Rockingham Final Rounds
Photos Dave Smith
After a very hectic 4 weeks and a lot of hard work the team arrived at the track still with work to do on the truck even though Antony started work on it at 3am Saturday morning,
The crew had worked many late nights, even Mark Willis and 3 of his crew arrived one night with a windscreen and stayed on late into the night helping. (Thanks guys it was big help).

Saturday Practice
It was decided by the team they would only do a few shakedown laps then back into the paddock for a full spanner check,
Although everything was set up as before the September crash the new chassis felt very different, and they found a problem with the steering rack, so the crew spent some time fixing the rack and convincing Antony the steering was ok, no time for any more laps.

Race 1 Sunday
Starting from the rear of the grid this race was all about getting the feel of the truck and Antony regaining confidence in himself. Lap 1 turn 2 and Steve Dance goes into the wall very hard (with a little help from someone) right in front of our Pickup, not the ideal start, but after the restart and with light rain in the air Antony settled down to getting some laps in, - finishing the race in 15th spot.

Race 2
Starting from the back of the grid through choice, feeling more confident Antony started to pass trucks before the rain came with several trucks spinning and all the Pickups were bought into pit lane to change onto wet tyres.
This was the first time Antony had driven the truck in the wet, it didn’t feel to bad but still not feeling 100% confident Antony concentrated on bringing it home in one piece, finishing in 11th place. Not a bad result and it made all the hard work by the team over last 4 weeks all seem worth it.

Antony would like say a special thanks to:

• The team - Ian Kerry, crew chief and sponsor
• Eugene Farrell, spotter no1
• John Kerry, spotter no2 and sponsor
• Steve Davey mechanic
• Roy Hawkins, dad and sponsor
• Partner Sarah and all the family

Sponsors:

• Topserve Autos
• Topserve Race Engines
• JK Mechanical Services
• Short Circuit magazine
• Brindley Asphalt
• Bauder

Rockingham Rounds 9 & 10

Rockingham Rounds 7 & 8
This was a disappointing meeting which started rather well with a fast lap in practice on Saturday of 41.022 seconds, which was 2nd quickest to Phil White. Race one was a bit disappointing - 12th place and race two even worse - spinning on one lap 1. The team had fitted new tyres that we thought were scrubbed in enough, but weren't. Combined with Antony's slightly cautious start to race 1 Antony decided to go for it from the green. Oh dear, into turn 2, the rear end snaps loose and spin out of contention, thankfully not hitting anything. The resultant spin saw the team call it a day as all the new tyres were badly flat spotted.

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Rockingham Rounds 5 & 6

The June meeting was such a disaster with the crash and the lack of power so the Pickup just couldn't pass anyone, the team found a major fault with the cams that had been supplied, the engine was taken out and a total rebuild by Topserve, so the team were looking forward to round 5

Saturday test
Pickup and engine felt good, completed 45 laps finishing 9th fastest. 5th fastest for ages but several Pickups put fast times in the last few minutes.

Race 1
Started 6th, up to 3rd on lap 1, going for 2nd on lap 2 but on turn 4 the Pickup got loose and dropped back to about 15th. Finished 10th, best result so far this year and our fastest lap of the year a 41.022 seconds, over a full second on previous lap.

Race 2

Started 5th, but after dropping back in the early stages got back up to 7th after passing some quick drivers. Antony hoped that one or two of these would help to draft up to the lead pack but the Pickup was running so strong it pulled clear, Antony started to catch the lead pack who were all drafting but run out of laps, and with no drafting help, finished a lonely 7th 5.589 seconds behind the leader, the teams best result so far?

A special thanks to Topserve engines and all the crew Ian, John, Eugene, Steve for all the hard work they have done since the last meeting, and with some more work on the engine sorting out the cams, and suspension the team eagerly await the next rounds!

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Rockingham Round 3 & 4
After what our team considered to be a successful meeting at the first meeting at Rockingham back in May we were looking forward to making further progress, especially as we were getting to grips with the handling and with the latest Rockingham spec. cams fitted to the engine we should have that bit more power we were lacking for the June 6th meeting

Saturday Testing - Session 1
After 5 shake down laps in was back to pit lane for the crew to have a quick check over the truck and back out for some hot laps. After several laps the truck seemed to be handling well although my spotter said we ere 6th fastest, the engine felt flat at full throttle, so back to pit lane for a chat with the crew. Engine man Steve changes the jets, and the team also mad some damper changes. After two laps truck not handling so back in for adjustments, truck now handling well but still not pulling full revs!

Saturday Testing - Session 2
With adjustments made to fuel pressure we were hoping for some faster lap times, but it was no better so after completing the necessary laps to qualify for the Sunday races it was back to the paddock to find the fault.

Evening Fun
The crew checked fuel line, pump etc only to find the pump was full of what looked like grit so a new pump, fuel tank out, carbs and fuel line off and all cleaned, this had to be the problem right?
It was now time start the BBQ have a few drinks and enjoy the evening about 9.00pm the DofT teams are in the pit lane practicing the pit stops, while watching them we notice a lot of noise on the other side of the track near the trade stands. Thinking it might be a party we go the investigate only to find it's the bucking bronco guys playing music and having a drink. After talking to them for a while they talked us all into having a go on the bucking bronco, with chief mechanic JK winning staying on the longest!

Sunday - it's Race Day
Early start 7am, JK makes the bacon butties, crew chief Ian sits reading the Short Circuit mag and the Rockingham program, then its time for signing on and get the truck prepared for race one.

Race 1
With the warm up laps it's green flag and after just a few laps the quick drivers are off leaving us in around 14th place. Still, some chance to draft with 3 to 4 other trucks and although the truck could corner faster than the others it lacked   the straight line speed to pull away like the front runners could. Although the engine was better it was still not right and the truck finished in 12th place.

Race 2

Despite the teams best endeavours there did not appear to be anything wrong with the engine so it was a case of simply trying for as high a place as possible. With the warm up laps complete it was lap one, and in turn four where it all went wrong. There are trucks high and low, and someone runs into the back of ours sending it into a sideways spin and head-on into the tyre wall. End of race. Luckily driver OK and also truck not too badly damaged. Nothing a couple of new panels and some paint won't fix.
All in all a very disappointing meeting after the crew had worked hard before and during the meeting. This is racing and the team will be back in July even more determined!!! And the engine will be totally re-built to find its lack of top end power.

The team tested on the Saturday 1st May at Rockingham but unfortunately the track was a little damp to say the least so no real dry weather testing. However the team did manage to get rid of most of the understeer, and in the two dry races on the Sunday Antony kept out of the way of the really quick racers, and posted a fastest lap in race one of 41.813 seconds, and even quicker in race two of 41.692  seconds. The fastest lap was taken by Stretch Harrison with a 40.839 seconds, but he was 'drafting' with the leaders at the time, so the Short Circuit Pickup is very nearly up to speed. Two 12th places may not sound that good, but in a debut meeting, the team were more than happy, with Antony also getting the chance to practice what drafting is all about with the mid-field runners. It also made a change to take a race car back to the workshop without a single scratch on it. With some 'tweaks' to be made before the next Rockingham Rounds we anticipate a run towards the front of the pack rather than mid-field. Who knows? The Pickup will not be appearing at Thruxton unfortunately, but that is one round the team were not planning on doing anyway thanks to prior commitments.

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Rockingham Debut

Story and photo Richard-John Neil
The Short Circuit Pickup Truck raced by Antony Hawkins made its Rockingham debut on Friday 26th March as the ex Outlaw Hot Rod star undertook his rookie training on the 1.5 mile oval. Anthony was soon up to speed in the car which has already had a brief shakedown at Silverstone. There were three other new drivers present including ex Hot Rodder Paul Thurgood, V-Sports racer Martin Heath and Dean Forward. Forward will be running the ex Stretch Harrison machine with a view to expanding the team next season. He already has long time Pickup man Mark Jones in line to race the Truck at the opening round, Oulton Park on Easter Monday.
Twelve new Pickup spotters were also trained today, the sessions were presented by Sonny Howard along with Rockingham's chief spotter and three other very experienced team members. All provided a useful insight into what is clearly a vital and responsible role.