The Classic at Silvertone; 30th July – 1st August

It was for many the target event, the end of lockdown, the beginning of reuniting the FJ family across borders, although Covid and Post-Brexit rules limited the Continental contingent, and back at Silverstone where we’d had such an incredible finale for our 2018 Diamond Jubilee World Tour!

Well even the weather couldn’t dampen our spirits – it was without doubt, FJ at its best both on and off track with close racing, an incredible finishing rate in both races, and plenty of tea and cakes!

It was a very family spirited entry list, with no less than 4 Father-son pairings on track; Crispian and Charlie Besley, Simon and George Diffey, Martin, Lukas and Andreas Halusa, and Michael and Andrew Hibberd, not forgetting the many mechanical family duos or all the families there for the equally important moral support!

We were in our traditional slot of first out each day at 9am, meaning an early start, but also no delays, and as it turned out, some of the best of the somewhat wet weather!

A seemingly never ending stream of 57 cars poured through Garage 0 of the National Paddock out onto track for qualifying in drizzly conditions, half a lap round until they crossed the timing line at the International Paddock. At the end of lap 1 it was Cam Jackson (Brabham BT2) fastest from historic FF driver Pierre Livingston, on his debut FJ drive in the Speedsport Lotus 22, with Richard Bradley (Brabham BT2) in third. Sam Wilson was making a very welcome return in his Cooper T59 ERSA in 4^th, Alex Ames (Brabham BT6) in 5^th, with Chris Drake leading the Front Engined cars with an excellent 6^th in his Terrier T4 Series 1. It was however to remain exactly like that meaning anyone who hadn’t lined up early in the assembly area had no chance of a clear “flying lap”, as unfortunately the oil pipe came off Andreas Halusa’s ex-Jonathan Williamson Lotus 22 at Brooklands (?), first time out since its arrival from Australia, and it went unnoticed by him and he carried on until he came to a halt on track at the end of the national pit straight, necessitating the Safety Car, and a JCB in recovery, which, together with mopping up the oil, wasn’t able to be completed before the 18 min session came to an end. The result, based on only a single non-safety car lap, was a rather jumbled grid although the front rows were a good reflection of pace with Cam Jackson on pole, 2.6 faster than newcomer Pierre Livingston. The second row comprised Richard Bradley and Sam Wilson with Alex Ames and Chris Drake on row three. Usual front-runner Andrew Hibberd was one of the main losers being down in 17th.

Race 1

Off they set at 08.56 onto a track that was basically dry, for a full lap and a half green flag sighting lap behind the safety car before taking up their two by two formation for the rolling start, and it was Cam through Abbey in the lead with Richard Bradley having slipped ahead of Livingston. At first it looked as though Jackson was breaking clear but at the end of the opening lap there was a four-car train of Jackson-Bradley-Livingston-Ames then a gap to Wilson. A lap later Cam made a small mistake at the last corner allowing Richard to nip ahead into Abbey, but, after running side-by-side, Cam was back in front on the run into the Luffield complex. It was a superb battle, with completely “clean” and respectful driving by all four, sadly broken up when Pierre over-cooked it at Brooklands and plummeted down the order to ninth.

Thus on lap 5 Jackson and Bradley were still nose-to-tail, then Ames 3.3 back, having been slightly delayed by Livingston’s spin, then 6.9 to a rather out-paced Sam Wilson breaking in his newly rebuild ERSA gearbox, with Andrew Hibberd up to sixth but 8.1 in arrears. Behind them it was Clive Richards, Simon Diffey, Westie Mitchell and then a recovering Livingston. After several looks, Bradley’s chance came at Club when lapping a back-marker, Jackson opted for the outside but Bradley took a tight line and they were side-by-side across the line with Bradley taking the lead at Abbey. Jackson was not, however, finished and he challenged all round the lap but a small mistake at Club cost him a second or so and allowed Bradley to establish a 1.5 margin which he held to the flag. So, after an excellent race, the finishing order was Bradley-Jackson-Ames-Wilson-Hibberd-Richards.

As far as the classes go, Jackson was running in the Invitation class, along with several others, due to not being in full compliance with the Technical regulations, thus elevating Ames etc in the E1 class. The other class winners were James Hicks (Caravelle) the only finisher in a very thin class D2, Nic Carlton-Smith, continuing his Silverline Championship form in C2, and Chris Drake (Terrier) in B2. There were no entries in classes A and B1 and the Cooper-Lancia of Robert Whitehouse was, sadly, not ready in class C1. Richard Ferris was shown as the winner of E2 in the results but this was a mis-classification, as despite his car being in that spec currently, his paperwork does not yet match.

Race 2

Sunday’s race was on a very damp and slippery track. It was preceded by a one-minute silence in tribute to the marshal killed at Brands Hatch the day before. Jackson made a good start but Bradley led out of Abbey. Jackson attacked round the outside at the complex but Bradley held his line to lead down Wellington Straight with Livingston, Ames and Wilson next, in something of a repeat of Race 1’s order. The pair were wheel-to-wheel down Hanger Straight and at Stowe Bradley ran a little wide and Jackson needed no invitation to snatch the lead. Bradley then came under pressure from Livingston, whilst Wilson demoted Ames for fourth. At the end of lap 2 Livingston made a brilliant move round the outside of Bradley at Stowe to move into second. On the third tour, Livingston dropped to fourth although he was soon back to third, and Sam Wilson dropped out due to gearbox issues. So the race ran out with Cameron putting in a wonderful drive to win from Bradley, Livingston and Ames.

Tim de Silva was flying in the conditions in the family Lola Mk2 and won class B2 by 32′ from Chris Drake, taking 8th overall. Nic Carlton-Smith again saw off the rest in C2 as did Hicks in D2. In Invitation Class F for early 1000cc F3 cars on Dunlop tyres, Andrew Thorpe won on both days in his Lotus 31.

By Richard Page

The 2021 FJHRA Auction will take place on Sunday 28th November, at Whately Hall Hotel, Banbury, UK, at approx. 2pm.

• If you are unable to be there in person, we invite you to email your bid to sarah(@)formulajunior.com
• We can also arrange telephone bidding on the day if required. Please email for details.

The proceeds will be divided between 2 charities;

HSCC Finals Meeting; Saturday 16^th October 2021

By Jeremy Bouckley

We arrived on Friday afternoon and before I parked up the first person I saw was Alan Jones. (It was over 18 months since I had last seen him) and it was so good to see him looking so well. He reminded me of his retirement party to be held in the paddock at 5.00.pm. on Saturday after the racing.

Saturday started well with clear blue skies. For the Juniors there was a very early start with scrutineering at 7.30.am., practice at 9.00.am. and the race at mid-day. Most of the Saturday meeting unusually was running 15 minutes early, so it kept everyone on their toes!

Luckily practice went well for us, and it was soon the first Junior race. I think everyone made a good start, the track was in very good condition.  Formula Junior newcomer Horatio Fitz-Simon, in the Speedsport Lotus 22, took the lead from Clive Richards and Adrian Russell. After 4 laps the gaps were 1.9 and 8.6 with a gap back to Ray Mallock and Nic Carlton-Smith. Just after half the race, the safety car was called as Adrian Russell had gone off into the gravel at Copse after suspension failure.

After about two laps a lot of us caught up with the safety car at Beckett’s Corner, he was going very slowly, remarked on by the commentators, they waved us through in batches and the safety car came in shortly afterwards, so the race resumed. After the restart the leading positions continued unchanged and the race was won by Horatio Fitz-Simon in a Lotus 22 and just half a second behind was Clive Richards in his Lotus 22, after a close combat. Amazingly it was Horatio’s first ever race in a Junior. Ray Mallock finished third in his fleet U2 to finish the podium. Carlton-Smith came fourth ahead of a close scrap between Robin Longdon and Andrew Turvey.

Then 5.00.pm came and most of the HSCC paddock congregated at the ‘Beer’ garage where we normally have our ‘bacon butties’.

A very good turn out to celebrate Alan’s retirement with plenty of ‘Silverstone Beer’.

We will all miss Alan who was always cheerful and helpful dealing with problems and competition queries. He will be hard to replace. ‘Happy Retirement Alan’.

The only regretful part of the weekend was the other half of the Junior community who were at Goodwood for the Member’s meeting, so we could not celebrate ‘The Finals’ together.

This is a problem with dates clashing, but let’s hope most of us can get together at the Formula Junior A.G.M. and lunch.

 

SILVERSTONE FINALS – RACE 2 – Sunday 17th October

By Bob Birrell

Entry/Grid

Charlie Besley had taken over the drive from John Arnold in the “Indy” Elva 100, as planned, whilst

nonstarters for Race 2 were Martin McHugh whose North Star had broken a drive shaft on the last lap of Race 1 and Tim Child’s Cooper had succumbed to Ersa Gearbox failure.

Adrian Russell had repaired his immaculate Lotus 22 thanks to Syd Frazer who provided a replacement wishbone. Tony Pearson and Tim Bishop had revived their Bandini and 2 stroke Sauter respectively.

The Race

The grid was as set in the single qualifying session with Fitz-Simon on pole. Heavy rain earlier had eased but the track remained wet, greasy, and very slippery.

Clive Richards dealt slightly better with adhesion off the slippery grid and led narrowly into Copse on the first lap – Horatio kept closely on his tail but seemed unable to pass which might involve doing so on the more slippery part of the track he persevered and was able to make the move on lap 9. Clive was not finished yet, after tailing the well-matched new leader, he made a superb move to pass on the last lap to win by 0.8 sec.

Adrian Russell in his repaired Lotus 22 drove sensibly and well to 3^rd place some 33 seconds behind the leading pair.

In a remarkable 4^th place came Charlie Besley – starting from 11^th on the grid, he picked off a number of well driven cars (including this year’s Silverline Champion, Nic Carlton-Smith) on each lap until reaching 4^th on lap 5 and so comfortably winning the class from Ray Mallock who finished 6^th – 22 seconds in arrears.

The 2021 Silverline Champion drove smoothly to 5^th overall well ahead of John Hutchison Jnr and Tim Bishop who were 2^nd and 3^rd in class C2. It has been an outstanding performance from Nic – this being his first full season in racing of any kind – quite remarkable 12 wins from 12 starts – he accepted the praise with admirable modesty his enthusiasm and dedication was there for all to see and appreciate. Tim Bishop was another commendable performer it is always splendid to see (and hear) 2 strokes in action we sometimes forget that at the birth of our formula, the 2 stroke DKW was one of the power units to have – then Cosworth came along!

In a gallant last position came the irrepressible Tony Pearson some 4 laps adrift finishing despite a gearbox stuck in a low gear.

Non finishers included Bill Cowing in his F3 Ginetta, Mark Haynes whose Elva 200 showed signs of serious overheating. Graham Barron spun on the slippery surface as did Roger Dexter at Brooklands who repeated his Silverstone Classic heroics by manhandling his car to safety before the marshals reached him.

FJHRA is uniquely fortunate to have a particularly active and enthusiastic Patron Howden Ganley who has raced successfully in F3, F2, F5000 and at least 3 factory F1 Teams that is in addition to being a successful manufacturer (Tiga) and the author of the best and most readable of my 500 Motor Racing books above all he raced FJs in period (Gemini MK IV). Howden was present on both days and presented the prizes, giving a few words on family friend Horatio Fitz-Simon seems like he may have passed on a few tips this being Horatio’s first season of racing.

Goodwood Members Meeting 16^th – 17^th October 2021

It seemed very strange to be back at Goodwood for the Members Meeting so soon after the Revival, but no one was complaining! This time it was the rear-engined cars turn with the Taylor Trophy being a separate award for the first all drum braked car, although the results did not make this apparent. It was, however, unfortunate that this rescheduled event clashed with the final rounds of the Silverline Championships at Silverstone. But it indicated the strength of FJ that Goodwood mustered a full entry of 30 whilst at the same time there were 26 FJs due to be at Silverstone.

The Members Meeting entry included the debut of Alex Ames Lotus 22 (22-J-51) in a maroon livery with white nose band, a car that he had discovered whilst browsing the Italian equivalent of Autotrader a year ago and located in a warehouse in Austria and Geoff Underwood was out in Cameron Jackson’s Brabham BT2, having a test-race with a view to purchase. The ex-Bill Norman Lynx Mk3 116 of James Hagan was taken over by his preparer, and occasional FF driver, Joseph Pomfret whilst Harin De Silva’s Lotus 18 was piloted by the very fast Miles Griffith. Simon Diffey was in his white ex-Peter Warr Lotus 20/22 with son George in the gold car. Two “non-shows” were Richard Smeeton (Wainer) and Andrew Hayden (Lotus 22), whose car was still hors de combat after its accident earlier in the year, but Andy Harrison (Envoy) was added to the field to bring the number up to 29.

There were a couple of heavy rain showers in the early part of the morning so qualifying was on a very wet track. From the word “go” Peter de la Roche (Lola 3) set the pace, recording a 1’53.778 on his second lap, improving to 1’52.279 on his third. A spin at Woodcote ruined his next lap and thereafter he could find no improvement. Several drivers commented that the track seemed to get more slippery as the session progressed, despite no more rain. Second fastest was Ames with 1’53.655 set on his third lap. Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk3) completed the front row with 1’53.735, also on his third circuit. There was then a 1.2 gap to Pete Morton (Lightning/Envoyette), having his first outing since 2019, with Richard Wilson (BT6) making up row 2. Looking down the times, Miles Griffiths, having replaced the clutch release bearing before practice, was eighth, 0.5 slower than third in Drums (after de la Roche and Roach) Chris Drake (Elva 300) whilst Simon Diffey and Lee Mowle were lower down the grid than expected in 10^th and 15^th. John Sykes stopped with vibration problems, perhaps a drive shaft, and spent much of the time post practice on the concrete between the stalls with body off while work was going on to restore “Mr Pooh” to better health. It had been hoped to bring the ex US Mk3 drum braked Merlyn but it would have been untested.

The race was mid-morning on Sunday and the weather was pleasantly warm for mid-October and the track dry. The big news was that Michael Hibberd had ricked his back and decided to stand-down in favour of Andrew, who therefore had to start at the rear of the grid. As events unfolded, this made the FJ race one of the best of the day.

Alex Ames appeared to get away first but Peter de la Roche was in front at Madgwick and the opening lap ended with Peter, Simon Diffey, from his 10th on the grid no less, and Pete Morton in a group with a small gap to Lukas Halusa (driving, father Martin Halusa’s ex-Geoghegan Lotus 22), Richard Wilson (BT6) and James Murray (Lola 5A). Stuart Roach had fallen back to ninth and soon retired with engine problems. Ames had an all too short race: My car had a cutting out then picking back up issue which made me run wide, did a lap to see if the fuel surge would fix itself but nope. Lukas was also out early when the engine cover came loose and after pitting, a marshal would not let him go out without it.

Andrew Hibberd came round in 12th in the flying Team Lotus liveried Lotus 22, ex-Bob Anderson although the commentary team persistently called it ex-Arundell, on the basis that it was Arundell who drove this chassis at Monza for the Falkenberg “wager”. He overtook three or four cars per lap so that on lap 5 he was fourth but with a big 9 deficit to the leading trio, who were still circulating nose-to-tail. As Andrew was only around half-a-second a lap faster, this looked to be too much of a challenge.

On the ninth lap there was drama as the leaders swept through Woodcote; de la Roche’s Lola drive shaft broke and pitched him into a 360 spin which, happily, ended without contact with the barriers. This left Simon Diffey just ahead of Morton and, by lap 9, Hibberd in third some 5 down, then Murray, Wilson and Chris Drake with the now Taylor Trophy leading Elva 300. Lee Mowle was seventh, tailed by Andrew Beaumont and Miles Griffiths who was showing just how fast a Lotus 18 can be made to go. His best race lap was 1’29.95 which was a good deal faster than the 1’33.4 Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor did in 1960 in their 18s.

 Without de la Roche to act as pace setter, Diffey’s lap times slipped a bit whilst Hibberd continued to lap in the mid 1’24’s and the gap shrunk quite rapidly between laps 9 and 12 and on lap 13 Hibberd demoted Morton to take second and swept by Diffey into Madgwick on the final lap to secure a spectacular win that was much appreciated by the crowds in the stands. Behind Morton, Richard Wilson passed Murray shortly before the end to be fourth with the top ten completed by Murray, Drake (Drums winner), Mowle, Griffiths  “after an autocrossing” moment at Woodcote, James Hicks and Sir John Chisholm, who had started from the back with gear selection problems, while Chris Wilks in the Deep Sanderson retired when an original rose-joint failed.

By Richard Page

Formula Junior moved across the one hour time difference from the Jerez Historic Festival in Spain to the Algarve, some making the best of the free nights at the Casino Hotel, while others spent a few days in or around Seville en route; Philipp Buhofer headed for the islands, but the rest were joined by Clive Richards (Lotus 22), Niklas Halusa in the green family 22, and it was also the intended return of JP Campos Costa  with his bright yellow Lola 5, repaired after Zolder 2018: sadly both his mechanics had conspired to injure themselves, and hotel and apartment reservations were to go to waste.

Wednesday arrivals found the previous weekend’s ELMS cars still in the garages; of FJ relevance as our Richard Bradley had taken the 3rd overall, sharing with Archduke Freddy Hapbsburg of Austria and Sophia Florsch, a late change from Germany, making headlines as the first lady driver to share a European Le Mans Series podium.

Back to the Classic weekend, and Thursday was only for signing on and scrutineering, with Testing confined to Masters F1 and similar in a mixed evening session. Tom Smith and team, Alex and Lewis, had been working in a workshop under the grandstands for the first few days, getting Mark Shaw’s Lotus 21 back into racing shape, Alex flying back to UK for the bits, so once reassembled, Mark decided to concentrate on that, after all the effort, and to leave the BT6 in reserve. Tom had also hoped to work on Gilbert Lenoir’s Elva 200, but the oil surge seemed to be a deeper problem than could be fixed trackside, so, although scrutineered, Gilbert, too, was sadly destined not to start again.

And then on Friday came the rain!! FJ had the 8.30 slot for their free timed practice. Everyone participated except Duncan and Peter Anstiss, with Lukas Halusa, who was to prove the wet star of the event, on top, ahead of Clive Richards and Alex Ames. All these three were many seconds faster than Richard Smeeton (Wainer) and Lee Mowle (20/22) who led the rest, including some HGPCA cars that had asked to join our session, on discovering that due to differences in their grid’s agreement, there would be no chance of a prequalifying run for them, even for their newcomers.

Qualifying, just after midday, was dry, but it was the same three out front, Ames just pipping Clive Richards on the last lap by 0.2s, with Halusa heading last week’s winner D’Aubreby. James Hagan was noticeably getting to grips with the disc/drum Lynx: Duncan completed his intended 5 laps, just shy of Malcom Wishart’s Faranda, but then Richard Wilson sheared a stub axle in his 27 and headed straight into the gravel without further damage, but it necessitated a red flag and a ten minute delay.

The weather had by now set in for the weekend; our first race was very wet, but it did make for exciting racing. Into the first hairpin, and Alex, in the lead from Clive Richards, had a short spin, and many took avoiding action, with a heart stopping moment avoided between Lee Mowle and Stephane Rey, but it was still Alex who emerged in the lead after that first lap, from Clive and Lukas, with D’Aubreby leading  a very close battle between Rey, Smeeton, a flying James Hagan in the light blue Lynx, and Niklas Halusa, straight from his Masters F1 drive in the race before. At the back, Duncan had managed to get by Wishart and Ciers, but spun it away going up the blind hill.

Lee Mowle was now lapping significantly faster than the five car battle, and by lap 3 was ahead of all of them, up to 5^th, with James Hagan in his wake, and on the 8^th lap, the flying Hagan was up beside and then past Mowle. Up front, Clive was proving more erratic than Alex, who was drawing ahead, while Clive had to watch Lukas over his shoulder. A really excellent drive brought Hagan a 5^th spot, and Class E2 victory in his 4sp gb Lynx. Duncan had repassed Hans, but just failed to catch Malcolm again, by the flag.

On Saturday night the clocks went back, so a 9.15 start for Race 2 was not quite so horrific, however although it was not raining like the previous day, intermittent showers made the track very slippery: Richard Smeeton had looked out of his hotel window, and decided to be sure to take the Wainer home in one piece!!

Alex Ames made the best start but coming round at the end of the lap, he and Richards were too close for comfort in the conditions; no contact but Richards spun leaving him a race long target to get back up with Ames and Halusa, achieved with the help of the safety car, when D’Aubreby took his 22 sideways into the pit entrance wall whilst trying to avoid a spinning Lee Mowle just ahead of him.

James Hagan had made a splendid start, up to 6th, but dropped behind Stephane Rey, after an off course moment, while Duncan, having again outpaced Wishart and Ciers at the start, and still with Pierre Guichard and Anstiss in sight, also went ploughing, by which time Malcolm was out of reach. Andrew Beaumont (22) was another spinner, and the advent of the SC put paid to any improvement back up the field for him beyond Wishart.

With the safety car in, Ames made a strategic restart, not to be headed, but Richards and Lukas were side by side, right up to the flag, Richards taking the second podium spot by less than half a second,  with the next three, Niklas Halusa, Lee Mowle and Stephane Rey almost inseparable. 

While FJ had put on a good show, it was also FJ drivers who participated in what must have been two of the greatest Historic races of all time; arriving at the circuit to find the 1927 T 35 Bugatti still in the truck from Jerez, Lukas made a late entry in the pre ’66 HGPCA race. A very good, but not earth shattering practice, still had the Bugatti above its station on the grid. But in the wet race, it was remarkable; moving slowly up the field, Lukas was soon 5^th overall!! then 4^th, then an incredible third, with Fierro’s 250F chasing, our Richard Wilson’s Dino Ferrari 2^nd , [with Michael Gans Tasman Cooper, some way ahead]. On the last lap, Lukas made a little mistake, and it was a nail biting finish, a fraction ahead of the 250F, with Fierro expressing clear frustration at being beaten by a car, 20 years older: but he had totally missed the point: Had it been otherwise, it would have spoilt this incredible and exciting result.

The HGPCA race 2 on Sunday went even better: Lukas had a good grid position from R1, and although he let some places go at the start, he was soon up to 4^th, with John Spiers this time the leader in his 250F, Michael Gans having spun away his chances to last position early on. Initial excitement was Richard Wilson taking the front engined Dino into the race lead at ¾ distance from Spiers, but Lukas was now third, and the last lap was an amazing, almost, photo finish, with Wilson dropping back to third, and Halusa just failing to catch Spiers: Lukas was sure that another lap, and he would have done it. Mark Shaw was out of the top six in his Monaco winning Lotus 21!

And that was not all for FJ drivers, as Clive Richards was also driving a hired Caterham, and held second place in a huge field before a very late safety car, from which he made a poor restart and dropped to 4^th. He then went on to take 5^th the following day in R2. Tim Child was also in his Caterham, but in the road class, heading then to Jerez, and finally Estoril, in a three race Caterham package.

The running of the meeting took a most peculiar turn on Sunday afternoon; Moto GP trucks and hospitality had already arrived in the morning for the next week’s GP, where Valentino Rossi is to make his final bow; [Every grandstand seat has been sold !! a dynamic contrast to the four or five isolated couples watching the Historics from the main stands!] whether it was nerves about the bikes, no one knows, but the two hour long finale of Flavien and Vanessas 4 race GTSCC series ran for a mere 40 minutes or so, before someone shed a bit of oil on the far side of the track, the SC came out, they then toured round .. and round .. until a red flag was shown. Then all the cars sat on the grid, two restart times were shown .. still nothing happened .. and eventually the race was just cancelled. Much the same antics occurred for the next local CPV race, then finally Masters ran a late F1 race, and the rest were shortened; no real explanation seemed forthcoming.

A good weekend nonetheless, with plenty of fish at the various beach side restaurants, and one evening at the amazing “Calisco” cave restaurant, near Alvor; Vern Williamson was down at Praia de Luz, and visited on Sunday, as did ex Emeryson FJ driver, Roger Skipp on Saturday

Some truck delays, but no significant travel, covid or carnet problems otherwise: we all got there safely and back, so it all portents well for a full continental and UK season in 2022; and we hope our US and Antipodean FJ drivers will be back too.

DCPR

Formula Junior continued its four race Autumn European tour with a sun soaked weekend at Jerez in Southern Spain.

After having to miss Dijon, Duncan was back on the Continent, but without the faithful Iain Rowley. Darren Robinson provided an excellent transport and carnet facility and the Alexis was under the co-care for the two weekends of Tom Smith, ably assisted by Alex Hallett and Lewis Morrison, already with hands full of both FJs and HGPCA cars for Mark Shaw and Hans Ciers. From France, Stephane Rey was now back in his faithful Lola Mk 5A, more than 22 years since his first outing at Paul Ricard, Gilbert Lenoir had his Elva 200, while Croix-en-Ternois Circuit owner, Patrick d’Aubreby, who was to prove the revelation of the meeting, had substituted his Lotus 22 for the BT6.

Taking their first trips across the new Brexit Border were Malcolm and Aileen Wishart, towing the Faranda, and Peter Anstiss with his familiar Lotus 20/22, easing the burden by, also, sending the car with Darren, while Peter and Jan enjoyed motorhome travel unencumbered by race trailer (their Iberian adventures warrant a separate report!!). Last but not least, James Hagan gave the ex AFJA championship winning Lynx its Continental debut, after Joseph Pomfret, who was working hard to keep ahead of its teething troubles, had given it it’s race debut at the Goodwood MM.

Alex Ames (Brabham BT6) continued his winning ways in race 1, but there were clear signs that the entente cordiale was about to be broken, with both Patrick d’Aubreby in his older Lotus 22, and Nogaro doctor, Stephane, both ahead of previous front runner, Mark Shaw (Brabham BT6). Mark was not having a happy weekend, demolishing the LH rear corner of his F1 Lotus 21 following a spin after exiting the chicane on someone else’s oil, and later incurring body damage to the BT6 after being caught out by an early braking Lee Mowle, going well, just ahead of him. “Team mates Richards Wilson (Lotus 27) and Smeeton (Wainer), both under the care of Bob Boughton, were next up, both also enjoying HGPCA drives, Wilson in the front engined “Dino” Ferrari, and Smeeton in his new acquisition, the first of the Bowmaker Lola Mk 4-Climax V8s, the Ex 4 cylinder BRGP41.

Lukas Halusa was an early retirement in his ex Rossi 22 with a seized gearbox, while winner of the first HGPCA race in his Lotus 18, Andrew Beaumont, was not so lucky in his 22 (the car Rossi had borrowed and won Spa in), and broke a drive shaft passing the pits, coming to rest safely at the exit of the pit lane.

The only two front engined cars, Malcolm Wishart’s Faranda, with newly built Dan Setford 7 port head FIAT engine, and Duncan in the Alexis, had a race long battle, while at the rear, James Hagan had an early pit stop to fix a broken distributor, but then came out for two flying laps that clearly showed the Lynx potential.

Race two was a exciting battle between Ames and D’Aubreby, with the Frenchman earning La Marseillaise on the podium. His race craft was truly impressive, stalking Alex for the first part of the race, but then taking his opportunity, before visibly moving ahead to win by nearly 4 seconds, no mean feat against one of our recent new stars. This time Lee Mowle in the CTL run Lotus 20/22 was a distant third, just ahead of Rey, with Mark Shaw a lowly 6th, Richard Wilson’s 27 right on his tail.

Duncan managed to get every driver’s signature in time for Lukas to start at the back of the grid in the green Ex-Jonathan Williamson 22, which had had its gearbox reinstalled from the abortive attempt to make the white 22 a runner for Race 1; unfortunately Lukas switched off on the grid and could not restart, so was pushed to the pits, but got away, some way behind, from the pit lane, eventually passing  Peter Anstiss, and finally James Hagan in the light blue Lynx, to 9th place behind Richard Smeeton’s Wainer. Beaumont had trouble again, this time broken suspension sending him into the gravel on the last bend.

Last race of the tour follows at Portimao, and it will be fascinating to see how twice FJHRA/HSCC FJ Championship race winner Clive Richards in his Lotus 22, out for this one event, performs against the Continental regulars.

DCPR