Most drivers will put Donington at, or near, the top of their personal list of favourite circuits. A Donington date on the calendar is one to look forward to and its inclusion on our original list for 2011 was universally popular. Sadly, problems with noise "rations" and the unwillingness of the local council to modify the circuits allocation meant that we received the bad news towards the end of the summer that the BRSCC had lost their mid October date, a fate suffered by several other organising clubs including the BARC and MSVR. BRSCC's Drew Furlong put a great deal of effort into finding a viable alternative and finally the whole meeting was transferred to Rockingham. This was a solution that received a mixed reception as the part oval track has never been generally popular. Some drivers like it but for other team members, families and friends it appears to have its limitations, even though it is possible to see most of the track from the grandstands. Drivers will always show their approval rating by whether they rush to enter or not - in this case it was perhaps a case of "could do better" on both sides! Still, Alfa competitors will always find something to enjoy and last Sunday at Rockingham was to be no exception. The BRSCC for their part had put a twist in the story by using a version of the circuit that had not been used for racing before, lengthening the lap from 1.94 to 2.05 miles.
Following Silverstone and the confirmation of Emma Karwacki as our 2011 Champion - the second female winner in a row - the final round at Rockingham had one or two possible changes in the championship points table to fight over. Sarah Heels could move ahead of Neil Smith and Mel Healey to take over third place - a just reward for taking part in all but one of this year's 12 races. Before Rockingham she had finished every one in which she had started. Further down the table, Andy Inman had the chance to move ahead of the absent Steve Dymoke into 6th spot and Dave Messenger could overtake Paul Plant into 8th.
Roger Evans had decided to enter his Silverstone winning supercharged GTV 3.2 for its fourth ARCA race of the year but his opposition in class A1 looked as though it would be limited to Guy Hales' 147 GTA as Neil Smith had yet to rebuild the engine of his 156. However, Guy decided at the very last minute not to come, while the only entry in A2, Steve Dymoke, had also withdrawn. In B it was good to see Louise West back with her nicely rebuilt (with help of parts from Matt Abell) 33 16v and she would be joined by Robin Eyre-Maunsell having another outing in the Avon Racing 75 3 litre with which he had not had much luck this year so far. As at Mallory, Class C had three entries - Sarah Heels (147 GTA), Andy Robinson (155 3 litre) and Ray Foley, the latter having a second outing with his 2.5 V6 engined 156.
As ever, though, it was Class E we looked to for the excitement and Avon Racing had made a big effort to get four of their E drivers there. Andy Inman and Paul Buckley were in their usual 156s while Andy Hancock had switched to the renta' 156 damaged at Silverstone but now rebuilt. Andrew Bramah took back in his own 147, with a new sump to replace the one that had been cracked at Silverstone when Andy Hancock went over a high kerb. Fortunately, the engine had suffered no lasting damage. Dave Messenger has become a regular front runner in the class and his 156 had also been repaired after Silverstone but he was still worried about the transmission and brought along his 75 3 litre just in case - not in the same class, but at least he would get a race. Chris Healey had entered again in Mel's 156, hoping for better luck than he had had at Mallory where a cracked front wishbone mounting had been diagnosed in addition to the gearbox problem. However, Mel had come along to watch and we were delighted to hear that she and Brad are expecting a baby in April. Congratulations! Finally, we had James Thomas, hoping to repeat his Silverstone win in the yellow 146 Ti, father David on hand as always to offer advice. There was the luxury of scrutineering "in situ" which all went very smoothly.
The new layout seemed to add 8 or 9 seconds to the lap times and Roger Evans was quickly up to speed, setting a fastest lap of 1'37.118" on his fourth lap to take an unchallenged pole. Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Sarah Heels were lapping consistently as they sorted out the various changes to the circuit and in both cases just did a single lap that was a couple of seconds faster than anything else they managed - 1'45.922 and 1'46.945" respectively. By contrast, Louise West settled down to complete her final six laps all in the 1'48s with a best of 1'48.074" to end up on the second row with Sarah. Andy Robinson looked to be going well but was still 0.7" away from the 147 GTA ahead of him.
Class E close as ever - from second spot onwards that is! Dave Messenger had put his testing experience on the new layout (albeit with the 75) to good use and was almost a full second quicker than James Thomas and was the only one to break the 1'50" barrier with a best time of 1'49.768". James enjoyed one of his better qualifying sessions, ending 2nd fastest with 1'50.760" and would start alongside Paul Buckley who was happy to be back on front running pace and a mere 0.025" slower than James. Row 5 would see James Ford and Andy Inman lining up together ahead of Chris Healey, Ray Foley (Class C 156), Andy Hancock and Andrew Bramah. Dave Messenger was clearly not in need of the 75 that was left on its trailer.
It was front wheel drive versus rear wheel drive on the front row as Robin Eyre-Maunsell made the best of his extra grip to outrun Roger Evans, who almost didn't move as the lights went out, for the first few yards. It didn't take Roger more than a few yards to recoup the situation and move past into a lead that he would never lose. Also well away was Sarah Heels who was keeping pace with the two cars ahead of her before they dived into Turn 1 chased by Andy Robinson, Dave Messenger and James Thomas as Louise West found herself "mugged" ,as she said afterwards, on the outside and would drop into midfield from her second row spot.
As Roger pulled away from Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Sarah Heels opened a small gap over Andy Robinson, Dave Messenger was coming under intense pressure from James Thomas, starting a battle that was to last for the whole race. They also had the recovering Louise West to contend with while there was very little separating the chasing pack led by Andy Inman, Paul Buckley, Ray Foley and Chris Healey with James Ford, who had slid wide at Tarzan, sandwiched between Andy Hancock and Andrew Bramah.
At the end of lap 1, Roger Evans had already opened up a 5.5" lead over Robin Eyre-Maunsell but Sarah Heels was holding on to Robin well, just 1.6" adrift. By the end of the second lap, Louise West had fought her way past the two Class E cars in front of her, with her eyes focussed on the Andy Robinson's 155, 3.5" up the road. Dave Messenger also had his head down and had eked out a 0.9" gap on James Thomas and this would become almost a full second by the end of lap 3. Andy Inman, third in class, had been lapping quicker than Paul Buckley, but this was about to change as Paul tried to get away from Ray Foley and Chris Healey. James Ford was making progress having passed Andy Hancock and established a gap as he pursued Chris Healey.
Not involved in any of this, Roger Evans had settled down to a steady winning pace, two or three second a lap off his qualifying best. Robin Eyre-Maunsell, though, was not widening the gap to Sarah Heels - just 2.6" at the end of lap 5 - with Andy Robinson 3" further back and Louise West slowly edging towards him. Dave Messenger continued to lead Class E but he couldn't shake off James Thomas who was beginning to close the gap. Lapping a couple of second slower, Andy Inman was now 6.8" behind but still keeping Paul Buckley at bay in third with Ray Foley, Chris Healey and James Ford all trying to take advantage of any small error.
By the end of lap 6, half distance, Louise West had closed right onto the tail of Andy Robinson and we were watching Dave Messenger and James Thomas side by side on the far side of the circuit in the tussle for Class E. James edged ahead but could he make it stick? Not if Dave had anything to do with it! For the next four laps there would be nothing in it at all and it was only when Roger Evans came to lap them before Tarzan Hairpin on lap 9 that Dave briefly lost touch. But in no time at all he was back on James's tail again, pushing for all he was worth for the final couple of laps. Lap 9 had also been crucial for Louise West as she had managed, after several laps of close running, to get ahead of Andy Robinson and wondered if she could catch Sarah Heels who had dropped off the pace slightly. There was "all change" in the group behind Andy Inman as Ray Foley had run onto the dirt on the exit of Tarzan, losing out to Paul Buckley, while Paul in his turn was now behind Chris Healey and James Ford, all four cars very close indeed. Unlike his usual situation in which he comes on strong at the end of races, Andy Inman was slowing and this allowed Chris Healey to close and attempt a pass, the two cars making contact but carrying on but with Chris and the pursuing James Ford now in front.
There was a small drama inside Roger Evans' GTV on the final couple of laps as the water temperature of the supercharged V6 engine started to rise and he slowed on the final tour but it was hardly noticed as he crossed the line 1'20.8" clear of Robin Eyre-Maunsell who was delighted to bring the 3 litre 75 home at last, and in 2nd place. Sarah Heels had her third place more or less under control, but was still probably happy to see the chequered flag as Louise West was only 0.75" behind. She wondered afterwards if she could have held on to Robin if her start and first lap hadn't been such a disaster. However, Andy Robinson had driven well to hold off Louise for so long mid race although he drifted away to finish 12" behind, albeit still 5th overall and 2nd in C.
Class E stayed close to the end but Dave Messenger had to watch his rival cross the line first, a mere 0.44" clear, a second win in a row for James Thomas and his 146. James Ford put in a real effort on the final lap to close within 0.31" of third place Chris Healey while neither of the Avon team mates Andy Inman and Paul Buckley had given up and were just a second behind James Ford and within 0.4" of each other. Ray Foley had slipped a few seconds back to be classified third in Class C and there was a battle between Andy Hancock and Andrew Bramah that almost went unnoticed, the pair of them having been trading laptimes throughout and finishing within half a second of each other. And ignore the results. Chris Healey was certainly in the Spur Motorsport 156 and not a 33!
So the 2011 season came to an end with part of the predicted shuffle within the top 10 of the points table. Sarah Heels ("I hadn't even thought about it!") was indeed a final 3rd overall, Dave Messenger moved up to 8th but Andy Inman needed to finish one place higher to wrest a place from Steve Dymoke.
The main trophies were presented by Linda Robinson who was joined by Andy Hancock to award the MMC Motorsport Insurance Trophy to Louise West.
Our thanks to everyone at Rockingham for their help in making the last race of the year a success, particularly the BRSCC Midland Centre.
Here's to 2012!!
PS: There was an error in the Silverstone report - Roger Evans has actually won the Kevin Griffiths trophy three times, not twice - 2007, 2009 and now 2011.
