This meeting was a combined European and UK National meeting. The four European races were over the weekend and then on the Holiday Monday we had three UK National races. To make the time table fit, the open races were omitted.

Penton Lake is mainly a water course with only a small land section which consisted of a fairly steep transition out of the water and then an almost continuous left hand bend back to the transition to water. The land section was taken pretty much at full power all the way keeping the line tight. From the dummy grid the two levels of the drop down to the water were more challenging as the tight line couldn't be used so we were obliged to go the "bumpier" route. More about this later.

The course was anti clockwise. From the dummy grid it was a drop to water after a short sprint. Then a long drag down the water to the bottom sweeping left hand bend. This sounds boring - it wasn't - the trees on the (right hand) lake side caused all sorts of swirls and eddies. One second it was full elevator up then full elevator down then stand on the "pegs" as the craft reared up then steer like crazy as the craft veered. Not one race or even lap was the same as another. From the bottom bend it was a gentle and fast "S" sweep, (again the wind conditions were changing all the time but this section was more predictable) to line up to the land transition which was tall and bumpy, then a flat out left hand 180 over a wide turn back to water. The weather conditions were glorious on the Saturday, good on the Sunday and cloudy but not too windy on the Monday.

Saturday Practise.

We arrived at the course in good time and in relaxed mood. Wrong! When we took the craft out of the transporter we noticed front planing surface damage from Ken's tangle with a marker buoy at the last meeting. We hadn't spotted this before storing the craft!! In an hour and a half, we removed the lift engine and glassed up the reinforcing section on the inside of the front planing surface, replaced the thrust engine radiator, replaced most of the skirts and got the craft scrutinised!!  Jon Spedding was on scrutineering duty for the day and his expertise and co-operation was much appreciated. It made the difference in being able to get out in the first practise session. This was important as I didn't get much track time here last year so it was crucial to get some practise. Ken (the other half of Team Eagle) was not available for the day so it was down to me to wave the flag.

Europeans

Overall the Euro races were terrible for Team Eagle. The grid positions for those competing in this years Euros for the first time was on a first come first served basis, guess who arrived last on the grid. Sitting plumb last on the grid behind more than a dozen very powerful craft is an exercise in patience as you have to accept that you cannot just blast away through the pack, as being on the receiving end of an 1800 - 2000 horsepower breeze is either going to up end you or at least slow you down a bit!

It was very interesting watching the leading European racers although it wasn't a full turn out as the Swedish and Italian contingents were saving themselves for the World's. There was some very close and committed racing.

As we were out of the swim of things Ken (who did the racing on the Sunday) and I took time to learn the course and do some development work on the craft during the races.

Saturday Night

It is usual at European Race meetings for a meal to be provided. This was taken as an opportunity to combine a Queen's Jubilee "knees up" (for those not familiar with London Cockney this means a party with some very strange dancing) with an evenings entertainment of brilliant video clips of racing over the years, recorded by Paul Taylor. The evening was a success (not sure about the fish though) and the following day there was tangible evidence of Hovercrafting's reputation as being a social sport.

U.K. Nationals

Hmmm....... the Monday started with practise which because of time constraints was an open session with all senior formula allowed. I put in some quick laps to familiarise myself with the weather conditions.

On the transition to land I whacked on full power to get past some F3's and turned the steering to kick the craft left....nothing happened. I tried again. Same result. A steering ball joint had snapped and I had no steering, a sharp left corner, traffic and 40 mph!! I yanked off the lanyards and just had time to duck down in the craft as we slid straight on deep into the woods. Amazingly I didn't hit anything substantial (I missed the catch fencing by yards) and apart from the craft being decorated from front to rear in vegetation, no harm done. A good start to the day.

This was our first real session with long water straights with the craft  (Last year we blocked a radiator and cooked the engine here before getting any real race experience. I should mention our silent partner Aristoc the stocking manufacturer who now supplies the stockings that we use as a filter/protection for the cooling system. Not only are the "hold ups" very sexy but they also do a brilliant job. Full marks to an imaginative marketing department who kept a straight face and an open mind when we approached them asking for a supply!!! Its amazing how many times we get asked for them by other racers to filter fuel, air and girl friends!!). Anyway, back to the plot. The craft turns out to be nose heavy on water and ploughs in when full power is applied. This is may be partly due to the way in which the thrust is transmitted, Ken and my father have an on-going debate about turning moments, and the centre of gravity.

We have a large fuel tank under the seat which is ahead of the centre of gravity. Fully fuelled with 12 litres the craft feels nose heavy and it is significant that the craft has felt better at the end of a race than at the beginning. Having the fuel under the seat is very elegant and makes the craft look neat and tidy but for a water course maybe it is not the ideal solution. The tank will be located behind and left of the C of G  for the next race meeting.

The plough in tendency in the eddying conditions at Penton was such under power that I could not take the first water straight at more than half throttle. This meant that for all of the races on this course I wasn't very competitive despite driving the craft as fast as I dared and risked / had several plough ins during the weekend.

Having said that, the development work on the side skirts for the moment is completed and the craft is much more stable in roll. The side skirts for this meeting were changed in angle again. The craft is now 8 inches wider at the contact line than last year. Cushion pressure is now quite low. Development work on the front section of the skirts is under way with changes planned for the next race.

Races

For me, the races all kept to a pattern where I wasn't up with the leaders of Daniel Newton, Tony Goldney and Conrad Beale (number 22 or 12 depending on whether he was racing in a team with Daniel Newton or on his own) but keeping ahead of Shaun O'Gallacher. Robin Brickles and Jon Spedding of Team Meteor were present but not correct as their new craft was not quite race ready.

Daniel in the Euros chased hard and was entertaining. In the Nationals he was out in front until the last race when he had a big moment at the start on the transition to water, when his craft hit the second step of the transition at the rear of the hull which pitched the craft nose down into deep water. The craft stopped dead deep under water and Daniel was pretty well winded and water logged.

The restart for the race was delayed on the grid whilst the rules regarding numbers of craft and drivers were clarified. It was decided by the Race Director Gayle Spedding that the rules would not allow Daniel to join the restart in another craft nor could his team colleague Conrad re-number his craft to the team number of 12 (from his personal number of 22) as the race was already in progress, albeit as a re-run.

Tony Goldney went well all weekend and was unlucky to have a number of skirts knocked out in the last race which made it pretty well impossible for him to steer the craft and he had to retire. This gifted Team Eagle a third place for the weekend and keeps us within 6 points of  Tony for the Championship.

Race Director Gayle Spedding giving us the rules before racing.....

The first water straight was exciting as you could be ploughing in one second and flying the next. The trees on the right of the course created some really interesting wind swirls.

Conrad Beale who is the other half of Team Pintail with Daniel Newton was racing for the first time this season. Since he is a seasoned racer he was on the pace right away but not quite as quick as Daniel in the sister Pintail Rotax 809

Daniel attacked the transitions very aggressively all weekend. The state of the floor of his craft after the meeting showed the scars. A new floor is planned.

The woods in the background I ended up diving into at some speed, when the steering failed during a practise session on the Monday morning.

This is Conrad Beale in his own craft, a sister one to Daniels, catching air off Tony Goldney during a transition. The picture below is of the same spot when Daniel entered the lake nose down and instantly flipped.

Tony for the second meeting running had a craft crash right in front of him, Daniel was lucky not to have been clouted by his team mate who is already out of the picture to the right (a bit of the wake visible).

The van in the background with the super structure on the roof is the commentators box, the domain of Bob Beech.

The weather was great on the Saturday.... My mother gets some early morning sun (the first of the year) and chats to Bill Baker of BBV...... she spent the rest of the day repairing skirts!!

The small "T" on the race number denotes that we race as a team and that the driver may change.

Sitting the wrong way round in the craft with your feet up on the engine is surprisingly comfortable.