Eurocup Round 2: Made, Netherlands – June 18/19^th, 2011.

The last time we pulled in Made, the track was worthless, and weights were put to the rear. But bad weather put us on track two, following the 950kg Mini’s, and the already-pulled surface proved better than it looked.

Red Alert was test-puller – an unfortunate slot, but someone has to go first. A heavy sledge setting, and weights on the rear (from past experience) made the tractor run too light on the nose. We were out of balance with the front end too high, but the sledge was pretty heavy too.

We were stopped at around 85m, and a look back at the kickboard saw a mountain of dirt dug up by the tractor’s tyres – it was a track that would not stay down.

A reset sledge brought a second attempt, following Red Fever into the pull off against nine other tractors.

Red Fever was on the track mid-way through the pull off, following a strong run by Hobo. We put all the weights on the nose and found some extra horses, then it was down to PC to wait for the turbo boost and more rpms……

A straight pull gave a distance of 85.39m, and it looked strong too, with the old tyres working well in the loose, heavy surface. Could it be a winning distance? Zeinstra Well Done Deere went next and couldn’t make it so far, breaking a transmission at just 63.25m.

Red Alert returned to the track for its third pull and with a leaking fuel system now fixed, more weights on the nose and much more rpm, raced down the track to a distance of 86.35m. Could it be a team 1-2?

With D’nAerdvruter, You Never Know, Six Shooter, Incredible Deere and Terminator all coming up short, only the Zeinstra New Born Deere stood a chance of spoiling the Clarke Pulling Team’s two very strong runs.

With Sjors Zeinstra putting the sledge on the right-hand side, and running the line, he found some extra traction. He also found some extra distance and with a straight run, sneaked the Deere past the Clarke Team’s two Red mean machines.

Could it have been from his Puller 2000 tyres?

And so we earned 2^nd and 3^rd, putting Red Alert up from fourth, to second place in the Eurocup points championship with 45 points - just one point behind leader Zeinstra New Born Deere. With 35 points, Red Fever has now climbed up to share fifth position with the Well Done Deere.

Round three takes place in Herning, Denmark, on July 30/31^st.

RESULTS

Eurocup Round: 1

Bernay, France – June 4/5^th, 2011

Well, the first round of the five-pull Eurocup series, held in Bernay, France, brought some much-needed excitement for the Clarke Pulling Team.

Having not been down the track since Ahoy – which this year had to be the most disappointing event we’ve had for many years – there was much anticipation over how our new engine would perform in Fever, and also if our new data logging system would collect the information we needed.

Hot weather during the Saturday night pull also meant engines didn’t want to run clean. And not just our own. Almost all the alky burners ran rough during their first pulls down the track.

But once the heat of the day started to withdraw, that characteristic alky buzz returned with anger.

Having hitched to the sledge while fighting a loose visor that didn’t help his view, PC set about boosting Red Fever. Wheels broke loose and a good strong pull saw him easily achieve a full pull.

But the tractor didn’t want to run properly at the end of the track. Something was not quite right and it sounded like lots of misfires in the engine.

Geoff’s arrival at the sledge was much less complex. After tightening the chain, the tractor ran smoothly down the track, floating past the 100m-mark.

Time for the pull-off, and with 11 of the 12 super stocks in the pull-off, it wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

Difficulties in tracing Red Fever’s poor running mean that many things were tried out, before we were forced to make the difficult decision to scratch from the pull-off. New spark plugs made no difference, neither did disconnecting the MSD rev limiter. We checked the timing. Could it be ignition related? Had we burnt one or more pistons? We couldn’t take the risk, and settled on sharing joint 9^th place with Hobo and D’nAerdvruter.

It was down to Red Alert to fly the flag.

With more rpms and a determined effort to leave the line with greater speed, the old cast iron tractor put in a very respectable 4^th place on the loose, peculiar French track. The distance of 104m was only just beaten by Well Done Deere, Incredible Deere and the new All or Nothing Case Puma from Bram Kools.

With points to make up, we’re now looking forward to the second round on June 18th in Made, NL.

RESULTS

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