Report: FCS 2016

[Eeyore]

Before we even begin I want to put it out there that this years FCS was amazing. The show itself was probably the poorest it has been recently in terms of trade support and things to do on the day but 306oc had a fantastic turn out in both numbers and the quality of cars on show. Every was super friendly, willing to help fix other peoples cars and the evenings were great too.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Half of team EA met at my house for car cleaning before heading off to meet the rest at 5.20pm at tesco copdock. After grabbing food and petrol we set of. Dan and I had walkie talkies however Dan was unfortunately left behind in his 1.4 at the first round about. This was strange as 200 miles later he arrived 30 seconds after us yet we never saw him on the drive! Congrats for only just passing your test and then doing the 200 mile trip on your own buddy. 



Our convoy avoided motorways and went cross country including a random housing estate where we blocked off a road. Tom and Lu had a chat and pretty much stopped on an empty dual carriage way as Bates and I razzed it round the round about. Put the ds2500s to the test and the car squirmed and the stop light came on. Fun times! 4 hours later and we arrived on site and pitched our 8 man tent and sat around the fire with everyone. With little BBQ we ordered dominos and bates and i went in the rallye to go and get it.

SATURDAY

Up at 8 for lovely warm showers. Round to the stand where Cully had already started organising cars. I helped with the remaining cars to go on front row and packing everyone else in round the back. Unfortunately the stand was smaller that it needed to be and people werent going anywhere if they werent front row. ZX_Volcane arrived with 3 nice wheels and a grotty steel but luckily had some black spray so got busy with the cans.



 Track time people went off for soundcheck and everyone passed. Briefing was the same as ever with the same old man and the same jokes that we have all heard so many times now. 11am came which was the time most people were on track. Bates managed to swap his track time to join the session. We all queued up and the diesel lovers ended up side by side. 20 cars on track at a time but "open pit" was a bit of a poor description. probably about 30-40 cars were booked on which meant cars were held in the pits on a 1 off 1 on basis. Red flags essentially forced people on and off!



And we were off. Straight out of the pits the rallye overtook bash in the stage 1 hdi wagon. Bates followed in the astor 6 and sat behind the entire time slowly getting further away. A red 205 infront was consistantly just there with no straight long enough to pull an overtake... not when the whole session was red flagged due to a volvo locking its osf caliper 10 minutes in. All of us off and back into the pits.



Second time out the rallye was on maximum attack. Tyre pressures dropped to 24/25 and the fact they were rainsport 2s made for some interesting handling. Im going to say it was good despite having not a lot of grip. The whole setup was very predictable. Several overtakes in and I hadnt seen anyone but bates behind. Weird seeing as there were loads of members booked in!

And from here on in the weekend went a bit pear shaped...




 Looked in the rear view to see if bates was there and couldnt see anything... just lots of smoke. Cooked head i guessed but all the gauges seemed okay and power was still there.... caution lights on and slowing down before pulling off the track and along side the barrier. Red flags finally come out and heart sinks. As the car stops smoke comes through the vents and out of the bonnet. Fire extinguisher out I cautiously opened the bay. Theres a bit of oil where the dip stick has blown out but nothing to worry about but smoke is still pouring off the exhaust manifold and from down the back of the bulkhead. Luckily Ferry was there to capture the moment...




Shortly a man in a van arrives and congratulates me on dropping fluid around half the course. It was done fairly banterously so didnt feel too bad. He tells me the tow of shame will be here soon with a smile on his face and sure enough the ambulance arrives and tows me round the rest of the course. Threw in some waves to the crowd and got smiles and wave back. Lets keep everyone in good spirits!



Im dropped off into the holding area and marshals check the bay to see what ive actually lost. Turns out to be PAS. I hear the track in action again so ive taken no more than 10 mins of everyones time. Nothing else said and havent had any contact since so i presume thats it! Really well handled and quick to get track back running. I drove the car out of the holding area and next to one of the buildings where I left it for the rest of the day. Didnt want to feel bad so just got on with enjoying the show. Dan jumped in with Bates and I jumped in Steves MG. 



MG times were good. Its really planted and lots of grip. Brakes were and issue and best moment had to be steve going into the Esses and just saying "nope" steering the wrong way and just cutting straight across the grass. We did a cool down lap and got one more stop out of the brakes but they were done so we called it a day and decided that nobody had actually won out of the MG vs Rallye battle.

After lunch I cleaned the back of the rallye with the free stuff from PFC stand. PAS fluid had stuck all over the back so needed to be cleaned off as I had no idea what it would do to the paint if left on for too long.



We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting up at quarry. Most of the club was here. ZX_Volcane whipped out his massive one and snapped some pictures.



Whilst Allie and Steve slept... with the addition of Toselands hat.



A group of us then went to the brewers fayre for a pub dinner. Once we had done that Steve and I started to have a look a the rallye... together....



I had spotted a hard PAS pipe resting on the ARB which had rubbed the paint off but hadnt gone any further. Everything was covered in fluid and there was nothing left in the rack to see where it was coming from. Adam Cafer with a caged 206 came and had a look and spotted the problem immediately. It was one of the hoses on the low pressure return had split on a bend. Bash arrived and cut the hose back and reattached it. Small issue, big effect it would seem! Best photo ever!



With the car now fixed we needed PAS fluid. I took the opportunity to drive Steves rover. We went to 4 petrol stations and 2 supermarkets and found nothing. We then phoned puglove to see if he had any and he offered to pick some up from halfords and bring it in the morning. HERO! 



What then happened was the ride became a bit rumbly. Steve i dont want to drive it when it feels like theres a flat.... yep theres a flat... yes ive broken your car as well :'(
OSF was flat which we later found to be a side wall. Probably a combination of worn tyres, still at track pressure of 24 and maybe due to going over a miniroundabout which was a bit more raised that i thought it was. Space saver wouldnt fit the front due to brakes so we had to put it on the rear and then rear to front. Sam and I helped changed the wheel.





Once we arrived back we sat around the fire... I thought about how tragic the day had been... Saturday... Im so done with you.

SUNDAY

Woke up early... showers are freezing. Camp packed up. Found the puncture was in steves tyre wall. Rnadom ds3 owner tells steve where a tyre place is and he heads off to get a new tyre and thankfully returns with a new budget fitted in time for the parade lap! In the mean time Dan, Bash, Lady Bash, Bates and I go for breakfast in the tavern which apparently opens as soon as people get there. We had the place to ourselves. Went back to camp to find it empty, seems some weird switcheroo happened where half the club missed the other half. 

We all ended back on stand in the main area. Puglove arrived with 2L of PAS fluid. I put it in and then let the residue burn off the manifold and did 3 laps of the show area to keep it going. Lady Bashs dturbo also started dropping diesel so bash fixed this with the most unstealth stealth bum from bates. Notice DumDum supporting the club in the club vest.




Parade lap forms completed we all drove over to the pits and went out on track. 3 Laps later we were all back in and saying goodbye before leaving.

Car is now home after the 190 mile 3.5hr drive home including delivering some fiesta parts to toms306.



and here is the split hose!



So yes, FCS 2016. Verdict... show... average to poor. People and cars... amazing! Had such a great time and I have been told by several new members that they really enjoyed it and want to come to pugfest! A massive thanks to everyone who helped fix cars, get me around. Special thanks to bash whose tent we stayed in and mainly for fixing the PAS pipe. Puglove for bringing me PAS fluid. Finally Steve for letting me use and then break his car... Such support and banter to all! THANKYOU! best photo ever!


Just FYI there were several black 306s... one hdi 5 door had a smash on the front drivers side, lapit hit a cone and damaged a wing and door, i dropped my PAS and another in the first session rolled at quarry. Not a good day for team black 306 and parts will now be even harder to find!

[1616six]

Awesome write up, sounds like a great weekend!

Shame you left Dan & didn't hang back for him considering he's a new driver on a long journey but meh that's down to you lot

Good efforts from everyone, we need more meets.

[Piggy]

Yeah show was utterly crap.
Day though was best car day out ever.
Theres talk of it being at donnington next year...maybe liven it up.
306oc quarry corner viewinf area was ace...

And the effec the day had on my two mates, one owns r32 and other the track spec 328... Mitch wants a french hot hatch again, mike rang me tonight and we are doing a 205xudturbo for him

[Eeyore]

Awesome write up, sounds like a great weekend!

Shame you left Dan & didn't hang back for him considering he's a new driver on a long journey but meh that's down to you lot

Good efforts from everyone, we need more meets.

He's a big boy really and had sat nav set up. We kept in vague contact but didn't want to distract too much!

[zx_volcane]

Great write up Sam

Much love had by all, all day

Not sure where the time went, but show seemed to wrap up pretty early imo - lots of empty stands early on.

[Paul Baldwin]

Great write up Sam, enjoyed that :-) Still rather gutted at that bloody hose episode I was looking forward to that. Hey ho, maybe next year?
Well done to Dan too, didn't realise he had just passed his test. I'm sure that experience will keep him in good stead tho and it may just encourage him to get some more miles under his belt.
Feeling the same way about the "show" being pretty poor tbh, the people and track time made the day tho :-)

[Toms306]

Decent write up, as above shame the PAS issue but at least you got some track time in before that! If it moves back to Donnington I might consider it next year lol.

Shame you left Dan & didn't hang back for him considering he's a new driver on a long journey but meh that's down to you lot

Might've been better for him not to convoy tbf, some people can be a bad influence...

[fatlapit]

Nice to see some of you guys. Yeah i hit a cone that turned out had a concrete base. Ripped out the inner arch, bust the wing and split the skirt. Apparently there will be no camping next year so tbh i dunno how much of it is true but if it is i wont be making the 16 hr round trip for fcs next year.

[Eeyore]

I'll be amazed if they don't have camping. That will definitely kill it off!

[rocker8742]

My black 306 made it there and back in one piece with time on track [emoji6]

real shame about the hose mate when I saw your car parked up where it was I figured somethings was up was looking forward to seeing it out on track


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[LadySteve]

Awesome right up and some great pics Rowell. Sorry I was a pissy bitch on Saturday Night. Just typical something would go wrong with Steves car (it is an MG afterall).

However i really enjoyed the weekend and feel it was one of the best FCS weekends Ive been to. Everyone was super chilled. Everyone got on well. Even the security liked us and let us keep our fire going which is completely unusual (usually we are being threatened to be kicked out :L).

Top Bants with Top People. Yeh the show was a bit dire this year in terms of No Dodgems and very little stalls - but i think the general atmosphere with the group completely made up for that in the long run! and TBF most of us go for the company and the track rather than the actual show anyway.

So thanks to everyone for a sick weekend Unfortunately dont think we will be going to Pugfest, but we shall see you at the christmas meet for sure