The Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix was held on its traditionl date – the first weekend of Auguston the street circuit at Bellah in western Copenhagen. This year there were 17 entries, well up from last year, although two dropped out before the race weekend, leaving eight drivers from the UK, three from Sweden, two from Denmark and one each from Norway and Finland.

Some of the UK participants travelled via Harwich-Hoek van Holland overnight and some via Calais: on board Stena Line were the Rabagliatis, Chisholms with the white Gemini 3A, engine rebuilt by Sam Wilson, Taylors with the Elva 100 and full Team GENK-P with their long motorhome and trailer, which really must be quite a handful on German no overtaking roads, but that is if you do obey the rules and (unlike the late David Stevenson) don’t get caught!! Calais bound were Iain and Stewart Rowley,  now with two car trailer containing the Alexis and Stephen Bulling’s Elva 300, for Iain to drive, and the Longdon and Ferris motorcades, with Robin this time in the Mk 5A. We would have had Peter Anstiss in Lotus 20/22, but Peter’s back had given way in the preparing period, so Peter wisely called off the trip, rather than risk a setback and leaving Jan to repatriate motorhome and Lotus. Late arrival was Vern Williamson’s Class D Lynx 115 brought along by two of his friends, Steve and Chris Gibson, from the Darlington and District Motor Club, more usually found at Croft Circuit.

Scandanavia-wise, the entry was headed by organiser, Jac Nellemann in the Volpini, but sadly that was still without gearbox, but his familiar Alfa Dana was there with Danish hot-shoe, Johan Schwartz thoroughly enjoying his maiden run; also from Denmark was Lars Jensen in the ex-David Grant Elva 100, poor Lars suffering permanent long covid damage, but that has not stopped him also acquiring the ex-Syd van der Vyver Cooper- Alfa Romeo T43 F2-22-57 direct from South Africa and a F3  T83 screamer F3-1-66. Also entered was Alan Bach-Srensen with the Saxon-DKW, but he withdrew pre-race just as at the Karlskoga race in June. Petter Huse came from Norway with wife Elisabeth and the Focus IV: Lars-Gran Sjberg had the Swebe- Cooper (although the T59 was tucked up in the trailer as a spare, but primarily intended for the Oldtimer GP the following weekend). Also from Sweden were Ulf Pettersson in Lola Mk3 BRJ33 and Christer Larsson (with wife Ann) in his T52 Cooper. Christer’s daughter and grandson were also there and Grandad was making encouraging noises for the future about the MRS-Saab. Finally from Finland was the Lotus 20/22 inspired Elhoo with Reijo af Heurlin, a car last seen at Copenhagen in 2013.

As ever, the social part is important at the CHGP, so for the FJ participants the event started off on Thursday night with a champagne reception (with tasty snacks) hosted by the CHGP supremo, Jac Nellemann.

The social element continued on Friday with a parade into the city centre and a reception at the Copenagen Town Hall before it was time for a free practice session in nice weather, contrary to the heavy showers of Thursday. The two white cars (the Elhoo of Rejo af Heurlin and the Gemini of Sir John Chisholm) were immediately in trouble, the Elhoo with an engine that just stopped and the Gemini with a loose clutch slave cylinder. Ulf Pettersson (Lola Mk 3) and Christer Larsson (Cooper T52) both had gear selection problems. For the rest nothing dramatic happened with Petter Huse (Focus Mk IV), Robin Longdon (Lola Mk 5), Nick Taylor (Elva 100) and Keith Pickering (Britannia) being the fastest.

The schedule for Saturday comprised qualifying for the first race before lunch time and then the race in the afternoon. As usual in Copenhagen that first race was just to decide the grid positions for Sunday’s all deciding final. The weather had changed to overcast, but no rain was expected until Sunday.

Fastest qualifier was Robin Longdon with 118.4 followed by Taylor, Pickering, Huse, Chisholm and Rowley, this group of six covered by a little over four seconds. Then there was a gap of another four seconds down to the next group of Sjberg, Schwartz, Ferris and Jansen covered by only two seconds. The remaining grid was headed by Williamson, who was followed by Rabagliati, Larsson, Pettersson and finally af Heuriin, who only managed to crawl around for one lap. Petter Huse had suffered a loose rear wheel bearing, just as at Karlskoga, despite having made and installed new parts. Chisholm had a loose oil union and for Pettersson, Larsson and af Heurlin, their problems from Friday’s practice session continued. On top of his gearbox problems, Larsson was selected for a noise test and did not pass. An extra addition to the silencer solved the problem. Finally, Lars Jansen was moved back four places on he grid after having run over one of the floppy corner markers at one of the chicanes.

The start of race 1 was delayed because of crashes in earlier races. The impression is that this happens almost every year; it seems that the organisers never manage to include enough time in the time table for clearing the track. Once let out on the track, more delays followed; the first start was abandoned for yet another formation lap to allow for the recovery of af Heurlin’s Elhoo, which once more stopped on the track before being able to reach the grid. When the starting sequence began for the second start effort, Pickering signalled that he was in trouble, so the red lights remained lit, but that did not stop the others from roaring off as if it was a proper start. The safety car intervened and after following it for two more laps, the field was once more lined up on the grid in their correct positions (there had been some overtaking in between) but without Pickering, who had fried his clutch. Also missing were af Heurlin and Pettersson, who could not find any gears (or more specifcally, he found the reverse when he should have found third).

Finally the race got underway, reduced by the number of laps spent behind the safety car, with Longdon taking the lead ahead of Huse. They changed positions once, but Longdon retook the lead and kept it. Chisholm held third place ahead of Taylor. Sjberg had made a good start, and was ahead of Rowley during part of the first lap, but then a misfire caused him to drop back to retire after six laps, not because of the misfire but becaue the clutch pedal refused to move (later diagnosed as being caused by a broken engine mount allowing the engine to drop down on one side). On the eighth lap, Chisholm took the turn into the bus stop chicane too tightly and hit the concrete wall head on causing a red flag. He was taken to hospital with injuries to his back, face and feet.

The race was not restarted so the results were declared on count-back to the lap before the red flag giving Longdon the win a little over a second ahead of Huse and then Chisholm (!) in third with Taylor in fourth and fastest front-engined car. Then followed Rowley, Ferris, Schwartz and Jansen all on the same lap as the winner; next one lap down were Williamson, Rabagliati and Larsson, Larsson with a bent nose after having hit one of the styrofoam corner markers. Sjberg was also classified in 12th and last position. Fastest lap was credited to Longdon with 117.314.

The weather forecast for Sunday said there was a risk of rain about the time when the FJ race should start. Had the start been on time, the rain might have been avoided, but that was not to be. Delays in preceding races meant that the FJ race set off more than 1.5 hours late and by then there was a light drizzle making the track very slippery. Non-starters were Chisholm, af Heurlin having given up on trying to complete more than one lap, and Sjberg who, when having made a temporary engine mount, heard unpleasent noices from the Renault gearbox. Pettersson made yet another effort, but something was seriously wrong inside the Lola’s transmission. The rear-wheels locked on the formation lap causing an extra formation lap for the rest of the starters while the Lola was towed back to the pits with locked rear wheels.

Longdon took the lead off the grid but was passed by Taylor in the Elva before the second corner for a lead that he would keep until the chequered flag. Taylor and Huse seemed to pull away from Longdon, but he caught up with Huse once again and managed to pass only to brake too late into the corner after the start/finishing straight where he had to take an extra turn to get back on the racing line. This allowed Huse back into second but some 5-6 seconds behind Taylor. The race finished with Nick Taylor having his first race win in seven years, his previous one also being at Copenhagen. Then followed, at long intervals, Huse and Longdon ahead of Rowley and Pickering (up from last on the grid), Ferris, Schwartz, Rabagliati, Jansen, Williamson and Larsson. Huse made fastest lap with 129.525, but was not able to keep up with Taylor’s front-engined Elva.

As so often before, the social part of the weekend ended with a five-course dinner hosted by Jac Nellemann in the famous elevator (= the VIP dining room) at the –stergro roof-top restaurant. The weather this time, with rain pouring down and a strong and gusty wind, did not allow for the welcoming drink to be had outside, so instead it was shifted to nearby motorcycle club – The Dead Cat Motorcycle Club. As far as we could see, they neither belonged to Hell’s Angels, nor Bandidos but proved to be nice veteran motorcycle enthusiasts.

By Lars-Goran Sjoberg (with DCPR)

FJHRA/HSCC “Silverline” Championship Rounds 6 & 7

Of the 29 entries, 28 cars assembled to qualify on the Friday afternoon for their two races of the weekend. Top Kieft runner and Class C leader Nic Carlton-Smith had blown his engine in testing. John Arnold came to the rescue for Nic’s Championship hopes with the offer of Niall McFadden’s Elva 100. Nic reappeared on Saturday morning starting with a race to Scrutineering to get himself onto the back of the grid, bringing the total back up to 29. Sarah Mitrike had organised sunshine albeit in blustery conditions for the qualifying and all hoped her skills would continue to prevail for the rest of the weekend.

Qualifying

Lotus cars dominated the top of the timing sheets with the first 7 all being Lotus chassis. At the start it appeared that Horatio Fitz-Simon in his Lotus 22 would have some competition from Sam Wilson in the Lotus 20/22 for pole position, but on laps 4 and 6 Horatio put in a pair of times that left him with a 1.3 second advantage over his pursuers. The gap between Sam Wilson and Clive Richards being a lot closer, Sam having the advantage of just 5/100^th from Clive in the Lotus 22.

Nick Fennell in the Lotus 27 completed the top 4, with Tim Child 5^th and Philip Buhofer in the second Lotus 27 6^th. Adrian Russell would finish 7^th with the Brabhams of the SpeedSport teammates Mark Carter BT6 and Geoff Underwood BT2 8^th and 9^th respectively with Michael Hibberd in his Class D2 Lotus 20 completing the top 10.

11^th was John Sykes in the Magic Merlyn bearing the tribute to its former owner Denis Welch on the side. Alex Morton in the Condor S2 headed the front-engined runners. Adrian Holey in the ex-Bubbles Horsley Ausper T3 was fastest in class D2, with Robert Goodwin in his Kieft inheriting Class C2 honours for the Kieft marque.

Anna Wilson woke up a number of the gentlemen classifying 14^th in her Brabham BT6 as she found her form late in the session, recording a time two seconds quicker than her previous best, and was rightly very pleased with her time. It was only the second time she had been in the Brabham at Oulton Park, the last time being in 2020, her race skills having been homed in an MGB and the evidence of her progress was clear with her grid position.

Bill Cowing having his final race outings in his Ginetta G8 won his class battle with Kim Shearn in the Penny Ford to qualify 21^st and 22^nd respectively.

Race 1

The cars formed up on the grid in sunshine on Saturday morning for the first of their two 25-minute races. From the start it was Horatio Fitz-Simon who set off into the lead but close on his tail was Sam Wilson. The two broke away from Clive Richards in 3^rd place whilst, behind, Nick Fennell and Tim Child were embroiled in a three-car battle that included Philip Buhofer. ^Adrian Russell was 7^th with Mark Carter in 8^th and Michael Hibberd heading class D in 9^th with Geoff Underwood completing the top 10.

Best start came from Graham Barron in his Class B1 Gemini Mk2 who came up from 17^th on the grid to 13^th on the opening lap.

For four laps Sam Wilson harried Horatio, the gap never being more than a tenth of a second from laps two to four. On lap 5 however, Horatio appeared with a clear lead from Clive Richards, Sam having had to retire when his car’s throttle stuck open. Horatio continued to extend his advantage from Clive who had opened up a very comfortable gap of 16 seconds from the dicing trio of Fennell, Child and Buhofer.

On lap 7 the trio would become a duo as Tim Child pulled into the pits when the selector fork broke on his Lotus 22. On lap 5 Nic Carlton-Smith’s drive from the back of the grid ended when he retired from 22^nd place with a seized diff. Both Kim Shearn and Justin Fleming also retired on lap 5, Justin Fleming when a diff output shaft sheared and Kim having engine problems which resulted in a suspected bent valve.

 As the race settled the main dice was for the final position on the podium between Nick Fennell and Philip Buhofer, with Adrian Russell settled into 5^th place, Mark Carter following in 6^th, a cv joint failure causing Mark’s Brabham to pull off on lap 10. Bill Cowing’s race long duel with Sharon Adelman unfortunately ended in the gravel trap for the Ginetta at Cascades, a trip onto the grass proving to be unrecoverable.

With Mark Carter retired, his SpeedSport teammate Geoff Underwood in the Brabham BT2 moved into 6^th place. Michael Hibberd, leading class D2, was now 7^th, with Martin Mc Hugh having a stunning drive from 15^th place at the end of the first lap to finish 8^th. John Sykes brought the magic Merlyn into 9^th place with Alex Morton completing the top 10 in the class B2 winning Condor S2. Robert Goodwin was 12^th with Anna Wilson coming home 13^th from 17^th at the end of lap 1. Graham Barron and Peter Edbrooke completing the list of Class Winners.

Race 2

An HSCC paddock is always a great place when you are in trouble. Hall and Hall were able to come to the rescue for Mark Carter. Robin Longdon was able to rescue Justin Fleming as he had the part back in the workshop. However, no quick fixes for Kim Shearn and Nic Carlton-Smith, whose Penny Ford and borrowed Elva 100 could not be returned to the grid for the second race. Additionally, Peter Fenichel was having gearbox problems with the Stanguellini, and having lost 2^nd gear he did not want to create anymore damage prior to Silverstone at the end of the month.

With the cars in the assembly area waiting to line up for the grid, the rain that had long held off began to fall. At this point Philipp Buhofer decided not to start and headed back to the paddock. Luckily it started as a drizzle and not the potential downpour as threatened, but the race would become progressively wetter with all the drivers hunting for grip on the increasingly slippery surface.

At the start Horatio Fitz-Simon made an impressive getaway with an opening margin of over 3 seconds which he was able to consolidate. Sam Wilson was able to contain Horatio’s advance taking the fastest lap of the race on lap 3 in his pursuit. Horatio appearing to always have a little bit left in reserve to take his second win of the weekend. Following Horatio and Sam was Clive Richards in an unchallenged 3^rd position with a fixed Tim Child settling into 4^th place from Adrian Russell.

Nick Fennell starting from 4^th on the grid had a disastrous first lap plummeting down the order to 24^th. Nick retired into the pits on lap 8 only having recovered to 17^th place.

Following Adrian Russell was Mark Carter in the repaired Brabham BT6 who had Michael Hibberd following for a lap before he was deposed by John Sykes in the Merlyn. Those two, along with Alex Morton, having slipped past Geoff Underwood at the start.

On lap 4 Underwood did manage to repass Hibberd and Morton, but the places continually swapped over the remaining laps. With Underwood enjoying one battle, ahead his teammate Mark Carter was being kept equally busy by John Sykes. On lap 6 the Merlyn moved into 6^th place for two laps before Mark in the Brabham regained position.

Michael Hibberd did eventually take 8^th place overall by just 0.6 seconds on his way to winning class D2. In 9^th place was Geoff Underwood and completing the Top 10 was Alex Morton, class B2 winner.

Anna Wilson concluded her race coming home 11^th having kept at bay class B1 winner Graham Barron in the Gemini Mk2 and Martin McHugh who was almost sharing the cockpit with Barron as the difference in time was only 1/1000^th of a second.

Our final retirement was Justin Fleming whose rear suspension broke on one side, causing the car to instantly spin off into the barrier. Justin luckily was unharmed, but the Lola will need some repairs before its next outing.

Chris Wilks in the Deep Sanderson ended the run of Kieft victories in Class C2 taking the honours from Robert Goodwin. Bill Cowing ended his racing career with a class win in the Ginetta which will now be up for sale. Bill is going off on his next venture celebrating 50 years of marriage with a little bit of globe trotting, to compensate his wife for the years he spent racing. Peter Edbrooke completed the class winners in his C1 Lotus 18.

Under umbrella’s and easy up, the final prizes were awarded with Howden Ganley holding a watching brief as Sarah kissed her way through the presentations.

Judging by the broad smile at the end of the race it would appear that Sarah coaxing John Sykes to return to Oulton with the magic Merlyn had been really enjoyed. Hopefully we will see him take part in  a few more races soon.

By Alan Jones

FJHRA/HSCC “Silverline” Championship Rounds 8 & 9

Undoubtedly the biggest event of the year for Formula Junior is the Silverstone Festival, formerly known as the Classic. The meeting brings together Historic Racing from across the years, mixed with a variety of entertainment, ranging from static displays of modern era Formula One cars, to on track demonstrations celebrating 75 years of Silverstone Grand Prix, along with a similar anniversary for the American NASCAR. There were car club displays, stage performances, interviews, a fun fair and a foodie fest with celebrity Chefs demonstrating their culinary arts. The evenings featured musical performances from some famous acts.

Of course, the real action was in the National Paddock where the Formula Junior family got together to party and enjoy the hospitality in the garage. I think it must have been the selection of cakes being prepared that had lured so many out. It was a truly International entry of 56 cars vying for the 54 spaces available on the grid. We had Danny Baker from California experiencing an English summer for the first time. Danny’s Lotus 27 arrived in Europe in April, he raced at Lurani Dijon in June, and following the Festival he will be taking part in the Goodwood Revival before going onto Mugello. Rich Spritz had been busy at home in the USA, his run in the BMC Mk1 being his only visit for the year, whilst also joining us in the Trans-Atlantic Challenge were Timothy and Harindra de Silva in Brabham BT2 and Lola Mk 2 respectively, under the supervision of Team Hibberd. Andrew and the team had plenty to keep them busy in the Junior race. They were fielding Michael, and Andrew Hibberd, along with Horatio Fitz-Simon, Clive Richards plus the de Silvas. Andrew was hoping for a clean sweep of the pots with his spread bet approach, but they had lots of competition for those podium spots throughout the field.

Katsu Kubota was having one of his rare appearances in the UK with the Mirage Team, whilst SpeedSport Team were competing with the Hibberds on both quantity and quality, with 4 cars. Regulars this season Geoff Underwood (Brabham BT2), Mark Carter (Brabham BT6) and Alan Schmidt (Lotus 22), were joined by Michael O’Brien in a Lotus 27 loaned by Marty Bullock, hoping to repeat his double wins of the previous year.

Thursday was a dedicated test day for the event, which did prove to be just that, testing. Nic Carlton-Smith found the new engine in the Kieft was not all plain sailing, but luckily Mark Haynes was able to loan him the Elva 200 in his effort to maintain his Championship position but that did require some work to have it ready for the Friday, the Elva having been used on the hills rather than circuits recently. The session also proved difficult for Michael O’Brien as a number of issues became apparent, including an off clipping Danny Baker, as Michael struggled with the brakes, which were to be resolved overnight.

Nic’s woes were not over when testing finished, however, when on Friday morning he found himself locked out of his Streamliner Caravan after having taken a shower. Peter Anstiss, Martin McHugh and many others rallied round to ensure Nic was suitably suited and booted with borrowed items aplenty in time for qualifying but he was not to be reunited with his clothing until his wife arrived on the Friday evening.

Qualifying

The qualifying that took place on Friday gave everyone a taste of the race potential to come, with Michael O’Brien sitting at the top of the times for most of the qualifying session with Horatio Fitz-Simon hard in his wheel tracks. If you combine all of Michael’s best sectors he would have been on pole, but he could not find that final link. As the session drew to a close Sam Wilson put together the time that would give him pole in his Lotus 20/22, with Michael second, Horatio third and Clive Richards fourth. The top 4 were covered by less than a second.

Team Hibberd was on a roll. Andrew Hibberd was easily top of the front engine runners starting 17^th on the grid, with Andrew’s Dad Michael 20^th on the grid heading class D2 and Andrew’s class rival Ray Mallock was unusually far back in 21^st.

There were some surprises too, with Simon Jackson running Cam Jackson’s De Tomaso 63, heading the chasing pack in 5^th on the timing sheets. Alongside him was the highly competitive Tim de Silva (Brabham BT2), with Samuel Harrison in Adrian Holey’s ex-Roger Ealand Rennmax alongside Alex Ames in his Brabham BT6, having his first run in the Junior for this year. Samuel’s effort was more remarkable as he first drove this car in testing on Thursday. Completing the top 10 on the Grid were Lukas Halusa (Lotus 22) and Nick Fennell (Lotus 27). Philipp Buhofer’s Lotus 27 would have been part of that top 10 but he had to withdraw his car with a blown engine following qualifying. Philipp would get to compete in the race, starting from the back however, as his Hall and Hall team went back to base to pick up his Brabham BT6 which son Lukas has been campaigning in Lurani this season, and Rudi Friedrichs in Philipp’s loaned Lola Mk 5A had to return home allowing space in the capacity field.

With Nic Carlton-Smith not in the formerly ultra reliable Kieft, it was Andrew Taylor who headed class C2. Richard Ferris in the Donford (E2) and Tom De Gres (A) in the Stanguellini being the other class leaders.

Chris Wilks in the Deep Sanderson was the other unfortunate retiree from qualifying with a substantial hole in his engine. For Chris this was the end to his racing for the weekend, but the Deep remained on display. The expiration of Chris’s engine did result in a few hairy moments for the unwary as some found the oil laid at the end of the qualifying session, Crispian Besley being the spinner although Andrew Taylor had put his hand up to warn the following pack. Sharon Adelman retired early in the session in her Brabham BT6 following a first lap incident. However, she qualified out of session in her Ginetta to enable her to take her place on the back of the grid.

Following qualifying there was some work for the teams to be ready for the race on Saturday morning. Michael O’Brien was having problems with the gearbox, Horatio had a broken rocker cover that caused him to finish the session early and Alex Ames had gear linkage issues. Samuel Harrison felt the engine was down on power and that he was losing time on the straights, the handling however was good.

That evening was the annual Marshal’s BBQ, arranged by Iain Rowley, which raised £450 towards the costs and donation to the Marshals Club, helped by the huge support he had from the Formula Junior Paddock. Well done to everyone.

Race 1

Friday evening had seen heavy rain pass through, and Saturday morning dawned dull and chilly, with the wet creating a mist and leaving the track very damp and slippery in parts. The opening laps were going to be a challenge for the drivers. Sam Wilson commented that he was not too concerned where he was in the opening laps so long as he was part of the leading group.

Starting their formation laps from the National/Heritage Pits, 53 cars were led around by the Safety Car for one and a half laps, ready for the rolling start from the modern wing complex. Katsu Kubota’s team were still getting him going in the Wing paddock as they went out on track, and despite them getting to the National paddock with permission to join the race late, the engine troubles couldn’t quite be resolved.

At the start Michael O’Brien led, pulling out a lead that was not to last for even one lap. Michael pulling off at Becketts with a gearbox that had destroyed itself, leaving last year’s double winner a spectator.

The man who had chased Michael to the line last year, Horatio Fitz-Simon, led across the line at the end of lap one, with Sam Wilson in 2^nd place, Samuel Harrison 3^rd from 7^th on the grid, and Alex Ames who shared the row four with him up, to 4^th place from 8^th.

These four quickly established a lead over the pursuing group, which was headed by Tim de Silva from Clive Richards, and like the front four, these two would break away to have their own race long battle.

Clinton McCarthy was another first lap retiree, and then on lap 2 at Copse the slippery conditions led to what Crispian Besley, who was following, described as a frightening accident. Stuart Monument and Andrew Beaumont locked wheels briefly, pitching Stuart into a roll. Both drivers were thankfully able to walk away from the accident, but Andrew suffering concussion necessitating a hospital check up, having been impacted twice on the head as the Lotus rolled over. Credit to the marshals and the officials, who had the cars safely away meaning no Safety Car was needed.  

Back to the race lead, and the event camera team had their lenses glued to the battle at the front of the field, as the four drivers provided a superb demonstration of how to race closely and cleanly. The cameras showed the different strategies of dealing with slower cars to maintain or gain advantage over your opponents combined with exploring alternative lines into the open corners of the Silverstone circuit. Horatio was probably the best at the latter, but as the race progressed his exit and entry into some of the corners was becoming a cross between rally driver and Gerry Marshall as the tail hung out in a bid to maintain momentum. With just three minutes left on the clock, a half spin exiting Stowe left the door wide open for his opponents to nip through.

It was now a two-horse race for the top step between Sam Wilson and Alex Ames. Samuel Harrison who had not fared as well in some of the heavy traffic kept a watching brief in a safe third place with Horatio now following in fourth place. With Alex Ames leading, Sam Wilson found the gap entering Luffield to take the inside and the lead when Alex missed a gear. Alex was not going to give up, with the pair running side by side, with time on the national pit straight to look across to each other and exchange a cheeky wave, no doubt accompanied by broad grins on their faces. Sam took victory by just 2 tenths of a second. Samuel Harrison coming home 3^rd in what could be a first podium for the Rennmax, from Horatio in 4^th place.

Behind the action on camera, Tim de Silva and Clive Richards continued their close dice for 5^th place, Tim taking the place with an even narrower margin of .017 seconds. The Juniors do know how to put on a race.

Andrew Hibberd finished 10^th to win the front engine classes (B2) having had a great race with Richard Wilson in the Brabham BT6. Following them Nick Fennell, Lee Mowle and Stuart Roach had enjoyed a super tussle for 11^th place. Michael Hibberd (D2), Andrew Taylor (C2), Richard Ferris (E2) and Tom De Gres (A) all won their respective classes.

From the back of the grid Philipp Buhofer finished 25^th, whilst Nic Carlton-Smith in the Elva 200 finished 32^nd and 4^th in his class.

Other retirements were Simon Jackson who tangled with Stuart Tizzard during lappery, Rich Spritz who has a rod connection to the throttle and the securing bolt unfortunately became detached leaving him powerless. Crispian Besley was the last retirement with alternator problems.

Race 2

Following the Race 1 incidents, and mechanical problems from qualifying, there were still 49 healthy runners and riders who took to the start for the second Formula Junior race which opened proceedings on Sunday morning. The names at the front of the grid were familiar with Sam Wilson starting alongside Horatio Fitz-Simon. Clive Richards had Tim de Silva sharing the second row and on row 3 were our race 1 podium finishers of Samuel Harrison and Alex Ames.

Starting from the back in the Brabham BT6 with which he won the two Silverstone Classic races last year was Michael O’Brien, Mark Carter having stepped down from the drive to give Michael a shot at the podium.

The opening lap was hectic, with Horatio taking the lead from Alex Ames, Sam Wilson shuffled back to 3^rd and Tim de Silva 4^th. Contact in the opening corners had led to Peter Strauss spinning off into the gravel trap, having made contact with Tom De Gres and that was Peter’s race exit. Tom pitted but was able to restart. Pierre Guichard then pulled off at the exit of Becketts and required a full lift, and this introduced the Safety Car. Some confused communication between the driver and the officials making the rescue a little slower.

Further down the order Andrew Hibberd was not having such an easy time in the front engine class as he had Ray Mallock for close company. Michael O’Brien had hoped for a Safety Car to keep him in contention and within the first lap when it was introduced, he had cleared half of the field to be lying in 25^th place.

When the Safety Car was able to release the pack again, it was Horatio who led from Alex Ames, Alex then running wide, allowing Sam Wilson through into second place, with Tim de Silva 4^th, Samuel Harrison in 5^th and Clive Richards 6^th. Sam Wilson then took the lead from Horatio for a couple of laps, and these six broke off into pairs with Sam and Horatio creating a gap that would not be bridged again. The following four continued to squabble and at one point the battle between de Silva and Ames created a four-car chain before Alex finally broke clear.

For Michael O’Brien the Safety Car period looked to work against him as the cars in front of him were not close enough at the restart for him to be able to take full advantage. However, he did battle through to 8^th place with a car he described as being down on power.

The race amongst the front-engined runners was a lot closer this time, with Ray Mallock pushing Andrew Hibberd really hard, but not as hard as Horatio was chasing Sam Wilson. Their battle for the lead, bringing an even closer finish. This time the margin was .021secs on the line when on the final corner Horatio again ran wide and Sam Wilson was able to take the opportunity to take the inside line out of club to score his second and well deserved win at the Festival.

Alex Ames came home in 3^rd place to complete his podium double. Fourth was Tim de Silva, Clive Richards 5^th and Samuel Harrison 6^th, with Lukas Halusa 7^th. Michael O’Brien was 8^th with Richard Wilson in 9^th place leading the trio with Mark Woodhouse and Nick Fennell in close contention.

Ray Mallock also left his challenge for the front-engined race to the last lap. He waited until entering Luffield so he could complete the manouevre in front of the BRDC Clubhouse. Another day of great close racing, as he took the front victory.

The only remaining retirements were Crispian Besley again falling foul of electrical gremlins with Stuart Roach completing the list of retirees, coil being the reason. Tom De Gres, who lost so much time in the pits having his car checked over, put on a terrific display as he caught the Safety Car chain, eventually finishing 40^th and winning his class. The other class winners were, Michael Hibberd, Andrew Taylor and Richard Ferris.

Prize-giving took place each day, with Silverline Tools and trophies aplenty, and Sam Wilson was awarded FJ driver of the weekend. A great atmosphere in the garages, and another wonderful FJ weekend.

by Alan Jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

FJHRA/HSCC SILVERLINE Championship Round 5

The fifth round of the UK Championship was on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit at the HSCC Legends of Brands Hatch Superprix – but it was to turn out to be anything but Super – perhaps the Brands Hatch Safety-Car-Prix?

FJ had an excellent entry of 31 cars, after Dave Wall had withdrawn due to injury, with 30 taking to qualifying after James Hicks was a non-starter following an impact with the tyre wall in pre-event testing in his Caravelle. Very rapid pilot Chris Astley made his second FJ appearance in his dad’s Indy Elva 100, looking very American in its number 13 paint-job, whilst Andrea Guarino joined son Edoardo in the Elva ranks at the helm of Niall McFadden’s car. Kim Shearn guested in the Penny F3 and James Buckton drove Adrian Holey’s Ausper T3, Adrian being absent from the entry as the Rennmax’s engine was not yet repaired.

The weather forecast had not been very promising, but, aside from a strong gusty wind, the day was pleasant with sunshine and the occasional very brief shower scudding through on the wind. Qualifying was a 12.05 and there was a dark cloud over the GP loop so a quick early time looked like a good plan and Clive Richards was quickest on the first flying lap with 144.645. Simon Jones then spun at Bottom Bend and was unable to restart, his car broadside across the track, which meant out came the safety car and six minutes were lost whilst it was decided to send a tow-car from the pit lane, round Paddock and Druids to tow him the 100 yards to the back of the pits – no doubt there is some rule preventing the obvious move of the tow-car coming from the back of the pits…..

Once the green flag appeared Horatio Fitz-Simon put in a 141.349 to pip Clive’s 141.790. It then started to spit with rain. Although it was not enough to wet the track, it perhaps had a psychological effect and the times did not fall until the very last lap when Clive crossed the line with 141.199, but Horatio followed him across with 140.817 to nab pole. There was over 1.5 to Nick Fennell (Lotus 27) in third, with Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk4) making up the second row. Nic Carlton-Smith, visibly quick through Paddock, was a most commendable eighth and, naturally, fastest in C2. Alex Morton (Condor SII) was ninth and first B2 with Michael Hibberd (Lotus 20) eleventh and best in D2. Chris Astley, also looking very fast, was best of the flotilla of five Elva 100s by over six seconds!

The race was scheduled to be the penultimate of the day, which is usually bad news with Brands strict curfew and the HSCC’s very ambitious timetable. Only 12 minutes down-time between races leaves no chance of recovering from delays and, as previous years have shown, HSCC Brand GP events are notorious for red-flags, safety cars and the need to recover stranded cars after races. So it was no great surprise that the timetable was running 25 minutes late (mostly due to a red-flag in the F.Ford race and the bizarre decision to restart it over the full distance despite them having already run three laps and effectively costing the timetable some 20 minutes), and so the Junior’s race was cut to 18 minutes from the bought & paid for 25.

But this was only the start of the woes. Into Paddock on lap 1 Horatio led Clive, Nick and Stuart and it was the same at the end of the lap, with the pair of red Lotus 22s already clear of the next couple, then a clear gap to Rudolf Ernst, flying in his Lotus 22, Tim Child (also Lotus 22), Carlton-Smith and Adrian Russell (blue Lotus 22). Clive got ahead of Horatio on the second lap but the order changed back at Surtees so next time through the order was unchanged except for Adrian passing Nic. Then the safety-car came out as Peter Fenichel (Stanguellini) visited the Paddock gravel. Peter Said I … slid sideways so actually didn’t spin around but ended up, luckily, only a few feet into the gravel but the car flooded so look it a few minutes to get restarted. Very good work by the marshals as they waited until I got the car restarted and then pushed me just hard enough to get rolling and not dig deeper in the gravel. Had to then wait quite some time on the rumble strip for an opening to rejoin. As a result the safety-car was, perhaps, unnecessary and it came in after one tour.

But, the oft quoted saying safety cars breed safety cars proved only too true. Horatio approached the green fairly slowly so the field was in a very tight bunch and it came undone at Druids where Richard Ferris (Donford) tangled with Alan Schmidt (Lotus 22) and out came the safety car again. Unfortunately, the safety car train was just coming to Clearways as the second car was towed back to the pits so another lap of the safety car was required, meaning that in all some 10 minutes were lost and there was just one green flag lap to the chequer. Fitz-Simon led and although Richards swept out of his slipstream it was Horatio’s win by 0.147. Class winners were Carlton-Smith, Hibberd and Morton with Shearn and Edbrooke who were unopposed in theirs.

One could only feel sorry for the drivers, many of whom had made long trips, only to get a total of 19 minutes green flag running compared to the expected 20 + 25 minutes.

by Richard Page

FJHRA/HSCC “Silverline” Championship Round 4

FJHRA/HSCC “Silverline” Front Engined Championship Round 3

Round 4 of the FJHRA Silverline UK Championship (and Round 3 of the Front Engined Championship), took place at a hot and humid Donington Park on Sunday 25^th June. The entry was split between front and rear engined grids giving each group a single race. Sarah Mitrike flew in from Lithuania to co-ordinate the event where Formula Junior had the luxury of Garages for the day, providing welcome shelter from the heat.

Rear Engined Qualifying

The Rear engined Formula Junior grid was the first of the Junior grids to both qualify and race during the Sunday event. An entry of 22 cars boasted three newcomers, Tim Metcalfe in Peter Fenichel’s Cooper T56, Gary Thomas in the ex-Gil Duffy Kieft, and Mark Bates in Justin Fleming’s Lynx. After one failed attempt at VSCC Cadwell the previous weekend, Gary was very pleased to be qualifying in the  Kieft, and his appearance made for a special moment with their being three Kiefts taking part in the race, alongside Champion Nic Carlton-Smith and Robert Goodwin. Gary is part of the HSCC chaplaincy you will have read about in the HSCC magazine. His most recent racing with the HSCC was in the 70s Roadsports with a psychedelic Lotus 7. Completing the line-up of newcomers, Mark was struggling with the change of gear selection from right to left, Mark having previously raced Classic Formula Ford with the shift on the right. He also had a helpful note on the dash to remind him of the configuration.

The rear engined competitors were very enthusiastic from the start of qualifying with many searching for the track limit, with some finding it more often than others judging from the comments on the qualifying sheet.

At the start of qualifying it was Horatio Fitz-Simon in the Lotus 22, back from his wins at Hockenheim and Dijon in the Lurani Trophy, who was dominating the timing screen. Clive Richards, similarly mounted in a Lotus 22, was once again in his wheel tracks. Mark Woodhouse in the third Lotus was having a battle with Mark Carter in the Speedsport Brabham BT6. Michael Hibberd was heading class D2 in the Lotus 20 whilst embroiled in a fight with Rudolf Ernst and Martin Aubert.

On Lap 10 Horatio Fitz-Simon was the first to put in a lap below 1min 18 secs, seemingly drawing clear of all opposition. The following lap Sam Wilson in his Lotus 20/22 caught the top runners by surprise by getting within 2/10ths of Horatio’s time. The battle for pole had been declared with the promise of a great race to follow.

As qualifying ended it was an all-Lotus top 3, Horatio on pole from Sam Wilson and Clive Richards, separated by a mere half a second. Breaking the Lotus domination was Mark Carter in the Speedsport Brabham BT6. He was then followed by yet more Lotuses of Mark Woodhouse, class D2 leader Michael Hibberd and Rudolf Ernst. Martin Aubert was 8^th overall and 2^nd in Class D2 followed in 9^th by Nic Carlton Smith, heading Class C2 with the Kieft. Completing the top 10 was Alan Schmidt in the Speedsport Lotus 22. Robin Longdon (Lola Mk3) was eleventh overall and 3^rd in Class D2, followed by George Diffey in the Gold Lotus 20 wearing the distinctive matching helmet.

For Chris Wilks qualifying was, sadly, the end of his weekend with a broken front hub. Mark Bates was still settling in with the Lynx being a regular pit visitor during qualifying, and only clocking 4 laps, so it was arranged for him to get a bit more seat time with a run out in the front engined qualifying session afterwards too.

Front Engined Qualifying

The front engined entry was the smaller of the two grids with 13 cars taking to qualifying. Chris Astley was having his debut in the “Indy” Elva 100, bought last season by his father Martyn, from John Arnold. The opening laps of the qualifying session initially saw Crispian Besley heading the timing sheets, quickly to be overhauled by Stuart Roach and Alex Morton who then battled to be top. Andrew Hibberd made occasional appearances towards the front in between intervals in the pits setting up the Lola for his final dash.

Just like Formula One, Andrew took to the track with the final minutes remaining, establishing a time over two seconds faster than his rivals. Stuart Roach conceded that his only chance to steal a march on Andrew would be for it to rain.

Alex Morton, in the Condor S II, shared the front row with Andrew, Stuart starting third in the Alexis Mk 2, whilst completing the second row was our new runner Chris Astley in the Elva 100. This started an Elva trio of Crispian Besley in 5^th with John Arnold 6^th, followed by Rudolf Ernst in the distinctive Mitter DKW starting 7^th on the grid. Eighth and the lone class B1 runner was Graham Barron with his Gemini Mk II from fellow Gemini Mk II runner Dave Wall.

Class A was an all Stanguellini affair, Martin Sheppard leading Peter Fenichel. Class C1 runner Peter Edbrooke in the Lotus 18 was next up whilst the final place on the grid was occupied by the Elva 100 of Edoardo Guarino.

Rear Engined Race

This Formula Junior race had to be one of the best races of the weekend. Classic Formula Junior action right from the start with Horatio, Sam and Clive engaging in a superb slipstreaming battle that pulled them well clear of the pursuing pack.

It was Horatio who led into Redgate on lap 1, with the majority following in grid order. Both Mark Carter and George Diffey made poor starts, dropping them down in the order, Mark from 4^th to 7^th, George from 12^th to 16^th.

On lap 3 Sam Wilson took the lead from Horatio, only to be displaced the following lap. On lap 9 it was Clive Richards turn to lead from Horatio with Sam slipping back to third place. Horatio again retook the lead on the following lap with Sam Wilson into second and putting Horatio under pressure. On lap 14 the pressure became too much for Horatio and at Macleans he had a half spin which he corrected, leaving Sam with nowhere to go. As Sam said, it was just one of those things. Sam retired from the race and Clive Richards was the beneficiary, holding Horatio off to the flag.

Mark Woodhouse by comparison had a relatively lonely race to inherit 3^rd place whilst Mark Carter clawed back through the field to finish a worthy fourth. The team said he seems to make a habit of comeback drives, enjoying the overtaking.

Rudolf Ernst passed Michael Hibberd on lap 10 for 5^th place. Michael finished 6^th winning his class and was the last of the unlapped cars. Nic Carlton-Smith in 7^th added another class win to his trophy collection. Martin Aubert was eighth overall, tailed by Robin Longdon, giving them 2^nd and 3^rd in Class D2. Completing the top 10 was Alan Schmidt from George Diffey who had recovered from his slow start.

Sadly Gary Thomas was one of the early retirements in his Kieft. Progress continues. The following lap saw Mark Bates come into the pits to end his first race with the Lynx. Anthony Binnington was the other retirement, late in the race, aside from Sam Wilson, with the fuel tank not quite full enough.

Front Engined Race

As the cars approached the grid for the race it looked like Stuart Roach’s prayers were to be answered as a brief heavy shower passed over. But in the latent heat any damp was soon dispelled. Dave Wall had withdrawn following qualifying with a broken crown and pinion, and the 12 cars roared off into Redgate for the first time. Andrew Hibberd quickly asserted himself into the lead, opening a gap of over 3 seconds on the first lap which he extended to 23 seconds over the course of the 15 lap race. Stuart Roach settled into second place, leading Alex Morton by 10 seconds at the end, with Chris Astley fourth.

Crispian Besley, John Arnold and Rudolf Ernst had a super battle behind. Initially it was Besley just leading Ernst, before John Arnold got into his stride. Closing onto Rudolf by lap 7, John made his passing manoeuvre on the following lap. Arnold was closing down on Crispian but not quite in a position to pass before the end of the race.

Peter Fenichel made a good start leading the Stanguellini battle for Class A honours on the opening lap followed by Graham Barron from Class B1, with Martin Sheppard in hot pursuit. However, on lap 3 both Graham and Martin passed Peter. On lap 6 Graham dropped behind Peter, The two continued to battle for a further two laps before Peter gained the advantage as Graham’s engine began to sound a little rough.

The result was a class win Martin Sheppard from Peter Fenichel, and sole runners in their Classes, Graham Barron (B1) and Peter Edbrooke (C1) took the flag too, albeit Edbrooke lost 11^th place overall to Edoardo Guarino on lap 6.

 

The day ended with suitably enthusiastic podium jumps from the Trophy winners. Next stop Brands Hatch and the Grand Prix circuit.  

Report by Alan Jones

2023 Lurani Trophy Round 2

Dijon is a magnificent circuit, one of the true favourites, and when the sun shines all day, each day, it heralds a beautiful weekend for Formula Junior.  It was a relatively calm day for setting up on Thursday, with no testing taking place at the circuit, but the shelters were going up quickly for shade from the hot sun.

Free practice was on Friday morning, a mixed session with HGPCA, and, as intended, a good chance to learn/relearn the lines of the circuit and scrub in new tyres. It looked pretty crowded out there, but all were well behaved, the only issue was for Gianluigi Candiani (Branca) who pulled up with a broken drive shaft bolt, which could not be fixed before qualifying, so this pushed him back behind the reserves for the grids.

Qualifying on Friday afternoon could not have been closer, with a magnificent field of 39 cars setting their times for the 35-car capacity grid plus reserves. Horatio Fitz-Simon and Clive Richards, both in ex Tommy Reid Lotus 22s, were almost inseparable. Clive, on his first visit to Dijon for 17 years, set the two fastest laps, while Horatio, with only simulator experience of the circuit, set the fastest sector times in all three sectors, just not combined on the same lap! A couple of rows back, there were 8 cars from 5^th to 12^th on a 1:34 lap time, with Lukas Buhofer, at only his second ever race weekend, leading that pack. 

Post qualifying, we enjoyed a splendid Mojito party hosted in the FJ paddock for all the FJ drivers, ladies and teams by Daniele Salodini, Flora, Tony and friends, a wonderful opportunity for Lurani newcomers and seasoned participants alike to socialise.

Race one on Saturday morning promised to be a fantastic show, with the full field plus reserves (less James Hagan who was out with engine failure) lined up expectant in the assembly area under blue skies.

As briefed, the 4 remaining reserves remained behind the lights at the end of the pit lane as the grid circulated out on to track to the start-line.  Confusion then followed as in place of the usual physical flag to indicate the green flag lap, the start line lights went from red to green, and unfortunately some thought this was race go.  Red flags were then turned on at all the boards around the circuit, and the cars came back to the grid for a second green flag lap, this time, with physical flags at the start post and marshal posts around the circuit.  After a smoother second attempt, the cars were back on the grid, for the real race start, lights out, and it was Horatio ahead of Clive. 

What followed however, was that, in error, the pit lane lights went green too and the 4 reserves were ushered out onto track in pursuit of the main pack. Although spotted immediately in race control, it took a full lap to get the black flags out on those cars, and a charging Michael Gans (Stanguellini) from reserve 1 position, had meanwhile completed the first lap and approaching Stuart Tizzard (Cooper T56) at turn 7/8, mounted his rear right wheel and launched himself airborne. He came to rest upright with miraculously just three broken ribs and a broken hand, and Stuart was thankfully unharmed, albeit shaken, and able to continue the race.

The race was red flagged at this point, re-gridded in the pit lane using the end of lap 1 finishing positions, without reserves, and a safety car restart got underway with Horatio maintaining the upper hand over Clive for a 15-minute sprint to the chequered flag. Behind them, past Lurani Champion Roberto Tonetti (Brabham BT6) just managed to hold off Philipp Buhofer (Lotus 27) for third, his son Lukas unfortunately having dropped out after 5 laps with suspected carburation issues. The battle of the race though was for sixth, with a mere second covering Mowle (Lotus 20/22), Ferrari (Branca), Smeeton (Wainer), Baker and Guichard (Lynx) at the line. Guichard also took the drum braked Class D win after Roach (Alexis Mk 3) clipped Bullock (Wren) going in to turn 5, leading to Marty retiring with a bent steering arm and trackrod but Stuart and father Keith, with Andrew Hibberd were all hands on deck to have him ready to race again on Sunday.

But for a last minute withdrawal by John Chisholm with engine concerns for the Gemini Mk 3A, Race 2 was another full grid, with all reserves getting a start following a few mechanical retirements, and, by contrast to Saturday’s hiccups, was a dream FJ race from start to finish. Horatio and Clive at the front could not have been closer, although Horatio just held on up the hill in the long drag to the finish by less than one second.

Oil from Philipp Buhofer’s 27 caused several spins, including Pierre Tonetti (De Tomaso) on two consecutive laps, and Chip Fudge, over again from Oklahoma, in the ex-Morton Lightning Envoyette. Chip finally pitting, after his two escapades.

Robert Tonetti completed the podium again, unchallenged this time after Buhofer withdrew, but as the weekend progressed, Danny Baker from San Francisco was getting the hang of how the Europeans race in his CTL run 27, coming home 5th in both the race and on aggregate, behind teammate Lee Mowle, in his 20/22, who almost left it too late to retake Danny before the line, having slowed a little to enjoy a dice.

An equally exciting battle gripped the later rear-engined Drum braked Class D, with Stuart Roach, Perth’s own past Lurani winner Marty Bullock in the Australian Wren and Denmark’s Pierre Guichard separated by just four seconds in R2, but Pierre just ran out winner on aggregate.

A hugely magnanimous gesture from Erik Justesen saw Richard Bishop-Miller take Erik’s ex Arthur Mallock U2 to clear victory in Class B in both races (while the Autosport is under repair), with Giampaolo Benedini’s iconic OSCA triumphant in Class A ahead of Erik himself in the ex-Franco Beolchi Apache Mk 1, which Richard had collected for him after a refit by Dan Setford.

Clinton McCarthy, Lotus 18 mounted in both Lurani and HGPCA races, was a worthy Class C winner from Stuart Tizzard in the ex-Len May Cooper T56 BMC, after Christian Lange in the ex-Ian Raby Envoy broke a drive shaft in Race one. Carlo Maria del Conte (Wainer) was overjoyed with his third spot, especially as on the road he had beaten Duncan’s Alexis by less than a second on overall aggregate.
Medals were presented to all the Class podium places, and Chip Fudge kindly donated a bottle of wine to each of the Class winners, at the usual jolly prizegiving.

Two months break now, before the Lurani contestants regroup at the Nurburgring, for the 50^th running of the Oldtimer GP in August.

By Louise Pringle

 

Photos by Eric Sawyer