On Monday prior, Michael O’Brien got the call up for testing by McLaren; then on Wednesday, Richard Bradley had similar news from Nissan, so two withdrawals; one might say that this is the changing face of Historic motor racing, but in fact these are two young drivers from historic racing families who really enjoy their FJ racing, and as a helpful contrast to their modern “day job”!

It was a late start setting sail on the Stena Line crossing from Harwich to Hoek van Holland on Tuesday night. Arrival the following day to Zandvoort was in the pouring rain, for the last event before the Circuit modifications ahead of the 2020 Formula 1 Grand Prix. All tickets already sold out to the Orange Army.

The Zandvoort HGP is a popular event, and this year in addition to the FIA Lurani Trophy, HSCC Formula 2 also had a full 38 car field, together with the usual races for the three Masters grids, the now annual FIA Historic F3 European Cup, but no class for 1600s, HGPCA, and demos to commemorate both the 1948 Zandvoort GP and the 1961 GP: while Jo Bonnier’s 1959 Dutch GP winning BRM looked positively stunning under the watchful eye of Rob Hall.

The 20 FJ reserves had gradually reduced, but a full grid passed scrutineering, Roger Woodbridge, spannered by Brother Rob, being a newcomer to the Lurani trail in his ex-Fabio Verin Volpini, and good to see Peter Edbrooke back in his ex-Michaela Axelsson light blue Lotus 18, under the wing of Adam Bruzas, as well as the two CTL entries for Andrew Beaumont (22)and Greg Thornton (20/22).

With the weather now improving, Duncan and Mair, now joined by Sarah, enjoyed a candlelight dinner atmosphere in the Envoy trailer, with meal expertly cooked by Christian Lange, joined by Fred and Jean Pierre Peteux (constructor of the Sirane FF in Period).

Our Friday 9 am briefing was expertly given by Masters Richard Cuene-Grandidier, who was to be Race Director for all the FIA races over this weekend, with strong emphasis on yellow flags, SC rules and respect for fellow competitors.

Dry qualifying followed: poor Lars-Goran, this time in the Swedish blue T59, moved only as far as the front of the assembly area before complete electrical failure halted his session, while David Innes seemingly endless problems with the green Stanguellini continued and he parked up half way round his first tour, the cause later found as the fuel regulator fitted in reverse. Roger Woodbridge also pulled off half-way through the session when the half-shaft broke.

Bruno Weibel was all conquering and delighted to take his first FJ pole, with Shaw, Thornton, Pete Morton and Rossi all within two seconds. It was a fine performance from Rudolf Ernst in the ex Paul Smeeth Lotus 22, rebuilt by Andrew Hibberd, leading some of the Lurani regulars, Richard Smeeton, and John Fyda, with the yellow duo, Andrew Beaumont (CTL run, 22) and Marty Bullock (leading Class D, Wren), splitting them; Jono Fyda was also going extremely well in his Class D U2 Mk 3, while current Champion, Colin Nursey (18) headed the T56 team, with Alex Morton in his Condor SII leading front engined runner.

Friday evening is the traditional FJ party on the beachfront at Restaurant 25 , Sandy Hill; the food was excellent, the atmosphere jolly, with many additional FJ drivers joining us, despite racing other cars this weekend, including the Murrays, Futters, Bob Juggins and Alex, Drake and team. We were also pleased to welcome FIA guests Henri Pluton, Pauline Schoofs, John Hopwood and Pat O’Dowd and 500 emigre, Chris Wilson  with Andrea, who was racing in Masters saloons with Simon Frost. The full K Team and Setford crew (looking after the two F1 shark nose Ferraris of Jason Wright, as well as Tom De Gres) were there and Larry Kinch and Iain Rowley were both heard to say that it was the best party ever, enlivened when Sarah read her “Ode to Grant” to much applause.

Saturday was a very early 8.50 start for Race 1, and caught a number of drivers off guard arriving late to the assembly area. There was further chaos placing people on the grid, before a slow green flag lap which was probably a blessing to allow the drivers to relax before the start.

Bruno led off to the flag, but not without challenge from Manfredo, who having made a great start from fifth off the drier side of the grid, set fastest lap by over a second on lap 7, before being unlucky in traffic. The third spot on the podium was settled on lap 6 when Mark Shaw (Brabham BT6) got ahead of Greg Thornton, with Pete Morton (Lightning Envoyette) also passing the Lotus 20/22 a couple of laps later for fourth spot.

Jono Fyda had a very spirited race, very much in honour of dear friend Tony Dyer, indeed not far off the pace of his father, John also going very well, and coming home easily fastest of the drum braked cars. In contention for drive of the day was definitely Alex Morton, relishing the damp conditions and handling in his front engine Condor, and outpacing many of the later cars to finish in the single digits.

The other battle of significance was a medley of Class C and D cars, with much place swapping, partly due to numerous spins between them, with the T56 twins of Besley and Deeley, and Aubert and Longdon for Class D.

Class A’s strong six car entry unfortunately didn’t live up to much, with Malcolm Wishart also not making the start with clutch problems, and Tom de Gres lasting just three laps in his Stanguellini before it dropped a valve seat.

Proceedings were brought to a racing halt on lap 9 when Floris-Jan Hekker rode over the rear wheel of Christian Lange’s Envoy , and did a roll into the (fortunately soft and muddy) outfield, extremely lucky to be without injury, not quite so for the Rayberg, but the strength of both roll over bars were a testament to their absolute requirement in FJ racing.

So the race finished under the safety car, with a couple of penalties applied in Class C for overtaking between the safety car pulling in and the control line, leaving Jeremy to take the honours in the results sheet. Let that take nothing off the faultless drive from Bruno Weibel though, and his delight was evident for all to see on the podium as he was joined by his two boys Romeo and Orlando.

Saturday night was the traditional drive into town with race cars, but the weather was inclement and only one wild Scot in an HGPCA car ventured out from the single-seaters, although we still enjoyed the traditional pizzas watching the cars parade.

Sunday was really wet, and sadly Christian Lange had departed, a family bereavement calling him home, and continuing efforts to get David Innes Stanguellini promised much, but all in vain.

The battle up front was magic, despite the conditions, with a three way tussle between Bruno Weibel, Manfredo Rossi and Mark Shaw, with Pete Morton and Greg Thornton in their wake. Thornton spun off at half-way, with some damage, and Rossi spun towards the end, letting Pete through to third. Up front this time Mark Shaw had the “psyche” and magically headed Bruno to the line. Alex Morton had a star drive in the Condor SII, just failing to match Andrew Beaumont’s Lotus 22 while Marty Bullock spoilt an excellent race by spinning off into the gravel at Boch 10 on the last lap – beached but without damage. In the exciting C2 class, Deeley and Besley were split by the winning cars, Deeley just ahead of Robin Longdon’s Lola Mk3, going well, at the flag.

Post race, events were dominated by a horrific crash (on his own) by Brian Joliffe with his Cooper in the HGPCA race. How Brian emerged unscathed is a miracle, but, amongst others, FJ came to the fire, and Stuart Roach, at Zandvoort to support Jason Wright’s two Ferrari “shark-nose” F1s, (for which they had built the bodies), co-ordinated the loading of the wreck of the Cooper into Brian’s van. Duncan sorted out the insurance, and Stuart set off driving the van to England overnight, leaving Peter Jackson to look after Brian and bring him back the the UK the following day.

DCPR

2020 CALENDAR

MONTH	DATE	EVENT	EVENT TYPE
February	21st – 23rd	Race Retro	Pre-Season Social
March	28th  – 29th	Goodwood Members Meeting – POSTPONED to 2021	By Invitation from GRRC
April	4th	Snetterton 300 Circuit – CANCELLED	UK Championship
April	3rd – 5th	Dix Mille Tours du Castellet, Paul Ricard – POSTPONED to 25 – 26 JULY	FJ / F 3 [Open to all FJ (Nat A) / combined with HF3]
April	24th – 26th	Hockenheim Historic – CANCELLED
April	24th – 26th	Formula Junior Italian Job – Imola – PRESSUME POSTPONED	Display and Track Days
April	29th	Silverstone Classic Preview Test Day – CANCELLED	Test Day
May	1st – 3rd	Donington Historic Festival – CANCELLED	UK Championship
May	9th	Wiscombe  – 500 OA – CANCELLED	Hillclimb open to FJ
May	23rd – 24th	Brands Hatch GP – Masters Festival – POSTPONED to a new date, however no longer suitable for FJHRA Calendar
May	30th	Oulton Park VSCC – CANCELLED	Front Engined Championship
May	30th – 31st	Pau GP Historique – CANCELLED	Open to all FJ (Nat A)
May	31st	Bergamo HGP Parade – POSTPONED to 8 NOVEMBER	Parade open to FJ
June	12th – 14th	Gellerasen Grand Prix – Karlskoga POSTPONED TO 9-11 OCTOBER	Open to all FJ (Nat A)
June	19th – 21st	Misano – POSTPONED to a new date, however no longer suitable for FJHRA Calendar
June	27th – 28th	Pembrey – CANCELLED	UK Championship
July	11th – 12th	Brands Hatch GP Superprix	UK Championship
July	10th – 12th	Imola – CANCELLED
July  – Aug	31st – 2nd	Silverstone Classic – CANCELLED	Open to all FJ (Nat A)
August	1st – 2nd	Copenhagen HGP – POSTPONED; Provisional new date; 9-11 OCTOBER	Open to all FJ (Nat A)
August	7th – 9th	Oldtimer GP – Nurburgring – FJ GRID CANCELLED
August	23rd	Mallory Park – VSCC	Front Engined Championship
August	23rd	Stoke Row & Nuffield Motorsport Day	Car Tour/Car Show Charity Event co-organised by Iain Rowley
August	29th – 31st	Oulton Park Gold Cup	UK Championship
September	11th – 13th	Goodwood Revival – CANCELLED	By Invitation from GRRC
September	25th – 27th	Spa 6 Hours Meeting	UK Championship
October	3rd	Castle Combe Autumn Classic	UK Championship
October	2nd – 4th	Dijon Motors Cup
October	9th – 11th	Copenhagen HGP – NEW DATE	Open to all FJ (Nat A) Enter Here; www.raceresult.dk
October	17th – 18th	Silverstone Finals	UK Championship
October	23rd – 25th	Algarve Classic Festival – NEW ADDITION	Open to all FJ (Nat A)
November	29th	FJHRA AGM/Prizegiving	All welcome

FJHRA Prizegiving & Auction. See more pictures from our event on 1st December 2019.

Keep smiling!

FJHRA, 1st December 2019

 

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;

It was the end of season, yes- but a fun event nonetheless!

Late withdrawals included local man JP Campos Costa, the yellow Lola Mk 5 rebuild still not quite completed, but will definitely be back for Hockenheim, while new Hall and Hall recruit, Stefan Joebstl was at the last minute unable to attend for work reason.

for the rest however, it was a class field, led by the three Richards; Bradley, Wilson and Smeeton, BT2, BT6 and Wainer respectively, all arriving in the Delta truck with the “carrot”, while Delta patron Iain Rowley was sharing Stuart Olley’s Tiga sports 2000 against a bevy of McLaren M1s; it looked rather intimidating !!!

Almost all the FJs were together in one big Garage, Spitfire pilot Steve Jones with his 6 speed Cooper T67 Ex Duncan Dayton, which won the last Lurani round held at Jarama, back in the 1990s; nothing if not versatile, Steve reminded me that he had won his last 7 races in his Cooper 500; and that next year he hopes to comprehensively beat the World Record for an electric powered aircraft!

The Adam Bruzas Team were three-quarters present, Adam (but yet without his own ex Kim Shearn, Roger Ealand 18) looking after Martin Aubert’s 20, and the ex Alex Morton, ex Count Steve Ouvaroff Ausper T3 of David  Drew, Marcus Pye reminding us from the commentary box that it was another Drew, the late Roy, who drove this same car for Rodney Tollhurst.

From France came Croix-en-Ternois owner, Patrick D’Aubreby with his 22, now much improved since mid season; while Gluton Corporation electric road sweeper manufacturer Christian Lange has his ex Ian Raby Envoy Mk 1.

Completing the Formula Junior Garage were the front engined Elva 100 of Robin Lackford, mentioning that it has not had a rebuild for nigh on 20 years, and one might be due! And NZ visitor, Tony Olissoff with the front wheel drive, and BMC powered Elfin Mk1.

Further down the strip in garages allocated to preparers was Chris Drake in the remarkable Terrier Mk 4 Series 1 with downdraught Motor, also looking after an M1C McLaren being driven by the son of Kenneth McAlpine (now well into his 90s) who was the finance and strength behind the Connaught Grand Prix cars, and raced them regularly from 1950 to 1955.

Last but not least was Alex Ames, with Mags, in Martin Halusa’s ex Gary Ryan 22, revealing that he and Marin have bought both of the Rossi cars, the Manfredo 22 and Caroline’s ex Mike Hailwood BT6 for a full season of FJ racing next year.

Also present in support were Laurence and Emma Wilkins, Lawrence having all but completed the restoration of the late John Lord’s 18, which will then be available for sale: and Christoph Widmer, BT18 F3 owner, who had hoped to join in the grid as an invitee, when the proposed F3 race evaporated, leaving two full races for four very modern cars, ( one of which expired early) most actually with motor cycle motors: a request that they joined the FJs was politely declined; against memories of the recent Knockhill: and indeed here at Portimao a few years back, when the sole Portuguese FF nearly wrote off a Junior on the warming up lap!

A few FJ’s ventured out for a damp and mixed free practice on Thursday including Bradley, Steve Jones and Lange, with (inter alia) a JPS Lotus F1 for company, not that Bradley needed to learn the circuit, as he had been racing in LMP2 here the previous weekend, only to end up in a lurid 200 mph slide into the tyre wall at the end of the main straight when a brake disc exploded, on his in lap, fortunately without any injury.

Qualifying was dry on Friday morning, with Bradley comfortably ahead of Alex Ames but still outside Jonathon Hughes official FJ lap Record from 2014; a close third was Richard Wilson in that very same Hughes BT6. Chris Drake was amongst the E1s, just ahead of D’Aubreby, a previous regular here, but without his F1 this time.

Our first race was the last before lunch on Saturday, in the dry, and very sadly we were missing Richard Wilson who had totaled Tony Best’s E Type in the earlier GT and SCC race on the fast off camber sweep into the main straight: a damaged l3 vertebrae was successfully  operated on the following day at Faro Hospital.

Alex Ames was close behind Bradley for the first couple of laps, but thereafter Richard drove away, with Alex suffering fuel starvation, dropping well back on lap 7 and then on the final lap, almost teetering to a halt, passed by a very closely matched Smeeton and D’Aubreby, and the flying Drake, but just crossing the line in front of Steve Jones. It was lonely races for the rest, except the race long battle between David Drew and Duncan, David just holding in front, after the first corner to the end.

Richard Bradley had only just failed to beat Jonathon Hughes 2014 lap Record, but Chris Drake convincingly thrashed the front Record, held by Andrew Tart in the Bond from 2013.

Race two on Sunday, again before lunch, was most definitely damp, Richard Bradley describing it as one of the slipperiest races of his career, but that did not prevent him winning with a commanding margin over a really exciting and race long dice between Ames and Drake, with Smeeton up with them for the first four laps.

Ames and Drake were side by side after 5 laps and Chris kept the advantage to stay ahead till the very last lap, with Alex taking the flag by 0.1 s. D’Aubreby had Smeeton still in sight, but in mid field, Duncan had another great race in the wet, slipping past both Aubert and Drew on the inside of turn three and then chasing Christian Lange’s Envoy, eventually passing on that same turn 3 on lap 7 while Christian was struggling with his downchange and held off for another lap, but slightly drier (or less wet !) conditions had Christian back ahead a lap later, but together they were catching Robin Lackford’s Elva 100, although they finished in that order. Duncan being happy to have lapped faster than Robin, and both front engined drivers joined Chris Drake for the separate front engined podium, after Chris had taken the 3rd spot on the overall one as well.

Lange and Aubert were happy winners of the aggregate C and D Trophies, to cap their enjoyable weekend.

Poor Tony Olissoff petered to a halt on lap 6, the Elfin not revving above 5500 or under 4000, and eventually dying completely.

Good racing, and the social side had been fun too, mixed groups enjoying the cheap and very cheerful Churrasqueira Mercado De Alvor in the old village on Thursday, the contrasting fantastic atmosphere and view on Friday of the rock cave Canido Restaurante, and finally Restauranto Atlantida on the beach on Saturday.

And so on to a most exciting prospect for FJ in 2020 ….

 

DCPR

The FIA Lurani Trophy headed to Estoril for the final round of the 2019 Championship. Only Crispian Besley (Cooper T56) could match Bruno Weibel’s points, although he himself could still be beaten by Jeremy Deeley in C2. Sadly, transport problems from Italy had seen the withdrawal of the only other Championship contender, Daniele Salodini (Taraschi).

Almost all cars took advantage of at least one of the three test sessions on Friday, shared with the HGPCA, to acquaint or reacquaint themselves with this taxing circuit.

Saturday morning qualifying set the pattern, with Richard Bradley (Brabham BT2), a man equally at home with Nissan LMP2 or a prewar Aston Martin Ulster, at the head of the times, but with Bruno (Lotus 22) and Mark Shaw (Brabham BT6) almost inseparable behind him. Newcomer Stephan Joebstl was settling in well to the Hall and Hall run ex- Greg Audi Lotus 20/22.

Race1, and Bradley led, with Bruno close behind, before Bradley drew ahead to leave a frantic battle between Bruno and Mark Shaw, with places swapping until Mark got by again and held on to the flag.

Another race long battle behind for 4th, with Richard Wilson much enjoying his ex-Jonathan Hughes Brabham BT6, working ahead of Richard Smeeton (Wainer 63), Team Lotus run Andrew Beaumont (Lotus 22) and Texan, Robert Hoemke (Lola 5A), till the latter pitted.

Close encounters all the way through the field in fact, with a much improved Martin Aubert (Lotus 20) just keeping ahead of the two Cooper T56’s of Besley and Deeley swapping places behind. Marty Bullock’s Wren blew a fuse, and Alan Baillie (Lola 2) had a mild excursion, and was unable to catch the flying Dr. Stephane Rey in the Scorpion for front engined honours.

Although rain was threatened, it remained dry for Race 2 on Sunday and another convincing race win for Richard Bradley, although, with a comfortable cushion, he kindly slowed on the last lap to allow Duncan’s Alexis to remain unlapped!!

Behind him came another great dice between Bruno and Mark Shaw. Proceedings were interrupted on the fourth lap when David Drew in the newly rebuilt Ausper T3 missed a gear, and spun at the sharp turn 3, collecting Mark Haynes (Elva 200), and a safety car period intervened. Mark Shaw took advantage of the restart and a lap later they passed by, side by side, Mark holding on for the second podium place.

The action behind was an equally exciting repeat of R1, save that Marty Bullock in the drum braked Wren was now in the heart of the Wilson /Smeeton/ Hoemke/ Beaumont battle, Wilson heading Smeeton and Marty at the flag, while, behind, Aubert, Besley and Deeley, were split by less than a second.

Stephane Rey again took front engined honours, this time from Colin Nursey’s California built BMC Mk 1, while the unfortunate Richard Bishop-Miller had a head gasket go, after jubilation the previous day on seeing the chequered flag.

Duncan presided over a jolly end of season prizegiving, with Bruno the new Lurani Champion, his third victory, and Crispian Besley leading the three car Cooper T56 team in the closely fought C2 Class.

With bumper grids this year in Lurani and an extremely exciting calendar ahead for 2020, after a trip for some to South Africa in January, Formula Junior remains in very good spirit.

DCPR