FJHRA Silverline Championship Rounds 9 & 10
Formula Junior fun at Wet Spa
There’s always a certain buzz about going to Spa for our biennial visit, and this year it was even more evident, with a huge grid of FJ, some never having been with FJ, some never driven the circuit at all, and in the case of Lawrence de Bruyne, some never having taken part in a race before! And so it was, with 47 FJ entries on the book, we set off, well prepared with FJ umbrellas and galoshes.
It may have been Lawrence’s first ever race, in the ex-Malcolm Wishart Cooper-BMC T65, but he has much experience behind the wheel as a test driver for transmission company Tremec. Adrian Russell was forsaking his Lotus 22 for the light blue Condor S II, very recently purchased from Keith Roach; Richard Bishop-Miller who has taken the reverse step, was making his rear engine debut in the ex-Jim Blockley Caravelle II, while making only their second FJ races were wine auctioneer Luca Hoefer, in the ex-Mags Diffey Lotus 22-J-51, run by Hi-Tec, but still under the eye of Alex Ames, and Arnold Herreman in the ex-Michael Ashley-Brown Volpini 011.
Other welcome returnees included Jono Fyda, having his first ever driver in father, John’s, BT6 with John himself and Meg on hand; Johannes Offergeld in the first C&G Ersa gearboxed Cooper T56 (a second one is currently being completed for Bernd Reichart’s similar ex-Hap Sharp FJ-17-61); Hans Ciers in his Lotus 20, now run by Setford racing; former EU politician Guy Verhofstadt in his Elva 100; and the similar car of Chris Astley; while Andrew Hibberd had two FJ’s in the truck, the family Lotus 20, and the newly restored Brabham BT6 for delivery back to Lukas Buhofer, now in white period livery, and sporting #50.
Last minute withdrawals included poor Bob Birrell, with Covid, after a taxing time at Sywell the previous weekend; Sam Wilson, although present himself with parents Rob and Sue, the Lotus 20 not quite being ready after a spell in F1 spec, and the Cooper not being suitably geared for Spa; Cameron Jackson, having been due to make his own debut with the ex-Westie Mitchell De Tomaso ’63, unfortunately put his back out the week before, and finally Duncan Ross, due to make his FJ debut in the ex-Adam Bruzas Lotus 18; James Denty had completed the chassis rebuild following a testing accident at Donington Park but last minute teething problems with the brakes forced withdrawal.
The timetable at Spa had been revamped the previous year, so that it all builds up to the Six Hours race on Saturday evening, with Sunday just being for car clubs, hence most arrived on Wednesday,for first .scrutineering, and qualifying on Thursday pm. Carefully preplanned by Sarah, we all fitted in the ‘mezzanine’ paddock in an orderly fashion, tents secured for the rain which both greeted our arrival, and continued with a vengeance through to Thursday morning. It stayed more or less dry until the cars led out of the inner assembly area onto track, but by lap 3 the heavens had fully opened, so it was those who had managed a good time in the first couple of laps that benefited from the best grid positions.
Truly remarkably all 43 cars were back safely, albeit with plenty of spins, and several made pit stops for early adjustments. Fastest time was from Manfredo Rossi (Lotus 22) and was enough for him to call it a day after four laps, especially given he had plenty of other track time over the weekend in other cars. Clive Richards’ 22 being still fractionally behind and not going to improve in the weather, while rainmeister Stuart Roach in the Mk 4 Alexis had to be content with 3rd spot, although 5s faster than Richard Wilson (27) and a massive 1 m 40s separately the first from the last, some definitely troubled by the wet, while impressive performances came from Keith Pickering (Britannia) who had been one of the pit stoppers, and both Adrian Russell (first front engine) and Richard B-M taking no time to learn their new cars, while Duncan was disappointed not to catch Dave Wall’s Gemini Mk II.
Johnny Lange, family and team, very kindly put on another very welcome Belgian drinks and (substantial) nibbles party, with everyone huddling under the tent, enjoying a chance for old and new to meet and mix.
Friday was less wet, and the FJ race, mid-afternoon, was a much drier affair. Clive Richards and Manfredo Rossi fought out a good battle in their 22’s with Stuart Roach a lonely but solid third; however proceedings were unfortunately interrupted by three laps of safety car to remove Rudi Friedrichs’ Lola 5A, which seemed harmlessly parked against the barrier to the left of T14, but apparently truck men were needed to remove it. With one racing lap to go, the field back close together were unleashed again, giving Lukas Halusa the perfect opportunity to slipsteam the Alexis and take third and the final spot on the podium, Richard Wilson then also following suit, leaving Stuart Roach unlucky in fifth. Midfield there was a good battle between Lawrence de Bruyne, Syd Fraser and Sharon Adelman (BT6), while Justin Fleming (Lola Mk 2) was also going well after an unhappy wet practice.
The FJ copy book was slightly blotted when unfortunately, Johannes Offergeld braked too late on the inside entering La Source at the restart and collected firstly Tony Lees’ Lola Mk 5A and then Geoff Underwood’s Brabham BT2, no serious damage, thankfully. Meanwhile Adrian Russell’s front drive in the Condor S II came to an end with a broken throttle cable. Richard Bishop-Miller was the final retiree, having stopped at the end of the old pit lane early on with an unsparking rotor arm; however, Iain Rowley had run down to the stricken Caravelle, back up for a replacement, and got him going again, only for Richard to pull in to the same place again with a broken gearbox selector fork.
Friday evening was the FJ Pizza Party at Acqua Rossa in Francorchamps; a full house in the cosy annex tent, and another great opportunity for FJ social with new connections made.
Race 2 was mid-morning on Saturday, and it was very wet again. Sharon took a rain check, poor Dave Wall’s Gemini Mk II had stripped teeth in the diff at the end of R1, Johannes Offergeld was always only able to race on Friday, and HGPCA winner Friedrichs was out for the rest of the weekend, with Tony Lees deciding on a precautionary withdrawal in case of hidden damage. Final non-starter was Ralph Carter with engine problems.
The unfortunate Race 1 winner, Clive, got it slightly wrong approaching the chicane; tyre warning is difficult in pouring rain! He managed to get it going and back to the pits, pushing it uphill ‘down’ the pit lane with one broken wheel; what followed was an amazing recovery; Dave Wall was straight into action helping push the car back into the pits, David Bailey was off to his garage to produce a spare wheel from Syd Fraser’s 20/22, and a huddle of others, almost one apiece from every team, worked an absolute FJ spirited miracle to see Clive back out again catching the pack by the time they were back from the green flag lap into the rolling start. Despite it not being the straightest of cars, Clive was up to 6th at the flag, and absolutely chuffed, Syd equally so, that one of his wheels had had its best finish yet!
Back up front, with it truly being a wet race, it was Stuart Roach’s chance and a great race long battle ensued with Manfredo; however despite Stuart clocking fastest lap of the race on lap 7, he was unable to get the better of the Lotus. They were both lucky, for as they lapped Duncan’s Alexis, and he in turn lapped Guy Verhofstadt, just behind them a waved yellow flag appeared for a stopped Gianluigi Candiani, just as Guy reached him in his Elva 100, thus also trapping Lukas Halusa, albeit not within their reach, and the following field behind Guy. This and other yellow flags for Johnny Lange’s 22, which was remarkably dug out of the gravel by the marshals running across the live track, allowing Johnny to continue, rather split the remaining field at the front, but not to prevent a good race for Nic Carlton-Smith’s Lotus 20, and behind him between Buhofer, Danny Baker and Andrew Hibberd. Geoff Underwood and Richard Ferris, going very well in his Donford were also having a great scrap, ahead of a terrific front engine battle, won by Adrian Russell’s Condor S II from Chris Astley’s Elva 100, with much place changing between them, leaving Ray Mallock some way out of contention on this occasion, and despite two lurid spins Duncan recaught and passed both Richard Bishop-Miller’s Caravelle and then had a close race with Arnold’s Volpini, until the yellow flag released him with a clear gap. Clinton McCarthy had a good race in his (second!) Lotus 18, in full race pursuit of Keith Pickering, finally getting ahead at the end of lap 6, and well ahead of Stuart Monument’s title contending 18, full of a cold, and less happy in the wet, as was Alan Schmidt in the Speedsport BT6, not enjoying the conditions.
Champagne was sprayed onto the already wet overalls the podium, before Duncan and Sarah gave another jolly prizegiving. Many stayed on to watch the actual Six Hours race in the rain, a final red flag bringing proceedings to a close, and poor Iain Rowley in the Gilbern got biffed by a Mustang, but fortunately still managed a finish.
Next to Dijon and /or Silverstone Finals, for the 2024 finales.
DCPR