Lurani Trophy Round 5;

Such a lovely flowing track, though many decades since the Formula One French and later Swiss Grands Prix were held here; nonetheless we were treated to René Arnoux assisting at the prize giving ceremonies and giving an F1 demonstration on track.

It was the last round of the 2025 Lurani Trophy, and although Clive Richards was already the winner, he was still here to do battle with Manfredo Rossi and Andrew Hibberd (all in their lotus 22s) and US visitor Danny Baker (27) being run personally by the CTL Equipe of Chris Dinnage and Samantha; and returnees, Richard Smeeton, in the purple Wainer, Pierre Tonetti in the iconic De Tomaso ‘63 monocoque, and Bruno Ferrari’s Branca: Petter Huse was a late non-starter in the Focus IV after finding metal filings in the engine oil; not a good sign !!

Friday morning was free practice for the combined FJ and HF3/1000 races: wonderful to see the De Tomaso back on track, although Pierre was still having fuel feed issues on left hand corners; poor Gunther Leidig ( Elva 100) had an unaccountable oil leak from the back of the BMC engine in his Elva 100  – measurement afterwards revealed an alarming oil loss, and no way to fix this in the paddock . Out in father’s Elva 200 was Philip Lenoir, with an impressive time of 1m 39 ‘229, whilst Andrew Hibberd with both the 22 and the F3 BT18, stood out the session.

Qualifying was later in the afternoon, with Manfredo, also racing in F2, having the upper hand from Clive and Danny, happy at last to be returning to a previously raced European circuit, and up with the front runners as he would be back in USA, followed by Andrew, only 0.4s separating these four!!.. Luca was an impressive sixth, splitting Richard Smeeton and Bruno Ferrari.

Mid-session, the yellow flags were out for the yellow ex Olof Rosen Elva 100 of Jan Christians, stranded on the grass inside T1 with a seized drop box, sadly another terminal retirement, to be joined by Jonny Lange (22) with a severely overheating engine.

Luca works in the fine wine auction business, and very kindly hosted the post practice party: the biggest bottle of ‘red’ that you have ever seen, and much more: Luca and Bridget are getting married NEXT WEEKEND in Switzerland! but they were both in great spirits as hosts, helped by maid of honour, Megan, from Toronto, Canada, Bridget’s home City.

Saturday morning saw an Incredible four car battle in race 1 – Clive took the early lead, but then Manfredo was ahead, with Danny chasing hard and putting his 27 in front  a couple of times; coming round ahead on the penultimate lap, but too fast, as with 6 seconds to go on the clock another lap was needed which saw bad luck rob him of his first Lurani win when the HT distributor plug wire came off and he ground to a halt, coming up the hill out of T5 leaving Clive to just pip Manfredo to the flag, with Andrew in their wake; further back there had been another good dice between Luca in the Maroon 22 and Hans Hillebrink in the leading Class D  orange 20, both ahead of Bruno and, Pierre, recording a welcome finish in the De Tomaso.

Race 2 on Sunday started under safety car due to thick fog, but after two laps it pulled in, and the race that then ensued was no less dramatic than the weather! Danny Baker had been rather confused as to how the 2/2 grid should have formed after the safety car start, and as the field unleashed, was off into the gravel from third on T1, as he tried to recover, while Clive inadvertently edged in front of Manfredo before the line bringing him a drive through penalty; Andrew Hibberd also spun, so combined with Clive’s charging climb from the back, it all gave a terrific finish for the podium positions, with Andrew just 2s ahead of Clive and Danny, they separated by just 0.1 s !! Meanwhile Manfredo was away, waving to the crowds, and at the Podium, the Trophy was presented by Rene Arnoux and we heard the glorious Italian national anthem!!

Behind all the action, Richard Smeeton was a secure 5th, with Bruno chasing Luca, both well ahead of Class D winner, Hans Hillebrink on this occasion.  Pierre was all but lapped on the line, and was flagged off by the marshals, but luckily the parc ferme was through garage 4, so he crossed the timing light in the pit lane to retain the full distance in the results. Bob Birrell pitted after the orange flag warning him he didn’t have lights on, but as the fog had now cleared, he was allowed to resume to take the D1 class win.

Duncan concluded the proceedings with the prizegiving at which all the class B C and D Trophy place drivers received their awards with smiles and photos, and the battling leaders’ further congratulations, and Luca and Bridget despatched with best wishes for their big day 

DCPR 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Circuit des Remparts; FJ Front Engined Race

Only in France!! Surely the last place in the World where the ancient City, liberated by the Allies in August 1944, becomes a Mecca for French and British classic car enthusiasts, many of the Brits it would seem still with their houses in France, and for a feast of French degustation (with quite a few pizzas as well) all around the City centre.

Main exhibits included Jaguar, TVR, of course Citroen and Renault: and Panhard oddities, including a fine road sports DB that I don’t recall ever seeing before; and around the main Town Hall/ Senate of Justice was a truly French exhibition of Motobloc cars, made near Bordeaux, both in restored and ‘as found’ condition. Fortunately this year the sun gods smiled and after some Thursday night rain it was a truly dry weekend.

The racing started here in 1939, and the circuit is unchanged!! Just some crash barriers erected in the obvious places, but for the rest, especially down the Remparts, you just have to avoid the pavement!!!

Of the other grids, enormous Edwardians, including Tony Lees in a monster 1913 C type Vauxhall fitted with a 1918 V8 Hispano Suiza 12 litre Aero engine, lots of Austin 7s, a field of vintage machines, almost won by 500 racer Chas Reynolds in his three wheeler Morgan -JAP; and a race for T51 Bugatti’s, which the commentator had us believe was more than had ever been gathered together in one race, Period or Historic, including two ladies (only one, after a practice incident, but from which she was fortunately only shaken but not stirred), although that session was somewhat curtailed; despite the logistics of clearing broken cars after each session, the organisers did a remarkable job in maintaining the timetable.

It was a baker’s dozen of beautiful front engined FJs that graced the paddock: Iain Rowley brought down Ian Robinson’s Lola Mk2 and the Alexis and Mogens Christensen was the courier of Rich Spritz’ ex-Ian Phillips European based BMC Mk1 (Rich now has a second one that made its debut at the recent Lime Rock FJ race). Ian Phillips himself was also a visitor to the event, now living as a French resident not far south, he and Bev joined by Mark and Rose Woodhouse as guests for the weekend. 

John Arnold, with Kate, brought  the Neil McFadden Elva 100, having a weekend off as preparer, as were Nigel and Robin Lackford in their own similar but red, Elva, while all the remaining FJs were also being towed by their owners, Graham Barron of course the subject of envy and amazement with his DB5 and tow bar. Whilst the rest of the ’Northern’ contingent comprised Richard and Karen Bishop-Miller with the pristine Autosport Mk2 (awaiting the debut of their new ex Jim Blockley Caravelle II for Spa and Dijon), Bernard and Ros Brock with the Charlie Graham built CG Elva 100, and Tony and Elaine Pearson with the Bandini. Nick Taylor had his familiar Green Elva 100 and last but most certainly not least amongst the UK cars were Alex and Louise Morton with their Condor SII,  while from France, local driver Jean-Luc Renard was intent on out foxing his opponents with the front wheel drive Monopole Renault, with engine ahead of the front axle and its original saviour, Gilbert Lenoir in attendance; finally, making a welcome debut in Formula Junior, from Cannes, was Eric Comba in his red Stanguellini 00186 which he had bought in road going condition with front and rear mudguards, and reputedly the previous owner had run it on the road between Milan and Monaco!! Eric has a large collection of cars, many being French ‘oddities’, but including the Bandini 750 Monoposto that was sold at auction in Monaco a couple of years ago; [the Warwick Monoposto racer with F1 Cooper streamlined ‘Reims ‘ body, ex Belly Bellinger] and a Tipo 500 F2 Ferrari of the Ascari era, but currently fitted with an Alfa Romeo engine!!

Many arrived on Thursday ahead of the weekend activities, so a meal that evening at Latitude Pub, in fact a very nice restaurant, sitting outside [until it rained !!] was the order of the day, and then new for this year was scrutineering at the ‘Welcome Espace’ out of town, but with plenty of space compared to the Town Hall central square! If you had found it, then mountains of paperwork followed, no problems over inspection, and then to park in the main ‘paddock’ in the City centre; strictly NO support vehicles allowed (except Graham’s DB5 which attracted more attention than many of the competition cars!!!!) Grant and Penny Wilson were holidaying with our ‘Hockenheim commentator’ Michael Ashley-Brown who lives locally, and on hand to help with any hiccups. 

Friday night meal was booked at the Red Lion in the Centre for six; well only 14 turned up!! But once he had recovered, the Italian proprietor was much obliging, and a fun FJ party was had.  

Saturday’s primary activity is the road rally for a huge variety and number of Classic cars which ended at the Military barracks and then a ramp with commentator, as the returning cars  approached the city centre Duncan was amused to find the much changed Austin Healey Sprite, once owned [or at least the Registration no  5116 HN !!] by brother Graham competing with  Rod Graham, the “Headlines from Healey” editor.

After participants forgathered that evening for the compulsory briefing (fortunately partly in English), the evening activity was a huge welcome party at the aforesaid military barracks, participants ferried there in historic buses: food and drink (and live music) was a plenty, with (inter alia) literally piles of delicious rock oysters to one’s heart’s content!!!! 

 Racing wise, everything happened on Sunday: Formula Junior were due out at a leisurely 11am, delayed only by the warring Bugattis, but poor Richard Spritz was having trouble with the BMC battery, and ultimately with the delay failed to get out from the holding area: at least he had snuck out into the traffic on Saturday and managed a couple of laps of the circuit!!! Alex Morton was the powerhouse of the day, with Graham Barron in his wake while Nick Taylor, a former winner for FJ on the Copenhagen street circuit, held third before gearbox trouble intervened; and Iain Rowley’s hopes as another Copenhagen winner were thwarted as he pitted early with a mechanical issue. Richard Bishop-Miller was outstanding, Oulton Park having clearly been a turning point in Autosport history and Duncan thoroughly enjoyed himself in the Alexis despite the three first gear changes at the hairpins, but called practice, time, when the brakes began to seriously fade : Jean-Luc was just smiling, as was Eric Comba, even though this was his first competitive race, and was lapped several times by the leading duo; poor Tony Pearson was an early stopper as the bumpy track broke the exhaust bracket, leaving the pipe trailing; The remaining Elvas all ran well and uneventfully.

The race itself ran out at around 5.30: only Nick Taylor would not run, a fix being beyond Fiona’s powers as ‘mechanic’, as no magic solution emerged from the E-book !!, Iain Rowley having fixed both the Lola and welded up Graham Barron’s holed sump, while they thought that the BMC problems had been resolved, and Rich started from the back.

The grid was a F1 type Standing start but the ‘off’ is when the French flag is RAISED: Alex was away into the lead, but in mid field, Duncan had rather overheated in the old holding area and made a very stuttered start, to be overtaken by both Bernard Brock and Jean-Luc, so a bit of fun was had getting past them, in Bernard’s case twice, on the inside of the first hairpin; then Iain Rowley spun the Lola at the paddock corner, almost completely blocking the track, but amazingly without hitting anything, and brought all behind him to a halt, Duncan eventually creeping between the Lola tail and the barrier, and freed of Bernard and Jean-Luc. With three or so laps to go, Graham’s engine burst, leaving a trail of oil around the whole circuit, and he finally expired halfway up the hill after the first hairpin by which time the oil had made any racing academic and the red flag was shown. 

All the rest finished, bar Rich whose electrics failed again, and with the countback Graham was second and a worthy John Arnold who has done so much to help Elva 100 owners, and is in the process of saving two more such cars, 3rd ahead of a disappointed Robin Lackford: the organisers were asked to check the result but it is only MSUK rules that disqualifies a car not running at the red flag and Graham’s place stood for a well-earned  2nd place Trophy.

The sun continued to shine as Angouleme Sunday evening eating drinking and music continued into the night!!

DCPR

 

Historic Formula Junior Championship Rounds 7 & 8

August Bank Holiday, for Formula Junior it has to be Silverstone and the Festival held on the Grand Prix circuit with the Historic Vale corner. The Festival is one of the biggest events of the year for Classic and Historic Race cars. The 20 races encompassing all eras from Pre War Sports Cars to the Modern GT 3 & 4 cars of the Masters GT Trophy. In the single seater classes alongside Historic Formula Junior are the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association echoing each other in the evolution of Formula racing which graduated into the Formula 2, Formula 3 and F1 cars of the 70s and 80s.

Off track there are the Car Club displays, food and drink tastings and demonstrations along with live music during the day and evening. Weather permitting the evenings culminate with a balloon display into the dark. A great event to celebrate the closing of summer and the early shadows of approaching autumn.

The festival historically always presents a full if not oversubscribed entry, it would be 50 cars that assembled for the start of qualifying. Martin Halusa was present, as was the ex-Geoghegan ex-Fyda 22, but he had injured his back and was unable to participate, while  Nathan Metcalfe had his gearbox explode on the ex-Andrew Thorpe Lotus 20 in Thursday testing, so father, Tim, stepped down to put Nathan in his Cooper instead.

A mixed bag of weather was promised for the weekend starting on the Thursday night with high winds that lasted into the morning leaving a wet track with a drying line appearing for the commencement of qualifying at 9.00 a.m.

There were several spinners in the opening laps as the conditions varied around the circuit. Jeremy Flann was into the gravel at Stowe, but the marshals had him out again. Richard Ferris pronounced his Donford a great car for the dry, but very skittish in the damp conditions of the qualifying. Richard and his mechanic working hard in the garage post qualifying to soften the car for the predicted rain for the Saturday race.

Clinton McCarthy in the Lotus 18 was another with issues following qualifying. He had a new set of tyres on and he found they were out of balance making for a very uncomfortable qualifying session.

On circuit the battle for pole position was in full swing, the continually drying track seeing the drivers see-saw up and down the order. Michael O’ Brien was the driver who held the top spot for most of the session. Samuel Harrison was showing great speed in the unique Rennmax of Adrian Holey at one time lying second in the standings. With other familiar names from previous epic Silverstone scraps coming to the fore, these included Alex Ames, Andrew Hibberd, Tim de Silva, Sam Wilson, Callum Grant in the ‘Magic Merlyn’ and Horatio Fitz-Simon in the Brabham BT6. Having got into the top 4 the throttle cable on Horatio’s Brabham broke and he retired with 8 minutes of the session still left.

Ray Mallock in the U2 Mk2 was easily heading the front engine runners, and for part of the session running just outside of the top 10. As the track dried he did slip down the timing sheets, with Charlie Besley in the Elva 100 setting the fastest time with his final lap with Ray Second and Charles Cook in the ex-Simon Goodliff Nike Mk1 in the third front engine spot.

Nathan Metcalfe claimed the class C2 honours with the Cooper T56, from Stuart Monument, again going very well in the Lotus 18, with Gary Thomas 3rd in the ex-Gil Duffy Kieft, despite an early pit stop after problems selecting top gear. Post qualifying, he resolved this by filing the gate to give a wider opening.

As the Chequered flag went out it looked like Michael O’Brien in the Nick Fennell ex-Ecurie France Lotus 27 would be on Pole. Many drivers were pushing hard to take advantage of the drying track. One of those pushing to the limit was Nick Fennell himself in his ex-Japan Lotus 22, completing his final lap with a 90 degree spin that had him briefly pointing at the pit wall, fortunately keeping it ‘all together’ to complete the slow down lap. As others took the flag, Alex Ames was setting purple sector times all the way around the circuit to snatch the pole position as he crossed the line.

The final top 10 order being Alex Ames Brabham BT6, Michael O’Brien Lotus 27, third Samuel Harrison Rennmax (the car being christened ‘Dolly’ by Tim,  Samuel’s Dad, the car apparently having characteristics somewhat similar to a well-known singer rather than a cloned sheep); Sam Wilson Cooper T59 would line up 4th ahead of  Andrew Hibberd’s Lotus 22, Callum Grant (Merlyn Mk5/7), Tim Da Silva ( BT2,) Horatio Fitz-Simon (BT6), Stuart Roach’s Alexis Mk4 and Peter de la Roche in the Hibberd family Lotus 20 completed the top 10 and headed the class D2 running order. Nic Carlton-Smith was2nd in class in his Lotus 20, 3rd place being Pierre Guichard in the Lynx T3.

It was an exciting qualifying with everyone returning safely despite the varying conditions. The one question would be, if he had run the full session where Horatio would have finished. Saturday could turn the grid on its head with rain forecast, and  some who favour the wet conditions starting further down the order. The stage was set for Race 1

Race 1

As predicted the rain came for the Saturday morning. It would be a wet race with only the volume of race cars on the circuit to create a potential dryer line. Sam Wilson was feeling unwell, and would be a non starter, along with Sharon Adelman in the Ecurie France ex-Jo Schlesser Brabham, electing not to race in the conditions, making 48 starters listed on the grid.  The race was abandoned on the warming up lap due to the track conditions with a very soggy group of drivers returning to the garages. Opinions varied upon whether they should have raced in the conditions but for the Festival all racing was delayed as the rain continued. 

A second attempt to run race 1 was made. A gap in the weather appeared to give an opportunity for Race 1 to take place. As the race started the rain came again. There was a start in which Alex Ames led away with Michael O’Brien second with Samuel Harrison in third. On the entry to Wellington Straight Michael O’Brien took the lead with the cars going three abreast down the straight. These first trio had a gap to the pursuing pack of Andrew Hibberd, Callum Grant and Tim de Silva. Horatio was starting to move through following his problems in practice.

Jeremy Flann’s problems continued and he retired to the pit lane at the end of lap 1. As the intensity of the rain increased, both Alan Schmidt and Syd Fraser spun on Hanger Straight, and then John Timoney, making his debut in the ex-Alex Morton David Drew Ausper T3, spun into the infield at Vale: another yellow flag disappointingly became a RED!  Meanwhile at the head of the field Michael O’Brien had been leading, as Alex Ames and Samuel Harrison duelled side by side. Behind them,  Ray Mallock was using the advantage of his U2 to move up the order: too late,  the race was abandoned, and a ‘no contest’ without points was declared.

Race 2

The rain cleared and the Juniors were first out again, on the Sunday. It was a full grid of 50 cars that formed for the green flag laps and the rolling start, with both Sam Wilson and Sharon Adelman assuming their grid positions from qualifying. 

From the line it was again Alex Ames that took the initiative into Abbey, but Michael O’Brien quickly slipped past into the lead that he was not to lose. He extended his advantage to over 13 seconds when the chequered flag was shown. Callum Grant initially held second place with Alex Ames in third. Following close in Alex’s wheel tracks were Samuel Harrison from Horatio Fitz-Simon, and Sam Wilson, all slightly ahead of Andrew Hibberd.

By lap 2 Horatio had moved through to 3rd place opening a gap back to Ames, Wilson and Harrison, the trio dicing together allowing Andrew Hibberd to close. On lap 3 Samuel Harrison had a quick spin at Woodcote rejoining in 14th place. Horatio had moved into second place with the top three spacing out as they started lapping the slower cars. Sam Wilson was now 4th and Alex Ames 5th.

On lap 5 Callum Grant would retire after a tangle, lapping Ralph Carter’s Speedsport 22. Horatio was now in lonely pursuit of the rapid Michael O’Brien.   With the order established, the result would be a clear win for Michael O’Brien in the HASU Racing Lotus 27, uncaught by Horatio Fitz-Simon,  with Sam Wilson third in the Cooper T59, ahead of Alex Ames (BT6), Andrew Hibberd (22) with US visitor Tim de Silva next up in his  BT2. Seventh and winner of Class D2 was Peter de la Roche. In 8th, having chased Peter down hard throughout that last lap was a recovering Samuel Harrison in the Rennmax, with the lotus 22s of Lukas Halusa and Nick Fennell making up the top ten.

Class C2 was a good win for Stuart Monument in the Lotus 18 from Nathan Metcalfe in father Tim’s, Cooper T56, ahead of Gary Thomas in the continually improving Kieft. Class B2 was won by Ray Mallock in the family U2 from Charlie Besley Elva 100 and Charles Cook in the Nike. The remaining class winners were Peter Fenichel, Richard Ferris and Andrea Guarino.

By Alan Jones

 

The Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix for 2024 took place over the first weekend of August at the Bellahöj street circuit in north-western Copenhagen, a track that has been home for this race since 2013, where it was moved from its previous location at the Faelledsparken right in the city. Formula Junior was, as usual, the only single-seater grid on the programme and the Formula Junior drivers were, also as usual, given a VIP treatment by the CHGP supremo Jac Nelleman. This  included a welcome dinner on Thursday evening at the Östergo roof-top restaurant and a table of cold-cuts in the paddock for Saturday lunch, and, not to be forgotten, ”goodie bag”.

Sadly, the number of entries were somewhat disappointing with only 12 drivers remaining when it was time to get out on the track for the first time.  There had been a hope for more Scandinavian drivers this year, but the usual ”car not ready” excuse prevailed. So, in the end, we had six from the UK (Robin Longdon, Iain Rowley, Nick Taylor, Vern Williamson, John Chisholm and Martin McHugh), two from Sweden (Jan Christians and Lars-Göran Sjöberg), and one each from Australia (Kim Shearn), Denmark (Lars Jansen), Norway (Petter Huse) and Finland (Reijo af Heurlin). It was nice to see John Chisholm back in his first Formula Junior race after his nasty crash at this venue last year (although he has participated in a couple of F3/500 races in between). Sir John drove the Ausper Mk 4 owned by Vern Williamson. Others who had ”borrowed” cars were Iain Rowley in a Lotus 22 owned by Erik Justesen and Kim Shearn in Jac Nelleman’s Alfa Dana. Of the others, Longdon had his Lola Mk 5, Taylor his Elva 100, Williamson his Lynx T3, McHugh his Lotus 22, Christians his Elva 100, Sjöberg his Cooper T59, Jansen his Elva 100, Huse his Focus Mk IV, and Heurlin his RV Special.

The race format was a free practice late Friday afternoon, then, on Saturday a timed session to decide the grid positions for the qualification race held in the afternoon. This decided the grid postions for the all-deciding ”Grand Finale” on Sunday. Before the racing started on Friday, there had been the traditional parade into a reception at the Copenhagen Town Hall. Williamson and Chisholm took the risk of taking part in the parade with their race cars but, not suprisingly, got some issues with overheating on the way back.

The untimed practice on Friday started badly for Heurlin, whose car refused to start because of what was later diagnosed as fuel pump issue. Another one who had problems was Christians, whose engine at first refused to fire and then his starter motor failed.  Anyhow, a push start got him out onto the track. On track, Longdon’s engine died on the first lap (loose lead to the coil) and Sjöberg returned to the paddock on the second with oil surge under braking. Huse was quickest almost two seconds ahead of Rowley with Taylor fastest front-engined car.

In the timed session on Saturday, Huse was even more ahead with a time almost 2.5 seconds quicker than that of Longdon, who was closely followed by Taylor and Rowley, then a gap to McHugh and Christians (who had replaced the starter)  in turn followed by Chisholm, Williamson and Shearn, then Jansen, Sjöberg (who only drove one flying lap, since the oil surge was no better despite having added more oil) and Heurlin (with the fuel pump now working).  Williamson came into the pits early with the gearbox stuck in gear and McHugh also had an issue, a misfire.

In the qualifying race on Saturday afternoon, pole sitter Huse was quickest away ahead of Taylor and Rowley. Longdon made bad start, but had moved up to second position within a couple of laps. Rowley was stuck behind Taylor for several laps before finding a way past into third position.  Longdon showed that Huse’s superiority from the timed practice was a thing of the past and after about two thirds of the race, he was on Huse’s tail. The two of them then made several position changes, which entertained the spectators who showed their apreciation with lots of both chees and gasps.  On the next to last lap Huse made a decisive move and passed Longdon on the outside going into the bus-stop chicane, Longdon locking all four wheels to avoid a collision. Longdon had an advantage on the start/finish straight, but Huse managed to take the chequered flag first, but with a margin of only 1/10 of a second.  Had the finishing line been some 10 metres later, Longdon would have gotten by.  They were followed by Rowley a long way back, who was not that far ahead of Taylor, then Chisholm one lap down, Christians, Shearn and Heurlin, the three of them two laps down. McHugh still had a misfire despite having replaced the distributor and retired. Williamson also retired after having left his braking too late and touched the barrier at the second corner, resulting in a bent steering arm. One who also retired was Jansen, who had a gearbox issue and had spent the race closely following Heurlin until the last lap, when his clutch gave up.

The Finale on Sunday afternoon was delayed about one hour because of heavy showers. Only eight drivers remained on the grid. Those who did not start was Jansen, Williamson, Chisholm and, of course, Sjöberg.  Williamson had got a straightened steering arm, but then found damage to the lower wishbone, which could not be repaired in time for the race, while Chisholm decided not to provoke his luck on the still wet track. Shearn had a leaking radiator in the first race, but this was repaired in time for the second and McHugh had finally cured the misfire.

The sun was out, but the track was still wet when the race started. Pole sitter Huse made a lousy start (not in gear when the lights went out). Rowley was quickest away ahead of Taylor and Longdon, while McHugh directly made it up to fifth from his position at the back of the grid. Taylor then passed Rowley on the outside going into the second corner on lap 2 and pulled away. Meanwhile Huse had passed Longdon, who did not look comfortable on the still slippery track. Rowley then started to feel more confident and started catching Taylor again on the drying track, but after only four laps, there was another very heavy shower resulting in almost no visibility, and the chequered flag was waved after the next lap, which was about half-distance.  Taylor won by some four seconds thereby repeating his win from last year. Rowley followed next six seconds ahead of Huse, who held a similar margin to Longdon. McHugh was fifth and then followed Christians, Heurlin and Shearn, the two latter lapped by the winner.

Next year’s Grand Prix will take place on August 8-10.

by Lars-Goran Sjoberg

Lurani Trophy Round 4

A brilliant weekend in Brno, where the very warm welcome was definitely matched by the heat!

The approach to the circuit on arrival on Thursday evening had us in the Revival spirit right from the get-go, as the narrow winding road leading to the circuit was in fact a section of the old street circuit! Following Free practice on Friday afternoon, the organisers treated us to a brilliant bus tour of the full 30km circuit after free practice, guided by the author of two books on the circuit, providing us with a fantastic insight into its history – fair to say those were some brave drivers!

Saturday dawned sunny again, however Friday night was a different story, as the dark sky in the distance suddenly turned from a few drops to a relentless wind whipped deluge within seconds, leaving those in the paddock literally hanging on to their tents to keep them grounded.  None had ever been so wet fully clothed in their lives! The kind organisers were immediately round offering free garage space to those affected, and Stephan Joebstl took in the dripping clothing of our refugees to dry.

Qualifying was late morning, with times ever increasing as all learnt the circuit, new to most, but very much rated but all, before the race mid-afternoon. It only takes two to make a race, and there were pairs dicing throughout, earning a very enthusiastic and well-deserved applause at the end from the packed grandstand! Philipp Buhofer (Lotus 27) made a brilliant start alongside poleman Clive Richards (22), and the race was on for the first few laps, until Philipp experienced clutch issues, and Clive pulled away to take the win. Outstanding battle for fifth place, was between Stephan Joebstl (Lotus 22) and Petter Huse (Focus), changing places numerous times and never more than a cars length between them, if that, Stephan having the edge at the flag. Hans Hillebrink (Lotus 20) put in a brilliant performance in his drum braked Class D car, in his dual with Tony Lees (Lola Mk 5A), making up for his qualifying time, by gaining four places by the flag. Also excelling in his class, B, was Alex Morton (Condor SII), giving chase to Peter Laier (Brabham BT2).

Saturday evening we enjoyed a lovely group meal in the city centre, giving an opportunity also for a stroll through the beautiful lit up historic buildings of the Moravian capital, on what was still a very warm night.

Race 2 on Sunday was early afternoon, and Clive ran out the well-deserved winner again, not without Philipp keeping him on his toes this time, while Adrian Russell (Lotus 22) pushed Rudi Friedrichs (Lola Mk 5A) all the way to the finish, but couldn’t quite take 3rd place from him. In the Front-engined class however, Floris-Jan Hekker (Rayberg) and Jan Christians (Elva 100) crossed the line side by side, with Floris just having the advantage and gaining 10th overall. A few mechanicals (drive shafts and clutch) were the DNF’s, but still smiles aplenty, and looking forward to a cold beer!

It’ll be a few years until we’ll be back again, but we’ll definitely be back, the drivers loved the circuit and it’s always a pleasure organising a meeting where you’re truly appreciated by both the circuit and the spectators – so chalk it up for your future wish lists!

Sarah