Ever since we can remember we have always had our vehicles looked after by Hartwell Motor Services, for all our mechanical, vehicle servicing and all our MOT work, the service is second to none, and we can highly recommend the company, driven by a passionate owner, there isn't much they don’t know about fixing or looking after your pride and joy.
Proprietor and personal friend Andy Hartwell, has always been in and around some form of racing, not to long back he was terrorising the Legend grid, with some real ballsy racing, and we have to admit, he was pretty handy behind the wheel.
This year he has decided to submit to his cravings, the force is strong for the love of competing, and he does love a challenge, so at the start of the racing season his mind was made up. The first thing was deciding on what racing series he wanted to compete in, as there is so much racing that ticked most of the boxes, the Legends was a no go, he's been there and done that and was after a different challenge, with a few in mind his final decision was Mascar, it ticked all of the boxes, and for those that are not in the know, it’s the miniature form of Nascar, that's run over in the states, and boy are they a blast.
With the class of racing decided it was time to look at the transportation, getting this race car to and from the circuits all over the UK, with the odd trip to Europe, and with a 7.5 ton truck secured, with adjustable tail lift, it was time to go Mascar shopping. As with anything when Andy is on buying spree, a bargain was found, with a fresh unpainted shell, for him to plan out his paint and decal theme, and with the shell all painted Kawasaki Green, it was off over to James at Signs FX in Northampton for a bit of graphic designing, and we have to say it came out rather good, nice to see a bit of VAD in those lovely graphics.
After a few niggles with various parts, Andy upgraded lots of the suspension components, so everything is now adjustable for fine tuning the car set up from track to track, the first test run was at Birmingham wheels, just outside the city centre, and the car looked, and sounded superb, he also reported it handled like it was on rails, and the first race meeting at Mendips to get a feel for racing the car went down a storm.
Next outing for Hartwell Motor Services crew will be at Ipswich raceway on the 6th of August and we will be there in full VAD support. For anyone that’s interested in what makes this little fire breathers tick, Below we have listed a bit of technical info on these little pocket rockets.
10 things you need to know about Mascar
1 Tyres are restricted to 8 slicks & 8 wets per season all bar coded and driver allocated to individual drivers.
2 Engines all sealed and are basically a standard Yamaha J 1200 or XJR1300 engine units costs from £250.00 for second hand
3 The cars are basically all identical and makes for close racing and the size of cheque book dont count for anything in this series.
4 Shock are all restricted and identical
5 You don't need loads of spares because we all use the same equipment we have the parts track side at every meeting.
6 All drivers are on raceceivers to make fair and equal racing and make drivers aware of spun cars etc, saving on car damage.
7 Reverse grids give everyone that, race win opportunity, drivers are graded every meeting on averages.
8 The cars hold value when looked after as you can’t build or buy cars from outside the series protecting your investment ( Many cars have sold for more than the original drivers have bought them for.
9 All our officials are voted in by the drivers yearly and we Police our own series so no confusion about rules
10 We are a family friendly series that wants to encourage the NASCAR style of Racing to the UK and as an independent series we have the chance to also do long track and other style of tracks on occasions bring the fun element back to motor sport.
The full report of the Ipswich meeting will be posted on our blog, so look out for all the details coming soon.
For more details on what Hartwell Motor Services has to offer, check out their website for more info, www.hartwellmotorservices.co.uk