Certain events across the world by the name of Covud 19, came knocking at the door of the UK in 2020, and although the lock-down restrictions are modern times for us all, it will soon be a history, but suffice to say that there was no racing at Pembrey in 2020! However the governing body, Motorsport Uk allowed us to roll–over 2020 to 2021.  

Certain events across the world by the name of Covud 19, came knocking at the door of the UK in 2020, and although the lock-down restrictions are modern times for us all, it will soon be a history, but suffice to say that there was no racing at Pembrey in 2020! However the governing body, Motorsport Uk allowed us to roll–over 2020 to 2021. 

Even so the lock-down restriction continued and after the cancellation of the early season races at Pembrey, the Classic & Modern Motor Clubs Mallory Park event on Sunday 13th June marked  the start of the 2021 and the 30^th season of the Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship, as WSSCC contenders joined in with Classic & Modern Super Saloons and Tin Tops to make a maximum entry. Heading the entry should have been Dave Scaramanga and his McLaren 650s. However Dave, who was 2^nd in the 2017 WSSCC championship, was asked to withdraw,(too quick for them) . However that was good news for Colin Dunn, as he was first reserve. There will be several new drivers making their debut along with the stalwarts like Andrew Williams, Alan Smith, Gareth John and Mark Williams. In Class BT Colin & Andrew had a newcomer to the WSSCC, Rodney Teague (Renault Clio) and would have had Jack Boulton (Golf GTi) for company, but Jack pulled out after his 4 year old boy cut his head, and had to go to A&E! In Class CT Mike Cook , the  3^rd Newcomer, (BMW  330 Clubsport) was  on his own as was Deri Davies and his Class D DarainT90. Jason Davies was pitched in with the Modified Fords.

Qualifying . There were some well-known names heading the time sheets. Joss Ronchetti was on pole with pot-hunter Rod Birley in 2^nd place. Behind them was the first of the WSSCC runners, Deri Davies from Aberystwyth and his Darrian T90! Deri who is a Novice race driver, is in fact a very experienced off –road racer! Deri had Peter Dark the 1997 champion and others for company! 6^th Fastest was Gareth John. Mark Williams was 11^th, Colin Dunn was 13^th fastest with Andrew Williams (MG ZR) was just ahead of Alan Smith (Ford KA) who was well placed in 24^th place out of 30 starters, something Alan was very happy with. All of this proved that the WSSCC competitors are really competitive, in mixed company! Mike Cook and his BMW was 25^th whilst in last place was Rodney Teague had to practice ‘out of session’ and would start 27^th!

Race 1 – 15 minutes – Deri Davies plays his WSSCC joker card.With the field too widely strung out to start, the grid went round for a 2nd time andDeri Davies put his vivid Lime Green into a close 3^rd place and even had a look at 2^nd place! Gareth John was 5^th and as Deri dropped back to 4^th, it was a WSSCC  1-2 (actually 5^th & 6^th) Colin Dunn was in 11^th place in his Class BT Clio, and was happy with his pace, despite running less BHP. Mark Williams was 14^th initially with his red Peugeot 205. In 16^th place was Alan Smith in his usual diminutive Class BT Ford Ka, putting on a display that surprised many observers! Behind Alan, Rodney Teague was making his way up from the back, and he passed his mentor Andrew Williams in MG ZR. Andys MG was now looking good in White livery and was sporting ‘Prompt’ signwriting. In a WSSCC train Mike Cook followed Rod & Andy as the race moved to half distance! However exiting the Devils Elbow one of the mid-field runners in a BMW, Jacques (no not Villeneve) got it all wrong, and speared front-end first, into the barrier on the outside of the circuit! This caused severe damage to the front of the BMW and as well the contents of his Radiator, and brought a lot of dirt onto the circuit! This brought the red flags out, and after some delay whilst it was decided that the circuit clean-up team was needed, a result was declared after 8 laps!

Jason Davies – Jason was added to the Modified Fords grid and was on Pole Position. However his race didn’t last long after he lost boost pressure. Initially it was thought that a hose had split. However the hose was ok, but as his dad removed the pipe, all the compressor side of the turbo fell out in bits!

Race 2 – 15 minutes– There was confusion on the first lap, as Deri Davies caused some chaos after ‘trying too hard on cold tyres’ As Colin Dunn explains ‘This caused a bit of chaos for the front runners though with at least 3 cars on to the grass and WSSCC `regular Gareth John recovering his Ginetta G40 in the middle of the road. Colin Dunn was far enough back to avoid being involved in the mayhem and picked his way through to be 7th place at the end of lap 1. The faster cars all recovered and would be pushing their way back through the field over the course of the shortened 11 minute race. This included Gareth who took a couple of laps to find a way past Colin. Deri Davies made his way up to 5^th place overall and was the 1^st WSSCC runner, however he then had to climb the naughty step to take to the Clerk of the Course! Gareth John made his way up to in 7^th place. Picking his way through the traffic on the short Mallory Park circuit, Colin managed to finish 9th overall and another 1st in class BT. In 17^th place Andrew Williams was 2^nd in BT, and just behind him and trying out some slicker tyres for the first time was Alan Smith. Mark Williams was 19thand Mike Cook was the last WSSCC runner, as Rod Teague pulled off after only 3 laps.  So a start to the 2021 season with the next races at Thruxton on July 4th.

Fastest Laps at Mallory Park

The 2021 Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Championship

 Championship Permit:–  CH2021/R0125 Grade D : Club 

1.6.      SCORING 1     A competitors championship points total will be the total for all 10 rounds less the two lowest scores. Not starting a round will count as 0 points

hampionship Bulletin No 03

The following change is to be made to the official regulations already published for the above Championship and in accordance with Motorsport UK general regulation D11.2.  This change is to be implemented immediately.  Reason British Automobile Racing Club has cancelled their meeting at Pembrey due on 20^th June 2021.  This represents a ‘force majeure’. 2021 Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Championship 

– Regulation 1.5.1   All Races will be Rolling Starts

Signed: Mark Reed p.p                                                    Date: 21/5/2021

Championship Coordinator:

Mike Moss Class BS Caterham has won The 2019 Colin Gundersen Trophy for the Class Fastest Race Lap at Pembrey  after a dramatic shoot out at the final rounds between Mike & Keith Butcher. In Race 1 Keith had a problem and missed his Class fastest lap but while Mike set his Class fastest lap he did not finish the race, but that was enough to give him the win!

Rules-for-The-Colin-Gundersen-Memorial-Trophy-for-the-Class-Fastest-Race-Lap-at-Pembrey

After the first 10 rounds Colin Dunn led from Mike Moss with Damian Longotano 3rd, but with Joker cards and Dropped scores to come in to play, it’s too close to call. (report by Robert- Thanks to Nick Forbes for his photos)

In 2018 Pembrey caught the full force of storm Callum, which hit all day Saturday and it turned the circuit entrance into a considerable lake, with a large lake in the paddock!  However this year we were brushed by the tail-end of Lorenzo , over Saturday night, and although there was a large puddle at the circuit entrance and some  puddles in the paddock,  it was much less than last year.

Entry and Qualifying .  There was a pleasing 17 cars on the grid, although despite some mighty efforts, but Gareth Haycock (and us), we couldn’t make it to the magic 20! Thanks to Gareth for his efforts!   The track was damp and greasy as the cars went out to practice, and Keith Butcher had one of the those ‘déjà vu’ moments as his Audi understeered  on the exit to Debeni and headed for the grass! Fortunately he managed to stop just in time, with only his front wheels on the grass, and he was able to reverse out, and go to the pits for a quick check and then to head out to get some times in!   Meanwhile the bellowing Ginetta G50 of Chris Everill was setting the pace and he took pole with a time of 1.07.532! Damian Longotano was 2^nd fastest with 1.10.513. On row 2 Keith Butcher was 3^rd on 1.12.116 an indication that something wasn’t right with the R8. Mike Moss was 4^th fastest and on the Class BS pole!  On the 3^rd row was Glynne Jones and his BMW and Mark Williams and his Class BS VW Golf. On row 4 was Gareth John with is Ginetta G40 looking good in its new livery. (a warp) Next to him and making it an all Class BS row was Daryl Radford and his Honda Civic R. On row 5 Colin Dunn (Clio) and Andrew Williams (Fiesta) made it an all class BT row.

On row 6 was Gareth Haycock who was giving his nice sounding 3.2 V6 Golf its Pembrey debut, with Mark Nicholson having his Pembrey Debut in his Clio. Mark, who is a mate of Mike Moss,  is usually found at Castle Combe although he did come with us to Silverstone! Mike was bedding in some new brakes, but got the shepherds crook (aka the Black Flag) for going too slow!  In the end he was the last driver to get under 1.20.0 so he wasn’t actually too slow!   On row 7 was Roger Dowden (WRDA Chairman) and his usual yellow Davrian, and Alan Smith who is getting his Ka down to some tidy times. On row 8 was Ben Cutler and his Mini, (only .5 of a second behind Alan) Verity Banks was alongside. On row 9  Ellis Wiggins was last! He only did a few laps as his tyres were lacking grip! He confirmed that setting them to the right pressure would have helped!

Race 1 – Round 11 15 mins + 1 lap – Rolling Start.  Damian Longotano, Mike Moss and Chris Everill played their Jokers cards for this race.

Blake Edwards was driving the pace car, but as he pulled off, and the lights flashed out to start the race, Damian and Chris headed the pack into Hatchets. Chris headed the pack on the first lap, Damian settled into 2^nd place and the lead of Class CS! Keith Butcher settled into 3rd place, with his car somewhat lacking in pace. That’s the way the places stayed to the end,  as Damian had other fish to fry, and was not really risking anything, whilst Keith was lacking for pace. Actually as the winner of 6 races already this year, Keith was assured of the ’Blake Edwards Trophy’ but he also did have a shout for the ‘Colin Gundersen Trophy’ based on the fastest laps at Pembrey. However Chris Everill powered to the fastest lap point in Class D with a time of  1.06.489, whereas Keiths best time was 1.10.172 which shows how much his car was suffering, and this dented his  Gundersen Trophy’ hopes. Behind the first 3 there was much action. Mark Williams settled into 4^th place and had Mike Moss on his tail. Mike & Mark passed & repassed each other, but more on that later on. Behind then Glynne Jones settled into 5^th place, and as the flame-spitting Ginetta of Chris Everill went on its merry way, Glynnes’ BMW thought it would do some  flame-spitting of its own! The problem was that whilst Chris’ flames were coming from his exhaust, Glynne was coming from underneath his car! Eventually  after a lap or 2 Glynne became aware of the flames and as it was in the area near the cars fuel tank, he decided it was time for action, and instead of turning left onto the new section he headed direct to the marshals post near the rally-cross track!  ‘I decided I needed to be out of there!’ His door was open before the car stopped rolling, and as he jumped out, the marshals swung into action and put the fire out with a dry powder extinguisher!  Although the car disappeared in a cloud of powder, Glynne and the car were safe! Yes that’s what the marshals train for, but it is what you pay your entry fee for, to make sure the infra structure is there if it is ever needed, and the marshals can use whatever they need to keep us safe! At the time of writing Glynne hasn’t found the cause of the fire but the scrutineers thought it might have been an oil leak.

Back in the race, initially behind Glynne was a fast starting Gareth Haycock, Colin Dunn, Daryl Radford, Andrew Williams, Mark Nicholson, and  Gareth John. As the race wore on Mark Nicholson and  Gareth John began to rise up as Gareth Haycock began to fade. Late on Gareth John overtook Mark Nicolson to finish 5^th with Mark 6^th! Daryl Radford (7^th) and Colin Dunn (8^th)  had another  close end to the race with only 0.45 splitting them at the flag. Gareth John (9^th) split Colin from Andrew Williams (10^th)while Elis Wiggins rose up from last qualifier to finish 11^th and Roger Dowden was 12^th. We lost Verity Banks early on when her gear-linkage fell apart, but last but no means least were Alan Smith and Ben Cutler who had the hammer & tongs battle for  most of the race with Ben & Alan swapping and re-swapping places! In the end Alan was 13^th but only 0.294 ahead of Ben who was 14^th, and was awarded the ‘Driver of the Day’ for his efforts in only his first race on the Club Circuit! As a tribute to the amount of pressure Ben put  Alan under, he (Alan) had to set a new Class AT lap record to beat Ben! However as the race wound down, there was still drama as the close dice of Mike Moss and Mark Williams, go a little too close and lap 13 was unlucky for Mike as he lost his left front mudguard, but more importantly the brackets were bent onto his tyre! Fearing the worst, but not realising a slow lap could have seen him take the finish, Mike pulled off at the paddock turn! However this meant that Gareth John took the Class BS Season in his debut season, but it all was not lost as Mike had already set the fastest lap, which put him narrowly in front of Keith Butcher in the Colin Gunderson trophy standings! So Chris Everill won the race, with Damian Longotano 2^nd but the Class CS winner and with double points due to his Joker.  Keith Butcher was 3^rd  

Race 1 – round 11- in progress

In the Blake Edwards Trophy Keith Butcher is the clear leader, but in the Colin Gundersen Fastest lap trophy, only 0.25 separates Keith Butcher from Mike Moss!

The race – 15 minutes + 1 lap – Rolling Start.  Blake took the grid around to start the final race in the 2019 Welsh Championship and Chris Everill took the lead, but this time Keith had the R8 flying and he stalked Chris and pounced and took the lead on lap 4, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process leaving the Class D & Championship lap record at 1.05.414 seconds! However 2 laps later it was all over for Keith, as he trailed into the pits with a damaged rim and a puncture! Chris was left to run out the rest of the race on his own, Damian ran in 2^nd place and the Class CS lead, but was some distance behind Chris, as he had his eyes on the title! In 3^rd place, some distance behind, was 2018 Champion Mike Moss, after passing a fast starting Gareth John and Daryl Radford, he then stalked Mark Williams, before closing and passing Mark in the closing laps, and drawing away to finish 3^rd with Mark W 4^th and the last car on 15 laps.  Crucially Mike set the Class Fastest lap, and he was one of several drivers to leapfrog Keith B in the Colin Gundersen Trophy points standings! Behind them Daryl Radford and Gareth John were having a real dice, but Gareth eventually got by and pulled a small gap, and his efforts were noticed by the Marshals who nominated him for the ‘Driver of the Race’ award.  Mark Nicholson recovered from a first lap spin before pulling through to finish 7^th. Behind him Gareth Haycock and his V6 VW Golf and Colin Dunn (Clio) were in a close dice! Having got by Gareth on lap 8 as Gareth began to have brake problems, Colin claimed 8^th  and the Class BT win and fastest lap. Gareth was 9^th with Ellis Wiggins closing on him, after  passing Andy and his Fiesta, but Gareth had 3 seconds in hand over  Ellis who finished in 10^th in his white Nova! (Ellis has plans over the close season to make the Nova a different colour!) Andy W fell back to finish 11^th, having got a good start initially. Ben Cutler also had a fast start and was 12^th ahead of Alan Smith, Roger Dowden , Verity Banks and Mark Nicholson. Mark N recovered from his spin and moved up to finish 7^th.  Roger too moved on to finish 12^th but it was battle joined again for Ben Cutler and Alan Smith who swapped places several times! Alan was battling hard and threw everything into it on the last lap, and set a new Class AT lap record, to break the record he had set in race 1! At the flag Ben took 13^th place by 0.268 secs from the battling Alan Smith who was 14^th. Verity Banks was 15^th having battled on with gearbox and engine problems to record a finish. Tony B has a good few months to get the Focus refreshed and ready for the 2020 season, the WSSCC 30^th Anniversary!

Times from TSL Timimg https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2019/194021wss.pdf

The Awards Night is on 9th November at the Cardiff Copthorne. Contact Robert Allender via wrda@ntlworld.com or 01792 791686 or 0772231988

Photo: Drew Gibson

BENTLEY FACTORY DRIVER MORRIS ANNOUNCED AS ‘PRO’ RACER FOR FRENCH TEAM CMR IN GT-3 EUROPE RACING. Bentley factory driver Seb Morris has been announced as the ‘Pro’ driver for French team CMR  (Classic & Modern Racing’) in this season’s five-round GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – adding to the Welshman’s works commitments in the global Intercontinental GT Challenge. Seb , will dovetail his driving duties with the manufacturer’s full works squad, run by M-Sport, with his new role at CMR in GT World Challenge Europe at the wheel of a customer Bentley Continental GT3. Seb is already a proven force in the championship formerly known as Blancpain Endurance Cup, he immediately established himself as a driver to watch and one of the quickest on the grid. Now entrusted by Bentley with the Pro driver role at CMR, the 24-year-old is delighted to be making a return to the pan-European championship for a third year and extremely happy to remain part of Bentley’s expanding customer race programme as part of his prestigious works role.

“It’s fantastic news to be placed with CMR by Bentley for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup” I’m really looking forward to starting work with the team and getting preparations underway for the start of the season in April at Monza. Obviously, it’s a huge honour to be entrusted by Bentley with the Pro driver role in one of CMR’s Bentley Continentals this year and, along with my factory drive in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, I’m determined to deliver the absolute best performances I can for Bentley throughout 2020. It’s set to be a very exciting year, I’ve never looked forward to a season in racing as much!”

Following a two-day official test for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup competitors at Paul Ricard in France on 12th/13th March, the opening round will take place at ultra-fast Monza in Italy over the weekend 18th/19th April.

Starting with the Bathurst 12 hr race at Mount Panorama in Australia, the growing band of Welsh drivers in International racing action are headed by Seb Morris, who has joined the official Bentley team for the 2020 season having been chosen as one of new breed of young drivers to become ’Bentley Boys! Seb who won the 2017 British Gt Championship, and amongst his awards  were the 2011 WRDA Welsh Young Driver of the Year and the 2016/17 Neil Cunningham Memorial Trophy .

2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge consists of 5 races, starting with the Bathurst 12 hr race, the Bentley team will run 2 cars, one for the highly experienced team of Maxime Soulet (Belgium  Jules Gounon (France)and Jordan Pepper (South Arica). In the other car is a British trio of Seb Morris with Oliver Jarvis and Alex Buncombe as his team-mates. “It’s actually been a textbook route from customer racing into the works team for me,” said Morris, who won the British GT title in 2017. “I first raced the Bentley Continental GT3 in 2016 for Team Parker Racing in British GT, which we went on to win! (and won 10 races in 3 years with numerous fastest laps and track records) . Thanks to race all those race wins Seb was selected last year to join the works team in several long distance races  in 2019 and impressed with his raw pace!. Seb summed up’ Now as a fully-fledged works team driver, I can’t wait to start my career as a Bentley Boy.”

Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Paul Williams, added: “We’ve been very careful to grow and adapt our programme in a way that is sustainable for us and beneficial to both our new and old customers, and I am very pleased that we have attracted teams that operate at the highest level. Bentley Team M-Sport has been instrumental in enabling us to grow our customer programme and build the Continental GT3s required for 2020, while also preparing for Bathurst 12 Hours and planning an extensive test schedule that will benefit all of our teams.”

Also at Bathurst for the 12hour race are Welsh Legend Jules Westwood (Lamborghini) and Cardiffs Matthew Parry (Aston Martin)

Meanwhile stepping into the seat at JRM that Seb has vacated will be ‘Strickly Come Dancing’ star Kelvin Fletcher who with Martin Plowman will race with JRM Racing and Bentley this season.

Devaudens Nick Jones and team-mate Scott Malvern will race with Team Parker Racing and Bentley this season, taking the place of Llanellis Ryan Ratcliffe who will move to the Porsche GT Cup that supports the heavily televised British Touring Car Championship!

Andy Meyrick has re-signed for a fourth season with Spanish team, Bullitt Racing for 2020 as the team take on the Michelin Le Mans Cup in a Bentley Continental GT3.

Meyrick, has considerable experience of the Bentley  taking wins in 2014 Silverstone and Paul Ricard as well as podiums at the 2015 Paul Ricard, Monza and Nürburgring endurance races.

“I’m excited to take the next step with Bullitt with the eventual target of a place on the 24 Hours of Le Mans grid,” said Meyrick. “I have enjoyed a great relationship with Bentley for a long time now and combining this with my three years at Bullitt Racing; I’m very excited for the 2020

The Michelin Le Mans Cup comprises of five two-hour races at the Barcelona, Monza  Paul Ricard (F) and Spa-Francorchamps with the finale in Portugal. Moreover, the series includes a ‘blue riband’ double-header supporting the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, made up of two 55-minutes races in the middle of June.

“It’s fantastic to have Andy back as driver and Team Performance Director for Bullitt Racing’s fourth season of racing and the step up to GT3,” said Stephen Pattrick. “Andy has been instrumental in making the change to Bentley and to race the Bentley Continental GT3. Meanwhile Andy and his wife Becky are expecting their first baby shortly.

Meanwhile. Cardiff  boy Jann Mardenborough @Jannthaman is starting his 5th year in Japan

Seb & Rick battle through at Donington in the last race in the 2019 British GT Championship, but Ryan Ratcliffe & his new teammate posted a  non-finish after gearbox failure, meaning that Ryan’s fine drive went unrewarded!

In qualifying Seb & Rick were only able to post the 11^th fastest time whilst Ryan and his new teammate Jordan Witt were dead last in the GT3 class.  However the Team Parker mechanics found that one of the cars turbos was faulty and having changed it, a recovery drive was in prospect for the no. 7 Bentley Continental.

Meanwhile in the JRM pits, the highly experienced Team Engineer Welshman Jules Westwood, explained why the new generation Bentley Continental GT3 car had only One British GT race all season! ‘The Balance of Performance (i.e Handicap) given to us by the organisers has really hurt us, as they use the same factors as they use for the European races. It’s better on European tracks as there are lots of sweeping corners but in the UK there are lots of Slow hairpins. The drivers say the car handles well but it’s slow through the speedtraps so what we gain on one part of the circuit we loose on the rest. It’s up to the manufacturer to appeal against the BOP, and we understand they have appealed but we haven’t seen any change, and we have a weight and power penalty to carry today’ Running 60kg of ballast more than the team had at the beginning of the year, plus less turbo boost, the JRM Bentley was the slowest GT3 car through the speed traps and consistently between 3mph and 4mph down on the competition on the straights!

Dream Team- Rick & Seb meet the public

At the start of the race, the 300th race in the British Gt Championship a clash at the back of the grid brought out the safety car. It what seems to be a series trend, the safety car went so fast that the grid was spread far and wide when the race restarted! Even so Rick Parfitt Jnr in the 31 JRM car and Ryan Ratcliffe in the no 76 car powered forward.  However Rick dropped down to 30^th place after being forced into a spin by a hit from an Aston Martin. Rick then put in a ‘Drive of the Day’ to hand over the car to Seb  in 11^th place!

Meanwhile Ryan Ratcliffe (still waiting for his hair to regrow after ’Braving the Shave’) had risen to 6^th place but shortly after handing over to his new team-mate Jordan Witt the car was back in the pits and out of the race with gearbox problems!

Joining the action in 12th place, Seb ever the professional racer had a major task with a 16 second gap to the Aston of Valentin Hasse-Clot. Setting the quickest first sector of anyone as he began his stint, Morris certainly declared his intent and was soon into the top 10 and s closed to within almost eight seconds of Hasse-Clot. However a Safety Car period meant Morris got ever closer to the Aston and stalked him and passed Hasse-Clot for eighth. Seb was on fire and he  caught, and passed, Bradley Ellis’ Aston Martin on the final lap – the car which earlier made contact with Parfitt Jnr – even though the JRM machine was badly squeezed.  Completing a superb recovery Sebs  his best lap of the race, 1m28.280 seconds, was just 0.4 seconds shy of the fastest of all to underline the tremendous performance.

“Our car on Sunday was one of the best cars I’ve ever had the pleasure to drive and Rick drove the best he has all season, he was the closest to me in qualifying he’s ever been”, added Morris, “JRM put together a brand new team for this year and they’ve done a superb job, I’m looking forward to hopefully being back with them next year – if they want me!”

With the British GT season now completed, Morris’ focus returns to his Blancpain Endurance Cup season where he will reunite with Team Parker Racing for the fifth and final round at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain on Sunday, 29th September.

Morris gets a Bentley boost & gets set for Suzaka 10 hrs!

Wrda member Seb Morris has received a big boost after he was confirmed as part of the official works Bentley entry for the Suzuka 10 Hours, the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Seb ready to race- images courtesy Jakob Ebrey Photography

The race which takes place on Sunday, 25th August will be Morris’ first ever visit to Japan and Suzuka, the classic drivers circuit that is the home of the Japanese Grand Prix.  Chester-based Morris will team-up with highly-rated pros Maxime Soulet and Andy Soucek. Combining forces in the Gold No.108 Bentley, the trio will start next week as genuine contenders for the podium and, quite possibly, victory.

“I’m incredibly grateful to Bentley for this opportunity”, said  Morris, “I’ve never been to Suzuka, so it’s a real boost the team trusts my abilities to be able to go there and do the best job.  Having worked with Bentley through its customer team programme for over four years now, I feel very comfortable in the Bentley environment and ready to perform. The Continental GT3 produces great downforce and performs well in high-speed corners, and I fully expect to be competing for top spot on the podium. It’s going to be my first time partnering Maxime and Andy, both fantastic pro drivers, so as well as being determined to deliver the very best performance I can, it will also be an incredible chance to learn a huge amount from two of GT racing’s most successful drivers.”

Suzuka, of course, needs little introduction as one of the world’s most well known and high-profile motor racing circuits. Home to the FIA Formula One World Championship’s Japanese Grand Prix, the uniquely challenging 3.6-mile, 18-turn track has featured in some of international motorsport’s most thrilling battles at the pinnacle of single-seater and GT endurance racing. This year’s Suzuka 10 hours, sponsored by BH Auctions is the 48th staging of the race. The entry list eads like a Who’s Who of GT racing competition and notably features 1998 and 1999 Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen.   The  first track action at Suzuka will come during pre-event practice next Friday, 23rd August, with additional practice and qualifying following on Saturday, 24th August – the latter getting underway at 13.00 (local time). Pole position shoot-out for the fastest 20 cars from qualifying will commence at around 17.30 (local time). On Sunday, 25th August, the Suzuka 10 Hours will begin at 10.00 (local time), 02.00 UK time.

The official website is https://www.suzukacircuit.jp/10h_en/

2019 British GT Championship -Brands Hatch

Before the dramas! Rick leads Glen before Glen crashes out of the race!

Bentleys mobile sauna fries Seb at Brands. Trying month for Seb Morris ended last week with a frightening incident.

(Edited by Rob Allender. Photos by British GT.com)

• There was high drama in British GT event Brands Hatch as Seb Morris was rushed to the medical centre after a damaged car ventilation made him pass out from heat exhaustion!  He still managed to finish the 2hr contest in P9 for JRM and also remarkably achieves fastest stint time average!

 British GT Championship racer Seb Morris is at home recovering today, Monday, 5th August, following a frightening conclusion to the penultimate round of the season at Brands Hatch where the JRM driver had to be dragged from his Bentley Continental after passing out behind the wheel.

Ventilation issues, which followed on after Rick Parfitt Jnr spun and put the JRM Bentley into the wall. Rick headed for the pitlane after recovering to the track in order to hand over to Morris. The officials insisting on the damaged bonnet of the Bentley being repaired, but missed that the ventilation system was damaged meaning the interior of the car filled with boiling-hot air throughout Morris’ stint in the second half of the two-hour race which caused the Welsh racer to begin to lose consciousness. Morris still somehow managed to take the Bentley GT3 to an unthinkable ninth place and he also achieved the fastest average stint time…truly remarkable.

Testament to his incredible fitness, Morris made it back to the pitlane but when he arrived at the team garage he had to be physically dragged out of the car by the JRM crew who administered water immediately, trying to cool Morris’ body temperature. Fellow teams up and down the pitlane also rushed to the Chester-based driver’s aid before he was transferred to the circuit medical centre.

Thankfully, when his body temperature had reduced to normal levels and fluid levels stabilised, the BRDC Superstar and Motorsport UK ‘Team UK’ driver was permitted to leave the track around an hour or so after the incident.

“In the whole of my stint the car was over-heating, the heat was coming straight into the car and I started to feel really strange”, explained Morris, “There was no air coming in with the ventilation having been damaged after Rick’s accident, I really did start to struggle and I was even being sick in my crash helmet. I started to feel like I was passing out!  The temperature inside the car was hitting 70 degrees, it wasn’t far off being hot enough to boil water, and the heat was coming direct into my face. Somehow, I managed to keep going and I think that’s testament to my fitness. It was the deepest I have ever had to dig in my life, the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do and definitely the longest hour of my life!  Morris added: “When I got into pitlane the team had to drag me out of the car as I’d passed out, they started throwing water on me and trying to cool me down and then all of the other teams saw what was happening and they all started to do the same which was fantastic – I can’t thank them all enough and, of course, the circuit medical staff who were amazing.  They took me away on a stretcher to the medical centre and I was in there for an hour while they started to rehydrate me and keep a check on my body temperature and all my fluid levels. It was really frightening, all I can think is I’m so thankful I’ve trained as hard as I have with my fitness, that definitely helped to save me from a potentially massive accident.”

At least he and Rick scored 3 points! However it was Ryan Ratclffe who posted a ‘No score’ after his team-mate Glyn Geddie, had crashed hard at Westfield Bend, bringing out the safety car!

All the while trying to apply pressure to the group of cars ahead, the JRM driver was feeling increasingly unwell and yet he miraculously managed to not only take the chequered flag, but also finish within just a couple of seconds behind  the top five.

“Even with the damage and the ventilation problem, I still posted one of the fastest laps of the race and that’s thanks to the great job JRM did with the set-up”, reflected Morris, “If we hadn’t been prevented from leaving the pits without the bonnet repaired, I think we could have been fourth or fifth to be honest. In the end, though, I’m just relieved I’m OK…”

In the points standings Ryan & Glynn will finish in 2^nd place in the Silver Class after Wilkinson & Ellis scored enough points to win the Class. In the GT3 Drivers championship Ryan and Glynn are in 10^th place but only 3.5 points ahead of Seb & Rick in the battle of the Bentleys!

I am sure that neither team thought that would be the sole point of interest,  at the start of the season, when Ryan was fighting for the lead, but Seb & Rick went on to win the 1^st race at Oulton Park!

Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in Leicestershire will host the final round of the British GT season on Sunday, 15th September.

Total Oils 24hrs of Spa postscript. It was a bad day at the office for the Bentley squad, with only 1 car finishing out of 4 official entries and The Team Park pro-am squad entry! In Qualifying Seb Morris had the satisfaction of coming out as the 4th fastest driver out of the 16 strong driver team, but he was never able to compete in the race, after Callum MacLeod stopped at the side of  the track with a engine blow-up after only 6 laps! The Team Parker entry only lasted 51 laps before crashing out, leaving Ryan Ratcliffe and Andy Meyrick on the sidelines too! Only the car of  Lucas Ordonez, Andy Soucek and Pippo Derani made it to the finish, albeit in 29th place, 6 laps behind the winning Porsche 911 GT3 R and the 2nd place Porsche making it a Porsche 1-2

  Ryan Ratcliffe and Glynn Geddie took third overall, during round seven of the season at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, 21st July, after a nail-biting finish to the race!

Qualifying on Saturday, 20th July, was impacted by some typical Ardennes weather with heavy rainfall prior to the start of the first session meaning a fully-wet track. But Ryan finished as 2^nd fastest just ahead of Rick Parfitt Jnr!  Session two, however, didn’t go to plan for Morris – GT3 lap record holder at Spa – and in a less than straightforward run he had to settle for the 11th best time. On combined times from the two sessions, the No.31 JRM Bentley lined-up eighth on the grid but although Glynns’time  was slower than Morriss’, the Team Parker no 7 Bentley would start in 3^rd place   for Sunday’s afternoon’s two-hour race.
The Race – 2hrs – Rolling start

In the opening hour of the race Ryan settled into third place in the Bentley Continental GT3 before setting after Ian Loggie’s Mercedes ahead, passing and chasing down leader Oli Wilkinson. Opting to leave the Bentley out for an extra lap as the pits were busy was an inspired decision by the Parker Racing team, as it had the second quickest stop in GT3, putting Glynn out in second place.

However, the Scot was hunted down by Rob Bell and Callum MacLeod in the final stages, working hard to fend off attacks all over the circuit. Things came to a head late on, as McLeod got a run on both cars, and they went into Eau Rouge three abreast!

There was further drama on the final lap as Glynn and Bell continued to fight over third place, as oil at the last corner caused chaos! With cars spinning and running wide, Glynn shot across the line in the final podium spot.   After the race Ryan Ratcliffe summed up “We had a great race. Loggie had an amazing start in the Mercedes and got past me going into the first corner. I managed to pass him when we got into traffic and from then on it was a case of getting my head down and chasing the Aston. You got some pockets where you got through traffic really well and some where you didn’t, but to be fair to the GT4 cars they were really good. It was the backmarkers in GT3 which were hard to get past. It was horrible watching the end of the race; I’d rather be in the car! It was enjoyable though and Glynn did really well. It puts us in a good position for next week and the team are in good spirits too.” Glynn Geddie commented “If that’s what the whole 24 Hours is going to be like, then it will be a tiring one!

Meanwhile Seb & Rick experienced a continuation of the misfortune which has unfairly hampered their 2019 British GT Championship challenge when two luckless penalties and a tyre blow-out ruined any hopes of a podium. Qualifying on Saturday, 20th July, was impacted by some typical Ardennes weather with heavy rainfall prior to the start of the first session meaning a fully-wet track awaited Parfitt Jnr. Lapping well in the challenging conditions, he ended the run with the third fastest time overall.
Session two, however, didn’t go to plan for Morris – GT3 lap record holder at Spa – and in a less than straightforward run he had to settle for the 11th best time. On combined times from the two sessions, the No.31 JRM Bentley lined-up eighth on the grid for Sunday’s afternoon’s two-hour race.

With JRM team-mate Rick Parfitt Jnr having to serve a stop/go penalty early in the 120-minute race, following contact with one of the Lamborghinis, a second penalty had to be served during hour two after officials deemed the mid-race pit-stop to have been fractionally too short.

Incredibly, a puncture with around 20 minutes to run added real insult to injury and necessitated a third unscheduled stop. Chester-based driver Morris eventually went on to take the chequered flag in an exasperating 12th position, 10th in the Pro-Am class.

“We qualified out of place and everything went wrong from there really”, said the BRDC Superstar and Motorsport UK ‘Team UK’ driver, “Rick got into a tangle on the first lap, which gave us the first penalty, and then we were a fraction of a second too fast in the pit-stop. When I had the blow-out, it just rubbed salt in the wound.

“In terms of my performance I was happy, after all of the penalties and issues there was no chance of a result so I just used the race as a test session really ahead of the 24 hour race next weekend. I can’t wait for that, racing as a factory driver with Bentley is the biggest opportunity of my career so far. From the point of view of British GT, though, I just hope we can have some better luck soon.”

The points gained leave Ratcliffe & Geddie  in 8^th place overall with 52.54 points ahead of Morris & Parfitt Jnr who are 9^th overall with 46 points.  Ratcliffe & Geddie  remain 2^nd in the Silver class 10^th points behind race winners Wilkinson & Ellis.

Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent will host the penultimate round of the British GT season two weeks from now on Sunday, 4th August. In the meantime everyone will remain at Spa-Francorchamps for the weekends prestigious Total 24 Hours of Spa.

Total 24 Hours of Spa. The first sessions get underway on Tuesday, July 23, with the race itself on starting on Saturday July 27.

Welsh Drivers Seb Morris, Ryan Ratcliffe and Andy Meryick are set to star at Spa Francorchamps .  2019 British GT championship.  The focus for GT3 action shifts to Spa-Francorchamps for the next 2 weeks with Round 7 of the 2019 British GT championship due on 21st July. The Classic Ardennes circuit should suit the Bentley Continental GT3 cars better than Donington Park did. In contrast to the East Midlands circuit with its 2 hairpins and a slow chicane, Spa is a classic drivers circuit with plenty of high speed corners in its 4.35 miles. In fact Seb Morris holds the GT3 Lap Record set in 2017 with a time of 2m18.821. This was in his championship year with Rick Parfitt Jnr in the Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3. Ryan Ratcliffe had his best result in 2018, when he held off a gaggle of cars in a wonderful, defensive drive that saw him & Rick Parfitt Jnr on the podium after finishing in 2nd place, and a repeat of the result would see Ratcliffe and his 2019 team-mate Glen Geddie take the lead in the Silver Class standings. The only fly in the ointment is the Balance of Performance handicap handed to the new generation of the Bentley in the British GT championship.  Live action   https://www.dailymotion.com/GTWorld                                                  Friday 19th testing times https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/19291 

Ps Ryan Ratcliffe has being doing a ’Brave the Shave’ charity fundraiser for McMillian Cancer support and raised £13,300 so far and hopes he can get it to 15K!    https://bravetheshave.macmillan.org.uk/shave…/ryan-ratcliffe

After the British GT race finishes the drivers will stay in Spa for the classic Total Oils 24hrs of Spa, July 27/28, which is round of the Blancpain Endurance Championship. Having scored the first win for the new Generation car in the Brit Gt series, Seb Morris has shown some impressive form in Blancpain championship this year, however the car has been beset with problems and team has so far not reaped the benefit.
However he has now been drafted in to the Official Bentley factory squad, as they celebrate the centenary of the Bentley marque! The founder W.O Bentley built his first car in 1919, and his cars went on to score several wins in 24hr races.
The Official Bentley team run by M-Sport, the team set up and run by Rally Legend Malcolm Wilson, have entered 4 cars in an all-out attempt to score an outright win at Spa! With the cars number 107 to 110, Morris will be partnered in car 109 by Rodrigo Baptista from Brazil and Callum Macleod who he knows from British Gt racing.
In car 110 Lucas Ordonez, whose first races was with us the WSSCC, and he is partnered by the ultra-quick Andy Soucek also from Spain, and Pipo Derani from Brazil.
Additionally in the Pro-am Class, in Bentley car 31 run by Team Parker Racing will be Ryan Ratcliffe and Glynn Geddie plus the highly experienced Andy Meyrick and also Derek Pierce.
All 5 Bentleys will be part of a record-breaking 72-car entry list! With some top line and formidable opposition, however the Bentley driven by part of the M-Sport team in the Spa race, recently won the 6 hr race at Paul Ricard, so they have the pace and longevity.

Hi here are the final 2018 Overall & Class  points.
A big thank you to everyone who entered the 2018 championship.
Congratulations to Mike Moss who is the 2018 Champion, Damian Longotano who is 2nd, and Colin Dunn who is 3rd, and all the class winners and top 3 places in the Multi-car Classes. Looking forward to seeing you at the Awards Night on Saturday 17th November. Regards Robert

		2018 Overall points after 12 rounds
	Name	Car	Car No	Class	Rd1 Pembrey	Rd2 Pemb	R3   Oulton	R4 Oulton	R5  Pemb	R6   Pemb	RD 7   Don	RD 8  Don	R9  Pemb	R10   Pemb	R11 Pemb	R12  Pemb	Sub-Total	Dropped Scores	Total
1	Mike Moss	Caterham  1600	14	BS	19	18	42	19	21	21	21	21	21	21	x	x	224	O	224
2	Damian Longotano	Westfield SE	44	CS	21	21	x	x	21	19	15	17	19	19	21	42	215	0	215
3	Colin Dunn	Renault Clio	19	BT	17	17	17	17	16	14	dnf	dnf	19	38	19	19	193	0	193
4	Simon Hutchins	Mazda MX5	37	BS	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	18	18	36	21	19	223	31	192
5	Andrew Williams	MG ZR	88	BT	14	14	14	0	14	16	18	20	16	32	16	dnf	174	0	174
6	Ellis Wiggins	Vauxhall Nova	86	BS	12	0	14	14	x	x	18	16	32	16	16	16	154	0	154
7	Blake Edwards	Renault Clio	7	BS	x	x	12	12	14	14	14	14	28	14	14	DNS	136	0	136
8	Chris Everill	Ginetta G50	69	D	17	17	x	x	x	x	14	14	14	14	28	14	132	0	132
9	Roger Dowden	Davrian Mk6	6	AS	14	16	x	x	14	14	x	x	14	14	28	14	128	0	128
10	Tyronne Luffareli	Peugeot 106	24	BS	20	21	18	20	18	18	x	x	x	x	X	X	115	0	115
11	Alan Smith	Ford KA	13	AT	0	14	x	x	14	14	14	14	x	x	28	14	112	0	112
12	Verity Banks	Peugeot 106	53	BT	x	x	x	x	x	x	16	18	14	14	28	16	106	0	106
13	Melissa Lufferelli	Mini	10	M	14	14	x	x	x	x	14	16	28	14	X	X	100	0	100
14	Mark Williams	VW Golf	180	CT	14	14	x	x	14	14	14	14	14	x	X	X	98	0	98
15	Nick Rocke	Ford Fiesta	21	BT	x	x	x	x	19	38	21	1	x	x	X	X	79	0	79
16	Keith Butcher	Seat Cupra Sport	36	CS	x	x	x	x	18	dnf	x	x	16	16	DNF	18	68	0	68
17	Daryl Radford	Honda Civic	181	BS	14	14	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	36	DNF	64	0	64
18	Fabio Lufferelli	VW Corrado or Mini	70	M	x	x	14	14	dnf	14	17	1	x	x	x	x	60	0	60
19	Gareth Haycock	VW Golf	17	CT	x	x	14	14	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	28	0	56
20	Mark Williams	VW Golf	180	CS	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	O	36	14	50	0	50
21	Andy Williams	Ford Sierra Sapphire	22	CS	x	x	x	x	16	16	x	x	x	x	DNF	16	48	0	48
22	Nick Crompton	Mitsubishi Evo	80	CS	18	18	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	36	0	36
23	Jim Lyons	Mini Turbo	11	CS	16	16	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	X	X	32	0	32
24	Gareth Haycock	VW Golf	17	CS	x	x	x	x	x	x	16	14	0	0	X	X	30	0	30
25	Ken James	Loco Hornet	77	CS	14	14	x	x	dnf	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	28	0	28
26	Richard Francis	Citroen Saxo	48	AS	17	0	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	17	0	17
27	Keith Butcher	Audi Super Tourer	36	D	0	14	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	14	0	14
28	Glynne Jones	BMW M3	26	CS	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	DNF	DNS	0	0	0

Class Points

			2018 Class points after 12 rounds
Class		Name	Car Make/model	Car  No	Rd1 Pembrey	Rd2 Pemb	R3   Oulton	R4 Oulton	R5  Pemb	R6   Pemb	RD 7   Don	RD 8  Don	R9  Pemb	R10   Pemb	R11 Pemb	R12  Pemb	Sub-Total	Dropped Scores
AS	1	Roger Dowden	Davrian Mk6	6	14	16	x	x	14	14	x	x	14	14	28	14	128	0
AS	2	Richard Francis	Citroen Saxo	48	17	0	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	17	0
AT	1	Alan Smith	Ford KA	13	0	14	x	x	14	14	14	14	x	x	28	14	112	0
BS	1	Mike Moss	Caterham  1600	14	19	18	42	19	21	21	21	21	21	21	x	x	224	O
BS	2	Simon Hutchins	Mazda MX5	37	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	18	18	36	21	19	223	31
BS	3	Ellis Wiggins	Vauxhall Nova	86	12	0	14	14	x	x	18	16	32	16	16	16	154	0
BS	4	Blake Edwards	Renault Clio	7	x	x	12	12	14	14	14	14	28	14	14	DNS	136	0
BS	5	Tyronne Luffareli	Peugeot 106	24	20	21	18	20	18	18	x	x	x	x	X	X	115	0
BS	6	Daryl Radford	Honda Civic	181	14	14	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	36	DNF	64	0
BT	1	Colin Dunn	Renault Clio	19	17	17	17	17	16	14	dnf	dnf	19	38	19	19	193	0
BT	2	Andrew Williams	MG ZR	88	14	14	14	0	14	16	18	20	16	32	16	dnf	174	0
BT	3	Verity Banks	Peugeot 106	53	x	x	x	x	x	x	16	18	14	14	28	16	106	0
BT	4	Nick Rocke	Ford Fiesta	21	x	x	x	x	19	38	21	1	x	x	X	X	79	0
CS	1	Damian Longotano	Westfield SE	44	21	21	x	x	21	19	15	17	19	19	21	42	215	0
CS	2	Keith Butcher	Seat Cupra Sport	36	x	x	x	x	18	dnf	x	x	16	16	DNF	18	68	0
CS	3	Mark Williams	VW Golf	180	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	O	36	14	50	0
CS	4	Andy Williams	Ford Sierra Sapphire	22	x	x	x	x	16	16	x	x	x	x	DNF	16	48	0
CS	5	Nick Crompton	Mitsubishi Evo	80	18	18	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	36	0
CS	6	Jim Lyons	Mini Turbo	11	16	16	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	X	X	32	0
CS	7	Gareth Haycock	VW Golf	17	x	x	x	x	x	x	16	14	0	0	X	X	30	0
CS	8	Ken James	Loco Hornet	77	14	14	x	x	dnf	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	28	0
CS	9	Glynne Jones	BMW M3	26	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	DNF	DNS	0	0
CT	1	Mark Williams	VW Golf	180	14	14	x	x	14	14	14	14	14	x	X	X	98	0
CT	2	Gareth Haycock	VW Golf	17	x	x	14	14	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	28	0
D	1	Chris Everill	Ginetta G50	69	17	17	x	x	x	x	14	14	14	14	28	14	132	0
D	2	Keith Butcher	Audi Super Tourer	36	0	14	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	14	0
M	1	Melissa Lufferelli	Mini	10	14	14	x	x	x	x	14	16	28	14	X	X	100	0
M	2	Fabio Lufferelli	VW Corrado or Mini	70	x	x	14	14	dnf	14	17	1	x	x	x	x	60	0

It was a long wait to the first race of the day for the WSSCC, but there was plenty of action track side to watch in the mean time, we got grided up and started at 1.51pm. The first couple of laps were rather busy with plenty of position changes. Chris Everill had taken the lead and on lap 2 Damian Longotano had some issues with power and went off line, spinning on to the grass at Debeni corner! Thankfully he scrubbed enough speed off to avoid the tyre wall, and with a helping hand from the

Keith Butcher is in there some where- photo by Steve Williams

Orange Army he got on his way only one lap down! However as Damian was re-entering the track,  Keith Butcher, also went to do a bit of gardening at Debeni corner, but unfortunately his Seat Cupra found the pond where we had so much rain, and was going no where, and he had to abandon it there.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Time Attack Race meeting -August 2018

The hot, dry and sunny days of the heatwave summer seem long gone. Although there have been some dry days since Donington, in typical motorsport fashion, come the weekend of the WSSCC rounds 9 & 10 at Pembrey, it started raining again! This was our first weekend organised by the ‘Time Attack’ championship. Time Attack is a Production car sprint based championship, seemingly based on a flying lap, rather than a standing start! They had invited a Scooter based championship, i.e think high performance Lambretta & Vespa based 2 stroke machines, the Irish Global Lights, and us. As Time Attack had booked 2 days, they raced on the ‘new’ longer circuit on Saturday, which gave us the luxury of a race on the ‘Old’ Classic circuit on the Sunday (the 2^nd  time this year).

The Entry & Practice. Practice started on a wet track, after some early morning rain, and whilst we might have hoped for a good sized grid, we were missing several cars, some with damage from Donington, some with damage from other places, and two withdrew with engine woes, which sadly included Mike Moss mate Mark Nicholson, who blew his new engine during a mid-week 10 lap test at Donington!

In the event Chris Everill (Ginetta G50) took Pole with a time of 65.713. Mike Moss took the Class BT Pole and  was really on it and was 2^nd fastest! Keith Butcher was 3^rd and on the Class CS pole, with Damian Longotano 4^th.

Simon Hutchings and Mark Williams were on the 3^rd row, while Colin Dunn (BT pole) and Mark Williams were on row 4. Gareth Haycock (now in Class CS) and Andrew Williams (now the Class BT leader after Donny Park)  were on row 5. Blake Edwards & Roger Dowden were on row 6. Completing the entry, were the Luffarelli pair of Verity Banks and Melissa Luffarelli. Verity was again driving Tyrones’ spare Peugeot 106, with Tyrone on hand with the spanners. Melissa was in her usual motorbike engine Mini. Gareth Haycocks’ engine sounded like it had a misfire, and there was plenty of assistance on hand from Damian and with GMS on the phone, it seemed like a fix had been found.

The race 15 minutes plus 1 lap – rolling start

Damian puts Chris under pressure

In between the early practice and race 1 (WSSCC round 9) the rain/drizzle stopped, and the Time Attack practice plus the Scooters  & the Irish Global Lights races had put a dry line on the track. So everyone who had the choice, was on slicks. At the start Chris Everill took the early lead, from Damian Longotano. Mike Moss seemed to be taking the wide line out of Debeni, which let Keith Butcher through into 3^rd place. Chris began to pull a couple of seconds lead on Damian, but by lap 5 he had Damian right on his tail and looking for a way past! Keith Butcher seemed secure in 3^rd place and Mike Moss settled into 4^th place, and the Class BS lead. Behind them there was a bunch, headed by Mark Williams’ Golf who had Simon Hutchings for close company throughout, and Gareth Haycock and Ellis Wiggins were also having a good battle. That is until Gareth pulled into the pits with a seized engine! Colin Dunn and Andrew 88 Williams were having a close battle early on, with a gap to Roger Dowden, then Melissa, Verity and after a mystery spin, Blake Edwards! Simon got by Mark but faced a long chase to try and catch the Class BS leader Mike Moss. Eventually Simonwhas passed by the leaders which put him a lap down.  Late in the race Mike began to close on Keith Butcher as Keiths’ tyres began to fade. Keith had enough in hand and crossed the line in 3^rd place with Mike 5 seconds behind and the last person on 16 Laps. Keith had enough in hand and crossed the line in 3^rd place with Mike in 4^th just 5 seconds behind and the last person on 16 Laps.

At the front Chris & Damian were having the dice of the race, passing & repassing each other on virtually every lap! Eventually Damian got by and was able to make use of back-markers to break the tow and pulled away to win by 8 seconds from Chris, and earned himself the ‘Driver of the Race’ award.

Simon Hutchins was 5^th with Mark Williams 6^th.  Ellis Wiggins was 7^th and only a few seconds ahead of Melissa Luffarelli who must have run Damian close for Driver of the Day award with stirring drive to 8^th place from the back row. Colin Dunn was 9^th but some way ahead of Andrew 88 Williams. However Andrew had a shock late on when Roger Dowden seemed to find some speed and then passed Andrew for 10^th place and then hung on to take the place by 3 seconds! ‘Roger seems to make a late burst at lot of the time’  Blake got himself going and passed Verity to finish 12^th. Verity got another race under her belt and was close to her best time ever although the 106 has a smaller engine than her old MG.

There were plenty of ‘Joker’ cards played in both races.

Race 2 – 15 minutes plus 1 lap – rolling start

By the time the grid formed up for race 2 it was dry with some glimpses of blue sky! Mark Williams, who cant be beaten in Class CT, took the chance to run on slicks and moved into Class CS! The grid didn’t have any surprises, apart from the absence of Gareth, but there was a surprise at Hatchets when Ellis Wiggins spun in front of the pack! This caused chaos,  with cars trying to avoid the spinning Nova. Inevitably there was some contact, and Tyrones’ car (driven by Verity) took some panel damage!  The rest of the grid was long gone, before Ellis got going again, and from there it was a long chase back to finish in 7^th place! We was awarded the ‘Driver of the Race’ for his efforts

At the front, first few laps were a repeat of race 1 with Chris taking the lead and Damian chasing. Keith was in 3^rd place throughout and Mike Moss was 4^th. Behind them Mark Williams was again locked in battle with Simon Hutchins. That is until the later stages, when Mark made a ‘Sebastain Vettel’ type of mistake, and went wide onto the grass at Senna! Unfortunately, although the track was dry, the grass was wet, very wet, and Mark found his slicks no use, as he found himself boating some distance into the barrier, where the impact areas of the Golf came into play, and although it looked a big impact, Mark was able to get out ok. The front of the Golf looked very second hand though!  Back in race, Damian was pressing Chris and after setting the fastest lap of the race passed Chris for the lead. Just to emphasise Damians’ pace his fastest lap of 60.766  was only .005 (i.e 5 thousands) slower than the Class CS lap record (which is held by Jason Davies and stands at 60.761)! Chris kept Damian in sight and he was less than 5 seconds behind at the end!

Behind them, Keith brought his Seat Cupra into 3^rd place, but Mike Moss put some late pressure on, with his fastest lap on lap 14 and closed to just 1 second behind at the end, and in 4^th place was the last driver on 16 laps! Simon Hutchins was 5^th ahead of Melissa who was 6^th. Behind them Roger Dowden headed a tight bunch including Colin Dunn, Blake Edwards, Andy Williams and the recovering Ellis Wiggins! They treated us to some excellent midfield action! Eventually after a late race surge by all 4 drivers, Colin got past Roger, but they were both overtaken by Ellis, on his way to 7^th place. Colin was 8^th but only 1.5 seconds ahead of Roger. Andrew was 10^th and was the last driver on 14 laps.  Blake Edwards faded away with fuel surge to finish 11^th ahead of Verity in 12th! At the end Mark Williams car was recovered, with some heavy front end damage. As it would be a problem fitting into Marks covered trailer, Gareth stepped forward and a swap was done, with Gareths car in Marks rig and Marks damaged car on Gareths open trailer. A nice example of WSSCC co-operation!

So the last race of the day was one of the WSSCC classics, but it’s just a shame we didn’t have a few more drivers take advantage of the opportunity.  Times https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=ATTACK/2018/183370wss.pdf

October Preview

With only the 2 races on October 14^th at Pembrey left, after all the points have been added up it should show that whilst Mike Moss is nailed on for the overall title and Simon Hutchins for 2^nd – 3^rd is still wide open with just a few points between Andrew Williams, Colin Dunn and Damian Longatono! The same is true of 6,7 & 8^th with Blake Edwards, Ellis Wiggins and Tyrone Luffarelli all in contention! In the Classes, Blake. Ellis and Tyrone are also close for 3^rd in Class BS.  In Class CS Damian Longatano is certain to win the class, but there are 6 drivers who are in with a shout of all the other places! So we should have a full CS entry for October with Keith Butcher, Nick Crompton Jim Lyons, Andy Williams, Gareth Haycock and Ken James all in with a shout!

Whilst Mark Williams will take Class CT and Chris Everill will take Class D, in  Class BT Andrew Williams holds a 3 point lead over Colin Dunn, also in Class M Melissa Luffarelli leads with 100 points, whilst her dad Fabio has just 60! So reliability will be the key on October 14^th!

Donington Park Report  – July 29^th 2018

Jason tames wet n dry Donington Park – Chris Everill upholds WSSCC honour!

July 2018 will go down in the history books as a month of record high temperatures and a complete lack of rain, until Sunday 29^th July that is! Actually Donington was on the edge of the rain band that swept the country, so whilst there was some rain, it was never as bad as some areas, and the racing never seemed in doubt!

The Entry and Practice – There were 33 cars on the track in what was the biggest grid of the year! (If some of the late with-drawls had made it we would have a record entry) There were a welcome number of guest drivers in the ‘Invitation Class’ (Class I) some returnees and plenty of regulars!

In the event it was one of our own drivers, Jason Davies, who took Pole Position in the wet practice session with a time of 1.25.842 (0.231 clear of the 2^nd place man) It was Jasons first race of the year, and he entered Class I, as he was so busy getting the car ready, he had not registered for points!  2^nd fastest was the quick guest Dave Cockell with a standard looking Mk 6 Ford Escort, that was the classic ‘Wolf in Sheeps clothing’. On the second row was another guest Mike Cutt with a wild looking BMW E26 M3  but he was joined by Chris Everill who was the first of the WSSCC points scorers.  Another guest Paul Wollfit was 5^th but he was joined by Fabio Luffarelli, the 2^nd of the WSSCC points scorers!

As the full grid is on TSL, (including our guests, who we decided to split into Class IA for the fastest cars, Class IB for 2 litre  Fwd cars and Class IB for the 1.6 cars),  I’ll concentrate on the WSSCC entries. Mike Moss, the current points leader was 9^th in his Class CS Caterham, and was full of the delights of driving an open top car in the rain. ‘My Racesuit is soaked through and as I haven’t got another I just hope it dries out before the race.’  In 15^th was Mark Williams, clearly at home in the wet. In 16th was Ellis Wiggins, the 2^nd CS car, then a guest driver, and then Simon Hutchins (3^rd in CS) then another guest driver, and then in 20th place, was Nick Rocke! Nick was closely followed, in 21^st Place by Colin Dunn (Class BT). Then another guest driver and in 23^rd  place was Gareth Haycock, who was re-united with his V6 Golf, and had now moved into Class CS and took Pole for the class as Damian Longatano was languishing down in 28^th after being plagued by a lack of grip. Actually he was behind Darren Hockley (a Class IB Contender) in 26^th and Andy 88 Williams in 27^th, but they were all due for a boost after 2 of our guests pulled out, leaving some empty spaces on the Grid,  Daniel McKay, and Jasver Sapra. Jas lost his wing of his BMW in Practice, and as he is 2^nd in Kuhmo Tyres championship, decided some discretion was best for him. (Shame that because he was a very late entry and I was hoping to say hello to both him and Daniel).

Tight behind Damian was Melissa Lufarelli (29^th) , and then Blake Edwards (30^th). Blake managed to set a time on his 2^nd lap, which is just as well, as he spent the rest of the session throwing his Clio at the scenery! First he went into the gravel trap (aka ‘the Kitty litter’) at Redgate and had to manoeuvred back on the track by the Redgate snatch vehicle! Not content with that he went off again, near the end of the session! ‘The tyres I had were just a semi sort of wet and weren’t up to it!’  Karl Mason was our last guest ahead of Verity Banks, who was 32^nd driving Tyrone Luffarellis spare car. (Tyrone was on hand to support Verity) Alan Smith was 33^rd and the last WSSCC point scorer in the Ford Ka!

Timing https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=AMOC/2018/183054wss.pdf

Race 1 -15 mins plus 1 lap – rolling start

Jason Davies chases Mike Cutt to the line

In between practice and the race, the rain showers eased and then came back, and driven by a strong wind, it made the track truly wet! So there was no dilemma as to what tyres to use! 

As the grid made it’s way back to the start-line, front row man Dave Cockell drove straight into the pit-line and then the paddock, with a lack of turbo power after a pipe had come adrift!

This left Jason on his own as he lead the pack down into Redgate for the first time. Jason looked to be in his element and began to build a 7 second lead over Mike Cutt. But more on that story later!

3^rd & 4^th on the road was Chris Everill and Fabio Luffarelli but Chris began to draw away as the they came up to lap, the back markers which included Melissa Luffarelli who was having a big struggle that unfortunately lasted all race long!  Melissa could only manage 8 laps in the end, but at least she finished! We had already lost 3 of our guests, Dave Cockell, Rick Jessop and John Dee, when late on Colin Dunn also was a DNF! ‘ I was overdriving due to a misfire and spun into the gravel at Craner.  More on that story later

On 9 laps Blake Edwards was 26^th Karl Mason was 25^th and Verity Banks was a respectable 24^th with Alan Smith in a great 23^rd place. Andrew Williams was 22^nd and Simon Hutchins was 21^st and but for a last lap spin, in front of Damian Longotano, was look to stay on 10 laps and was in 7^th place for a lot of the time. Later he commented ‘Despite learning that I’m not very good in the rain, had a great time at Donington, and thanks very much for all the close but safe driving (and for dodging me when I span, twice…. especially Damian!!.

Most of the rest of the grid was on 10 laps! From 5^th to 10^th place was a gaggle of guest cars, with Kirk Armitage in his BMW M3 who put in an excellent drive to pull up from 11^th place and was given the ‘Driver of the Race’ award for his entertaining drive! (Which went down well with Kirk and his 3 little children!) In 6^th Place was David Jones (Ford Focus) who was the Class IB winner and Paul Woolfit 7^th (Lotus Excige) and 8^th Scott Hubel (Peugeot 205T)

In 9^th place was WSSCC scorer Mark Williams and his immaculate Class CT winning VW, with Mike Moss 10th and the Class BS winner. Mike had a good grid position, but lost a lot of places at the start, when he couldn’t get a gear! Mike had a good dice with Mark with Simon Hutchins early on, but later with guests Gary Bowers and Darren Moon and Ellis Wiggins who also in the mix, and was 13th! Nick Rocke was 14^th, and had switched back to Class BT , and took the BT win, after Colin Dunns faux pas! Gareth Haycock was 15^th and was justifiably proud of his regenerated VW V6 Golf! Gareth had switched to Class CS and he was a Class Winner on his debut! Gareth was at the head of a ducking & diving bunch of guest drivers including Darren Hockley! In 20^th place was Damian Longatano the last driver on 10 laps.

Back at the front Jason Davies had drawn out a 7 second lead over Mike Cutts’ BMW M3. Chris Everill was 3^rd in his 69 red Ginetta G50 and Fabio was 4^th in car 70, and was the last driver to complete 11 laps!  As Jason looked on his way to a race one win, he came across a gaggle of backmarkers, just as Colin Dunn spun into the gravel! The yellow flags came out and that forced Jason to back off! This gave the advantage of Mike Cutt, who was able to catch Jason, and did a slingshot past as they passed out of the ‘Yellow’ zone! Mike put the hammer down and tried to draw away, but Jason responded and set the races fastest lap on final lap of the race, and was only 0.194 behind at the chequered Flag!

We had the lunch break after the end of the race and shortly after the rain lessened, (although the wind didn’t!) We had planned to use the Aston Martin marquee to do the prize-giving, but due to weather they decided not to erect it!  Due to the prospect of more rain later it was decided to walk around & deliver the Race 1 Awards.

Timing https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=AMOC/2018/183054wss.pdf

Race 2 -15 mins plus 1 lap – rolling start

By the time of our 2^nd race of the day the rain had largely eased and the wind was having a dry effect and with 3 races on track before our race, it seemed that a dry line was showing.

Shortly after the start we lost one of guests and Colin Dunn, ‘We hadn’t fixed the electrical gremlins and the engine cut out on the first corner. So far we’ve found duff battery, alternator and some loose wiring to a relay. I’m very disappointed with the result as I was making great progress in race 1. I love the wet conditions and I was having great fun racing amongst the big grid. I don’t get much luck when we travel to the East Midlands. I had a double dnf at Mallory last year too.

Colin was starting from the back, along with the other DNF finishers, 3 guests including Jon Dee, Rick Jessop and the very rapid Dave Cockell! For Jason the priority was to build a big enough lead, to keep himself out of reach of a late challenge from Dave! Jason banged in an early series of quick laps to establish a lead over race 1 winner Mike Cutt, who was 2^nd. Chris Everill was 3^rd and he had Kirk Armitage and Fabio for close company. However Fabios race didn’t last long this time, as he pulled off with the Corrado on Fire! ‘The marshals were on the scene quickly and not only put the fire out, but sprayed powder over me and my helmet as well as the car!’ Fabios problem let guest driver Scott Hubel have a run on to Chris Everill, but Chris was out of reach! . Dave Cockell was already on the move and was up to 6^th by lap 2! Also on the move was Damian Longotano and they came on Mike Moss who became sandwiched between Damian & Jon Llanon and his Citroen Saxo. Meanwhile Mark Williams had made an excellent start and was dicing with guest Gary Bowers when they were joined by the Damian, Jon & Mike trio! At the end Damian was 7^th with Mike Moss 8^th  and closely followed across the line by Guest driver Gary Bowers! Damian was  1^st in Class CT & Mike was 1st in CS.  Mark Williams was 10^th and the CT winner. Simon Hutchins was 13^th, with Darren Hockley 14^th and Ellis Wiggins 15^th only a second behind. The dicing Yorkshire Mini Miglia duo of Darren Moon & Rick Jessop had a race long dice to 15^th & 16^th Gareth Haycock was 17^th. In 20^th place Andrew Williams found his himself winning Class BT, after Nick Rocke became the final retirement. Nick was pushing on well, when he found he had trouble getting all his gears, which escalated into a complete lack of drive, when he was almost within sight of the line. Nick thought that it might be the output shaft that may have broken! Melissa was 21^st , and the Class M winner, after a big dice with Blake Edwards. Verity was 23^rd after passing Alan Smith who was the final finisher in 24^th place. All the while at the front Jason was lapping so quickly that it was hard to check on the rest of the field!

Jason was leading from Mike Cutt, Kirk Armitage and Chris Everill. By lap 10 Dave Cockell had joined them. Armitage and Chris Everill were almost joined together, but as if it meant to remind us, it started to drizzle again!

Dave Cockell took advantage and leapfrogged Chris &Kirk, to put pressure on Mike Cutt. Dave was pushing like mad and he passed Mike on the last lap and threw everything into trying to catch Jason. However it was all in vain as Jason romped home with a 24 second advantage at the cheqeured flag!  So Jason took the race win, with guest drivers 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd Chris Everill in 4^th the first WSSCC points scorer!

After Jason said ‘It’s a bit of shame that Dave wasn’t on the front row for this race as I’m sure it would have been interesting!’ Even so Jason was justly awarded ‘Driver of the Race’

The rain seemed to be back as hard as ever, as we went around to deliver the awards, and later Alan & Mike made an early exit as they both had got soaked for the second time! It was only then that we found out it was Alans birthday! Happy birthday mate!

Packing up was a bit of chore for some! Mike Moss had to ‘bin’ his gazebo as it collapsed under the strain, despite the help from a few willing hands.  In typical motorsport fashion, on the way home the rain stopped, and the sun came out!

Later we had a chorus of emails giving us some great feedback from our guest drivers such as this one. ‘Absolutely loved the racing, it was a great family day out. Everyone at the club and in the paddock was approachable and friendly. On track, all the racers seemed to be aware of the conditions and drove to them and if being lapped were very observant, which was a revelation’

So we certainly made a great number of new friends, who would be looking to support us when we go back to Donington. That’s a ‘when’ not an ‘if’

Timing https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=AMOC/2018/183054wss.pdf

2018 WSSCC rounds 5 & 6 held on Sunday June 10^th. 

The long period of hot sunny weather which started weeks ago, held long enough to cover the 2018 WSSCC rounds 5 & 6 held on Sunday June 10^th.  For the first time in almost 2 years, after a number of pleas, and after some brilliant ‘behind the scenes’ work by Alan Jenkins, we were racing on the original ‘Classic’ circuit!

There was some desperate work by some people to get cars sorted out to enjoy this rare chance with us, but we had only 15 entries, including Nick Rocke in his re-engined Ford Fiesta now with a Duratec engine. Sadly Verity Banks couldn’t join us as her new Ford Focus now seems to have sprung another leak and the car was a little short of brakes, and its not ready to join us yet! One bonus for Verity and the all the others missing is that Donington Park is 6 weeks away, and must be a goal that everybody can aim for! Actually, we were still the biggest grid of the meeting, apart from the Citroën C1’s (They were so quiet you hardly knew they were racing)

Entry – Joining us after missing a few races was Roger Dowden. Andy Williams returned with his Ford Sierra Sapphire. Alan Smith, having bent the Ka in the first race in April, had heroically straightened the battered Ford Ka, but plans a re-shell before Donington! Keith Butcher turned up with a nice looking Seat Cupra. The car was in Endro racing trim with long range tanks, brakes and tyres and may take some work to get it set up for the shorter races. Blake Edwards returned to the scene of his former triumphs with his Renault Clio now re-chipped following some good advice from Nick Rocke, on where to get the car checked after Oulton Park.

Practice was an early affair, and when the timesheets were issued, it was Fabio Luffarelli on Pole position with his VW Corrado with a time of 1.02.284! Next and only.016 slower was Damian Longotano (Westfield Class CS). Mike Moss (Class BS Caterham)  was 4^th fastest, 0.377 ahead of his Class BS rival Tyrone Luffarelli (Pug 106). Keith Butcher, now in Class CS with his Seat was joined on row 3 by Andy Williams with his Class CS Ford Sierra Sapphire. Simon Hutchins & Mark Williams were on row 4  On row 5 Colin Dunn (Class BT Clio) was joined by Roger Dowden (Class AS Davrian) who separated the Class BT pair of Nick Rocke & Andrew 88 Williams (MG ZR) Completing the Grid were Blake Edwards & Alan Smith on row 7.

Now that looks like 14 cars!  We should have had Ken James on the practice sheets, but he was missing after he had a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ when the zip on his fireproof overalls split just as he got to the holding paddock, and he was not allowed out for the official practice session!   He was able to make the grid for Race 1 after borrowing a set of Fireproof overalls.

Race 1 (Round 5) 15 minutes plus a lap. Rolling start

Race 1 -Lap 1 Fabio leads (action photos by Steve Williams)

Although the original ‘Classic’ circuit, is shorter, it’s quicker by some degree. And the commentator dubbed the WSSCC ‘as the Quickest cars you’ll see all day!  So as the grid came around towards the lights, Fabio took the lead out of Hatchets from Damian, then a fast starting Tyrone, Andy Williams, Keith Butcher and Mike Moss.

However at the start of lap 2 Damian had passed Fabio who was trailing some oil smoke! Sadly the cloud of smoke increased until Fabio was forced to quit on lap 3 rather than risk the engine any more. Afterwards it appeared that an oil breather pipe had come off, but Fabio had brought the Mini along too, and as Melissa was away at Uni, he had a ready to go spare for race 2! Damian was now well in the lead but as Fabio dropped back, it was briefly Fabio & Tyrone 2^nd & 3^rd, but Keith Butcher got hold of the Seat, and passed Tyrone for 2^nd place. Tyrone ran in 3^rd place for a good 5 laps more, until first Andy Williams and then Ken James passed him, and he dropped towards Mike Moss! Tyrone & Mike then had a tremendous dice for the Class BS honours which lasted for many laps, until Mike got by late on, and set the Class Fastest Lap on lap 12 to eke out a lead, to win Class BS by almost 5 seconds.

Ken James, who had driven from the back in his Loco-Hornet to rise to 4^th place, dropped out on lap 8! Unfortunately he had a surprise and un-welcome visitor when Rod-ney popped out to see him! In other words Ken had a potentially expensive engine blow-up when a Con-rod popped out of the block! ‘I hope the head hasn’t suffered any damage as that’s the really expensive bit!’

Simon Hutchings and Mark Williams had quiet-ish races to 6^th & 7^th overall but behind them it was all go! Initially Colin Dunn was in the lead of Class BT with Nick Rocke getting used to his car in race trim. But that all changed when Colin made a mistake at the far end of the circuit, and had a big off, but prevented major damage with a spectacular save, which impressed everyone who saw it! Unfortunately he had damaged his front splitter, and by the time he had gathered it all up, Nick Rocke was past into the Class BT lead, setting the Classes fastest lap in the process. Colin made major effort to catch and repass Nick, but Nick resisted a last lap challenge to take 8^th place by just ½ second!

Roger Dowden had a quiet race to 10^th place, but behind him, Andrew Williams and Blake Edwards were having a real dice! Andrew held sway in the first few laps, but then Blake began to find his feet and started to put the pressure on Andrew, overtaking him and pulling a gap, until Blake began to slow dramatically and then pulled off the circuit, handing 11th place back to Andrew and his trusty MG ZR!  Blake confirmed afterwards ‘I ran out of petrol. I’ve had the car Chipped and I miscalculated the petrol consumption” Alan Smith had a quiet r\ace to 12th place. So Damian Longotano took his 2^nd race win of the year, but Keith Butcher found Andy Williams making a big last lap effort and took 2^nd place by just ½ second!

In the post-race interviews Damian confirmed ‘I was lucky Fabio had those issues, he’s a good driver and I didn’t think I was going to get past’ Keith confirmed that Andy gave him a hard battle. ‘It was good fun, that’s what we’re down here for, isn’t it !’ Colin Dunn was awarded ‘Driver of the Race’ for his epic early race ‘save’ Nick Rocke confirmed ‘I thought he was going to crash!’

Hear the end-of-race one interviews

n the lunch break, everyone signed a Sympathy Card for Nick Crompton, who dad died recently. Nicks dad won the Welsh Autograss Championship some time ago, and was known to a few, including our Scrutineer Vince Brown. It was also nice to see some old friends, some of whom were doing the C1 race, and they were not enjoying themselves as much as we wer!. You can always come back to us lads

To Mangle Shakespere (as I sometimes do),from Henry V ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, who raced on the Old Circuit, Those did not turn out shall think themselves accursed they were not here’

Race 2 (Round 6) 15 minutes plus a lap. Rolling start

 Fabio did switch to the Moto Mini, and would start from the back as he had a DNF in Race 1, but the big shock was to see Tyrone leave the grid and drive into the pit-lane, before the start of the Green Flag lap! Tyrone explained ‘I could smell fuel in the car, so pulled in to check it out. Cleaned it up and went out!’ So as the grid came up to start-line to start the race, Tyrone joined in after the last car had passed the end of the pit-lane!  His dad Fabio was off like a rocket and was up to 5^th place as the cars passed the paddock! Although he would continue his rise, he was adjudged to have jumped the start, and was given a 10 second penalty!

Damian took an immediate lead from a fast starting Mike Moss, and then there was a big dice between Andy Williams, Keith Butcher and the fast rising Fabio!  By lap 3 Fabio passed Mike to move into second place. Mike and Andy had a dice after Keith Butcher made an early exit from the race with no grip from the tyres that came with the car.

However whilst Fabio started to harass Damian for the lead, Mike Moss, the Class BS leader seemed to have a second or so gap to Andy Williams, who proved to be a handy Cushion between Mike and Tyrone Luffarelli who having started form the pit-lane drove well to finish in 5th  place overall and 2^nd in Class BS, but. Mike won Class BS again, and also added the extra point for the class fastest lap!

Simon Hutchings had a quiet race to finish in 6th Place, after Jason Davies had fettled the Mazdas’ exhaust, that is!  Mark Williams also had a good run to 7^th overall and was the last car on the same lap as the leader!

Colin Dunn, whose car looked very smart with some new livery, was holding a narrow lead in Class BT from Nick Rocke in the early laps, but suddenly Colin began to fall back. He fell behind Nick, Roger Dowden, Blake Edwards and Andrew Williams, and almost fell into the clutches of Alan Smith. Clearly something was wrong and after the race Colin explained ‘My throttle jammed part on! I was having to stay slow enough to be able to stop for the corners!’ In the end Nick Rocke was 8^th overall and took the Class BT win and the extra point for the class fastest lap! Roger Dowden had a quiet race to 9^th place overall. In 10^th Place was Blake Edwards, proving there’s life in the ‘Old Dog’ yet! Blake had slowly built up his pace, after starting at the back due to his first race dnf, and was closing on Andrew Williams, and overtook him in the closing laps! Andrew finished in 11^th place, ahead of Colin Dunn and Alan Smith, who both plugged away to rake in more points!

At the front, Damian & Fabio where having a fine dice for the lead, and swapped places a few times, before Fabio took the lead ‘On the Road!’ It looked exciting stuff, but Damian revealed later he had seen the 10 second penalty board with Fabios’ number on it, so he knew he only had to keep him in sight, to take his 2^nd win of the day! Fabio overcame his penalty to finish 2^nd and also take the ‘Driver of the Race’ award for his drive from the back row!

Hear the end-of-race two interviews

N.B as it is some time since the  old ‘Classic circuit’ has been used, the existing lap records for the circuit were all set some time ago.

The remaining dates in the 2018 Championship are as follows

Round   Date                          Circuit

7 & 8          July 29th                     Donington Park            AMOC

9 & 10        August 19th                Pembrey                        BARC

11 & 12      October 14th               Pembrey                       BARC

Photos of the action and prizegiving on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheWRDA/

Results from TSL Timing – http://www.tsl-timing.com

Full details are on www.wrda.co.uk

WSSCC rounds 3/4 Oulton Park Circuit. Race reports by Nick Rocke 

The Saturday morning brought a dry but cold start at Oulton Park Race Circuit, it also brought some bad news Chris Everill was unable to race due to having engine problems the day before in testing, Verity Banks’ new race car was not ready in time, so we were at 14 competitors going into Qualifying.

Simon Hutching had also been having car problems his exhaust had snapped in testing the Friday before, fortunately for Simon there was a custom exhaust center local to Oulton Park who agreed to open up at 7am to fix his damaged exhaust proving not all heroes wear capes.

We were joined by a selection of Invitation drivers some new faces, Patrick Smyth with his Millington powered Lotus Elan S3, Mike Nash in a Seat Cupra, Mark Jones and Steve Cunniffe were sharing car #98 another Seat Cupra, each driver was doing one race each, and were both also driving in the GT challenge. There was one familiar face Greg Barlow in the beautiful Mk1 Escort, Greg joined us last year at the Oulton Park rounds.

A past champion, Blake Edwards was ready to race his first race in 25  years, Blake has decided to make a return to racing this season. Blake was the very first WSSCC champion in 1991 & 1992, back then he was racing a Ford Capri, now Blake is sporting a MK2 Renault Clio 182 sport, he was looking forward to getting stuck into the thick of it again after a very successful test session at Llandow Circuit earlier in the year, with all of Blakes experience and a well prepared car he will be one to watch this season.

Qualifying

By the time qualifying came around the weather had brightened up there were clouds in the sky but the forecast was looking to be a nice dry day. With fewer drivers on our grid at Oulton Park this season it gave more room for drivers to really push for the best possible qualifying times.

By lap 3 Patrick Smyth had secured pole position with a time of 1.52.98 which was almost 4 seconds clear of 2nd place competitor Mark Jones, Mike Nash grasped 3rd on the grid from Fabio Luffarelli by two tenths of a second, Fabio was not in his usual bike engine powered Corrado he was actually borrowing his daughter’s (Mellisa Luffarelli) Bike Engined MIni.

Mike Moss was sat in a very respectable 5th place and also 1st in class BS in his Caterham, by the looks of it he was going to keep our current WSSCC champion Tyrone Luffareli honest. Tyrone was running in 6th and had his work cut out to try get past Mike Moss. Simon Hutchings with his newly repaired exhaust was going strong and almost matched Tyrone’s qualifying time.

Daryl Radford was 8th in his Honda Civic but unfortunately sheered a aluminum mount for a auxiliary belt pulley, despite trying to source a welder or someone local to repair it he was left with the only other option which was to retire the car for the meeting and enjoy a bit of spectating. Greg Barlow in the fabulous Mk1 Escort was 9th on the grid with class BT Colin Dunn snapping at his heels in 10th.

Ellis Wiggins in the Vauxhall Nova was in 11th and Andrew Williams in the MG ZR was in 12th, Gareth Haycocks Qualifying session was rather eventful as he tried to get used to the Car he had rented for the weekend, Gareth had problems keeping the grip through the rear end of the Smokey diesel VW Golf, he may have had a few nail biting moments but he managed to keep the car out of the Armco, he later found that the tyres that came with the car were no good and changed to his alternative set and this rectified the problem. Gareth has been slowly rebuilding his V6 powered VW Golf since a nasty accident at Mallory Park in 2017, he is approaching the end of the rebuild but to satisfy his craving for motorsport he decided to support the championship by renting one of the Grant Motorsport cars for this weekend, we look forward to seeing his V6 beast back out with us hopefully this season.

Blake Edwards had qualified in 14th and last on the grid. Blake was still getting used to the new car and was getting quicker lap by lap, he was enjoying pushing the car around the fantastic circuit that is Oulton Park, he had not driven round it for many years.

Race 1 (Round 3)

The grid gets ready for the Green Flag lap. Patrick Smiths red Lotus Elan was on pole! (photo by Rob Allender)

The rolling start was far from perfect as the lights were a little late going out but they all got away safely, Tyrone Luffarelli jumped straight in 4th from 6th taking 1st in class position from Mike Moss, Fabio was up into 2nd by the end of lap one, Patrick Smyth had pulled away massively by the end of lap one and had a huge 8 second lead over 2nd place Fabio. Mark Jones had dropped to 5th off the line and was waiting for his chance to pass Tyrone’s 106.

Number 17 Gareth Haycock had got past Ellis Wiggins in the Nova but it was short lived as Ellis regained the position on lap 2. By lap 2 Patrick Smyth’s lead over the pack had grown to 10 seconds, Mike Nash had managed to pass Fabio Luffarelli and Mark Jones was passed Tyrone and up into 4th, Now Mike Moss could focus on trying to get that Ford Sigma powered Caterham past Tyrones Pug 106 they were less than a second from each other the whole lap but Tyrone was leaving no doors open for Mike to squeeze through. Simon Hutchings MX5 was running in 3rd in class BS but couldn’t quite keep up with the battling pair in front.

The pack stayed the same until lap 5 when the racing started to get you off your seat and watching in anticipation, Mark Jones had taken 3rd place from Fabio’s Mini and was now hunting 2nd place Mike Nash, Tyrone Luffarelli was under some serious pressure from Mike Moss, who’s Caterham is far lighter than the Pug 106 and has far better braking due to this lightness. I imagine Tyrone had to keep his defense very tight to fend off Mike Moss.

This competitiveness continued further back in the pack as Ellis Wiggins had been trying hard to get past Class BT driver Colin Dunn, Simon Hutching was going well but although putting in some very consistent lap times he could still not catch up with the BS battle between Tyrone and Moss.

Greg Barlow was also very consistent and was still running in 9th overall, now that car will make any blue oval fan weak at the knees, absolutely spectacular seeing the pinto powered Mk1 Escort being put through its paces the way it should be. Andy Williams was hanging in there and holding off Haycocks Derv propelled golf. Blake Edwards was running at the back but was enjoying his first race none the less.

Mark Jones set the new invitation class lap record for Oulton Park with a time of 1:54.409 in his Seat Cupra, well done Mark Jones.

On lap 6  Mike Moss made his move and grabbed hold of 1st in class BS Tyrone Luffarelli was trying to regain the position so Mike Moss had his work cut out to retain his position. Patrick Smyth was still running in first and had a comfortable lead so just needed to finish, Ellis Wiggins was still fighting to get past Class BT Colin Dunn in his Renault Clio 172, Ellis had and fantastic 7th lap and took another 3 seconds off his lap time, this hard work paid off as he was now in front of Colin’s Clio.

As they all came through Lodge corner on the final lap there were some who took it right to the line Moss and Tyrone Luffarelli drag raced to the line but it was too late, Mike Moss had taken his first class win of the season.

The finishing order was Patrick Smyth taking the overall race win and 1st in class I with a gigantic 14.1 second lead. Mark Jones 2nd overall and 2nd in class I, Mike Nash in 3rd overall and 3rd in class I, Fabio Luffarelli brought the Mini in 4th and 1st class M.

Mike Moss in 5th and 1st in class BS Mike also played his Joker so will receive double points for this round also had fastest lap in class, Tyrone Luffarelli in 6th and 2nd in class BS, Simon Hutchings in 7th after a very lonely race but retained 3rd in class BS, Greg Barlow drove that Mk1 beautifully all race, he started in 8th and finished in 8th and also 4th in class I.

Ellis Wiggins brought the Nova home in one piece or so we thought later to find he had broken yet another drive shaft/ CV joint,9th overall and 4th in class BS he drove amazingly and finally conquered Oulton Park. After last years issues I am sure he was one happy guy. Colin Dunn came 10th  and 1st in class BT and was also the last competitor to complete 8 laps.

Blake Edwards gets the ‘Driver of the Race’ award from MC Nick (photo by Rob Allender)

Andrew Williams brought his MG ZR home in 11th and in 2nd in class BT, Gareth Haycock tamed the Derv powered golf and kept it on the black stuff to come 12th and 1st in CT.

Blake Edwards drove that Clio Sport to the limit and came 13th  and 5th in BS, Blake was also awarded ‘Driver of the Race’ as he showed us there is still hope for Robert Allender’s return to racing, watch this space!

 Photos of the action and prizegiving on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheWRDA/

Results from TSL Timing – http://www.tsl-timing.com

Race 2 (Round 4)  Well it was not long before we were on the grid for the final race of the day, we were last on the programme for the day and time was tight with Oulton Park having a 6:30pm curfew on noise, so we were praying for no incidents. Unfortunately Patrick Smyth had retired the Lotus Elan s3, i do believe due to a tyre issue.

Mark Jones’ team mate Stephen Cunniffe was in the drivers seat for round 4 and because of the rules had to start from the back of the grid. Andrew Williams had been having a few battery issues with the MG ZR and needed a bump start out of the holding area.

Fabio Luffarelli being the only class M competitor wanted to have some fun so opted to start from the back of the grid but was not there long. They lined up on the grid for the green flag lap and off they went to start the 4th round of the 2018 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship.

The rolling start this time was text book and everyone got away with any issues, as they came around for the first lap at race speed, Andrew Williams’ battery problems came back to haunt him and his car began to miss-fire, but good Andy is also a experienced track marshal, so he new exactly what to do with it and he pulled off next to the nearest marshals post and reversed behind the Armco barrier, this meant there would be no need to delay the race with a red flag or safety car! Well done Andy proves its good to not only know how to drive quick round a circuit, but you also benefit from knowing how the orange army operate.

By the end of lap 1 car #98 Stephen Cunniffe was motoring and was already running in 2nd. Blake Edwards had taken 10th from Haycock’s diesel VW Golf and was pushing that Clio to its limits, Blake was already 2secs quicker than his fastest lap in race 1 (round 3). Ellis in the Vauxhall Nova was now reeling in Greg Barlows Mk1 Escort.

 By Lap 2 Tyrone Luffarelli was in 3rd and had got past his rival Moss. Fabio, father of Tyrone, had managed to get from the back to the front very quickly in the bike powered Mini, and he was now in 4th overall.

Positions stayed the same for a few laps and Moss was finding it hard to try make a pass on Tyrone because Fabio’s Mini was sandwiched between the two BS competitors. Mike Moss was pushing hard and on lap 4 managed to set the new WSSCC Oulton Park Class BS record with a time of 1:58.894. Ellis Wiggins in the Vauxhall Nova had reeled the Escort of Greg Barlow in and had made the move that put him into 7th overall.

Both drivers in the Hot Seat- Mike Nash & Steven Cunliffe fight it out for the lead (photo by Richard Redshaw)

Stephen Cunniffe took the lead from Mike Nash on lap 4 but Nash was not ready to give up without a fight. Haycock made a move on Blake as the approached lodge on lap 4, Blake tried to fight back and put a rear wheel on the grass this resulted in a massive sideways moment for Blake, he recovered well and showed us that despite being a lot older than most on the grid his reaction times are still as sharp as they always were! Simon Hutching was pushing hard to try catch the BS battle between Moss and Lufferelli.

By lap 6 Fabio had got past Tyrone’s 106 and Moss was pushing to get pasts, both drivers were only two tenths of a second away for each other this is some exciting motorsport for ours supporters to watch. Despite all his efforts MIke Moss could not find a kink in Tyrone’s armour and they continued mirroring each other for the remaining laps of the race. 

The class M (WSSCC) Oulton Park lap record was set by Fabio Luffarelli on lap 7 with a time of 1:57.224. Also Colin Dunn set the new class BT Oulton Park lap record with a time of 2:05.745 on the final lap.

As they came across the line for the last time it was Stephen Cunniffe who took the cheqeured flag followed by Mike Nash in 2nd and 2nd  in class I, Fabio Luffarell was 3rd across the line and 1st in class M, a fantastic drive from Fabio starting from the back and making up 9 places in 8 laps! In 4^th, just missing out on a podium spot, was Tyrone Luffarelli although he was 1st in class BS after an exciting race with 5th place Mike Moss, who arrived home in 2nd in class BS.

Simon Hutchings finished 6th overall and 3rd in class BS, Ellis Wiggins stayed in 7th till the end and finished 4th in BS, Gregory Barlow finished 8th and 3rd in class I, Colin Dunn crossed the line in 9th and 1st in class BT, Gareth Haycock finished 10th and 1st in CT, Blake Edwards finished in 11th and 5th in BS.

Ellis Wiggins gets his ‘Driver of the Race’ award from MC Nick (Photo by Rob Allender)

Ellis Wiggins was awarded the ‘Driver of the Race’ for his dice with Greg Barlow and his Mk1 Escort.

A fantastic days racing alongside the Aston Martin Owners Club I would like to thank everyone for coming and I look forward to seeing you all at Pembrey on the 10th of June.  Nick

Photos of the action and prizegiving on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheWRDA/

Results from TSL Timing – http://www.tsl-timing.com

Preview. WSSCC competitors ready for Oulton Park

A select band of WSSCC championship regulars will be at Oulton Park on Saturday 12th May for Rounds 3 &4 of the 2018 Championship. 2017 Champion Tyrone Luffarelli will be joined in Class BS by Blake Edwards, who was the very first champion in 1991 & 92. Blake is having his first race in the 2018 series in a Renault Clio. The regulars will be joined by some guest with some intriguing cars, including the Seat Cupra which Rhys Lloyd used to win the Championship in 2008!

Live Timing from Oulton Park  is available on TSL  http://www.tsl-timing.com/event/181954

The remaining dates in the Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Championship are all Sundays

• June 10th Pembrey
• July 29th Donington Park National Circuit 
• August 19th Pembrey
• Oct 14th Pembrey with Trucks

Race 1 and the clouds are clearing

WSSCC rounds 1 & 2 22/4/2018- Pembrey

Report by Nick Rocke -Action photos by Nick Forbes

Qualifying.

With a rather unsatisfying damp start to the Sunday morning, the competitors of the WSSCC dusted off there Racing Boots and fired their cars up, some of which for the first time since October 2017.

The Saturday before there were a few repairs to be made to the current champion Tyrone Lufferelli’s Pug 106 after his clutch exploded during the race he did with the track attack championship on the Saturday, so he had to change the clutch and rather beaten up gearbox. Former WSSCC champion Jason Davies had offered his services to Simon Hutchings and was spannering his MX5, with all Jason’s experience and knowledge surely, he could help shave a few seconds off Simon’s lap times.

Mark Williams had bought a new race car this year he was now sporting a very nice looking mk5 Golf, roger Dowden had come back out of the woodwork with the little yellow davrian, 2007 champion Keith Butcher has made a return to the championship this year with his Audi A4 super tourer, Damian Longotano had made a few changes to the Westfield it was now running a 2.0 litre Millington engine.

We were 2nd out after the trucks which turned out to be eventful with one of the truck spraying diesel, oil and mud for good measure over most corners of the circuit, there were a few spinners, Alan Smith pulled off after a few laps with an overheating issue later to find his auxiliary belt tensioner had disintegrated and threw the belt off.

Nick Crompton Qualified 2nd behind Chris Everill but Nick had altered the camber on the rear of his EVO the rear arches tried to eat his rear tyres lucky enough they were salvageable after qualifying, Jim Lyons also making a return the championship in the Mini Turbo qualified 3rd overall and 2nd in class CS behind Nick Crompton. Behind Jim there Endaf Owens out in a Seat Leon, 5th on the grid with a very Respectable 1.17.6 lap time was our current WSSCC champion Tyrone who also qualified 1st in class BS with a new clutch and spare gearbox fitted he was set for a successful weekend.

Mark Williams was going well in his new VW Golf cementing his 6th place by the 4th lap, Mike Moss in the Westfield in 7th and Damian Longotano in 8th, Simon Hutchings in 9th, Number 19 Colin Dunn in his newly built Clio 172 qualified 10th on the grid and 1st in BT but retired the car early due the oily conditions, Richard Francis had a sideways encounter with hatchets after a late pass on Andy Williams on the main straight he drifted the car through hatchets hairpin and cocked a rear wheel on most other corners qualified 11th on the grid and 1st in Class AS unfortunately it was not all good for Richard his flamboyant sideway moment had resulted in injuring his little finger as he caught the steering wheel, he later found he had actually fractured the bone Ouch!

Ken James was 12th overall and 4th in CS, Daryl Radford in his Honda Civic was 13th on the grid and 4th in BS, Ellis Wiggins in the Nova redtop was 14th on the grid and 5th in BS. Andy Williams (Caldicot) in his freshly painted white MG ZR finish 15th on the grid and 2nd in BT he struggled to find grip on the greasy track, behind Andy was Alan Smith in the Ford KA despite his DNF he managed to squeeze a time in on lap 2 putting him 16th on the grid and the only runner in class AT,  Roger Dowden qualified 17th in his Davrian and 2nd in class AS.

In 18th position was invitation racer Daren Hockley in his Honda civic which came in early with a suspected oil leak, Melissa Luffarelli didn’t have the best of qualifying sessions coming in early with brake issues Melissa was sat in 19th on the grid with Keith Butcher to keep her company Keith qualified last after coming in after one lap with a knocking noise coming from the Audi A4 super tourer.

There was plenty of time for tinkering and refining the car as we were not out for the first race until 2pm.

Round 1.

Although the sun did peep through the clouds occasionally the morning was very wet there was the big decision that all drivers dread WETS or DRYS, with most teams frantically checking the forecast, a lot of drivers opted for wets weather tyres others were brave enough to try their luck on slicks or dry weather tyres.

Well the one who took the dry option were on to a winner because our unpredictable Welsh weather changed drastically, the clouds moved to the song of an aerial display of acrobatic planes overhead at Pembrey, the sun soon dried the circuit out whilst drivers sat in park ferme.

As driver came around on their warm up lap the sight was fantastic the sound even better, the front row of Everill and Crompton compacted the grid up as they came through Honda corner, the lights went out and round one was under way.

Front runner Chris Everill had pulled a small lead in his Ginetta by the first time round Honda, but Nick Crompton’s Lancer wasn’t far behind, Endaf’s had got passed Jimbo and was third and Jimbo’s Mini was 4th, Tyrone Luffarelli was still holding 5th but was defending against Mike Moss in the 1600cc Caterham.

Mike was closely followed by Longotano’s Westfield and he was motoring, next was Mark Williams in the mk5 Golf he started 6th but had dropped to 8th during the opening lap, Richard Francis had jumped up two places on the start, his years of karting in his younger years had paid off when he put his car into a gap that no one else would of dared.

In 10th was Ken James in his Duratec powered Loco Hornet, in 11th Simon Hutching who had lost two place but was still hold 3rd in class BS, behind him was BT front runner Colin Dunn in the Clio 172 cup, closely follow by Daryl Radford’s Honda Civic, Ellis Wiggins was still retaining 14th in the Nova, Roger Dowden had made up a couple of positions now in 15th followed by Andy Williams in 16th, Alan Smith in 17th, Darren Hockley 18th and finally Melissa Luffarelli, Melissa had a few place to make up due the braking issues spoiling her qualifying time, Keith Butchers Audi A4 was nowhere to be seen.

By the end of Lap 1 Everill had opened the lead up another second but was by no means out of danger with Crompton’s Lancer keeping him honest, Longotano had got passed Tyrone and Mike and was now hunting Jimbo’s Mini, Tyrone and Mike were running within a tenth of a second of each other and Tyrone was leaving NO GAPS, the Hornet of Ken had made up yet another place and was challenging Mark for 8th. Simon in the Mx5 was now in 10th with Francis in 11th and Radford now in 12th. Colin Dunn wasn’t far behind in 13th the rest of the pack stayed the same on lap 2.

By lap 3 Chris Everill had furthered his lead and looked unstoppable, Endaf had shortened the gap between him and Nick Crompton, but the real shock was that Damian Longotano was now in 4th and was Flying extracting every drop of power from that Millington powerplant. The gap between 5th Jim Lyons and 6th & 7th (Tyrone and Mike) had grown to a few seconds again on this lap going into Honda these two were inseparable, Melissa finally found a gap on lap 3 into Honda pulling of a fabulous move and gaining two positions in one hit, now was time to open that bike engine powered Mini up.

Lap 4 Everill was still Managing his lead with no sign of a threat in sight the first 5  had become evenly spaced out but did not change positions, the gap to the 6th competitor had grown to about 10sec and Ken James had managed to get past the dueling pair of BS cars, Keith Butchers Audi A4 made an appearance on this lap after having to start the race late due to an issue early on in the race.

lap5 Everill was still managing his lead from Crompton’s turbo charged Lancer, but Damian’s Westfield was closing in on 3rd place Endaf Owens. Jim in the Mini and ken James looked to be racing on their own at this point with no challengers or no one to challenge close by, Simon Hutchings had moved up in to 8th and 2nd in class after managing to pass Mike Moss in the Caterham 1600cc, Tyrone still being persistently hunted by these two competitors, there was no let up for Tyrone he had to continue to fight for his class position. By this point of the race it was apparent that we had lost car number 13 Alan Smith had a nasty off over near old paddock and was out of this race.

Most positions stayed the same during lap 6 Mike Moss had regained his 2nd in class position back from Simon Hutchings and tried a late lunge down the inside at Honda, but Tyrone seen it coming and close the door on Moss’s Caterham. Again, on lap 7 the trio of Tyrone, Mike and Simon were fighting it out for the top spot in class BS all three cars were a tenth of a second from each other fantastic to watch. Daryl Radford was still trying hard to get past Mark Williams in his new VW Golf, but Mark was not going to let him take it easily. Damian Longotano Was becoming the star of the show as he past the Turbo charged Lancer of Nick Crompton and now had the Ginetta in its sights there was no denying it that Westfield was shifting as quick as a stabbed Rat.

As the front runners came through Honda on lap 8th Everill’s lead had decreased to only a couple of seconds and Longotano was whipping every horse power out of that new Millington motor to catch him. The rest of the pack position remained unchanged and most were spread out a bit, one thing a do recall is how nice Ken James’s Duratec powered Loco Hornet sounded as it screamed past, sadly there was no one near him to race with. Mike Moss had made a move on Tyrone and made stick. Keith Butcher was still going well picking off car by car as he made his way up through the pack after starting late and from the back.

As the front cars approached Honda going on to lap 9 I was amazed to see the bright yellow kit car of Damian Longotano leading, he had closed the gap and made the pass in only one lap, Colin Dunn had made some ground up and was now catching the Nova of Wiggins once again. Melissa Luffarelli was shadowing the Davrian of Roger Dowden and waiting for a chance to get past, Tyrone had also regained the position he had lost to Mike’s caterham.

Lap 10 and Damian was still in the lead, but Chris was hot on his heels, Endaf was now in 3rd and Crompton on 4th, Jim’s Mini turbo was still holding 5th but with a huge gap to Crompton’s Lancer, Ken James was running in 6th and again with only himself to race with. Damian and Chris had now lapped everyone up to 8th position but Damian had now lost the position to Chris Everill going onto lap 11, great to watch kept me on my toes with all the battles going on.

Melissa had now got her spaceframe Mini past Dowden’s Davrian and had put a few seconds between them, Andy Williams (Caldicot) was now getting into a dog fight with the Honda Civic of Darren Hockley, but Andy was defending well and was fighting for overall position. Chris and Damian were now trying to work up through the back markers and Chris had lost a bit of time getting stuck behind the 3-way BS battle of Simon, Mike and Tyrone, could Damian use this to his advantage, the Westfield appeared to have better straight-line speed than the Ginetta.

Now by lap 12 the track was bone dry and the competitors whom went out on slicks were being rewarded by fantastic grip, the competitors who opted for their wet tyre choice were no doubt struggling and the tyres were more than likely as good as a chocolate fire guard, Damian had used the back markers that were slowing Chris up to his advantage, by the time they came through the kink before Honda Damian was back in the lead, now all he had to do was stay there. Daryl and Mark were still having a race of their own never more than a car length from each other from the start of the race.

Richard Francis was holding 13th well and running in 1st in class AS and doing it all with a broken pinky (not that he knew at this time but sure he was feeling the pain). Damian had now pulled slightly away from Chris as they started lap 13 but was by no means safe yet. Tyrone and Mike had pulled away from Simon’s mk5 but there was no way Tyrone could let his guard down yet with 1 lap to go. Colin Dunn was looking to have one more go at getting past Richards Saxo before the end, but Richard’s defense was to strong again his years of karting experience showing through here.

As they crossed the line Damian had done enough to remain in the lead and took his first ever overall win and 1st in class CS, it was a very well-deserved win fought out with the Ginetta of Chris Everill Right up to the Chequered flag. Chris Everill finish 2nd and 1st in Class D, Endaf Owens finished 3rd, Nick Crompton 4th and 2nd in CS, Jim Lyons finished 5th and 3rd in CS, Ken James finished 6th and 4th in CS after having a lonely race with no one to challenge. Tyrone in his first class BS race came a very respectable 7th and 1st in BS, it wasn’t easy defending off mike and Simon and on his wet option tyre as well, well deserved Result, Mike Moss tried very hard to past Tyrone and again went right to the flag Mike finished 8th overall and 2nd in class BS. In 9th Simon Hutchings with a fantastic drive from Simon and a great tyre choice from the former Champ Jason Davies who was spannering the car for Simon, also he finished 3rd in class BS fabulous start to the season for him.

Mark Williams was 10th and 1st in CT Mark never did give in to the constant threat of Radford’s Honda Civic. Daryl Radford finished 11th and 4th in BS, Ellis Wiggins had made a massive improvement on last season’s lap times most likely because he had improved his brakes, so he had a lot more confidence in the car, Ellis finished 12th overall and 5th in BS. Richard Francis despite having fractured his finger in qualifying had come 13th and 1st in class AS, Colin Dunn Came 14th and 1st in BT in his new Clio 172 Cup, Melissa Luffarelli had gone out on a wet set up and once her confidence built up she was rocketing around Melissa finished 15th and 1st in class M.

Roger Dowden (WSSCC chairman) has fully rebuilt the Davrian for the 2018 and we look forward to him racing here once again, roger came in 16th and 2nd in class AS, in 17th was Andy Williams in the MG ZR also 2nd in class BT Andy held off Hockley’s Civic right to the end great drive from Andy, in 18th was Darren Hockley.

Two Cars did not finish Alan Smiths Ford KA which suffered heavy damage after the incident which the tyre wall earlier in the race and Keith Butcher retired the Audi A4 Super Tourer just before the end of the rest.

So, a fantastic opening round to the WSSCC 2018 season with great driving and some competitive battles to keep us wanting more I wonder what round 2 will have in store for us.

Round 2      

There was about 2 hours of spare time between our 1st and 2nd race of the day so the competitors had time to carry out repairs, Alan Smith’s Ford KA sport was looking rather sorry for itself after his off in race one, he had his work cut out to get it fit to race in the 2nd race of the day, but first he had to get checked over by the circuit medical staff.

Damian Longotano was celebrating his first WSSCC overall win but the celebrating was short lived as he also had car issues, Damian said they may have a alternator issue and the battery had gone flat right at the end of race 1 and they had to push the car back to the paddock, luckily the WSSCC camp was in the pit lane so was not far to push.

It was a pleasure to see many of our non-racing competitors had come down to spectate and support the championship, former champion Rhodri Jenkins was down with former WSSCC racer Alvin Powell, Mat Harries had come down and Robert Allender had awarded him his trophy he was unable to collect at last season’s awards evening.

Nick Rocke (WSSCC vice chairman) had come down to help and show his support to the championship, Andy Williams and Richard Francis were both glad to take shelter under his race shelter, Nick was also on hand with refreshment for all who wanted them. Former WSSCC champion Chris Morris was also around the paddock helping and offering advice and support where needed.

Alan Smith managed to get his car sorted, there’s nothing you can’t fixed with a hammer, duct tape and cable ties, it may not have looked pretty but it would make it into the second race and that’s all that matters as it’s no fun watching from the side of the track.

They all lined up on grid for the second race of the season, unfortunately Endaf’s Seat Leon would not be Joining them. Damian got a better start, but Chris Everill out braked him going into hatchets, Everill took the lead and Nick Crompton was in third, Mike Moss had a bit of a moment on the new section out braking himself going into the new left hander, mike had a little lock up but got away with it without any issues.

By the end of lap 1 Everill had pulled away considerably and had a comfortable 3 second lead as he crossed the line, Crompton’s Turbo Charged Lancer was chomping at the heels of Longotano (was Damian being haunted by his alternator issues) Jim Lyons and Ken James were not far behind Crompton’s Lancer. Current Champion Tyrone Luffarelli was running in 6th position and catching Ken on the Brake into Hatchets, as Ellis Wiggins Nova came down to the new section his wheel locked under braking and the car was forced into a spin, later found out that a gearbox/ driveshaft issue had caused this. Ellis’s Nova was stranded in a dangerous position, so Circuit staff called for a red flag and the race was abandoned.

Due to the short duration of the race they asked for a re-grid to original starting positions, and the race length had been reduced from 20mins to 15mins plus one lap. This time Longotano gets the better line through Hatchets and leads the race through old paddock, the front 3 car of Damian, Chris and Nick were all within a 10th of each other, Tyrone, Ken and Mike may as well of been touching they were so close as they all diced into the new braking zone. Keith Butcher was working his way up from the back row and made a pass on Colin Dunn and Richard Francis whilst 3 a breast at old paddock crossing, I don’t think Colin expected it by there and twitch the steering causing him to have a little wobble I’m not sure if there was any slight contact between the 3 cars but nothing was reported but my God it was close.

Chris Everill in the Ginetta took the lead back coming out of Brookland’s but lost it again to the Westfield in the braking Zone for Honda, but Chris was on the inside and again took the position back coming out of Honda, the lead had changed 3 times in the first lap Exciting Stuff to watch. Nick Crompton was still following close by in 3rd and was shadowed by Jim in 4th, A slight gap to Ken James who was 5th and still under attack from BS runner Tyrone Luffarelli, Mike Moss in the Caterham was 7th and in 8th was Mark Williams, Butcher in the Audi A4 Super Tourer was already up to 9th in 10th by a half a cars length was Simon Hutchings and was dicing with 11th place Daryl Radford’s Honda Civic.

Melissa Luffarelli was in 12th, Dunn in the Clio cup passed Francis on the straight to take 13th position, Francis was 14th, Dowden in 15th, Andy Williams in the MG ZR was in 16th and Hockley’s Honda Civic in 17th and the Beaten but running Ford Ka was still motoring on in 18th.

On lap 3 Tyrone was glued to the back of Ken’s Loco Hornet, Tyrone lost the back end and ended on the grass at Debeni, ripping his front splitter off in the process but he managed to save it, it was a nail biting moment to watch but thank fully other than losing some aero aids his was ok, Mike Moss capitalized on this and moved up into 6th position. Andy Williams had dropped back into 17th and Hockley and opened the gap slightly.

By lap 4 Everill had breathing space and was running 4 seconds ahead of Longotano’s Westfield, Crompton and Jim were not far behind both still in their starting positions, Keith Butcher was Flying through the Pack and had definitely worked out the kinks from the first race he was now in 5th, Moss had a small lead over the 106 but Tyrone was not going to let his little off effect his confidence as he regained some ground coming down to hatchets. Simon had pulled his Mx5 away from Daryl’s Civic and both had passed Mark Williams Golf.

Everill was coming close to lapping Alan Smith’s KA as he entered lap 5, Keith Butcher was pushing hard to catch the front pack and was still in 5th Mike Moss was matching the time of Ken James, but Tyrone’s 106 was still sticking with them both. Colin Dunn was now catching Mark Williams mk5 Golf.

Averill’s lead had grown to 5secs by lap 6, Colin Dunn got the inside line going into Hatchets and stole a position from Mark Williams but was short lived as Mark fought back and went around the outside at debeni. Richard Francis Seemed to be slowing up and was now under attack from Darren Hockley’s Civic.

Lap 7 the front runners positions all stayed the same, Tyrone used the back markers to his advantage and made his move into hatchets and just got the nose of his 106 in front of Moss’s Caterham, Moss fought back on the exit of Hatchets and they were side by side through Debeni but Lufferelli had the better line and kept the position he had been trying to regain since lap 3. Tyrone’s sister Melissa had now moved up yet another position after snatching 10th from Radford.

Again Colin managed to pass Mark on the inside at Hatchets again but lost it on the exit and done a spot of gardening before rejoining the track at debeni, Butcher passed Jim’s mini on lap 8 and was now running in 4th, but again the main battle was between Tyrone Luffarelli and Mike Moss as they switched position every lap, Moss wanted that 1st in class badly and was pulling out all the stop, absolutely fantastic motorsport to watch.

Lap 9 and Everill was making his way through the mid pack back markers, Mark Williams went defensive coming into the new left hander but out braked himself and went off on to the grass and lost a place to Colin Dunn, by lap 10 Keith Butcher managed to pass Nick’s Lancer and was now 3rd at this rate he will be challenging for the lead or will he run out of laps first. Mike Moss was certainly keeping Tyrone on his toes as he tried every angle to try passing him, Tyrone’s defense was so far superior.

Lap 11 Keith Butcher now in 2^nd but if Everill does not make a mistake he has enough of a lead to call this one his, but this is Motorsport and we all nothing anything can happen. Mike Moss was in all of Tyrone’s mirrors, the 106 driver was having to use all his racing experience here to hold him off, its hard in words to describe how close they were but if Tyrone was to make the slightest mistake Mike was there waiting to pounce. Melissa Luffarelli was now catching her Brother and was running in 9^th.

Lap 12 Butcher was still in 2^nd and was making ground up shame it wasn’t a 40min race as he may of caught up to Chris Everill, Andy Williams was running in 17^th and 2^nd in class BT and although there was no one for him to have a race with he still looked to be having a blast as he threw that little MG into debeni on the limit. Everill started his final lap (lap 13) with a epic lead over the rest of the pack, Butcher was 2^nd and Longotano was in a solid 3^rd and 1^st in class CS. As Richard Francis started his final lap the Saxo gave up the ghost and he pulled off to a safe place, he did not look happy and with less than 1 lap left i can see why.

Chris Everill took the flag and had driven well all race, Chris was also 1^st in class D, in 2^nd was Keith Butchers Audi A4 Super Tourer also 2^nd in class D was also voted driver of the race, Damian Longotano could repeat the outright win of the first race but I am sure he was more than happy with 3^rd overall and 1^st in class CS unfortunately the days racing had taken its tole on the Westfield with a suspected gearbox issue and a potential alternator fault. It was not a good day for competitor’s gearboxes Ellis Wiggins (dnf) because of a gearbox issue, Richard Francis later told me he believes his gearbox let go as well.

In 4^th was Nick Crompton and 2^nd in CS, 5^th place went to Jim Lyons (3^rd in CS), 6^th was Ken James (4^th in CS). The continuing battle between Tyrone Luffarelli and Mike Moss lasted right to the end as they drag raced to the line, Tyrone held the 7^th place and came 1^st in class BS a great end to a busy but fantastic for Tyrone, Mike Moss came in at 8^th and well deserved 2^nd in class BS, Tyrone’s sister Melissa Luffarelli was not far behind in 9^th (1^st class M). Simon Hutchings could now reflect on his most exhilarating weekends Racing he has had to date and to top it off he had his second 3^rd in class BS, Simon came in 10^th overall.

Daryl Radford was 11^th (4^th in BS), Colin Dunn in 12^th (1^st in class BT) fab weekend for Colin in his new Clio 172 cup. Mark Williams could not make up the place he had lost and came 13^th and 1^st in CT, Daren Hockley the only invitation racer running in round 2 came 14^th. Roger Dowden moved up to 1^st in class AS due to Francis’s car failing, Roger came 15^th overall, 16^th was Andy Williams (2^nd in class BT), and unbelievably still running after its off in race one the KA of Alan Smith came 17^th.

The race weekend was a success, lots of fair close racing, was a great way to start the WSSCC 2018 season, I thank everyone who came to race, spectate or to show us their support, thanks to the orange army for keeping us all safe. I look forward to seeing you all at Rounds 3 & 4 at Oulton Park.

Race Results – http://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2018/181621wss.pdf