|
Didnt see much of the racing but out of the 3 races I was in 2 of them were the some the most enjoyable races I've ever had.
My first race in the rear engined disc brake formula junior race was hectic to say the least. Qualified 7th and made my customary woeful start and was 9th at the end of the first lap, but could have been lower if it wasnt for the incident at Druids which eliminated 2 drivers in in front of me and brought out the saftey car. Managed to overhaul fellow 10/10 poster Marcus Mussa in the Brabham BT2 after a couple of laps and then Robin Longdon in his Lola MK5A. By this time the group fighting for 4th, 5th and 6th were a fair way infront but with a bit of assitance from backmarkers I managed to catch them with about 3 laps to go, and remained with them inheriting 6th when fellow Lola driver and occasional poster on here James Claridge went into Stirlings a bit hot and parked it in the gravel. Then on the last lap again coming out of Stirlings all hell broke loose, a back marker didnt see the green flag on the exit of the corner which was under yellow for Mr Claridges car in the gravel, and the Lotus 27 ahead of me took ages to realise what was happening resulting in several cars behind me catching up and a mad dash to the finish between half a dozen of us, I managed to just hold position ahead of Marcus Mussa and Andrew Hibberd finishing 6th overall. Benn Simms won the race in flambuoyant style in a Cooper T59 from Denis Welch and Mark Woodhouse.
I qualified 23rd for DBT after a fuel pipe fell off the Brabham, luckily not setting fire to anything! The rolling start was a shambles with the leaders almost at Graham Hill bend when the rear of the grid was crossing the line and it took a lap for me to realise the race had started as there were still yellow flags out. Anyway managed to get up to 12th and sat behind fellow 10/10 poster JRTM for about 12 laps and had to concede to his v8 grunt and excellent defence finishing 12th. Suffice to say my ears were ringing at the end of the race. Stuart Tilley won the race in Simon Hadfields Trojan and was absolutely flying, Mark Dwyer was second in his Lola T400 and Frank Lyons 3rd in a Lola T332.
The second DBT race was simply suberb from my perspective, the people in race control revised the start stratagey, which resulted in the whole grid being bunched correctly for the rolling start. In to paddock on the the first lap and proffessor Monson graciously spun the Lola right infront of me and I was on my way. Then at Druids half a dozen cars tangeled and I went from 11th to 4th. The safety car inevitably came out to clear up the mess and at the restart I lost 2 places to David Gathergole and a Kiwi in a Mcrae F5000. That didnt last long however as David spun at paddock on the next lap and I inherited the 2 places back again. The remainder of the race reulted in a great battle with Mike Hibberd and David Wild which I came out the better and finished 6th. The race was won by Greg Thornton in a Surtees TS11 after a close battle with 2 Kiwis in f5000's.
It was a superb event and well supported by spectators and competitors as has previously been mentioned. I think the marshalls had a busy and hopefully enjoyable weekend, there was certainly plenty for them to do with the flags and judging by the number of bent cars in the paddock, with the recovery trucks also.
|