Lurani Trophy Round 4
Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit
The Lurani Trophy International Series reached its midway point with Round 4 at Brands Hatch on 12th & 13th July. The races coincided with the second of the Summer Heatwaves to hit the UK. With temperatures set to reach over 30 degrees a cool head was going to be required.
Almost everyone arrived on Friday, some testing, and to take advantage of early scrutineering. Then followed the traditional Lurani social, kindly laid on by the host nation’s British ladies, with pimms and nibbles a plenty, and a fantastic turn out, under the shelter of the Morton paddock easy up and adjacent awnings!
The entry of 33 cars, contained nearly all of the leading Championship contenders and many of the race winners. The notable absentee was the points leader of the Trophy Manfredo Rossi di Montelera.
In accordance with the provisions of the FIA International Series regulations, entries were accepted from Motorsport UK National licence holders, as the host nation, , but these were not eligible for Lurani points and prizes running in separate national classes.
Heading the Brands Hatch entry was Horatio Fitz-Simon in his Brabham BT6, Horatio having 3 race wins to his name this season. His competition would come from fellow Brabham runner Mark Shaw, Callum Grant in the Merlyn Mk5/7, Michael Hibberd Lotus 22, Richard Wilson Lotus 27 and Stuart Roach Alexis Mk4.
In terms of the Trophy positions the two drivers to most benefit from Manfredo’s absence were Floris-Jan Hekker in his class B2 Rayberg FJ, second overall in the Trophy, just two points behind the leader, and Richard Bishop Miller (Caravelle MkII) running in Class D2 third overall in the points, 6 points behind Manfredo and 4 behind Floris.
Both would however face some very stiff competition. In class B2 Floris faced the dominant Condor S II of Adrian Russell. Richard Spritz would be racing his BMC Mk1, with Duncan Rabagliati back in the Alexis HF1. Richard looked to have a somewhat easier run: James Hicks was fielding his Caravelle Mk III, John Chisholm his Gemini Mk3A and David Watkins in the Elfin FJ.
Qualifying
Callum Grant in the red Merlyn with the yellow stripe led the cars down the pit lane and out onto a very warm track to commence qualifying. Two cars back was Horatio Fitz-Simon in the all yellow Brabham BT6. As they descended down to Graham Hill bend Horatio had passed the two cars to chase after Callum, setting the fastest lap for lap 2. Callum responded on the following lap to top the timing sheets. Horatio’s fastest lap would be his fourth but that would be sufficient to secure a front row slot alongside Callum in what was a punctuated qualifying session.
An exit from the circuit at Druids by Richard Spritz created the first red flag of the session. Richard’s car being returned on a recovery truck. At the same time Clinton McCarthy’s Lotus 18 was recovered after pulling off on Cooper Straight.
When qualifying restarted Callum Grant again led the pack away, to establish his fastest lap of the session 2.3 seconds faster than fellow front row man Horatio Fitz-Simon.
The re-start invigorated a number of the field, Mark Shaw would be third fastest on the timing sheets with his Brabham BT6, 0.118 second slower than Horatio, Mark being the most successful of the Trophy contenders. Completing row 2 was Richard Wilson in the Lotus 27, 2nd to 4th position being separated by just one second.
Row 3 was Stuart Roach in the Alexis with Michael Hibberd alongside separated by 0.17 second. The race at the front was looking close.
Row 4 was Luca Hoefer Lotus 22 with Richard Smeeton in the shark nose Wainer FJ lining up beside him. Completing the top 10 was Nic Cartlon-Smith competing in the National C2 class outside of the Trophy points with Martin Aubert completing the top 10 in his Class D2 Lotus 20, leaving Richard Bishop-Miller with a lot of work to do finishing only 5th fastest in the D2 times.
In 12th place on the timing sheets was Adrian Russell, leading Class B2 with his Condor SII,giving Floris Jan-Hekker an even bigger task than Richard Bishop Miller as Floris was 5th in his class.
Phillippe Lenoir in father Gilbert’s Elva 200 was fastest in class C2 with Peter Fenichel in his Stanguellini was top of Class A.
Race 1
Callum Grant from Pole position blasted off the line to take an easy lead into Paddock Hill Bend. Behind him, Mark Shaw missed a gear and was struggling to get away as the rest of the pack negotiated their way around him, Mark eventually cleared the line mid field.
Horatio Fitz-Simon also had a bad start and a lot of interest in the race would be the progress of Mark and Horatio back towards the head of the field.
At the end of lap one Callum had a clear lead from Stuart Roach, behind him was Richard Wilson, Michael Hibberd and Richard Smeeton. Nic Carlton-Smith in the Kieft came through in 6th place followed by Luca Hoefer, Tony Lees, Class D2 leader Martin Aubert with James Hicks completing the top 10. After their poor starts Horatio was 11th and Mark Shaw 13th with Class B2 leader Adrian Russell between them in 12th place. Philippe Lenoir the class C2 leader in 17th place. At the end of lap 1 Peter Fenichel retired from the race and on lap 2 Andrea Guarino retired with gearbox problems.
At the head of the field Callum Grant was extending his lead lap by lap with Stuart following, continuing to extend his advantage over Richard Wilson. By lap 5 the two delayed at the start were running fifth and sixth and closing on Richard Wilson and Michael Hibberd ahead of them.
On lap 8 Nic Carlton – Smith retired to the pits his car overheating. Further down the order Philippe Lenoir, making the Elva 200 go as never before, and Richard Ferris in his Donford were involved in a fantastic duel for 15th place. Adrian Russell was further ahead in 10th place.
Lap 11 and the race for third place was reaching a climax, Richard Wilson holding 3rd place, Michael Hibberd 4th Horatio 5th and Mark Shaw 6th. Further back in the pack there had been a good dice between Charles Cook, Nick Taylor and Trevor Griffiths. Nick being the only one of the trio racing for Trophy points. The group having been overtaken earlier by Clinton McCarthy, who after a troubled qualifying, made his way from 24th on the grid to finish 16th.
On lap 12 Horatio was close enough to Michael Hibberd to challenge for 4th place. The dice between the two left a space for Mark Shaw to move through to take the position and chase after Richard Wilson. Adrian Russell had taken avoiding action elsewhere on the circuit landing him into the gravel trap and a Red Flag was called as Adrian’s car was in a vulnerable position.
The cars were brought to a halt the drivers strapped in with Stuart Roach saying afterwards. ‘That felt like the longest race of my life. When we sat in the car following the Red Flag I really hoped they would not restart.’
With over 20 minutes of the race completed the result was declared at lap 12. One can only imagine Mark Shaw’s disappointment as on lap 13 he had moved into 3rd place. With a second race on the Sunday, he would be looking for a clean start and a chance of a race podium to balance his aggregate score.
The result was therefore a win for Callum Grant, 11.19seconds clear of Stuart Roach in second, Richard Wilson 3rd, with Mark Shaw 4th just 0.161 behind. In 5th place came Horatio Fitz-Simon followed by 6th Michael Hibberd, 7th Richard Smeeton, 8th Luca Hoefer, 9th Tony Lees, 10th Martin Aubert Class D2 winner. John Chisholm in 11th was second in D2 with James Hicks in 14th third in Class.
Philippe Lenoir in 13th place was the winner of Class C2 with Clinton McCarthy 16th overall second in class.
Classified as 15th Adrian Russell won Class B2, from Nick Taylor 19th overall and Justin Fleming 24th overall.
Class A was won by Arnold Herreman in the Volpini and the National class winners were Charles Cook (B2), Trevor Griffiths (C2), John Timoney (D2), Andrew Gemmill (E1) and Richard Ferris (E2)
Race 2
As per the regulations the grid for Race 2 was formed from the qualifying times that had set the grid for Race 1, the only changes being any cars that withdrew following Race 1, these being James Hicks, Andrea Guarino, and David Watkins. This left 30 starters for the second race but this number reduced to 29 on the formation lap when Horatio Fitz-Simon retired the car into the back of the inner paddock with a very sick sounding engine.
Lights out and Callum Grant again took the lead from Mark Shaw, Stuart Roach and Richard Wilson. In 5th was Michael Hibberd who, unusually, made a mistake at the start incurring a ten second time penalty for an out of position start.
Sixth was Richard Smeeton, in 7th was Adrian Russell, leading Class B2, with Nic Carlton Smith 8th (Nat Class C2), 9th Luca Hoefer and 10th was Philippe Lenoir (Class C2), with Martin Aubert in 11th ((Class D2).Arnold Herreman was leading Class A.
On lap 2 Stuart Roach moved into second place and the following lap Mark Shaw retired, having spun on some oil at Sterlings Bend, bringing out the . safety car which picked up the field mid pack to bring the race under control quickly as there was a possibility the race would have to be suspended while the recovery was completed. On the same lap Phillippe Lenoir retired with a broken wishbone.
The Brands Hatch team were able to clear the stranded car far quicker than anticipated, so after only two laps under the safety car the race was able to continue. Safety cars have blighted previous FJ races at Brands Hatch but this year things went a good deal better, and the whole meeting kept to schedule.
Under the safety car Andrew Gemmill brought his car into the pit. Testing the car on circuit he pulled off back to the pits twice without going onto the Grand Prix loop, retiring with a problem to the wheel nut.
At the restart, Callum led away again controlling the race to maintain an 8 second gap back to Stuart Roach for the remainder of the race. The on track race would be between the Lotus 22 of Michael Hibberd and the Lotus 27 of Richard Wilson. Michael took the final podium position on track but forfeited the position to Richard after his start penalty was applied.
At the end of lap 10 John Chisholm slowed going across the finish line to coast the car to a halt on the grass on the inside of the approach to Paddock Hill Bend. Hopping out the car, John wheeled the apparently brakeless Gemini into the area where the recovery crew could help him roll into safety. At the time John had been lying in 10th place leading the D2 class. His retirement handing the lead to Martin Aubert. Martin enjoyed a race long dice with Richard Ferris for what would be 10th place, Martin claiming the position on the last lap.
The Final drama of the race occurring on lap 13 when Charles Cook and Clinton McCarthy spun in tandem at bottom of Graham Hill bend leaving Charles broadside on the grass to the race pack descending down the hill. Happily everyone responded well to the waved flags and other than pride nothing was damaged.
The Final result for Race 2 was as follows:
1st Callum Grant (Merlyn Mk5/7), 2nd Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk4), 3rd Richard Wilson (Lotus 27), 4th Michael Hibberd (Lotus 22), 5th Richard Smeeton (Wainer FJ), 6th Nic Carlton-Smith (Kieft), 7th Tony Lees (Lola Mk5A), 8th Luca Hoefer (Lotus 22), 9th Adrian Russell (Condor SII), 10th Martin Aubert (Lotus 20).
The winners were presented their awards by Parc Ferme, with class prizegiving following in the FJ Paddock, and a farewell to David and Kathy Watkins, having had his last FJ race this weekend, with the Elfin going to a new owner shortly.
By Alan Jones