NORTH EAST AREA MINI MEET - BARFORD RACEWAY
SUNDAY 7TH APRIL
North East Monthly Meet 7th April 2002
Sometimes it’s difficult to wait for things to arrive, like Christmas or
birthdays, well Aprils monthly meet was a bit like that. The weather forecast
had predicted a warm sunny day and as they are always right it meant only one
thing, quickly organise a local run out.
As it happened Sunday the 7th of April was scheduled for our regular local
monthly meeting at the Church Mouse pub in Durham, a few e-mails and it was
on, a quick lunch at the Mouse and then of for a local mini run.
A few days earlier I was talking to the Toyota parts manager Shaun Doyle, who
runs the MR2 Drivers Club Borders region and he happened to mention there was a
Stock car and banger racing meet happening on the Sunday. After contacting our
local members they all agreed it would be a great idea.
Sunday came and guess what, SUN!!! Fantastic, quickly polished Joanne's red
rocket and we set off for the Mouse ( John, you must remember we meet at 11.30
not 10.30 ) The usual enthusiastic members arrived with Paul Woods bringing
along his mate to get a taste of the CLUB experience.
We had a quick lunch and headed off to the Barford Raceway near Barnard
Castle to watch the drama unfold. If you have never been to watch Stock-car or
banger racing then get yourself along, its fab. This is grass roots motorsport
at its very best. The meet consisted of F-2 Stock, hot-rods, bangers and
Mini-Stock. Some drivers looked as young as 10!! Really good action, we almost
got wiped out by a loose wheel which came off a car that crashed heavily right
in front of us.
Mike Johnson brought along a new model of a blue mica MK1 T-Bar which he
bought from an internet auction. This model is the best MK1 model that I have
ever seen, superb detail and very rare, heavily reflected in the price.
Towards the end of the day we began to finalise plans for our next meeting on
the 28th April, the Jim Clarke Northumberland Coast Run, where we plan to have a
BBQ on the beach at the fantastic Bamburgh Castle. All members welcome, there
are still places left if you would like to come along. See you soon.
Michael Sheavills - North East Events Organiser
Members Joanne Thom, Viv Allison, Mike Johnson, Keith Smith
En route in convoy
Keith Smith inspects the dust on his new paintwork
Barford Raceway at Barnard Castle in Durham
Fantastic grass roots motorsport
A superb local North East mini-meet
