Chris Pye Motorsport
Racing on the Unique Chalk Oval of Horndean Raceway - Chris Pye s151, Danni Reader s351 & Kallum Pye s51
Motorfest 07 - Rockingham 15/16 Sept
A 3 day festival of racing from all aspects of UK Oval racing, starting with the grass roots 
of grass track and NASA to the super speedway of ASCAR and Pickup Trucks. Its a shame that the event was marred by very poor facilities for the drivers and teams to use. If it weren't for a driver who I won't name on here using his Hiab to go and steal a portaloo we would have had a 5 min walk to the nearest one in the makeshift pits/camping area in a car park! Thanks guys! Thanks also to my wife Tammie for cleaning this toilet more than once after idiots ruined it for everyone.
As for the racing, I went up on the Friday afternoon to see if I had cured the misfire that had plagued us in the previous round. After 2 practice runs, the car ran perfectly, and due to the wetness of the track and the 3 inches of mud on the passenger side of the car, I called it a day and headed home.
A 5am start was in order on the Saturday morning to head back up to Rockingham with the rest of the team. I drew a mid grid position for heat one, but due to a no show for the pole sitter, I was put onto pole position....
How that was worked out baffled me! First into the first corner and all going well. A short gearing meant that I needed to change into 3rd mid straight, so it was clumsy into turn 3 back into second, sideways and I must have not slotted it into gear correctly, and wham 1st to last in one swoop before I got it into 1st and away again! 
However the misfire returned big time and it was a struggle to finish the race, but I did....LAST!
It was then, that a worn out radiator hose was noticed, where it had been rubbing on the exhaust manifold! So a new hose was rushed on, having decided to remove the alternator whilst we were in that area (should have done that 6 months ago!) We only just made it down to the holding area in time to make the line up for Heat 2. On the entry lap to the track the car was misfiring at slow speed, so I drove back off the track and parked it up for the night!
A very cold Sunday Morning hit us in the tent, and I set about getting everything checked and cleaned again to try and remove the misfire. It worked for a couple of laps, which was enough to have a good battle with Terry Smith in an ill handling Toyota Starlet. However I was lapped by the end of a short 6 lap race! We loaded up at this point deciding not to try and fix it for heat 4, and to watch the main arena racing of Hot Rods, Superstox, Legends and then the King of the Rock Race. This race featured the champion of champions for each of the 10 groups racing at the event for a £10,000 prize. The surprise car was the Uniroyal Funcup VW Beetles on Rockingham's road course track. SAA's own Andy Wilkinson (Wilkie) from Mod C was SEGTO's champion. The whole race was a bit of a fix, with each driver getting only £1,000 each if they brought the car back in one piece and nothing extra to the winner! When ASCAR 2007 Champion Colin White was leading by miles the safety car was deployed to bunch everyone back up. Superstox racer Jason Cooper went onto win the race. Chris used to compete against Jason in Legends Cars.
of grass track and NASA to the super speedway of ASCAR and Pickup Trucks. Its a shame that the event was marred by very poor facilities for the drivers and teams to use. If it weren't for a driver who I won't name on here using his Hiab to go and steal a portaloo we would have had a 5 min walk to the nearest one in the makeshift pits/camping area in a car park! Thanks guys! Thanks also to my wife Tammie for cleaning this toilet more than once after idiots ruined it for everyone.As for the racing, I went up on the Friday afternoon to see if I had cured the misfire that had plagued us in the previous round. After 2 practice runs, the car ran perfectly, and due to the wetness of the track and the 3 inches of mud on the passenger side of the car, I called it a day and headed home.
A 5am start was in order on the Saturday morning to head back up to Rockingham with the rest of the team. I drew a mid grid position for heat one, but due to a no show for the pole sitter, I was put onto pole position.... How that was worked out baffled me! First into the first corner and all going well. A short gearing meant that I needed to change into 3rd mid straight, so it was clumsy into turn 3 back into second, sideways and I must have not slotted it into gear correctly, and wham 1st to last in one swoop before I got it into 1st and away again! However the misfire returned big time and it was a struggle to finish the race, but I did....LAST!It was then, that a worn out radiator hose was noticed, where it had been rubbing on the exhaust manifold! So a new hose was rushed on, having decided to remove the alternator whilst we were in that area (should have done that 6 months ago!) We only just made it down to the holding area in time to make the line up for Heat 2. On the entry lap to the track the car was misfiring at slow speed, so I drove back off the track and parked it up for the night!
A very cold Sunday Morning hit us in the tent, and I set about getting everything checked and cleaned again to try and remove the misfire. It worked for a couple of laps, which was enough to have a good battle with Terry Smith in an ill handling Toyota Starlet. However I was lapped by the end of a short 6 lap race! We loaded up at this point deciding not to try and fix it for heat 4, and to watch the main arena racing of Hot Rods, Superstox, Legends and then the King of the Rock Race. This race featured the champion of champions for each of the 10 groups racing at the event for a £10,000 prize. The surprise car was the Uniroyal Funcup VW Beetles on Rockingham's road course track. SAA's own Andy Wilkinson (Wilkie) from Mod C was SEGTO's champion. The whole race was a bit of a fix, with each driver getting only £1,000 each if they brought the car back in one piece and nothing extra to the winner! When ASCAR 2007 Champion Colin White was leading by miles the safety car was deployed to bunch everyone back up. Superstox racer Jason Cooper went onto win the race. Chris used to compete against Jason in Legends Cars. Round 10 - August 27th 2007
With virtually no preparation for this round, due to the ankle injury, I was unsure whether the car would run ok or not. I had suffered a misfire in the final at the last round I raced in. So out for Heat 1 and I got a good start from the 10 car grid and straight into the lead, but the joy was short lived when the misfire hit at the end of lap one and almost cut the engine out. Onto the infield for the first retirement of the season. This year has been the best for a number of seasons for relaibility, but alas that 100% finish rate came to an end.
With a number of possible causes I set about eliminating all of them, with the help of fellow racers, Dean Brown (1450s), Wilkie, Simon Chappell, Grant Chase, Stu Chase, Alan Hays (All Mod C's) I thought we'd fixed it in time for heat 2, but the car refused to keep running in order to take the grid. So a DNS was recorded. We found under further investigation that the fuel pipe under the bonnet was leaking in air, so that was changed and the fuel starvation ended but was replaced with flooding of the carbs! It was found that during the cleaning of the carburettors we'd altered the float height. I had Just enough time to alter them and test through the pits before it was time to line up for the final. A few more tweeks and then we took to the track, with hopes of finishing the race!
Having lined up late, I was at the back of the white grade drivers and so started 4th. A good start saw me pass both Toyota Starlets of Stu Chase and Alan Hays, but was being left behind by the #95 Nova. It was about 4/5 laps before #90 Wilkie caught and soon passed me, with #117 Grant Chase and #80 Simon Chappell following close behind. A late race tussle with the pink starlet of #17 Stu Chase, became rather close when the misfire kicked back in again and Stu ran straight into the back of me exiting turn 4! 7th place at the line, was as good as we could have hoped for on an average return to racing following the injury.
Chris
With a number of possible causes I set about eliminating all of them, with the help of fellow racers, Dean Brown (1450s), Wilkie, Simon Chappell, Grant Chase, Stu Chase, Alan Hays (All Mod C's) I thought we'd fixed it in time for heat 2, but the car refused to keep running in order to take the grid. So a DNS was recorded. We found under further investigation that the fuel pipe under the bonnet was leaking in air, so that was changed and the fuel starvation ended but was replaced with flooding of the carbs! It was found that during the cleaning of the carburettors we'd altered the float height. I had Just enough time to alter them and test through the pits before it was time to line up for the final. A few more tweeks and then we took to the track, with hopes of finishing the race!
Having lined up late, I was at the back of the white grade drivers and so started 4th. A good start saw me pass both Toyota Starlets of Stu Chase and Alan Hays, but was being left behind by the #95 Nova. It was about 4/5 laps before #90 Wilkie caught and soon passed me, with #117 Grant Chase and #80 Simon Chappell following close behind. A late race tussle with the pink starlet of #17 Stu Chase, became rather close when the misfire kicked back in again and Stu ran straight into the back of me exiting turn 4! 7th place at the line, was as good as we could have hoped for on an average return to racing following the injury.
Chris