LFR 2023 Season - DONE! & what an AMAZING year it was too!!

 

LFR 2023 Season - DONE! & what an AMAZING year it was too!!

So our race season started with a brand new paint job for BallBreaker thanks to Rich and Pete Walters & new crew gear to go with the new look.

The 1st meeting should have been FoP but ended up being Springspeed, long story lol. BB was No. 1 off the trailer with a 8.29 on an 8.25 which we knew wouldn't last long. We ended up qualifying in 10th place but sadly had suffered some engine damage so we didn't make it to race day. Harley had an ok meeting but didn't do as well as he would have hoped, especially with this being his last year in Junior Dragster. Ada had a good meeting, popping a .004 reaction in at the last minute which put her in the no. 3  qualifying position.

Next was FoP which was just the Juniors as BB was still poorly! Harley qualified 7th but went out in round 2. However, Ada qualifying 17th then went on to reach her first final 😍- well done Ada, we are all so massively proud of you. 

Steve aka Marra Chief worked his nuts off to get BB ready for The Main Event & we were over the moon with the first pass of 8.09 @ 166mph, 2 hundredths off our previous ET PB and a HUGE 5 mph more than our best ever!! The good times didn't end there & we ended up as no. 2 qualifier. Sadly we went out in round 2 with a cherry on the tree! Harley helped out with the crewing on BB now that he's 17 which was great. Unfortunately he didn't have the best weekend in Bandit 1 qualifying 9th and going out in round 2, also with a cherry! Ada qualified in 15th place but drove Cherry Bomb to her 2nd back to back final !!!!!!!!! What a fantastic result! Unfortunately she joined Grumpy & Harley in the Cherry club but what an amazing achievement to get to her 2nd final in 2 meetings 😍😍

Summer Nationals - 13th for Harley & 15th for Mark so not so good but a fantastic 2nd place qualifier for Ada, on a flyer this year for sure! Unfortunately Mark went out on a holeshot even though he ran on his dial and Ada went out on a cherry. Harley flew the LFR flag once again to the quarter finals but lost on a cherry against the bosses daughter. Not the best meeting for us but still a few more points in the bag. As the post at the time said, next stop Hockers 😉

Hockers - WOW - JUST - WOW!! Mark getting to the final in Super Pro ET. Harley getting to the Semi Finals in Junior Dragster. Ada racing for the first time in Hockenheim. WINNING BEST APPEARING CAR WITH BALLBREAKER AT HOCKENHEIM And one thing we'll never forget is OLD BIG BALLS - MARK COULSELL

European Finals  What an event - HOT, HOT, HOT, oh and a bit of a storm too!! BB qualified 5th with a 8.304 on an 8.30!!! Sadly went out in round 1 to Billy Gane with a breakout and a shit reaction! Got to improve on this next year!! Ada finished qualifying in 18th place with a .01 - that's how high the stakes are this weekend! Adas weekend unfortunately finished in round 1 when she went out in round 1 like grumpy. Harley ended qualifying in 10th position. Much to our excitement, he made it to his first ever final which would be against good friend Luke Mugridge. Not just any final, Luke and Harley made it to the first ever 6 round Race Final that's ever happened in the UK and Europe! BUT mother nature had other ideas - after one heck of a rain/hailstone/wind storm where everyone was holding onto their gazebos for their lives, the amazing Santa Pod managed to get the track ready for racing again after about 5 hours. Unfortunately, heartbreakingly & devastatingly that meant that there were still 3 finals to run when the track officials had to call time on the 9pm curfew 😭

Last but certainly not least was National Finals!

This would be Harleys last meeting in Junior Dragster so a bit sad really for us!

So his final meeting and Harley managed to bag 4th qualifying spot. Ada was in 14th & Grumpy a respectable 9th. Harley & Ada both went out in the 1st round & Mark in round 2 so not the best meeting, however.................

Qualifying round 3 Santa Pod very kindly allowed Harley & Luke to run the final from Euros 😀 Much to our absoutle delight, Harley won - we were beyond excited - we'd waited for this for 10 years! Mom finally got to get the photo of her boy on that podium 🏁😃🏁

Now that is usually the end of the season for us but someone had an 18th birthday coming up & decided he wanted to drive his Junior Dragster 1 more time on his birthday. What he hadn't anticipated was the Marras offering to bring Wrathchild to Pod for him to drive as well!! He started the day in Bandit 1 with all of the weight taken off to see what it would do. He only pulled a .001 reaction which would have done him the world of good in any qualifying session this year! Next was his turn in Wrathchild. He did the warm up first then a few practice turns around the empty pits before setting off for the start line. 11.74 @ 121mph was what he went through the finish line on his first pass 😀 There were many cheers from the onlooking crowd on the start line, all relieved he'd managed 2nd gear and made it to his 1st quarter mile. The day just got better & Harley finished his 3 runs in Wrathchild with a best of 11.18 @ 124 mph! We finished the day with a little party with a food, drink & a few games.

So is that the end of the season now..... nope, lets take all 3 cars to Flame & Thunder just for the hell of it! Harley, Ada & Mark all got 3 runs in before the weather called time on the day.

So that is it then, oh wait, let's just finish the year off with a sneaky trip to Malta to see how they do Drag Racing 😊

Harleys 18th Birthday at Santa Pod

As 18th birthdays go, I think we can say Harleys was a huge success & ticked a few boxes too ✔️🏁🎉🖤🤍🧡🎉🏁

Harley said a while ago that he wanted to take all of the weight off his Junior once his last season was over & run it to see what it would do. As luck would have it there was a RWYB on his actual 18th so he said he would like to spend the day at Pod race his Junior & have a few friends around for a bit of a party.
So being the great parents we are lol, that's what we arranged 😉
We told a few friends what he wanted to do & that's when The Marras approached us & said would Harley like them to bring Wrathchild for him to have a go in?
Hell yes we thought but checked with him just to make sure it wouldn't be a wasted journey 😁
Yes was the answer from Harley, oh dear was the reaction from Mom 😬
Friday 13th was a horrible day so we were hoping for a much better, dryer day & thankfully that's what we got 😁 A sunny day with blue sky & white fluffy clouds ⛅️ Up early & set up the pit with all 3 cars under 1 gazebo & another for the party area. Once set up, the birthday boy & Ada set off for the 1st run.
He only pulled a .001 reaction!!! Why couldn't he have done that all year in Qualifying 🤔😬🤨🤭🤣 typical Harley 🤣 He ran 7.85 @ 80.79mph so a bit faster but maybe not as fast as he'd have liked 😁
Next run for Ada & this time against Meg Talbot in Bandit 1 😎 Not new to the 1/8th mile but used to doing it on 2 wheels not 4! She drove it like she stole it pulled quite a wheelie for a Junior, a .015 light & recording Bandit 1's best ever of 7.63 @ 83mph!! Go Meg 🏁😁🏁

Next in Bandit 1 was a nervous Liv Forth who had never been down the track before!! Brought into stage by equally nervous boyfriend Tom Kaye, she staged the car beautifully and ran an extremely respectful 8.06 @79mph 🎉 Go Liv, you did a fabulous job & we were all very proud of you 😍

And now it's Harleys turn in Wrathchild - gulps from Mom 😬 He started off with the warm up then had a little drive around in the empty pits to get familiar with the new seat. Off to the pairing lanes we went. The smiling Marras fired Harley up & off he went to the startline. After a few attempts at staging due to a cold Wrathchild and a nervous right foot, he was off! I looked around and the smiles from Dad, Steve, Marras & TCA were just as big when he pulled 2nd gear as they were when he went through the finish line 😆 We all (& there were a lot of us 😄) went crazy, jumping up and down and cheering like we'd won the lottery 😂😍😎 He did it 🏁🏁 11.74 @121mph 😀

The day just got better, the sun kept shining & we kept racing. Jack Gooding was up next in Bandit 1. He was running his Rocco but wanted another chance to take a Junior up the track. He drove it like a pro, like riding a bike 😆

Ada was having a fab day racing against so many different people that she'd never raced before 😊 If only it was a competition as Cherry Bomb was super consistent with 3 almost identical runs, typical 😄

Harley had 2 more runs with a best of 11.18 @124mph. His last run started with a HUGE burnout, encouraged by the Marras & enjoyed by us all 😂😎 & he pulled the chute just to complete the set 😀

I think we can safely say that Harley had a great day on the track 😀

So now onto the party 🥳🥳

There was the usual bbq, presents, cake, beer etc and then the 'obligatory' lol, Twister, Splat the Rat & even Play Your Cards Right which got a little bit competitive, didn't it Tom Kaye 😂

A great time was had by all and we would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who came and made it such a special day for Harley 😍

LFR - HOCKERS 2023 by Lynne

🏁 Way back in Jan, Harley asked if he could go to Hockenheim one more time (He raced there in 2015) before he finished in Junior Dragster 🏁

Why not we thought so decided to take all 3 cars (after Mark sulked that it would just be the kids 😃)

So the plans began and the saving started. Thank goodness that Leah and Colin decided to set up the Hockers Baby 2023 WhatsApp page as that gave us a few pointers to things we may have missed! Plus we had a lot of help and advice from the lovely Redshaw family.

So 20th August and Race cars are ready, documents are ready, passports are ready – let’s go racing…………….

So the boys, Mark, Steve, Harley and TCA set off on Tuesday 22^nd August for Dover. Anna and I were getting plenty of updates but I’m sure there were a lot of things that the boys left out! They got the 6am ferry on the Wednesday morning then set off for the 6+ hour journey to Hockers. They arrived safely around 6pm and I was shocked to see photos that evening of the pit fully set up with gazebos and all 3 cars so well done boys for getting set up in record time 👍

So the girls, Lynne, Anna, Ada, Rebecca & Meg got to Birmingham airport for 7am ready for the 9am flight. We arrived on time in Frankfurt and after a short wait for Megs case, headed for the car hire. After a rather long wait, we were handed the keys to a rather nice Audi Quatro 😁

We found the car and instantly Anna and myself got in the wrong side despite being really conscious that it was left hand drive – an easy mistake lol. I have to admit that I had a tiny panic attack when I sat in the car having never driven abroad before and was just about to say to Anna, I can’t do this, when she read my mind and said right lets do this! She got Google maps up and off we went. I’ve never been so grateful for a full on ‘backseat’/passenger seat driver – thanks Spanna 😊

We arrived at the track which was heating up and then our first night started with a bit of a storm 😨It didn’t stop us singing happy birthday to Meg though with obligatory cake & balloon thanks to TCA – Happy 18th birthday lovely 🎈🍰

Day 1 – Friday 25^th August (& Rebeccas birthday – more cake 🍰)

We woke up on Friday morning again to rain which meant racing started later than planned. First run for SuperPro was around half 1 and we did a respectable 8.34 which would do nicely.

The Juniors weren’t out until half 4. It was so nice that Harley and Ada paired up for the first qualifier. Ada did amazing as Hockers is quite daunting especially when you’ve never driven there before but she drove her car like the pro she is and ran a 10.29. Harley had to try to remember what it was like to race here as it was 8 years ago and managed an respectable 8.04 with a .09 light. A good start overall.

Day 2 – Saturday 26^th August

Juniors and Super Pro all managed 3 runs today and finished:

Mark P 12 out of 18 

Harley P5 out of 22

Ada P6 out of 22

And so to the Night Show – it had come to our attention that there may be a space in the night show so Mark was keen to establish whether we could fill that spot. There was so we did. The boys headed for the startline for the start of the show at 8 with a slot for just before 10. The girls got in the stands ready for fire and lights etc. BallBreaker was supposed to be against Colin Miller in the Flying Fyfer but Colin came round the corner onto the startline but no BB! Meg was getting messages from Tom K that BB was on fire! Great lol! What actually happened was BB being the b**** that she sometimes can be & had decided not to do the night show and to cough a ball of flames over Steve instead! Nice! Back in the pits and fired up good as gold! Oh well, maybe next year 😉

And so onto race day – Sunday 27^th August

Super Pro were up first and BB had a German car in the 1^st elimination. We dialled 8.34 and ran 8.36 but the other car had red lit so the win light went to us 😍

Juniors next and Harley dialled 7.97 as his car had just been getting quicker and quicker in Qualifying. He took the win so onto round 2 😍

Ada dialled 10.19 but Cherry Bomb decided to go on a go slow and ran 10.24! Still a fag paper at the stripe but Ada could now chill and watch Grumpy and Harley. Well done Ada you did a great job on your first visit to Hockenheim 😍

Elim 2 and BB had a Swiss car. We dialled 8.34 ran 8.35 but once again the win light went to us as the other lane red lit – think our little dragster is scaring the opposition. Not sure they know what to make of it lol 😂

Harley was up against Max Love from the UK! Such a close race but Harley took the win and onto E3 semi finals for both my boys 😍 

Elim 3 and Mark was against a beautiful '57 Chevy. We dialled 8.30 and ran 8.40 but fortunately they were more off than us so we took the win and not to a cherry this time – into the FINAL AT HOCKERS WE GO 😜

Harley dialled 7.93 and ran 7.918  - .0012 off his dial but the other lane was .0011 off so took the win! Don’t think my boy is destined to get to a Junior Dragster final 😩 but well done Marra for giving it a damn good go & well done TCA for being sole crew chief this weekend - makes my heart melt you two working together 😊

The Final

After quite a wait due to a clean up in the left lane after a Pro Stock car hit the wall, and an extension granted as we were over the curfew, we got to run our final.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win as BB took a weird turn for the wall and had a bit more than just one of BB’s usual ‘sashays’ at the finish line! 😱

I couldn’t really see what was happening tbh, luckily, but could see by the look on Steve, Anna and TCA’s faces that it wasn’t a straight run. The marshall on the wall had already given me the universal hand signals that indicated it was a bit of a wiggly one 😬

Anna asked if I’d heard what the commentator had said but I hadn’t so she repeated it for me – MARK COULSELL – BIG BALLS 😜😜😜😜

We got to the bottom to fetch Mark and he was so apologetic that he’d let us all down but we were just relieved that he and the car were ok. Obviously he was gutted he had to lift and watching it back, I’m so glad he did!

We rushed back to the pit, taking the apex round the circuit as we’d done on most return journeys (who said dragsters don’t do corners 😄, and got ready for the Trophy Party 🏆

Fashionably late (well it was a long way from our pit tbf lol) team LFR rocked up and managed to squeeze in at the back of the marquee with all of the other rowdy Brits 😊 The commentator tried to call order and the noise did quieten down slightly so we could sort of hear what was going on.

First up were the spot prizes for: Best Appearing Car, Best Appearing Bike & Best Appearing Team.

 Car first – This year it’s from Super Pro ET – wooooooooooo and from the UK – WOOOOOOOOO

And the winner is MARK COULSELL with THE BALLBREAKER SLINGSHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The place erupted! I didn’t realise a few chaps and lasses from the UK could make so much noise!

Over the bloody moon we were! There were some cracking cars there and we couldn’t believe our little slingshot from the UK had taken 1^st prize 😊 We did receive some beautiful comments from a lot of other teams and spectators which was really nice, makes all of the hard work even more worth while.

We still had the runner up for Mark and semi final trophies for Harley yet, which I think is so nice that they celebrate that there too 😊

The roars, cheers, foot stamping and clapping for all of the UK winners etc was deafening, not forgetting the bugle obvs. What an amazing atmosphere – that alone was worth the journey, well almost lol 😁

Well done to all of the racers flying the UK flag – absolutely fabulous turn out and performances, so proud to be able to race with you all 😊

Well done to Damion Redshaw for getting straight back in his car as if nothing had happened after his little mishap and massive well done to Leah and team for getting that car ready to rock n roll in time for the last Qualifier – superb effort.

I think it’s safe to say what an absolutely fantastic time we’ve had in Hockenheim and maybe, possibly, one day, I’ll (we’ll) be back 😊

And now for the sh*te bit!

So it’s Monday morning and the girls are a bit sad to be leaving but the airport is calling.

So we say our goodbyes to the boys and Hockers and set off for Frankfurt, Spanna still holding my hand in the hire car with the steering wheel still on the wrong side lol 😬

Car dropped off, all checked in and waiting to board reflecting on the great time we’ve had. We’re on the plane, engines running, safety talks complete, mint in hand waiting for take off when the pilot comes on (the same pilot who sounded like a dirty perv when he spoke to us earlier 😨) – unfortunately due to an issue with the UK air traffic control you will have to leave the plane until we find out more about the problem. Back on the bendy bus back to the airport – no one to be seen to help us! Find Lufthansa Cust Services who tell us to go to A12 for further instructions. We are then told that we have been booked onto a later flight at 4.45. Bit inconvenient but at least we’re going home. Meal voucher issued so off we go to chill out before our 2^nd flight. It gets to 3pm and my phone starts buzzing – flight cancelled!

No announcements or anyone around to help so we head back to A12 – all UK passengers please follow this random passenger with a piece of paper above his head which says desk B480!! Off he goes with Anna shouting ‘hang on, wait for us, we’re all supposed to be following you’!

Get to check in area where B480 desk is and there are 2 humungous queues of people all waiting to be told alternative flights back to the UK. We queue for about 2 ½ hours to be told no flights and no point in waiting for the desk staff. We were told to come out of the queues and book your own hotels and flight home.

Anna and Rebecca are straight on their phones trying to book things. No flights is a fact. So we get into a hotel, grab a taxi and off we go. No toiletries, no knickers, no anything as it’s all in the RV with the boys cos we were going home! Meg has a checked bag which she was told she wouldn’t get until at least Thursday! So Plan B – we didn’t have one! Ring the boys and find out where they are. Too far to turn back so internal flights, trains & even another hire car was considered to get to Brussels to meet the RV and the boys. Prices for all of the above were just rocketing as we were looking! Sooooooo after a while we had a train booked from Frankfurt station at 9am Tuesday morn with 2 changes which would get us to Brussels for 1.30pm. Sorted! Quick shop for toothbrushes & knickers and find a nice Asian restaurant for food. Night all see you in reception at 7am.

Tuesday

Up early and showered we head for the airport/station with a very jolly Indian taxi driver who kept singing Tikka Masala at us! We had time so me and Meg went to see if we could retrieve her checked bag. While we’re waiting Anna rings me, ‘train has been cancelled & I’m starting to lose my s*it’ – nope we can’t do that we’re British, stiff upper lip and carry on! So Rebecca goes off to sort another train which leaves shortly with 1 stop in Cologne. Lovely. Get on the train and someone is in our booked seats but plenty available so no problem. 20 mins in and a rather rude German woman tells us we need to get off our carriage as there is a defect with the air-con, we knew that as it was sweltering but we just wanted to get to Brussels! So move we did and did manage to get seats even if Anna and Ada were in the buffet car. We managed a bit further and then the train stopped. No one said anything so we waited and then the train started to move backwards! We all looked at each other not knowing what the hell was happening then Meg springs up, climbs over me and says she’s going to find out what the hell is going on!! Apparently the line had been vandalised so we needed to go back and divert. The train stops again with an announcement that the driver needed a 30 minute break – are you f*king kidding me! 30 mins pass & another announcement that there is no driver to continue the journey so could we all get off the train and go to the next platform & wait for another train. Train arrives and off we go to Cologne, I think!

We finally get to Brussels (3 ½ hours later than planned), after getting off at 2 wrong Brussels stops, – oh how we laughed – and get an Uber to a Shell Station where the boys are hopefully still waiting – the Uber driver did check that we actually wanted to go to a service station!

So we meet the boys but wouldn’t make the 8pm ferry now so looked like it would be a midnight sailing for LFR. Customs did ask if we were a band as there were so many of us lol.

So home was in our sights, oh no, wait a minute, no headlights on the RV you say Mark 😱

So that was Steves job now until we got on the ferry – and still after the ferry as still not fixed – will we ever get home 😫

So I had Happy Birthday sung to me in France and again on the Ferry as it crossed midnight again on our way to England. Nice. Got to Dover & Steve still had the lights to fix – well at least it’s not raining – of course it was raining!!

He managed to fix them (cos he’s a flippin’ superstar 🌟) and off we finally went. Mark was seriously nodding off and I could hear Steve talking total b**locks to him to try to keep him awake (been there a few times lol) so I asked where we were and said we needed to stop to get some kip and that’s how I ended up waking up on my birthday in a bed with 4 other people 🎈 

We finally reached Marra HQ at half 9 on Wednesday morning, totally exhausted but at least we made it. 

Would I change anything – only that chuffin’ journey which we did have some laughs & fought back a few tears but girl power got us through!

LFR and extended crew of TCA, Meg & Rebecca – what a team, what a trip, what an adventure xxxx

A few funny things along the way:

Mr’s Bartlett, Marshall & Prentice spotted leaving a shopping outlet loaded up with bags of goodies and when questioned said ‘what happens at the track, stays at the track’

The bumhole sticker on the fag machine by the pit toilets

This Ausfahrt place must be massive as you can get to it from loads of exits

Steve serenading Meg & TCA on Monday morning to get them out of bed

The bar filling up at the petrol station

Us pretending to put ‘PUMP GAS’ in BB

The many times we all got in the wrong side of the bloody hire car (good job no one spotted us!)

The 90c p*ss tickets from the service station toilets

Taking the RV dashboard apart to fix the lights to find out it just lifts up

And much, much more 🏁😀🏁

The tale of the missing race suit!

Sorry but this is big chapter and verse on the whole story. It caused us so much grief we were just happy that it was back but I think we need to share our story so that you can bear it in mind if anyone is thinking of sending a suit back to RJS Racing Equipment for recertification/repair.

7^th Feb 2019 - Shipped the suit to RJS fully tracked on 7^th Feb 2019 – placed note in parcel asking for them to confirm when the parcel arrived so that we could send credit card details for the recertification.

13^th Feb - Received no comms from RJS. Our shipping tracking informed us that the parcel had been delivered to RJS Michigan so emailed credit card details for the payment.

5^th March - No comms from RJS until we contacted them to ask for progress on the suit re-cert.

Still no comms just an invoice detailing the final payment details. The invoice was dated 13^th Feb so looked like the small repair & recertification had been done as soon as the shipment had arrived in Michigan.

18^th March - Sent an email asking what date the suit was shipped & an estimated delivery date.

No comms from RJS.

Rang RJS to find out what the situation was. Were rudely told that the tracking number was on the Invoice. We went onto US Postal tracking, as that was the shipping method they had used, and realised there had been no movement on the parcel since 18^th Feb.

Rang RJS to see if they could chase the shipment. They said they would look into it and get back to us taking phone numbers and email address but there attitude was ‘Well we’ve shipped it so you’ll need to follow it up with US Postal’. It’s fair to say that the guy at RJS didn’t really know how it was shipped (or seem to care) as this is now their Florida office & the shipment was sent from their Michigan office.

No comms from RJS.

Rang RJS again who said he’d logged an enquiry with US Postal, almost reluctantly. We rang US Postal quoting the enquiry no. to be told it was an online enquiry which was logged on 21^st March. It would have to be logged as ‘lost’ for 4 weeks before a claim could be made but quite correctly stated that RJS needed to chase it & process a claim for the lost parcel as they were the people who had shipped it.

We waited………………………………………………………..

10^th April – We receive an email from RJS which starts ‘Excellent news, we found your racing suit!’ For whatever reason the US Postal Recovery Team had found it and returned it to the Florida office and not Michigan where it was shipped from. The bigger question for us was why didn’t it carry on its journey back to us in the UK?? We never did get an answer to that one!

We rang RJS to discuss what happens next (RJS admitted that they didn’t call us as they don’t really understand how to call the UK!!)

So the call was basically RJS wanting us to reach for our credit card and pay a new charge of $108 to re-ship the suit!!!! No mention about the $96 that we’d already paid!!

They seemed really shocked when we refused to pay AGAIN for shipping that we had already paid for! RJS didn’t really seem to understand why we wouldn’t pay again, didn’t we want our suit back!

We stupidly assumed that RJS would have had that suit back on its way to us before they had even contacted us to let us know it had been found. How wrong were we! Basically RJS won’t re-ship the suit until they have had a refund from US Postal service for the original $96 and then they want the additional $12 from us to make up the difference between what we’d already paid & the new cost to ship it fully tracked by air.

We emailed RJS to ‘vent our frustration’ & rarely had some comms back from RJS in the form of an email which contained 5 large paragraphs which included lots of sarcasm & basically informing us that this situation was ‘absolutely & positively not our fault’.

Maybe not, but their responsibility, absolutely!! The email went on to reiterate that the repair and recertification took less than 24 hours from when they received it to when they shipped it, which we had never questioned. That might have been so but due to the lack of requested communication we didn’t know when the work was completed and shipped. If we did, we could have monitored this more closely and realised it was lost a lot sooner!!

No comms from RJS

23^rd April – we email RJS to ask if they have any idea when they will receive the refund from US Postal & then re-shipping the suit.

No comms from RJS

Lynne takes over the situation now as Mark is ready to fly to the states and kill someone!

WE JUST WANT OUR SUIT BACK!!

Email is obviously not working so now we turn to the phone and actually try to talk to someone.

RJS had great pride in telling me that the suit was sitting on the desk right in from of him! He admitted that he hadn’t even processed the claim yet with US Postal as he wasn’t really sure what he needed to do! I practically begged him to find out what was required as ‘other than jumping on a plane ourselves and collecting it, I really don’t know what else we can do’. I was told he would find out for me ‘yes ma’am, I can do that for you’.

No comms from RJS

30^th April – telephone RJS for an update & a conversation which basically was me pleading that if he sent me an email confirming that as soon as he received the refund from US Postal that he would reimburse me the original $96 if I pay the $108 upfront and get that damn suit in the air! ‘Yes ma’am, I can do that for you’

Guess what – no email confirmation of our conversation from RJS!!

1^st May – rang RJS to find out why they hadn’t emailed me but couldn’t get through so left a message.

2^nd May – RJS email to say they are just waiting for a call from US Postal re the refund date.

Comms stopped play for Springspeed Nats and to calm down a little bit!

6^th May – Rang RJS for an update. Was told that to obtain the refund from US Postal that they had to physically take the suit to prove that it had been returned before they could process the refund. This had to be taken to the nearest US Postal depot which was ½ hour drive from the RJS office. The RJS representative told me that he would have to take an hour out of his own time to make the journey to do this – not quite sure why out of his own time when it is company business! This would be done during his lunch hour – bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8^th May – rang RJS hopefully for the last time ever! They confirmed a refund had happened, even though it was only for $50!! We’re not quite sure why that was, maybe it was because it wasn’t correctly addressed to us in the first place?? Out of the kindness of their hearts, RJS were going to cover the additional $46 to make up the original $96 and then he would send me a Credit Card authorisation form to fill in with my details for the additional $12 dollars for the difference in the new shipping cost. I ended the phone call with ‘no disrespect, but I hope this is the last time we will ever speak’ I completed and returned the form immediately and assumed that the parcel would be shipped, as RJS had promised, that afternoon.

No Comms from RJS with shipping confirmation & tracking details etc

14^th May – send an email to RJS asking for confirmation that the suit has been shipped and for the tracking number.

No comms from RJS

20^th May – rang RJS for an update. RJS said that they had emailed the details several times. We had received all other emails from them so not sure why these didn’t reach us!!!! He gave us the Fedex Air tracking number which we checked while he was still on the phone. As soon as we knew the suit was in Stansted airport awaiting clearance we told RJS to *&%^$£)(*@!$ OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20^th May – spoke to Fedex at Stanstead who wanted to know what was in the parcel as RJS had not put enough details on the parcel for them to ascertain what was in the parcel.

21^st May – emailed Fedex with details of the contents of the package and the invoice from our original shipment to the US to confirm that this was not a new purchase and that we were paying for a service. Checked the tracking details later that day and the parcel was out for delivery. Hooray!

22^nd May – my parents phone me to tell me a parcel has been delivered at 8.15 that morning.

THANK GOD FOR THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. no comms from RJS asking if the suit arrived back with us safely!!!!

Huge thanks to Mat Cooper and The Marras for the loan of race suits which got us through Festival of Power & Nostaligia Nationals :)

National Finals 2012 - No. 3 qualifier & back to back 9.18's!

Mixed emotions this weekend, a great season is coming to an end!
And we end it with a fair amount of consistency and an unbroken car!!

SAT - the sun shone through the camper windows & we were going racing. 1st qualifier - we dialled 9.10 and ran 9.18. 2nd qualifier - we dialled 9.12 and ran 9.18! 3rd run - dialled 9.16, had a bit of a squirley run and finished Saturdays qualifying with a 9.53 which left us as no. 3 qualifier, best ever for us! Team spirits were high and we ended the season with Cassisi Chili, burgers & home made Strawberries & cream cake.
SUN - started a little grey and we had Bob Hawkins with fixed NOS in the 1st round of elims. We dialled the magic 9.18 and ran a 9.58 @130mph but took the 1st round as Bob had NOS problems again. We eagerly awaited round 2 against the Sting boys but not to be as down came the rain again.
Many congrats to our pit neighbours Team Gridlock who ended the season as WB1 again and many other championship wins.
We'll be back next year to beat those pesky Altereds!!!

Team LFR would like to thank all of their family & friends for their constant support that keeps us all going throughout the year, all of the track officials & Marshall's who provide great tracks for us to race on, all of the photographers for the great pics that we can't wait to get home to see, Med staff, particularly at Shaky, Wild Bunch racers & teams for giving us some great competition on the track & good friendships back in the pits, Chris & Claire for looking after all of the Wild Bunch & to all of the fans who come and chat to us at the tracks - can't wait to do it all again next year!!!!

Mark & Lynne would like to say a personal thank you to Steve, Anna, Rob (Marra 1) & Pete (Marra 2) for helping to make Team LFR  the great team that we are.

Hot Rod Drags 2012

We love this meeting & the sun was shining!
Race Car - check, matching Tot Rod - check, Ian's Chevy Truck - check - let's have some Nostalgic fun!
SAT - 1st run - we followed Crazy Chris, being pushed by the gorgeous Burb truck & accompanied by stunningly dressed Claire as back up girl, to do a good old fashioned push start & flag start. We put 12 psi in the tyres to spin the tyres off the start line. Surprisingly with new tyres & a good track we ran a 9.15 @ 142mph!
Claire did an amazing job as back up girl & Lynne has promised that she will pluck up the courage to do it with her next year.
2nd run - we dropped the tyres to 5.5psi and ran 9.32 @ 140mph! Should have left them at 12 psi!!
Nobody cares, we're having fun! Now for the cackle.
Once again BallBreaker was pushed down the pairing lanes by Ian's gorgeous truck to lots of applause from the packed stands. Lots of noise was made, fireworks were lit & everyone went to bed smiling & happy. What a great day.
SUN - lets play again!
1st run 9.10 @143mph - that'll do nicely. Lunch & a stroll around the trade stands for Team LFR.
2nd run was a repeat of Saturday morning following Crazy Chris & his great outfit to do another push start down the pairing lanes. Great response from the crowds again. We ran a 9.51 @ 141mph to a 8.96 @ 149mph from Chris but we didn't care. We'd had  a great weekend and we all went home with a warm & fuzzy feeling!

Open Sports - HailStones, Space Hoppers & Man Down!

NOT a typical race weekend!
SAT - We only managed 1 round of qualifying on Sat before the sky's turned very grey and down came the rain! It was heavy and lots of it! We ran a 9.81 on a 9.18 dial as we were suffering some fuel problems. No more racing today so lets do the next best thing - Space Hopper racing on the track of course with fuel masks, helmets & wellies! All was going well, Dads v Dads, Girls v Girls and then Chief v Space hopper and MAN DOWN! Steve was carried to the med centre where he produced what looked like a boiled egg stuck to his ankle! No more Olympics for us today. Thanks as always to the med centre staff who did a sterling job of looking after Steve. We are starting to think of them as the LFR med staff after the various team visits over the last 2 years!
SUN - weather looked better and we managed 2 runs, the 2nd of which caused a little argument back in the pits as Mark pulled a larger wheelie than (Lynne) he would have liked and crossed the centre line hence the run being disqualified. At least Marks Mom, Auntie, Dorset Horn Carole & GHGH  Val didn't see it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bonus though, Mark was awarded 'Wildest Ride' trophy by C&C!
Back in the pits LFR & Team Gridlock staged their own version of the Olympics where Marra's (Marrows!) were used as batons in the relay, kids were carried on shoulders for the egg & spoon, Val flag started the races with Union Jacks & Mark & Dex ran a pushchair race! Good fun was had by all & kids went to bed happy full of sugar & rice crispy cakes! At least there wasn't any cheating was there Sarah (Howells) & Joe (Berwick)!
MON - Race Day
Weather was better than forecast so to round 1 of elims. Car hadn't run too well all weekend and we had Adz in the 1st so it should be close as he dialled 9.25 & we dialled 9.28. Sadly we had a problem & lost to Adz with a poor 12.13 @ 61mph. Fair play to Adz & we had had great fun partying with Team Gridlock this weekend. (Mark still mentions beating Adz in the space hopper & egg & spoon though!).
A mixed weekend of injury & car trouble but had a good old laugh, won a few Olympic medals & topped it all off with trophy for Best Appearing Team so still smiling!!