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2002 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship Jointly adminsitered by WRDA & BARC Wales  Supported by The Pembrey Performance Driving School Please support our Sponsors

Martin & Clive star!

The 8 Clubs meeting at Silverstone is a meeting a lot of Welsh drivers have supported over the years. Originally started over 50 years ago it has always run to a non-championship format, but in recent years the meeting has struggled, due in part to the increased hire charges asked by Octagon for Silverstone.  Fortunately Octagon have realised that they need to start to repair some fences and apparently did agree to give a discount toward the running of the meeting. Lets hope that this generosity will help the meeting survive.

In race 4 Martin Davies completed a win double at Sliverstone in a dominant performance to retain the trophy he won last year, but the drive of the day came from Clive Hayes who rose from the back of the grid to take second place. "I missed the qualifying session for the  race but the clerk of the course let me start from the back of the grid. I had another good start, and made up about 8 places by the first corner. I then settled in behind the line of cars and gradually overtook them.  The car was handling very well and I could overtake wherever and whenever I came upon another car, but 2 laps from the end I had another puncture but decided to keep going and ended up finishing 2nd". Terry also looked like he was on for a good finish but sadly a Welsh 1-2-3 was not to be, and he pulled off after 8 laps. Afterwards Heulwen, his wife illustrated one of the unexpected perils of driving an open car in the rain "It was so bad Terrys overalls were soaking wet!"

Having eclipsed Dave Brodie at the same meeting last year Martin was suprised to find himself putting a lap on another big name from the world of racing, when he passed Tony Sugden and his Skoda 180RS Coupe. "He didn't look like he was enjoying himself" Martin observed. Martin however clearly was and again set the fastest lap of race.

(Now that Terry has sold his Skoda, Tony must be the only man in world still pedaling the Czech machines even if it is a silhouette! We could list a whole load of Skoda jokes at this point .. like what do you call a Skoda with a sunroof? but I don't want a load of emails from Skoda lovers who ever he is!)

8 clubs race 4 results

Just to round off the day, Martin was a late substitute in the team handicap for the Herts County team. However unlike Ken Davies who was part of the winning team last year, Martin was unable to help his team to victory, but was 3^rd overall 9 seconds behind the eventual winners, the Lloyds Motor Club. However he did have the consolation of setting the fastest lap again. 3 races – 2 wins – 3 fastest laps – sounds like a good day to me!

Obviously on some occasions 4 wheel drive is a benefit but Martin contends it is not as great, over a complete lap, as some people believe. "There is an advantage off the start-line on a standing start and out of a really slow corner, but on quick corners its not so easy to balance as a well set up rear wheel drive car. If you get it sideways you can be in real trouble! You can feel the differentials fighting each other and all you can do is hang on and hope! I meet Dave Brodie at Silverstone last year and he confirmed that he wasn’t convinced by 4 wheel drive as he thought rear wheel drive was much nicer to handle in quick corners and ultimately faster too!"

Dave Brodie .. who he? Old stags like me already know, but just in case you are wondering who Dave Brodie is (or in the style of Private Eye) Dave Brodie .. who he ..(ed). Dave who is now a leading light in the BRDC, was one of the top racers of the 1970s , along with legends like Tony Lanfranchi, Gerry Marshall, Tony Dron, Barrie Williams (our guest of honour a few years back) and Andy Rouse. Dave struck a chord when he named his Escort, Run Baby Run after the hit song of the day. However Daves career was cut short after an horrendous accident at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix meeting. Although he returned to racing after a long recuperation, it as an engineer he has made his mark in recent years, being one of the prime movers in Brodie Brittain Racing  www.bbrgti.com