Spectacular end to the 2007 Combe Saloons courtesy of Simon Norris's driving ability. Novis driver behind the wheels of a very fast EVO. Only his second ever race & the end result is clear to see. Inexperience behind the wheel, caught up in the heat of the chase, not wanting to yield or lift, BUT also not looking ahead far enough through the corner to see the slower car they were approaching rapidly. Avoidable accident. Hope it has'nt put the gilr driver off racing having that happen to her. My Race day.... well one to forget. Continued drive shaft related issues made for next to no actual lapping. Inner CV on nsf driveshaft, twice. On out lap of quali and just at end of lap 1 in race, having to start from dead last due to no quali time. Uo to 21st at end of lap 1 from 35+, was easy as pie passing the others as you can imagine the speed difference between us, but the inner CV blew again. I was expecting it. The failure is 100% attributable to the POS Gripper diff I had the misfortune to buy and fit earlier this year. The bodged machining from Gripper, resulted in the nsf drive flange being spaced out 15-20mm, which has removed effective plunge from the inner CV. Last couple of races I have contracted a professional chassis setup guy to help me, which added more -ve camber.. Some more -ve camber added for this race resulted in a locked driveshaft, and the inner CV cage was rubbing on the driveflange itself. Short shaft on this side too, but still too long for bodgy gripper fitment. We faced the choice after quali breakage of removing camber but this too would also have ruined the tracking, I had only yesterday paid a lot of money to setup. We decided to leave it alone and "hope" for the best. In the front of my mind however was the inevitable its going to break. Well in due course it did. Dissapointing end to the season result wise, but the car's most definately top 3 in Class B now on pace, with mods to come. Very pleased with the progress since starting this racing proper lark in 2006, then doing 1m22s laps to now 1m16s laps. Fwd progress. Chassis setup is the evolution to come. Proper integrated cage over the winter, weight reduction, standalone DTA S60 ecu with all the additional features that brings, new turbo setup, more power potential if I need ( or in fact can use it). Going to be a lot to do, but no one is standing still. In the last 2 seasons we have seen the lap records drop by 2secs which is a big step change in speed of cars. Everyone has raised their game. So to thank everyone who has followed and supported the badgerwagen during the season, JBS/Custom Code for their support, Forge Motorsport for their support, Tony my neighbour and ace support spanner man, Nigel, and MrsB. I cant do this alone, and to all of you my deepest thanks. I will be entering the c'ship again in 2008 in hopefully an evolved ibiza. Sponsorship sought for the 2008 season. many thanks to all. best regards Bill Brockbank
