On Sunday 1th September, The 2021 Welsh Sports &  Saloon Championship had it’s first visit to Pembrey in almost 2 years, due to the Covid 19 lock-down restrictions in force in Wales at the time. The championship, organised by the Welsh Racing Drivers Association is now in its 30th season and the pleasingly large entry was made up of regulars like the current champion Damian Longotano, and some very welcome new boys from Mid Wales, East Wales and England!  

The Entry & Grid

Set to run of the National (aka the original) circuit, and heading the time-sheets, and in Pole position after qualifying, was Chris Everill, with his red Ginetta G55. Now with a 3700cc Chevy engine, Chris was bashing the 60 sec lap-time with a time of 1.00.867! Alongside him was Reuben Taylor, the first of our Guests, with a Peugeot 206 silhoutte. On the 2^nd row was Deri Davies and his stunning Lime Green Darrain T90. Deri, from Aberstwyth, is in his debut year, and was also having his first races at Pembrey! Alongside him & on Class CS pole was the current Champion, Damian Longotano and his Westie.

On row 3 was Keith Butcher, and his awesome AMLS Audi R8 and he was joined by another driver making his debut, Todd Garner and his Renault Clio Cup car taking the Class BS pole!

On row 4 was new-boy Lyn Morgan who was also Westfield mounted. Gareth John and his Class BS Ginetta G40.

On row 5 and making a welcome return was Fabio Lufferleli and his VW Corrado Suzuuki. Alongside Fabio was C1 escapee James Harvey! His other car is a Porsche Boxster which his mate, Alistair Hall would use in Race 2.

On Row 6 was another new boy Wayne Spiller and his non turbo Class BS Maxda RX8 (Wayne is from Barwell near Mallory Park) and Wayne was sharing the row with our Chairman, Roger Dowden who was peddling his Davrian Mk6 to good effect!

On row 7 and on Class BT pole was Mark Williams, and he would share the row with new boy Steven Gray and his Honda Interreg!

Row 8 was a new boy zone with Jack Boulton  and his Turbo VW Golf and Aled Dark and his massive supercharged 3.9 litre MGB GT V8. Both drivers had joined us for the Thruxton races, but they were making debut at Pembrey.

Row 9 and also making his Pembrey Debut would be Rodney Teague and  his Renault Clio, and he was joined by Andrew Williams who was looking after Rodneys car and 2 other cars as well as his own!

On Row 10 was the 2^nd of his equipe was Jason Peard (Honda Civic) and Mike Cook (BMW 330) Both had raced with us in the early season races but were also making their Pembrey debuts!

On Row 11 its was Ford Ka row, with Alan Smith joined by Andrew Barron whowas also making his Pembrey debut too.

On Row 12 was Verity Banks with a brand new Ford Focus built for her by Andrew Williams with help from Rodney & Jason Peard), She should have been joined by new boy Neil Thomas and his MGB, however his engine suffered a big blow-up and left a lot of oil on the circuit! Roger Dowden commented ‘I almost got caught out and so did a few others!’ However Steven Gray could not avoid making contact with the barriers! However later in the week both Neil and Steven hoped to make it to Donington Park!

Although with oil and several other races laying rubber down, it was perhaps that anyone would fall foul of the 60 second rule! This rule is designed to make sure that everyone is able to have a good race, meaning that the cars in the smaller engine classes, are not lapped too many times!  Keith Butcher confirmed ‘ You have to drive really quickly to lap in the 60 second bracket!’

Race 1 (round 5) – 15 minutes – Rolling start

After the pace car, driven by Blake  Edwards, had bought the grid round  to the start , Chris Everill got the best start and was building his lead, but then Mark Williams crashed at the hairpin, causing the race to be red flagged! At the restart, Chris Everill again got the best start and had a fast staring Damian Longotano  for company. Keith Butcher also had a good restart, making up places, whilst Reuben Taylor lost a few places. Deri Davies had a spin after the restart but did well to recoup the lost time.  Mark Williams was able to take the restart after only having minor damage, but then battery issues at the end of the race that plagued him throughout the day, stopping on lap 6, but not before he set the Class BT Fastest Lap. However having  played his Joker car, a single point, doubled to 2,was a small crumb of comfort! There was only time for 8 laps in the remaining time, but both Chris& Damian were both able to get into 60 second bracket! Chris setting a time of 1.00.373 & Damian 1.00.577. Damina was the Class CS winner. In 15^th overall Rodney Teague was the Class BT winner. Alan Smith again proved he is quick driver by finishing 19^th   and winning Class AT, and getting the extra point for fastest lap after beating fellow Ford Ka driver Andrew Barron!  Fabio Luferrelli was Driver of the race for race one, having started from the pit-lane, as he sometimes does. He then came through the field to finish in the top ten!

Race 2 (round 6) 15 Minutes – Rolling Start

At the end of the ‘Green Flag’ lap, Chris Everill took the lead and was never headed! Keith Butcher kept  him honest and finished  3.3 seconds behind in 2^nd place. Damian was 3^rd and was the Class Cs winner. Gareth John was 9th and the Class BS winner but he had Todd Garner ( Renault Clio)in close attendance and Wayne Spiller ( Mazda RX8) all in a close Class BS grouping.  Alistair Hall powered from the back of the grid to finish 11^th in the shared Porsche Boxster

Mark Williams also came through and finished 12^th, winning Class BT in the process, but RodneyTeague was only ½ a second behind! After having those issues in race one, Mark was given ‘Driver of the Race’ . Aled Dark lost the ‘Green Monster’ and had a ‘head on’ collision with Jack Boulton’s VW, causing them both to retire from the race. However the damage was not as bad as feared and both cars should be ok for Donington Park!  So Chris was won the last 4 races and has one hand on the ‘Blake Edwards Trophy’

The Penultimate races in the 2021 WSSCC is at Donington Park on Sept 26th with the final races at Pembrey on Oct 10th

Results at https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2021/213621wss.pdf

supported by Risca Garages and Midas Green Innovations

Thruxton Circuit 4^th July – Entry and Qualifying

Thruxton Circuit 4^th July – Entry and Qualifying

After the cancellation of the early season races at Pembrey, Thruxton was now the second event in the 2021 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship, featuring rounds 3 & 4 in the championship as the WSSCC contenders tackled the awesome sweeps of the high speed circuit for the first time ever! Unlike so many other circuits, there is only one layout at Thruxton. A section after the chicane, with some nice corners and then a flat out blast back to the chicane! For many people it would be the only time they would use more than 3 gears!

Leading the points scoring entries was Chris Everill and his big red Ginetta G55, now with a Chevvy V8 in the engine bay! Now if you’re thinking of some massive iron-blocked 1960s unit, think again, as this was a high tech unit that looked small and neat!

Kevin Jones from Barnstaple joined us as a non-points scoring Guest and gave his rapid Noble M12 RSR a runout! There was much pre-race speculation about the potency of Kevin & the Noble, but in the end Chris planted the Ginetta on Pole with a time of 1.22.792. Kevin was next with a time of 1.24.234!  On the  2^nd row was the 2019 champion Damian Longotano and his Westfield (1.26.312). and he had Aberystwyth’Deri Davies and his DarrianT90 for company (1.29.660). Davies who is a Novice race driver, is in fact a very experienced off –road racer and is the current points leader having already played his double points Joker card!

On row 3 was Colin Dunn driving his usual Class BT (i.e on list 1a tyres) Renault Clio (1.34.412)

 And ahead of the Class BS Gareth John of Llanelli (Ginetta G40) 1.35.135

On row 4 was Mark Nicholson also in Class BS with his Renault Clio 1.35.612 and the first of our newcomers Jack Boulton from Newport, Gwent and his VW Golf Turbo,  judged to be in Class CS!

On Row 5 was Mark Williams and his little red Pug 205. Mike has voluntarily elected to move to Class BT and would start scoring points in the new class in rounds 3&4! He had new boy Aled Dark in the massive green MGB GT V8 with a supercharger! (Aled is the son of the 1997 champion Peter Dark and the efforts of Aled and Deri Davies has inspired Neil Thomas (from Devils Bridge) to join us and he plans to race a standard MGB!)

On Row 6 was another of the new drivers, Jason Peard from Cwmbran and his Honda Civic. I saw Jason at the Magor services, early on. Jason was joining up with Andrew Williams, who could have just fallen out of bed to make it from Caldicot to Magor! Lol   Jason had Roger Dowden on the row with him. Rogers’ lightweight Davrian Mk6 was now sporting some new  (Barn door) Aero bits! On the 7and last row was Alan Smith 1.43.094 and last was the aforementioned Andrew Williams (MG ZR) who seemed out of place and off the pace. 1.43.272.

Results are on page https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/212623

The Race (round 3) – 15 Mins – rolling start

So 14 cars made up the grid and it gives me the chance to mangle Shakespeare’s Henry V again  ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; And drivers with cars still in the garage, Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here!

Mike Moss, who was on-hand as his (new to him) car wasn’t feeling too well, helped Mark Reed, our new co-ordinator, to get the cars assembled in grid order!   It was overcast with some massive clouds, but it was dry for the race. It was a good rolling start with Chris & Kevin marshalling the grid to the line and then the race was on!. Chris got away well and was never headed. Kevin slotted in 2^nd place and Damian Longotano was 3^rd . Damian kept Kevin in sight, but was unable to challenge him. ‘I could keep up on the corners but he was able to pull away through the fast bits!’   Damian was the last driver on 11 laps. Deri Davies and his pretty green Darrian T90 was also in the mix early on, but faded away to finish 8^th, after he found his car was stuck in 4^th gear! A tightening of the gear linkage by his pit-crew/helpers would hopefully restore the full gears for race 2!

Colin Dunn, seemed un-phased by the high speed Thruxton sweeps, but then he had almost 5hrs of Silverstone circuit in the rain to fall back on. However in the race, a fast starting Mark Nicholson moved ahead, but lap 4 Gareth John had moved into 4^th Place, ahead of Mark N and Colin, just as Deri Davies fell down to 8^th place. Gareth pulled a gap, but Mark had Colin for company and there was just 1.517 between the 2 Clios at the end! In 7^th place Mark Williams was getting used to the Class CT tyres! He was ahead of the hobbling Deri Davies who was ahead of Aled Dark. Jason Peard was 10^th with Jack Boulton in 11^th Place and the last runner on 10 laps. Jack had started in 8^th place and initially seemed to be running well, with the turbo VW sounding crisp, but he faded as it seemed he couldn’t keep the revs up exiting the chicane. This was later traced to gearbox problems as the clutch slave cylinder wasn’t releasing properly.

Just to add some excitement to 12^th & 13^th place, Roger Dowden and Alan Smith were nose to tail all the way through the race. Roger seemed slow in the middle of the chicane, and Alan almost tripped over him more than once! However Alan couldn’t find his way past and there was only 1.112 between them at the end!

Andrew Williams pulled out on lap 2 when the MG seemed to be on the verge of a complete blow up. Later after dismantling the engine, it seemed as if the problem was with at the bottom of the engine as the big end(s) had gone!

So in the dry there was time for 11 laps in the 15 minutes!  Lap records were set in race 1

Race 2 –Rain – Wet

As the time approached for Race 2, there was some drizzle, but then the rain really set in. For drivers like Chris Everill, Kevin Jones and Deri Davies, it was a case of slapping on the Wets and cramming  on as much wing as they could! For all the rest it was a case of getting on their best tyres and being a brave as they could be! We were without Andrew Williams and Jack Boulton, so the remaining 12 went on the green flag lap. Mark William had a rocket start and was 3^rd on the first lap! Deri Davies was on the rise and passed Mark for 3^rd .  Chris, Kevin, and Deri were 1-2-3 for the rest of the race. Mark Williams settled into 4^th place and first BT car for most of the rest of the race, with Damian Longotano was 5^th and being the only open car in the race,.defo not loving the race! Gareth John was 6^th but faded to finish 8^th behind Aled Dark, as the inside of his wind screen began to fog up ‘I thought somebody had let a damp dog into the car!’ There were lots of spins and things going on.

Colin Dunn fell from his lofty grid place and had a quiet race initially, but got into the groove and pulled up to 4^th place on the last lap, being the best Saloon car! Mark Williams was 5^th, but crucially set the Class BT fastest lap, and so got the extra point! Damian was 6^th Aled Dark was 7th , Gareth John was a lowly 8^th with Roger Dowden 9^th and Alan Smith was 10^th and the last runner, as Mark Nicholson had headed for pits on lap 1 and Jason Peard and his Honda Civic pulled out after 5 laps!

In true Motor Racing fashion it stopped raining almost as soon as the race was over!

Next  Rounds  in the 2021 WSSCC  12th September Pembrey –                      26^th September Donington Park  – 10^th October -Pembrey