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.