HSCC Historic Festival, Brands 28/29 June

[Simon Hadfield]

I was at Dijon, of which more later, and was so chuffed to hear of Stuarts win in the Trojan. Possibly the best deserved win this year and I believe done in some style!

[James Murray]

Very much so Simon, he looked awesome through Dingle Dell compared to the other 5000's I saw. Shame he had trouble in the 2nd onne, he would have walked it.

[Andrew Kitson]

He looked awesome through paddock too when I was watching the DBT practice session. He looked by far the fastest through there and latest on the brakes. I was unaware at the time who was driving, thought for a moment it might be Derek Bell by the helmet design!

[Tainan]

Some of the more interesting cars in the 1st FJ race...

Peter Kumlin's Condor S3


Stephen Gibson's Lynx...


Andrew Robertson's Crossle...


and finally Anthony Martindale's Essenkay...


(My first attempt at posting images here, so I hope I've got it right)

[FA73]

Originally Posted by Simon Hadfield

I was at Dijon, of which more later, and was so chuffed to hear of Stuarts win in the Trojan. Possibly the best deserved win this year and I believe done in some style!

Yes well done Stuart - great to see a Pre 74 FF1600 championship winner doing so well !!

[Gary Critcher]

I had a great time in practice and race until going into Druids I managed to hit the brakes just a tad too hard and therefore spun. Unfortunately, there was someone right behind me and he managed to collect me as I gyrated. Upon getting the car back to the paddock, there seems to be more damage than we initially thought. Looks like I will have to miss Castle Combe because of it

[delta]

Come on Garry,there are 4 weeks for you too repair the damage, Stuart Tilly is indeed a very talented driver well done Simon for letting him prove that point.

[Gary Critcher]

it's all about money, Iain!!

[delta]

Hey Garry we will have a whip round and pay for the 7 bridge toll if that helps

[Philip Venables]

Both the Lynx and the Essandkay are from Australia, the Lynx, one of several, the Essandkay, a one off, there are a few other Aussie FJ's over here, including my Nota

[Alan Morgan]

Originally Posted by delta

Hey Garry we will have a whip round and pay for the 7 bridge toll if that helps

I'm sure Gary appreciates your gesture, Iain. However, Gary is a resident of Surrey, and the conventional route to Castle Combe from there doesn't actually include entry into Wales via the Severn Bridge.

[delta]

Ah Ha getting ahead of myself thinking of Pembrey. It must be the excitement of tomorrow.Very very excited as if it was my first race

[Tainan]

Originally Posted by Alan Morgan

I'm sure Gary appreciates your gesture, Iain. However, Gary is a resident of Surrey, and the conventional route to Castle Combe from there doesn't actually include entry into Wales via the Severn Bridge.

And if he is going that way, perhaps a whip round to buy him an atlas would be more beneficial.

[John Turner]

[John Turner]

Just realised I hadn't updated this with Sunday's races and found it on page 2, so my next pictorial posting will be on this thread, starting with Sunday's first race, Race 7 - Historic Formula Ford. Probably do that tomorrow!

[John Turner]

A superb 35 car grid. although we had lost 10 of these by the end, with a number of cars going off on laps 1 & 5 resulting in a safety car period (I think!). Last year's Formula Ford Champion, Callum Macleod (5 - Merlyn Mk20A) was in the field and, being the 'hotshoe' that he is, was at the front. However, his lead and ultimate victory was very hotly contested by Darren Burke (64 - Macon MR8) who posted fastest lap and just failed to snatch victory on the line by 0.086 seconds. Great racing from these two, and indeed throughout the field. Westie Mitchell finished 3rd, just 4.1 seconds down:-


John Hayes-Harlow finished 10th in his Elden Mk8/10:-


Will Arid was 12th in his Macon:-


All the 7's. Chris Sharples, HSCC Chairman, was 7th in 77, his Palliser WDF1:-


Former multiple champion, the veteran Dave Lowe, took his lotus 69 to 11th:-


A close encounter between Albert Clements (51 - Lotus 51) and Terence Tumber (59 - Lola T200) was resolved in Tumber's favour. He had eked out a 3 second advantage at the flag. They were 21st and 22nd:-


Sadly our Gary was one of those who failed to finish (see above). A close up of Mr Critcher in the Nike Mk4/6!:-


Adam Sykes took his Merlyn Mk11A to 24th:-

[John Turner]

A terrific grid of 32 cars for this race, including a contingency from New Zealand. Unfortunately, we lost 12 cars during the race. Stuart Tilley was the absolute star of this race. His Modus M1 wasn't ready in time so he borrowed Simon Hadfield's Trojan T101 and proceeded to demonstrate what a good driver he is by dominating the race, posting fastest lap, and winning by 10 seconds from Mark Dwyer (Lola T400). So a fine gesture by Simon H led to a superb win by Tilley who I believe was out in an F5000 car for the first time!:-


I think that this might be a first time out, too, for this car. I certainly don't recall seeing it out before. The Martin BM16 of Michael Scott, sadly to retire after 11 laps:-


David Gathecole (42 - Chevron B25) dives up the inside of Keith Norris (Chevron B49) on his way to a fine 7th overall and Class C win. Norris was 19th:-


Jeremy Wheatley was 14th in his Surtees TS15:-


Two Ten-Tenthers put on a great show with this great dice between James Murray (27 - Brabham BT36) and John Monson (55 - Lola T332). I think that this was the closest James got to grabbing the place, through Stirlings Bend, but was always going to be outdragged by the more powerful Surtees. It was great fun viewing them through Sheene Curve, a place where the nimbleness of the Brabham saw it all over the back of the Surtees. John held on though and they were 11th and 12th respectively:-


Garrick Eyre was 18th in his Ralt RT1:-


Frank Lyons gets two wheels on the grass on his way to 3rd:-


All the way over from NZ, Sefton Gibb brought his Lola T332 home in 5th:-


Another Ten Tenther, Bruce Fullerton finished 8th in his Lola T300:-


Nick Overall (14 - Brabham BT36) spun off out of Sheene and Phil Walker (32 - Lola T142) followed suit in sympathy. Here Overall is spinning up the wheels in a failed attempt to extract himself. Walker was able to get going again but only, it seems, to pit at the end of the lap and retire:-

[John Turner]

A disappointing turnout for this race! 17 starters and 12 finishers, although one of the reasons was the loss of some cars from the previous day's race. Richard Piper's McLaren M8F charged off into the lead, chased hard by the March 707 of Frank Bradley. They soon left everybody behind.

Hugh Price's Chevron B21 which finished 9th, but surely should have finished a little higher:-


Thomas Hardy's Lola T212, proudly displaying its Scuderia Filipinetti heritage, was 12th:-


Dieter Riegl's Lola T296 which finished 7th. Not a car I'm particularly familiar with. Is it rare? How many built?


Doug Hart's March 76S finished 4th. It's certainly not pretty, but very striking:-


Steve Hodges Chevron B31, on its way to 6th:


The race at the front was close for quite a while, and Bradley got ahead for a few laps, as seen here, before Piper reasserted himself. Unfortunately, 2 laps from the end, Bradley retired, and Piper then stroked home to a 19 second win over Silvio Kalb's March 76S with Steven Arnold 3rd in Chevron B19:-

[John Turner]

Peter Sowerby powered the Williams FW07C-14 (10) to an easy win by nearly 25 seconds over 15 laps:-


Whilst Abba Cogan took 10th amd Class A honours in the Matra MS120C/D:-


Sowerby's task was made easier by the fact that Joachim Folch's Brabham BT49C-10 (7) became embroiled in a dice with Richard Eyre's Williams FW08-3 (6). Although, he eventually got by, Sowerby was long gone, but I'm not convinced that he would have held onto the Williams, anyway! In the event, Folch, unfortunately, had to pull off with mechanical woes on lap 11, although he was credited with 14th place. Eyre was to finish 4th:-


The race was scheduled to go 20 laps but when Dan Collins (11 - Lotus 88B), seen here earlier on in the race, had a coming together with David Coplowe (Lotus 87/4) and they both went off at paddock Hill Bend, the race was red flagged and results declared from the end of the previous lap. Collins was classified 5th, and Coplowe, 6th!!:-


Steve Hartley was 3rd, in his Arrows A6-4:-


One of my better shots, I think. John Delane 'works the wheel' of his Tyrrell 002 through Hawthorn Bend, on his way to 12th. The Tyrrell was, as is often the case in these races, the oldest car in the race, and the only other Class A contender (see above):-


John Wilson's 'newer' Tyrrell 011 was a fine second having got the better of Hartley early on and then overtaken Eyre later on:-


David Coplowe's Lotus 87-4 (see above):-

[Tainan]

Originally Posted by John Turner

The race was scheduled to go 20 laps but when Dan Collins (11 - Lotus 88B), seen here earlier on in the race, had a coming together with David Coplowe (Lotus 87/4) and they both went off at paddock Hill Bend, the race was red flagged and results declared from the end of the previous lap. Collins was classified 5th, and Coplowe, 6th!!:-

I thought the 'cause(s)' of red flags were supposed to be excluded from the results. This doesn't seem to happen at HSCC meetings as I found out when I was involved in one at BH last September. Or have the rules changed??

[Tainan]

And top marks for continuing the report. I'm sure many are still reading, even if not contributing!

[John Turner]

Thanks, Tainan, I'll probably get around to the next race tomorrow am.

Your point about red flags is one I have made before. I, too, thought that those causing such stoppages would not be classified in the results. It was why I put exclamation marks at the end of my sentence.

[Bruce 10]

We are still avidly reading John - keep up the good work! Are you up at Oulton this weekend? Maybe get some more time to catch up.

[John Turner]

Bruce, no, I'm not attending Oulton; it's a bit of a trek from here and even I, despite my enthusiasm, try to avoid going to a meeting every weekend! I'm sure we will catch up before the end of the season, though!

[John Turner]

28 starters, but we lost 9 of them before the chequered flag was hung out. For the first couple of laps the lead was contested by Richard Styles (11 - Ford Mustang) and Dan Cox (46 - Lotus Cortina), seen here through Stirling's Bend. However, on lap 3, Styles slowed and toured round to the pits to retire, leaving Cox to control the race, and easing up towards the end to win by just under 5 seconds from Jim Chapman's Mustang and Les Ely's BMW 2000:-


The Triumph 2000 Mk1 of Richard Cross which finished 16th and the Austin A40 of Henry Cox who passed him and went onto finish 14th:-


Thomas Seckel failed to complete the race in his Mini Cooper S:-


James Fuller netted 7th in his Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint:-


Oldest car in the race was Adam Gittings 1958 Ford Zodiac MkII which finished last (19th). However, his lap times suggest that he should have beaten Tim Bishop's 1959 DKW (18th), and given that he was credited with 8 laps (of 10), I'm assuming an off or long pit visit to explain it:-


Simon Benoy was Class E winner (nothing new there, then!) and 12th overall in his Hillman Imp. Brian Webb was to retire his Anglia 105E after completing 9 laps, whereas Graham Martin was classified 13th in his Singer Chamois:-


Neil Wood took 4th place in his Anglia 105E:-


Another view of Martin's Chamois:-