The Championship arrived at Snetterton with the prospect of an enthralling double header featuring a battle for the 2007 title between Phil Donaghy and Neil Smith. Over the last few races the situation between the two has been see-sawing to and fro. It was therefore very sad to see the day end with many damaged cars and one race being declared as "not run" and the number of scoring rounds reduced to 13. The outcome for the title was that although his car was destroyed in the opening laps of the original red flagged race 1, Phil Donaghy was declared the champion by 2 points.

However, on Wednesday morning we received an e-mailed request from Neil Smith that the Championship Panel should review the way in which this result was arrived at following the events which are described in this report. The BRSCC, as the Championship permit holders, decided that the matter should be referred to the MSA. The governing body advised that the decision could only be taken by the Championship Stewards. A meeting of the Stewards will therefore be convened as soon as possible.

Qualifying on a cool but dry morning saw an Alfa Championship car get under the 1'16" mark for the first time. Pole position had been fought out between Tim Lewis, Adie Hawkins and Ian Stapleton but it was Tim would eventually seal matters with a 1'15.780" with just a couple of minutes of the session to go. Adie and Ian both tried hard at the end and it was Adie who would join Tim on the front row. Ian was on row 2 with Andy Millar, Roger Evans and Neil Smith on row 3 of what would be a tightly packed grid.

40 cars actually started qualifying, Matt Shaw and John Pogson, and Tom Allen and Len Brock sharing their 155 and 75 Twin Spark respectively and changing over mid session. Sadly Tom would go off on his first lap and become a non starter while Peter Guy L'Amie blew his engine. Bryn Griffiths had barely got going before a seal on his new turbocharger failed. Nev Simpson and John Griffiths would end the session 2nd and 3rd in B while the returning Kevin Evans headed C with his Silverstone winning GTV. A welcome appearance was being made by John Strickland who bought the ex Shaun Hazlewood 33 16v earlier this year and has been doing the occasional pre '93 Touring Cars race with it.  He would head Class D from Mark James and Wayne Ashford. In Class E, Phil Donaghy had made his intentions clear. After testing hard on the previous Friday, his class pole was 1.22" quicker than Dave Hughes best. Ray Foley was a competitive 3rd but so tight was the battle in the second half of the field that there were five cars between himself and Dave.

In "race one" Tim Lewis and Adie Hawkins were disputing the lead at the end of the first lap but Adie's transmission failed at Sear and he pulled off. Tim Lewis then had a quick spin at the Esses and Andy Millar suddenly found himself in front followed by Roger Evans. Ian Stapleton had had a poor first lap and was behind Tim, Neil Smith and Nev Simpson. On lap 3 it all became confusing. The leaders came through but as Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Wayne Ashford approached the line, running 12th and 13th, the red flag came out and looking back towards Coram, it became clear that there had been a major incident. The severely crumpled cars of  Phil Donaghy, Matt Daly and Mark James were stationary while others had run across the grass in avoidance or managed to slow down in time. It seemed that Nev Simpson's Alfetta had suffered a split oil pipe which had spilled lubricant in ever increasing quantities.It was quickly reported that all the drivers were safely out of their cars.

The clear up and sorting out the cars for the re-start seemed to take an inordinate time but eventually after a delay of over 30 minutes the field was ready of a second try, the grid having been set by the running order at the end of the earlier lap 2. The red lights went out - Roger Evans stuttered forward and stopped - we held our breath. A number of cars managed to find a way by. Were we going to be lucky again? A sickening crunch as Graham Seager ran into the back of Roger and then speared right into the barrier, being hit immediately by Robin Eyre-Maunsell with Chris Bentley just behind, immeditately brought out the red flags. "Race" over. A quick discussion with Race Control and the Clerk of the Course ensued and a decision was taken that our Race 1 should become "race not run", "de-facto" reducing the number of championship rounds from 14 to 13 as we have nothing specific in our regulations to cover such unforeseen circumstances. A return to the paddock showed how lucky we had been that there were no serious injuries to any of the drivers

It was decided that as we had no satisfactory way to establish the grid for Race 2 from earlier events, the original qualifying session would count as that for new race, and the points accordingly. Effectively it had become a single header day.

Amazingly 32 cars, in various states - tank tape sales will have gone up this week! - made their way to the grid. The race length had been shorted to 15 minutes as things were now running some 45 minutes behind even a revised schedule. Adie Hawkins  had managed to get his car going but without a limited slip, so that was going to be interesting!  From the start it was renewal of the battle between Tim Lewis and Adie with Ian Stapleton into the pits at the end of lap 1, losing 2 laps in the process. Andy Millar was pushing Adie hard and managed to get past on lap 3 and at one point closed to within 2 seconds of Tim, making it look as though a repeat of his August win was on the cards. Neil Smith had been running very strongly in 4th place while 5th was Stephen Dymoke's Sud Ti until the "excitement got the better of me" at the  Esses and he spun off.  Kevin Evans was enjoying a healthy lead in C while John Strickland had shaken off the early attentions of Wayne Ashford in D. In E, David Hughes had put several cars between himself and Ray Foley.

The first three were static at the front but John Griffiths had passed Kevin Evans in pursuit of the repaired Nev Simpson and John Strickland was well into a fast  rythym, also closing on the red GTV. Critical to the outcome of the race, Ian Stapleton was chasing Adie Hawkins on the road, despite being two laps behind, and Michael Walsh, in Ron Davidson's GTV, was coming back from a poor first lap. The leaders were well into lapping the field as they crossed the line at the end of lap 8. At the bombhole, Ian Stapleton made to pass Michael Walsh, presumably thinking that a gap had been left and the cars touched.  Michael spun and was hit by Chris Bentley and then very hard indeed by Dave Hughes' 156. The track was blocked. The red flags were out. Another premature end of a race.

The result was declared at the end of lap 7, with those cars not running when the red flag came out excluded from the results. Tim Lewis was the overall winner by 4.75" from Andy Millar, Andy making fastest lap. Adie Hawkins came home a creditable 3rd with Class B winner 4th, well ahead of his class rivals Nev Simpson and John Griffiths. Kevin Evans and John Strickland led home their respective classes, running close together at the end while Wayne Ashford and Robin Eyre Maunsell completed the top 10. Matt Shaw was a very happy 2nd in C on only his second outing in the 155 while Mark James ended his day 3rd in D, breaking his 100% record. Class E finally went to Ray Foley, completing an excellent season, from Andy Inman and Graham Heels.

Once again we had to look at some severely damaged machinery,  Dave Hughes 156, Chris Bentley's 146 and Michael Walsh's (or Ron Davidson's) GTV in particular. Dave was not looking too well afterwards but we are happy to report that he was on the phone the following morning saying that he was battered and bruised but otherwise alright which was more than could said for the car. We are glad to hear the "battered and bruised" description fits the others who were involved but nothing worse, for which we can be very thankful.

The prizes were presented by Philip Clay from Alfashop and by Pat West (wife of Peter and mother of Louise). Chateau Lezongars Driver of the Day Awards went to John Griffiths and Andy Childs.

 

It was a pity that the excellence of the Alfa Romeo entertainment at Brands Hatch and the battle for the 2007 Championship was, to an extent, overshadowed by the showing of the black and orange flag to Neil Smith which brought him into the pits on lap 8 of the A to D race Competing in any kind of sport can bring levels of delight in success and misery in failure, but worst of all are the frustrations of perceived injustice. It is not our job here to argue the rights and wrongs of the different stories and interpretations, but to have it happen at all at this stage of season means that all the work that we and competitors have put in to making the Championship a success may have been compromised.

What is fact is that Championship leader Neil Smith was shown the black and orange flag (something wrong with the car that you probably can't see) and came into the pits for investigation. The flag had been displayed following reports that the car was leaking fuel. From comments made by other competitors and spectators, it probably had been leaking from the breather at the beginning of the race as the car was full of petrol. Neil admits that this could have been so. The original observers report was transmitted to Race Control on lap 2. They kept the car under observation until a decision was taken to put out the flag. At this point, however, the stories differ. When he stopped in the pits, Neil said he could see no evidence that fuel was continuing to leak, the chief scrutineer replied that he was of the opinion it was still leaking and would do so on left hand corners (Graham Hill Bend and Surtees) as it had before. A request by Neil that he should be allowed to return to the track on the grounds that there was no leaking fuel (and the car was effectively "repaired") was therefore refused. The 156 was deemed to have been retired and as a result Neil scored only the points for fastest laps in qualifying and the race and was likely to lose his championship lead.

The entry for Brands this year was a vast improvement over 2006 when we only managed to raise 22 cars. The entry had been 35 in the days running up to the event but by the time qualifying arrived this had come down to 32. Michael Walsh and Nick Gooch had withdrawn and Dave Hughes suffered a bizarre problem (for a race car!) of the immobiliser cutting in and the engine therefore refusing to start. No amount of effort by various people could get the 156 going. The original number of entries meant that, in common with LMA, we had more than the track permit allowed to race. It was agreed that the Alfa Class E would race with the two slowest (in theory) LMA classes to give everyone a race. All drivers, however, would have to qualify together in their own championship group.

The track was, as a result, extremely busy throughout the 15 minute sessions. Alfa Championship competitors seemed to handle it all with commendable calm and it certainly didn't stop some very rapid lap times being set. Tim Lewis knocked nearly a second off his own lap record time to grab pole in 51.955", Adie also bettering the record to line up alongside him on the front row, just 0.79" adrift. It was advantage to the more nimble old Class B cars here, having been at circuits recently where the bigger capacity cars had held sway. Ian Stapleton was the quickest of the latter with a 52.966". Despite having had to rebuild his engine (twice!) after Silverstone, Neil Smith was as rapidas ever to head Class B from Nev Simpson and John Griffiths.

John Pogson led the returning Ron Davidson by nearly a second in C. The top of Class D was extremely close with Wayne Ashford taking class pole from Mark James and Matt Daly, all three covered by just 0.23". Double engine rebuilds seemed to be in vogue for the championship leaders, Phil Donaghy having had the same problem as Neil Smith but he had been able to test at Brands on Friday. This was helpful as it was his first visit to the circuit. He would end qualifying with a satisfying 0.45" advantage over Graham Heels who was the only other Class E driver to break the minute barrier. Ray Foley would line up third.

Tim Lewis made what he later described one of his "usual bad starts", immediately losing any advantage of sitting on pole, as Adie Hawkins and Roger Evans took control going into Paddock. By the end of lap 1, however, Tim had things humming along nicely in third, ahead of Ian Stapleton, Neil Smith and Andy Page while Nev Simpson and John Griffiths were already enjoying a battle for 2nd and 3rd in B. Mark James completed the first lap ahead of Wayne Ashford but Matt Daly had lost touch slightly behind John Pogson, Ian Brookfield and Keith Waite. However, it didn't take long for the Class A cars to move ahead while Wayne Ashford, his 33 handling badly - "I had the wrong tyre pressures" - was losing ground to Mark James and coming under pressure from John Pogson who eventually got ahead on lap 6.

Meanwhile, it had only taken Tim Lewis until lap 4 to close in on and pass Roger Evans and come within a second of Adie Hawkins. Roger Evans was still running strongly in third but was being increasingly pressured by Ian Stapleton. Matt Daly was now able to focus on the white 33 of Wayne Ashford ahead of him, taking over 2nd in D on lap 9. By this time, Neil Smith was already in the pits, as was Ian Brookfield whose 164 had suffered a broken engine mount on lap 6. Nev Simpson had taken over the lead in class B and had opened up a small lead over John Griffiths.

To his great satisfaction, and that of his many friends on the bank at Paddock, Tim Lewis was able to slip past Adie Hawkins on lap 8 and thereafter he was able to move away to a comfortable 4 second lead at the flag. Adie, however, was having to keep his eye on the progress of Ian Stapleton who, as so often, had a new lease of life as the race neared its end. With two laps to go Ian set a new Alfa lap record (51.989"), his GTV6 within a second and a half of Adie's 33. But that was as close as he got, the 33 crossing the line 1.2" to the good. Roger Evans had been suffering increasing amounts of understeer as the race progressed and settled for 4th ahead of Andy Page, Keith Waite and Class B winner Nev Simpson. John Pogson headed Ron Davidson home in C while D was eventually quite strung out - Mark James winning from Matt Daly (his best result to date), Alastair Iles and the impressive Andy Childs in his 75 Twin Spark. Another good drive had been that of Gareth Haywood who had run ahead of Alastair Iles for several laps in what is a fairly "production" 156 although running in B. He would eventually end up in the gravel at Druids. Also out of luck again was Emma Karwacki who had buzzed her engine with just two laps to go, compounding the misery in the Neil Smith camp.

A short while later, the seven Class E cars took their places on the grid for the 15 second delayed start behind the LMA drivers. Throughout the 20 minutes this was to be an enthralling battle between Graham Heels and Phil Donaghy for the lead and a very close one it was to be too. Only towards three quarter distance did Graham manage to eke out a small advantage but this was then promptly destroyed when the duo were being lapped by an LMA Honda Integra which just "got in the way". By the time he had moved ahead, Phil was right on Graham's tail and ready to challenge again for the lead which he did with a lap to go into

Paddock, trying a brave move round the outside. He was ahead as they went down the hill but ran wide and lost momentum which allowed Graham to try the inside line into Druids where Phil had left a small gap. This meant two wheels on the grass which then became four as Graham re-took the lead in perhaps controversial fashion. It was enough though, and Phil had to settle for second, while Graham also took fastest lap. Andy Inman had been having a close battle with Ray Foley for third but Ray ran through the gravel at Clearways on lap 12, letting Andy by, whereupon the black 156 began to close the gap to Graham Heels and Phil Donaghy. At one point he was the fastest Class E car on the track but there was not enough time to make further advances and he had to settle for a fine third. His spirited race would gain him a Chateau Lezongars Friver of the Day award. Ray Foley eventually finished fourth ahead of Keith Williams and Sarah Heels while Paul Buckley, who had run third initially, pulled off at Druids.

The A to D Chateau Lezongars award went to Matt Daly and we were pleased to have Becki Simpson, newly returned from honeymoon, presenting the awards.

Phil Donaghy left Brands with a 10 point lead over Neil Smith, with Mark James more firmly established in third place ahead of Ian Stapleton. The final double header at Snetterton on October will be a challenging day!

 

"Motorsports News" may have commented a few weeks ago that the Championship was in "rude health" but that didn't stop them publishing a really disappointing report of Silverstone's race last Sunday - "Roger Evans had a lonely drive to the spoils in the Alfa Romeo event, finishing well clear of Adie Hawkins who had climbed to second by lap 11. Andy Millar had looked set for the runner-up position until forced into retirement by falling oil pressure". Even a few words like "However, there was plenty of exciting racing further back in the 37 car field as Neil Smith, Kevin Evans, Mark James and Paul Buckley emerged as class winners" would have presented a better picture. Luckily, we have our website to provide reports fairly soon after the event and the Newsletter to take a more in-depth view later.

Every year we run a race for the Kevin Griffiths Trophy and Silverstone was chosen as the venue for 2007. At one point the entry had risen to a superb 39 but the last minute withdrawal of Ian Brookfield, who had managed to cut his finger so badly that it required six stitches, still meant that it equalled Snetterton earlier in the month as our best turnout of the year.

Watching qualifying (and taking photographs!) you only get part of the part of the picture, so I always enjoy looking at the MST timing sheets afterwards to see how various drivers went about the 15 minute session. There are few drivers who really push on throughout and one of those is undoubtedly Tim Lewis. His first quick lap (below his previous best in March) was his third but thereafter he was never far away although he left it until his ninth and last lap to set his best time of the morning - a 1'34.483". Even so, this was only good enough for 5th position on the grid. He had been narrowly beaten by Adie Hawkins and Andy Millar who were both in the 1'34s but on pole position was Ian Stapleton who, as at Castle Combe, had blitzed the old lap record (set by himself in March) by nearly 4 seconds, leaving it at a stunning 1'31.856". A major surprise alongside him on the front row was Roger Evans with a 1'33.039", both 3.8 litre cars being able to stretch their legs around the 2.25 mile International circuit. Some drivers just seem to potter round (that is a relative term I assure you!) and then set a banzai lap in the "where did that come from?" category. Obviously working on their sector times before putting them all together…………

Joint Championship leader Neil Smith was comfortably ahead in Class B from newly-wed Nev Simpson while the returning Graham Seager just edged out Kevin Evans' new GTV in C. John Pogson had to be satisfied with 3rd in C this time but was happy that he at last had some opposition. Mark James took a not unexpected Class D pole from Wayne Ashford and Alastair Iles, but there was a big surprise in E when Graham Heels emerged at the top of the times in his 147 which had so far proved something of a disappointment. Paul Buckley and Dave Hughes were next in line but missing, crucially, was the other Championship leader Phil Donaghy whose engine had blown a head gasket half way through the session.

The first corner of the race could have seen complete disaster as Ian Stapleton tried to make a move down the inside of Roger Evans. The two made contact (later described by both as a 50/50 incident) leaving Ian looking at 35 other cars bearing down on him! I am told that some of the in-car videos bear witness to some very near misses and quick reactions (well done to everyone!) which resulted in the whole field arriving at Becketts, although not quite in the order expected!

Those watching down at Abbey, half way round the circuit, were somewhat surprised to see Roger Evans come into view and nobody else. Had there been a multiple accident? A couple of seconds or so later (and no red flags) everyone else started to arrive. Tim Lewis had another of his Abbey half spins, Neil Smith was off on the grass, the C, D and E cars presented a splendid traffic jam. At the end of lap 1 Roger already had a lead of 3.8" from Andy Millar and Andy Page. Adie Hawkins and Tim Lewis were a further 4 seconds back with Stephen Dymoke a splendid 6th, ahead of Class B leader Nev Simpson and Neil Smith. John Pogson had reversed his qualifying luck and led Class C! Wayne Ashford, despite

what he described as a "brown pants moment" at Copse when he saw Ian Stapleton stationary ahead of him was just in front of Mark James and Emma Karwacki in D and Graham Heels was continuing his qualifying form to lead E from Dave Hughes and a delayed Paul Buckley.

Over the next few laps the race started to develop (or unravel!) as Roger Evans raced majestically on in front, establishing a 10 second advantage over Andy Millar by lap 4. Tim Lewis and Adie Hawkins had both passed Andy Page while Ian Stapleton was making rapid progress and was now up to 6th (from 22nd at the end of lap 1), setting a new lap record (1'32.011") in the process. Adie Hawkins spun in the Complex on lap 5 and dropped back to 5th with Ian Stapleton bearing down on him. In Class B, Neil Smith had quickly reasserted himself over Nev Simpson with Steve Fletcher now 3rd, and in C both Kevin Evans and Graham Seager had passed John Pogson. Wayne Ashford had stayed in front of Mark James until lap 3, got back ahead again on lap 6 for one lap,but then had to give best to Mark for the rest of the race. Graham Heels was still leading Class E by the end of lap 5 but Paul Buckley, having passed Dave Hughes, was lapping fractionally quicker.

The second half of the race saw Andy Millar, who had been throwing out clouds of smoke under deceleration, retire with a blown turbo. Tim Lewis had looked secure in second place but had then lost time after contact while lapping Wayne Ashford  on lap 11, allowing Adie Hawkins and Andy Page, who had changed places on lap 9, to surge past. Lap 9 had also seen the class E lead change hands as Graham Heels found himself in traffic which allowed Paul Buckley to nip past.

By the time the flag came out Roger Evans had established a 30 second lead over Adie Hawkins, taking the Kevin Griffiths Trophy and his first overall Alfa win. "It has come much earlier than I expected" he said afterwards. He was also the sixth different race winner this season. Andy Page finished an excellent 3rd ahead of Tim Lewis, Nev Simpson and class C winner, Kevin Evans whose new car had had a superb first outing - completing an Evans family double in the process. Mark James, Wayne Ashford and Alastair Iles headed Class D but really unlucky here was Emma Karwacki who had been running a strong third until her engine blew comprehensively on lap 7. Paul Buckley had a three second advantage over Graham Heels in E at the flag, Graham also having to keep and eye on the progress of Dave Hughes who was right on his tail. An outstanding drive was put in by Louise West who came from a modest 32nd in qualifying, still running in her rebuilt engine, to finish 12th overall and 3rd in B. Sadly out of luck after driving really well early on was Stephen Dymoke who hit a kerb hard, the jolt dislodging a wire to the coil of his Sud Ti.

The Griffiths family, including Kevin's brother Simon and daughter Abby, were there in force to make the presentations afterwards and we should like to thank them for their continued support on what must be a difficult day for them.

The "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day Award went to Mark James.

Neil Smith went away from Silverstone with a 6 point advantage over Phil Donaghy while Mark James moved up to third overall, 4 points clear of Ian Stapleton.

See you at Brands for Round 12 of this enthralling season.

 

Prizegiving Photos by James Hodgkin

 

 

173 mph into Riches, 184 mph at the end of the Revett Straight where you brake for the Esses and then 163 mph through Coram! No, not Alfa speeds but those of Klaas Zwart's Euroboss Ascari Judd V10 F1 car at Snetterton last weekend when he set a new outright circuit lap record in 56.09" (an average speed of 125 mph). What it does show is that even if the Alfa lap record is only a mere 1'16.08" (92.51 mph average) Snetterton is an extremely fast circuit. It also attracts very good Alfa grids and Sunday's race was no exception - 37 cars eventually making their way out to qualify while at one time leading up to the meeting we had a capacity 38 plus 2 reserves!

Making his first appearance in the Championship was Michael Walsh who was to drive Ron Davidson's Class C GTV, his own 155 not being ready while returning after several years away were two class B runners, Louise West (33 8v) and Bryn Griffiths with the 156 Sportwagon Diesel. Steve Fox had been unfortunate at Castle Combe where his Alfasud Sprint didn't make it from paddock to qualifying but he was anticipating more success with it at Snetterton.

We were all expecting, after other races this year, that the lap record time would take a battering. However a red flag disrupted qualifying half way through, just when everyone was starting to get into the groove, which meant that by the time the session resumed, minds had to be re-focused and everything brought up to temperature a second time. As a result, eventual front row sitters Ian Stapleton and Tim Lewis were a second off the record. Andy Millar and Roger Evans would line up on row 2, the top four being covered by just 1.7". Chris Snowdon and Andy Page made up the top six and there was every hope of one of those close races at the front of A that we always enjoy so much. There was also the possibility that Julian Birley would also join the fun in his 75. Championship contender Neil Smith headed class B from Nev Simpson and Anthony George but sadly neither of the latter would start following mechanical problems. John Pogson and Graham Seager were very evenly matched in C, just 0.3" separating them but John then fell foul of the Clerk of the Course for overtaking under a yellow flag, incurring a 10" penalty at the back of the grid, and Graham was to be another non starter with a water pump problem. Quicker than the Class C cars had been Mark James with his Class D 33 8v well clear of closest class challengers Wayne Ashford and Nick Gooch. Castle Combe Class E winner, Paul Buckley, was unable to be at Snetterton, his place being taken in the pink 156 by Clive Hodgkin. Clive proceeded to put it on class pole, 1.4" quicker than Phil Donaghy's 145 with Dave Hughes and Andy Inman very close behind with their 156s.

It was a tight group at the front who rushed off towards Riches as the lights went out but much mid field attention was focused on Clive Hodgkin who couldn't find any gears beyond second, his 156 becoming a mobile chicane. Somehow everyone avoided him, Clive pulling off to watch the race with the Riches marshals. Going down the Revett Straight, Ian Stapleton missed a gear and lost momentum, which left Roger Evans, Andy Page, Tim Lewis and Andy Millar to arrive at the Esses ahead of him, this remaining the order at the end of lap 1. Andy Millar was pushing hard, passing Tim Lewis on lap 2 and then Andy Page a lap later with Roger Evans well in his sights. For the next two laps Andy tried to pass the flying GTV but unbeknown to him, Roger was suffering an overheating problem and slowed on lap 6 before eventually retiring to the pits at the end of lap 7.

Ian Stapleton had closed right up on Andy Page but the Giulietta driver was more interested in not letting Andy Millar pull away and opened the gap on the GTV6 while getting onto the tail of the yellow 33. On lap 8, going into Riches behind a "wall" of Class D & E cars there was a chance for the Giulietta to get ahead but somehow Andy Millar also found a way through and just held his lead. Thereafter, he was almost away, although a mighty effort by Andy Page, again being pushed by Ian Stapleton, (and fastest lap) on lap 12 made it look as though the outcome was still in doubt. It wasn't, however, and Andy Millar came home to win his first ever modified Alfa race by nearly 7 seconds from Andy Page, much to the delight of preparer David Thomas, with Ian a further 7 seconds down. A relieved fourth was Chris Snowdon (33 16v) who had the unnerving experience of the throttle sticking open at the end of the Revett Straight, completing several laps on the "kill" switch. 5th home was Neil Smith, winning Class B from John Griffiths and Gareth Haywood while an excellent 6th place was taken by Class D winner Mark James ahead of Wayne Ashford, Chris Bentley and Chris Healey. This was Chris Bentley's first class podium with the 146 Ti that he had bought from Graham Heels last winter. John Pogson had had enother good race from the back of the grid (remember Silverstone?) to finish 10th, catching Michael Ware's GTV by lap 7.

With the disappearance of Clive Hodgkin at the start, the challenge to Phil Donaghy in Class E was ably taken up by Dave Hughes. With a lap to go he was in a position to challenge at Russell but then misjudged his entry speed, ending on the grass (albeit in front!) and letting Phil go by to re-take the lead. Nonetheless, this was to be Dave's best result of the year so far and it was encouraging to see another 156 now capable of challenging for a win. Andy Inman, after qualifying well, was also on form, finishing third in the class.

It is impossible in a brief report to give an impression of all the many battles that were going on throughout the field, entertaining a large crowd in the process. Some of the photographs on the website show how close the racing was and perhaps we can do this justice in the next ARCA Newsletter. The outright Alfa lap record did not fall during the race, so that is still the property of Tim Lewis who retired with an undiagnosed problem after 9 laps.

From the Championship point of view, the outcome could not have been better with Phil Donaghy and Neil Smith going away equal on points (after the dropped scores rule has been taken into consideration). Ian Stapleton has moved up to third with Mark James and Ray Foley close behind. Phil, Neil, Ian and Mark head their respective classes, the other class leader being John Pogson.

Round 11, for the Kevin Griffiths Trophy, is at Silverstone (International Circuit) on Sunday August 26th. Qualifying at 10.40, the race at 3.55.

 

Given the awful summer we have been having and the number of wet race days, it came as no surprise when there were some heavy downpours in the lead up to Castle Combe. But it all had to change sometime - even if only for a day - and July 14 turned out to be both warm and sunny for both qualifying and the race. Spirits lifted and the 34 drivers entered looked forward to an enjoyable day.

Our invitation to race at the Wiltshire circuit had come from the Castle Combe Racing Club which was set up towards the end of 2005 after a decision had been made to split race day organisation away from the BRSCC. Steve Burns and his team made every effort to make us welcome and the provision of in-situ scrutineering to avoid too many vehicle movements in the paddock was a much appreciated innovation.

Only the edges of the track still showed signs of rain during the night as qualifying got underway. It is always interesting to see how different drivers go about achieving their best lap time - some are "on it" straightway, others work their way down to a time with a number of consistently quicker laps while other show no signs of going really quickly and then pop one in while nobody's looking!

Ian Stapleton gradually reduced his time during the session and was under the lap record by his 6th lap with a 1'14. 739", then did two consecutive laps in the 13s before finally crushing the opposition with a 1'12.725". The nearest Tim Lewis could get to that was a 1'15.420" on his final lap to make up the front row. Roger Evans and Neil Smith would make up the second row ahead of Andy Page (who had suffered a suspension breakage early on) and Nev Simpson. Row four was the battle of the 75 3 litres - Clive Hodgkin and the returning Keith Waite - while Nikolaos Mantikas edged Mark James and Wayne Ashford out of the Class D pole. Paul Buckley was in superb form in his 156, ending 12th overall and fastest in E. More importantly, he had put three cars between himself and championship leader Phil Donaghy. Ray Foley was also maintaining his excellent recent form and would line up 3rd in Class E almost a second quicker than the similar 156 of Dave Hughes.

Everyone was expecting Tim Lewis to go quicker in the race as he has done everywhere else this year but as the light went out Tim was very slow off the line and was clearly in trouble, a driveshaft having broken as he let in the clutch.  This caused all the cars on the left hand side of the grid to concertina, Tim receiving a nudge from Neil Smith as he looked for a gap and everyone on that side of the track being delayed. The person this worked best for was Phil Donaghy who ended lap 1 five cars ahead of Ray Foley and Paul Buckley. Paul clearly had a lot of work to do! We also thanked lady luck that we hadn't a major start line accident.

Ian Stapleton had established himself as the clear race leader from Andy Page with Roger Evans leading the rest of the field some 2.5" back. Neil Smith was trying valiantly to hold on but Roger had his sights set on Andy's Giulietta and started to close the gap, coming round just half a second behind at the end of lap 4. Nev Simpson was running 5th just ahead of Clive Hodgkin while a very entertaining scrap between Mark James and Nik Mantikas was keeping us entertained, Nik indulging in some lurid looking slides through the fast Camp corner, several times putting two wheels on the grass. Ray Foley was still ahead of Paul Buckley, progress being impeded by the Class D 33s of Matt Daly and Richard Salt just ahead. A quick lap 5 by Paul moved him ahead of Ray, lap 6 he was past Richard Salt and then on lap 7 in front of Matt Daly and right on Phil Donaghy's bumper.

Up at the front, Ian Stapleton had given himself an 11 second lead but the battle between Andy Page and Roger Evans continued apace until Roger slipped past on lap 7 and with the help of traffic began to eke out a comfortable advantage. Neil Smith remained a lonely fourth but there was more entertainment for 5th and 6th as Nev Simpson and Clive Hodgkin ran within half a second of each other. Keith Waite had disentangled himself from Mark James and Nik Mantikas but with no chance of catching Nev and Clive  as they were pushing each other quicker on every lap.

By the two thirds stage the commentators were concentrating on the Paul Buckley/Phil Donaghy battle as this was obviously of importance to the championship overall. Paul Buckley had been trying some very unusual lines to outfox his rival and eventually got ahead with a quick lap on lap 12. But Phil was far from finished as his next two laps were quicker than Paul's but the pink 156 was not to be denied and eventually crossed the line 1.6s to the good, an effort that would win Paul the "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day Award.

Ian Stapleton's GTV6 reached the flag at the end of the 20 minute race some 30s clear of a delighted second placed Roger Evans with Andy Page a further 5 seconds back, happy that his new 2 litre engine had survived its first dry race going quickly all the way through. Neil Smith's lap times showed just how hard he had driven for 4th place and the Class B win,  while Clive Hodgkin had made a big effort on the final lap to grab 5th from Nev Simpson, Keith Waite coming home 7th. In Class D, Nik Mantikas's race had come to a sudden end at three quarter distance with a broken front hub which pitched him into the barrier hard at Old Paddock, leaving Mark James as the undisputed class winner from Wayne Ashford and Matt Daly, Wayne enjoying a race long duel with Class C winner John Pogson. Third in E was a delighted Ray Foley who was just ahead of the Class D 33s of Richard Salt and Nick Gooch. One excellent performance that got slightly overlooked was that of Andy Childs who propelled father Tim's 75 Twin Spark to an excellent 6th in Class D with some highly respectable lap times.

Out of the 32 who started the race, 28 made it to the finish and as Martin Jones said afterwards "there was so much going on it was hard to know which way to look!" Alfa Romeo racing as it should be.

Paul Buckley efforts in E had deprived Phil Donaghy of six valuable points. Once adjustments had been made he remained 2 points clear of Phil Donaghy. The calculations can be found in "News & Gossip".

We look forward to returning to Castle Combe in 2008

Prizegiving Photos By James Hodgkin

 

If you have any photographs that you would be happy for us to publish
in low resolution (720 pixels wide / 72 pixels per inch) then please
contact graham@heels.me.uk

 

They talk about abnormal weather events - well we seem to have had our fair share of them this year! Silverstone and Rockingham were cold, Pembrey and Oulton last weekend were drenched, the day at Cadwell started with thick mist. Only Oulton in mid April has given us a warm day out! The forecast for Oulton this time was a wet morning but a better afternoon, but the met office (and the old sages on the gate!) proved wide of the mark. For the class A and B competitors it has been a case of buying new wets or looking for old ones that have seen the light of day for two or three years. Those using control tyres have tried to keep a set around with more tread on them.

Quite often there are a number of delays at Oulton meetings but qualifying this time seemed remarkably trouble free. However, the track was very wet indeed as our 26 car entry started the 20 minute session at the end of the morning. Everyone was taking things very carefully, perhaps the only people who welcomed it being the photographers who were aiming for those atmospheric shots of water streaming off the bodywork and lights reflecting on the track.

Visually, it was clear that Tim Lewis's Alfasud Sprint was the fastest car on the circuit, despite being handicapped by a lack of second gear, but right at the end Neil Smith put in a flier, nearly three second quicker than anything he had before, to grab pole by just half a second. This was despite frightening himself earlier on with a big spin at Druids and it was the first Production Modified pole for many years. Andy Page was giving his new 2 litre engine its first run and would line up third with Roger Evans' GTV alongside him. Julian Birley was making his first appearance of the year in the dramatic looking 75, and was being "engineered" by Nick Humphrey. After a very tentative session he would be on the third row alongside 5th quickest Bryan Shrubb and ahead of Nev Simpson and John Pogson. A very welcome 9th fastest was Chris Snowdon who was making another tempt to get the Lahoma 33 through a race meeting intact. Also back for his first race of 2007 was John Griffiths, his Class B 156 having been re-worked by Neil Smith at NJS.

Phil Donaghy and Ray Foley were very evenly matched in Class E and were surprised to be ahead of Nik Mantikas who had the fastest car in Class D. Keith Williams always seems to go well in the rain and his quickest time took him ahead of both Wayne Ashford and Richard Salt while Andy Inman seemed to be going better now that he could see where he was going. Dave Hughes eventually brought out the red flag after an "off" in his 156 but most people seemed quite happy just to return to the paddock and relate their experiences!

It was quite a long wait until our race was finally called to the assembly area, the afternoon not having been quite so delay free as the morning. Despite a brief respite from the rain mid afternoon, the track remained very wet. It was Neil Smith who made the best start but Tim Lewis was already challenging on the entry to Old Hall but then lost time in the corner allowing Neil quite a lead as he charged off towards Cascades. It couldn't last though. Tim soon had the Sprint on full song, now with all gears working, and completed the first lap with a 2.9" advantage over Neil's 156. Andy Page and Roger Evans were engaged in an excellent contest just a couple of seconds behind while Chris Snowdon was already up to 5th place and looking very sharp, well ahead of Bryan Shrubb, John Pogson and Nev Simpson. The D & E war was being led by Phil Donaghy who, as usual, had made a superb start but Nik Mantikas and Wayne Ashford were both intent on asserting the superiority of Class D although Wayne was being paid close attention by Keith Williams' Class E 145.

By the end of lap 2 Tim Lewis had opened his lead over Neil Smith to some 6 seconds and the gap was to continue increasing by around three seconds a lap. Neil meanwhile was having to watch the progress of Andy Page and Roger Evans, particularly when Roger slipped into 3rd place on lap 4. Roger was finding himself ever more impressed by the performance of his Michelin wets and reckoned that he could catch Neil but sadly we were never to find out. As he went into Old Hall at the start of lap 5 there was a puff of smoke from under the dash, the engine then cut out on the way down to Cascades, a very frustrated Roger pulling off at Island Bend. The "kill" switch had shorted out - race over. This left Andy Page back in third place but not for long as Chris Snowdon was getting progressively more confident in his 33 16v and was right on Andy's tail, moving ahead as they passed the pits at the start of lap 6. Meanwhile Bryan Shrubb, Nev Simpson and John Pogson were having lonely races in the next three places

Loneliness was not a problem further back, however, and there were some close battles keeping us entertained. Nik Mantikas and Wayne Ashford had moved ahead of Phil Donaghy but Wayne was determined to get himself into the class lead which he managed on lap 3. Sadly Nik was unable to respond as his car appeared to have an intermittent problem for the rest of the race (fuel starvation?) which meant that he would eventually have to be satisfied with third in class behind Richard Salt. Phil Astell had made good progress after qualifying well down the field and would undoubtedly have finished 2nd in class had he not indulged in several excursion off the tarmac, one of which finally saw him stuck in the gravel with two laps to go. Thereafter there was no challenge to Wayne who came home half a minute clear of Richard Salt with Nik Mantikas 3rd - joy in the Ashford camp as Wayne had got his first class win at last.

Phil Donaghy continued to lead Class E but Keith Williams was never far behind although temporarily hampered by Phil Astell being the meat in a 145 sandwich. With Phil out of the way, Keith closed right up on lap 6 to harry the Championship leader before passing him into Old Hall with a lap to go. Could he hold on to be another first time class winner - the answer was yes as Phil had dropped some 6 seconds behind at the flag, later explaining that there was some problem with his gearbox. Ray Foley came home third in the class after another excellent performance in the wet but only 2 seconds behind was Andy Inman, continuing the better form he had shown in qualifying and leaving Dave Hughes, Paul Buckley and Graham Heels in his wake.

Tim Lewis had given the commentator at Knickerbrook, and probably himself, a "wake up" call on the final lap as he took to the grass, losing 10 seconds in the process, but it was not enough to give Neil Smith a sniff of victory. A delighted Chris Snowdon brought the Lahoma 33 home in 3rd place (2nd in class), John Sismey joining him afterwards on the podium. Andy Page had slowed on the final lap but retained his fourth spot well clear of Bryan Shrubb and Nev Simpson. Despite major visibility problems, Julian Birley had finally worked his way past John Pogson to 7th and was catching Nev at the end.

Keith Williams was the "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day.

Phil Donaghy left Oulton with his Championship lead intact from Neil Smith, Keith Williams and Richard Salt but from now on the "dropped scores" rule (two worst results) will start  coming into play and this leaves the situation at the top of the overall table as follows -

1	Phil Donaghy	132
2	Neil Smith	126
3	Tim Lewis	106
4	Ray Foley	104

See you at Castle combe on July 14!

 

After the arctic temperatures of Silverstone, the cold wind of Rockingham and the torrential rain in Wales surely a June race in Cadwell would at least be kind to us on the weather front. Well no – Sunday morning arrived and we were greeted with a heavy Lincolnshire fog.

Cadwell was always going to be a busy day. The second of our three double header meetings and this one would see all the track action on just the Sunday. Added to that the twists and turns of Cadwell mean that only 28 cars can race . . . . once our entry had crept up into the mid 30s the BRSCC reworked the timetable and agreed that for the first time in over a year we could split the classes. The entry meant that this would be one pair of races for classes A, B and C and another pair for classes D and E.

The entry looked strong with Chris Snowden and Andy Millar returning in Class A and also the first appearance of Roger Evans in his familiar GTV – however the car is now running in Class A with a 3.8 litre V6. Joining Roger in the Peak Alfa team would be Gareth Haywood in a Class B 156.

The Class D entry was the strongest this year with previous class winners Mark James & Phil Astell joined by the returning Nik Mantikas. One unfortunate driver was Nick Gooch who had suffered gearbox problems whilst testing on Saturday and would be a non-starter.

With the return of Ian Fisher Class E would field it’s best ever entry of 9 cars – headed by Championship leader Phil Donaghy.

So 9am came and the Class D & E drivers sat in the assembly area waiting for the fog to clear and qualifying to start. With a busy day ahead of them, soon after 9.30 the officials decided that qualifying had to start but with the visibility, particularly on the far side of the circuit, so bad it would consist of just 3 laps behind a pace car. Not the best option for what many think is the trickiest circuit on our calendar but the only one open to the officials.

The result was that the Championship co-ordinator was left to come up with a grid for the start of the race – the grid would need to be as fair as possible with safety also a consideration. Eventually it was decided that the grid would be in Championship position order with the the Class D front wheel drive cars followed by the Class E cars and then the rear drive Class D cars.

By the time the Class A, B and C cars were ready to qualify the mist had cleared so they would get a normal session.

Pole position was taken by Adie Hawkins. However, Adie only completed 4 laps as, towards the end of lap 5, Adie lost control of the 33 and struck the barrier at Hall Bends. With the car spinning down the barrier many of those who saw it (and heard it) thought the car would return with major damage to both ends. However the new barriers did an amazing job of stopping the car without too much further damage – the rear of Adie’s 33 looked virtually unmarked. Much work would now be done to attempt to get the car to the race. Also not having much luck was Chris Snowden in the Lahoma car – a mechanical problem seeing him complete just a couple of laps & Andy Page with a serious engine problem.

Ian Stapleton and Tim Lewis qualified behind Adie with Roger Evans and Andy Millar both going well with their heavily revised cars. Neil Smith topped Class B whilst Graham Seager had the edge over John Pogson in Class C.

The start of race 1 would be interesting – for many drivers this would be their first fast lap of Cadwell for a year or more – for some the first ever! Everyone seemed to cope well and in the early stages Phil Astell lead from Mark James. The man on the move was Nik Mantikas, up from 7th on the grid to 3rd on lap 3 – just as it went wrong for Phil Astell, giving Richard Salt the chance to lead a Class D race for the first time before Mark James took over a lead he would never give up despite Nik’s close attention.

Part of the reason for some of Phill’s problems was a result of the Class E racers behind. David Hughes, right behind Graham Heels’ 147 on the first few laps had run across the kerb at Park corner damaging his sump to the extent that his 156 was now leaving a huge trail of oil smoke . . . and a slick of oil at every corner. For some bizarre reason and despite the actions of the officials and some of David’s team in the pits he chose to continue for a couple more laps depositing more and more oil on the circuit! By then the circuit was nicely treacherous in many places, particularly the bottom of the mountain and the hairpin – giving many drivers something else to think about. Following a spin on the oil at the Mountain Phil had rejoined right in front of Chris Healey resulting in contact – both cars could continue but Phil had to pit for repairs.

Further back Andy Inman had been struck on the first lap at the Mountain by a 75 – the impact causing Andy to hit the barrier in his 156 and the 75 of Andrew Childs to retire.

Phil Donaghy won Class E from Ray Foley with the fast charging Paul Buckley coming through to take 3rd in Class and fastest lap. At the front Mark James just held on to win from Nik and Richard Salt with Simon Hampton and Emma Karwacki continuing where they left off at Pembrey with excellent results.

A great effort by Adie Hawkins and team saw Adie’s repaired 33 take up it’s position at the front of the grid. However, some scraping noises on the green flag lap were a sign of things to come. Despite taking lead early on Adie’s race was a short one as a trailing bumper/spoiler forced him into retirement on lap 2. This left Time Lewis to lead from Ian Stapleton – Ian closed in on Tim and at the end was just over a second behind. On his way to second Ian set a new Alfa Championship lap record of 1:35.392.

Behind Ian it was good to see Roger Evans in his GTV and Andy Millar in the massively rebuilt ex-Ray Mears 33 put in strong results on such untried machinery even if their races were rather “lonely”. Neil Smith in his 156, popping and banging through the Mountain section, won Class B whilst Graham Seager had the measure of John Pogson in Class C.

The second Class D & E race would be interesting – with the returning Nik Mantikas in his 16 valve car lining up alongside Mark James in his 8 valve version. From the first lap Nik had the advantage – but just could not shake Mark’s 33 off. Emma Karwacki put in another excellent drive to take 3rd early in the race – a place she would hold to the end. The excitement was at the front though and a great overtaking move at the hairpin on lap 9 saw Mark take the lead – a lead he just held on to at the flag. Back in Class E Phil Donaghy had another straightforward win – with a couple of Class D cars to protect him from Paul Buckley who was a few seconds behind.

Lap 4 of the race had been run behind the Safety Car when the unlucky Andy Inman’s car let him down at the hairpin on the third lap.

The second Class A to C race turned out to be a classic. From the start it was obvious that Adie Hawkins, in his re-repaired 33, was on a mission – from the back of the grid. After squeezing between some other cars off the line he was up to 5th at the end of lap 1. At that time Ian Stapleton’s GTV had a slim lead from Tim’s Alfasud Sprint. By the end of lap 2 though Tim had taken the lead. Going well again, but unable to do anything about the charging Adie, were Andy Millar & Roger Evans.

By lap 7 Adie was right with Ian, some contact at Park resulted in a puncture to the front left hand tyre on Ian’s GTV forcing him to retire to the pits and giving Adie second place. Surely he couldn’t catch Tim? Smashing the lap record set earlier in the day (now 1:34.844) Adie caught Tim and approaching the Mountain section on lap 12 saw Tim brake late, miss his turn in point and hit the kerb – that was enough and Adie was through to take an amazing win. A broken suspension joint on Tim’s car, as a result of him hitting the kerb, meant he was unable to complete the lap – giving second place to Andy Millar and third to Roger Evans. Neil Smith once again took Class B whilst John Pogson this time took Class C following Graham Seager’s retirement on lap 6 whilst under pressure from John.

For Round 8 the Championship returns to Cheshire on June 30th for our second meeting on the International circuit at Oulton Park. Phil Donaghy will arrive there with a very healthy points lead over Neil Smith.

 

All photos are from qualifying or Round 4. Apologies for the "misting" on many of the
pictures - this was due to water getting everywhere. Sunday's round 5 was so wet
we chose not to take any pictures and further damage the camera & lenses!

Fortunately there are not too many occasions that we have woken up on race day to find torrential rain and impenetrable cloud. Knockhill back in 1991 and Cadwell in 2004 spring to mind, but at Pembrey it was both days with just some encouragement on the Saturday afternoon when the sun broke through. By that time, however, both our qualifying session and first race were long over.

The 1.46 mile circuit in South Wales is managed by the BARC and on our first few visits we could always notice some improvement in the infrastructure. More recently that seemed to have stalled, along with plans to lengthen the track to some 2.5 miles, but now building has started again with some new workshops adjacent to the pit lane and it will be interesting to see what comes next.

Our entry for this year's double header showed a small improvement on 2006 although it might be hard to match the excitement at the front in last year's two races. Nonetheless, all the elements were there - having missed Rockingham, Adie Hawkins was back to take on Tim Lewis, Ian Stapleton and Andy Page while Neil Smith was likely to be a strong contender. Phil Donaghy had travelled down from Preston with his Class E 145 to protect his overall Championship lead while Class D looked as thought it might offer Phil Astell his best chance yet of a class win.

MST's qualifying time sheets described the weather as "bright" and the track as "dry". Where were they then?! As far as we could see it was definitely wet and the lap times of the leading cars some 7 or 8 seconds off the dry pace. Adie Hawkins was even further handicapped by having a mix of wet and dry tyres as two of his wets were on wheels that didn't fit! All through the session, Andy Page looked by far the most composed driver out there and this was confirmed by a pole position lap 0.8" quicker than second quickest Neil Smith.

Neil certainly looked quick but it was in staccato bursts and he just couldn't match Andy's smooth progress. Tim Lewis would line up third with Adie Hawkins alongside him while Phil Astell and Simon Hampton shared row three. Paul Buckley's Class E 156 should have been next in line, an outstanding 7th quickest in the 26 car field, but he relied too much on his ABS going into the Hatchetts Hairpin and slid hard into the back of Matt Daly's Alfasud Ti before hitting the bank. The156 would be out for the weekend while a major effort by Ian Brookfield and Gary Orchard got the Sud back in shape for Sunday's race. There was a fierce shower before the end of the session which ruled out any further improvements but thereafter conditions started to improve as the morning progressed.

By race time, the track was dry apart from the pools of standing water at places like the first hairpin. Adie Hawkins, back on slicks, was confident that he could repeat his success of a year ago. Andy Page led away and enjoyed a small advantage over Adie Hawkins, Neil Smith and Tim Lewis at the end of lap 1. Neil was looking threateningly strong but then veered off into the paddock entrance half way into lap 2 and stopped. A loose electrical connection was fixed and he returned to the track having lost five laps but still with the chance of a finish. Meanwhile, Adie had passed Andy Page and Tim Lewis was dropping back. Ian Stapleton was fourth but not happy with the GTV6's handling while Stephen Dymoke followed him in his Sud Ti but unable to get close as his engine dropped onto three cylinders. Phi Astell had run a fourth 5th, leading Class D, early on and continued to enjoy a tussle with Clive Hodgkin, Nev Simpson and John Pogson.

Once ahead, Adie Hawkins managed to extend his advantage over Andy Page who then came under pressure from Tim Lewis, Tim passing him just before half distance. From being 8 seconds behind Adie, Tim was now only three seconds adrift and matching the leader's times. Their 13th laps were both within a second of the lap record but Adie seemed to have the race well under control and with 18 laps completed came home ahead with a 4.96" advantage. As the race progressed, Ian Stapleton had speeded up and was within 2 seconds of Andy Page at the flag. Clive Hodgkin nearly caught Stephen Dymoke for 5th, pursued by Nev Simpson (Class B winner) who was revelling in the reliability of his new package. Phil Astell dominated D, with Richard Salt (33 8v) and Emma Karwacki (33 16v) next in line while Phil Donaghy (145) took Class E again in front of a delighted Ray Foley (156) and Graham Heels (147). John Pogson's 155 was the only Class C runner and came home 10th overall. Sadly Martin Jones' 33 16v received heavy damage when he slid on at the hairpin, making contact with Simon Hampton's 33 8v on the way.

The rains came with a vengeance on Sunday but nobody told Adie Hawkins and Tim Lewis who laid on some great entertainment throughout the 20 minutes. Adie led initially, then it was Tim in front for three laps, then Adie for three before Tim was able to take advantage of back markers and assert himself at the front. Neil Smith had come tearing through from the back into fourth place by lap 2 and chasing down the 10 second gap to the flying Andy Page. It took him until the start of lap 9 when they passed the pits almost side by side but then, just as he edged by another electrical glitch intervened and although Neil was able to re-start the engine without pulling off, the opportunity was lost and he had to settle for fourth and a class win. Nev Simpson was an excellent 5th at the finish while Phil Astell and Simon Hampton headed home Class D, Emma Karwacki taking another third place.

Class E was dominated this time by Ray Foley from Keith Williams (145) and Graham Heels. Phil Donaghy found that he could hardly see where he was going as his 145 misted up, dropping him to the back of the field. A big effort at the end brought him onto the tail of Graham Heels but it was too late and Phil had to be satisfied with fourth, losing some valuable championship points in the process. Nonetheless he retain his overall Championship lead while Phil Astell moved up into second place ahead of newcomer Keith Williams.

The "Chateau Lezongars" driver of the day awards went on Saturday to Ray Foley and on Sunday to Tim Lewis.

Final comment came from Sarah Heels "that's the first time I've raced in the rain and I hope it’s the last!!!"

 

 

It was going to be warm they said. 21 degrees. Who were they kidding?! Rockingham can be a very cold place indeed and as every one assembled on Sunday (April 29) it was a case of wrap up warm. The only plus point was the strong breeze which enabled us to fly the new BRSCC Alfashop Alfa Romeo Championship flag effectively. None of this, however, seemed to affect the latest ARCA arrival, young Jason Page - all of 13 days old, who found himself much admired and undoubtedly already a record breaker as the youngest championship baby to attend a race meeting.

Those who watched the BTCC races on television the previous weekend were well prepared for the changed, and in most people's minds, much improved version of the Rockingham circuit. The infield section has now been simplified and the fast chicane just beyond the pits removed. There is still over 20 seconds of flat out blast round part of the Oval but the total lap time for our quickest cars had come down from 1'52" to around 1'31" making everything more user friendly for drivers, organisers and spectators alike.

The final entry was extremely good with only one space left by the final deadline. However, this was increased to two when Nick Suiter's 146 engine started to make unwelcome noises as it was taken off the trailer on Saturday afternoon and Nick returned home. This left 32 to take part in a 15 minute qualifying session.

Inevitably, for the majority, it was going to be well into the session before any meaningful times were set, many leaving it to the final or penultimate lap for a real push. There is a splendid leader board pole, similar to that at Indianapolis, which allows you to watch the ups and downs during the session. Half way through, it was Ian Stapleton's no.69 in top spot but Tim Lewis's no.1 was soon heading the list with series of quick laps that left pole at 1'31.546". Ian was to end over 2 seconds slower although fuel starvation at the end of the session probably prevented a final quick run. Neil Smith was again showing the speed of his 156 and would line up third quickest, leading Class B, with Andy Page and Byan Shrubb next in line. The Seager brothers were continuing their fraternal contest, this time with Ian ahead with his 33. Mark James was showing that there was still life in an 8v 33, leading the 16v cars of Phil Astell and Martin Jones. Paul Buckley had pulled out all the stops in E, taking away 2 valuable fastest lap points in his 156 from the championship leading 145 of Phil Donaghy. Third in E just over a second adrift was the 156 of Andy Inman.

There were some good qualifying performances elsewhere in the field. Brunswick had sorted out the problem that had beset Stephen Dymoke's Sud Ti at Oulton and he would line up 10th overall, just behind Nev Simpson who had managed to finish the mapping of his new 24v 2.5 engine, even if he thought that the car's handling would be a bit on the hit and miss side. Also going far better than at Oulton was Chris Bentley in the ex Graham Heels 146 Ti and he was well in touch with the tail of the packed mid field group.

Ian Stapleton was slow away on the green flag but for the race start itself it was Tim Lewis who took it carefully as the red lights went out, no doubt mindful of his transmission's fragility while Ian rushed off in front. However, it didn't take Tim long to assert himself as Ian ran a little wide at Tarzan, the Alfasud Sprint crossing the line .39" ahead of the GTV6 at the end of lap 1. The massed ranks behind all managed to get through the Dene hairpin and to complete the first lap relatively unscathed with Andy Page clinging on to the leaders, 1" ahead of Neil Smith's charging 156. Stephen Dymoke had made a superb start, moving up five places off the grid, and was just ahead of Bryan Shrubb while the Seagers were at it again in 7th and 8th positions. Mark James had already established a small lead over Phil Astell in Class D while Phil Donaghy had managed to put Robin Eyre-Mansell between himself and Paul Buckley. It was all very close in mid field though.

Ian Stapleton sat within a second of Tim Lewis for the next 5 laps but on lap 6 he made his bid for the lead, the green GTV6 slipping past the Alfasud Sprint going into Dene at the end of the Oval section. Tim fought back all the way round the lap but then they were in amongst traffic and Tim began to slip back, perhaps recognising that whatever he did this was going to be Ian's day. By lap 10 the gap was 12 seconds and it looked as though Tim also had some kind of problem. This manifested itself as a puncture and loss of gears on the final lap and a second non-finish in a row for last year's champion. Andy Page had retired early on with a rare suspension breakage on the Giulietta and with Tim' late retirement, Neil Smith moved into second place albeit 41" adrift as a delighted Ian Stapleton took his first ever overall Alfa Championship win.

Bryan Shrubb had passed Stephen Dymoke on lap 3 and kept ahead to come home third overall and second in A with Stephen a fine fourth. Ian and Graham Seager were always within a couple of seconds of each other, coming home 5th and 6th in that order. Nev Simpson had spun on lap 3, otherwise he might have been closer to them, but he had to spend the rest of the race making up ground with the glorious sounding Alfetta. He passed Mark James Class D leading 33 with a lap to go, finishing 7th overall. Otherwise, Mark had a lonely time as Phil Astell couldn't keep pace with him. There was much position changing going on behind which didn't help the developing battle for the lead in Class E between Phil Donaghy and Paul Buckley. Towards the end it was the focus of attention though as Wayne Ashford and John Pogson started to make up places and inadvertently got in the way. Paul was determined not to let Phil off the hook and whenever the chance arose was pushing him hard, sometimes getting alongside but not be able to make it stick. Into the Esses before the Oval on the final lap it looked as though Paul might have just one last chance but Phil had it covered, the 145 crossing the line just 0.47" ahead to claim his third win on the trot. Wayne Ashford was happy just to finish with his 33 16v but still claimed 3rd in D ahead of Chris Healey while 3rd home in E was Andy Inman. Another class podium finisher was Steven Griffin who finished between Paul Buckley and Chris Healey to take 3rd in B.

The "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day award went to Paul Buckley.

Phil Donaghy went away from Rockingham with his championship lead still intact despite losing four fastest lap points to Paul Buckley. Graham Seager retained his second place with Bryan Shrubb moving up to 3rd ahead of Mark James. With only Phil Donaghy of this quartet planning to be at Pembrey where double points are at stake, we could see a very different points table at the end of two days racing in Wales.

 

 

Round 2 of the Championship is always interesting as we see whether those who were successful in round 1 can consolidate their positions. In 2006, every first round class winner (and there were seven of them then) did just that bar Julian Birley. Last year Oulton came first, followed by Silverstone. This time it was the other way around, added to which both races were on versions of the circuit we hadn't used for a while.

After the 34 starters at Silverstone, the field for Oulton was slightly reduced with some people not travelling North and others, like Adie Hawkins, Chris Snowdon, Clive Hodgkin and Nick Gooch joining in for the first time. There were 27 cars that went out to qualify - a 20 minute session on a glorious Spring morning. Standing on the exit of Lodge, I always try to get a photograph of every competitor early on in the session as experience tells that you may not have a picture of the one car that follows a particular story. This was well borne out by the disappearance of Chris Snowdon in the Lahoma 33 16v after just two laps - and I got two photographs! Sadly a broken crankshaft was diagnosed - and this after 30 trouble-free laps testing at Snetterton earlier in the week - so yet again a disappointed John Sismey departed early leaving Chris to help fellow Class A competitors with advice.

Looking at the old lap records, set in 1996, we had reckoned that Andy Curtis's mark of 1'57.26" in the origins of Adie Hawkins' car would quickly be broken and a 1'53 was being talked about. Tim Lewis set the pace, getting down to 1'54.150" on his fourth lap with Adie in the high 55s on lap 6 and Andy Page quicker than Ian Stapleton in the mid 56s. Bryan Shrubb was looking comfortable in his 8v 33 and would line up 5th ahead of Ian Seager (Class B 33 8v). Graham Seager and John Pogson were fighting for the top spot in C with their V6 155s and it was Graham who edged out John who then found the sparkling 33 16v of Wayne Ashford ahead of him on row 4, heading D. The Italia Autosport 155 would find itself almost matched by the leading Class E car, the well driven 145 Cloverleaf of Phil Donaghy while in the row behind were the 33s of Alastair Iles (8v) and Martin Jones (16v). Paul Buckley was going very well in his pink Avon Racing 156 and end up 13th overall and 2nd in E, 1.4" quicker than third place man, Graham Heels in his superbly presented (by Bianco Auto Developments) 147.

Over the years we have had several drivers joining the Championship for a race or two to gather signatures - remember Daley Thompson and Harry Handkammer? This time it was Mitch Millett who hopes to race a Radical in Spain this season and he had hired Phil Donaghy's green 145 Cloverleaf (the car David Hughes raced at Silverstone) to run in Class B (helping Ian Seager's points chase in the process!) For Oulton David Hughes had his smart new 156, with preparation in the hands of Gus Lambrou at Alfatune. Asked on the Wednesday before the race if it would be ready, Gus had expressed the view that "look mate, if it was a Bank Holiday meeting and race was on the Monday, I would say yes………….." Nonetheless the pristine white car was there being finished off in the paddock.

The qualifying session was brought to a premature end by Alastair Iles sliding off into the gravel at the fast Druids right hander, the car ending just off the road but reckoned to be a safety hazard.

The race was scheduled for mid afternoon and the weather remained warm, with one or two people worrying about engine temperatures. 10 or 11 laps was the likely distance to be covered in the 20 minutes. First casualty was Tim Lewis who came round at the end of the parade lap with oil smoke inside the car. He peeled off into the pits where a loose gearbox breather pipe was discovered. This was quickly fixed but not in time to join the race as the field surged away, Tim eventually starting almost a lap down. Through Old Hall and down Cascades, Ian Stapleton had grabbed the lead from Adie Hawkins with Andy Page in pursuit and then a small gap to Bryan Shrubb. The mid field group was already closely matched with Graham Seager ahead of the fast starting Phil Donaghy, brother Ian, Wayne Ashford, John Pogson and Paul Buckley.

Ian maintained a narrow lead until half way round lap 2 when Adie slipped past on the exit of Shell. Andy Page was trying hard to keep up but on lap 4 suffered a terminal gearbox problem and retired to the pits. This left Bryan a secure third, albeit already 20 seconds behind the leaders. There was a splendid scrap for fourth place between a flying Wayne Ashford, Ian Seager, John Pogson and Graham Seager with Robin Eyre-Maunsell chasing hard in his 75 3 litre having demoted Phil Donaghy. Paul Buckley suffered a frightening incident on lap 6 at Britten's chicane when, after hitting the kerbs, the nearside lower wishbone of his 156 broke, the wheel tucking under the car. Fortunately the following impact with the barrier was very light. A lap later the second Avon 156 rattled across the kerbs at Knickbrook, knocking the sump plug off and bringing Andy Inman's race to a smokey end. On the same lap, Ian Seager and John Pogson made light contact, Ian losing a tyre valve in the process which was a sad after another great drive.

Tim Lewis had been charging through the field until by lap 7 he was lying fourth with Bryan Shrubb about 30 seconds up the road, a gap that would be reduced to 17 seconds by the end of lap 9. But this was as far as Tim got. His brakes had been troubling him and then a gearbox output shaft let go, and his race was over. Meanwhile, Wayne Ashford had over-revved his engine when he missed a gear but as the oil pressure seemed good he carried on, only to get stuck in fourth gear. Robin Eyre Maunsell was closing on the two 155s ahead of him, getting between them with a daring move at the end of lap 9. Robin was not destined to reach the finish either as an overheating engine saw him stop on the final lap.

In the meantime, Ian Stapleton had continued to shadow Adie Hawkins who was lifting off down the straights as the water temperature was up to over 110degrees and we wondered what excitement Ian had in store for us on the final lap. Coming into Lodge, it looked as though Adie had it sewn up but Ian had other ideas and as they dashed towards Deer Leap and the finish, Ian took the green GTV6 round the outside of the black and yellow 33 and failed to make the flag first by a mere 0.253" at the end of a cracking race in the best Alfa Championship tradition. Ian's final lap set a new Alfa lap record in 1'52.725", Adie also setting his best time on that lap, albeit 0.8" slower. It was just enough though!

Bryan Shrubb was happy to bring his 33 home third again after not being able to select second gear due to a clutch problem and then suffering a long brake pedal from lap 7. He had realised Tim was catching him fast, speeding up on the last lap and then seeing Tim had pulled off. John Pogson finished 4th to win Class C just 1.328" clear of Graham Seager. Phil Donaghy was a very satisfied 6th, winning Class E by nearly 20 seconds from Graham Heels, Ray Foley and Keith Williams. Phil was also ahead of Class D winner Alastair Iles with Richard Salt 2nd having battled with Martin Jones before the latter's retirement with loss of power. Mitch Millett brought his 145 home in one piece to take the winner's trophy for Class B while David Hughes was happy to earn 5th in E with his new 156 although he had been observing a strict rev limit throughout the race. Clive Hodgkin had been out for a bit of fun with the Avon 75 Twin Spark renta' and was rewarded with a third in Class D with a car that most people think is "past it"!

Unlike last year, the round 2 result brought about a considerable change in the points table. Phil Donaghy came away still in the Championship lead but with Alastair Iles and Graham Seager tied in second. And who would have bet on Bryan Shrubb leading Class A after 2 races, Silverstone points scorers Andy Page and Tim Lewis both having faltered. Despite lack of runners in the class, the C cars benefited from reliability as did Graham Heels with his 147 in E.

The "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day Award went to John Pogson.

The only question to answer perhaps is could Tim have kept pace with Adie and Tim in the race if he had started from the grid? His fastest lap was 2.5" slower than Ian's new record. Adie reckons a 1'52" is possible from his car "no probs!" Lee Penn has told him he should be expecting a 1'51 something!! Can't wait for the next encounter although Adie will not be doing Rockingham but is hoping to be at Pembrey for a repeat of last year's excitement!!

 

The weeks of anticipation between the Autosport Show and the start of the season always seem to pass very slowly - unless, of course, you are building a new car or completely refreshing an old one in which case you probably wish that we didn't start until mid May! From the ARCA perspective, there was the added pressure that round 1 of the BRSCC ALFASHOP Alfa Romeo Championship at Silverstone was race for which we were buying the grid from our friends at EERC and that a good size grid was essential to ensure its financial viability. 32 cars was to be our "break even" point, anything beyond 34 would allow us to implement a "cash back" arrangement that could have seen the entry fee lowered from £195 to £175 for 20 minutes qualifying and a 25 minute race. In the end statistics show that we had 37 cars on the list, qualified 36, started 34 and had 28 finishers. A very satisfactory start to the year!

The reduction in the number of classes from seven to five has simplified the Championship somewhat but it was going to be interesting to see how the numbers in each class were balanced within the total entry. The modified Class (A) saw a strong field of eight cars for Silverstone led by 2006 Champion Tim Lewis with his Alfasud Sprint but a strong challenge was expected from the 33 Turbo of Andy Millar which had tested successfully at Mallory the previous Wednesday, Ian Stapleton's rebuilt GTV6 3.8, Andy Page's long-serving Giulietta Turbo and the 75 Turbo of Graham Presley. A welcome return was being made by Steve Dymoke in the very smart ex Mike Watson Alfasud ti. Class B (ex Class C) can now run on slicks and Neil Smith was expected to make strong use of this extra freedom on his 156 while another returnee with a quick car was Ian Seager and his 8v 33 although he would still be running on old control tyres. Two 155s made up the thin Class C (ex D) but Graham Seager and John Pogson were expected to run high up overall.

By far the biggest class was D, which combines the old E & F, with 14 cars. Wayne Ashford, Martin Jones and Phil Astell led the 33 16v runners with a likely challenge coming from the 8v versions of Mark James, Alastair Iles and Tim Hayes. The standard production class E had doubled in size since its debut a year ago. To the five cars that appeared at the final Snetterton round were added another 156, for Ray Foley, two 145 Cloverleaf’s (Keith Williams and David Hughes) and the 147 of Graham Heels.

There had been some glorious spring weather a week or so before Silverstone, but March 24 dawned cloudy and cold, the temperature then continuing to drop throughout the day. Qualifying started ten minutes early and then ran a couple of minutes longer than anticipated, which allowed Tim Lewis and Andy Page to complete a total of 12 laps. Not unexpectedly, Tim emerged at the top of the timesheets, with a lap only a fraction slower than his lap record, half a second quicker than Ian Stapleton. A real surprise, however, was the 156 of Neil Smith in third. Neil had been pushing on hard but unfortunately lost the car on the exit of Bridge on his 9th, and possibly fastest lap, sliding broadside towards the exit slip road at Priory only to find the gearless 33 of Martin Jones that had just stopped there. The impact produced considerable damage to the cars although both were able to start the race later in the day. Andy Page's best time was good enough for fourth fastest and fifth on the grid would have been Andy Millar but sadly the car stopped with a hole in the back of the gearbox and with no spare available would be a non starter.

Mark James was on excellent form in his Bianco prepared 33 8v, taking the class D pole but the performance of Wayne Ashford, who was seen exploring the limits of the new Toyo tyres at Priory, gave an indication of more to come with his 16v car. Third in class would be Phil Astell, ahead of Alastair Iles and an impressive Tim Hayes (33 8v). Outstanding was the effort of Matt Daly, having his first race in the Championship, in Ian Brookfield's Alfasud 1.5 Ti who would line up 18th overall and 7th in class. Phil Donaghy was showing his usual level of commitment in E with his 145 Cloverleaf, leaving a clear gap between himself an Andy Inman's 156. Graham Heels thought his car felt "completely different" from the one he had tested at Brands earlier in the week but would still line up third ahead of Ray Foley and David Hughes whose 145 was suffering from acute brake vibration problems.

This was the first appearance of the Toyo as control tyre suppliers to the Championship and the general view appeared very positive. It was good to see Toyo Technical Manager Alan Meaker getting feedback from competitors during the day.

The first lap of a new season with a large field is never going to be straightforward  but if there was going to be a problem, we expected it to be mid field. Not so! Abbey hairpin on lap 1, not an easy corner at the best of times, proved the undoing of the race leaders, arriving there in the order Tim Lewis, Neil Smith, Ian Stapleton, Graham Presley and Andy Page. Tim half spun, Neil and Ian indulged in synchronised broadsides, Graham Presley had brakes locked up and then had contact with the recovering Ian Stapleton which resulted in Graham's front spoiler being dislodged and then shredded underneath the car, causing him to slow at which point he was hit by Mark James' 33. The 75 speared off into the wall causing more damage adding to Graham's disappointment while Mark was able to continue without too much loss of time.

Now leading, Neil Smith was, as he put it afterwards "so excited" that he slid off into the gravel at Priory "which stopped him dead" - end of his race. The recovered Tim Lewis then took back the lead heading Andy Page, Bryan Shrubb, Graham Seager, Phil Astell and Wayne Ashford. Phil Donaghy was a clear leader in Class E (10th overall) with second in class, Andy Inman back in 17th and well enmeshed in traffic just ahead of David Hughes.

Andy Page continued to keep the pressure on Tim Lewis but by lap 4 Ian Stapleton had rushed up to third place and a lap later was the first to get into the 1' 35s as he tried to close the gap to Andy Page. On lap 6 he was given a big helping hand when Ian Fisher's 156 had a rod let go and punch a hole in the side of the block on the way to Ireland corner, between Becketts and Abbey. Both Tim and Andy spun on the oil and although Ian was slowed, he ended the following lap right on Andy's tail and within a couple of seconds of Tim. Going into lap 8 it was neck and neck into Copse with Ian emerging ahead. Bryan Shrubb was going along smoothly in fourth place while behind there were many of the usual inter class battles going on - among the best being that of Ian and Graham Seager with Class D leader Wayne Ashford, while Phil Donaghy was holding off Tim Hayes, Martin Jones and Robin Eyre-Maunsell. In E, David Hughes was still running third ahead of Ray Foley, Keith Williams and Graham Heels.

As the leaders entered lap 12, Tim Lewis was trying to grab back the lead from Ian Stapleton while Andy Page had dropped some 4 seconds back. Ian had set a new Alfa lap record the lap before as he strove to keep Tim at bay. However, as the race neared its conclusion, the track became much more slippery as it started to drizzle in places and Tim's engine also lost a cylinder, causing him to slow and become "a sitting duck" for Andy. Then just when it seemed as though Ian was going to score his first ever Alfa race win, almost in sight of the flag even, he slid off into the gravel at Bridge - his race over. Andy Page had passed Tim and sailed though to take a totally unexpected but very welcome top spot on the podium. Tim managed to make it home second with Bryan Shrubb well rewarded with third. Graham Seager headed Wayne Ashford by just a second after a race long tussle but Wayne was later excluded from the results for overtaking under yellow flags, elevating Ian Seager to 5th and a class B win - a good day for the Seager family! Mark James learned later that he had won D from Alastair Iles and Phil Astell while Phil Donaghy came home 14 seconds ahead of Andy Inman in E although Andy was delighted to have taken fastest lap in the class (as were Avon Racing). David Hughes and Graham Heels were next home in E.

There were some other good drives during the race, notably from Matt Daly in his Alfasud Ti who was awarded the "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day award after finishing 13th overall and 5th in class. John Pogson must have overtaken more cars than anybody else on his way from starting at the back of the field after a broken engine mount in qualifying to finish 12th. And the luckiest driver - Andy Page! In the paddock after the race he found a pool of oil under the Giulietta - inspection revealing that the pipe taking coolant to the turbocharger was about to sheer! Unluckiest - Anthony George whose rebuilt 33 16v engine just wouldn't start, so he didn't even make it out to qualifying.

Certainly an eventful race - too much damage, yes - some lost opportunities, yes. Let's see what happens at Oulton on April 14!