Lurani Trophy Round 6;

It is fifteen years since we last raced at Misano, so it  was a welcome return to the only circuit that has both a splendid poolside restaurant, and a useable pool to go with it, although, as it was nearly November, the latter remained firmly covered, though Sarah still managed a dip in the sea, and Mair and others in the hotel pools, nearby or at Riccione. Those with long memories will remember the course going anticlockwise, but now you definitely turn LEFT out of the pits!

With 12 cars already loaded for the World Tour start in NZ, it was a terrific 31 car entry, particularly with four glorious red Italian Front-engined cars, Taraschi, Volpini, and two OSCAs, the latter both from USA with Joe Colassaco keeping the Laurence Auriana car in Europe post Goodwood and Graham Adelman in his wife Sharon’s Hall and Hall maintained car, which Joe had previously restored. Indeed, it might have been three OSCAs as Nick Grewal was scheduled to join, his car having been shipped to Robin Lackford to run and transport arranged, but inadequacy of his US licence intervened; but good OSCA news did emerge, in that Stephan Rettenmaier has bought the Sid Hoole ex-Peter Mullen OSCA 14 J to race next year.

Serge Kriknoff tried hard to complete the race ready rebuild of Lotus 22/47, but just fell short of time, after full Peter Denty chassis restoration following the 2024 Hockenheim first corner damage and Gianluigi Candiani could not ready his Branca. Yet again there were new drivers who graced the grid, and we welcomed Carlo Ferrari, substituting for father Bruno in his Branca after Bruno had damaged his ankle in a CF3 crash at Dijon, while BWA HF3 driver Stefano Carminati had achieved the almost impossible; he had bought Andy Raynor’s ex-Southern Africa Lotus 18 J-743 at the recent Goodwood auction, had it delivered to him at Spa where he was racing the BWA, stored there till he could return with empty trailer from Italy, completed two short track test runs (for a car that has not raced on track for at least 40 years!!) and proceeded to complete two practices and two races over the weekend with no more problem than a gear linkage readjustment; some credit to Andy’s meticulous rebuild and Stefano’s faith !!!!!

Additional end of season excitement was the nail-biting conclusion to the 2025 Lurani Trophy, complicated by the need for all drivers to drop one score. In contention were Floris-Jan  Hekker (Rayberg), who would be dropping this one, already wintering in Western Australia, Richard Bishop-Miller in the Autosport, having already loaded his regular Lurani Caravelle into the NZ container, needing a Class win or 2nd to improve his score and Manfredo Rossi di Montelera  in his 22 who needed an overall 1-2 or 3 if he were to emerge the overall winner.

A welcome rainbow greeted those waiting for the paddock to open on Thursday afternoon, after many had driven through some pretty torrid rain heading south. Plenty of space in the paddock, and a friendly circuit staff. The first “free” practice session, jointly with HGPCA at 8.30 the following morning followed by scrutineering under the ever-watchful eye of Grant Wilson, before a second lunchtime session filled to capacity. Overall, it was Paul Thomas in his Dan Setford run BT6 (ex-Peter Strauss) who ran fastest, but despite breaking a wishbone, the team had a replacement to fit for the second session. His fastest time stood overall, but in the second session, with much traffic, Manfredo was fastest FJ, with Danny Baker in his CTL run Lotus 27, under the personal supervision of Chris Dinnage, in 3rd FJ spot and indeed only 1.5s slower than HGPCA to be winner, Tom Waterfield in Tim Ross’s T53 Cooper, although Tim Child in his Tasman Brabham BT4 was fastest in both sessions. Manfredo was however not short of extra practice as he was also running both his CF3 and F2 cars in their separate races in the HVM series. Carlo Ferrari ‘s engine sounded rough at the end, but this was diagnosed to one faulty plug lead.

Authentic Italian restaurants were enjoyed by many on Friday evening, before FJ were out for the day’s second qualifying session at 9.30 on Saturday. Manfredo, having already run his CF3 in the first, truncated, session where one car ran a complete lap pouring out oil, ahead of our session, resulting in a powder coated oil slick to circumvent for the FJ field.

Despite the oil and cement dust, that Formula Junior as a racing spectacle was in good heart was self-evident from the fastest laps, with eleven changes at the top of the times, involving five different cars. Manfredo pulled out a stupendous last leader lap to head Danny by a whole second. Ex-Life W12 Formula One Test driver, Franco Scapini, having a brilliant weekend maximising laps in every session, and with a newly rebuilt Colotti gearbox, was demoted back to third. But it was also good to see both Brabhams, Mark Shaw and Paul Thomas [twice] having headed the leader board. The other BT6, ex-Pietro Vergnano [who was present at Misano and wishing that he still had the car], now with Patrick d’Aubreby lost all oil pressure mid-session and, sadly, with no Lotus 22 as spare this time, would take no further part. Another star performance, in 6th spot, was Stuart Roach in the Mk 4 Alexis. Further back, there was a welcome return for Hans Ciers’ Lotus 20, now Setford run and no longer a tail ender in the pack. Sadly, debutante Carlo Ferrari’s Branca engine was also found not well at all. After a full session and notwithstanding a couple of track infringements, the team unfortunately concluded just before the first race that they were to be a non-starter, but Carlo was still smiling from his first FJ appearance and looking forward to joining us again in future.

Race 1 followed just after 2pm: Graham Adelman, unfamiliar with the OSCA gear change, made a hasty selection of 2nd instead of 4th and broke a gear tooth, so pitted terminally after the green flag lap, while Johnny Lange (22) managed only one lap, the oil pressure gone.

At the front it was FJ at its best, with Manfredo and Danny Baker battling from flag to flag: in fact on what appeared to be the last lap, the leaders came up to the official holding the flag as battling front-engined cars passed ahead, with Danny in the lead, but as no flag was shown, the race continued, and by the next lap, the order had changed, and it was a victory for Manfredo …. by 0.2″. There was an equally exciting battle for third between Paul Thomas and Stuart Roach, Paul winning his first FJ Podium spot by 0.6″. Mark Shaw stopped at half-distance with a misfire that crept in, leaving Scapini to beat the Team owner, former Lurani champion, Pierre Tonetti (BT6). Paul Boulton (Elfin), with a few trackside excursions, still put up a very creditable finish to win Class D, followed at some distance by a smiling James Hicks in the Lackford run and recently restored Caravelle III, James having enjoyed the ‘Discovery’ trip from England, out and back, with Robin and Nigel.

Clinton McCarthy pulled up in front of the pits with a broken gearbox, but the Team were to have a spare duly fitted for Race 2 the next day. Carlo Del Conte stopped his Wainer on circuit with a flat battery, causing a yellow flag just at the point where Richard Bishop-Miller was overtaking Duncan, who magnanimously gave up the place gain, never to recover, with the Autosport stuck in 3rd for the remainder of the race, while the Volpini, Taraschi and Alexis had a good dice together, Duncan just ahead of Charly, after a small spin by the latter, but Richard, despite his handicap, still close behind, and the Championship still open.

When Manfredo had finished his F2 race we were all invited to the FJ Paddock party, very kindly hosted by Manfredo and Caroline with a scrumptious spread of nibbles, breads, meats and cheeses, and with not a little Martini labelled bottles to wash it down: great chance to meet, greet, and eat.

Race two, early on Sunday, at first saw another battle between Danny and Manfredo, but Danny drew away… perhaps Manfredo really had the Championship in mind but behind, both the De Tomaso and Alexis Mk4 were on his tail, and it was to be another close finish. Franco was visibly delighted [as were Pierre and Ermano] to be on the Podium, by less than a second, leaving Stuart the consolation of finishing 3rd overall on Aggregate. Mark Shaw again retired, at half distance, with the misfire reappearing at the same distance, and next up Paul Thomas and Pierre Tonetti had lonely races. Luca Hoefer stopped out at Turn 5 with three laps to go with a clutch problem, so Paul Boulton was also without company. Behind the Caravelle, father and son Team with Sema Racing, Martin and eldest racing son Andreas Halusa again having a nice time in, albeit distant, convoy, Martin being delighted that Andreas is enjoying FJ, now that Lukas has settled in Mexico, and Nikolas is in USA. At the back, there had been good activity, Duncan making a terrific start to outpace Charly, Arnold, and Carlo Del Conte, with Richard’s Autosport, still with only 3rd gear, starting from the back slot. By half distance, however, Arnold, Charly and Duncan, plus some of the leaders lapping them, were all coming into Turn 7, side by side… it must have been quite a sight!!  This time it was Arnold who had a minor spin, but not enough to change the positions, with Charly now well ahead. Richard gainfully finished, but 3rd in class behind a well peddled [all weekend] Elva 100 of Robin Lackford was not enough against Manfredo’s 2nd place, with no points to drop.

After the Podium for the overall R2 winners, Sarah and Duncan held a jolly class award presentation, firstly to congratulate Manfredo for his first time as Lurani Champion, and to thank Richard for his true perseverance, and  congratulate, apart from those well named above, Joe Colasacco, in the beautiful and purposefully driven OSCA, to match the fabulous Ferrari V12 F1 car in the HGPCA race, Sharon Adelman, all the way from Virginia, with her UK based BT6, the Italian 1-2 in Class D with Valerio Leone’s Elva 200, ahead of the remarkable Stefano Carminati’s 18; and Marco Coppini, also running his F3, with a Trophy for his red Lotus 20 in Class D. Last but not least, a superb performance all weekend by Paul Thomas and his BT6, here accompanied by Dad, Bob who has bought M Ian Robinson’s Lola Mk 2 BRJ 13 for a full 2026 season, running, like Paul, with Dan Setford.

 

Duncan Rabagliati

 

FJHRA ‘Silverline’ Championship Rounds 11 & 12

England’s beautiful Autumn weather continued for Friday, and Saturday…however the mist rose up on Sunday – but no cloud over Formula Junior, with a great weekend of 44 FJs in the paddock, and a dramatic climax to the Championship both before and during the final race, Nic Carlton-Smith nonetheless emerging once again as a well-deserved winner, in his Sam Wilson rebuilt Lotus 20, with Patron Howden Ganley, and Joy, in attendance during the weekend.

Friday was test day, and plenty of FJs out to play, Sam Wilson giving the newly rebuilt ex Alex Rogers 22-J-887 a test run, before new owner, Clinton McCarthy took to the wheel; Duncan Ross was not sitting too comfortably in the ex-David Kent Lynx Mk 3, and asked Callum Grant [racing his Merlyn FF this weekend] to have a go, but poor Callum couldn’t even get his shoulders between the tight bodywork! Duncan and Bob Juggins took it home with a view to switching safety kit to the 18, but in the end concentrated on the ex-Marty Bullock 17C Chevron, which Duncan has also acquired for slick tyred racing elsewhere.  Last, but not least, Team Hibberd came, with only customer Jeremy Flann in the bright yellow ex-Ian Walker, Peter Boshier-Jones 22, but with a multitude of cars for personal use, Michael with the ‘Monza’ 22, and Andrew the Lola BRJ II for the front engine race, and a choice of Tim de Silva’s BT2 and the ex-Rudolf Ernst 22 for the rears; after testing both, he opted for the 22. Perhaps surprisingly, Nic Carlton-Smith was pounding the 20 round for a full session; Iain Rowley was testing other toys, on Friday, and busy on Saturday, so Duncan had an enjoyable couple of days of chat around the paddock, departing for Mair’s birthday on Sunday, the Alexis already prepped for the Misano trip in 10 days.

Sarah had orchestrated four track time slots rather than six, keeping FJ finances, and cost of entry fee for everybody in mind, which, in the end, proved eminently successful.  With the 20% over grid size allowance for qualifying, everybody had a go, including Andrew, successfully in both Lola and Lotus, but less successful for Rudolf Ernst with half a lap in the PBA II-DKW, and a clutch problem all weekend in the Mitter-DKW; However, all would be well, qualifying out of session, and later racing both races enthusiastically in the Class C1 PBA.

Sam Wilson (T 59) dominated, carefully weaving through the traffic, and Andrew (22) not far off: Jon Milicevic, very much enjoying being back out with FJ, was in third spot, just ahead of Michael Hibberd. Geoff Underwood is now a serious racer in the BT2, flushed with his Copenhagen successes, but both Jeremy Flann, and Stuart Monument are too, the latter really enjoying the James Denty rebuilt ex Alistair Morrison 22 and just behind, on drum brakes. Nic just held off Nathan Metcalfe, with the long snout of the blue Condor S II a smidgeon behind … Good to see Mark Gillies back, both from USA, and racing in FJ again after 20 years with his own Cooper T52, and Darren Dunne giving the late Ralf Emmerling’s Gemini II another run; poor Graham Barron, next stop NZ, had the engine go, so home to prepare to fit the ‘spare’ before the cars are loaded into our containers for the start of the World Tour.

To even out the grids, it was universally approved that C2 would run with the front engine A and B classes in Race 1, and this provided race long battles throughout the field, with James Denty in the family’s own T56,  keeping Adrian Russell honest throughout the race, although Adrian’s cornering is a beauty to watch in the long wheelbase Condor, no doubt past Caterham experience being well employed, although whether that helped his super navigation of Chris Wilks’ Deep Sanderson oil slicks at Brooklands [oil ‘flag’ light], and Copse [no oil flag], I am not sure, but dramatic nonetheless. There was another great battle in mid field between Trevor Griffiths in the ever-so-smart Emeryson prototype and the two Elva 100s of veteran, Mark Woodhouse, and muchly enthusiastic Goodwood Governor Niall McFadden; Wonderful as always to see two Stanguellinis, Martin Sheppard really enjoying the red one, while Peter Fenichel  broke a gear lever on the last lap, finished, but no one had a spare for this Dan Setford part. Poor Chris Porritt pulled up to drive home with gear problems in the red 18, Keith Pickering had a broken gearbox selector finger, while Darren Dunne had drop box problems in the Gemini II. Chris Wilks eventually saw the smoke behind, and pulled in, amazingly finding that there were no long-term repercussions for the engine, while Rudolf did manage to get the Mitter going – but not for long …

The rear race, featuring Classes D and E, and C1 (to ensure that Rudolf did not have to race two cars in one race !!) was a Sam Wilson benefit, for the brave.  The previous race had left oil down on the whole circuit, especially at maggots, but with no oil flags, it was left to the drivers to navigate as best they could, unsurprisingly resulting in many spinning. Andrew kept Sam in sight until he collected a rubber cone under the front suspension, then another off at Brooklands to lose the cone foreshadowed a pit stop to check, and retirement. So it left Sam and Jon at the head of the field, like ‘history past’, but actually rather a long way between them. An impressive drive by Clinton McCarthy split the drum 20s of Nic and Nathan, despite Clinton having unfortunately had contact with a spinning Jeremy Flann, resulting in Jeremy’s retirement. Modern racer, Oscar Trepess, is much enjoying the ex-Simon Diffey ‘gold’ 20, now in the custodianship of Jon Titmuss. John Timoney had a short stop, but resumed, and it was nice to see the two Ausper T3 circulating together, albeit three laps apart!, with Adrian Holey ahead of Ralph Carter’s ex Richard Bradley’s BT2, while John was left ‘tail end Charlie’ behind both George Christadoulou (BMC Mk 2) delighted to be back after his Festival contre temps, car extensively repaired, but foot still troubling him; and the equally delighted Rudolf, bringing the DKW engine PBA II, that Duncan drove back in 2008 at Lime Rock, home without a missed beat. Robin Longdon (Lola 3) was another early retirement off in the oil, although he did escape and toured round to the pits to inspect and retire: fortunately, all was OK for Sunday and Andrew was able to repair Flann’s 22 overnight.

A full 35 were on the grid sheet for Sunday, only Martin Sheppard, with no Fenichel to keep Stanguellini company, decided to head home ahead of a USA flight, and Michael Hibberd chose not to race. John Chisholm had Sam Wilson working on the Gemini brake drums in the paddock after the Saturday qualifying, and took the car home that night for further work, and even into the collecting area for the dummy grid, but still not happy with the brakes, elected not to start; no such option for Championship contender Nic Carlton-Smith, who almost saw his aspirations disappearing when he COULD not start, but he was eventually pushed by willing helpers to catch up the pack, and kindly allowed passage from the rest of the field to his grid slot.

At the front, it looked at first that Andrew might challenge, but Sam is the FJ King at Silverstone, and ran to a controlled victory, just 3s ahead, with Jon Milicevic ex John Truslove BT6  ahead of a Monument(al!) battle between Stuart and Geoff Underwood, and then a bit of fun behind, Nic again risking [but safely !!] his championship, battling with young Nathan Metcalfe, before Robin Longdon joined the party too!! Jeremy Flann was a little more subdued, Alan Schmidt’s Speedsport BT6 just having the edge ahead of Russell and Denty, much further apart this time. Richard Ferris is an impressive Octogenarian  and 13th out of 30 finishers is real credit to him; John Timoney won the Ausper T3 battle, and Niall the Elva 100 one, although he may be looking for a Ford powered steed for the future, and Mark Gillies a little more BMC engine power than at present, while George and Rudolf were both again happy to see the flag, and Chris Wilks defied the pessimists, his premature stop only being a loose plug lead, rather than trouble with the engine, while Darren Dunne’s drop box failed early, as rather feared.

The FJ garage was filled after the race with drivers, supporters and photographers alike, gathering for prizegiving. Sarah thanked everyone for their support this season for our very successful first independent FJHRA Championship, a year on from having made the announcement. Warm congratulations to winner Sam on the day, and to Nic for the Championship, with both he and Adrian having completed a clean sweep in Class; Sarah then presented the Class awards for the weekend and the ‘Silverline’ workshop prizes for which we are so grateful.

DCPR

 

 

Silverline Championship Rounds 6 & 7

The Silverline Historic Formula Junior Championship travelled North to Oulton Park following their trip South to Thruxton in June. All of the podium finishers from the Thruxton races appeared in the entry. Nic Carlton-Smith and Nathan Metcalfe were both racing their Lotus 20s, whilst Stuart Roach forsook his Alexis Mk3 from Thruxton for his front-engined Mk2.

The initial entry of 38 cars reduced to 35 cars for qualifying. The entry was headed by the Brands Hatch Lurani Trophy double winner Callum Grant in the Merlyn Mk5/7. Callum and the ‘Magic Merlyn’ were racing on home territory. Richard Wilson (Brabham BT6) was another podium finisher from Brands Hatch.

Welcome additions to the entry were Philipp Buhofer in his Lotus 27, Jon Milicevic’s Brabham BT6, Katsu Kubota’s Lotus 20/22, Joao Paulo Campos Costa’s Lola Mk5 and Chris Porritt’s Lotus 18.

Qualifying

Philipp Buhofer was the first to top the timing screen in his Lotus 27 with Richard Wilson in his BT6 just 0.011” behind. Thruxton Sunday race winner Nic Carlton-Smith was 3rd and Nathan Metcalfe 6th, both in Lotus 20s. In fourth place was Michael Hibberd in his Lotus 22, with the favourite for topping the times, Callum Grant lay 5th at this stage

On lap 3 Callum Grant shot to the head of the timing sheet continually extending his advantage over the rest of the pack to be 2.588” ahead at the end of the 20 minute session. Philipp Buhofer along with the Brabham BT6s of Richard Wilson and Jon Milicevic got close to Callum up until lap 6 when he sped away.

Ray Mallock in the U2 was top of the front- engined runners getting himself into the top 10 qualifiers. The contest behind Callum Grant for podium honours was very close with Richard Wilson, Nathan Metcalfe, Jon Milicevic and Nic Carlton-Smith all being covered by less than a second. Nathan led the class D2 runners from Nic, separated by just 0.318”.

The top 10 was completed by Michael Hibberd’s Lotus 22, Katsu Kubota’s Lotus 20/22, Adrian Holey’s Rennmax BN1 and the aforementioned Ray Mallock in his U2.

Completing the top 3 in Class D2, was Robin Longdon in the Lola Mk3. Behind Ray Mallock should have been Stuart Roach in the Alexis Mk2 but unfortunately the car broke its differential after two laps and Stuart would start from the back of the grid in his Alexis Mk4. In class B 2nd  and 3rd spots in class were the Condor SIIs of Alex Morton and Adrian Russell. Adrian was not having his usual successful run in, his qualifying being curtailed by a broken push rod.

Class C2 was headed by Chris Porritt in his Lotus 18. Keith Pickering in the Britannia was second and Gary Thomas in the Kieft third. Gary reported a return of the Cadwell Park misfire.

Mark Russell had a couple of pit visits with an electrical fault in his Gemini Mk2. George Christodoulou only managed one lap due to an electrical problem.

Race 1

Both Mark and Adrian Russell (not related) had repaired their cars and were able to take part in the race. At the start, Callum made a good start and led the pack into Old Hall corner. Further down the order Crispian Besley made a flying start passing several cars off the line whilst Adrian Russell’s weekend continued to be troubled. Struggling to hook up second gear from his 20th position on the grid he dropped even further down the order completing lap 1 in 27th place.

Nathan Metcalfe in the Lotus 20 had a superb first lap moving himself up to second place, just over half a second behind the leader. Following closely in his wheel tracks were Philipp Buhofer’s Lotus 27 and Richard Wilson’s Brabham BT6. Nic Carlton-Smith in his Lotus 20 completed the top 5. He had a gap back to 6th placed Michael Hibberd in his Lotus 22 who had a comfortable advantage over Jon Milicevic who had lost places on the first lap.

Katsu Kubota followed in 8th and behind him came Adrian Holey in the Rennmax with Ray Mallock in the U2 completing the top 10. On lap 2 Richard Wilson moved into third place, dropping Philipp Buhofer back to fourth. Jon Milicevic moved up to sixth place and Tony Lees passed Ray Mallock. Crispian Besley in his Cooper T56 had gained 4 places with his flying start and was close on the tail of Richard Bishop-Miller’s Caravelle Mk2 and Keith Pickering’s Britannia.

Chris Wilks retired with ignition problems on lap 1, whileon lap 3 Nathan Metcalfe started to slip down the order having done really well with the Lotus 20 but the more modern cars with their disc brakes all round were gradually overhauling him. By lap 4 he had slipped down to 5th and his class rival Nic Carlton-Smith was closing to within half a second, when on lap 5 Nathan crashed heavily at Druids following brake failure, fortunately without personal injury.

The order after 5 laps was Callum Grant leading by 10.5” from Richard Wilson, Jon Milicevic and Philipp Buhofer, 2nd to 4th places being covered by just one second. In 5th was Nic Carlton-Smith leading Class D2, 12th Ray Mallock leading Class B2 and 17th class C2 leader Chris Porritt in his Lotus 18. From the back of the grid Stuart Roach was now up to 8th.

On the following lap Stuart Roach passed Katsu Kubota into 7th place bringing Tony Lees onto Katsu’s tail. Adrian Holey following Lees completed the top 10. Adrian had been struggling with his clutch; going up the gearbox had been fine but coming down he was having problems with selecting a gear. The problem was suspected to be a bearing to be inspected after the race.

Lap 7 Katsu and Tony made contact at Druids which brought out the Red Flag and that signalled the end of the race. The final result was declared at the end of lap 6 and was a win for Callum Grant 11.897” ahead of Richard Wilson. Jon Milicevic in 3rd place was 0.398” behind Richard. Philipp Buhofer in 4th was 0.600” further back.

Nic Carlton-Smith was 5th and winner of class D2, 6th was Michael Hibberd, 7th Stuart Roach, 8th despite his clutch problems was Adrian Holey, Geoff Underwood in his Brabham BT2 9th with Ray Mallock class B2 winner 10th.

Chris Porritt in the Lotus 18 won class C2 and was 15th overall. After his terrible start, Adrian Russell finished 18th overall and 3rd in class B2 with Alex Morton finishing 16th and second in class B2.

Race 2

The second race for the Jim Clark Cup lined up on Sunday afternoon. Incidents in the Saturday race meant that Tony Lees, Katsu Kubota and Nathan Metcalfe were absent from the grid. Further, Philipp Buhofer and Joao Campos Costa were absent due to facing other priorities. This still left a grid of 29 cars for Stuart Roach to cut through along with George Christodoulou who had fixed a simple electrical problem.

Once again it was Callum Grant who took the lead, dominating the race in John Sykes’ ‘Magic Merlyn’. The local driver was supreme in front of a home crowd taking his second victory by over 17”.

Initially, Richard Wilson in the Brabham BT6  led the chase with Jon Milicevic’s BT6 in 3rd place. Nic Carlton-Smith in the distinctive liveried Lotus 20 was 4th and leading his class. Michael Hibberd was 5th in the Lotus 22, Adrian Holey 6th in the Rennmax and Jeremy Flann 7th in his Lotus 22. Jeremy later returned to his racing roots to compete in the VSCC Egerton Cup at the end of the meeting. Ray Mallock’s U2 was 8th leading his class and the front-engined race, 9th was Geoff Underwood who had finished 4th in the earlier HGPCA race. Chris Porritt completed the top 10 again leading Class C2.

Stuart Roach had worked his way up to 13th place by the end of lap 1 and George Christodoulou had taken 28th place from Peter Fenichel in the leading Class A car.

As the order settled, Richard Ferris was having to look all ways as his mirrors filled with battling cars behind him, headed by Alan Schmidt’s Brabham BT6 and Adrian Russell, who was having his best run of the weekend. The car was finally on song and  Adrian was looking to make progress through the field but Richard Ferris in the Donford was not going to be easy to pass. Shadowing Adrian were Robin Longdon’s Lola and Alex Morton in the second of the Condors.

Lap 3 and Jon Milicevic was eager to pass Richard Wilson. Alan Schmidt had outfoxed Richard Ferris as Stuart Roach progressed up to 6th place. On lap 4 Jon Milicevic passed Richard Wilson to take 2nd place and for a few laps the racing was close down the order but with little change.

Nic Carlton-Smith looked like he could close on Richard Wilson for the final podium place, but towards the end of the race his Lotus[RP1]  developed a misfire which slowed it but Nic was able to retain his 4th place overall position and the Class D2 win.

Lap 6 started a spate of retirements, with Robin Longdon pulling off and Mark Russell retiring on the same lap to the pits. Gary Thomas in the Kieft retired to the pits on lap 9 with the car still misfiring and Keith Pickering was the last retirement when his Britannia broke a pushrod. On this lap George Chrisodoulou managed to overtake Duncan Rabagliati in the Alexis HF1.

It was lap 7 before Adrian Russell was able to get past Richard Ferris, Adrian then going on to pass Chris Porritt in the Lotus 18 on the same lap.

As the race drew to its close two chases drew to their conclusion. Stuart Roach finished in sixth place just failing to catch Michael Hibberd, the narrow gap being 0.141” at the line. Geoff Underwood rounded off a successful weekend taking 7th place from Adrian Holey by 0.582” on the last lap.

The final result was a second win for Callum Grant in the Merlyn Mk5/7 and he was also awarded the Jim Clark Cup for being the aggregate winner. Jon Milicevic’s Brabham BT6 was 2nd and Richard Wilson’s Brabham BT6 3rd .  In 4th place overall and Class D2 winner was Nic Carlton-Smith’s Lotus 20, 5th was Michael Hibberd’s Lotus 22, 6th Stuart Roach’s Alexis Mk4, 7th Geoff Underwood’s Brabham BT2, 8th Adrian Holey’s Rennmax, 9th Alan Schmidt’s Lotus 22 and 10th Jeremy Flann’s Lotus 22.

In 11th place and winner of Class B2 was Ray Mallock’s U2, followed home by second in Class Adrian Russell’s Condor S2, while 13th and Class C2 winner was Chris Porritt’s Lotus 18. Next and E2 winner was Richard Ferris in the Donford. In 15th place Alex Morton’s Condor S2 completed the Class B2 podium. Richard Bishop-Miller’s Caravelle Mk2 and George Christodoulou’s BMC Mk2 completed the class D2 podium. Crispian Besley’s Cooper T56 and Chris Wilks’ Deep Sanderson were 2nd and 3rd respectively in class C2, with Peter Fenichel completing the award winners taking 1st in class A.

The Sunday podium presentations were made by Marion of the Jim Clark Trust.

Alan Jones

 

FIA Lurani Trophy Round 5

It was our first time at Assen since 2004, but what a change; now a fully serviced major (motorcycle GP) circuit with sweeping bends and a couple of esses, but one very sharp hairpin that tightens up, and did catch a few unawares, especially early in the test session, as the previous saloons had left an oil patch, just where it mattered!! – BUT, one thing stayed the same…the Merlyn Mk 5/7, but a much tougher victory for Callum Grant, than Denis Welch had back in ’04.

Last minute problems sidelined both Hans Hillebrink (engine failed in test session pre Anderstorp); and Erik Justesen’s ex Jonathan Hughes Lola Mk2   the LONG Lola) has proved a bunch of trouble, and still not race ready.

As none of the FJs had raced on the current track, and an amazing and satisfying four drivers were also new to Formula Junior, we included a full 25 min test session on Friday morning. Sadly though it was soon interrupted when Martin Aubert’s Lotus 20 found the aforementioned oil and the barrier and then a couple of laps later, Paul Boulton in the ex-David Watkins Elfin, and Lars-Goran Goran in the Lola Mk 3 also performed separate waltzes, unfortunately the Lola ending up mid track locked in, second and third, gear, necessitating another ( speedy) recovery. The Race director generously added session time, however local, Floris-Jan Hekker ( Rayberg) gave the session a miss entirely, oil found to be leaking from the head-gasket. However our other local, welcome newcomer, Charly Bastiaanssen, [supported by brother Adriaan] in the ex-Dr Nick Daunt Taraschi BT-050 ( he also owns the ex-Ugo Piccagli BT-048) benefitted from a little prior knowledge  from a track day, but some others including Maxime Castelein in the ex-Andrew Beaumont CTL run Lotus 22 were finding the track more challenging, and in Max’s case, the car too, John Slack’s T200 Lola HU2  and Nigel Adams’s pristine Lotus 61/FF/124 joined the session for some acclimatisation laps; Manfredo was  2.5 secs faster than  Danny Baker [27] , with Callum just behind, struggling a bit with the ‘esses’.

Qualifying was without Aubert: Adam worked hard to straighten it but there was too much damage around the pick-up point; and also Jonny Lange, whose Belgian rebuilt engine had expired after 5 laps with a suspected broken valve; but Lars -Goran, aware of the fragility of his cars, had brought the Swebe Cooper as spare, so was able to take part.

Times were improving as drivers became more familiar; except Manfredo, who was displaced by Danny and Callum, but only 0.5 separated all three; Simon Jackson led the de Tomaso battle, while Max was comfortable at last, and 16s quicker to boot. Ex -short track racer Paul Boulton, was ahead of Tonetti – in his first outing! Duncan and Gunther Leidig (Elva 100) were having a close encounter, but on the last lap, Gunther chipped a cog, and despite having gearbox out, it proved impossible to repair; more luck for Richard Bishop-Miller in the Caravelle, who had lost all drive, but fortunately not the gearbox and Richard with Iain Rowley’s help, and Callum for lifting duties, had the whole back end stripped, welded and reassembled just in the nick of time to get to the assembly area for the session.

Race one was on Saturday morning; Lars-Goran decided that even with the Swebe, there was too much chance of dropping oil, so sensibly packed that in the truck too.

With Danny Baker in the CTL run Lotus 27 on pole the field did one and a half formation and green flag laps and away on the lights, GP style, only Paul Boulton bogged down in the Elfin, having softened up the suspension to excess and found the car undriveable, calling a day after three laps, and one spin.

Then followed another truly great FJ race from start to flag, with Danny, Manfredo Rossi (22) and Callum Grant (Merlyn Mk5/7)swapping places throughout, and so close at times, without incident, Manfredo finally taking the win by 7 1/100ths of a second  from Callum, with Danny 0.2s behind: what a finish, and what smiles on the podium!!

Another battle followed behind between the blue and red De Tomaso’s, ex F3000 and Indianapolis 500 driver, Franco Scapini, coming out of retirement after 17 years in Pierre Tonetti’s car, with Dad Simon in the Jackson family car, catching, but he too, still 7/100ths of a s. behind.  Simon shares with son Cameron, although if Cameron fulfils his ambition to emigrate to Bali, Simon may have the better of the deal!!

Not far behind came Pierre, reverting to his familiar light blue BT6, while Petter Huse (Focus) faltered on the last lap, another head gasket gone, while a smiling Richard in the Caravelle was delighted to have a good finish; Duncan had a good first half, but eventually struggled home with some fuel feed issues, and Charly catching, thoroughly enjoying his Taraschi.

Change of scenery, then, as Chris Dinnage was deputising for a temporarily incapacitated Bruno Senna on the Lotus 72 Ayrton Senna celebration, demo runs, Chris having been Ayrton’s F1 mechanic in TL days; it sounded good, and certainly had the crowd excited, but as the crowd get younger, equally thrilled by a later Jaguar F1 turbo demo.

Race 2 followed late on Sunday morning; this time Callum had more of an edge, from Manfredo, who had joined the start line up with only seconds to spare, and Danny in train; After 6 laps proceedings were unfortunately interrupted when Franco pitted the blue de Tomaso with a gearbox problem, then rejoined, only to expire on the first corner – actually well out of harms way: so be it, a safety car was deployed, which failed to pick up the leader, and then purported to wait for the tail enders .. so a couple of unnecessary laps were lost, although it did give the chance for a mega sprint race, this time Callum having the edge from Manfredo, with Danny 1.5 s adrift after an unsuccessful late lunge had him, momentarily, off course. This left Simon’s red De Tomaso a lonely fourth, but with Max improving still, only 3s behind: a slowing Pierre Tonetti enabled Paul Boulton to come home a very gratified 6th, much to the pleasure of daughter / mechanic, Emily, with Petter’s new head gasket holding too.  Richard Bishop-Miller and Floris-Jan were well pleased to collect Lurani points, leaving the Championship open to a three-way deciding climax with Manfredo at Misano in October. Duncan’s motor still had gremlins, but actually got better after three laps, sadly not chased by Charly, whose Taraschi broke it’s diff on the start line.

So overall, Callum just pipped Manfredo on aggregate, with Danny third, ahead of a happy Simon Jackson. The Class awards were made on the podium, after the winners, so a chance for some photographic glory down the field!!

Floris-Jan and Anneke hosted the paddock party on Friday evening, at which every driver attended to sample lashings of cold and hot food and liquid sustenance to wit, and Duncan presented Floris-Jan a card to celebrate his last Lurani race, with only Goodwood ahead before retirement, 41 years after buying the Rayberg.

Fitting tribute to both the racing and friendship of Formula Junior came from each of our four new divers on Sunday night:  Paul (‘Thank you everyone for a superb weekend’) : Max (‘Thank you for organising this epic weekend. Really enjoyed my first Formula Junior race ‘); Franco (‘Thanks Sarah. It was my first experience, but I had fun’); Charly (‘What an experience it was…The warmth of the new family… Just great. My brother and I love it.)

To Misano !!…

DCPR 

 

 

 

 

 

FJHRA “Silverline” Championship Round 10

We always love the Autumn Classic meeting at Castle Combe; a friendly atmosphere, helpful Circuit organisers, good hot breakfast, and for Team Rabagliati, that regular supper the night before at the Neeld Arms at Griddleton, reminiscing of long mornings spent decades ago at the pre chicane circuit on the RAC Norwich Union runs, with unlimited laps in Swallow Dorettis, Ogles et al. 

A promising entry list for Round 10 of the 2025 ‘Silverline’ Championship was rather depleted by engine maladies and suspension breakages at Goodwood, although all of Adrian Russell, Stuart Roach, still in the Mk2, Martin Sheppard, also still in the Stanguellini, [but the De Tomaso, post a David Abbott refresh, is on the button’ too] and Duncan, were ready to go again. However, then Nathan Metcalfe in his Lotus 20 had a reoccurrence of his brake shoe failure in Friday testing, fortunately counterbalanced by late entries from Iain Rowley, back in his own 22, after having again sampled Erik Justesen’s similar car at Copenhagen; and Dave Wall in the familiar Team Roach Gemini II, rear suspension repaired after Goodwood.

Qualifying was early on Saturday morning, still dry, but slightly damp in the air, but the 8 am briefing was even earlier, the clerk noted for knowing both his circuit and his audience: full attendance nonetheless!!

Andrew and Michael Hibberd had been amongst the withdrawals, with customer preparation taking precedence, and both Eddie O’Kane in the purposeful Crossle 4F; and new to FJ and single seaters, Adrian Stevens, with the Hillwood-FIAT, were under their awning. 

Paul Boulton may only have had one previous FJ outing in the ex-Dave Watkins Elfin, but he was very familiar with the Castle Combe circuit from Fiesta racing, and this showed!!! It was a surprised Nic Carlton-Smith who found himself pipped for pole by 2 / 10th s.!, with Stuart Roach close behind, and Adrian Russell fractionally adrift.

John Hutchison, Jnr, thankfully found a spare weekend from his BARC organisational duties, in the Envoy Mk 1 to nestle in behind Mark Woodhouse [Elva 100], but behind him, only a second adrift, an exceptional performance came from Dave Wall in the Mk II Gemini, even a smidgeon ahead of Eddie O’Kane’s Crossle 4F. Chris Wilks suffered a Rear suspension breakage in the unusual Deep Sanderson 104, but otherwise practice was trouble free.

Come race time, after an early lunch break, unfortunately Paul Boulton couldn’t capitalise on his stunning performance in qualifying, which gave him pole, as he got stuck in 3rd gear, but meanwhile Nic Carlton-Smith had made a faultless start and built up enough lead to simply enjoy driving his ‘Indy’ Lotus 20.

Behind him it was Stuart Roach drifting the corners in his Mk2 Alexis with Adrian Russell (Condor S II) catching back the ground on the straights until in traffic Adrian got the opportunity he needed and was through into second.

Next up, Sam Wilson was having his first ever front engined race in Justin Fleming’s Lola Mk2, in a race long trio on the tail of Iain Rowley (Lotus 22) who was 4th, whilst fending off Chris Porritt (Lotus 18), and all clear of Crispian Besley’s T56, and Mark Woodhouse (Elva100).

Dave Wall, having starred in practice, made up that extra second and more, in the race, lapping faster than John Hutchison, and just failing to catch him by less than 1/2 second.

Chris Wilks, with the aid of ever helpful Iain Rowley, had repaired the ‘Lawrencelink’ on his Deep Sanderson, enabling a trouble-free race, and then a clear gap to Martin Sheppard, and equally clear of Duncan, going well, with new wheel bearings, after a ‘miracle’ finish at Goodwood.

Poor Eddie broke gear linkage on the dummy grid, his race ended, but behind Duncan there was a race long scrap between the Hillwood, and Nick Powell in the fascinating Cooper T52 -Lancia; both Tom Waterfield, who took 3rd place at Goodwood Members in the Hillwood a few years ago, and Tim Ross, his normal patron, were seen taking much interest in the Juniors, and it was also good to see Jack Woodhouse, and baby! Jack was having a weekend off from the GP circuit, as no lover of Azerbaijan: and great to hear that he has renewed his race licence with a few races in the family 20/22 perhaps on the cards for next year.

The race finished just before the heavens opened, just in time for some, too late for others! So it was a wet podium for Nic, Adrian and Stuart, and Sarah decamped the class prize giving to the briefing tent with plenty of glassware and useful ‘Silverline’ goodies to dispense.

All in all, yet another fun day of FJ!

DCPR

 

12th – 14th September

It was the turn of the front-engined cars to contest the 2025 edition of the Chichester Cup and what an amazing array of constructors were represented. A look down the entry list showed that the full 30 car field included Alexis, Alfa Dana, Apache, Autosport, BMC, Condor, Elva, Emeryson-Elfin, Foglietti, Gemini, Lola, Mitter, Nike, OSCA, Rayberg, Scorpion, Stanguellini, Taraschi, U2 and Volpini. The only defaulter was Klaus Weber’s Foglietti, which was to be driven by Historic F1 and Lola T70 driver Nick Padmore. Nick described the restoration of this historic car, by Britec, as ‘stunning’, fortunately having been well documented at Innsbruck in 1961, its later lost period masquerading as a ‘Stanguellini’ in the Wheatcroft Collection expunged; but unfortunately a last-minute engine problem prevented its appearance; we await its debut with huge interest. Fortunately, Robin Lackford was to hand with his Elva 100 and within moments was slotted into the vacant paddock space late Thursday evening.

Practice on Friday afternoon was on a dry track and Ray Mallock (U2) set the pace from the outset. On their third laps Mallock set fastest time of 1’31.135”, Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk2) next on 1’31.313” and Adrian Russell (Condor) third on 1’31.891”. Mallock’s time remained unbeaten until Russell improved to 1’30.993” on lap 8 to briefly head the timing screen, but Ray got a traffic free lap next time around to slice 1.4” off his time to 1’29.705”. At the stage Stuart was second 0.430” slower and Adrian third a further 0.858” down. On his penultimate lap Ray reduced his time by 0.601” so the front row would be Mallock-Roach-Russell. Joe Colasacco (OSCA) was consistently fourth fastest and quickest Fiat engined car by a good margin. Fifth was Alex Morton (Condor) with the very rapid Horatio Fitz-Simon, a last minute change of driver, with Erik not wishing to race Goodwood in the wet, pushing Erik Justesen’s beautiful blue and white mini-Indy roadster Apache Fiat to sixth. The top ten was completed by Charles Cook, going very well in the Nike, Mark Woodhouse making a welcome appearance in his Elva 100, Niall McFadden’s Elva 100 and James Owen’s red Gemini Mk2-BMC. 

The session was fairly trouble free:- Graham Barron (Gemini Mk2) only managed one lap suffering a clutch issue, Robin Longdon (Lola Mk2) four laps, suffering a misfire at high revs, whilst Daniele Salodini’s grey Taraschi was smoking badly and pitted after getting the black & orange flag. Guy Verhofstadt (Elva 100) had arranged a late arrival and did not practice but was allowed to start from the back of the grid under the two year rule. All except Salodini were able to start the race, he set out on the green flag lap but pulled off with fluid loss.

The race, as usual, kicked off proceedings on Sunday morning. Although the weather forecast for later in the day was gloomy, at this stage the track was fairly dry, although damp off-line after some overnight rain. Into Madgwick from the start Mallock led but Stuart Roach was flying in the Alexis Mk2 and passed going into St Marys and by the time they crossed the line for the first time he had a 1.6” advantage over Mallock, who was 1.2” in front of Colasacco, followed by Morton, Cook and Fitz-Simon. Adrian Russell had endured a dire first lap having missed second gear at the start then run wide at St Marys to complete the lap in 12th. This was the prelude to the most interesting aspect of the race as he cut through those ahead to reach third on lap 6. Stuart continued to extend his lead, somewhat against the formbook, so that by lap 7 he was 13.2” ahead of Ray with Adrian only 2.9” in arrears of the U2. Colasacco, Morton and Fitz-Simon, who held a big slide on the exit of Woodcote, still occupied the next three spots. The Nike of Charles Cook had been sixth but a spin at St Marys saw him tumble to 14th though he fought his way back to an excellent 9th. 

Then, on lap 7 Tony Ollissoff broke a suspension arm, and went off into the gravel trap at Lavant with the front wheel at a very abnormal angle, bringing out the safety car. It took three laps to extract the car and the clock ran out just as this was accomplished, which deprived Adrian Russell of his chance of a last lap charge. In previous years Goodwood has operated a policy of adding time to at least partly compensate for lost green flag running, but no such extension was made this time. Niall McFadden, after a battle with Robin Longdon, was 8th but a 10” penalty for a jump start demoted him to 15thand last unlapped car due to the concertina effect of the safety car.

Non finishers in addition to Olissoff were Stephane Rey (transmission), Graham Barron (engine), Andrea Guarino (fluid loss) and Dave Wall (rear suspension). Fluid on the track at St Marys contributed to a pair of spins by Peter Fenichel and a “moment” for Richard Spritz. 

So, Stuart Roach took a thoroughly deserved win from Mallock, Russell, Colasacco (first Class A had there been classes), Morton, Fitz-Simon, Robin Longdon (Lola Mk2), Cook, Woodhouse and James Owen.

After the race Stuart said that the slippery conditions were perfect for him, a sentiment that Ray fully endorsed.

Richard Page