Race Report Castle Combe September 2008

Greetings race Fans! This is the bumper edition as promised!!!

Well I thought the meeting at Brands couldn’t be topped but the Peter Besters proved me wrong. Even though we were surrounded by a swarm of Metros the racing proved once again to be top notch.

It made a pleasant change to be racing on a Saturday which meant I had all day Sunday to recover from the exertions of the race.

The weather once again was kind to us with a dry practice later to be followed by a boiling hot race.

PRACTICE

Many of the drivers camped out the night before and were treated to the delights of the Metro boys Karaoke till the early hours resulting in a few bleary eyed Peter Besters at sun up.

Alan Jones decided to leave his arrival to the last minute before qualifying. As the rest of the drivers were suiting up Alan strolled in to find his Montego Estate had been delivered to the track but was still on the trailer, had no fuel and two flat tyres. Words fail me…

He needn’t have worried though, we had to wait a little while as it took three marshals to assist Dave Brooke to get his crash helmet on…a very tight fit now because of his tonsurephobia.

Still this also allowed Simon Hutchinson (car 43) time to adjust his two rear view mirrors, a superstition he developed in his younger days while working as a driving instructor.

Practice was relatively uneventful but the chance of a clear lap was somewhat limited with the large Metro contingent, several of whom were unfamiliar with Combe and bore the dreaded black cross.

The only casualty was Simon Tinkler (car 18) who completed two laps before retiring with a loose wire on his fuel pump. This was soon remedied after the race and Simon even managed to sweet talk the clerk of the course so that he didn’t have to start from the back of the grid for the race!

I did hear that Blaine Neaves (car 7) managed a quick pirouette too, but only damaged his pride.

THE RACE

The sun shone down as race time approached sending many a fair skinned driver running for cover. James Walpole was rueing the decision not to bring his lucky “Murray Walker” cap and braved the elements until Michael Piggott (car 60 this time round) donned a pair of shorts and unleashed “the legs of doom”. That was enough to send everyone running for cover!!

But soon the race was upon us. A massive grid of 42 consisting largely of metros snaked right round Camp Corner as the sun beat down.

It seemed to take forever for the lights to come on and I later discovered the delay was caused because Dan Ludlow (car 70) had forgotten to remove the sand-bag from his Metro after practice!

Determined not to make a hash of my start this time I concentrated hard  and watched the lights keenly, out they went and I was immediately overtaken by car 13 and a gaggle of Metros…great!

Pete Burchill has videoed the start and a few of the following laps, so to enjoy his in car footage follow this link to You-tube. Vroom! 

Nevertheless I could see both car 15 Jay Dubyah and 44 Alan Brooke just in front of me, foot to the floor I took up the chase. I managed to avoid the traditional Metro pincer movement where two cars try to squash you in the middle as you approach the corners and kept my foot down.

I nipped past Burchill using a previously undiscovered racing line which uses the full width of the track. The first chicane approached and diving amongst the other Metros I managed to pass young Brooke in car 44. Yehaa! Things were looking good!

I managed to make my way through a few more Metros only to see car 44 sticking like glue to the back of my car. I managed to hold him off for a while but as we approached Tower Corner Alan dived down the inside and simply out-braked me.

From then on he slowly inched ahead lap by lap as in my rear view mirror I could see Simon Tinkler slowly making ground. As for Jay Dubyah, he was long gone!

The racing was still fast and furious though and Rob Beasley (car 80) executed a close but clean overtake around Quarry Corner…it sure was close!

Before I knew it the chequered flag was out and the race was run. I finished third in class having been second for a few glorious minutes!

Back in the paddock the talk was about count-backs and dropping scores as the regular front runners tried to predict the final positions of the year.

I guess we will have to see what Snetterton holds for that.

And finally….

I must express my gratitude to Pete Burchill and the Official Loony Racing Photographers Alan & Daniel Featherstone (alanfphotography.co.uk) for providing me with loads of excellent photos and giving me permission to reproduce them on the website. I have created two new albums, one for Castle Combe and another for Mallory. The Mallory one is a bit late but apparently the film took a while to come back in the post!

I was also impressed with the speed that the Official Newsletter arrived after Brands. This I am told is due to the sterling efforts of Margaret Farquhar –Rigg (I can’t keep typing all that..MFR from now on) and David Brooke….keep up the good work!

I have also been told that this year’s driver’s meeting will be a little more streamlined than last year. Apparently any points for discussion will need to be submitted prior to the meeting in order for an agenda to be set and anything not on the agenda will be carried over to the following meeting. Hooray!! I have offered to bring a gong and a stopwatch along if required.  Also I understand the bar will be open at the same time just in case you need any further encouragement. Hopefully full details will appear in the next Official  Newsletter????

Also I hope to bring back one of the regular features in the pre-race report, namely  the “Before & After” column.

Look out for this a week before the final race at Snetterton.

Bye for now

Jonesey…….STOP PRESS!!!

As recommended by car 44, if you want to see how the front runners do it follow this link to Youtube If you look closely you can actually see the sand bag fall out of Dan Ludlow’s car!!!

**PS** Here is the link to the results @ Combe (we are with the Metro Cup)