Toyo Tyres etc, Snetterton, 20 July 2008

[John Turner]

The real name of this meeting was the Lotus Celebration (featuring the VdeV UK 6 hour), but I thought that would be misleading as a thread title for this forum. There was indeed a 6 hour VdeV race on Saturday (19th) and 4 Lotus races on Sunday, but they were all modern(ish). If it was a celebration, it might have been good to have a race for older Lotus cars or maybe a lunchtime parade of them. However, notwithstanding that comment, this was an excellent meeting, with 11 races on Sunday; great cars and racing, and well attended to. The mixture of old and new worked well but I propose eventually to cover the historic element which consisted:-

Races 2 & 12 - Heritage Grand touring Cars
Race 7 - Production BMW (all old E30s)
Races 9 & 11 - Toyo Tyres Racing Saloons & Last Chance Saloons

Anyone else go? Any thoughts?

[John Turner]

A few shots to set the scene!

[COLIN STUBBS]

Just sneaked into your first pic there John in front of Ians Capri.
Good days sport wasnt it?

[John Turner]

Colin, sorry we didn't get to say hello. I really ought to look more closely at the programme! Anyway, your car is 20 years old next year, so I reckon it's old enough to include a pic when we get to that race! And, yes, an excellent day's sport.

[Stacy]

Hi John,

Good to see you as ever, and glad you enjoyed the day.

Don't suppose you have any shots of my little motor in front of the BM's do you? Only there seems to be an avatar conspiracy on our series forum where the reverse picture is much prized!

I was surprised by the amount of spectators, good to see at a club meeting.

Cheers

Stacy

[John Turner]

Stacy, I'm pretty certain that I do have one or more with you leading. Mind you the lighting that day was not the best for orange cars in terms of definition; I had similar problems getting a decent shot of that other orange winning car, Chris Beighton's Tiger. However, I'm sure I can oblige, but I crave your patience as I'm at Silverstone this weekend. Actually, those guys are either winding you up or paying a compliment (or both!) because it's rare that they head you! I've probably upset John Willcocks, now!

I, too was pleasantly surprised at the number of spectators!

[johnw]

Originally Posted by stacy

Only there seems to be an avatar conspiracy on our series forum where the reverse picture is much prized!

It's not due to being much prized Stacy, just that there an awful lot of them about.


Good to see you John, don't be concerned about shooting orange cars, the white ones look very good in the pics thus far

[Stacy]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Actually, those guys are either winding you up or paying a compliment (or both!) because it's rare that they head you! I've probably upset John Willcocks, now!

Oh most definately the former...

Kind words, but things have changed somewhat. That may have been so in day of old, but this year the game has had to be raised somewhat.. Have bean beaten by all sorts of people at various stages of the year and things are close enough that one mistake and that's your lot. I mean, one mistake and even bloody Willcocks goes past.

Fortunately he makes more of them than I do..



S.

[johnw]

But not many on this scale

[Stacy]

Oh I wouldn't say that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eYONeqWCk8

[johnw]

Long before your time young chap.No driving standards in those days.

[restyles]

Hi all, Not had much chance to post lately as no suitable races at Snett. However have attached a few shots from recent Lotus celebration meeting. Even managed a few of John and Stacey. May pop a few more on when I ger a few mins.

[johnw]

Hi Richard. Good to hear from you.
It seems that your attachments haven't made it?

[restyles]

Sorry, think I forgot to attach the pics !!!! Again !!!

[restyles]

That should be more like it John !!!! I never was very sharp ... some things never change !

[johnw]

Thanks Richard.
Love the one of me encouraging Stacy to catch up.

Can't believe that you posted the one I spotted in Autosport. Cue even more abuse from the orange one

[restyles]

John, I will see what else I can find and pop a few more on tomorrow.

[COLIN STUBBS]

HIJACK!!
good pics though. Always thought that must be a good place to snap from but I bet youv got to be quick!

[restyles]

Yes Colin, Riches is a quick old corner but its a good shot from there. I make a point of keeping behind the 3 row armco for the first lap run into the corner then get a bit more brave behind the 2 row. Years ago the brave souls used to stand with their feet on the white line !! Now that was brave.

[John Turner]

Richard, sorry we didn't catch up. I think that we were at opposite ends of the circuit all day!

[Stacy]

Thanks mate.

S.

[restyles]

Hi John T,
Sorry I missed you , it never crossed my mind that you would be in evidence. I really should have known better !!!! Hope you enjoyed it. I thought it was a great meeting. Far better than my expectations. Will we see you again this year up in Norfolkshire ?

[johnw]

I was only there on the Sunday but there was some cracking racing and excellent cars on show.

[John Turner]

John, there was only one race on the Saturday and that was the 6 hour VdeV race. One odd thing, I thought, was the layout of the programme! At the front it provides a timetable in the normal way, but then presents the individual races/entries out of sequence. Race 1 is first, fair enough, but the next page covers Races 4 & 10, and the next, 3 & 6, then 5 & 8. You have to get well into the programme before you get to Race 2; very odd! Not logical as Spock would have said!

Anyway to race 2. The first of the Heritage GT race, this was the shorter one, so no driver changes, and where there were 2 drivers listed in the programme, I'm not sure who was driving in this one. Pretty much anything goes in the Heritage GT series, so it often provides an interesting and diverse field. Sadly, the Arthur and Boysie Thurtle Camaro was a non starter having blown its engine during Saturday practice so we had already lost poleman. It was Chris Beighton, therefore, who took up pole in his Orange Sunbeam Tiger and, although the Aston DB4 of Byrne/Snowdon was alongside him for the rolling start, it was the ever improving Chris Scragg and his Aston V8 who was to provide the strongest opposition to Beighton. Beigton took the early lead off the rolling start but a couple of laps later it was Scragg who held the lead, although it wasn't to last long:-


There was always the impression that Beighton had a bit in reserve and having retaken the lead he appeared to control the pace, although the lead fluctuated slightly and Scragg was an everpresent shadow. Any mistake by Beighton and he would have been through but a minor coming together in the Russell chicane when the leader was lapping the Cooke/Cooke Aston V8, only momentarily slowed the Tiger, and Beighton took the flag by 3.7 seconds. 3rd was Robin North in his Mustang:-


The exuberantly driven Ford Escort of Glover/Cann was 15th:-


And how about this for an unusual entry. The smartly turned out Daimler SP250 of Townsend/Conoley which finished last but was driven enthusiastically and looked like fun:-


A big lock up from the Aston DB5 of McCallum/Bussell which finished 8th:-


I'm assuming (a dangerous assumption, possibly!) that the driver of the Byrne/Snowdon DB4 was not the same as the one who had qualified it on the front row since it dropped back to finish 9th. On the way there, this overly ambitious lapping manoeuvre from a long way back never looked likely to succeed cleanly. It was fortunate that Robert Rawe in the Healey 3000 saw him coming, and straightened his turn in; as a result both had to straightline the chicane. Rawe finished 13th and won his class:-

[John Turner]

The second BMW 3 series was one of the finest sports saloons to go into mass production. They stopped building them at least 15 years ago but you still see a fair few in regular use on the road. A race series for them seems entirely logical and since the bigger engined versions (325i, M3) are catered for by other race series, and to keep costs down, this series allows just the 4 cylinder 318 and 6 - cylinder 320 to compete.

I apologise in advance if my following selection of pics tends to offer the view that they are perhaps overly competitive. They are not, but the cars and the drivers are so closely matched that it leads, logically, to some very close and exciting racing. The fields are big too, with 37 cars starting this race, and as I was located around the outside of the Russell chicane, it was inevitable that I would capture many of the incidents. Besides, livery apart, one E30 looks very much like another so I felt the need to bring an extra dimension to this set of shots.

The marshal waves the green flag to signify the whole grid is ready, although I wasn't quite able to get them all in. Just out of shot, to the right were Graham Collison (57) and Nigel Olive-Jones (3). They both made good progress in the race, Olive-Jones coming 13th, Collison, 26th. Liam Crilly was on pole in his 318:-


A big battle raged just behind Crilly, involving several cars including Robin Welsh (2) and Len Colley (95) both in 320s. Here Welsh gives Colley a helping hand out of the chicane:


On the approach to the chicane, Warren Gazzard (168) takes avoiding action to miss the spinning Richard Thomas (26). Thomas went on to finish 28th, whilst Gazzard unfortunately failed to finish:-


As we have seen above, Colley was one of the frontrunners, but he too had a moment and such was the closeness of the racing that he was to finish 12th:-


At Snetterton, a competitor carrying too much speed out of Coram, or into the chicane will take to the grass and cut across behind it to avoid spinning and potentially damaging accidents. It happens often in all classes of racing here. This race was no exception. However, I'm not sure that the race officials would have taken too kindly to this particular 'off'. Brian Clasby appeared to continue at unabated speed without lifting much and headed to return to the track roughly opposite the pit entrance. Unfortunately, a futher application of the right foot before all wheels were off the grass speared him left into the armco on the outside of the track. The impact was pretty heavy but fortunately, the driver was Ok and the race continued as the car was well off the track and not in a dangerous spot. However at the end of the race, a good 20 minutes was lost whilst marshals and track maintenance guys carried out post and armco repairs including the replacing of a length of the armco barrier. They did a great job. Of course if Clasby's original off was due to brake failure, then what followed, is understandable:-


Alan Stuart (11) and Simon Bassford (25). Stuart finished 19th and Bassford 16th, yet only 2.7 seconds covered the pair of them, such is the competitive nature of this series:-


Jerry Brown gets on the grass but returned safely to finish 30th:-


An indication of how close it was at the end is seen as the first four take the flag. It had been a great race. Crilly's drive from pole had been exemplary since, as far as I can recall, he was never led, yet if the official best lap times are correct, his best was beaten by the 6 following drivers, an indication both of the intensity of the racing behind him but also of his ability to maintain consistent fast lappery which enabled him to stay ahead of the pursuing group. Dean Spurr was 2nd and Robin Welsh just held on to 3rd with Tony Smith, 4th:-