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Five weeks since the last race at Silverstone, the series resumed at Brands Hatch with the largest entry yet this season - 27 cars. Newcomers to the series were three renegades from the Super Coupe series also
running on the same day, a Lotus Elise (that I thought was an Exige), a wild Ferrari 308GT4 and a welcome return of Andy Thompson's Minari RSR. More engine problems with the Alfa GTV meant that Tony Soper was back
in the Harrier and Chris Brogden's Uno returned with a replacement engine from Avanti Motorsport.
Qualifying
An early start for the competitors saw them out first in qualifying on a dry track. After a
slow sighting lap, the first casualty of the day (he wouldn't be the last) was Pete Simpson who found his Lancia Integrale didn't want to go round Paddock and travelled right across the gravel trap just missing the
wall. Unfortunately the rear suspension was bent and that was Pete's day over.
Other competitors in trouble were Lee Scott (clutch), Julian Brown (still throwing out water) and Mark Skeggs in the Ferrari 308GT4
which was throwing flames from the exhaust and having electrical problems.
As expected, qualifying was headed by Peter Thurston (Honda Prelude) and Derek Hale (Nissan Primera) but James Thorpe in the lightweight
Lotus Elise was close behind in 3rd, very closely followed by Phil Libby (Sapphire), Tim Lewis (Alfasud Sprint) and Tony Soper with just 2/10s of a second separating 3rd and 6th. Andy Thompson bridged the gap
between the faster cars and the pair of Rover Tomcats with Trevor Nicosia bringing up the top ten.
Amongst the Road Saloons cars, The Honda Civics of Simon Taylor and Ian Kirk headed the pack in 11th and 12th
places, Lee Scott following up despite his clutch problems. Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Corsa) had a late brake failure at Druids which left him in the gravel trap, gravel in the cambelt leaving him out of the race.
The Race
Despite a couple of showers over lunch, and light drizzle while assembling, the track was again dry for the race. There was a short delay on the start line as cement dust was laid all along the
Cooper straight after oil had been dropped in the previous race, and we were given two rolling laps to ensure we were aware of this.
There were 24 starters to the race, Julian Brown's Fiat X1/9 had succumbed to
its water loss and retired with head gasket failure to add to the non-starts of Pete Simpson and Simon Jackson. Sterling work by Lee Scott and team saw the Fiesta take the grid with a new clutch, and Phil Libby
ventured out in the Sapphire despite knowing that an alternator problem would mean he would not finish the race - he would have the consolation of fastest lap.
From a spectator point of view, this promised to be
a great race. Nine different marques occupied the front 10 places on the grid, with 15 different marques involved altogether. Practice times suggested there would be many close tussles between different cars and
this was to be borne out.
From the start, the pack rounded Paddock with no incidents, with most competitors maintaining their starting positions. James Thorpe had fallen back a couple of places and would end up
in the gravel at Druids after 4 laps, and further back Ian Kirk had gained a couple of places. All down the track there were close battles between packs of cars. Up front Peter Thurston made a break from Derek Hale,
only to lose the lead on lap 4. By lap 10 the Primera was 6 seconds in front but then the Honda closed rapidly to within 0.5 seconds by lap 15. Further back Tony Soper was moving slowly up from 6th to 3rd place and
although lapping on the front-runners pace, was too far back to catch them. The Honda Civic twins of Kirk and Taylor were involved in a race long battle with Trevor Nicosia, the latter dropping out on the 12th lap
with a burst water pipe, Simon Taylor would go on to win the Civic battle and take the spoils in the Road Saloons.
Lee Scott in the Fiesta XR2i had been struggling to stay in front of the Rover 216Gti of Neville
Moore, eventually a trip through the gravel trap at Paddock saw the Fiesta lose a bumper and the Rover gain the place. In Class B of the Road Saloons a race long battle saw John Shoesmith just edge away from Ben
Johnson and Chris Broad who were running in close formation. Finally at the back, the most vital battle of the race, or at least the one that would have most impact, saw Alan Duly, Tim Hyde and Chris Brogden running
in close formation and swapping places many times a lap. This battle culminated with a lunge into Paddock by Tim Hyde that finished in the gravel trap and brought out the red flag, earning Alan Duly his first class
win. Chris Brogden was gutted that the results were taken at the end of the previous lap as he overtook Alan after the finish line but the Uno's new engine shows promise.
Derek Hale takes over the lead of the Le
Mans Motorsport Euro Saloon series with Tony Soper moving up to second place from Peter Challis and Tim Lewis. In the Le Mans Motorsport Road Saloon series, Simon Taylor took full advantage of Simon Jackson's
misfortune to lead the series with John Shoesmith's class win taking him into 3rd place.
Carol's absence from the meet was due to being called away at the last minute by the BRSCC to attend an event at the
NEC. The prize-giving ceremony will be held at Cadwell Park.
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10
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