Disclaimer: The entries in this section are the personal opinions of the authors. Neither the Caterham Graduates Racing Club nor its site administrator have control of the content of this page and cannot be held responsible for any entries herein. http://www.graduates.org.uk 24648You may be interested to know that Andrew Smith, aided and abetted by Dave Marson, has just finished putting together a Wikipedia page about Grads: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterham_Graduates_Racing_Club. Please take a look! If you have suggestions for changes or "edits", could I suggest - even if you are Wiki-registered - that you contact Andrew first, please? He has agreed to be our prime point of contact and will attempt to coordinate all changes.Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:34:13 GMT24647Still time to enter the cheap Anglesey winter races next Sunday. There's about a dozen in the Caterham races - the faster cars have been farmed out to a "libre" race.Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:01:03 GMT24631Grads on Wikipedia: We aren't! Although we do have a link to this site from the Caterham Cars' entry. I think we should have an entry and I'm thinking of having a go at putting a page together, but thought I would check here first to see if anyone else might already be drafting one, or is mad keen to have a go instead of me? Let me know!Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:57:08 GMT24630Mon 17th Nov. 2008 Social Members can now get access to enrol for 2009 Racing Membership!Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:10:33 GMT24620 Graduates Racing 2009 - enrolment now open!And already, after less than four days, a very impressive total of 61 of you have signed-up (30 Supers, 22 Megas, 9 Classics).  Many thanks!   Details were in the November newsletter that I sent out last Friday but here they are again:   The enrolment process is all very much the same as before on-line enrolment; a priority system for members and a (very) modest increase in subs.  Racing subs go up from 275 to 285.  The New to Classics discount of 150 is again being offered.  Social membership stays at 10.  Just click here and follow the instructions!On-line enrolment opened on Monday (10th Nov) for current racing members to renew.  On 17th Nov, 2008's Social Members will be able to sign up to race in 2009 and a further week later, 24th Nov, the system will be open for anyone to sign up.  This priority system is to ensure that space is available to those who most deserve it.  But please note that you only get a week or two of priority, after that, it's open season.  I would love to be able to keep a place open, permanently, for all this year's racing members but it just would not be fair to our potential new members if we had to make some of them wait many months to be certain of their place while some old hands make up their minds.As in previous years, drivers renewing for the same class, who finished in the top ten of their class's championship table, will automatically be assigned a race number corresponding to their 2008 championship position; other drivers get to choose their race number (which is also your club membership number): first-come, first-served.Will we fill up and need to decline later enrolments?  Dunno.  Maybe.  There has been a healthy level of interest from a good number of potential new members, novices and otherwise, so it is quite possible that we may feel obliged to decide to close the books at some time, to avoid having so many members that there is a danger that not everyone would get to race when and where they want to.  And please don't think that this only applies to the larger classes (Supers and Megas) given that we sometimes have to share grid space between classes, it is the total number of enrolled drivers that is most likely to trigger us into closing the books, so please do not delay just because you are in Classics and think that this class will not be over-subscribed.It could be that we do not close enrolment until well into next year, but a healthy rush over the next couple of weeks could mean that we close much earlier.  So please do not delay unnecessarily!   Information about the regs for next year can be seen in our website's Competitor Info section, here.   2009 Calendar? The FIA changes that I mentioned in the newsletter have delayed publication of BARC's calendar.  But I can say that, as usual, our calendar will be put together to give us a good wide range of circuits - our aim is that, over a few seasons, a Graduate racer can expect to get the opportunity to race at just about every circuit in the land!  Our 2009 objective is to have fourteen races over about nine weekends (so you can work that out - there will probably be four one day single races and five weekend double-headers).  It is our intention that we will have an "exotic" overseas double-header again.  Possibly Spa, again, but we are considering alternatives!  Very provisionally, I expect most, if not all , of the following circuits to figure in the remaining eight UK rounds:  Brands, Silverstone, Snetterton, Croft, Oulton, Rockingham, Pembrey and Cadwell.   Not Racing in 2009?If you were a 2008 Racing Member but think you may decide not to race with us in 2009, may I suggest that you consider signing up, for a just a tenner, as a "Social Member"?  At least I can then keep in touch with you!  And it would give me a clear indication of your intentions, meaning I won't have to nag you incessantly over the next few weeks to ask if you're going to race next year!Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:22:29 GMT24597Last Saturday afternoon's karting: No Grads in the race this year - all too busy toasting JP's (and Sue's) future happiness I guess! We must try to put in a strong showing for next year's pre-dinner kart race. This year's results here.Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:51:10 GMT24588 The Dinner-Dance: Was that not an excellent night out?  JP arranging a wedding beforehand so that we could all get in some early (and sponsored!) drinking practice was certainly a brilliant move.  Unfortunately, when it came to my turn to go up on stage to collect my marvellous surprise gift from Caterham's Ansar Ali, I realised that my brain had by then very little control over my mouth and little more than gobbledegook came out....  Sorry everyone - that was when I should have been making public acknowledgement of all the hard work that everyone else puts into making Grads such a success!   So, thank you, all, again.  And thank you all for helping to make the dinner-dance such a success.  Let's see if we can get even more Grads there next year!!!!   My presentation gift, by the way, is a rather splendid painting of me racing up Kemmel Straight and it celebrates the fact that although I won not a single darn thing this year (not even a B.I. medal) I do still hold the Graduates' lap record for the greatest race circuit in the world!Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:49:44 GMT24555JP's wedding invitation: May I remind you all of JP's posting on this topic - see here and that in it, JP had asked that everyone intending to be there should have dropped him a line ages ago!!Thu, 6 Nov 2008 16:35:45 GMT24520 CGRC regs: changes for 2009In this site's Competitor Info section, you will now find a new link to a page "Summary of regs changes for 2009".Catalytic converters:There was some discussion about this on the forum recently, in the light of which The Exec has decided that both Supers and Megas should be free to use either the standard McMillan non-cat exhaust coupled with a specific after-market cat, or the standard Caterham cat exhaust.  The exact choice of after-market cat is still being researched and will be defined and announced later.  This means that all competitors can choose whichever solution is cheapest for them - standard Caterham exhaust if they still have one lying around somewhere; the new "add-on" cat if they don't.We have no comparative performance data as yet, but we believe they will be very similar, especially for Supers.  Megas, with the higher rev limit, can probably expect a minor benefit to using the add-on cat.Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:09:26 GMT24483Winter offers from McMillan Motorsport: See here.Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:23:45 GMT24425Jamie's just added Anglesey Winter Raceday and the Plum Pudding to the race schedules in the Members' Area - could you update your profiles with whether are intending to do either of these, please?Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:36:20 GMT24391 Birkett 2008We wuz robbed....!!!!  Well, as I said a few days ago, it's a race that's won or lost in the handicapper's office.  Maybe we didn't spend enough time up there...   In the final analysis, although CaterHam & Eggs managed an amazingly good 6th overall in the race, just five laps down on the winners (who did 209 laps) and well ahead of a lot of teams which should have been way faster (eg. some R400  teams!) and ran a pretty good race with no major c*ck-ups, no visits to the sin-bin and only one unscheduled driver change, we were awarded only 12th "on handicap" - three laps behind the winners.  If we had driven a really perfect race (which requires every driver to clock every lap according to his predicted handicap lap-time) we think we could have gained an extra lap and a half, at the absolute max - no way could we have done the extra three laps we needed to win.  We were comfortable with the handicap we had been given - ie. we thought it was "fair" because we knew it was based on lap times that we could achieve, so that can only mean that some other teams had an unfairly advantageous handicap!  Ah well, that's The Birkett for you!   It was great to see so many other Grads-based teams there, and so many Birkett virgins -  our position in garage zero gave us a good view of the "sin bin" and several very familiar cars seemed to be there quite often; one sickly-coloured green car springs to mind as a frequent visitor; also one fluorescent-coloured car..!  (the sin-bin is where cars were stopped for a "stop & go" penalty - usually for yellow flag misdemeanours).  Being "old hands" we also allowed ourselves a smile at the post-race tales of other Grads teams who managed to get two cars out on track at once, or had a car come in and nobody ready to take its place, and other c*ck-ups.  Been there, done that!   I started this report in order that our members would know what went on at Silverstone yesterday.  But it may be largely redundant - almost half our racing members were taking part, and most of the rest were there in a support (or spectating) capacity!   Team list is here:  A few changes.   Team 2 - Allen & Burrows out, Simpson in Team 3 - Newman out, Sharman in Team 5 - no TOGS Team 11 - JP out, Vickers in Team 33 - Carvey, Chanter out - Russell in   Results: CaterHam & Eggs    6th overall - 204 laps      12th on Handicap - 213 laps (3rd - of 7 - in class C) Team Turtle             27th overall - 191 laps    53rd on H'cap - 201 laps (7th in class C) Win it or Bin it        14th overall - 199 laps     9th on H'cap - 213 laps (2nd - of 12 - in class A) Ecurie Graduates     32nd overall - 188 laps    3rd on H'cap - 215 laps (Class A winner) Birgate                   18th overall - 197 laps     15th on H'cap - 212 laps (3rd in class A) Wacky Racers          13th overall - 200 laps    16th on H'cap - 212 laps (4th in class A) Team Tortoise         10th overall - 201 laps     17th on H'cap - 212 laps (4th in class C) Dakar Devils           34th overall - 188 laps     44th on H'cap - 207 laps (14th - of 19 - D)   There were 55 teams in all.  The winners "on the road" were the "Hart Attacks", doing 209 laps - Note that there were two Grads racers (nominally) in this team: Chris Hart and Jamie Champkin!.  The overall handicap winner were the "Special K Clubmans".   Team Cater Ham and Eggs wish to offer a very big thank you to their team:  Manager, Sheila Marshall; Pit wall Managers, Pete Cannard and Simon Reader; Catering Managers, Jen Cannard and Jane Reader; Chief mechanic, DL; Pit wall crew - Andrew & Kate Outterside, Christian and Freddy Marryat, Darren Grainger & his mate Paul, Kim Rayment, Bob Wilson, George's mates Enzo & Fangio (!!!).  And everyone else (sorry if I forgot to give you a personal mention!!!)   Graeme and Karen's Ecurie Graduates team easily won the Graduates charity cash challenge and won the best part of 200 from the rest of us for them to donate to the charity of their choice.   Roll on Birkett 2009!!!Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:28:38 GMT24355 Racing at Croft, Sat 1st Nov: There was not enough interest from us for BARC to put on a Caterham/Graduates-only race.  But Gareth Cordey (who happens to live 6 miles from the circuit!) discovered that Darlington & District Motor Club have two "Sports & Saloons" races there (each 15 mins + 1 lap) for an entry fee of £250 - all on the one day - which we are invited to enter.  Entry forms from Nicola at BARC (01264 88 22 00).   Please could everyone update their on-line schedule, via this site's Members Area, to indicate their likelihood of entering, so that everybody else will have a rough idea how many and who to expect! Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:23:28 GMT24345 Birkett - inter-Grads charity cash challenge!  (Silverstone, this Saturday)With eight teams of Graduates drivers competing (see here), it's inevitable that we will all be trying to beat each other, as well as win our official Birkett Class (or the whole darned race!).  So I thought we should add a little spice.  A wager.  The teams have each agreed to put 30 in the pot.  Whichever team wins (finishes highest, on handicap, according to the final official results sheet) will get their 30 back and donate the remaining 210 the charity of their choice!   Bring it on!!!!Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:59:42 GMT24241 Sigmas:First, we must recognize that Sigmas are the future of our Club.  Our success is built on absorption of ex-Academy cars - we started with Classics (and peaked with 65 of them in 2001) but we are now dominated by K-series cars; it's not unreasonable to assume that Sigma-Academy cars will in turn become the dominant cars in four or five years time (especially if Academy continues running at 84 cars per annum!).  So we must embrace them.  As you know (and I note that nobody is actually questioning their inclusion).2009's Roadsports-B is exclusively for Sigmas and I know that Caterham Cars are keen that the majority of this year's Academy cars move there for 2009.  No problem with that.  But it means that our short-term plans for Sigmas should be based on the expectation of only half a dozen or maybe a maximum of ten Sigma cars joining us in 2009.  And very few drivers are going to be excited at the prospect of racing against just 5 or 6 other cars.  And that's what would be likely to happen if we introduced Sigmas as a separate fourth class - as suggested, they could end up racing on the same grid as Classics but with a significant performance differential so that they would generally end up circulating separately from the Classics, ie. in a seven car race.  Not ideal.Although, given that K-series Supers is also likely to grow (since it's probable that not all the current RS-B'ers will want to move "up" to RS-A), it's not unreasonable to assume that we will often have two Supers grids (ie. main race and qualy race) in 2009, even if no Sigmas were joining us.  And, as we know, a Supers qualy race at the mid-sized and larger circuits will often be achieved by having some Supers sharing grid space with the Classics.  We really don't need the complication of having to work out how to fit an additional class into that mix!  Although I realize this means that in some cases, there would be very little real difference between the two possible ways of doing this, ie. whether Sigmas are a separate class or a Supers sub-class, we are often likely to end up with one grid comprising of Classics and those K-Supers and Sigma-Supers that are being pedalled by the slower drivers.   But in the separate class scenario, all Sigmas would nearly always find themselves on that mixed grid.  With no opportunity to pitch themselves against the better-pedalled K-powered Supers.  And I have little doubt that some well-pedalled Sigmas will fair well against the k-powered midfield and will welcome the opportunity to race against them.  Giving everyone, regardless of car spec or ability, the prospect of having a decent number of similar-speed cars to race against.  While the chosen "sub-class" scenario ensures that Sigmas still have a good chance of taking home some silverware!Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:18:15 GMT24232 Sigmas in Graduates next year:I am delighted to announce our plans for incorporating ex-2008 Academy Ford Sigma-engined cars into the Graduates Club, albeit a little later than intended - sorry!   The regs will be widened for 2009 to permit these cars into the Super-Graduates class.  But they will form a "sub-class" which means that at every race, and at year's end, there will be prizes for the top finishing Sigmas.  Whether these extend to 2nd and 3rd place trophies will depend on how many Sigma cars are competing.  We will probably settle on something like: -    1 - 4 runners:  Trophy only for 1st place -    5 - 7 runners:  Trophies for 1st and 2nd -    8 or more: Trophies for 1st, 2nd and 3rd The number of year-end championship trophies will probably be as above, but calculated on the average number of Sigma entries.   Why a sub-class?  Just before we went to Spa, three of the Club's directors organized a comparative back to back rolling road test of 3 x 2008 Academy Sigma cars and 3 x Super-Grad cars, all with cat exhausts and all on control A048 Yokohama tyres.  The results seemed conclusive - the K-series consistently produced between 6bhp and 10bhp more than the Sigmas.  It would have been nice to have found that they were equally matched so that we could just have included them in Super-Grads; but if this performance difference is found to translate to lap-times, the Sigmas would be disadvantaged against the k-series powered cars.  We want Sigmas to be able to join us and to feel that they have a "level-playing field" and we feel that allowing them to compete for honours against each other but within Supers is the best way to go.   We think a sub-class is better than running Sigmas as a totally separate class for several reasons:-    A Sigmas-only class would be quite small and, if running by themselves, may not give the drivers very exciting races-    Running Sigmas with the K-powered Supers will mean that we get a truer picture of the relative performance of the two specs-    If we were expecting dozens of Sigmas, so that we could have two grids of roughly the same size (which may be the case in a year or two), separate classes might make sense, but one class of 7 cars and another class of 35 cars will not work well!   I have little doubt that the Sigmas will find plenty of competition with the K-series Supers - the performance variation is not so large that the Sigmas will be all together at the back of the races.  A well-pedalled Sigma could well be expected to be up in the top ten Supers, or even better - Trevor N demonstrated at Spa that even a 15 to 20bhp "handicap" couldn't stop him from beating many of the Megas!   This will inevitably tend to make Super-Grads an even larger class, increasing the likelihood of qualifying races, etc. etc. - but that's something that we have all got quite used to doing and, with the added probability of some K-powered cars joining us from Roadsports-B, it is very likely that 2009 Supers will mostly need qualy races, with or without the Sigma cars.Sigmas will run on Yokohama A048 tyres and will be permitted a rear anti-roll bar - they are the only real changes from their "Academy" spec - windscreens, lights and narrow-track suspension will all be retained.  And Sigmas will be permitted all the various relevant "options" that our regs allow for Super-Grads.  No engine upgrades will be allowed; engines must all be either "MMM" sealed (they will seal any Sigma engine that still has its Caterham seals) - and technical support will be provided by McMillan Motorsport, as you would expect (so no professional team support permitted, as for the rest of The Club's classes).Many thanks to the three Academy drivers that brought their Sigmas along to the rolling road, to Trevor Newman, Roger Ford and Andrew Hawken for bringing their Supers, and to Andrew for providing the control tyres.Super-Graduates:The current Roadsports-B spec cars, with K-series engines, are not permitted in next year's RS-B - these cars need only to fit a set of Yokos to be eligible for Super-Grads and we will be very glad to accommodate them!2009 enrolment:Any 2008 Academists and Roadsports-B'ers who are keen to join us next year are urged to indicate this - and to ensure their "priority" status - by enrolling as 2008 "Social members" now!  (See here http://www.graduates.org.uk/enrolment/default.asp).Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:06:24 GMT24204Do you have a clean, tidy (and well-stickered) race-car that you're proud of? Your car could be in pride of place in the display at the dinner-dance! Please contact me ASAP if you think you might be up for this!Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:09:05 GMT24184Cheap medicals at Thruxton: Sat 22nd Nov. See here. 40 is probably half the fee that your GP will charge - maybe even better than that. Only works if you're relatively handy for Thruxton, obviously, but worth a thought!Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:02:02 GMT24161 750MC Birkett 6 hour relay race, Silverstone Int'l, 25 the Oct:Superb representation from our club this year!Team 1     Garage 0     CaterHam & Eggs (Mgr: Sheila Marshall)    Frost, McMillan, Haryett, Manyweathers, LongmuirTeam 2     Garage 1A   Team Turtle (Mgr: Maggie Woodman)        A.Smith, Barlow, Burrows, Ennis, Allen(?), HalleyTeam 3     Garage 1B   Win it or Bin it (Mgr: OJ)                           Hawken, H-Joyce, Rosamund, Rockey, Newman, OJTeam 5     Garage 1C   Ecurie Graduates (Mgr: Karen K)               G.Smith, Bettinson, Gillbanks, Haigh, Briant, TOGSTeam 9     Garage 2C   Birgate (Mgr: O.Benjamin)                        O.Benjamin, W.Benjamin, Mike Rowland, H.Smith, RobertsTeam 10   Garage 3A   Team Wacky Racers (Mgr: Dan Malkin)       Newman (in two teams...?!), Turley, Benson, Sibbet, ShawTeam 11   Garage 3A   Team Tortoise (Mgr: Adshead)                   Wardle, Gill, Parker, Ellwood, Amison, DolanTeam 33   Garage 8A   Dakar Devils (Mgr: Chantler)                     Chantler, Carvey, Chanter, etc.Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:37:08 GMT24131This site's full championship tables are now updated and corrected (!) - please check and advise any discrepancies to me ASAP.Wed, 8 Oct 2008 19:53:49 GMT24113 Dinner-dance video:As in previous years, Chris Rome is going to put together a couple of minutes of video clips to be shown during our prize-giving at the Caterham Motorsport dinner-dance.  If you have any "good" clips that you think would merit a showing (in-car, or trackside), please send them to Chris ASAP.  What sort of clips?  The most popular are the crashes/spins!  But mass starts and demon overtaking moves are also enthusiastically received!  Send tape or files to his address in the members area.  No compressed video, no Youtube links - Hi-Res originals only, please!Tue, 7 Oct 2008 21:31:56 GMT24087 Spa - race reports:Most of you Spa-goers will have noticed that our in-house scribe, Izzy Sharman, was with us this weekend (the lady with the toddler which spent the weekend crawling around in the dirt - respect!); she will be keen to make her reports on our Spa races her best yet, I'm sure.  So please help her out by sending details of the weekend and of your race (or your crash, or someone else's...) as you saw it.  E-mail her here.Sun, 5 Oct 2008 19:49:14 GMT24085 SpaDrop-outs started with Tim Jump too busy at work to make the trip, and so the "reserves" started creeping in - Tim's absence promoted Mark Harrison to a full entry.  Frazzle stuffed it in the "extra-cost" practice, promoting Steve Humphreys to a full entry and then, as reported earlier, during free practice Paul Manyweathers managed to stuff it into the wall at the top of Eau Rouge, all by himself - promoting Yo Humphreys to a full entry.That left us with Bill Hombersley, Flick and James Potter sitting as reserves for Race 1.  They had to wait in pit lane in case grid space became available - for example, because of an early red flag - not much hope of that seeing as we would be running under Safety Car rules.  But unfortunate Neil Shinner managed to find the barriers during the green flag lap (!!!) so that Bill was able to join the race!Bone-dry Race 1 had Safety Car intervention before the leader reached Puhon (less then half a lap!) due to the start-line shunt (Hawken, Gareth Thomas, Hayman-Joyce, Marson - I think); and Carvey, H.Smith and Overton all cock-eyed at Les Combes (H.Smith suffering a small fire that was snuffed by his plumbed-in extinguisher!).  Three SC laps and off we went.  Frost, sitting a comfortable 5th, then thought that it was about time that he and Jamie went up Eau Rouge side-by-side but omitted to ensure that Jamie knew he was there (!!!) - slight contact sent Frost into the wall halfway up the hill.  A lap or two later, Sheila's half-shaft failed going into the hairpin resulting in her being stranded in the middle of the only really "blind" corner on the circuit prompting a red flag and a very slightly premature race end.  How we laughed as we both turned up at the MMM workshop at the same time on the back of flat-beds!John Felix (C-o-C) had seen all the incidents on CCTV/tape and commented afterwards that driving standards were good and that all the shunts/damage were really the result of bad luck and true "racing incidents".The McMillan crew changed into top gear and in the space of less than 5 hours (finishing at 9pm!) had Overton, Frost, Marshall, Frith, Hawken and a few other repaired and ready for race two.  Thomas, H-Joyce, Carvey, H.Smith were all too badly damaged, meaning that all the reserves got into race 2 - and space for two more!Race two was very wet so we started under the SC.  This severely hampered Elwood who had taken pole for race 1 but had deliberately done only one good qualifying lap so as to start race 2 from the back!  That would normally have meant a "delay" of 15s or so from front to back, but starting under SC meant a gap of 90s, which was a very tall order indeed.  This "easier" start separated the pack and led to a very well-behaved race - only JP put it into the wall at the top of Eau Rouge!A very damp end to the weekend but even those with expensive damage failed to let it dampen their spirits!  All in all, an excellent weekend!!!!  My thanks to everyone who helped to make it so!!!!Sun, 5 Oct 2008 16:46:04 GMT24044Porsche races: Now full! If you asked me for an entry, see your e-mail!Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:46:33 GMT24032Spa - racing with the Porsches:I have negotiated a "special deal" for those who wish to do only the Porsches' 30 min Saturday race (and 45 min qualifying) - 250, as opposed to 420 for doing both their races. Everyone who wishes to take this up should tell me by e-mail today (priority to reserves!).Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:11:42 GMT24011Spa video? See here. Any more?Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:10:47 GMT23990 Mallory "Plum Pudding" races, Boxing day:For many of us, the highlight race finale of the year!  Just 100 for two races - Entry form in Comp Info,  here.Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:58:54 GMT23985 Spa: in-car video: We need to provide the organizers with a list of everyone intending to run in-car video at Spa.  Jamie Ellwood has done his usual marvellous stuff and added "Spa - running in-car video" to the on-line "Schedule" available though this site's Members Area.  If you intend running video, just go to "Update your Race Schedule" and tick "definitely" against the bottom row.  Thanks.Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:34:10 GMT23971 Spa - we can race with the Porsches! The deal is done.  Porsche Club GB have agreed that any of our drivers can use up their spare grid space, as per my earlier announcement.  Full details of timings, etc. are all in the "final regs".   The deal: Porsche are only offering the choice of signing up for their whole program - 45 min qualy, 30 min 1st race and 50 min 2nd race (2nd race with pit-stop or driver change).   Reserves:  If you take up this offer, your entry fee will be transferred - by me - from Grads to Porsches.  But you will still be reserve for our races (unless you tell me you don't want to be) and if last minute space in our race or races becomes available, before you race with the Porsches, you will have the option of withdrawing from the Porsche races; or if you then wish to do both sets of races, you'll hand me a cheque, on the day, for 420.   Others: You have the choice of entering the Porsche races and sending me a cheque (with the entry form, see below), now, for 420.   Everyone:  You need to download and complete the Porsche entry form and send it to me by fax (08707 059 165), e-mail or post ASAP.  Please e-mail me right away to say you intend entering.  I need to get our full and final entry list to Porsche by Monday, so please don't delay!  I think Porsche will have room for as many of us as want to race (I'm betting that many of you will not want to stick around for their second race at 12.40 on Sunday) but I will give first priority to all our reserves and then to everyone else on a first-come, first-served basis.   Note that we are getting an advantageous price, compared with the Porsche drivers (they're paying 580! - Golly! we are good value!) - try not to mention this to the Porsche drivers!   Cheques payable to CGRC and mailed to me at:     School House    Hinton on the Green    Evesham    Worcs   WR11 2QU   Note: Porsche may require you to run different race numbers.   MMM drivers: I happen to know that Andy has booked return ferries based on our Sunday race ending at 10.45 - but I've spoken to him about this and he may be willing to postpone one transport vehicle if there is sufficient demand.  So if you want to do the Sunday Porsche race, best speak to Andy about it first!Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:40:51 GMT23966 Spa travel check-list:Jenny has put together a check-list so that she would have no excuse for forgetting something vital.  She suggested that others may benefit from it so I asked Jamie to post it up in "Competitor Info".  See here.Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:34:38 GMT23955 Spa - transponders: Ours are fine - no need to use theirs.Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:10:09 GMT23947 Spa paddock access: The first access/timing info was wrong!  The later one is right, ie.   Wednesday 1th October 2008 .... from 19.00 to 22.00 Thursday 2 th October 2008 ...... from 07.30 to 19.00 Friday 3th October 2008 ........... from 07.30 to 19.00 Saturday 4th October 2008 ....... from 07.30 to 19.00 Sunday 5th October 2008 ......... from 07.30 to 19.00  Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:25:47 GMT23946 Spa races: "Finals"!All info can now be found here: http://www.graduates.org.uk/2008/docs/Spa%202008%20races%20-%20finals%20regs%20and%20info.pdf   Note that we are in the same bit of paddock as last year - but a bit more of it!  I propose that MMM/"Grads-central" will again be set up in the central patch next to the fuel station.   There are one or two anomalies that I will try to sort out over the next day or two, eg. Thursday paddock access times do not match with what we were told a week or so ago!  If anyone can spot anything else which seems odd or wrong or hard to understand, please get back to me by e-mail ASAP.Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:05:17 GMT23907 Spa attendees:I hope you have all been keeping up with the various announcements...?  Here, here, here, here and here.   I need your correct - and "tidied" addresses: I am still hopeful that, for the first time, I can mail out passes in advance - instead of everyone messing around collecting passes when we get to the circuit.  So please could everyone check the address as recorded in your on-line profile and make sure it is correct.  While you're about it, please try to "tidy" your address:     - No more than four lines;     - "return" at the end of each line;     - no empty lines or redundant spaces;     - no "United Kingdom";     - all properly capitalized;     - postcode only in the "postcode" box! This will make my "mail-merge" run more smoothly, I hope!   I suspect that my bundle of passes will arrive at the "last minute", if it happens at all, ie. your passes perhaps arriving in the mail at the beginning of the week commencing Mon 29th Sept.  So please make sure the address you give is one that you will be at that week!Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:30:40 GMT23879 STOP PRESS:  Possibility of extra race(s) at Spa:  I have been talking to Porsche Club GB who are also at the Racing Festival.  They have some empty space on their grids and are considering whether they may allow some of our Caterhams to use it, maybe a dozen or so!  They seem fairly keen but I don't expect a definite answer until Monday.  My intention would be to give all our Reserves "first refusal" to enter these races, but also open it up to all-comers, for anyone who fancies doing three or four races at Spa!  I am posting this now since it may impinge on your travel arrangements if you want to do the second Porsche race which is at 12.40 on the Sunday.   Apart from that, their timetable (which you can see here) fits well with ours: - Scrute at 12.40 Fri, just before our free practice; - Briefing is during our free practice (1.40pm Fri), but I expect we can get around that (...!); - Qualifying at 2.40pm on Friday, 40 mins after our free practice; - Race 1 (30 mins) at 12.15 Sat, finishing about three hours before our Sat race; - Race 2 (50 mins), 12.40, two hours after the end of our Sunday race.  Note that race 2 has the attraction of a mandatory pit-stop and the option of two drivers!   More info and confirmation, or otherwise, on Monday, I hope. Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:43:40 GMT23877 Spa - scrutineering, etc.Licenses:  Must be Nat A (or higher).  Nat B, even if you have the right number of "upgrade" signatures, is not good enough. Fire extinguisher:  Ensure that it has in-date "tested" sticker.  And check that the "pull" works (with the pin in, get someone to operate the pull and make sure the cable does move at the other end).Harnesses:  Ensure all belts have matching in-date FIA date labels (They made a fuss about mine one year because one lap belt was 2008 and the other was 2009)Helmets:  Any helmet good enough for UK racing is OK except BS 6658 A.  But BS 6658 A/FR is OK.  (see here)Overalls:  Must be FIA 8856-2000.Underwear ("long"), gloves, boots, socks, balaclava:  All to FIA 8856-2000. (as specified here)   I can't be sure that all this will be checked.  But it might be.Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:39:42 GMT23876Spa spectator passes: Nobody has to pay to get in! Just print out the pass from here. Only for pedestrians! These are actually of very little use to most of us but may avoid one or two of you having to mail any of your official passes to friends who may be meeting you over there.Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:09:50 GMT23855 Spa - Access / timing:  Official info here.  Note that we will all have "Working paddock" passes to get our "private cars" into the paddock.  Not sure whether we will be distributing them here by mail, or collecting over there - more later!Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:21:20 GMT23854 Croft non-champ races, 1st Nov.  See here.  And here.  Very few of you have amended your "Schedule" to indicate your level of interest in these races - this probably means that you're not interested, but it would help me a great deal if you could go to the Members Area and update your Race Schedule to show this, rather than just doing nothing! Note this race is for all Classic/Supers/Megas cars - any new owners planning on racing with us next year would be welcome! (If so, drop me a line)Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:16:36 GMT23841 Spa timetable (from last newsletter...)   Friday (3rd October):9.00 > 11.00       Optional extra cost testing (mixed with other classes) 300 Euros.  Pay on the day, first come, first served sign-on at 7.30am!  13.25 > 13.55     Untimed practice (free of charge, ie. included in the entry fee)18.00                 ScrutineeringSaturday:9.05                  Briefing10.05 > 10.35     Qualifying15.40                 Race 1 30 minutes + one lapSunday:9.45                  Race 2 30 minutes + one lapMon, 15 Sep 2008 17:16:24 GMT23832Spa - last minute withdrawals? There are still a few reserves waiting to take your place - if you think you may want to pull out, please contact me ASAP.Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:32:40 GMT23797Seems like an appropriate time to post this: Wedding Invitation As some of you are already aware, Sue is finally going to make an honest man of me after 17 years of being together. Despite my telling her since May that my proposal, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, was induced by the delirium brought on by the pain killers I was taking for the two broken ribs I sustained in qualifying at Combe the previous weekend, she is being very unsporting and holding me to it. We have therefore arranged to get married at 4pm on 8th November in the same hotel as the Awards Dinner is being held. Any Grads and their partners who are going to the dinner are invited to come along, help to hold me down and afterwards to share a glass of bubbly. I have told the hotel "You only get married twice so to hell with the expense, put two bottles on ice and provide each guest with their own straw." Well that's the kind of generous, big-hearted guy I am. If you think you will be able to attend can you please drop me an email so I can have some idea of numbers - well those straws are 5p each and I don't want to order too many. Dress code - just come as you are!Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:26:38 GMT23796 Awards dinner-dance:As you may have seen in the recent "Caterham Life", tickets for the Caterham motorsport awards dinner-dance are now on sale.  This is where our annual prizes are awarded and it is always a superb night out, for winners and supporters alike.  I strongly suggest that as many of you as possible make the effort to come along.  The ticket order form can be found on our web-site here.   Annual pre-dinner karting competition: Read all about it here.  Organized by us in the past but Simon Lambert has taken over the admin this year.  Another superb event and I hope you will get together and put in several Grads teams!Tue, 9 Sep 2008 23:11:41 GMT23787Croft races: Standard double-header: 1 qualy, 2 races, Saturday 1st Nov only: 250.Tue, 9 Sep 2008 15:16:42 GMT23786 Grads tea/coffee, Cadwell:Few of you will be surprised to learn that Sheila and I have not exactly been overwhelmed by offers to take over her catering duties.  Maybe my note on the matter made it all sound like more work than it really is?   So I would like to suggest that maybe one or two of you and/or your partners/supporters could be tempted/persuaded to take on just the tea/coffee support duties for Cadwell.  Just to find out what's involved.  You will find that the only significant task is managing the urn to keep it fullish and hottish.  That does mean doing something once every half hour or so, but the "something" only amounts to a minute's work and if you're parked next to the club awning, it's not at all onerous.   And maybe more people could be persuaded to bother reading the "instructions" taped to the urn table so that the urn is "managed" by everyone who uses it?  Apart from this, the other task that Sheila has taken on is keeping the place clean and tidy - but this really shouldn't ever be anyone's job other then those who are making the mess!  If you make a mess, clean it up.  If you see someone else making a mess, tell them to clear it up - there's always a mopping sponge on the urn table!  If you're at the awning and the weather's nice - consider putting a few of the tables and chairs outside.  Or if there are some outside and it starts raining, take them in!Tue, 9 Sep 2008 14:54:42 GMT23784 Race Schedule:  Now visible to all of us!We can all now see the contents of everyone's "Schedule" by clicking on "View Race Schedules" under "Competitor Information" in the Members Area.   There was a very good reason why we chose not to make this public when it was first set up, but nobody seems able to remember what it was!   One potential benefit now is with regard to races like the Croft non-champ race(s) on 1/2 Nov.  Some of you may be thinking that you might do this race, provided a reasonable number of other Grads - maybe of the right class - are doing it.  So you could put "don't know" in your Schedule and see how many other people are doing the same and then maybe contact them directly to say "I will if you will".  Over to you.  The Croft race is currently notable for its very low level of input!Tue, 9 Sep 2008 14:33:47 GMT23767Please note that the proposed non-champ BARC race(s) at Croft on 1/2 Nov (see here) have now been added to the on-line Race Schedule. Please go to our Members Area and update your schedule to indicate whether or not you are interested.Mon, 8 Sep 2008 17:11:16 GMT23766 Teng Tools Competition:Please note that a day's marshalling is a mandatory requirement for our 2009 "Teng Tools" award.  And that to be eligible those points had to be claimed by submitting the claim from to BARC before 6th September.  Our points table on our web-site has been updated to show all points thus claimed and only those drivers listed in our "Teng" tables are now eligible for it.   Anyone who wants to earn point toward their championship total has until this coming Saturday (13th Sept) to get their claim forms to BARC.  Note that all marshalling needs to have been done before 29th August to be eligible.     Mon, 8 Sep 2008 17:05:32 GMT23754 Spa entry status: The full list is shown below.  I have written to all those on the Reserve list to remind them of the "rules" with regard dropping out, being upgraded, turning up in hope of a place becoming available, etc. etc.But it would be a great help to all of us to know how many of those drivers with "full entries" are fully committed to going and how many may drop out (remember that anyone with a full entry can drop out and get a 400 refund, but only if there is still a reserve waiting to take your place).You had to make your "on-line Schedule" entry "Definitely" in order to submit an entry for Spa, but you can now change it.  Please could all drivers with Spa "full" entries consider their position and perhaps alter their Schedule accordingly: If you are committed to going to Spa, almost regardless, leave your entry as it is  - ie. Definitely (although I accept that some may be thinking "unless I trash my car at Cadwell," but let's just ignore that for now and hope it doesn't happen!) If you are very probably going to go to Spa, but are not quite certain, please change your Schedule to "Very Probably" If you entered "just in case" you decided to race, but are still unsure, please change your Schedule to "Don't know" If you now think it very unlikely that you will go, please change your Schedule to "Very Unlikely"   Classics (8) Supers (31) Megas (26) Adam Bettinson Fraser Andrews Martin Amison Pete Cannard William Benjamin James Barlow Charles Fitzhugh Edward Benson Matthew Burrows Matthew Gillbanks Gareth Cordey Trevor Carvey Jennifer Grace Charles Elliott Keith Chanter Sheila Marshall Mike Fesemeyer Barry Chantler Dave Marson Roger Ford Declan Dolan Trevor Newman Chris Hart Jamie Ellwood Andy Hawken Andrew Ennis Tom Hayman-Joyce Chris Fox Colin Jardine Peter Frith Martin Kay Nick Frost Reserves (in order) Jonathan Miller Nick Haryett Oliver Benjamin SG Ian Northen Mark Heywood Tom Overton MG Nick Pancisi Paul Hudson Mark Harrison MG Mark Roberts Oliver Jackson Yolande Humphreys SG Ben Rockey Tim Jump Steve Humphreys SG Chris Rome George Longmuir Bill Hombersley SG Damon Rosamond Paul Manyweathers Flick Haigh CG Michael Rowland Dave O'Carroll Robert Draper MG David Shaw John Parker Martin Gee SG Neil Shinner Stephen Pattemore James Potter SG James  Sibbet Kim Rayment Jamie Champkin SG Andy Skinner Adrian Russell Andy McMillan MG Gary Smith William Sharman Hugh Smith Andrew Smith Gareth Thomas Paul Turley Mick Whitehead Rob Winrow Kenny Young If you are not on the above list, you have not entered!  It's never too late to join the Reserve list, but the chance of you now getting to race is not especially good!  Information recently received suggests that several of the reserves are intending to go, even if they are still classed as reserves at the time!Mon, 8 Sep 2008 11:49:06 GMT23733 Cadwell timetable change:If you have entered, you should soon receive a revised timetable in the mail from BARC which shows some slight changes (which have not, as yet, made it into BARC's on-line timetable):- First practice at 9am is now Classics only - Supers-only practice is at 9.50 - Megas practice brought forward from 11.10 to 10.45 - Supers qualy race (also for Megas, if necessary) is race 1 at 12.05 (20 min race) Each of our classes' main races is re-timed for 25 minutes instead of 20 minutes (hurrah!) - Classics-only race is scheduled for 12.40 - Supers at 14.45 - Megas at 16.00 Thanks to BARC for deciding to combine the two poorly attended MG races and thus gain the time for Supers(/Megas) to have a stand-alone qualy race and longer races for all.  (Note that the qualy race has not been extended)Fri, 5 Sep 2008 18:26:04 GMT23689 Attention all Northerners (and others) - Extra race at Croft in Nov?BARC are again putting on "winter series" races at Croft on the weekend of 1/2 November, and have asked whether there would be enough interest to put on a Graduates all-comers (all classes) race, which could be open to anyone with a Grads spec car - for example, anyone who is considering joining Grads next year, including drivers from this year's Roadsports and Academy.If you would be interested in entering (I have no details of race duration(s) or entry fees yet, but I would expect them to be reasonably attractive), please drop me a line.Thu, 4 Sep 2008 13:40:08 GMT23685 Cadwell entries:Here's the fully up to date listing from BARC.  If you thought you had entered but you are not on this list - or if you have withdrawn and are on the list - please contact Nicola at BARC (01264 882200) ASAP, and me.The maximum that can practice is 33 cars.  And max 28 to race.  So Supers and Classics will have their own exclusive practice sessions and Supers will have their very own qualy race (or combined Supers/Megas qualy race in the unlikely event of us getting more than 3 late Mega entries), we hope.  So watch here for a slightly amended timetable.   Classics (17) Supers (31) Megas (26) 71 Graeme Smith 103 James Sibbet 1 Jamie Ellwood 74 Toby Briant 104 Hugh Smith 4 Declan Dolan 75 Adam Bettinson 110 Andy Skinner 5 Martin Amison 76 Sheila Marshall 112 Trevor Newman 6 John Parker 77 Flick Haigh 113 Damon Rosamond 7 Nick Frost 78 Pete Cannard 115 Gary Smith 10 Tom Overton 79 Trevor Newman 118 Mick Whitehead 11 Adrian Russell 80 Charles Fitzhugh 121 Edward Benson 14 James Barlow 81 Darren Grainger 122 Darrell Wilson 16 Ian Noble 83 Colin Rothwell 123 Jonathan Miller 18 George Longmuir 84 Trevor Harber 124 Neil Shinner 19 Andrew Ennis 86 Terry Palmer 127 Gareth Cordey 22 Andrew Smith 88 Matthew Gillbanks 129 Kenny Young 26 Kim Rayment 90 Andrew Sagar 130 Paul Turley 28 Chris Fox 95 Jennifer Grace 131 Colin Jardine 29 William Sharman 93 Daniel Malkin 132 Martin Gee 30 Paul Hudson 95 David Pearson 133 Bill Hombersley 31 Nick Haryett 134 Dylan Stanley 36 Trevor Carvey 142 David Adams 42 Tim Jump 146 Nick Pancisi 43 Mick Palfrey 150 Andy Molsom 48 Alwynn Morris 151 Fraser Andrews 50 Keith Chanter 152 Michael Fesemeyer 53 Robert Draper 154 Gareth Thomas 54 Peter Frith 164 Paul Elliott 57 Dave OCarroll 173 Oliver Benjamin 68 Stuart Simpson 174 William Benjamin 175 David Shaw 177 James Potter 190 Mark Roberts 191 Ian Northen Thu, 4 Sep 2008 12:56:38 GMT23683Cadwell: Sorry, I still don't have BARC's up to date entry list - tomorrow, hopefully. If you've received your "finals", you'll see that there ARE a few errors, as someone else mentioned: Benson and Gee are duplicated and I understand that Winrow and TimGO have withdrawn, leaving just 31 Supers. Anyhow, my info - gleaned from BARC and the "schedule" and individual drivers - is that we should not get more than 33 entries in any class. Our thought at the moment is that if we do get a "surprise" 34th entry he/she would be classed as a reserve - he/she could race but would have to qualify "out of session" and start from the back of the grid. The really good "provisional" news is that BARC are intending to consolidate the two MG grids thus freeing up some space in the timetable so that excess Supers/Megas can have their own qualifying race instead of piggy-backing onto the Classics' race.Wed, 3 Sep 2008 20:34:35 GMT23670Entered for Spa? Please check your "profile". I will soon need to use the data from everyone's profiles to compile an entry list for the Spa race organizers. Which means that I need full and accurate data about everyone. Currently, some of you have incomplete or missing data for "next of kin", licence number, transponder no., car colour, BARC no. etc. etc. PLEASE could everybody check their on-line profile (access via the Members Area) and fill in any gaps! While you're at it, please also check that your "race highlights" etc, are up to date and reflect your latest outings, since these will be used by the Cadwell commentator - and please also bring your on-line Race Schedule fully up to date while you're in the Members Area!!!Tue, 2 Sep 2008 22:56:58 GMT23642 The latest copy of "Caterham Life" (why not "subscribe"?) includes a nice story about Graeme's recent class win at the Nordschleife.  Also this important announcement:'Caterham Cars today (27/08/2008) announced the appointment of Simon Lambert to the new position of Caterham Motorsport Manager.  Ansar Ali, Caterham&8217;s MD commented &8220;Simon's role and responsibility will fully encompass all aspects of our motorsport programme including programme calendar, programme implementation in conjunction with our motorsport coordinators, product planning, marketing and overseas development.  I am sure you will join me in wishing him all the success in his new role&8221; Simon is now in his eighth year at Caterham, originally responsible for the Aftersales department at the Dartford Factory.'   Simon is an ex-MegaGrad, so he knows us pretty well and I am sure this development will lead to closer links between us and "the factory".  Congrats, Simon!  Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:34:06 GMT23506 Cadwell qualifying:It's easy for Jack Horner to suggest that when his Schedule says he doesn't intend to race at Cadwell!  Maybe he's yellow...?!Seriously, your club exec is very aware of the members' concerns about split qualy and would love to be able to avoid it.  Cadwell grid max is 28 to race; 33 to qualify.  The "ideal" would be if we had no more than 33 entries per class.  Currently, the club's on-line Race Schedule shows exactly 33 Supers "definitely" racing there, but also a small handful who have yet to decide one way or the other.  It would help us a great deal if this schedule was up to date and accurate and I ask everyone to check their entry now and amend it if necessary.One choice we do have is to ask BARC to accept only the first 33 entries in each class.  So another thing you could do, to help yourself, is to submit your entry now.  Remember that if you have entered all the other BARC races so far this year, the BARC "loyalty bonus" will kick in and your Cadwell entry will be very cheap indeed - 55! If there are more than 33 Super entries, and we allow them all, they cannot all do qualifying together.  I don't think that BARC will be able to find the extra 25 minutes of track time necessary to put on an additional session.  But one option that we could consider is to treat the 34th and subsequent Supers entries as "reserves".  I think there will be only 2 or 3 of them at most and they would have to qualify out of session (maybe with Classics, maybe Megas) and would then be treated as having qualified at the back of the field and would thus automatically be in the qualifying race.  Not ideal, but maybe it's not unreasonable that the two or three latest entries (20%-ers?) are asked to put up with this rather than allowing them to compromise some other class's qualifying session.Fri, 8 Aug 2008 15:14:44 GMT23488 New MSA regs: See my earlier posting.   Towing eyes: The word is that MSA are now reviewing the new rule about towing eyes which, incidentally, introduced the new (and rather onerous) requirement that they are of 60mm internal diameter!  So, don't do anything about this just yet!   Fuel-sampling coupling: It would appear that this only applies to cars that are new for 2009 (so, presumably, none of ours) and to other race cars only if they are in a "British" championship (ie. one with the word "British" in the championship title), which we are not.  So it's probably something that won't effect any of us for a year or so.Thu, 7 Aug 2008 16:35:57 GMT23487 CadwellPaddock:As most of you have realised now, the Grads "supported" test day - which many of us have booked - is on Fri 12th Sept; racing is on the Sunday.  There is a sprint at the circuit on the Saturday so we must not leave cars/trailers in the paddock.  But the circuit has told me that we are welcome to leave stuff there (and to stay on site in tents/motorhomes) provided it is on the grassed area outside the paddock.  Motorhomers should note that there is no plug-in power available anywhere at Cadwell.Circuit Layout:We're scheduled to race on the full circuit.  But occasionally, marshal shortage can lead to a Cadwell race meeting being switched to the short circuit at short notice.  Keep an eye on the forum in the days running up to the race - we might be urging you to volunteer your friends and rellys to go marshalling again!Tyres:Polleys are scheduled to be in attendance to supply/fit tyres.  They will be there from about 3pm to 7pm on the Saturday (could be later, if required) and early Sunday morning - not planning to be there when we are testing on Friday, but they perhaps could be if enough of you say you want tyres on the Friday.  So, could I ask all of you who think you may want tyres, to contact Polleys now to order than and tell them exactly when you want them fitted.  If you are testing on Friday, want tyres for first thing Sunday, but are not around on Saturday, you may be able to arrange to leave your wheels with someone who will be at the circuit on the Saturday.Thu, 7 Aug 2008 16:19:42 GMT23443If you are putting your entry in for Cadwell, don't forget your BARC loyality discount if you've competed in all the other rounds - you can't claim it retrospectively...Tue, 5 Aug 2008 11:47:03 GMT23438DRIVING STANDARDS COMPLAINTS: Can we ask anyone who is considering lodging a DS complaint to do so now rather than a day or two before Cadwell. The DS Team need to plan our strategy in good time so having all complaints to hand makes this easier.Tue, 5 Aug 2008 09:59:12 GMT23423 Proposed (and ratified) new MSA rules:If you read the latest "Summer 2008" MotorsportsNow!, you will see a few rule changes that will effect us:-    (G)99: Towing eyes:  (This has been ratified).  These should always have been in a "contrasting bright colour" but this rule update says that from now they should be "dayglo" (not sure how JEB is going to comply!).  This could be enforced at your next race.-    [(C)b]19: Fuel sampling:  (This has also been ratified, for 2009).  Classics (which have carburettors) can comply by simply removing the fuel pipe at the carbs.  Supers and Megas (fuel injected) will need a dry break coupling next year - our 2009 regs will probably stipulate the type and location.-    (G)23:  %-age of race after which a red flag means end of race.  (Proposal for 2009)  This is currently 50%, which means that if one of our 20 min races is red-flagged after 10:01, it will be classified as "finished" and will not be re-started.  The proposal extends this to 75% which, to my mind, can be nothing but good for us.  I intend writing to MSA on behalf of all of us to state that I like this proposed change.  There may be some benefit from loads of us doing the same thing... (their e-mail address here)-    [(C)c]79:  Spec for Overalls:  (Proposal for 2009)  Older overalls will not be permitted.  Probably makes sense - and it's almost certainly a waste of time to contest it.-    E12.16.7 (in 2007 book):  Catalytic Converters:  (This has also been ratified for '09).  No change.  Supers and Megas will need these next year.  Our regs will almost certainly be amended to say that Supers will revert to using the "standard" Caterham cat exhaust and Megas will get a new spec system.(It it's been ratified, it's a waste of time to comment to MSA about it!)Mon, 4 Aug 2008 19:08:11 GMT23415 The next two Caterham Eurocup rounds are at Donington on the 30/31st August as part of the support package to the launch event of the new Superleague Formula.   Entry forms can be found in our Competitor Info section.  Please note that Registration fee for this meeting has been waived.  Entry Forms should be returned to the BRSCC.If you require any further information, please contact Ros Jones, 01474 853885, 07761 552139.Mon, 4 Aug 2008 16:20:43 GMT23413 Driving StandardsAs stated below, there was a lot of contact and a lot of missing wings at Anglesey.  Some incidents were undoubtedly "bad luck", some maybe were "racing incidents", but quite a few, I suspect, were plain careless, inconsiderate, reckless, possibly aggressive and perhaps downright dangerous.  It seems that the nature of the circuit is such that these incidents happened in low speed corners, so damage was minimized.  But that doesn't excuse the poor driving.If you were involved in any incident and feel you were the "victim", you may be thinking that it was something of a "one-off" and doesn't rate a complaint.  You may be right.  Or there may be half a dozen other drivers out there who all had a similar incident with the same driver!  Fortunately, we have a mechanism to address this so that you don't need to decide for yourself if it was a one-off or not - the Driving Standards complaint system.  If our DST team get just one complaint about one driver, they rarely feel the need to take much, if any, action.  If they get six, about one driver, in one race, and another half dozen in the next race, they start to think that there might just be a pattern and that some action should be taken!So please don't automatically think "It's just a one-off, it's not worth complaining," - the DST team will make that judgement depending on how many other complaints they receive!Mon, 4 Aug 2008 16:10:20 GMT23412The BARC NW team have asked me to pass on their sincere thanks to everyone who persuaded their friends and/or rellys to help out with the weekend's marshalling!Mon, 4 Aug 2008 16:06:50 GMT23396 AngleseySeemed like a splendid weekend's sport to me.  Astonishingly good weather, considering..., ie. no rain (to speak of) on Sat or Sun, although it was a little breezy.  Andy McMillan had signed up with BARC to try to take some points off Jamie Ellwood but could "only" score two podiums, behind Jamie - who has now easily sealed his third Megas championship title (ten wins and one P2 is somewhat unassailable).  Trevor should have been able to do the same for Supers but his car paid him back for some of the punishment it's taken and fell apart in race one, when Trevor was 300 yards clear of the field...  With Mr.Bettinson absent, Graeme Smith would also seem to have done enough to seal his third straight Classics title.There seemed to be a lot of contact, leading to a special post-race Megas de-briefing on Saturday - warning us that anyone losing a wing on Sunday may be black-flagged.  Fortunately (for me, and others), this wasn't enforced...!!!  Despite all this contact, I'm glad to report that there were very few who DNF'd due to damage and no "long fronts", as far as I am aware.  Although MMM were a little busy on Saturday evening.If you want your race highlights/incidents to feature in Izzy Sharman's race reports, drop her a line.My thanks to all of you who helped to make it a great weekend - those who "just raced" and all the volunteers and "staff" who did their bit.Mon, 4 Aug 2008 10:08:57 GMT23353 Final (?!) Anglesey entry list:   Classics (12) Supers (36) Megas (32 + 1 res) 71 Graeme Smith 103 James Sibbet 1 Jamie Ellwood 76 Sheila Marshall 104 Hugh Smith 4 Declan Dolan 77 Flick Haigh 106 Ben Rockey 5 Martin Amison 78 Pete Cannard 109 Chris Rome 6 John Parker 79 Dave Marson 110 Andy Skinner 7 Nick Frost 80 Charles Fitzhugh 112 Trevor Newman 10 Tom Overton 81 Darren Grainger 113 Damon Rosamond 11 Adrian Russell 83 Colin Rothwell 114 Yolande Humphreys 12 Mark Gregory 84 Trevor Harber 115 Gary Smith 14 James Barlow 86 Terry Palmer 118 Mike Whitehead 17 Paul Manyweathers 88 Matthew Gillbanks 120 Roger Ford 18 George Longmuir 90 Andrew Sagar 121 Edward Benson 19 Andrew Ennis 122 Darrell Wilson 22 Andrew Smith 123 Jonathan Miller 23 Louise Redshaw 124 Neil Shinner 26 Kim Rayment 127 Gareth Cordey 28 Chris Fox 128 Martin Kay 29 William Sharman 129 Kenny Young 30 Paul Hudson 130 Paul Turley 31 Nick Haryett 132 Martin Gee 34 Rory Young (res) 133 Bill Hombersley 35 Bob Wilson 134 Dylan Stanley 36 Trevor Carvey 137 Tom Hayman-Joyce 38 Matthew Burrows 141 Richard Ormson 43 Mick Palfrey 146 Nick Pancisi 47 Andy McMillan 151 Fraser Andrews 48 Alwynn Morris 152 Michael Fesemeyer 50 Keith Chanter 154 Gareth Thomas 51 Barry Chantler 166 Charles Elliott 53 Robert Draper 174 William Benjamin 54 Peter Frith 175 David Shaw 55 Mark Heywood 181 Tim Gudgeon-Osterritter 62 Stephen G Pattemore 188 Alan Harber 68 Stuart Simpson 190 Mark Roberts 191 Ian Northen 199 Stephen Humphreys (Late additions!)    Rory Young is a "guest" - he will only race on Saturday if another Mega drops out (32 is Sat's grid max).  29 fastest Supers will go straight through to their main race, the remainder will do a qualy race with Classics, starting half a minute (?) after them; the fastest three "go through".Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:32:12 GMT23246 Latest Anglesey listing: Classics (12) Supers (31) Megas (30) 71 Graeme Smith 103 James Sibbet 1 Jamie Ellwood 76 Sheila Marshall 104 Hugh Smith 4 Declan Dolan 77 Flick Haigh 109 Chris Rome 5 Martin Amison 78 Pete Cannard 110 Andy Skinner 6 John Parker 79 Dave Marson 112 Trevor Newman 7 Adrian Russell 80 Charles Fitzhugh 113 Damon Rosamond 7 Nick Frost 81 Darren Grainger 114 Yolande Humphreys 10 Tom Overton 83 Colin Rothwell 118 Mike Whitehead 12 Mark Gregory 84 Trevor Harber 120 Roger Ford 14 James Barlow 86 Terry Palmer 121 Edward Benson 17 Paul ManyWeathers 88 Matthew Gillbanks 122 Darrell Wilson 18 George Longmuir 90 Andrew Sagar 123 Jonathan Miller 19 Andrew Ennis 124 Neil Shinner 22 Andrew Smith 127 Gareth Cordey 26 Kim Rayment 128 Martin Kay 28 Chris Fox 129 Kenny Young 29 William Sharman 130 Paul Turley 30 Paul Hudson 132 Martin Gee 31 Nick Haryett 134 Dylan Stanley 35 Bob Wilson 137 Tom Hayman-Joyce 36 Trevor Carvey 141 Richard Ormson 38 Matthew Burrows 146 Nick Pancisi 42 Tim Jump 152 Michael Fesemeyer 43 Mick Palfrey 154 Gareth Thomas 48 Alwynn Morris 166 Charles Elliott 50 Keith Chanter 174 William Benjamin 51 Barry Chantler 181 Tim Gudgeon-Osterriter 53 Robert Draper 188 Alan Harber 54 Peter Frith 190 Mark Roberts 55 Mark Heywood 191 Ian Northen 62 Stephen G Pattemore 199 Stephen Humphreys Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:01:13 GMT23242 Anglesey entry list:This is BARC NW's entry list as of last Thursday: Classics (10) Supers (28) Megas (27) 71 Graeme Smith 103 James Sibbet 1 Jamie Ellwood 76 Sheila Marshall 104 Hugh Smith 4 Declan Dolan 78 Pete Cannard 109 Chris Rome 5 Martin Amison 79 Dave Marson 110 Andy Skinner 6 John Parker 80 Charles Fitzhugh 112 Trevor Newman 7 Adrian Russell 83 Colin Rothwell 113 Damon Rosamond 7 Nick Frost 84 Trevor Harber 114 Yolande Humphreys 10 Tom Overton 86 Terry Palmer 118 Mike Whitehead 17 Paul ManyWeathers 88 Matthew Gillbanks 120 Roger Ford 17 Tim Jump 90 Andrew Sagar 121 Edward Benson 18 George Longmuir 122 Darrell Wilson 19 Andrew Ennis 123 Jonathan Miller 22 Andrew Smith 124 Neil Shinner 26 Kim Rayment 127 Gareth Cordey 28 Chris Fox 128 Martin Kay 29 William Sharman 129 Kenny Young 30 Paul Hudson 134 Dylan Stanley 31 Nick Haryett 137 Tom Hayman-Joyce 35 Bob Wilson 141 Richard Ormson 36 Trevor Carvey 146 Nick Pancisi 38 Matthew Burrows 152 Michael Fesemeyer 43 Mick Palfrey 154 Gareth Thomas 48 Alwynn Morris 166 Charles Elliott 50 Keith Chanter 181 Tim Gudgeon-Osterriter 53 Robert Draper 188 Alan Harber 54 Peter Frith 190 Mark Roberts 55 Mark Heywood 191 Ian Northen 62 Stephen G Pattemore 199 Stephen Humphreys   Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:58:56 GMT23202 Anglesey timetable:We have a provisional timetable which shows:Sat (Coastal circuit)Morning qualifying:10:50  Classics11:35  Supers12:15  MegasAfternoon races:Race 3 (2:30)  ClassicsRace 5 (3:30)  SupersRace 7 (4:30)  MegasSun (International circuit)Morning qualifying:10:05  Classics10:50  Megas11:35  SupersAfternoon races:Race 1 (1:30)  ClassicsRace 3 (2:30)  MegasRace 5 (3:30)  SupersRace times are, of course, approximate Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:41:55 GMT23153Caterham Eurocup races at Donington, 30/31 Aug. Follow up to earlier posting. Entry forms and stuff are now being sent out by Ros at Caterham Motorsport. Note that they are now offering the choice of entering just one, two or all of the three 40 minute races - all at 250 each.Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:47:34 GMT23134 Attention: Megas at Mallory:At Wednesday's testing, Tim Jump suffered catastrophic loss of oil pressure resulting in a piston exiting through the side of his engine block.  Taffy had a virtually identical problem at the same circuit 18 months ago, and both these happened at the exit of Gerard's after driving through it flat out in third gear.It is thought that this was no coincidence and that the long right-hander could be a significant factor causing loss of oil pressure (ie. "oil surge").  Changing down to third gear for the corner means that the oil pump will be running faster than when in fourth gear and it just could be that an engine may suffer oil starvation if in third, but might not in fourth.Don't know.  The exact layout of the oil sump components will differ slightly from one engine to another, and this could be the only factor.  After all, we raced there last year and nobody suffered this problem then, as I recall.  But my advice to all Megas for Sunday (those that do not have the optional dry sump) is:- Make sure, before qualifying and before racing, that your engine oil level is right up to the max.- Consider not using third gear for Gerard's - people were experimenting with third and fourth on Wednesday and the word I heard was that there was little, if any, difference in lap times.- Make sure you have a functioning oil pressure gauge (and/or warning light) and keep your eye on it - if it dips significantly, getting off the gas immediately, dipping the clutch and straightening your line may just save an expensive mishap.Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:57:05 GMT23111Mallory Qualifying: Those of you who have been paying attention will recall that I had announced the possibility that excess Supers may have meant that we would have to mix up our qualifying sessions at Mallory. I am happy to report that it seems we have exactly 36 entries (the qualifying maximum) so we don't need to do that. So the timetable is as per your final instructions (here). But the scheduled Supers qualy race will not happen - instead there will be a qualy race for them with Classics.Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:27:30 GMT23060Anglesey entries: BARC NW "traditionally" do not send out acknowledgements. News of ex-Grads at Brands: OJ was third in the first Superlight race but DNF'd the second one. He's slipped to second in the championship table, 9 points adrift.Jon Barnes and his co-driver won the first of the British GT rounds at Brands, leaving them needing just one tenth place, or better, to clinch the title. So they "just" finished 7th in the second race and now ARE the 2008 GT champions. WELL DONE JON!!! Spa entries: 40 of the 44 "priority" entries have now entered Spa. 3 of the remainder have said they do not intend to enter. So there are at least 24 "full" entries up for grabs when on-line booking opens for everyone else at 7.30pm tonight. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:03:03 GMT22983 Latest Mallory entry list.  If you thought you had entered and your name's not here, you'd better contact Nicola at BARC!   Classics Supers Megas 71 Graeme Smith 100 Andy Skinner 1 Jamie Ellwood 74 Toby Briant 103 James Sibbet 4 Declan Dolan 75 Adam Bettinson 104 Hugh Smith 5 Martin Amison 76 Sheila Marshall 105 Michael Rowland 6 John Parker 78 Pete Cannard 109 Chris Rome 7 Nick Frost 80 Charles Fitzhugh 113 Damon Rosamond 10 Tom Overton 81 Darren Grainger 115 Gary Smith 11 Adrian Russell 83 Colin Rothwell 118 Mick Whitehead 12 Mark Gregory 84 Trevor Harber 120 Roger Ford 14 James Barlow 86 Terry Palmer 121 Edward Benson 17 Paul Manyweathers 90 Andrew Sagar 124 Neil Shinner 18 Geroge Longmuir 91 Nigel Liddell 126 Chris Williams 19 Andrew Ennis 96 Tim Hammond 127 Gareth Cordey 22 Andrew Smith 98 Graham Smith 128 Martin Kay 24 Neil Gill 129 Kenny Young 26 Kim Rayment 130 Paul Turley 29 William Sharman 131 Colin Jardine 30 Paul Hudson 132 Martin Gee 31 Nick Haryett 133 Bill Hombersley 36 Trevor Carvey 134 Dylan Stanley 42 Tim Jump 137 Tom Hayman-Joyce 43 Mick Palfrey 146 Nick Pancisi 50 Keith Chanter 152 Michael Fesemeyer 53 Robert Draper 154 Gareth Thomas 54 Peter Frith 164 Paul Elliott 55 Mark Heywood 166 Charles Elliott 57 Dave OCarroll 174 William Benjamin 68 Stuart Simpson 175 David Shaw 179 Nicholas Brandon 181 Tim Gudgeon-Osterritter 188 Alan Harber 190 Mark Roberts 191 Ian Northen Tue, 8 Jul 2008 23:03:54 GMT22955Spa sign-up now up and running (via the Members Area) for "priority" entries. Andy Skinner wins - signed up just 7 seconds after 7.30pm - four more in that first minute - fifteen in the first 20 minutes. Well done boys!!!Mon, 7 Jul 2008 19:57:33 GMT22898 Donington, 30/31 Aug It seems that the race meeting, and "Superleague Formula", is going to happen.  Regrettably, It seems very unlikely that there will be space for us to have a Graduates grid.  But, it will be a round of the Caterham Eurocup.  And, as you may recall, we have an open invitation to enter the "Invitation class" of any of their rounds.  Final details and entry forms are not yet available but anyone who is interested should contact Caterham's Ros Jones, and ask to be sent the stuff when it's available.  It will probably be a repeat of their Spa format (see here): Two 20 mins qualy sessions, three 40 mins races, and entry fees in the region of 250 per race.  Qualifying may be on the Friday.Thu, 3 Jul 2008 10:22:56 GMT22841 Mallory - timetable:Can be viewed here and will be in your final instructions that will be mailed to you.  Note that:-       Race 1 is described as a "SuperGrads qualification race".  Depending on final entry numbers this may also be combined with a qualification race for Megas.  This is a 15 minute race; the normal fee for which is 15 less than for our 20 minute races - all drivers who are in this race and do not qualify for their "main" race will receive a 15 refund from CGRC.  Grid max is 30 cars.-       We are listed for three separate qualifying sessions - one per class.  We can only do this if we have 36 or fewer entries per class - which is possible, but not certain (BECAUSE I FIND I CANNOT RELY ON THE ABSOLUTE ACCURACY OF ALL YOUR ON-LINE RACE SCHEDULES!).  Supers numbers will probably exceed 36.  In which case we will reluctantly have to do a pair of two-class mixed/split qualy sessions, as we did at Brands.  If the total number of Supers and Megas is 72 or fewer, it will probably be these two classes that will be mixed/split.  If Supers/Megas exceed 72, the two mixed sessions will be Supers/Classics.  If both Megas and Supers exceed 36 entries, life will get very interesting indeed...!-       The point of all the above is to warn EVERYONE that you could be in any one of the qualifying sessions, so it would be best to plan your day according to the worst case, ie. that you may be in the first qualy session at 9.30am.  We will only know for sure about all this after the final-final closing date for entries, the afternoon of Weds 16 July - so watch out on this forum that evening, or Thurs 17th July, for an announcement of the final arrangements and timing!And if anyone needs/chooses to withdraw in the last few days running up to the race, it would be a great help if they could let me know at the earliest opportunity!Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:58:01 GMT22832Mallory closing date todayMon, 30 Jun 2008 13:34:21 GMT22806 Rounds 13 & 14.  Spa Francorchamps, 3/4/5 October 2008.  Entries:The Club's policy for accepting on-line entries for our Spa races on 3/4/5 October was set out in our February newsletter (available through the Club web-site's "Members Area") and our specific plans were outlined in the latest newsletter.In accordance with that policy, our on-line system for Spa entry will open at 7.30pm on Mon 7th July.  This is the opening only for "priority" entries.  All others will not be able to access the on-line system until a week later, 7.30pm on 14th July.The Board have decided that priority entries will be accepted only from those 44 drivers who have entered and qualified to start all the championship's 2008 races up to and including the Silverstone races.  Those 44 drivers are defined as everyone who has scored at least one point in every round, as defined by the championship tables on our web-site.Please check your scores in these tables and let the Club Chairman know ASAP if you think there are any errors.  A full list of everyone eligible for priority entry is published below.All three Grads classes will be racing on the same grid - the max permitted on the grid is 65 cars and we think it very likely that the race may be over-subscribed - space will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, as per our regs.  Later entries will be accepted as reserves and will have the choice of a refund or of going along in the hope of getting a race if someone pulls out at the very last minute.  Any reserves (up to 13 of them!) who choose to go to Spa will be permitted to do the untimed practice and qualifying sessions and will get a full refund if there is not space for them to race.  Reserves should be aware that their entry will be upgraded to "confirmed", without notice, if space become available due to withdrawals - their entry will then be subject to the refund policy described below.In previous years there has been a bit of a panic to get Spa entries in, resulting in some desperately enthusiastic souls driving hundreds of miles to hand-deliver their entries, and this turned out to be unnecessary since we were eventually not over-subscribed, but we do have 141 registered competitors now, compared with 133 last year, so over-subscription is again a very real possibility.Entry is only "on-line". The fee is 420 if paying by debit card; credit card payments will be subject to a 4.5% surcharge.  This represents a very modest increase of 5% over last year during which time the Euro exchange rate (we pay for the track time in Euros) has caused costs to increase by around 20%!  This is for the 30 minute qualification session and two half-hour races there is also a 30 minute untimed practice session included in the price.Priority will be allocated on receipt of on-line payment.  Be advised that the available space tends to be booked up very quickly within minutes of the on-line system becoming available.  If you think you may not be able to be in front of an on-line PC at the time, consider asking a friend, neighbour or relative to enter for you.  You (or they) will need your Graduates web-site username and password - the one you use to get into the site's "Members Area".  When entering credit/debit card details into the secure WorldPay system, be sure that the name and address entered is the card billing address, otherwise payment (and thus your race entry) may be refused.  It may be smart to have a second card available in case one is inexplicably refused!Your entry will be acknowledged by e-mail (to the main e-mail address that you have entered into your "profile") almost immediately, indicating whether you are one of the first 65, or are a Reserve.Refund policy: sorry, but we don't want drivers who are not 100% committed putting in an entry "just in case", expecting to be certain of getting their money back later on - this would just louse things up for the other drivers - so there is no automatic right to a refund.  Having said that, assuming we are over-subscribed, any driver who needs to pull out will get a refund as long as there are reserves to take their place, but a 20 admin fee will be retained.  Race entries are also non-transferable - if you choose to withdraw, your space will be allocated to the highest placed reserve.Drivers should note that they will need FIA 8856-2000 spec overalls. And National A licences (or overseas equivalent), at the time of the race - although you may submit your entry even if you do not yet hold a National A license.  Note that an MSA National B licence with 6 signatures will not suffice - you must get it upgraded by sending off to MSA.As usual, MMM will be providing tech support (and are hoping to offer a car transportation service - contact them for details).Very Provisional timetable is: untimed practice on Friday; qualifying and race 1 on Sat; Race 2 on Sun.  Note that:-    Race 2 is currently scheduled for Sunday morning so that an afternoon return ferry is viable-    The timetable is subject to change and we advise against making any firm non-transferable ferry bookings just yet-    Qualifying timing could change to be on the Friday (it has been in previous years)-    You may opt out of the untimed practice but no refunds will be offered-    There will probably be an opportunity for optional extra-cost practice on Friday morningList of the 44 drivers eligible for priority entry from 7th July: Classics Supers Megas  71 Graeme Smith  104 Hugh Smith  1 Jamie Ellwood  75 Adam Bettinson  110 Andy Skinner  4 Declan Dolan  76 Sheila Marshall  112 Trevor Newman  5 Martin Amison  80 Charles Fitzhugh  113 Damon Rosamond  6 John Parker  84 Trevor Harber  117 Andy Hawken  7 Nick Frost  91 Nigel Liddell  118 Mick Whitehead  11 Adrian Russell  120 Roger Ford  14 James Barlow  121 Edward Benson  18 George Longmuir  124 Neil Shinner  19 Andrew Ennis  128 Martin Kay  22 Andrew Smith  130 Paul Turley  26 Kim Rayment  131 Colin Jardine  30 Paul Hudson  137 Tom Hayman-Joyce  31 Nick Haryett  146 Nick Pancisi  36 Trevor Carvey  154 Gareth Thomas  38 Matthew Burrows  171 Rob Winrow  50 Keith Chanter  181 Tim Gudgeon-Osterritter  51 Barry Chantler  188 Alan Harber  54 Peter Frith  190 Mark Roberts  57 Dave O'Carroll  Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:48:02 GMT22718Closing date for Mallory is a week today (30th June). We only have three grids of 30 allocated, so if you enter after the closing date you may not get in (we had 100 drivers at Silverstone). And don't leave it 'til the last moment as the on-line entry system seems to fall over quite a bit at the moment...Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:39:27 GMT22712 CGRC 10th anniversary celebration, BRDC, Silverstone, Saturday night:For those that weren't there - you missed a good one!  We had been hoping that we would be sitting in the late evening sunshine sipping Pimms on the BRDC lawn, but only those equipped with wet-suits attempted that feat.  Instead, the best part of 240 of us had to slum it in the BRDC shed.  Superb!We held the day's prize-giving there and I was pleased to be able to give a brief (...!) speech welcoming drivers past and present - I didn't mention everyone but it was a pleasure to mention the achievements of past Graduates who were attending, notably Oli Jackson (currently leading the Caterham Superlight championship), Jon Barnes (currently leading the British GT championship) and Rachel Green (current holder of the Lord Wakefield trophy for the highest women's achievement in motorsport).After handing out the day's pots and thanking the various people who helped to make the party such a success, I was surprised to be muscled off the dais (actually two plastic bread trays scrounged from the BRDC kitchen) and David Guy took over.  David was a '97 Academist (along with me and Nick Haryett, a '98 Grads founder member, a past CGRC Board member and current club Honorary Legal Advisor).  It seemed that David had been nominated by The Board to say a few words.  He said some flattering and complimentary words about past club dignitaries who helped to get the club to be what it is today and some quite unnecessary stuff about my own contribution.  Followed by a presentation to me of a fabulous framed picture of all those Grads cars lined up on the Rockingham banking in Spring '07 and a rather special bottle of single malt!  Fabulous - my thanks to you all.By the way - the real achievement of the night came from the people that dipped into their pockets to buy raffle prizes (and those drivers and sponsors who dipped into their coffers to provide prizes) - you raised a stonkingly impressive £1,500 for TCT!!!!Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:22:28 GMT22674Sat night - shuttle buses: If you have booked the shuttle bus, you have had an e-mail from me confirming it. If you have not booked it, please do not change your mind and try to get on it - the Green Man pick-up is scheduled for a full bus and there's no more space. PLEASE be outside and waiting, on time - or preferably, ahead of time. The driver has been told not to wait for stragglers!Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:42:43 GMT22669Silverstone garages: I am delighted to report that our friends in Clubmans have very kindly agreed to our request to free up another garage. Our garage allocation is now from 5a to 12c - 24 "bays" in total. But garage 5, and the area behind it will not be available during Friday testing. Please make sure that no Grads' vehicles are parked in the area of the cafe and garages 1-4.Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:32:42 GMT22628Where are all the videos? It seems to me that there's a vast number of our members' race videos (and other people's) lurking around various internet "community" sites (u-tube, etc.) as well as on members' and other individual's own sites. But they're hard to find. I wonder if someone out there might have the time, skill and inclination to put together a table referencing them all, sorted by circuit perhaps, which could be linked from this site? Volunteers?Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:22:08 GMT22598Polley at Silverstone: He will be there from mid-morning Friday. And keen to get away early on Saturday. If you have ordered tyres, please get them promptly. If you have not ordered, do so soonish!Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:13:42 GMT22596Urgent Donation Appeal I am organising a charity raffle to be drawn at our party on Saturday night, and we already have some fantastic prizes! I am however still on the scrounge, so could all you wealthy business owners (and everyone else) out there please dig deep and donate something (maybe one of your products or services?) to the raffle. All money raised will go to TCT so please give generously Emails to: yolande@ycplastics.co.ukTue, 17 Jun 2008 13:09:46 GMT22542PARTY TICKETS: I am hoping to do a ticket mailing later today. Last-minute 20%-ers PLEASE get on-line and buy your tickets NOW! http://graduates.org.uk/members/party.asp We need to finalize numbers for party catering on Monday - after that, it's TOO LATE! Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:29:34 GMT22477SV paddok plan here.Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:26:19 GMT22461 Silverstone: Garages, Testing:TESTING ACCESS:  Silverstone tell me that they have no security staff on Thursday evening and that Thursday evening arrivals for Friday testing will not be permitted into the circuit.  I feel sure that we will be allowed to park motorhomes in the outside car-park overnight (adjacent to the main road) but I'm not sure that I would recommend dumping cars on trailers and leaving them there.  On Friday, access into the circuit is from 7.30am.GARAGES:  I'm beginning to wonder whether being allocated to the garages is quite so wonderful...BARC's paddock plan assigns all the garages to Graduates.  35 of them, I believe (1a is not in use).  Which would mean trebling up.  But the original paddock allocation is far from ideal since although it gives us all the garages and aprons immediately outside them, it gives us none of the space to the other side of the paddock road and that means that we could not fit all our support vehicles on the garage aprons.  And it would leave us spread out along the entire pit lane (meaning some Grads would have to walk a long way for tea/coffee!).In view of that, the Club exec has agreed with Clubmans (the two Clubmans championships are our only companions that weekend) to split the paddock in the opposite direction.  So -    Clubmans will have all the area up to and including garage 5 -    and we will take everything from garage 6 and beyond. Giving us 7 garages, each with 3 bays.  And those that have done The Birkett will know that it's quite feasible for 6 Caterhams to share a garage bay, so we have space for up to 126 cars!  (So we could have up to 18 Caterhams using the space into which, two weeks later, the poor hard-done-by F1 boys will have to squeeze two cars).  One of the garages (probably 6c) will be allocated to MMM and (I suggest that most of the MMM transportees use 6a and 6b); another, maybe somewhere around 9, will be for catering.  So there will be 19 garage bays for our cars - so probably about 5 cars per garage (assuming 95 entries).To my mind, there's very little benefit from having one particular garage rather than another, so little point in attempting the Herculean task of pre-allocating garages.  So I think it's better left to "first-come, first-served".  Two thoughts:  Some of you may wish to get together beforehand and form yourself into groups of five or so and agree to share a garage - good idea, especially if at least one of your number will be there early on Friday and/or Saturday; if you form a group of only three or four, you must allow anyone else to take up the 4th and 5th spaces.  If for some reason you think you want to be in a particular garage, the only method of reserving one is to book it for the Friday testing, and then stay in it!The big catch with all this is that Silverstone say that garages will be locked for the testing on Friday unless someone has paid the 55 to buy access for the day.  So if you, or someone with whom you have agreed to share, does not rent a garage for testing, you may find yourself having to set up in the paddock on Friday and them move into a garage (if you can be bothered), on Friday evening.Garage Space:  There is just about width (6m) to park two support vehicles side by side on the apron behind each garage and the aprons are about 20m deep, so just about room for 6 support cars (but not with trailers); additionally, each garage has an additional space approximately 16m x 6m on the other side of the paddock road and I would suggest that the five occupants of each garage area should restrict themselves to these areas.  Trailers, etc, that don't fit in these areas should perhaps be removed to the outer paddock.  This means that not everyone in a garage will have easy access between their support vehicle and their race car.  So some of you may wish to consider planning on being "independent" and setting up on the other side of the paddock road.  I guess this may depend to some degree on the weather.The extended area behind garages 9 > 12, up against the fence, should perhaps be best left for those who want to set up their motorhomes.Access to the circuit will be via the pit-lane - not across the paddock to the assembly area as we have always done in the past.  If your race car is not based in a garage, you will access the pit-lane via the gap between garages 6 & 7.Please bear in mind that there is a firm rule requiring a fire lane for emergency access - make sure that there is always a clear space of 3m or so behind every garage.Note that you will need to be prepared to clear out of the garages/inner-paddock promptly on Sat evening to make way for AMOC; if you are going to the Saturday party and staying the night, you can move your rig to the outer paddock.Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:03:32 GMT22423 Party - dress code Sorry, meant to announce this at Brands.  We would like to make this a "black and white" themed party - to remind us of the chequered flag!  Formal evening wear (DJ, dicky bow, etc.) would be great and really smart (and I know a few who are intending to "go the whole hog") but we realise that this may not be very convenient for people on tight schedules - or for those who may need to get changed in a tent!  So white T-shirt and black jeans will also be perfectly acceptable.  This is not a hard and fast rule - anything smart/casual will suffice - but it would be nice if most of you could make the effort!Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:27:53 GMT22306 Windscreens:  ImportantOn Saturday, several of our drivers suffered the normal-for-Brands bit of gravel hitting the windscreen.  Who hasn't had this?  An annoying crack, or "bullet-hole" which may mean that the whole 'screen needs replacing before the next race.  But one of the drivers' 'screens had been fitted with toughened glass - rather than laminated - which meant that the whole thing disintegrated into an opaque mess.  Highly dangerous - not only because of the almost instant and total loss of forward visibility, but also the large amount of glass fragments that ended up all over the place.  Our regs state: 5.6.2 (iii) h. "Windscreen glass is free provided that it conforms to the Caterham standard outline dimensions and thickness. Windscreens shall be laminated glass".  MSA also require laminated glass [G] 101: "If the windscreen is glass it shall be of a laminated type."If you have sourced a replacement 'screen from Caterham Cars or McMillan Motorsport (who buy theirs from CC), it will be of the correct type.  Most laminated 'screens (and all supplied via CC, I believe) have stuff printed on them to confirm that they are laminated, but maybe not all.  If you have sourced a 'screen from anywhere else, and can see nothing on it to say that it is laminated, I would suggest you check with the supplier to be absolutely certain you have the correct type.  If in doubt, replace it before your next race.  Or inspect it: if you remove the screen so that you can see the edge of the glass, the "sandwich" construction of a laminated 'screen can easily be verified.  (Another means of identification is if it already has a small crack or chip; this almost certainly confirms it to be of the right type - otherwise, it would be shattered!)  Be warned that our scrutineer takes this issue very seriously and will be checking 'screens at Silverstone and excluding any that cannot be readily confirmed as laminated.Mon, 9 Jun 2008 09:35:59 GMT22254 Brands - changes - qualy lists, etc.I am delighted (in one way) to report that several drivers have made last minute withdrawals and that those who were reserves a few days ago have now been promoted to "full" entries.  The grand total is currently 94 (two fewer than the max  - 96 - that can race on our three grids) - 18 Classics, 40 Supers and 36 Megas.  The final closing date is now passed so we know there can be no more entries.  Although there can still be withdrawals, which still could change things - if we lose two more Supers, we can abandon all this complicated split/combined two class practice sessions!!!SO IT WOULD BE A GREAT HELP IF ANY FURTHER DRIVERS WHO WITHDRAW COULD GET IN TOUCH WITH ME AT THEIR VERY EARLIEST CONVENIENCE!  07768 540 848.So we can now refine some of the stuff that was announced on Monday:The split into the two practice sessions is set out in the table below.  As previously stated, it has been split by ordering all entries by championship position (as per the table on the Graduates web-site) and then putting them alternately into each session.  These tables are the definitive article which BARC now have.  They will not be changed, even if we have further withdrawals.  All drivers must practice in the allocated session - swapping is definitely not permitted!Note that now we are down to 94 entries, so we have capacity for a qualification race for both Super and Megas.  In each case, their class's main race will be made up of the fastest 31 entries - the remainder will be in the Classics race and the class winners will take up grid position 32 in the class's main race.  In Supers, the 31 will be the fastest 16 from practice session 1 and the fastest 15 from practice 3. Practice 1, 9.00 Practice 3, 9.50 Practice 5, 10.40 Classics (9) Classics (9) Megas (36) 75 Adam Bettinson 71 Graeme Smith 1 Jamie Ellwood 80 Charles Fitzhugh 76 Sheila Marshall 4 Declan Dolan 88 Matthew Gillbanks 78 Pete Cannard 5 Martin Amison 84 Trevor Harber 91 Nigel Liddell 6 John Parker 81 Darren Grainger 77 Flick Haigh 7 Nick Frost 90 Andrew Sagar 97 Tony Barson 9 Glyn Davies 92 David Pearson 74 Toby Briant 10 Tom Overton 86 Terry Palmer 85 Keith Britnell 11 Adrian Russell 83 Colin Rothwell 95 Jennifer Grace 14 James Barlow 15 Mark Harrison Supers (20) Supers (20) 16 Ian Noble 112 Trevor Newman 121 Edward Benson 17 Paul Manyweathers 104 Hugh Smith 130 Paul Turley 18 George Longmuir 154 Gareth Thomas 120 Roger Ford 19 Andrew Ennis 117 Andy Hawken 190 Mark Roberts 22 Andrew Smith 103 James Sibbet 113 Damon Rosamond 23 Louis Redshaw 100 Andy Skinner 181 Tim Gudgeon-Osterritter 26 Kim Rayment 175 David Shaw 137 Tom Hayman-Joyce 27 Simon Wedgewood 166 Charles Elliott 171 Rob Winrow 28 Chris Fox 188 Alan Harber 118 Mick Whitehead 29 William Sharman 131 Colin Jardine 146 Nick Pancisi 30 Paul Hudson 109 Chris Rome 152 Michael Fesemeyer 31 Nick Haryett 124 Neil Shinner 128 Martin Kay 35 Bob Wilson 132 Martin Gee 122 Darrell Wilson 36 Trevor Carvey 123 Jonathan Miller 127 Gareth Cordey 37 Chris Milner 173 Oliver Benjamin 177 James Potter 38 Matthew Burrows 114 Yolande Humphreys 164 Paul Elliott 40 James McCutcheon 142 David Adams 106 Ben Rockey 42 Tim Jump 180 Stuart Henniker-Smith 126 Chris Williams 43 Mick Palfrey 199 Stephen Humphreys 161 James Thorpe 44 Andy Coombs 115 Gary Smith 179 Nicholas Brandon 50 Keith Chanter 51 Barry Chantler 54 Peter Frith 55 Mark Heywood 57 Dave OCarroll 68 Stuart Simpson Note that if we have two more Supers drop-outs/withdrawals, the split sessions will be abandoned and we will revert back to single class practice as per the official timetable.  We may not know this until Saturday morning, so all Classics are advised to arrive in time for Practice 1, just in case!   First-time drivers briefings, as in the final instructions:  These are compulsory, before practice.  Anyone in Practice 1 is advised to be really early and to drive their cars up to the assembly area for 8.25, ready to walk along to the briefing a few garages along from there) at 8.30.Wed, 4 Jun 2008 23:00:19 GMT22197 IMPORTANT!!!    Caterham Graduates at Brands, 7 June 2008As previously mentioned, we have too many entries for Brands but the excess came in too late for us to negotiate extra space.  So we're stuck with it.  With a grid max of 32 it was always very likely that we would have excess entries for Supers and Megas and that the slowest qualifiers from both would end up racing with Classics (as at Rockingham).  We could have decided to artificially restrict entries to 94 so that the Supers and Megas had a qualification race with the Classics (the winner of each class going forward to the main race) but instead we asked BARC to accept all the first 96