Stock Car Dave is out there somewhere
Sunday proved an interesting meeting at Northampton for the V8 and F1 stock cars.
The track had recently been changed from tarmac to shale and due to the weather, no amount of watering seemed to dampen down the dust caused by the racing making visibility on the corners extremely difficult for both drivers and spectators. Dave Sharp started heat one well, but after tangling with another car had to retire with damaged steering which included a bent track rod – the other car also retired damaged.
A decision was made by the Organisers to cancel the European Championship race on safety grounds due to the dangerously poor visibility but continue with the meeting with reduced grid sizes and shorter races.
Track rod straightened, Dave went out in his second heat and finished in 3rd place. In the final the track had been heavily watered to try and keep down the dust and Dave gained a 7th place in slippery conditions even after spinning off twice and rejoining the fray.
Out of the 94 cars that raced across 3 different formula Dave still managed to be 38th in the fastest laps table for the meeting. Which showed him much quicker than some of the 40 more powerful F1 stock cars who have over 500 horsepower compared with Daves 300hp.
