 6A
25A - Dominic House Roadster
25B - Mark Skeggs BMW Compact
25C - Kathy Sherry +8
25D - Mark Tsang BMW Compact
25E - Alan House Roadster

As usual we have our annual arcane battle with the Handicapper, but in the end it doesn't matter - we'll all enjoy ourselves 8-)

If you're free on Saturday feel free to come and see us - we welcome your support.

Have (Morgans For) Fun 8-) 8-) 8-)

Andy
Last edited by Andy Downes on Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Phill Thomas
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Phill Thomas »

The handicapper will have even more of a difficult time with both teams running the same numbers!
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Bob Bull »

Looking forward to it with camera akimbo!

Er! What about hospitality? Any news on the comestibles front?

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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Andy Green »

Good luck to both teams

maybe next year?
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Andy Downes »

Phill Thomas wrote:The handicapper will have even more of a difficult time with both teams running the same numbers!
Thanks Phil,

Now updated, I wish I could say it was all part of the grand plan - but it was just a cut-and-paste cockup !

Andy
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Andy Downes »

Hello Bob,

Good to see you put the important things first :roll:

I'm pleased to say that there will be no disruption to the comestibles, in the lovely Kate's absence the lovely Liz Burry has taken charge - so please be sure to mind your Ps and Qs.

Andy
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

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Andy Green wrote:Good luck to both teams

maybe next year?
Thanks Andy. Next year would be grand - we miss you :lol:

Andy
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Leigh Sebba »

Given that the three Mogs and perhaps the two interloping BMWs are from my local county I feel obliged to put my support behind Kathy and Co and hope they do better than the recent performances of their local soccer team ( a good start and then disappear into mid table obscurity) :(

Enjoy :)
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Leigh Sebba »

Had a look on web and after 3 hours on scratch MFF are 52nd and Kathy's are 53rd ( out of 68 teams)
Obviously a private Mog race :)
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Leigh Sebba »

And after 6 hours on scratch Kathy beats MFF by ONE second ??? (54th and 55th)
Sounds like an interesting race !

On h'cap kathy are 25 th and MFF are 50th
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Mary Lindsay »

And after 6 hours on scratch Kathy beats MFF by ONE second ???
Sounds like history repeating itself!
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Bob Bull »

Leigh Sebba wrote:And after 6 hours on scratch Kathy beats MFF by ONE second ??? (54th and 55th)
Sounds like an interesting race !

On h'cap kathy are 25 th and MFF are 50th

Ah! But Kathy only managed two laps herself, and they relied on some BMW help to overwhelm the Fun lot. And there was lavish and tempting epicurean hospitality in the MFF pit, whereas ................................... :shock:

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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by jack bellinger »

and The Famous Bob Bull inc forgot his vest


jack
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by Andy Downes »

So "How did it unfold ?" I hear you ask...

Well for Morgans For Fun it went something like this;

The handicapper knows Morgans very well, we've been doing the Birkett is some shape or form since the 50s, added to that we have a very successful Challenge Race Series so he's never short of accurate timings. The best you can do really is ensure his not giving your team a raw deal whilst pointing out any glaring errors with your rivals, however he will only consider solid evidence not heresay ! All I can say is that the Morgan times looked sensible.

It was WET, WET, WET, there was never a dry line - only the degree of wetness and precipitation varied. This never helps us on road tyres, given that many Teams run in Series that permit full wets.

So we sent out Stuart Anderson in the Bumble Bee to start, safe and steady in poor conditions. We always have 6 cars and try and give everybody an equal share of the driving, ideally with onl;y 5 changeovers. Very quickly Stuart's hour was done and we brought him in on schedule. Off went Tim 'hero' Harrison in the Orange Rocket his Snetterton maladies hopefully consigned to history and all went well for 50 minutes when he arrived in the pit lane very slowly and wisps of smoke/steam eminating from the car (holed radiator). No matter Paul Burry was belted up and ready so no real time lost, then just as we were all begining to relax the tannoy hailed "Oh no the red Morgan has tangled with a Radical and the Smart car..." (yes Team Smart Car), Morgan continues Smart beached. Paul arrives as anticipated with a very bent front wing and is unable to participate further. Off you go Kelvin, 3 and a 1/2 hours to go and only 3 cars Hmmm...OK we'll stretch the stints out and ask each to do 1 hour and 10 minutes, that should do it. So after an hour we give Kelvin the FUEL ? signal asking him if he is OK for fuel, in the frantic gloom Kelvin mis-reads the board and cheerfully arrives at the pit ! Well we know Barry Sumner in the yellow VMO will enjoy the wet as long as I want him to. And so it proves until he comes in early (coolant problem) and throws us back into improvisation mode. Jack is away in WAR and relishing another spectacular drive in the rain (think Brands with steroids) he is truly heroic in the again worsening conditions, but he has no fuel gauge and nobody really knows how long after an hour he can run. Just before we bring him in he produces a stunning series of laps and claims the team's fastest lap of the race (boy those new compound AVON CR6ZZs are good). In the meantime we have readied Kelvin and he goes again, Stuart takes the graveyard shift sitting belted in the car until the end just in case another problem befalls us - thankfully it didn't :)

Well that's about all you need to know, the results I don't have to hand (and don't like reading), apart from my "Thank Yous" to the whole team of stalwart supporters and helpers - most noteably Liz Burry, her friends Marlene and Sue, and Mary Oliver - for what has become legendary catering (and comestibles for Bob). Liz was also my right hand girl for the day and I couldn't have done it without her =D>

We were Morgans and we had a lot of Fun 8-) 8-) 8-)

Andy
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Re: 2015 'Holly' Birkett 6-hour Relay

Post by jack bellinger »

Fun Day
Many thanks to all the helpers Cleaners, Cooks,Mechanics,Time keepers,Pit borders, Smiley faces ,The Famous Bob Bull inc.and of course our Managing Manager Managing.all of us
the funniest thing for me was ,after Paul had come in with the bent wing and told us how he bashed into the Smart car He looked in the back of his car and came out with the Smarts headlight glass then went back into the car and looked under the dash ....We all thought he was going to appear with the rest of the Smart
(Prehaps you had to have been there) but it was funny

great fun
Love jack
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