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MODSTOX
NEWSLETTER
January 2010
A Few Words from your new Chairman aka Diary from a Madman…..
Happy New Year to you all and welcome to the first newsletter of 2010. This is the first time I have written anything for a newsletter so I hope you find it worth reading!!
Firstly I’d like to thank you all for your support in voting for me at the AGM and I hope I get the decisions right during this year. I’m sure you’ll let me know if I’ve cocked it up!!
Well, with the 3 of us running things (thanks to Craig Mack and Gary Picken staying on) we hope to take the formula forward and back into the eyes of the promoters and spectators alike, and by getting fixtures the club have been striving to get for the last few years we hope to entice more drivers along the way. We can only do this by keeping the formula up to spec within the banner of the ORCi, and by maintaining a good level of organisation as a club at the meetings, and most importantly of all, with the co-operation of all of you out there.
These meetings will only work if we all pull together and get out there racing in sufficient numbers. It’s no good us getting great fixtures (more on that later), then us only getting 9 or 10 cars out there. To be successful in the eyes of the promoters we will be expecting 15 to 20 cars out there, making us worth watching and hopefully helping us for future negotiations.
I’m aware that there are new cars being built and older cars being re-vamped for the forthcoming season, with drivers old and new. I hope that they are progressing well, and if any of you have any questions regarding rules or technical matters please don’t hesitate to ask for advice. Our central email address will be on this newsletter somewhere.
Well then I’ll finish my personal ramblings for now and hope to see you all for our opening meeting on April 3rd at Birmingham.
I’m aware there was a post-AGM newsletter with the changes on there, but there have been other enforced changes for us consider. So here at a glance is what has changed:
Rollcage
– We have allowed the construction of rollcages to mirror those that are readily
used in the F2’s and Superstox formulas. This mainly covers the construction
around the central legs of the rollcage, thus making the conversion of such a
chassis a more appealing prospect in the light of so few existing cars being for
sale at the moment.
Inlet Manifold – We have voted in a cheap modification, which can be done at home, and will help the Reliant engines run better, and gain a small amount of power. Pictured right the modification simply combines the two ports into one.
Track Width – We have voted in a maximum track width for a Modstox to be 62” to the outer edge of the tyres in a bid to aid the policing of the front track of cars at meetings.
Tyres – For a tyre to be classed as a competition tyre and not a road-going tyre the tyre must have ‘FOR COMPETITION USE ONLY’ stamped on the sidewall.
Front Bumpers – As a safety feature it was deemed essential that all bolt-on bumpers must be secured with additional chains. Chain dimensions and how they are to be applied can be seen in the rule book.
Drivers Age – Following on from the AGM, and after consulting promoters with a view to race on their tracks it has become apparent that the minimum age for drivers racing in adult classes is now 16 at all of the tracks. In light of this we have had to follow suit and make our minimum age for drivers be 16 too.
A full copy of the 2010 rules is attached
The full fixture list is attached to the newsletter, but we as a club would like to thank all the promoters who we have asked and have allowed us to race at their tracks in 2010. Some of these tracks have been raced at before whether it was recently or a few years back, and some are new to the club.
We would like to welcome back Incarace who have provided a lot of dates for us with their new ‘I-race series’ meetings at both Birmingham Wheels and Northampton International Raceway, and thanks to Brampton and Buxton for allowing us back on their tracks in the new season. Another track we are keen to try out is the new-for-2009 Eddie Wright Raceway at Scunthorpe, where we have 1 meeting in August for us to impress the promoter.
All in all we have 14 dates during 2010 starting on April 3rd at Birmingham, and culminating on November 13th also at Birmingham where we will be racing for the I-race series final.
We may have additional paperwork to fill in for these meetings, and we will inform you of this as and when we get the information.
With us having 14 meetings this year, it does mean that Grimley and Blyton have been left off this season. It was a difficult decision to make, but we do hope that we can revisit these tracks in the future.
Website – At the moment we are awaiting answers regarding the new website and when it may be ready to use. We will release details as and when we get them.
Meeting Reports – We are hoping that the good work done in 2009 (thanks in no small part to Martin Baker #501) with reports and pictures being posted on the Allstox forum will be continued as this has provided us some new drivers in the last 12 months. We hope to send these off to Short Circuit, and Stockcar magazines along with other publications, for their inclusion too.
Youtube videos – the legendary ‘Reggie-vision’ should continue in 2010 supplemented by ‘Gary-vision’ when Gary isn’t trackside, which always helps meeting reports. If possible we’d also like to do more in-car videos in 2010 if logistics allow – after all if we get 15+ cars it should make in-car footage even more interesting.
Articles / Stories – From seeing stories being published in magazines lately, we hope to send in a series of articles, driver profiles etc for them to be included, as we do have a great mix of drivers from a wide variety of backgrounds which could make interesting reading. Be aware if I, Craig or Gary start asking questions where it may end up!!!
From what we know and what we have heard this is what’s happening in the world of Modstox so far:
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#388
Ian Broomhead has sold his chassis on to a new driver, Nick Smith (who is the
brother-in-law of Mark Trueman #808), and is now converting a Higman F2 chassis
for the forthcoming season. Nick Smith on the other hand is working hard on his
new car getting it ready for the season.
- #808 Mark Trueman is now in possession of the ex Mark Moorwood / Nick Smith project chassis, and is hoping to complete this new chassis soon. As you can see right he is making good progress and once complete will sell on his current car. Nephew Ian Smith is also looking for a car for 2010.
- News from Sam Coles #324 is that between him and his friends down in Kings Lynn – reliant banger racers Darren #7 & Gary #8 Burkitt, they are currently putting together no less than 3 chassis, all being F2 chassis conversions.
- Richard Edwards (brother of #6 Andrew Edwards) has the ex #999 Mark Tennant car at his disposal and is readying it for the new season. Currently fully stripped down to the bare metal with nerfs and bumper removed, should look well when finished.
- Andrew Fraulo#77 has the ex Gary Picken, Dave Shaw owned chassis in his possession and is refurbishing it as we speak and is also on the lookout for another car for his son.
- Gary Picken #93 as advised at the AGM is retiring from racing at the end of 2010 –our longest serving driver having started in the Formula Fiat days of 1994, and is carrying on the retro theme by having a new, correction old, car for 2010 – the Reggie #191 rollover championship winning car (from which the rollcage is actually off his original modstox!). Gary’s 2009 sprint style car will shortly be for sale following a bit of TLC.
- Gary Cain is the owner of the ex-Steve Denbigh #12 car and is undertaking a major revamping of this car prior to getting out there racing.