Parts Department

A few odds and ends from Croft, and elsewhere

Who is Nigel Smith?

When Nigel Smith's name was first seen on the entry lists at Silverstone in a Vauxhall Junior, I wondered if it was the same Nigel Smith that had competed in touring cars in the 1990's. The sight of his business name "Team Schemes" on the Junior gave it away, as did ex-kart racer Peter Beasley when he gave a confirmed identity, because Nigel made his name as "Sideways" Smith in karts. In fact, I can recall seeing him racing at the British Kart Grand Prix at Silverstone in the early 1980's. And this was where the problem started. Because when I Googled him one web site (supertouringregister.com) gave his date of birth as 1967, yet he certainly wasn't a teenager at that kart Grand Prix.

Then a second website, btccpages.com, gave him a credible age but attributed FIA GT racing to him. So at Croft I asked him to clarify. He wasn't an infant prodigy and hasn't raced GTs. "I can't stand them", he told me. "Despite lots of people knowing me from BTCC I think of myself as a single seater driver. As well as the karts, I did British F3 (in the B class) in 1991, when I raced against Coulthard and Barrichello". Since the Croft1600 race was about to start, the conversation ended here. More Googling showed that Nigel was 6th in B Class in an RT34 in 1991, and 3rd in 1992 in an RT35, beating such luminaries as Steve Arnold and William Hewland. His single seater career continued in the 1993 British F3000 Championship, which in a piece of typical motorsport misguided marketing was called Formula 2. He raced a Reynard 92D Cosworth.

Most people know about the Cavalier, sponsored by HMSO, in the 1994 and 1995 BTCC. He also raced in the 1996 North American Touring Car Championship, which sounds a really strange affair. Sophisticated European saloons in the land of Nascar? It must have been like trying to sell a vegetarian Gordon Ramsey meal in a McDonalds. Other competitors were Jeff Andretti and Martin Stretton.

So next time, when you see Nigel racing in Mono, remember, He Has A Past. And remember that generally, the internet lies to you

Sofa, so good

We're used to exotic motorhomes where the sides come out, and I'm not talking about the rust on Peter Knipe's Sherpa. However, the ultimate in home-from-home took place at Croft when local man Avit (Ewen Sergison) brought his settee to make the awning a second lounge. The 50" plasma is expected at Snet. The picture shows 4 satisfied Sergison family members.

Runway Bill & planes

Our spy tells us that Bill Janson found an ideal camping spot on Friday night. It was flat, the grass was nicely cut, what could be better? It was then pointed out to Bill that possibly camping in the middle of an active aircraft runway might not be ideal....

The runway itself gave entertainment between races to some of the more aero minded Monoposti. Quite a few of us lined up to see a couple of old aged pensioners come out on Saturday lunchtime. As a matter of public service, I felt we should research them.

The first we saw was a tail-dragger, a Cessna 120, with an 85hp Continental flat-four ("G-AKVM"). It was impressive to see the pilot rev the engine with the brakes on and lift the tail while standing still. It's all to do with thrust lines, and I guess it's the lightplane equivalent of doughnuts. The take off, however, was somewhat leisurely. Basically, the Cessna didn't actually fly, it just waited until gravity got bored. However, the 120 was manufactured in 1947, and has half the power of a 1000 or 2 litre, so at aged 62 it's doing reasonably well. Not as good as some Mono drivers, but pretty good. For plane fans, the registration isn't original, it was issued in 1993 and first appeared in 1947 on a light plane called a Chrislea.

The Cessna moved out of the way for another plane, G-ATUI, which is a German Bolkow Bo208C "Junior", made in 1966 with a 100hp Continental engine. That one looked a bit more modern, but of course in racing car terms it's the year Jack Brabham won the world championship in a Brabham Repco.

The Treasurer Writes.......

Regular readers may recall a Treasurer Rant against Experian for blacklisting me. Now it's Natwest (A Proud Subsidiary of RBS)'s turn.

I've been treasurer since around 2004. At the time I queued up in the delightful Walsall branch to hand in my bank mandate and passport to be a signatory. I wasted a Saturday morning queuing up to do the same again earlier this year in the equally delightful Wolverhampton branch when Nick and Simon became signatories. You can't just add signatories. Oh dear me no. You have to start from scratch. (Natwest slogan -"There is another way" - yes, walk out and go to a proper bank.)

After all this, we all happily started signing cheques. I had written several times to Natwest at Eastleigh, our branch, asking them to stop sending statements to Mary Cox, but I didn't even get an acknowledgement. Mary continued to get the statements. But I assumed this was just a foible.

Simon then visited his local branch to ask if they could possibly provide us with the credit card facility we'd asked for in February. The very nice lady there (who presumably has yet to go on the Natwest "go away and don't bother me" customer service course) did a bit of work. Don't let them know that in Eastleigh, they'll need to buy a dictionary to find out what it means. She found that a mandate change was "pending". But not the mandate we put in place in February. No. This was to replace the mandate from 1999. 1999 - remember that year? The Millennium hadn't happened, Tony Blair was popular and the RT3 was still a competitive car in Mono. OK, maybe the last one's a bad example, it makes it sound like a couple of weeks ago, but you get the gist. The conclusion is that Natwest have happily been paying cheques signed by 2 out of 3 people, NONE of whom are signatories!

On this basis, expect Simon, Nick and Tony to appear next year in Dallaras and the club to be broke. And if you pass Natwest in Eastleigh at anytime, please be quiet. I wouldn't want to wake them up.NatWest's website says "95.7% of NatWest Personal Banking customers who responded to our online banking satisfaction survey in September 2009 would recommend our service to a friend." It can't be representive as it doesn't take into account those who can't respond because they've smashed their computer into tiny pieces in sheer frustration.

Have a nice day.

Tony Cotton