Autosport 3 Hours (HSCC), Snetterton, 5/6 June

[John Turner]

Only another 24 hours to go. Really looking forward to both the on track action and catching up with loads of Ten Tenthers. Weather forecast looks good. Hoping to take loads of pics, some of which I will inflict upon you.

I urge anybody interested in historic racing who has made no other plans for this weekend to get to see this; loads of great cars and no high fences to have to view through. Plenty of parking and easy access to paddock area. It's got to be done!

[diddy100]

Just had a quick visit to Snett on way home - cars already arriving plus several out on track testing - looks like a good weekend day ahead - although Judy Lyons having probs getting her Eagle within the noise level for the DB series
Remember the sun tan cream as it going to be b***y hot !!

[john ruston]

Well after a day at The Snet Riveria form is working out as predicted.
The Schryver gang with the very old driver and Ben will do 14's,Followed by the Hales/Shipman wagon in low 15's,a yellow B8 with Ian Jones in Team low 16's and us not getting in 16's with knackered engine,The second Schryver car should be quick and son of Father Ted,Luke Stevens will be a nuisance in Georges Ginetta and may be quicker than us all in practise.

HSCC their usual friendly selves and if only all scrutineering could be as friendly and organised.

The big show starts at 2.45 and its next to nothing to get in.

[john ruston]

For those who asked,we are in Pit 25 but with yesterdays testing expect to be home for BGT final!(its the old lady or dog)Things have not improved but its 33 degrees in Monza and everyone is having a good time.Missing all that so we can have a day at Snet.Class

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by john ruston

For those who asked,we are in Pit 25 but with yesterdays testing expect to be home for BGT final!(its the old lady or dog)Things have not improved but its 33 degrees in Monza and everyone is having a good time.Missing all that so we can have a day at Snet.Class

33 degrees- far too hot! A day in E Anglian sun is class!

Sent from iPhone- scary stuff

[john ruston]

Note.If any of the leaders of this establishment are looking.Can we please have some 10/10ths stickers for Le Mans Cars delivered today?

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by john ruston

Note.If any of the leaders of this establishment are looking.Can we please have some 10/10ths stickers for Le Mans Cars delivered today?

Want some 360 ones as well John?

[Unit 2 Racing]

Well done jr & team some bitza engine.







John Saunders

[john ruston]

Thanks for all your backing gang and car had 10/10ths stickers!

The boys had lost original engine on Monday and had to totally rebuilt it with bits scrounged from the local engine builders.It went onto dyno Thursday afternoon and was about 14 bhp down but we decided to give it a go.

Gareth,Alex with backing of Neil,Rodney,Mags,Jez and Matt did the business.

Drive of the race must be Luke Stephens rush through field with Ginetta,Nick Flemings speed and Andy Middlehursts stint.You need lots of luck and we had it but I have to say that when were 94 sec down with 30 mins to go thought we had missed the chance but Gareth did wonderfully to drag that time back .

J T is back and that great for all of us.

[John Turner]

Fantastic day. Some absolutely great racing in the 3 hours; brilliant result for John's B8 with Gareth and Alex on board. The B6/B8 hordes nearly got beaten by a Ginetta G16, as mentioned by John. I'd like to add James Schryver's to the list of fine drives. Also great that John Rees and John Hutchison won my Turnstyle Trophy in the Lotus 23. Lots of other good drives but completely knackered and want to get some shut eye before starting again tomorrow ....err, I mean today! Pics to follow!

Comiserations to Simon Drabble with his Turners; one failed to start (gearbox?) and the other lasted only a few laps. Sorry we didn't catch up Simon.

10/10th stickers now in JR's hands.

[Peter Mallett]

Well done JR, sounds like a perfect end to a troublesome week.

[Mike Bell]

Another great day- sunshine, good company, excellent racing- thanks and well done HSCC, marshals and recovery crews, CoCs and helpers, SC drivers, MSVR staff and anyone else have forgotten!

Well done JR and crew- John far from Mr Grumpy after event and didn't even mention missing BGT (whatever that is ). Big commiserations to Simon D after big oily bit failures on both cars. Wish I had taken a pic of you having your 'hamlet moment' later!

Team North Walsham's day started well when James P won the 40 minute (maybe why strangely small grid?) HRS race in usual Plus 8. Mark Randall did get his Ginetta ahead during the compulsory 1 min pit stop but couldn't stop James retaking the lead. It was then a case of managing temps and tyres for the win. Chris & Ollie Phillips bought their Plus 8 home in 3rd and the Gathercole Elan Plus 2 finished first Lotus in 4th.

We were a bit tentative of how the Guards race would go for us, Suzannes 'B causing a few anxious moments leading up to the weekend, but 'it all came good' and car never missed a beat all race. Sticking strictly to discussed rev limit and gearchanges, we only lost out during first SC when leader had just lapped S- resulting in her dropping at least half a lap to other cars in class. On 1st driver change we topped up fuel to take car to end, then when SC came out near end of my stint I pitted early for James to take over. After last year's nervous moments with oil level dropping low we added some lub as well. The rest of the race was exciting as our great MGB rivals , Beverly, Chris and Ollie Philips were not far ahead and eventually James caught and passed Ollie- with the fastest laps S's B has ever done. (Not sure about the discussed rev limit though ) During this time class rivals were having problems- Pia & Tony Bianchi's B suffering engine failure, the green car of Boyes/Smith/Field needing a Quickfit fitter when exhaust came adrift, and the Barrie Porsche unusually needing extra stops for attention. So class B2 went to the well driven Bentley/Richardson MGB with 14th o/a, 2nd (17th o/a) was the vivid green 911 of Bernberg/Winter/Campbell, and one place behind us with 3rd in class. A great result and well done James and Steve for getting car sorted for the race!

The 'Live snatch' system was called into action several times and worked well- allowing cars back into the race that would not have finished otherwise, so full marks for that. Bodes well for the 360 6hrs!

[simon drabble]

Many thanks to all those who tried to help me locate a gearbox - we had a disappointing 3 Hour with the 1650 Turner out in qualifying with a dodgy gearbox and the 1220 Turner throwing a rod in the race. If there was a positive to take home it was that we sorted out the 1650 misfire from the previous weekend and the handling issues have largely been resolved and some helpful ideas from Mark Hales - if you read this Mark many thanks! Well done JR and Gareth and all the others for the class wins, we will be back next year!
Btw we were back for BGT and the right act won!

[zefarelly]

thats harsh Simon, we did talk about the gearbox earlier in the week, no accounting for a stroppy rod though!

Well done JRs team, top work all round.

[terence]

Yep,3Hr was as good an event as ever,driving standards were pretty much as they should have been,always some who don't quite understand the rules though!The snatches went quite well when needed Mike.
Good to have met up with so many tenthers and Kevin T at last,just have to wait for his dad's account of procedings now!
Really must add that Gareth's last stint was quite something,clawing back the deficit was a job very well done!

[Nick Fleming]

Originally Posted by John Turner

I wish I knew the entry list for the 3 hours, especially after what we saw at Silverstone. Mr Fleming, sir, I see you are looking in. Congrats, on last weekend and are you entered? I also wonder about James and Andrew Schryver; they are always in the mix. Surely they are entered. I think this is going to be a great race.

Mr Turner... thanks for the Silverstone congrats... I pop in here from time to time to see what's being said! (don't all drivers?!)

Autosport 3hr was a great weekend.

I was however...utterly robbed of victory...

Nick

[John Turner]

Welcome, Nick. You certainly looked good for the win half way into the race but as we all know, 'things' happen in motor racing, and 3 hours is a long time in which they can and do happen! Is that a Murrayism, by chance?

As JR has said, the winning car carried the 10-Tenths sticker and here's the proof (Gareth on his final charge!)

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Good to have met up with so many tenthers and Kevin T at last,just have to wait for his dad's account of procedings now!

As I've said before, I'm not doing full pictorial reviews this year, but I will post plenty of pics up, and maybe throw the odd (very odd!) comment in.

[John Turner]

Sponsored by Zircotec, this 40 minute race was not as well supported as it should have been, and several of those entered did not appear. Nevertheless there was a good variety of cars. The race was won by James Paterson in his 'Noddy' Morgan Plus 8 (92) and he was chased home, quite closely for most of the race by Dave Randall in his Ginetta G4 (5). The Chris and Oliver Phillips Morgan Plus 8 (16) was 3rd:-

[Terry Scannell]

Well that's the fourth running of the revived Autosport 3hr and it really does get better each time!

Really good to meet many of the regulars again and also many new competitors to the event and from some of the comments looks like many of these will be back next year - certainly hope so!

Great to see that the Race was once again benefitting from the glorious Snet Sun - what a glorious day - just what the 3hr deserves, fantastic weather, superb location - Costa del Snetterton, beautiful cars, and some lovely ladies enjoying the sun...........Ok I am an Observer (Post Chief) in my spare time so I have to keep my eye in!!!

Absolutely brilliant racing and atmosphere throughout the weekend and the superb manner & spirit in which everyone, competitors, teams, ,marshals, Safety Car teams, Recovery, Rescue/Medical and MSV circuit staff just worked so well together to achieve the timetable and especially the very tight timewise Sunday schedule was really appreciated by the team in Race Control. We couldn't have achieved it without everyone's contribution, so well done to you all and a BIG THANK YOU!

Despite several incidents involving stoppages and restarts etc on Sunday we still managed to finish some 12 minutes ahead of schedule thanks to your assistance with some quick turnarounds between sessions.

I would just like to say a special thank you to Terry & Chris for their work in the safety car throughout the weekend, they did a great job, although didn't get too many run outs on the Sunday as most of the incidents were fairly major and mostly needed Reds, due to the short race durations.

Also a big thank you to Westie Mitchell who was quietly going about his business preparing his Formula Ford when he was press-ganged by a certain nameless Clerk into doing a stint in the Safety Car during the 3hr, with that certain Clerk, to give Terry & Chris a break. Westie did a great job in having to chase the leader at one stage into Riches and with a deft and extremely safe overtaking manoeuvre (with a great deal of cooperation from the driver of car 60 - Thank you - great anticipation and awareness seeing us being deployed from the pitlane at rather short notice alongside his car) took up the deputy shepherd role with distinction! Better watch out Mr. Bower!!

Well done to Team North Walsham too! Mike, Suzanne & James for a great race in the MG and I also understand that the marshals at Bombhole have adopted Pia as their favorite after spending a couple of hours in her company on Saturday afternoon. The crew were just were not the same on the Sunday!!

JT KT and AK great to see you around the paddock again - Same time same place next year everyone!!

Finally a round of applause to Grahame, Alan and all the HSCC team for all their hard work behind the scenes to make this event what it is and to the Autosport team for their continued support in recreating this historic race.

Note to oneself - Better order the Sun again for next year today!!

Terry

[john ruston]

Nick,Did Mr Jones find a sheep?Spoke to Mike and their was a new oil slick appeared where Jonesy went off as others were very close to doing same including Mike.

You were very unlucky as was Andy Middlehurst in B8 and Luke in Ginetta who would have won if he had driven major part of race.Best news was Simon H in Monza as Michael would have been probably have won again.

It's a bugger but someone has to win and the might have been stories will probably be us next time around although the car is only doing Le Mans Classic for rest of year.Thats enough.Could get fed up again and sell it!
Pleased it was our bitza engined bag of bolts!

[John Turner]

John, don't diminish the result; it was a great race with plenty of attrition at the front, several different leaders, and an example of what endurance racing should be like. As the saying goes, 'to finish first you have to first finish'. Gareth and Alex were there or thereabouts all race, consistently quick, made few or no mistakes in a car which bitsa or not, held together. There's no guarantee that if Simon had been in Michael's car, it would have won, and it was a good historic debut from Ben Anderson, who had big shoes to fill. Your team produced a fine effort that delivered at the end of the day. Brilliant stuff; well done; bet you're glad you came.
Oh, and don't keep selling cars just to buy back later. Hold onto this one, and come back and defend your title next year with it.

Interesting note for anoraks is that only 2 cars have won the 4 resurrected Autosport 3 hours.

[Andrew Kitson]

A superb weekend, brilliant 3-hr race. Well done JR, Gareth, Alex and the boys on a fantastic win. The best modern day 'Autosport' yet..

Some of my pics:
































Ben finds out that 60 mins in a Chevron on a hot day is tougher than 10 laps in an F.Vee










Great victorious drive by Gareth in the last hour

[terence]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Welcome, Nick. You certainly looked good for the win half way into the race but as we all know, 'things' happen in motor racing, and 3 hours is a long time in which they can and do happen! Is that a Murrayism, by chance?

As JR has said, the winning car carried the 10-Tenths sticker and here's the proof (Gareth on his final charge!)

Perhaps if JR was given another,it might be put on straight?
Terry,it was a pleasure working with you and Sam again. As for "watching out",there is a choice of two reason's for your position when picking up the leader.

[Robyn Slater]

Damn damn damn.......

Looking at those pics makes me wish i'd gone up there on sat afternoon.