The Northern Roadsters Club Website

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Welcome to the Official Website of the Northern Roadsters Club

Website was last modified on 24/12/2008

Introduction

Formed initially from a group of like-minded people over a decade ago the informal club became official in October 2006.

Many members of the Club have a long history of competing in motor sport events, with members competing at a high level in Hillclimbs, Sprints, Autocross, Autotests, circuit racing, Rallies, and Navigational Runs. It aims to be encouraging to new members to start competing and then providing the stimulus for them to further develop their skills.

Many members of the club come to it with no competitive inclination, but simply a love of the hand-built car and the open road, and the cheerful friendship of like minded enthusiasts. The club runs many events to cater for these members too. Of course many competitve members like to join in with the social side too!

Our current programme of events is being formulated for 2008, and we welcome requests from all members. If people want to do it, in a roadster, and it's legal, we'll organise it! (Probably).

Northern Roadsters Club is affiliated to the Motor Sports Association (the MSA) which is the ruling body of UK motorsport.

Our main object is to encourage interest in enjoying wind-in-the-hair, seat-of-the-pants motoring in all its forms, and our emphasis is on 4 wheeled hand-built or modified cars and motorsport. Membership is open to adults of any age or sex with neither age, nor type of car owned, precluding participation. It is not necessary to own a vehicle to gain the benefit from our club as armchair enthusiasts and spectators are just as welcome but members active with their own transport gain the most. As part of its communication process, the Club also publishes 'Torque Tales', its own newsletter containing news and information for members. There is a continuing need for willing helpers, both male and female at our events and there is a vital and interesting role to be played by anyone keen to act as a marshal or other representative of the Club. Are you interested in finding out more? Then come down to one of the events in our calendar, or our monthly 'first Friday' meet at the Three Nuns, just off the M62 at Junction 25 (where the A62 starts just through the lights past Cooper Bridge scrapyard). You can then meet the members of the friendliest motor club in the North, or apply for membership by either downloading the membership form or by e-mailing membership@northernroadsters.co.uk
for details of how to join by snail mail.

Check our calendar page for details of our forthcoming activities.

Footman James Insurance

Classic Vehicle Insurance

All Northern Roadsters Members qualify for discounts on their insurances:

10% on Kit Car insurance & 5% on Buildings & Contents insurance

N R Members call: 0844 826 8963 Quote reference “NRC”

Limited and unlimited mileage policies, multi-vehicle – put your classic and modern cars on one policy (conditions apply).

Raw Striker North

Click on the above advert for more about the Raw Striker cars built and driven by many of our members.

We are by no means exclusively a club for Strikers. Robert Sinclair cars (Raw Striker North) aren't either. They build, sell and work on Westfields, Tigers and indeed any kit, hillclimb, race or road car.

Latest News

Cadwell Park 750 Motor Club Car Championships held on Sunday 10th May allowed a few to support Rob contestinmg in a Raw Striker. Haute Cuisine (Namely Bacon Butties) was provided by the Cordon Pink caterers (namely Rob & nik) from the 'Corporate Hospitality Suite' a.k.a. Campervan. A grand day out was had by those that attended

The Stoneleigh Kit Car Show officials waved us through and we set camp. OGL felt outdone by the Westfield demo scare rides so did a couple of doughnut demos of his own. 16 bods and 5 cars (a few in dry dock for various reasons) attended with 4 hardy souls camping – more of that later. Dave P made a beeline for the polish stand and wanted to buy some more. The rest bought more sunglasses! Some nice new cars there and Dave P wanted a few – well actually most ! Jon & Dave were despatched to forage for tea and came back about two hours later with fish & chips (brought from Grimsby??). Merriment and boozy banter ensued – especially regarding Jon's choice of sleeping bag colour.- actually the same as Daves '60s Bath Blue' car - still they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Then it got cold. Then it got colder. Then it got seriously cold so we all huddled into one tent. Mmmmm cosy ! There was ice on the tents at 3am !! Two went hunting chocolate and log fires. Reveille at a damp 7am, with a big fry up warming us up. Then it rained. Then the tin top types arrived to boost the ranks. Jon kept pulling the bonnet up to show off the new ‘shiny bits’. Andy thinks he may have found a car for Gail. OGL found a cracked wishbone probably after an West Yorkshire potholing adventure. The weather improved so tents were packed away and the cars loaded up. Dave P needing bungee cord to strap on the potential car brochures and extra polish bought ‘just in case’. The convoy set off home with one last doughnut. With a dry (ish) uneventful trip home. Roll on Newark !!

Consensus was we are pig sick of hearing about Swine Flu – the news is becoming a bit of a boar! 14 members and 5 cars made the May assembly. Notable exceptions being the ‘Turquoise Rash‘ (so kindly named by Jon) because it was in the final stages of polishing! We will let Jon off for not participating in his car as it was in dry dock having the direction changer sorted. (is that the tiller then?). Pat & Tom turned up in a nicely refurbished MK and Mike L in the modified asymmetric with a grin bigger than a Cheshire cat recounting tales of the Harewood School Day Fencewrecker has nearly finished the new car but thinks the new ‘D-shaped wheels may catch on.. Plans were hatched for Stoneleigh and the hardy two (OGL & Sec) persisted at persuading the hesitant to join in. and general banter about roundabout prowess ended the nights fun.

The Derbyshire Dales run out day started with cars amassed at OGL’s house prompt at 8am on a cold and damp morning. The convoy set off with hails of ‘I know the way’ from Sec. Two miles later up the wrong road a hasty U-turn was made. The sun reflected strongly in Dave’s gleaming, recently polished car causing the rest to wear very dark shades to stop glare!!! The view from the top of Holme Moss was spectacular as was the look of fear from Tail End Charlie who popped over the crest into a set of stationary sight seekers. Through fine empty country lanes occasionally stopping to admire the view, put Dave’s rear light in, re polish the horse poo off the wheel arches. Onwards through Deepest Dales with the occasional Mexican Wave at traffic lights. Sec then led us astray again so Tail End Charlie let the Sat Nav do the talking only to loose the new rear gunner who went metal detecting. We re-grouped and OGL got us ot the Kit Car Show albeit in a round about way!

‘April Showers’ brought 6½ cars & 14 bods to the first spring airing (Bracey turned up in the new tin top diesel– hence the ‘half’ but we will forgive him because is it such a good value beast). Andy drooled over the yellow cars again & Darrel arrived at finishing time..
Howard admitted he has stopped smoking – that’s the car not him – the new ZX9R engine sounded wonderful and has stopped pumping out the blue stuff !!
Jon has his back on the road with bike carbs, LSD and soft springs and admitted to Déjà-vu around a roundabout a several times!!. Still wondering how to leave the turquoise ‘trailer’ behind though. This years designer accessory must have is COSHH earplugs on a string. Talk turned to the usual banter such as exploding plods, and what has F1 given us? Conclusions included adaptive suspension, telemetry, ABS, Traction Control, cheating, lies, steward enquiries…………..
Some lamenting that we didn’t get Brawn racing especially with a 4 second per lap advantage we reckon we could all have a go and still win. Diffusers are definitely ‘Confusers’ but now available for .reasonable spends for the striker (contact Mike L for details). Runs out were discussed – with a Sunday ad-hoc coast blast, Boggs Bros. end April, MK in May, and Stoneleigh (including beans around the camp fire)…

The AGM managed to pass through swiftly –albeit starting a bit late due to OGL’s need for feed and Mr. Secretary stopping to view the scenery at every traffic light in town. Hopes for better weather in 09 abound so we can all enjoy our club more.Feelings of devastation ensued on the news that our £1 offer for Honda Racing was not accepted – still it must have been a close shave!! Anyway what do a razor firm want with F1 ? Serious gold star points are awarded to Mike L for arriving in the Blue Striker in near freezing conditions. Andy has the hots for a fast Fiat Turbo Coupe that Bill may be selling unless someone tells Bracey first. Dave W has been heard making ‘Brum Brum’ noises in the garage as his new builds progresses. The wheels are tuning, well one was changing hands in the car park. Jonathan wants to emulate Ferrari and put a plastic see through cover in the bonnet of the refurbished striker to show off Bogg Brothers best manifold welding & Carbs. Cold March means deferring the two planned runs to April and then it will be Stoneleigh again

February Fling.
Where is he? – He didn’t ring me – I couldn’t ring him - He never said anything. The text an hour and a half into the evening finally settled the speculation. OGL stranded in Norfolk. (building snowmen & Igloos In deepest darkest rural Norolk - OGL). Only half an answer, but enough to allow the real business of the evening to continue – Paul admits he slept through January but is now back in the land of the living. Jon has spent his beer tokens on a Diff, all he needs to do is fit it. Stuart explained, again, about the Sheep-v-Snow fences on the M62. The AGM will be at 8.00pm on 6^th March, and rumour has it there’s enough in the coffers to continue – of course we will be on firmer ground when all subs are paid! (hint hint !). Come back OGL, all can be forgiven.

Millers Oils Night 22 enthusiastically attended the very interesting presentation by Millers Oils at Raw Striker North (many thanks to Rob & Nik for allowing us to use their premises. A joint meeting with HMC (thanks to their members fro showing interest). A great insight was given by Mike Fenton into the technicalities of stopping metal grinding away metal in a nanosecond inside the various components of our cars. Oils have come on a long way since some medieval bod found out that when he ran over a beast of burden and the exuding animal fat slopping onto the axle made pushing his cart easier and faster ! Then crude oil was discovered and we never looked back. Questions came a plenty - once the discussion finished with modern synthetic oils. Some ‘tyre kicking’ ensued with the cars Rob had on display before some sojourned to the pub.

January The ‘Hardy Eight’ made it to the first meeting of the year. Honda hasn’t rejected our 1p takeover bid - yet !! Jon reckons that we will come up against some stiff competition - and we thought maybe Dave Richards or Eddie Jordan too. DW regaled us with how he led the Burmese Liberation Front over the border into Thailand. We all decided North Vietnam has good roads but ‘Ruff’ food.
The New Year brings new forthcoming activities like a run out to Boggs Bros. was discussed for early next year & a potential trip to Donington Park Motor Museum penned (see the calendar page) We have the potential for a trip to France later in the year (best not go at a snails pace eh !) and Jon’s experience at maintaining the ‘Entente Cordiale’ with Mini driving natives could come in useful. DW wants to compete in his new car, but only next year as it will take some time to unravel the spaghetti wiring from the kitchen table! Rick wants another car and Andy is still working on his negotiation skills..

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Yuletide scoff time otherwise known as the Christmas Party at the Stansfield Arms provided lots of fun as usual. Lots of people trekked to the team ‘tent’ where we were placed at a table by the wind machine – or was that the door !! This was always left open by any passing people so a force 10 gale kept blowing Stuarts wig off ! Choruses of “Dooorrrrr” “Dooorrrrrrrrrrrrr” to all that left it open went unnoticed by most except one fair maiden lady gave us “the look” - and we assumed she thought we were shouting “whore”!
The menu of choice was the high rise pork steaks but those without their doggy bags have increased weight by about half a stone! It is amazing how a Dioxin conrtamination can make meat treble in size. Bill stoically managed to come almost straight from the operating table (a true grit spirit) but looked & was vey sore – never mind we can wait until next year for the dance routine. Bracey enjoyed everything twice as much as anyone else apart from OGL who helped a bit with some turkey. Jo led the girls in a dance line locomotion showboat, Rick showed us he is a Disco Diva and Jon strutted his stuff in the designer wear. Paul talked about his fantasy garage but then we realised he was discussing his musical tastes.!

The Ginetta Trip to the impressive LNT group building on Tuesday 9^th was an eye opener. A joint meeting with HMC, 27 turned up in all.
It was impressive informative, interesting & impeccably clean. An insight was given about the whole LNT group structure & function then onto the juicy bit – the cars!
We were shown cars from 1400 & 1800 G20’s to the all singing & dancing G50. Some bare chassis – some ‘clothed’. The new road car was there as well as a few special prototypes including the 107mph electric car.
We sojourned to the local for a sarnie, pint and some chatter. Plans were hatched that when we buy Honda F1 we will rent out the wind tunnel for a few quid to recoup our investment costs.

First Friday December – a chap arrived in a Pilgrim Bulldog and was promptly descended upon by four regulars only to find out he was waiting for his blind date to arrive & nothing at all to do with the club. Poor chap probably thought he was about to be mobbed! She arrived in a spotty yellow car & we bid a hasty retreat.. the usual merry chit chat ensued and we decided we could put in a bid for the Honda F1 team calling it T.N.R (Three Nuns Racing). We will run on alternative fuel –chip fat collected from the locals, hydrogenated & chemically enhanced by Dr. E Bygum run in an engine developed by Willy Eckerslike. Pit stops could take a bit longer through the 4-Star nozzle but heck, with the rotation of some of our talented willing drivers through the season we’ll wing it OK.
Jon gave us a fashion parade with the new designer Packamac, Stuart gave us an excellent class on Dam construction. Mikey tops the road kill league table (so far) with a kangaroo, OGL coming second with a dairy cow. Oh, and there was a bit of discussion about oily bits and carbs as well as the costs of repairing “The Ring” after some Volvo drivers demolished a Porsche, Transit and a corner, too !!
A ride out to Boggs Bros. was discussed for early next year & a potential trip to Donington Park Motor Museum penned.

November First Friday - Twelve people and three cars attended even though it was about minus 5 degrees !. Stoic some of our members you know ! Frivolity was, as usual high with indoor helicopter battles taking priority over the evening. Christmas Dinner was finalised as were numbers and confirmations for the Ginnetta trip in early December. OGL was off ill in his death bed with ‘Man Flu’ – but was heard to have commented that at least it isn’t Bird Flu…..

First Friday October - 12 cars again came for the outing.. Stuart led Bracey all the way to the venues he needed to visit!. A few attempts at overtaking were expertly blocked by Stuart but it just seemed the new engine just couldn’t keep up !! Someone commented it wasn't as quick as the old engine but Bracey countered saying in it's current state it is just as slow! Never mind – it was only a burst water pipe and nothing too serious ! Hopefully the pipe will be mended and it will be back on the road soon.

First Friday September - For the first time EVER no cars turned up – the weather was soooo bad,.if any cars had tried they would have floated to the meeting Bracey’s car is still off the road but getting close to being finished. We heard tales of him sitting in the ‘office’ chair in the garage late at night making ‘brum brum’ noises. Much discussion took place about what would go into everybody’s fantasy garage and car wish lists generally. Dave P told us of his video again but I doubt it will be released in time to hit the box office… A couple of members are on holiday - how dare they be away on a club night !! Mikey’s Mini is just about done so look out . Usual merry banter and lots of discussion about bike carbs as a few are going /have gone down this route. We have turned the corner towards Christmas

First Friday August - Eight cars and fifteen members turned up – but a lot of different ones to last month. A nice Striker with a Vauxhall XE that got Bracey’s juices flowing when it set off back home. Mikey‘s Mini finally made it !! It’s on the road. The underlying trend of membership is up as 8 cars and 15 people came which to say that one car is being rebuilt, one is having an engine change, two were on Holiday, one was at a leaving party, two didn't come because they were working, and two usual attendees weren’t there which would have made 15 cars - a club record.

July First Friday - Fifteen bods and eight cars braved the elements – not bad to say Bracey’s car is off the road and a few are on Holiday. New showing for a nice motorbike engined Fury (ZX12R) as well as a welcome return for a nice very tidy Robin Hood. Mikey announced his Mini will soon be actually on the road!! Dave P enlightened us of his impromptu ‘video’ - maybe appearing on U-Tube soon if a copy can be released! The usual merriment and diverse banter took place and we are all hoping for a decent summer to be able to use the cars.

Newark Show was a bit wet for a June Saturday when four cars made it to the powerwash. Refuge and a warm brew taken from the kind people on the JPSC Club stand right next door. If the weather could have been nicer the plot would have been ideal. Good to see we had the same turnout as the JPSC..
The show outside was quiet - understanderbly! Bruce sorted the suspension out (his car now has some !!). Stuart made a beeline for the PG`s Nuts stand only to find they were the edible sort. They didn't sell M10 Nylocs ready salted so we moved on !! The exhibition halls were quite busy (rain shelter). Two new cars on display were the Great British Sports Cars trike, the Bullet and the Mills Extreme Vehicles Trike. There was a nice looking GT 40 replica from Speedwell Replicas . Michalak Design (German) were there with their very stylish Michalak C7 based on a Smart. Quantum Sportscars were celebrating 21 years of their cars and there was more talk of diesel options (BMW doner) for the Extreme. Alloy Racing Fabrication had some very good value fuel & oil tanks. Just outside the hall enterance was a very clever Toyota Prius converted by a genius & powered by a set of batteries producing 240V DC with over 3000 charge cycles available - that's about an 8.5-9 year life and enough umph in the 'tank' to commute properly and quickly. That sums up what's good about Newark - outstanding individual innovative engineering all on display.
Sunday saw the rain disappear but the winds come. Two cars made it. The marquee on the JPSC stand was last seen flying to Lincoln for its own adventure and Bill nearly lost his wig, which shows how windy it was because he doesn't wear one !

So to the annual pilgrimage in May to the National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh.
Fourteen members and 5 cars made it to the show, OGL didn’t take his still protecting the Eyeballs
We were notified at the last minute that our pre-booked pitch had become a paddy field due to the persistent precipitation (I like alliteration) so we were moved indoors to the shed furthest away from any action or activity. In fact the last in line of about twelve! There were some good points and some bad points;
It made it good in case the weather was inclement and we would be dry in the forecast rain (which never seemed to materialise, difficult to have a barbecue without gassing everyone else in the shed out. It was a tad difficult to push the new (and impressive) flags (size does matter) into the concrete when we only brought spikes for soft ground so, Bill magnanimously found a convenient hole to stick them in. That turned out to be connected directly to the sewage system, which proved interesting at packing up time. Nice perfume on the journey home !! At least we didn’t need the binoculars to see them this time!!
Several cars were drooled over and coveted. Good to see that the roots of the club are still being upheld - Jonathan fell in love with a MBE Sylva Rio with an R1 engine to take him back to his yoof but in comfort. Dave P wants a GKD G27 Evolution and would have probably bought the one on the stand had we not dragged him away. Nice car & silver in colour so keeping up the ‘Sylva’ theme.
OGL fancies a Quantum with a BMW Turbo diesel engine for touring in comfort and economy. It has a nice lockable boot with enough space to keep a squashy bay or three and the dog too ! But then he tried a Liege and fits in it so, wants one of those, but then again he wants a Marlin or a Troll T6 for possible off road production sports car trials, oh and an SSC as well - choices, choices…..
Bracey took to cleaning his car on the stand (about time) with a very nice aluminium polish – should be finished in time for Newark.
No one camped over this time – difficult pitching a tent in a shed or floating it in a paddy field so the convoy set off at 6 pm to wang their way home. A nice day had by all.

The Northern Roadsters Club,
simply first for Roadsters.

Every First Friday 8pm The Three Nuns,
Leeds Road, Mirfield, West Yorkshire WF14 0BY
Tel. 01924 494233