FJHRA/HSCC Championship Rounds 11 & 12 – Front Engined Grid
Entry & Qualifying
The season Finale for the HSCC/FJHRA Silverline Championship took place over the weekend of 12th & 13th October. The Saturday being significant in Formula Junior as neither Duncan, nor Sarah were present. They had a very important event to attend – Mair’s birthday celebration.
At Silverstone the celebratory atmosphere continued with a 17-car entry in the Front Engine classes, Adrian Russell having his first run out in UK, in his ex-Keith Roach Condor SII, having already given the car a most encouraging debut at then at Spa, with only Peter Edbrooke being a late withdrawal in his beautiful Stanguellini, for family reasons.
The qualifying started with the cars going out onto a damp track with a drizzle of rain in the air: as the session progressed the rain increased, creating a slippery surface for the drivers.
Alex Morton set his fastest lap at the very beginning of the session, followed by Adrian Russell. The Brooklands, Luffield section proved to be very slippery, with Mark Russell, making his debut in the John Arnold run ex-Jerry Knight Gemini Mk II, being the first to spin and continue.
Eduardo Guarino [Elva 100] was the next driver to be caught out on the approach to Brooklands, unfortunately making contact with Mark Haynes, in the Australian built Nota, briefly riding over the car before landing safely to retire. Mark Haynes with bodywork and cockpit damage limped his car into the pits, the weekend sadly over..
Adrian Russell was the next to have a brief spin which he collected and continued. It seemed that Alex Morton had set a pace that no-one could match, but on lap 4 Ray Mallock had the U2 settled and he started to close on Alex, setting the fastest lap of the session on lap 5, with Robin Longdon [Lola Mk 2 ] also moving up, behind the two Condors.They say that “what Lola wants, Lola gets”, but on this occasion, the two Condors were “birds of a feather”, and there were to be no concessions !!
James Owen, making a very welcome return in his Gemini Mk II, now run by Robin and Nigel Lackford, was another to have found the Luffield section difficult having two spins on the greasy track.
At the end of the session it was be Ray Mallock in pole position, Alex Morton 2nd with the hard charging Adrian Russell 3rd. As mentioned, Robin Longdon was 4th, Chris Astley 5th and Charles Cook 6th. Andrea Guarino was 7th and fastest in Class B1, whilst Tony Pearson’s Bandini, headed Class A.
Race 1
Mark Haynes and Eduardo Guarino were unfortunately non-starters, but although Tony Pearson had an electrical problem whilst in the assembly area, this were quickly rectified and he was able to take the start. At lights out, Alex Morton led from Ray Mallock, Adrian Russell, and Robin Longdon, Ray later confessing that he had fluffed a gear change off the line. The two leaders then rapidly pulled away from the pack, until at the end of lap two, Ray Mallock passed Alex for the lead.
Looking down the order Andrea Guarino had slipped from 7th to 10th, along with Mark Russell who had slipped back to 9th. Further up though Chris Astley [Elva 100] had the close attentions of Charles Cook [Nike Mk 1], with Graham Barron [Gemini Mk II] battling with Justin Fleming [Lola Mk 2] and Pearson shadowing Peter Fenichel for Class A [in the blue Stanguellini], with James Owen being the final car through.
Ray Mallock progressively extended his lead from Alex Morton, with Robin Longdon now reeling him in, having passed Adrian Russell on lap two. With Ray clear, the focus was on Robin Longdon – he made his pass on Alex on the outside of Woodcote, and then had to drive as hard as he could to ensure his place on track remained the same in the final classification, as he had been docked a 30 second time penalty as his transponder was shown as not working (it was in fact working…just located in his motorhome). Alex Morton’s run in second place then ended when he pulled off to retire the car at Luffield with a differential failure. Ever the courteous driver, Alex managed to get the car to where it could be safely pushed off of the circuit.
Earlier in the race Graham Barron and Justin Fleming had a dice for several laps before Justin passed on lap 7. This being the same lap that Mark Russell retired his Gemini Mk2 with a throttle linkage problem. On the next lap Charles Cook passed Chris Astley the pair running close for the remainder of the race.
The final result would see a win for Ray Mallock, with Adrian Russell second after Robin Longdon’s penalty was applied, upholding Condor honours, leaving Robin 3rd on paper after a fine drive. Charles Cook in the Nike finished 4th with Chris Astley 5th and Justin Fleming 6th. Graham Barron was 7th and the winner of Class B1. Peter Fenichel in his Stanguellini finished 10th overall and the winner of Class A.
Race 2
The second race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning. In dry, bright, chilly conditions. James Owen had been only entered for Saturday, but, this was made up for by the addition of Charlie Besley who started from the back in the family Elva 100.
Ray Mallock did not make any mistakes on his start this time, leading the pack round at the end of lap 1. Alex Morton had worked hard to get his car repaired and followed in second place, with the second Condor of Adrian Russell third. 4th was Robin Longdon this time with his transponder fitted, and for close company he had Chris Astley in his Elva followed by Charles Cook in the Nike and Charlie Besley, who had made a demon start from the back of the grid, was already well up.
Robin was again the man making progress, passing Adrian Russell on lap 2 and working on the gap built by the leading pair. Ray Mallock was showing that the U2 was as good in the dry as it was in the damp conditions of the previous day, stroking out a 3 second advantage by lap 3. The only driver to match his early pace being Robin and he had cars to pass before he could attempt to catch the rapid U2.
Having lost a place to Robin Longdon, Adrian Russell fell back briefly before he settled into a rhythm to chase after Alex and Robin. Behind Adrian another good tussle was again taking place between Chris Astley and Charles Cook.
Graham Barron had a spin on lap 1 at Becketts, continuing just in front of the Italian class battle with Peter Fenichel heading Tony Pearson, which had freed up Justin Fleming who was quickly making progress passing Andrea Guarino on lap 3 to go in pursuit of Mark Russell in the Gemini Mk2.
On lap 5 Robin Longdon passed Alex Morton for second place, this unsettled Alex in the Condor dropping him back closer to his fellow Condor runner Adrian Russell who was attacking Brooklands with gusto.
As the lappery commenced on lap 6, Robin was briefly able to close the gap to Ray to five seconds, which by the next lap had extended out to six seconds: meanwhile the U2 driver very much in control of the race!!
Alex Morton, with the closing challenge of Adrian Russell, refocussed on the Lola ahead, with the top four all recording times that varied around mid 1.08 m to mid 1.09m as the advantages swayed on track position.
On lap 5 Charles Cook got ahead of Chris Astley but thereafter their duel became one of the highlights of the race as neither was giving up, with Chris Astley regaining the place to lose it again at Woodcote.
A lap later, on lap six Justin Fleming slid inside Mark Russell at Brooklands to take 8th place.
On lap 12 Adrian Russell found the traction limit at Brooklands with a huge sideways moment, managing to continue with no place loss, however he had lost the opportunity for one last shot at Alex Morton. A lap later, Charlie Besley went one better at Brooklands with a complete 180 degree spin, again without damage or loss of position, much to the relief of Dad, Crispian, watching from the Grandstand.
The final result was another win for Ray Mallock in the U2, with Robin Longdon not only second on track, but this time deservedly in the results too. Third place went to Alex Morton who had closed within six tenths of Robin’s Lola in the closing laps. Fourth was Adrian Russell really feeling at home now in his ‘new’ Condor. Fifth after a spirited dice with Chris Astley was Charles Cook, with Charlie Besley 7th in the Elva completing the runners on the lead lap. Justin Fleming in the Lola M2 finished in 8th, Mark Russell 9th leading home fellow Gemini runner, Graham Barron, the winner of Class B1, from Andrea Guarino in the Elva 100. Peter Fenichel took the class win again in his Stanguellini but Tony Pearson had kept him in sight all race with the Bandini. After some of the recent problems Tony has had with the Bandini I am sure the result felt like a win for him.
Alan Jones