Nothing can be more nerve jangling for drivers with championships at stake than not knowing if the supposedly deciding round or rounds are going to take place. The final meeting of the season had already been moved progressively by Donington Park management from mid October to the first weekend in November. Then it was cancelled by them altogether only to be resurrected as a one day affair after much negotiation and pressure from Drew Furlong (BRSCC) who pointed out that it was totally unacceptable for so many championship finals to be cancelled at such a late stage. In the case of our friends in Eurosaloons it would have meant that their last round was at Mallory Park (already past) and they wouldn't have been aware of it! The reduction to one day also meant that the double header format would be altered to a single race. Moreover,  because the meeting would come after the hour change, the tight timetable would only allow 10 minute qualifying sessions if the races were to be of the required 20 minutes in length. And all this was only possible if the Minis agreed to race in the dark!!

However, despite all the uncertainty, Donington ironically produced a splendid 35 car entry, equalling that of the opening round on Easter Saturday. Class A was especially strong with Tim Lewis eager to have another try with his supercharged Alfasud Sprint and the appearance for the first time this year of Andy Page in his Giulietta. Chris Snowdon was back with the Lahoma 33 16v, John Sismey having reverted to an earlier spec engine for the car, while Steve Dymoke had entered the Brunswick built 146, now with new and beefy looking front spoiler. They were to be joined by Ian Brookfield (164), Robin Eyre-Maunsell (75 3.0),

Sadly missing from Class C was Alastair Iles which meant that if Kevin Evans scored maximum points he would take the class championship with his GTV. Ron Davidson and Barry McMahon were also running their GTVs, Barry's failing air flow sensor being the reason he was slow at Silverstone on the car's first appearance. Michael Walsh was out again in his 155 3 litre. With the overall championship at stake, there  would much attention focussed on the battle in Class D between Mark James and Paul Plant with their 33 16v's. Paul was lucky to be there at all as he had had a major operation on his knee earlier in the week and was only passed  fit to race at the last minute while Mark was keeping his fingers crossed that Bianco had now got to the bottom of his misfire problem. Timothy Perry and Mel Healey were in their usual 33 16v's while the class was completed by Peter Guy L'Amie,  in his black 75 Twin Spark this time after an outing in the Avon 156 renta' at Snetterton.

Class E continued to show its strength at Donington with a 12 car entry. Richard Salt was back with his re-jigged 145 with Martin Jones the only other 145 present on this occasion. Graham Heels (147) arrived with a slender 2 point lead over Andy Inman (156) for the Class title but was optimistic for the race, with a new gearbox "donated" by sister Sarah.  Sarah herself, Ray Foley, Paul Buckley and Ian Fisher had their usual 156s and were joined by Chris Healey who had bought the blue Bianco 156 and newcomer Paul Granger in the Avon car, hoping to move to car racing after a successful time in Karts. Finally Chris Bentley's 146 was joined by a similar car entered by Tom Allen which was having its first race.

The Saturday morning dawned cold but dry as, from early on, jets of all sizes glided their way over the paddock and into East Midlands Airport, sometimes showing a worrying degree of sideways motion which undoubtedly would not have worried BA pilot Tom Allen unduly! As there were no delays in getting the programme underway and no red flags everything was soon running ahead of schedule which caught out one or two people, notably John Griffiths who had overslept (!) and Steve Dymoke who was too busy to notice that everyone else had disappeared. With the likelihood of a maximum of 7 laps there was no time to waste for those who were aiming for good grid slots while for others who either hadn't raced at Donington before or hadn't driven their current cars there, it was a case of being a quick learner and finding some clear track space. Andy Inman had made sure he was the first car on the track, leading the field out of Goddards on the opening lap and aiming for those two vital fastest lap

Kevin Evans led Class C by some 5 seconds from Ron Davidson to finish a creditable 8th overall. However, the competition in D was somewhat closer as Paul Plant held on to his early advantage despite the efforts of Mark James who eventually ended just 0.022" slower on his final lap. Timothy Perry and Mel Healey were almost as closely matched for third and fourth. In E, it wasn't the early pace that gave Andy Inman the class pole, Ray Foley leading the way mid session but a real effort  made by Andy with the seconds ticking away at the end put the black 156 in front.  Paul Granger surprised everyone (except Clive Hodgkin) with the third quickest time ahead of Paul Buckley and Graham Heels.

As the morning progressed and our 1.45 race time approached it started to get more cloudy and the possibility of a wet race started to enter everyone's calculations.Neil Smith had been able to acquire a water pump from Gus Lambrou but he was still keeping his fingers crossed that no damage had been done. As the cars began to make their way to the assembly area at the Melbourne Hairpin, a steady drizzle set in and the cars in the Jedi race that preceded ours were throwing up spray on the approach to Red Gate. There was indecision amongst the Class A and B runners and we watched from the commentary box above Race Control as one or two cars did not appear to be moving. As ever, taking the right decision was going to prove crucial with only a small amount of rain always making Donington amazingly slippery. Most of those affected went for a full wet set up but Tim Lewis and Adie Hawkins opted for a mixture front and rear, arriving late on the grid and having to weave their way through to the front.

Eventually the field departed but there was some confusion over the number of warm up laps, the first to arrive back slowing almost to a stop before being waved through for a second run. Into the pits came Roger Evans after just one lap, it transpiring that he had some loose wheelnuts, a result of the late tyre change, but this was sorted by the Chris Snowdon Racing boys (Championship spirit again!) and Roger was able to start from the pit road. It was a very crowded track as the cars ran down towards Red Gate as the lights went out, those on the left of the grid finding themselves bottled up by a slow starting Graham Presley. Tim Lewis held a small advantage but then ran wide and it was Neil Smith and Chris Snowdon who moved away with Adie Hawkins and Tim in pursuit. Paul Plant was running 5th, already 2.4" clear of Mark James with Kevin Evans, Gareth Haywood and Mel Healey close behind. Roger Evans had been charging through the field, overtaking no fewer than 22 cars on the opening lap!! In E, Chris Bentley and Richard Salt had both had the luck of the draw on the first lap and were ahead of Ray Foley and Paul Granger while Andy Inman had had a major off at Craners, continuing with a damaged car.

Chris Snowdon had taken over the lead on lap 2 but Neil Smith wasn't giving up despite keeping a good eye on his gauges. Adie Hawkins and Tim Lewis were dropping back into the clutches of Roger Evans, now up to 5th, who moved ahead of both on lap 3. Chris Snowdon had a major moment at the Old Hairpin two laps later and the flying Roger Evans, lapping 6 seconds quicker than anyone else was off into a lead that he would not lose. In the meantime, Mark James had set a crucial fastest lap in D on lap 3 and moved onto the tail of Paul Plant, the pair running 6th and 7th, but Paul then also suffered a rare "off" and Mark had to spin to avoid being involved, dropping down to 16th in amongst the Class E cars.

At the front Roger Evans pulled inexorably away from Chris Snowdon who had recovered to grab 2nd place back from Neil Smith but Tim Lewis had decided he was going nowhere and pulled into the pits to retire. Adie Hawkins was hanging on to 4th place but the wet shod Gareth Haywood was closing in on him and Paul Plant was only 3" behind the black 156. In Class E there was a fierce battle going on between fellow Alfatune drivers Chris Bentley and Richard Salt with Ray Foley's third place being threatened by Paul Granger. Ray would spin off with three laps to go.

As the race progressed towards the 20 minute deadline, Roger Evans eased off, his lead over Chris Snowdon some 22" by the end of lap 10. Neil Smith had also slowed a little as he worried that perhaps the 156 might not make it to the finish although he was not to know that Mark James had, at that stage anyway, taken a vital 2 points away from Paul Plant. As the flag came out, with 12 laps completed, it was a delighted Neil who finished third to become the 2008 BRSCC Alfashop Alfa Romeo champion but equally happy were race winner Roger Evans and second placed Chris Snowdon as they arrived to be interviewed by Ian Titchmarsh afterwards. Out on the track, Gareth Haywood had driven superbly to pass Adie Hawkins on the final lap to grab fourth with Paul Plant, Kevin Evans, Mel Healey and Timothy Perry following them home. Mark James recoved to complete the top 10. In Class E Chris Bentley eventually managed to edge away from Richard Salt who had to fend off the last minute attentions of Paul Granger. Graham Heels, 5th in class, had done enough to secure theClass E title as Andy Inman was still 10" behind as the flag came out. Barry McMahon had a good race in his GTV to finish 14th and 2nd in C while just behind,Steve Dymoke reckoned he was the first car home on slicks, 4th in A.

So it was a delighted Neil Smith who received his class winner's trophy from 2007 Champion Phil Donaghy, having secured the 2008 championship,  the rest of the trophies being presented by James Hodgkin. Chateau Lezongars Driver of the Day Award went to Chris Bentley. Roger Evans, Kevin Evans, Paul Plant and Graham Heels were confirmed as the other championship class winners and everyone gathered round after the prize giving to chat and enjoy some cake, pie, fudge and wine provided by Diana Lindsay and Christine Hodgkin.

Our thanks to the BRSCC Midlands Centre team headed by Barry and Rita Ashman for such a smoothly run meeting and to Drew Furlong again for persevering to make it happen.

Because I was going on holiday immediately after the October 12 Snetterton race there was no website report. However, we were the guests of Time Attack and provided the only actual racing on the day. Early morning fog made it look as though we might not get a proper qualifying session but it cleared just in time to allow Tim Lewis, making his first appearance of the year, to put his Alfasud Sprint on pole with Adie Hawkins alongside him. Neil Smith and Alastair Iles made up the second row ahead of John Griffiths and Gareth Haywood. A really good Class D battle was in prospect when Mark James and John Strickland appeared on the time sheets ahead of Paul Plant while in E it was Graham Heels who stayed ahead of Ray Foley, Will Inglis and Andy Inman.

A lack of front end grip was hampering Tim Lewis at the start and he would drop back behind Adie Hawkins and Neil Smith. Alastair Iles and John Griffiths followed while there was a terrific Class D scrap developing in which Gareth Haywood also found himself involved. Graham Heels was the early Class E leader but under pressure from Andy Inman and Ray Foley. Sadly, Nick Anderson's Class A 33, running way back in the field, suffered a suspension failure going into the Esses, hitting Graham Heels en route to the barrier where it subsequently caught fire (Nick was unharmed) and brought out the safety car with 4 laps completed. Somehow, the safety car failed to pick up the leader, so it was decided to red flag the race so that the mess could be cleared up.

After the re-start, Adie re-took the lead for the 12 minute race while Neil Smith pressured Tim Lewis. There was contact between them at Russell, following which Tim decided to call it a day. Neil then backed off and the interest in the race lay in the pursuit of Alastair Iles by John Griffiths and what would happen in D and E. Paul Plant and Mark James were soon embroiled with each other in D only for Paul to slide off and then Mark to have a recurrence of his misfire and the chasing John Strickland to suffer a puncture. Will Inglis had made a brilliant start in E and led Andy Inman until his engine blew up in a major way on lap 5. This left Andy with a small advantage over Ray Foley, with Louise West and Emma Karwacki also involved trying to make their way through to chase Mel Healey. Graham Heels' 147 was suffering from a damaged steering rack and a gearbox that would drop him back into the clutches of Peter Guy L'Amie who was having a run in the Avon renta' 156.

Adie Hawkins crossed the line over half a lap clear of Neil Smith with Alastair Iles judging third place to perfection ahead of John Griffiths. Gareth Haywood finished a lonely fifth with a recovered Paul Plant, Ron Davidson, Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Mel Healey next in line, Mel's 2nd in D beinbg her best result of the year. Half a second divided Class E winner Andy Inman and Ray Foley at the finish with another best result coming for Martin Jones, third in E.

"Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day award went to Robin Eyre-Maunsell.

Our thanks to Time Attack and the BRSCC team who were there just for us, fronted as ever by Linda Stearn.

There's nothing quite like being part of a race meeting that has a real "buzz" about it and that was how it felt at Silverstone last weekend. Throw in some blue sky (for a change!) and sunshine and you have the recipe for some genuine excitement. So what was it all about? The Britcar 24 Hour Race is now a permanent fixture at Silverstone and they add a very full support programme of which we were to be part for the first time. The action was due to start on Friday and as we were having only one race it was possible to fit in our qualifying session late in the afternoon - from 5.35 to 6.00. The race would be at 11.45 on Saturday morning, also over 25 minutes, which would allow the quickest cars in the field to complete around 12 laps of the full 3.19 mile Grand Prix circuit. In the past we have raced on both the National and International versions of the circuit but this is the first time that we have ventured onto the current version of the full circuit. This would include the sweeping complex from Maggotts, through Becketts and down to Chapel Curve, the long Hangar Straight, Vale, Club and the Abbey chicane. We had decided that this race would also be run for the Kevin Griffiths Trophy and several members of the family had promised to be present.

The finishing touches were still being put to the entry the day before the meeting but bearing in mind that many people would have to take a day off work and that we were missing several cars that were being rebuilt anyway, we were pleased to have 31 drivers take to the track. The biggest gaps were certainly at the front of the field where the likes of Ian Stapleton, Tim Lewis, Andy Page and Adie Hawkins were not with us to give Roger Evans some healthy competition but in terms of numbers it was one of the largest Class A entries of the year! Ian Brookfield was having his first race for twelve months in his yellow, ex Tony Soper, 164 while the 12v 75s of Clive Hodgkin and Chris Oxborough were joined by a 3 litre 24v version which had been built up by Chris Snowdon primarily as a track day car.  "MOT'd, taxed and insured!" said Chris.  It was good to see Graham Presley back again, his smart white, red and blue 75 sporting a new turbo to replace the one that failed at Rockingham. Bryan Shrubb had also entered his 33 8v although he was wondering if his relative lack of power might show up more here.

Class B was boosted by the return of Simon Bird in his 156 which has undergone much development since it last appeared as an "old class E" car. This joined the other 156s of Neil Smith and John Griffiths while Ian Seager was having his second outing of the year in his 33 8v. In Class C the Auto Lusso team had spent many late nights building up a GTV 3 litre since Snetterton for Barry McMahon. Michael Walsh had his 155 12v out again but the main emphasis here would be on the battle for the class title between Kevin Evans (GTV) and Alastair Iles (147 GTA). In D it was a question of how Paul Plant would fare against the challenge from Mark James, a third 33 16v being that of Chris Healey. Nick Gooch and Tim Hayes represented the 8v version.

As is now becoming the norm, Class E made up a third of the entry with 11 cars, led by points leader Graham Heels' 147.  2007 Champion Phil Donaghy was having his first, and probably only, run of the year in his 145 Cloverleaf. "I had to race with no.1 on the car once at least!". Other 145s were in the hands of Will Inglis, Keith Williams, Martin Jones and Phil Snelling. Chris Bentley was again running Andy Woodall's 146 while Andy Inman, Ray Foley, Ian Fisher and Sarah Heels were in their usual 156s.

Qualifying started at exactly 5.35, so well had everything gone beforehand, and several drivers (with either track day or simulator (?) experience) were quick to get down to very respectable times. Indeed Roger Evans, Clive Hodgkin, Graham Heels and Mark James had all set their best times by the end of their fifth lap. Neil Smith was going very quickly and managed to get himself within 1.16" of Roger which was a fine effort but there was almost disaster at the end of the session when the 156's oil pump drive sheared, blotting out the circuit with a huge pall of oil smoke. Undaunted, Neil loaded up the car afterwards to return to his workshop in Pershore to effect repairs, returning by 2 a.m. with the oil pump from a roadgoing 1.8 Twin Spark fitted and fingers crossed that all would be well as a look at the big end bearings had revealed nothing untoward.

Graham Presley had gradually worked his way down to a time that would leave him a handy third overall and he would start the race alongside John Griffiths, Neil Smith reporting that John's problem at Anglesey had been a split brake pipe. Kevin Evans, Bryan Shrubb and Alastair Iles ended up within a second of each other, only a fraction slower than Graham and John while the next quartet was equally close, Chris Snowdon, Clive Hodgkin and Ian Brookfield leading Paul Plant who ended 2.5" quicker than an unhappy Mark James. An excellent third quickest in D, and 15th overall, was Nick Gooch benefiting from some 24 hour qualifying time in the Brunswick entered 156.

Graham Heels held a narrow advantage over Andy Inman in Class E  but had the luxury of having the cars of Nick Gooch and Michael Walsh between him and his season-long rival. Andy had Ray Foley alongside him on row 9 with Will Inglis and Keith Williams making up row 10. Phil Donaghy was not as high up the timesheets as he expected to be, putting it down to wrong tyre pressures, and he would start on row 11 with fellow Alfatune driver Chris Bentley. Despite the flat out nature of the circuit, problems seemed relatively few although we were to lose Ian Seager whose gearbox casing split. Chris Healey also had a gearbox problem but was able to borrow a replacement from Bianco which Ian Brookfield was able to fit in time for the race. Clive Hodgkin's 75 had an oil leak but that would also be fixed by race time.

The next attraction was night qualifying for the 24 Hours from 8.00 until 10.00 pm. Racing in the dark is always a spectacle like no other and it was also enjoyable to be able to wander round the pit garages to see what was going on. A particular focus for us were the two teams with Alfa championship drivers (or ex drivers) both taking part or acting as team managers and pit crew, albeit in Alfatune's case with a BMW Diesel! (see more in News & Gossip).

Saturday morning was again sunny and warm, and we still had 30 cars ready to take the start. We greeted the Griffiths family and arranged that Kevin's brother Simon and daughter Abby would join the winners and commentator Brian Jones on the podium after the race. As the red lights went out, it was Graham Presley who made the best start from row 2 and for a moment it looked as though he might even take the lead! However by the time the field reached Copse, order had returned and Roger Evans was ahead with Graham and Neil Smith just behind, followed by the rest of the field in close formation. Another to make a great getaway was Will Inglis who had vaulted three rows to take the Class E lead from Graham Heels as they went through Maggotts. Not that he would stay there long as Graham reasserted his superiority at Abbey. There were tales afterwards of some fairly wild moments on that first lap and we had to wait some 2 minutes and 20 seconds before leader Roger Evans appeared  with a healthy 4.4" lead over Neil Smith who was already a full 6.5" clear of Graham Presley who had John Griffiths and Chris Snowdon chasing him hard. Kevin Evans was running 6th, leading Class C, just ahead of Alastair Iles with Clive Hodgkin fending off Bryan Shrubb who had had a poor first lap.  Paul Plant had put Ian Brookfield and Chris Oxborough between himself and Mark James. It was a great spectacle as the various groups came through Woodcote onto the pit straight, particularly the Class E battle which also had Nick Gooch in the middle of it. Graham Heels had a 2 second lead over Will Inglis with Phil Donaghy up to 3rd ahead of Andy Inman, Keith Williams and Ray Foley.

Sadly, Neil Smith was unable to put any pressure on Roger Evans having lost third gear, leaving Roger to romp away, his advantage already being 9 seconds by the end of lap 2, with Graham Presley a further 10 seconds behind. However, all the attention was on the great racing going on throughout the rest of the field - Chris Snowdon was now fourth with Kevin Evans and John Griffiths right on his tail while Bryan Shrubb was looking to make progress from 7th. Paul Plant seemed very comfortable with the "comfort zone" still there between himself and Mark James. Graham Heels was leading Class E by some 2.5 seconds although overall he had Nick Gooch for company. Phil Donaghy had moved up to 2nd in E but with Will Inglis and Andy Inman within a second of him, then Keith Williams with the advancing Class B 156 of Simon Bird.

By lap 5, Bryan Shrubb had managed to get ahead of John Griffiths and once in clear air his lap times tumbled. Nick Gooch had passed  Graham Heels only to throw it all away at the Becketts complex. This didn't quite leave the leading class E trio on their own as they had been joined by Simon Bird but he and Phil Donaghy were to make contact a couple of laps later. Although both continued, Simon was suffering a repeat of an earlier fuel pressure problem and eventually retired. Ian Brookfield had put on a spurt and was ahead of Paul Plant.

At the halfway stage (lap 6), Roger Evans had established a 21" lead over Neil Smith, Graham Presley was still running third now 41" adrift of Roger but with Bryan Shrubb now only 5" behind having set his fastest lap of the race - a full 4 seconds below his qualifying best. John Griffiths and Kevin Evans were continuing a relatively even contest with Chris Snowdon, who dropped back a little, and Alastair Iles next in line. Mark James was going slower and would come into the pits to retire a couple of laps later. In E, it was a straight fight by lap 7 and it was beginning to look as though Graham Heels's lead was under pressure from Phil Donaghy but Andy Inman was determined to part of the action and was visibly closer to Phil. This was a battle that would go to the final lap, as would that between Will Inglis, Keith Williams and Ray Foley.

In the last few minutes, with the race in his pocket barring any reliability problem, Roger Evans just eased off, crossing the line 25" clear of Neil Smith whose gearbox promptly grenaded itself, leaving Neil unable to appear on the podium. Also absent was Graham Presley who was robbed of third when his engine failed with a lap to go, leaving the place to a very satisfied Bryan Shrubb. Fourth spot was being disputed all the way by Chris Snowdon, Kevin Evans, Alastair Iles and John Griffiths but Kevin broke a driveshaft with a lap to run, Alastair won class C but it was John who managed to get ahead of Chris and Alastair in the end to take the place. Clive Hodgkin was next home but only 3.8" clear of class D winner Paul Plant after his tyres had wilted. Ian Brookfield and Chris Oxborough completed the top 10. We were all craning our necks to see who would win Class E and it was Graham Heels who emerged through Woodcote first to win by 2.2" with Andy Inman 2nd and Phil Donaghy 3rd after his engine had started to overheat. Ray Foley ended 4th  while the side by side tussle between Will Inglis and Keith Williams went to the flag with Will just ahead. Nick Gooch and Chris Healey were 2nd and 3rd in D but perhaps the broadest smile afterwards was that of Michael Walsh who had had a very lonely race, finished 11th overall but, more importantly for him, had taken second in C! 26 of the 30 starters completed the race and finishing times extended to over 29 minutes - plenty of fuel capacity there then! Class E gave us the closest battle with 0.048" covering the quickest laps of the leading three cars.

"Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day award went to John Griffiths.

Our thanks go to James Tucker and Claire Williams of Britcar for offering us the chance to race on the full GP track and we hope to able to repeat the exercise in the future. Negotiations have already started!

Going to a new circuit, albeit in an old setting, is always exciting and such has been the favourable publicity emanating from Anglesey that everyone was looking forward to seeing whether the hype was justified. These days, however, we also seem to spend as much time looking at the weather forecast as we do at the entry list and this was to be no exception. The jet stream remains over the British Isles, instead of to the north, and the omens were not good. Driving through North Wales on Friday morning the rain was hammering down and the water running off the hills was spectacular. The radio reported flash floods to the south. Our arrival at the Anglesey circuit around lunchtime was at least greeted by a halt in the rain and those who had been told that testing was over for the day suddenly found that the track was looking less treacherous and testing did indeed resume. We could even see the mountains of Snowdonia in the gloom. The only Alfa to take part in the afternoon sessions was the 156 of Ray Foley which was being shared by son Steve and there were suggestions that he might even make a return to the Championship in the Sunday race - if it was dry! Also nearby was a covered 146 which turned out to be Andy Woodall's car which Chris Bentley had borrowed for the weekend after the engine of his own had blown at Snetterton.

As the afternoon moved through to early evening everyone else started to appear with stories of the varied journeys they had suffered including the usual jams on the M6 and a variety of diversions. Nonetheless, there was a good spirit in the paddock, particularly as we all took in the nature of the re-constructed 2.1 mile circuit which has managed to lose almost everything that made up the previous layout. Some of it is extremely fast, some of it slow requiring heavy braking and good balance while there are also major height and camber changes.. Writing afterwards Andy Inman reckoned "it was easy to reconcile the reality with the youtube videos, except for the tight Rocket combo which was a lot more testing than I had expected".

The largest part of the 21 car entry was again Class E with no fewer than nine cars to be driven by Graham Heels (147), Chris Bentley (146), Will Inglis, Martin Jones and Keith Williams (145s) and the 156s of Andy Inman, the Foleys, Sarah Heels and Paul Buckley. Adie Hawkins had made a very late decision to enter his 33 16v and he joined Roger Evans (GTV) Clive Hodgkin (75) and Bryan Shrubb (33 8v) in Class A. The 156s of Neil Smith and John Griffiths had Louise West's 33 8v and Gareth Haywood's 156 2.5 for company in Class B while Kevin Evans' GTV was the only entry in C. Unusually, Class D only sported three cars this time, all 33 16v's for Paul Plant, Timothy Perry and Emma Karwacki. This was important in that Paul would, like Neil Smith, not be able to gain maximum points.

The rain returned overnight and the track was extremely wet as qualifying got underway at 10.30. Roger Evans wasted very little time getting into his stride, soon to be matched by Neil Smith who held pole until Roger took it away from on his final lap. Adie Hawkins was almost as quick and might have challenged for the front row had he not become a victim of the standing water and very wet grass on the exit of the fast Church corner (or curve it might be better called) skating at unabated speed to make a hard glancing blow against the barrier. Bryan Shrubb and Clive Hodgkin were well matched to line up 4th and 5th with a three second gap to Class D leader Paul Plant. Ray Foley, who put his testing experience to good use, initially headed Class E but Will Inglis pulled a quick lap out of the bag three quarters of the way through the session to finish just 0.4" ahead with Chris Bentley (been there with the Beetle Fun Cup), Andy Inman and Graham Heels next in line. Paul Buckley was another to go off at Church, damaging the steering of his 156. He would be a non starter. Timothy Perry ended the session comfortably clear of Emma Karwacki in D, Emma admitting that she found the conditions somewhat daunting. Kevin Evans had found that his oil cooler was leaking after the GTV had dropped off his trailer but had decided to do without it as the temperatures were not going to cause a problem. The general view was that this was a fantastic new circuit but 15 minutes were hardly long enough to learn it, let alone in the wet!

As the rain continued during the morning a co-ordinators meeting was called by the Clerk of the Course who indicated that if the weather did not improve - and the portents were not good - racing during the afternoon might not take place. Instead, there would be no second qualifying on Sunday but two races instead. A decision would be taken at 2 o'clock. However, as on the previous day, things did get better and although the track was still very wet it was decided that racing would take place.

Neil Smith had been relishing the chance of racing in the rain again, making the comment that everyone "should race according to the conditions". Sadly this was to come back to bite him pretty quickly as he led away from the start, only to spin it all away at the very slow Rocket half way round the first lap! Mind you, many other competitors were having their problems on that opening lap but it was Roger Evans who raced down the hill to the sharp left hander before the start/finish line with a 5 second lead over Adie Hawkins with Bryan Shrubb 3rd just ahead of a flying Clive Hodgkin. Paul Plant was 6th, rather on his own, while Will Inglis was trying to cement his Class E pole but had the persistent Ray Foley right on his back bumper, both about to be gobbled up by the recovering Neil Smith. The rest of the field came by in a tight bunch headed by Chris Bentley, Louise West and Kevin Evans.

Roger Evans continued on his magisterial way and Adie Hawkins, still 2nd, appeared to have no answer in these conditions. By the end of lap 2 Neil Smith was about to take 3rd away from Bryan Shrubb with Clive Hodgkin clinging on splendidly, the power of the 3 litre V6 being noticeable up the hill to Rocket. Ray Foley was still giving Will Inglis a hard time but Louise West and Kevin Evans had both demoted Chris Bentley who was being hauled in by Andy Inman and John Griffiths. However, Louise and Chris had made contact which damaged a wheel/driveshaft/transmission on Louise's car causing her to stop on the exit of the Banking (Turn 2), quickly followed by Emma Karwacki acquaplaning on the standing water at  the exit of the fast Turn 3, skating "just a passenger" on the sodden grass and hitting the Armco barrier hard although fortunately for Emma, at least, at an angle. All this action brought out the Safety Car at the start of lap 4, the field quickly forming into a crocodile while the two 33s were removed, although not before Gareth Haywood had had a scary waltz across the grass close to where Emma's car was parked. Despite the impact Emma was unharmed apart from feeling a bit of whiplash. Clearing up took about 10 minutes to do which meant that it would be a three lap sprint when racing resumed.

The question now was could Neil Smith do what he had failed to do earlier. It was going to be very close but Roger Evans just managed - using as much of his 3.8 litres v 2 litres as he dared out of the final corner - to get to the line first by just 0.75". Adie Hawkins retired with a broken gearlever so it was Bryan Shrubb who came home a steady 3rd, with Clive Hodgkin 4th, never quite close enough to challenge but having driven a superb race in the only rear wheel driver car in the field. John Griffiths would be a reasonably content 5th ahead of Class D winner Paul Plant. Will Inglis eventually managed to cement his Class E win after the close attentions of Ray Foley and was helped in the end when Kevin Evans got in between them. Reporting from the driver's seat Andy Inman resumed the race "with me trying my damnedest to get past Chris Bentley. Two corners from the end I saw my chance…I outbraked him into the hairpin, turned very late and outdragged him down the hill into the last corner. He wasn't giving in that easily and gave me a bang on the passenger door as we took the final left hander but the glory was mine - as much glory as you get for coming third!". Class points leader Graham Heels was unable to celebrate his birthday in style, coming home 6th behind Keith Williams but at least he got a cake later.

Everyone had been going around on Saturday afternoon murmering that the forecast was better for Sunday but not quite believing it. However, the forecasters appeared to have got it right as we woke up to find no rain, although the track was not totally dry, and we could just discern Snowdonia. Andy Inman again "A chance to have a proper go at the much improved circuit and after ten minutes working out the new braking points I got my finger out and secured class pole with my penultimate lap. Graham Heels would be next to me on the grid, with all the modifieds in front where they are supposed to be and all the other E's behind me (also where they are supposed to be!!)". 10 seconds quicker than in Saturday's wet conditions, it was again Roger Evans on pole with Neil Smith sharing the front row about a second slower. Adie Hawkins had repaired his 33 but had a badly weeping eye following the necessary welding. Bryan Shrubb would share row 2 with Adie, Clive Hodgkin and Kevin Evans making up row three ahead of Paul Plant and a happier Gareth Haywood. Steve Foley had enjoyed a very good "return" qualifying in Ray's 156 and would line up 4th quickest in E alongside Keith Williams.

Lights on, lights off….. and this time it was Roger Evans who made the best start with Neil Smith and Adie Hawkins in pursuit. But at Rocket it all went wrong again for Neil - "I hate that corner" he said as he grimaced afterwards - spinning across the road with Adie spinning in sympathy as the rest of the field arrived. Andy Inman had lost out  to "Graham Heels who got past me on the faster outside line and Keith Williams was starting to bother me round the Banking. Along the fast curved straight (if you know what I mean). Up ahead was the most difficult corner of the circuit - 6500 rpm in 4th (120 mph in an E car?). Spinners! Yellow flags! Cars squirming under braking…must find a bit of track for myself. Done it, now to take advantage of the situation and get past Graham and Keith when BANG! I got hit up the rear, the back of the car going about a foot in the air while I was pinged past Graham and Keith disappeared from view." Mayhem - well illustrated by the pictures on Alfaracer.com. It seemed that John Griffiths had made a poor start and then suffered a rock hard brake pedal as he tried to slow down for Rocket. Will Inglis was also involved, his 145 suffering damaged steering but continuing.

The result of all this was another Safety Car but amazingly we had 16 of the 17 cars that had started still running (Kevin Evans had not taken the start as he was losing fuel as the result of a missing fuel cap). The order as the field circulated slowly was Roger Evans, Neil Smith, Bryan Shrubb, Adie Hawkins, Clive Hodgkin, Paul Plant, Gareth Haywood, Timothy Perry, Andy Inman (remarkably heading E), Graham Heels, Will Inglis, Chris Bentley, Steve Foley, Martin Jones, Keith Williams (who had been forced over the grass at Rocket by John Griffiths' 156) and Sarah Heels. Six and a half minutes were lost behind the Safety Car this time.

The re-start seemed to have everything set up for a great race between the three front runners only to have Adie Hawkins spinning his way out of contention straightaway, the black and yellow 33 coming round a lowly 10th at the end of the lap (lap 5 in the race). Neil Smith was finding it hard to hold on to Roger Evans but was already well clear of Bryan Shrubb, Clive Hodgkin and Gareth Haywood. Paul Plant was trying unsuccessfully to hold on to Gareth Haywood but one of the best battles of the weekend was emerging between Timothy Perry, Andy Inman and Graham Heels with another going on a few seconds further back between Will Inglis, Chris Bentley and Steve Foley, the latter with father Ray looking nervously on from the pits. On lap 6, Will and Chris pulled away slightly from Steve but the 156 driver pegged it back again on lap 7. Meanwhile Andy Inman was having some fun pushing Timothy Perry but he always had to have his eyes open for an attack from Graham Heels. Likewise, Clive Hodgkin was facing a strong challenge from Gareth Haywood.

Neil Smith really had no answer to Roger Evans' speed on the dry track, likewise there was nothing to stop Adie Hawkins eventually moving back to third and this was how they would finish with Bryan Shrubb a lonely fourth. Gareth Haywood found a way past Clive Hodgkin into 5th place on lap 9 but Clive was never more than 2 seconds behind. Paul Plant was another to have a lonely time but he wasn't worried as another Class D win would keep him in the championship title hunt. Again it was Class E where most of the late action was. On the very last lap Andy Inman and Graham Heels were wheel to wheel down to the last corner. Graham had the inside line and dived through. Was he going too fast - well, yes, as he took to the grass on the exit, but somehow he was able to keep the momentum going to cross the line first in another of their season of close finishes - just 0.204" apart this time. They were the last unlapped runners. By then Chris Bentley had taken away Will Inglis's third in class, the black 145 being difficult to steer on left handers after the first lap incident, so much so that he was also passed by Steve Foley. Keith Williams finished a very unhappy 6th in class after everything had looked so good for him on the first lap. Martin Jones, his clutch having failed, and Sarah Heels made up the finishers.

"Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day awards went to Clive Hodgkin for Saturday's race and to Gareth Haywood for Sunday.

A short break by the Norfolk Coast has delayed my report of Round 10 at Snetterton slightly, but hopefully the results and photographs on alfaracer.com will have provided some flavour of what occurred. The day was one of ups and downs generally. The weather was dry, so that was a bonus. We had a good 29 car entry at the start of qualifying but this was whittled down to the 25 that made the grid after some poor reliability or driver errors. A further three were eliminated by a collision in the first 100 yards which brought out a red flag. Of the 22 that remained, 21 crossed the line although one had not done enough laps to be classified as a finisher!

Class A was again poorly supported with only Roger Evans' GTV and the 33 8v of Nick Anderson while Class B was made up of the 156 2 litres of Neil Smith and John Griffiths plus the 2.5 V6 24v of Gareth Haywood which had already proved to a strong runner in the overall battle at Silverstone two weeks before. The Class C entry was the strongest of the year led by Alastair Iles' 147 GTA and the GTV of Kevin Evans who are busy fighting it out for class honours. Since Silverstone Alastair had been able to go testing and he was certainly happier with the set-up of the car. Ron Davidson was back with his GTV while Michael Walsh and Barry McMahon were out again in their 155 3 litres.

Much was expected of the battle in D between regular winner Paul Plant and Mark James, making his second appearance of the year, the other having been at Rockingham where he took victory ahead of Paul who was determined the reverse the position at Snetterton. Other 33 16vs were the cars of Emma Karwacki and Mel Healey while 8v's were in the hands of Chris Healey, Matt Daly, Tony Russell and Nick Gooch.

Class E was very strong with no less than a third of the total entry. A welcome return was being made by Sam Laird who was to give the smart Avon Racing renta' 156 its first outing, the first time he had raced anything other than rear wheel drive. And it was good to see Avon's yellow lightning flash on the side of the car . Other 156's were in the hands of Chris Finch (with upgraded ECU), Andy Inman and Sarah Heels. The 145 Cloverleaf was well represented with four examples, for Will Inglis, Martin Jones, Keith Williams, and Richard Salt, the latter making his first appearance since damaging the car at Cadwell in April. And finally we had class points leader Graham Heels' 147 and the 146 of Chris Bentley with another "scrapyard" engine to replace the one that broke at the end of the Silverstone race.

Qualifying was run over 20 minutes and I always wonder why it is that some people do their fastest lap within the first 10 minutes and then carry on for the second half of the session when it is clear that no improvement is in sight. Perhaps a 5 minute stop for a think and then a final 5 minutes head-down effort might provide the required result. On the other hand, there are drivers who will whittle fractions off lap by lap and then record their best time on the penultimate or final lap. In the last category at Snetterton we had John Griffiths, Sarah Heels, Mark James, Roger Evans, Chris Healey, Matt Daly, Chris Finch and Sam Laird. Most consistent driver was Alastair Iles who set 6 laps within 0.5" of each other before a final four, the best two of which were quicker than he had managed before.

Roger Evans had no trouble in setting a time quick enough for pole although it was some 2" off the lap record. Neil Smith would share the front row with him, despite a huge sideways moment coming through Coram, but couldn't break the 1'20" barrier as he had done in May. John Griffiths and Alastair Iles would make up the second row, Alastair leading the five Class C cars including Kevin Evans who would be on his own on row three. The gap should have been filled by Chris Snowdon but he had sadly stopped early in qualifying with a blown engine. Row 4 would be occupied by Gareth Haywood and Nick Anderson. The Class D battle between the two Bianco "team mates" was joined from the start with Paul Plant holding the advantage as Mark James' 16v seemed to suffer an intermittent misfire. In the end they would line up alongside each other but, importantly, 0.53" apart on their fastest laps. Well up the field was Ron Davidson who had his GTV working strongly on a circuit where power tells and he was able to insert himself ahead of Emma Karwacki and Mel Healey on the overall timesheets, both Emma and Mel bettering the qualifying times they had set earlier in the year. Matt Daly and Tony Russell led the 33 8v runners. Class C lost one of its entries when Barry McMahon suffered another engine problem while Michael Walsh was saved again by the Alfashop van when a replacement clutch was produced.

Throughout the session the top runners in Class E seemed to be dancing around the timing monitor. Graham Heels, Chris Finch, Andy Inman and Richard Salt all featured strongly but it was eventually Andy who emerged with a clear pole position, 0.4" ahead of Chris Finch. Graham Heels was a further 0.15" back just ahead of Richard Salt. Sadly for Richard, he hit the Russell kerbing hard enough to crack the sump and with no spare available he was forced to withdraw. Chris Bentley managed just three laps before his replacement engine gave up and he too would be a non starter. Also with problems was Will Inglis, his power steering failing after just 2 laps but this would be put right for the race.

Snetterton has a history of startline incidents and our race on Monday was to provide another as a slow starting Tony Russell and Chris Finch made contact opposite the scrutineering bay collecting Chris Healey as they headed for the outside barrier. Unfortunately all three cars were too badly damaged to take the eventual re-start, the race to be run over the full 20 minute distance.

As expected, there was no holding Roger Evans as he surged away into the lead with Neil Smith in fruitless pursuit. John Griffiths got away well and settled into third place while we watched to see if Kevin Evans could get on terms with Alastair Iles but Nick Anderson had also made an excellent start from the fourth row and, to Kevin's frustration, had put himself between the two Class C cars. In D, Mark James enjoyed a good first lap, putting his 33 16v ahead of Paul Plant's similar car although they were nose to tail. On the second lap, however, Gareth Haywood passed Paul which allowed Mark to gain a 1.5" advantage but this didn't last long as Gareth moved ahead of Mark and Paul then set his fastest lap of the race to re-close the gap at the end of lap 3 to a mere 0.3". Holding on well at this stage was Ron Davidson, just ahead of Emma Karwacki, Matt Daly, Mel Healey and Michael Walsh. In Class E Andy Inman was very quickly into his stride while Will Inglis had made an amazing start and was ahead of Graham Heels (suffering from another airflow sensor problem) and Martin Jones. By the end of lap 3, Andy had a 2.8" advantage although there were now no cars now between him and Graham who had passed Will on lap 3.

By the end of lap 5 Roger Evans had an 8" advantage over Neil Smith and was stroking the GTV along. John Griffiths had dropped to 5th after an "off" when his brakes started to lose their efficiency which left Alastair Iles third overall, still being chased by Kevin Evans and Gareth Haywood was closing on Nick Anderson for 6th place. A big change was the arrival of early class D leader Mark James in the pits with a return of his misfire which left Paul Plant relatively safe although Emma Karwacki was only 4" back and would be there to pounce on any mistake that Paul might make. In E, Will Inglis was back ahead of Graham Heels but Andy had pulled away and was now a comfortable 4" clear.

Kevin Evans's chase of Alastair Iles, Gareth Haywood's efforts to get ahead of Nick Anderson and the battle between Will Inglis, Graham Heels and, for a lap or two Nick Gooch's Class D 33 8v, were to keep us well entertained while Martin Jones was staying well in touch with this trio. John Griffiths came back into play in the Kevin Evans/Alastair Iles contest over the final 5 laps. For a while it looked as though John was dragging Kevin along as the gap to the Class C lead shrank to just 2.2" with three laps to go but Alastair saw the danger, setting his fastest lap of the race to consolidate his class win and third overall. By then Roger Evans had taken a hat-trick of wins, 31" clear of Neil Smith who won Class B once again. John Griffiths came home fourth, happy that despite his braking problem he had set his fastest ever lap in the 156 by some margin. Nick Anderson was a contented 6th overall, his battle with Gareth Haywood ending when Gareth suffered a suspected driveshaft failure. Next home were Class D winner Paul Plant, Ron Davidson, Emma Karwacki and Mel Healey. Mel was lucky to inherit 4th as Matt Daly had blown his engine on the final lap, managing to coast across the line but not before he had lost out to Mel and Nick Gooch in the class. In E Andy Inman had pulled well away to take another well deserved win for himself and Avon Racing by a full 9 seconds from Graham Heels. Will Inglis had lost out to Graham with a couple of laps to go after his power steering had failed again although he was able to manhandle the 145 to the finish, still 3rd.  In the end he was lucky not to be passed by Martin Jones who had driven probably his best race so far in the yellow 145 for which he received the "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day award. The final finishers were Keith Williams, Sam Laird, Sarah Heels and a pit-stopping Michael Walsh.

The full Championship points table appears elsewhere but once you start to take away the three worst results (under regulation 1.3.2) you start to get some interesting situations. Neil Smith and Paul Plant share the lead on 162 points, with Graham Heels on 146, Andy Inman 140, Roger Evans 136 and Emma Karwacki, 6th with 134. Anglesey (September 6/7) is a double header. What changes will we see after that?

Arriving at Silverstone on Saturday evening to the accompaniment of wind and rain it was easy to feel "oh not again!". People around the LMA Eurosaloon paddock who had been racing that day seemed somewhat bedraggled although they did kindly offer us hospitality at their (under cover!) barbecue. Although the forecast for Sunday was better, it was still with a degree of surprise that we woke up to blue skies with only a few clouds in the distance. Not that it would last all day but at least we were destined to have both qualifying and our race on a predominantly dry track. 

It was good to see several competitors who we haven't seen for a while. Paul Buckley has been working in Berlin and this as his first opportunity to drive his familiar pink Class E 156 this year while Tony Russell and Mark Bevington who have both made single appearances were back with their 8v 33s in Class D, Tony's car having the engine used very successfully in 2007 by Mark James. Of particular interest was the Class B 156 of Gareth Haywood which started life as a 2 litre last year but now has a 2.5 litre 24v V6 installed. It has taken a little while to sort out the engine management system but the whole project looked a good way in which to tackle the class for the future. A significant change was Chris Bentley's decision to re-work his 146 Ti from Class D to Class E specification, the conversion being carried out (to John Monk's satisfaction) by Gus Lambrou at Alfatune. With Mel Healey away on holiday, father Chris took back the Spur Motorsport 33 16v which he last drove at Cadwell in April.

The bulk of the entry was in Classes D & E but after a total absence of Class C cars at Rockingham Alastair Iles' 147 GTA was joined by Kevin Evans GTV, the two of them equal on points at the start of the day, and Michael Walsh's 155 3 litre. Roger Evans in his GTV and Nick Anderson's 33 8v were the only Class A cars present with championship leader Neil Smith joining Gareth Haywood in B.

It didn't take Roger Evans long to put himself on the expected pole position but where was Neil Smith? Towards the end of his second lap he was seen making his way slowly down the pit road with what he discovered was a broken wire to the crankshaft sensor. A repair was made but as soon as Neil returned to the track the chequered flag came out and he was unable to complete a flying lap. This meant that he would have to start from the back of the grid which would undoubtedly provide us with some entertainment as he came through the field! At the end of the session, Roger was also in trouble as his clutch broke as he changed down for Brooklands at the end of the National Straight but fortuitously he had ordered a new one for partner Joy's road car and it was sitting in the Alfashop van! The spirit of the Championship really came to the fore here as Gus Lambrou and others rallied round to help get the new clutch fitted in time.

Qualifying also produced a "first" in that we would have two brothers on the front row , Kevin Evans not only heading Class C but also ending second quickest overall. Nick Anderson was having his best run so far with the ex Alex Heynes 33 and would line up on the second row with Gareth Haywood who was quickly showing the potential of his "new" car. Alastair Iles on row three might have gone slightly quicker had his 147 not started to overheat. He would have Class D leader, Paul Plant alongside him with Michael Walsh and Emma Karwacki on the row behind, Emma very happy to get herself within 0.78" of Paul's best lap. James Burland ended up third quickest in D but a surprise was the performance of Tony Russell who would share row 5 with him, fourth fastest in front of Mark Bevington, Timothy Perry, Matt Daly and Chris Healey.

Andy Inman (156) always seems to go well at Silverstone, and this was to be no exception as he took the class E pole by half a second from Graham Heels' 147. More importantly Andy was two rows ahead of his season-long rival with two Class D cars in the way. Ray Foley finished the session third quickest ahead of Chris Bentley and Paul Buckley.

Some dark clouds and rain appeared in the middle of the day but just as soon disappeared although it never looked totally settled. As the cars left the assembly area it was clear that there was some water at Brooklands, the cars themselves dragging more as they gathered speed on the way to the grid. As the cars waited following the green flag lap, Gareth Haywood was a little over anxious and moved forward before the lights changed but then stopped as they went out. Fortunately he sorted himself out quickly and probably because he lost rather than gained was not penalised for jumping the start. So how quickly could Neil Smith get through the pack? By the exit of Copse he had already passed eight cars and by the end of the first lap the tally was 18!! Fourth placed Nick Anderson was his next target, on the way down to Copse for the second time, but importantly Neil was only 3.4" behind race leader Roger Evans. Roger had taken it carefully on lap 1 as there was still some dampness around, particularly at Brooklands, and he had emerged from Woodcote just 1,9" clear of brother Kevin with Alastair Iles half a second further back. Several drivers found themselves having "moments" on the water but Paul Plant came through 5th, leading Class D, but only .6" clear of Emma Karwacki who had made another of her great starts. There was then a 1.5" gap before the recovering Gareth Haywood arrived with Michael Walsh, James Burland, Chris Healey and Tony Russell in pursuit, just ahead of Class E leader Andy Inman. Ray Foley thought he had a chance of catching Andy but had to dispose of Matt Daly's 33 8v first, which he did on lap 2 but then had to focus on the attentions of another Class D car, Timothy Perry's 16v 33. Behind Timothy, Graham Heels (3rd in E) was keeping Chris Bentley, Mark Bevington and Paul Buckley at bay.

Neil Smith was through into second place by the end of lap 2 but now 5" behind Roger and he lost a further 5" on the next two laps before Roger eased off a little and the gap stablised. By the end of lap 5 Neil was 11" back and we thought that his challenge was spent. Kevin Evans was running a comfortable 3rd, leading Class C from fourth placed Alastair Iles. Gareth Haywood had got himself between Paul Plant and Emma Karwacki, Emma suffering a worrying lack of brakes as she abandoned her chase for the Class D lead, settling in to a comfortable 2nd as James Burland was having a lonely race in 3rd, 5 seconds back. James was watching the developing side-by-side battle between Chris Healey and Tony Russell in his mirrors. In Class E, there was now clear road between Andy Inman and Ray Foley with a gap of only .6" at the end of lap 6 as Ray set his best lap of the race. Matt Daly led  the following entertaining group from Chris Bentley, Paul Buckley and Tim Hayes.

As Roger Evans started to lap the slower cars, he seemed to be taking it quite carefully as getting into third gear was a problem and also the brakes on the GTV. This allowed Neil Smith to close in quickly, so that when the cars crossed the line on lap 11 the gap was down to just 4" and Neil sensed a possible win. Roger, however, saw him coming closer and showed that he had plenty in hand by cutting a couple of seconds off his lap times. What he didn't know was that Neil was now in trouble himself, having hit the Copse kerbing hard. He thought he had damaged his diff but it was later diagnosed as a broken drive shaft. Whatever, he was now limping and praying that the chequered flag would come out before the car broke. Cars unlapping themselves were slightly mystified.

Kevin Evans was running a comfortable 3rd overall and leading Class C from Alastair Iles who had Nick Anderson and Gareth Haywood chasing him hard as the race entered its second half. Alastair's 147 engine then started to overheat again and he dropped back behind the other two who were to stay in the same order to the finish, about a second apart. The third Class C car, Michael Walsh had retired from 9th place on lap 10 with a gearchange problem. Paul Plant had continued to edge away from Emma Karwacki who was having one of her best races of the year and he would lead her home by some 12" at the finish. James Burland maintained his class 3rd while Tony Russell finally managed to make a move on Chris Healey stick, Chris then being "mugged" by Timothy Perry , losing two places on the final lap much to his obvious annoyance! Despite pushing hard all the way Ray Foley just couldn't catch Andy Inman in E while Graham Heels maintained his podium record (the last twelve races!) by just keeping clear of Paul Buckley after Chris Bentley had dropped back. Paul was alongside Graham at one point but the 147 just had the edge. He had the consolation though of making fastest lap.

Once he had got into a quicker rhythm again, Roger Evans kept it going to the end, winning the race by just over a minute. Neil Smith was very lucky to keep his second spot as Kevin Evans was closing in very quickly at the end, just failing to catch Neil by 5". Nick Anderson was a delighted 4th in front of an equally satisfied Gareth Haywood. Alastair Iles just succeeded in not falling into the clutches of Class D winner Paul Plant at the flag while Emma Karwacki and James Burland completed the Class D podium.

A race that was full of incident and the battles throughout were all entertaining, particularly in the second half of the field. The cars finishing 14th to 20th were covered by just 4.5" and Mark Bevington and Tim Hayes, who were on the tail of that group, had driven as hard as anybody, as had Matt Daly who was in the middle! Class E was completed by Martin Jones and Sarah Heels in a race in which Michael Walsh was the only retirement from the 23 cars that started.

The "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day award went to Tony Russell, the trophy being presented by Barbara Foley.

Strange place Rockingham! The venue for Round 8 of this year's Championship polarises people's views. Competitors in general like it while friends, families and team members think it is the least attractive venue we visit. Too much unyielding tarmac, too many tunnels and staircases.  Having said that, the view from the top of the Grandstand is pretty spectacular as long as you can work out where everyone is going. For the drivers, there is the 20 second blast round a section of the Oval, followed by a very technical and not very fast infield section. The result is a lap time for the modified cars in the low 1'30s and an average speed of around 75 mph.

The month following Brands Hatch seemed to have flown by and at one point it looked as though we would have a 29 car entry. However, this was reduced to 27 by the late withdrawal of Kevin Evans' GTV following problems with his tow vehicle while Barry McMahon suffered a gasket failure on his 155's V6 engine testing on the Friday, leaving no runners in Class C. The predicted weather was a great improvement on the heavy rain in the middle of the week although when many of us arrived on the Saturday afternoon, our friends from LMA Eurosaloons were bemoaning rain that had come suddenly half way through one of their two races of the day.

Chris Snowdon (33 16v), Bryan Shrubb (33 8v), Graham Presley (75 Turbo) and Robin Eyre-Maunsell (75 3 litre) had returned to Class A which was missing Brands winner Adie Hawkins. John Griffiths had a rebuilt Bacci gearbox in his 156 to replace the one that had exploded at Brands. Class D seems to be having something of a revival and it was good to see Mark James racing again, Bianco having now fitted his 33 with a 16v engine. Nick Gooch (33 8v) and Chris Bentley (146) were both back in D, Chris telling us how good he though the new Anglesey circuit was, having done a Uniroyal Beetle Fun Cup there recently. It was also nice to see James Burland having another run in his 33 16v after the third place he scored at Brands.

It was very relaxed Sunday morning with scrutineering at 10.00 and qualifying at 11.30. Happily, the track was dry and the Class A cars wasted no time in putting in some quick laps, the high revving Boxer engines and the more growly V6s sounding superb as they tore round the Oval section. Chris Snowdon was the first to set a reasonable time but this was soon eclipsed by the flying Ian Stapleton, winding his GTV6 down to a lap in 1'30.620" , just below his 2007 record to take pole. He would be share row 1 with Roger Evans. Neil Smith was again on stunning form with his 156 and would come very close to knocking Roger Evans off the front row but in the end had to be content with third fastest time, starting the race alongside Chris Snowdon. Fifth fastest was Bryan Shrubb nearly three seconds quicker than John Griffiths who was pleased to get below the 1'40" mark.

For much of the 20 minute session it looked as though Paul Plant would land the Class D pole but as soon as Mark James had had his precautionary pit stop to check that there were no fluid leaks on his new engine he started to fly round the circuit setting his best time on lap 6 with a 1'41.462". At the time this was just 0.3" quicker than Paul who made a real effort on his final lap to cut the gap to a mere 0.01". Couldn't get much closer than that! A surprise third quickest in the class was Nick Gooch with his 33 8v, now benefiting from a new set of shock absorbers, followed closely by Timothy Perry, Emma Karwacki, Chris Bentley and Matt Daly. Graham Heels set the time that would give his 147 Class E pole in the first half of the session, just over half a second quicker than Andy Inman (156) and the leading 145sof Keith Williams and Martin Jones were eventually able to manage. An unfortunate non starter would be Graham Presley, the Turbo on his 75 having failed.

The start of the race brought the usual traffic jam at the first hairpin with Roger Evans in the lead and Neil Smith slipping through into 2nd ahead of Chris Snowdon and Ian Stapleton. However, Neil then ran wide at the second corner before spinning at the third and having to wait for the whole field to go by before he could re-start. Meanwhile, Emma Karwacki had made a great start from 14th on the grid, arriving at the hairpin in close company with Paul Plant, Mark James and the Class A 75 of Robin Eyre-Maunsell. Another spinner was Andy Inman which left Graham Heels leading Keith Williams in E, Graham looking happily in his mirrors to see that he had James Burland and Nick Gooch between himself and the 145.

Roger Evans enjoyed a comfortable 3.8" lad at the end of lap 1 from Chris Snowdon and Ian Stapleton, Ian waiting for his tyres to build up temperature. Bryan Shrubb had had an excellent first lap ending it in fourth place only 1.5" behind Ian Stapleton while another to have got away well was Louise West who had disposed of all the Class D cars with her Class B 33 8v and was running 7th overall.

As the leaders passed the pits at the end of lap 2, Ian Stapleton was putting real pressure on Chris Snowdon for 2nd place but Chris, despite being hit at the hairpin, was going to be no pushover and he resisted Ian for a further lap. Having made his pass stick, Ian then set about closing the gap to leader Roger Evans which he had done by the end of lap 5, setting a new Alfa lap record in the process. But it took him another lap and a half to get in front after which he began to pull steadily away. Meanwhile, Neil Smith had come through the field at a rate of knots, emerging 4th when he passed Bryan Shrubb on lap 5 but still some 14" behind his next target, Chris Snowdon. John Griffiths and Louise West were running 6th and 7th, but 20" apart, but there was plenty going on just behind Louise . Mark James had managed to pass Paul Plant on lap 3 and was in the process of building himself a small class lead although he was having to battle at the same time for overall places with Robin Eyre-Maunsell. Emma Karwacki, now 7" back was keeping eye on her mirrors as Timothy Perry, Chris Bentley and Nick Gooch tried to reduce the gap between themselves and the NJS Racing 33. Nick had passed Graham Heels on lap 3 but he was replaced in the Class E sandwich by Mel Healey, Keith Williams drifting away to have a  lonely race and saying afterwards "I just couldn't keep my concentration going".

It all looked settled for an Ian Stapleton win until at the end of lap 12, with a 10" lead over Roger Evans, he spun (probably on his own oil from an overfull engine catch tank) and hit the foam block barrier at the start of the pit wall. He quickly reversed and carried on with smoke coming ominously from the underside of the car and steam from a damaged radiator. Half the bonnet was up in the air and we all thought that that was his race over. Ian had other ideas with championship points at stake. As he set off Roger re-took the lead but Chris Snowdon was still 12" away and being chased by the hard charging Neil Smith. Ian could hardly see where he was going on that final lap which was questionable from the safety point of view) and was soon overtaken by both Chris and Neil who finished in that order a mere 0.7" apart. Who knows what might have happened if Neil had not made those errors on the first lap although at one point he wondered if he would finish the race as his alternator packed up and he had to turn off his headlights to save the battery.

As it was Roger Evans was delighted to take an unexpected win as he told pit lane commentator Amy Lewis afterwards. Ian Stapleton eventually made it home a steamy 4th with Bryan Shrubb and John Griffiths in lonely 5th and 6th places. Mark James had continued to lead Class D but had managed to put Louise West between himself on the final lap as they unlapped themselves going by the slow Ian Stapleton and as Robin Eyre-Maunsell departed into the gravel. Emma Karwacki maintained a 3" advantage over Timothy Perry to take the third spot on the Class D podium, this being Timothy's best race to date. Nick Gooch and Chris Bentley had been enjoying a good tussle, Nick finally getting ahead on the way to the Esses while Matt Daly might also have finished ahead of Chris had he not had a brush with the barriers. Graham Heels found himself being challenged overall by Mel Healey towards the end but, with a Class E win in the bag, he had to restrain his urge to race her to the finish.  Keith Williams maintained his 2nd in E, 16" behind Graham but comfortably ahead of Andy Inman who had recovered from his early spin to take third. For once, action in Class E was missing and our eyes were elsewhere!

Racing should always have the unpredictable element and we certainly had it at Rockingham. There were also some landmarks - a good result for Chris Snowdon with the Lahoma 33 in the dry, new lap records for Ian Stapleton and Neil Smith and the return of Mark James to resume his leading role in Class D.

Pulling the curtains to find blue skies and sunshine could not have come at a better time for Alfa Romeo competitors waking up before Round 7 of the championship at Brands Hatch, coming as it did after wet weather had dampened the spirits (except those of Neil Smith!) at Oulton Park and Castle Combe. The Brands entry had assumed something of its normal size with 30 cars down to race, all of which actually assembled in the pit garages which we had been allocated for the first time this year.

Scrutineering (in the garages) and the mandatory visit to the noise check all appeared to go smoothly and everyone was ready in time for the slightly earlier than planned start to qualifying. Even so, they were held for a long time in the pit lane before the lights finally went to green. Running 30 mixed class cars on the Brands Indy circuit, just 1.2 miles in length, is always a test of intense concentration for the drivers as they get used to the speed differentials. For the spectators it is just a non stop spectacle and for photographers (providing you are in the right place and not facing acres of debris fencing) it can be heaven!

Almost unnoticed, Alastair Iles was whispering round in the 147 GTA to end 6th overall, just ahead of the 33 of Nick Anderson who was at last able to put in some consecutive laps, giving him some idea of where the car stood in the pecking order. Paul Plant's 33 16v was the leading Class D car, as expected, but the surprise just behind him was the speed of Mel Healey who put her knowledge of Brands to good use in the Spur Motorsport 33 16v as she battled with Matt Daly for 2nd quickest time in the class. Mel put in a big effort with two thirds of the session gone and ended in the runner-up slot but Matt was beaten right at the end by Phil Astell who put in his best time with a couple of minutes to go. Emma Karwacki would end very close to Matt, 5th in class with Chris Healey 6th (and a creditable 14th overall) having his best run in the ex Chris Baker 33 8v so far. In amongst all these Class D cars was Ron Davidson's GTV, 2nd quickest in Class C, 11th overall.

Graham Heels was the only Class E driver to break the minute barrier, and then only once, to grab the class pole with a best of 59.982" and a place on row 8. Andy Inman would start on the row behind but Ray Foley was surprised to be usurped from 3rd quickest by Philip Ellwood who was having a good day in the 156, though the revised gearing of a current class E car is still not to his liking. Chris Finch was disappointed to be no higher than 5th but Keith Williams was happy enough to be the leading 145 Cloverleaf. It was clearly going to be a very tight race in mid field, 9th to 29th on the grid being covered by just 2.45"! Not quite where she expected to be was Louise West in her 33 8v on her first ever visit to Brands but previous experience would show that by the end of 20 minutes she would have elevated herself well up the field.

As the red lights went out, it looked as though Adie Hawkins might lead the way into Paddock until the 3.8 litres of V6 grunt took Roger Evans and Ian Stapleton ahead while the fast starting Neil Smith was also in front of the 33 and almost alongside Ian as they went down the hill and up towards Druids. Alastair Iles had also got away well and imagined he was driving a Class A 147 as he chased the leaders with John Griffiths and Nick Anderson not far behind. Matt Daly had found himself acres of room on the outside of the corner and this enabled him to have a good run up the hill, arriving at the hairpin ahead of Paul Plant to lead Class D. Graham Heels took an initial Class E lead pursued by Andy Inman, Chris Finch and Ray Foley.

The first lap brought drama at Surtees as Mel Healey and Emma Karwacki made contact as Mel pulled out from behind Ron Davidson's GTV,  Ron being tapped into a spin by Chris Healey at the next corner while Mel had also spun and dropped to the tail of the field. Numerous battles were already developing as Roger Evans and Neil Smith rushed away from Ian Stapleton and Adie Hawkins - "interesting first lap that!" commented Neil afterwards. For three laps, Neil kept the gap to Roger under a second but by lap 4 Ian and Adie were getting into their stride and from being 4 seconds apart on lap 1 only 2.7 separated the four cars at the end of lap 5. There were already cars ahead that would have to be lapped either helping or impeding anyone's progress. Further back, John Griffiths' 156 had moved ahead of Alastair Iles 147 GTA on lap 2, Alastair just managing to hold off Nick Anderson's 33. Matt Daly had repulsed the onslaught of Paul Plant until lap 5 but he now had Phil Astell pushing him hard while in E Graham Heels' 147 had quickly lost its edge and Andy Inman led from Chris Finch and Ray Foley.

Over the line at the end of lap 6 Roger Evans and Ian Stapleton were tied together while Adie Hawkins was now 3rd, three seconds back. Lap 7 was the start of lapping in earnest by the leaders with the Class D front runners the next targets as they went into lap 9. A mistake by Ian Stapleton at Surtees saw Matt Daly brushed aside rather abruptly onto the grass, whereupon Matt decided to go across the grass towards the pit road entry, cutting out the rest of the corner altogether (and missing an essential timing sensor on the way) before rejoining just ahead of a rather surprised Neil Smith. He would be docked a lap as a result. Meanwhile Roger and Ian were again close together into Paddock as they would be for the next 5 laps but all the while Adie Hawkins had them in his sights and the three cars were within a second of each other, providing great entertainment, at the end of lap 12. The judgment required as they threaded their way through the slower cars was to be admired while everyone else seemed able to maintain their own battles, not the least the three 145 Cloverleafs of Will Inglis, Martin Jones and Keith Williams.

Lap 14 again saw Adie Hawkins helped by the traffic and he took over the lead from Roger Evans but Roger was already sensing that something was not quite right with the GTV, odd noises indicating that a driveshaft was perhaps on the way out. A lap later, Ian was though into 2nd place, now 2.9" behind the black and yellow 33. Neil Smith was still going strongly in 4th but no longer a challenge to the leaders. Paul Plant had managed to establish a small gap between himself and Phil Astell in Class D with James Burland now running an excellent third, just ahead of Emma Karwacki. Andy Inman looked to have Class E secure. From this point until the final two laps, Ian Stapleton didn't appear to have an answer to Adie's speed but he then made a big effort to reduce the deficit and finally crossed the line just 0.83" behind - or was Adie just judging it to perfection. Maybe not as he had been pushing hard, having a brush with Matt Daly as he came up to lap him just after Graham Hill Bend on lap 18 in his efforts to keep Ian at bay.

Roger Evans nursed the GTV home 3rd - "That was good fun" he said later despite not being able to contest the lead to the finish. Neil Smith won Class B and finished 4th overall to consolidate his championship lead as Graham Heels had to be content with 3rd place in E. Alastair Iles had driven a fine race to finish 5th and take Class C, benefiting from the retirement of John Griffiths who missed a gearchange as he passed the pit exit with disastrous results - never seen a gearcasing and internals trashed like that! The leading positions in D remained unchanged with Paul Plant leading Phil Astell and James Burland home while a very happy Andy Inman took his second class E win of the year ahead of Chris Finch and Graham Heels.

Following her spin to the tail of the field, Mel Healey put in a strong performance to finish 5th in class and 14th overall while Louise West persevered once again moving from 25th on the grid to finish 12th (2nd in Class B). There was an intriguing battle between the 155s of Barry McMahon and Michael Walsh. It didn't matter that they finished 23rd and 24th. Neither knew who had crossed the line first! In the end the results showed that it was Barry by just .002". Another satisfied driver was Nick Anderson who brought his 33 8v home 6th overall after chasing Alastair Iles for most of the race.

30 cars started, 27 finished. What a superb spectacle we had all enjoyed. Yes, there were some incidents that it would have been better to see avoided but none of them resulted in a retirement. There was animated discussion afterwards about the clash between Mel Healey and Emma Karwacki and also Ian Stapleton and Adie Hawkins' contact with Matt Daly. In car video footage will answer some of the questions but I hope that everyone will accept that in racing, and particularly mixed class racing, these things will happen from time to time. Maybe, though, we can learn from the experience. Instant judgements are not always the right ones. There may be incidents caused by momentary misjudgement but in the Alfa Championship they are very rarely deliberate.

Amongst the preparers, Bianco had an excellent day with a 1-2-3 in Class D, a Class C win and a second and third in E from amongst the ten cars of which they had race day charge. Avon Racing were pleased with another Class E victory while NJS Racing won Class B and were able to keep Emma Karwacki at the top of the class D points table.

Jeremy Wales and Philip Clay presented the BRSCC Alfashop trophies plus the Chateau Lezongars Driver of the Day Award which went to Alastair Iles. Our thanks to the South East Centre of the BRSCC for an enjoyable and exciting day.

Three race meetings in May, three planned visits to Snetterton in 2008 plus the added factor of competitors moving house, changing jobs, having babies (which we are of course delighted about!) and generally finding their budgets stretched in the current financial climate resulted in an entry for Round 4 of the Championship that was smaller than we had originally expected. Amongst the 26 drivers that did enter though, there was the hope that we would have a nice calm day with no repeat of the shenanigans of last October!       

The final piece of the jigsaw was the weather which, despite a forecast that showed some of those worrying black clouds with rain icons projecting downwards, produced a welcome dry and warm day! An added bonus was that "Motorsport News", in the shape of regular Snetterton reporter Lewis Beales, promised that we would be the feature Championship for the May 7 issue (which we were!)

Adie Hawkins had spent a busy three weeks since Cadwell returning his 33 engine to health and he and Roger Evans would obviously be the main contenders for overall honours. Watching out at Riches (turn 1 as a GP driver would refer to it) Adie was visibly quick whereas Roger was deceptively so, the GTV actually heading the 33 on the timing sheets until their sixth lap when Adie set a time below Tim Lewis's lap record, a 1'16.076",  to grab pole. Roger would line up alongside him on the front row with the Class B 156s of Neil Smith and John Griffiths on row 2, Neil happy to have broken through the 1'20" barrier for the first time. Row 3 comprised Kevin Evans' GTV, leading Class C, and the 75 3 litre of Chris Oxborough which does not apparently have special cams as yet which augurs well for when it does.

Michael Walsh was making his first appearance of the year with the ex Ron Davidson 155 now fitted with a 3 litre V6 12v and sporting a stunning metallic orange Lamborghini colour scheme. He would join Alastair Iles, making his second appearance with his 147 GTA on row 4. Emma Karwacki was keen to repeat her Cadwell Class D win and getting on the class pole was a good first step but she would have to watch Matt Daly, starting just behind her and Mel Healey who had taken over the Spur 16v 33, a row further back. Matt would be starting alongside the fastest Class E car, the 147 of Graham Heels, the only driver in the class to get into the 1'28s, which was below Phil Donaghy's lap record in the. Chris Finch, Andy Inman, Ray Foley and Phil Snelling made up a closely matched Class E group behind, all of them hoping to be able to match Graham during the race. A notable performance was that of Sarah Heels who knocked 2" off her previous best time, her only grumble being that it still left her on the back row as everyone else had improved as well!

There was some drama in the NJS Racing camp after qualifying when it was discovered that an exhaust manifold on Emma Karwacki's 33 had fractured and would need welding. In addition, a union nut on the water temperature gauge had developed a crack. Adie Hawkins was able to come up with a spare for the latter but it was only a call to Anthony George who managed to contact Darren Snelling, whose workshop is in nearby East Harling, that sourced welding equipment to fix the exhaust. Neil Smith and Emma were duly appreciative! Some hard work by the Bianco team saw newcomer Timothy Perry benefitting from a new clutch in the ex Lee Penn 33 16v but not so lucky were Silverstone Class D winner Paul Plant (broken engine) and Nick Anderson (stuck in third gear) who became non starters.

Away from the lights it was Roger Evans who stole the advantage from Adie Hawkins and Neil Smith but behind there were some intakes of breath as the gaps between various cars became paper thin, Mel Healey in particular seeming to lose out. Despite a strange line at Russell, Roger held on to his lead at the end of the opening lap but Adie's tyres were now up to temperature and he moved ahead on lap 2. Neil Smith had opened up a comfortable gap ahead of John Griffiths and Kevin Evans while Chris Oxborough, lying 6th, was fending off the attentions of Michael Walsh and Alastair Iles. Matt Daly had managed to get himself alongside Emma Karwacki before Sear on lap 1 but the extra power of the 16v allowed her to pull away on the Revett Straight, her cause being helped by Robin Eyre-Maunsell who placed his 75 3 litre neatly between the two Class D cars. In E, Graham Heels had consolidated his leading position but Chris Finch had lost out on the first lap to Andy Inman although Chris managed to right the position before the end of lap 2.

It began to look as though Adie Hawkins would pull away from Roger Evans but at the end of lap 4 he was a mere half second, having had a mud scattering broadside moment at the Esses. Adie then managed to open up the gap slightly but they were soon into traffic where Roger seemed to have an advantage. It was all to no avail, however, as on lap 8 the GTV hit a kerb hard at Sear (Turn 2) the resulting jolt dislodging a wire from the bottom of the fuse box (the one for the fuel pump!) which brought the car and a very disappointed Roger to an abrupt halt.

The order at the top end of the field was now more or less established with Adie leading by some 20 seconds from Neil Smith. Neil was also a very comfortable second, ahead of John Griffiths, Kevin Evans, Alastair Iles and Michael Walsh. Emma Karwacki was consolidating her Class D lead although Matt Daly had pushed her hard early on. Chris Bentley had made an impressive start and was running third in class with his 146. Not settled though was Class E. Graham Heels had looked to have everything under control but on lap 6 Andy Inman had re-passed Chris Finch and proceeded to inch his way closer to the green 147. This was a battle that went to the very end, keeping us all entertained, and although Andy was never quite in a position to mount a challenge the gap was only 0.3" at the flag. Chris Finch and Ray Foley were the next class E cars home. In D, Chris Bentley maintained his excellent third place ahead of Mel Healey although Mel had lost time at Russell after a brush with Phil Snelling's 145.

Adie Hawkins eased off for the final few laps but was still 40" clear of Neil Smith at the flag, while a delighted John Griffiths took his best ever result, third overall. Kevin Evans enjoyed a comfortable Class C win, fourth car home.

Neil Smith, despite not being able to score full points due to having only two starters in his class, remains at the top of the championship table but his fiance Emma Karwacki was able move into second place and reduce the gap by 4 points to just 10. Graham Heels now lies 3rd ahead of Matt Daly and John Griffiths.

Jeremy Wales and Philip Clay were on hand afterwards to present the main Alfashop trophies while Alastair Iles handed the "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day Award to Emma Karwacki.

Round 5 takes place at Oulton Park (International Circuit) on Saturday, May 17 as part of an MG Car Club meeting.

There are few drivers that don't enjoy the challenge of Cadwell Park but racing on a Saturday means that some competitors cannot get there for work reasons. Nonetheless, we managed to gather an excellent 33 car entry for the double header meeting, taking the decision to run Class E on its own for the first time. Another Saturday problem is that of a persistent lack of marshals - not helped by some late absentees - and this resulted in a plea by the BRSCC Northern Centre running the meeting for volunteers from around the paddock. The missing 12 was a lot to replace but it was managed in the end with 7 coming from the Alfa Championship for which we must convey the grateful thanks of all concerned. Without you, the meeting could not have gone ahead.

Although not as cold as Silverstone, the low temperatures still meant that getting heat in the tyres took a while. Class E were the first to qualify and it was not until the final laps of the session that any reasonable times emerged, round 1 winner Andy Inman taking pole with his 156 ahead of the 145s of Richard Salt and Keith Williams, with Ray Foley's 156 completing the second row. Graham Heels (147) was disappointed to end 5th quickest just ahead of the back- on- form Ian Fisher (156 Selespeed). New cars in the 11 car field were the 145s of Phil Snelling (following on from his Alfasud, Arna and 33 of years gone by) and Chris Snowdon. Unfortunately Chris's car (owned by John Norrington and Chris Cousins) was found to have non standard brake discs and although allowed to race, would not score championship points.

There were early dramas for the Class A to D cars - Ian Stapleton's Silverstone winning GTV6 suffered a propshaft failure in the assembly area and Adie Hawkins' 33 16v only managed half a lap before a cam pulley broke, leaving suspected bent valves. Nick Anderson only completed a lap with his 33 stuck in 4th gear while the Lahoma 33, with Chris Snowdon at the wheel as usual, crawled into the pits with a split water pipe. Roger Evans' 3.8 GTV was far and away the quickest car on the track, taking pole 4" quicker than the flying Bryan Shrubb (33). Neil Smith (156) was third fastest after a spin in the Hall Bends while John Griffiths, despite a lack of sleep after his motorhome had broken down on the way, made up the second row ahead of Robin Eyre-Maunsell (75 3.0) and Matt Daly (quickest in Class D on his first visit to Cadwell) with his 33 8v. Louise West (33 8v) was third fastest in B while Mark Bevington was happy to be quicker than the 16v 33s of Chris Healey and Emma Karwacki with his rebuilt 8v version in D. The only Class C entry was the GTV of Kevin Evans, another who was making his first trip to Cadwell.

The first Class E race, before the lunch break, saw Richard Salt take the lead on lap 1 only to have contact twice with Andy Inman, Richard's 145 leaving the track on the second occasion and hitting the bank at Mansfield. Andy was then under pressure from Keith Williams but he already had a puncture that would bring him into the pits at the end of lap 3. By this time, though, Keith was in front, only to let the excitement get the better of him, flying into the barrier hard about 100 yards off the track and ending his day in emphatic fashion. This left Ray Foley, leading from Graham Heels, Chris Snowdon and Phil Snelling but a red flag brought proceedings to a halt as they set off on lap 5. The re-start was over 10 minutes rather than the original 20 and the resulting 6 lap contest produced some excellent racing between Ray Foley and Graham Heels for the lead and then the often side by side Phil Snelling and Chris Snowdon for third. Under one second divided Ray and Graham for most of the way and it was just 0.61" as the silver 156 led the green 147 across the line to give Ray his first win of the year. After passing Chris Snowdon on lap 5, Phil Snelling was able to eke out a small advantage to finish 3rd while in a  Martin Jones/Ian Fisher battle, Martin just managed to get his 145 to the line ahead of the 156 Selespeed.

Dark clouds meant that there was much indecision over tyres amongst the A to D competitors, a quick shower meaning that their race was going to be something of a lottery. The prospect was made even more exciting by having Chris Snowdon starting at the back on wets, Neil Smith coming out late still on slicks and not being able to take up his proper grid slot and Roger Evans on pole with dry weather tyres. The first lap saw winners and losers. Bryan Shrubb was hanging on to the initial leader Roger Evans, while Matt Daly was running fourth just behind Robin Eyre-Maunsell and by the end of lap 2 was third! By contrast, John Griffiths had undone all his good qualifying and was down to 12th, way back from class rival Louise West who was an excellent 6th overall. However, it didn't take Neil Smith and Chris Snowdon long to get through to the front of the field, Neil passing Bryan into 3rd place on lap 4 and Roger, who spun in Hall Bends on lap 5. He couldn't resist the progress of Chris Snowdon who promptly took the lead and proceeded to resist everything that Neil threw at him over the next 6 laps - and remember that Neil was on slicks! Neil made a big push on the penultimate lap but Chris appeared to have it under control, crossing the line 1.29" clear. Through all this, Bryan Shrubb had driven a superb race to finish only 10 seconds back with Roger Evans now out of contention 4th ahead of Robin Eyre-Maunsell (enjoying some new Toyos on the 75), Louise West and a recovering John Griffiths. Matt Daly led D until a slip-up "in the woods" on lap 6 dropped him behind Emma Karwacki, Steve Fletcher (33) and Chris Bentley (146). Emma also had a  moment which left Steve Fletcher leading the class for the first time while Chris Bentley went off, damaging the 146. By lap 9 the position had righted itself and Matt led home Emma and Steve, with Nick Gooch (33 8v) the next Class D car home. An early retiremrent had been Mark Bevington with clutch failure while Chris Healey had nudged the bank at the hairpin and retired although it was later found that he could have driven on.

The track was totally dry by the time the remaining E cars (8 of them) came out for their second race. Andy Inman's wheel and tyre had been replaced and he would start from the back, adding another ingredient to the contest. Up the hill away from the start Ray Foley

There was a "hold your breath" moment at the start of the dry second A to D race when Chris Snowdon, on pole, moved slightly and then suffered a transmission failure. Fortunately he was able to move straight onto the grass and everyone missed him. Roger Evans was quickly into his stride and was able to pull out a 2 second advantage over the next 6 laps. A slow lap by Neil made it look as though his challenge was over but then a stunning quickest lap of the race brought him right back into contention. It wasn't enough though although as the two cars crossed the line after 11 laps racing, Neil was a mere 0.73" adrift. Bryan Shrubb couldn't hold on this time but still finished a comfortable third ahead of John Griffiths, Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Louise West. For much of the race, Louise had had Class D leader Emma Karwacki as her shadow. Matt Daly had lost out on the first lap and then found himself embroiled with Kevin Evans' GTV. By the time he was past it was almost too late to catch Emma but he tried his best, under half a second separating them at the flag. Chris Healey led home Steve Fletcher to make up for his non-finish in race 1.

With close finishes in all four races, and many excellent battles down the field, it had been a most enjoyable day's racing with some sunshine lifting everyone's spirits by the end of the day, even if it stayed cold. Philip Clay from our sponsors Alfashop and Anne Snelling presented the trophies with the "Chateau Lezongars" Driver of the Day awards going to Neil Smith and Ian Fisher. And congratulations to Matt Daly and Emma Karwacki on their first ever class wins, the former having just celebrated his 21st birthday.

Neil went away leading the Championship,  with a 100% score, 12 points ahead of Roger Evans with Emma Karwacki in third place, followed by Graham Heels and Matt Daly tied in fourth.

The next round is at Snetterton on Sunday, May 4.

Photograph by Lawrence Rigby

The arctic winds and snow flurries that blew across the wide open expanses of Silverstone last weekend might have suggested that this was the earliest visit we had ever made to the Northamptonshire circuit. Not so! Those with long memories will recall a meeting on March 6 1993 when the British Motor  Racing Marshals Club ran its traditional season opener which was the circuit owner's way of saying "thank you" for all the marshals hard work in the year gone by or for the year ahead. From what I recall, the sun shone brightly!! People will have different memories of that day - Nick Baughn's brand new 33 being written off within a few hundred yards of the start, Pete Cate's easy win from Andy Steavenson in the modified race and Daley Thompson's signature seeking appearance in a Giulia Super! Class F produced a win for Martin Parsons from Rob Bishop and Dean Spurr.

Photograph by Mary Harvey

Nowadays, Britcar seem to have made this Saturday on the third weekend in March their own and for the second time we were invited to be part of the programme. In fact we were the only non Britcar championship to be there and it was pleasing have an entry that outnumbered two of them. There were some late nights on Friday but 36 cars eventually turned out for qualifying. Amongst them were no fewer than 11 Class E cars, including the newly built 145 of Martin Jones and 156 of Chris Finch, showing the class's continued progress.

With the temperature down in single figures Centigrade, it was clear that tyres were going to very difficult to heat with those on slicks suffering the most. By contrast, the Toyo control tyres were obviously working better and there were some drivers in the Production classes able to get near to their target times after just a few laps. In particular, Andy Inman and Keith Williams were pushing each other along in 156 and 145 respectively, and it was Keith who would eventually grab the Class E pole with a superb final lap comfortably under Paul Buckley's lap record. Third in E would be Chris Finch, although a second slower. Ian Stapleton was finding it hard going at the head of the field, but towards the end of the session he managed to string together three reasonable laps from which the last was good enough for pole, albeit some 6 seconds off his scintillating best last August. Roger Evans (GTV 3.8) would share the front row, 1.4" adrift,  with Chris Snowdon (Lahoma 33) and Neil Smith (quickest Class B) on row 2, with Bryan Shrubb and Steve Dymoke next quickest.

Photograph by Gary Walton

Kevin Evans (GTV) headed Class C from Graham Seager (155) and the new 147 GTA of Alastair Iles while Ian Seager was again going well to be second quickest in B ahead of Louise West in her similar, renovated, 33. Newcomer Paul Plant (33 16v) surprised everyone to lead  Nick Gooch and Matt Daly (33 8v's) in Class D. It was good to see Graham Presley and Chris Oxborough back with their respective 75s and to welcome Robert Buchele to his first race in the ex Alastair Iles' 33.

Photograph by Gary Walton

Snow flurries drove everyone to their cars, motorhomes or the restaurant from time to time but in between there was some blue sky. Drivers in the Britcar Production S1 race that preceded our race had to cope with some sleet before the end but it was good to see Phil Donaghy and John Clonis running competitively into 5th place with Phil's 156 SuperTurismo on its first outing. By the time the Alfa Championship field arrived on the grid it had improved but it had still been agreed that there would be two green flag laps to try getting some heat into the tyres with a reduced race distance of 23 minutes. From the start,Ian Stapleton managed to eke out a small lead, just half second by the end of lap 1, chased by Roger Evans with Chris Snowdon and Neil Smith a couple of seconds back ahead of Bryan Shrubb and Graham Presley. Kevin Evans led Class C from Graham Seager and Alastair Iles, the latter battling with Chris Oxborough. Ian Seager had a piece of track to himself before the jousting rump of the field (at times four abreast!) arrived Woodcote, led by Paul Plant and Andy Inman.

Photograph by Gary Walton

Ian Stapleton half spun at Becketts on lap 2, dropping behind Chris Snowdon and Neil Smith and it was Chris who now began to put pressure on Roger Evans for the lead. At the end of lap 4 Chris's red 33 was right on the tail of Roger's black GTV, passing it before Becketts and looking as though he might be able to establish a gap. However, at Brooklands there was a puff of smoke from the rear and Chris pulled straight off, a rose joint in the suspension having broken. Cruel luck for both driver and John Sismey and the visiting Nick who were hoping that at last a win might be their's for the taking. Ian was now 5.5" behind Roger but the latter's engine was suffering fuel surge and the GTV6 gradually closed the gap. As time started to ebb away he was able to take the lead between Copse and Becketts but lack of essential grip meant that he would lose it again before the start/finish line. A major effort by Ian on the final lap saw him re-take the lead yet again and hold on to it this time, passing the flag just 0.826" clear. Neil Smith had a lonely race to claim third, and Class B, with Bryan Shrubb inheriting fourth after Graham Presley and Andy Inman had a misunderstanding at Abbey, Andy spinning after a touch from Chris Healey and making contact with the Class A 75 as he set off again. Graham suffered a broken wheel and body damage, pulling off as a result.

Photograph by Gary Walton

John Griffiths had enjoyed an excellent drive from a lowly 24th on the grid to finish 5th (2nd in B) just ahead of the remarkable Paul Plant, comfortable winner of Class D. Paul also took a new class lap record in the process. A surprised Alastair Iles emerged 7th, winning Class C after a great battle early on with Kevin Evans and Graham Seager. They had both retired before the end,  Kevin with a tyre failure following a slow puncture and Graham will a split oil line. 3rd and 4th in B were Ian Seager and Louise West. Emma Karwacki, who had suffered a broken exhaust in qualifying, produced one of her best drives to take the runner-up spot in D from Chris Healey and Nick Gooch. Keith Williams wasn't able to produce the same form as in  qualifying, finding the cut and thrust of some of the Class D competitors not quite to his liking and dropping well back.  Andy Inman, despite his spin, was a clear winner in E, some 20 seconds ahead of Chris Finch, the Avon prepared 156 taking a new lap record. Graham Heels and Ian Fisher were next home, Graham not feeling as comfortable with the 147 as he had been in testing a couple of weeks before.

Photograph by Gary Walton

It was good to have Jeremy Wales and Philip Clay at the prize giving (again in a break between the snow showers) complete with one of their new Alfashop liveried Fiat Ducato vans.

Photograph by Gary Walton

The Chateau Lezongars Driver of the Day award was presented by Montse Iles to Paul Plant - can anyone recall a driver in his first race taking a class pole, class lap record, a win and driver of the day award? Answers on a postcard please!

Photograph by Mary Harvey

Race Report by Michael Lindsay

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