Opel Manta Owners Club UK

Midland Area

We came, we saw, we burnt rubber!

Unfortunately there was only a few of us who made it to this meeting, as the weather had been sh.t to say the lest, James and his crew decided that they did not what to risk travelling 150 mile just to sit in the rain. I must admit, I was watching the local forecast with a close eye, cloudy but dry, they said, so a few phone calls later and we where on again.

7.30 in the morning saw me on the way to pick up Lee & Kez + baby (Luke) and then back to mine to meet up with Graham and Kendre. When Graham & Kendre arrived they had in tow Graham’s brother Jim and friend in Jim's newly acquired 2 tone GTE coupe. They had travelled up to Coventry from Bristol that morning after talking to Graham the night before. ( Keen ! or what!).

And so we set off, with my V6 A Series leading, Grahams GTE Hatch and Jim bring up the rear. A few turned heads and a bit of fun later we arrived at Santa Pod to find Anne waiting for us in her GSI V6 Vectra. "Chris, how much cash have you got on you" was among the greeting, Anne had forgotten to pick up her hand bag, only to find out when she went to pay at the gate. Luckily I had stooped to get cash and so was able to lend her some, problem solved, or so we thought. Anne's driving licence was also in her bag and no driving licence meant she would not be able to go on the strip.
It was at this point that Graham realised that he had forgot his licence as well and as he had not told Jim to bring his, I was the only one among us who had their driving licence. (a few chose words)
Anne Graham & Jim went to see the organisers to try and sweet talk them into letting them on the strip while the rest of us headed for the coffee kiosk. The forecast was correct, dry and cloudy, but they had not mentioned the bitter wind. The trio returned with good news all three had been allowed to run so the competition among us was on.

First up were Anne and myself. This was going to be interesting as we where both running the same engine and electronics. My V6 was out of a GSI Vectra.
I'm using an 1800 Manta gear box and first is just too lively, the lights when green I floored it and just lit up the rear end, very nice to watch, but doing me no favours. Anne was away and I was going nowhere fast. Grab second and I'm away, Anne has about 4 car lengths on me but I'm gaining fast, into third and now she's pulling by the half way point we're side by side, my foots flat to the floor I'm hitting 5500rpm as we go over the line together. The adrenaline rush over we headed back to the others and to find out our times.

Next up were Graham and Jim. The lights turned green and they were off. What a sight to behold, two Manta's going head to head on full throttle. Graham just pinched the win with a 17.4 sec Jim was only just behind with a 17.5 sec

When Graham and Jim came back it was decided that a cup of coffee was in order, so off we all went Coffee in hand we went for a wonder around the paddock. There was a large mix of cars and bikes, we even found a Manta hatch towing a Funny car. The track action was just as good, some mad bas**t was doing sub11's on his bike reaching over 150mph, we had a Funny car blow it's gearbox, plus all the boy racers. Then on top of all this we still had more run of our own to do.

All in all despite the cold wind, we all had a really good day, and so it was that we headed for a local pub to get some warm food and a good drink.

Best times of the day:
Chris V6 A Series.  15.901
Anne V6 GSI Vectra.  16.905
Graham GTE Hatch.  17.3
Jim GTE Coupe.  17.37

I will be organising another meeting here later on in the year, so cheek out the pics and see what you missed, and then keep your eyes open for details later on in the year and make a date to join us.