HSCC Finals, Silverstone, 18th Oct, 2008

[koi]

Having been ahead of the " 3rd place Elden " briefly ( normally for less than half of the first lap ) a couple of times this year, I can confirm that JHH's secret weapon is indeed his additional marginal weight taking him above 500 kilos for the car and driver combined.

JHH... I think I have spotted the source of your oil leak....

[John Turner]

Excellent, another driver joins us. Welcome, koi!

[Matthew Sturmer]

just picked back up on the excitement that I have inadvertantly caused. I am happy to stand corrected about your car John as the point that I meant to highlight was why one car was excluded and another was not. The answer is now clear. Apologise if any offence was caused as none was intended.

[zefarelly]

spot on old boy . . well a little bit more senior!

I was invited to sit in on an HFF meeting last year and personally I found it a breath of fresh air.

I understand ( as it was debated , and explained at the meeting and illustrated in detail after ) the difference betwixt stressed and unstressed

the HSCC, HFF, and FJ it seems seem to have the nail firmly hit on the head and its surrounded by the correct hammers if and when required to hit it, simple rules, and abide by them, simple, or foxtrot oscar, its so simple even estate agents understand it, which means its oversubscribed. ta da . . .its not rocket science is it !

unlike a vast majority of other race series/organisations/showers/commercial organisations etc etc who continually fail miserably to get it right accross the board . . . its not just the management but the entrants that need to be seen to be making a difference as well, they are the key thing really.

Originally Posted by rogerwills

This is superb and way more exciting than anything that ever happens on here or is going on in the world. Can we have more of this sort of thing - MGB checks, V8s, etc. Lets put some spice in this hobby of ours.....

[jhh911]

Alls well that ends well,and I am happy to accept Mathews apologie re undertray.

[Alan Raine]

Full length undertrays were not unusual in the 80's and early 90's when I raced F Ford. We even used one for a while, mainly to keep the engine area clean. Yes it was supposed to stiffen the chassis, but as far as I know nobody was protested or disqualified because of it, although I do of someone who had a steel floor welded to the chassis and was politely told to have it removed by the next race.

It does seem a bit hard on Gary, but at least the rules are fairly clear now.

[The Flagman]

Anyone wishing to know a little more about new member jhh911 could read about his exploits in this week's Selby Times Newspaper. Good quarter page in the local rag!

Make me think of another thread. How do we get publicity for our sponsors when cars are expected to run in original livery?

[John Turner]

Ok, finally, getting there! Held on the National circuit, so smaller grids, there were nevertheless 31 starters to the opener, although 7 cars failed to finish this 13 lapper.

Paul Anderson (64 - Porsche 928) and Richard Plant (Morgan Plus 8) made an excellent race of it at the front, with the Porsche driver taking the honours by 0.400 secs. The pair were 19.5 seconds clear of 3rd place Julian Barter at the flag:-


Ian Jacobs took 7th with his Jensen Healey, one of two in the race (the other being that of David Lane):-


Good racing between the Alfa 2000GTV pair of John Dobson (81) and David Erwin (76) which the latter just won. They were 19th and 20th respectively. No less than 5 GTVs took part in this race of which 4 finished:-

Paul Stafford was 10th in this Datsun 240Z. The other regular 240Z competitor is, of course, Charles Barter and he was 5th in his familiar blue liveried example:-


Not Louise Kennedy! This is Bryan Dugdale's Lancia Fulvia Zagato which was classified 24th:-


As I mentioned earlier Julian Barter was 3rd in his TVR, but for most of the race he was 4th and having a monumental dice with the other Porsche 928 of Phil Briggs. The Briggs car has been getting quicker this year and it was only a mistake by him that finally allowed Barter to take 3rd. The Porsche had exited wide out of Brooklands, getting onto the grass and gravel and it was enough to allow the TVR to get by. Here you see Briggs recover the track from this decisive moment and he finished 4th, just over 2.5 secs behind the TVR:-

[rogerwills]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Ian Jacobs took 7th with his Jensen Healey, one of two in the race (the other being that of David Lane):-

Surely this sort of advertising is not allowed???

[John Turner]

Yes, that had occurred to me, too, but since it has been carrying it over the second half of the season and could hardly be overlooked, I assumed that it must be acceptable.

[delta]

Ian is an old Classic F3 fellow competitor of mine . He will be well chuffed with picture.

[banbury]

Originally Posted by rogerwills

Surely this sort of advertising is not allowed???

It wasn`t.The rules for 70s` state that any advertising must be 2 stickers no larger than 20cmX40cm.

This was raised at the drivers meeting and it was decided to go for the Blue Book option of,any size as long as it is not offensive.Although it offends me!

[johngee]

I think it's fine if it's a 'livery' that's 'in period' but modern advertising on historic cars certainly isn't easy on the eye.
That's just a personal view btw - not an interpretation of the rules!

[John Turner]

The usual good competitive grid for this race, augmented by a late entry for last year's hotshoe, 2007 Formula Ford Champion, Callum MacLeod, who duly led the field in the Merlyn Mk20A, chased by a group led by Michael Lyons and Westie Mitchell.

A little further back, the pack was trying to sort itself out. Here amongst others, you see John Sykes (4 - Merlyn Mk11A/20), who failed to finish, Crispin Schlaefi (48 - Macon MR8) who finished 11th and Clive Fidgeon (49 - Lola T200) who finished 10th:-


Diogo Ferrao was 13th in this Merlyn Mk20:-


McLeod continued to ease away from the pack, putting in the fastest race lap before a broken gear linkage caused his retirement after 8 laps. Whilst MacLeod is coming through Luffield, Lyons and Mitchell battle away for 2nd place through Brooklands, with Mitchell requiring a tad of opposite lock:-


Albert Clements was 26th in his Lotus 51:-


A slightly blurred pic, but the Elden Mk8/10 seems to me such an unusual (and complicated!) shape that it warranted inclusion, particularly as John Hayes-Harlow brought it through to 3rd at the flag:-


Clive Fidgeon (49) and John Bladon (44 - Merlyn MkIIA). Bladon just got the better of this duel to take 9th:-


Gary Critcher in Nike Mk4/6. His story has already been told!:-


With McLeod's retirement the 2nd place battle became one for victory, and what a superb dice it was. Michael Lyons (2 - Merlyn MkIIA) and Westie Mitchell (11 - Merlyn Mk20) put on a great display of clean and close racing with Mitchell taking the win by just 0.126 secs. However, it was young Michael who, in taking 2nd place, had done enough to take the championship, so well done to both:-


In the closing stages of the race, John Sykes (4) threw his Merlyn Mk11A/20 into the gravel, losing a good placing as a result. I don't know whether he was helped there or it was just a matter of locking up from late braking! In the foreground HSCC Chairman, Chris Sharples (77 - Palliser WDF1) having battled forward throughout the race, holds off Amanda Whitaker's Elden Mk8 to take 5th. Appearing out of the cloud of dust created by Sykes is Ken Finneran who finished 6th in his Merlyn Mk20:-

[dikko]

PA Motorsport web site doesn't seem to have a report on this but this is from Peter Alexanders fair hand.......hope it doesn't fill too many pages...
And absolutely agree, brilliant racing. Wish I'd watched it from my normal position....behind a steering wheel...GGGGGRRRRR darned crankshafts.....
HFF RACE REPORT


WESTIE WINS!

Westie Mitchell took a very popular win in a scintillating final Historic Formula ford Championship race at Silverstone last weekend.

Just like our bigger (but more boring) relatives in F1, the 2008 HSCC Grandstand Motorsport Tours HFF Championship went down to the wire at the last round on the Silverstone National circuit. Two drivers were capable of winning, Westie Mitchell in his Merlyn Mk20 and Michael Lyons in his Merlyn Mk11A. However, it was another Merlyn, that of 2007 Formula Ford Duratec Champion Callum Macleod that took pole position by almost 7 tenths of a second from Lyons and Mitchell. Fourth on the grid was Darren Burke, his ex Gabrielle Konig Macon not sounding as healthy as it should.

Paul McMorran was next up in his Crossle 20F in 5th place. McMorran was set to have a busy weekend by racing with us on the Saturday at Silverstone and back in a Historic FF at Spa the next day. Top man! Crispin Schlaefli had pulled another scintillating qualifying performance out of the bag in his Westone Bathrooms backed Macon MR8 to qualify 6th. This despite not one single lap of testing in 2008 other than a couple of sessions prior to the very first round of the year at Donington. Conclusive proof that our series can be extremely economical. Circuit specialist Amanda Whitaker was struggling with a down on power engine in 7th place just ahead of Ken Finneran and Michael Grant-Peterkins beautiful Brabham BT21. Adam Sykes did a tremendous job to round off the top 10 with his Merlyn Mk11A.

At the start the first two rows of the grid all got a good getaway and with Darren Burke missing from 4th spot after his engine having been diagnosed as terminally ill this left Paul McMorran with a clear shot at the lead bunch. His enthusiasm got the better of him however and a spin at Copse on the first lap put paid to any chances. Behind, both Peter Lavender and Michael Grant-Peterkin had to make off track diversions to miss the spinning McMorrans Crossle. Macleod had edged slightly clear on the first lap and it was Mitchell who had passed Lyons for second spot to start what was to be a fantastic race long battle between the two.

Behind Mitchell and Lyons the next battle was intense and as at the previous Donington round, about 6 cars were disputing the same piece of circuit in classic FF1600 style. Chris Sharples had come alive from his qualifying position of 13th, however, unlucky it was not as he began to ascend the order and join in the battle with Whitaker, Finneran, John Hayes-Harlow (who was getting his moneys worth by using the ‘extra’ piece of tarmac at Copse every lap….rumours that he was so wide he would have to buy a ticket to get back in were wide of the mark!) Clive Fidgeon and Grant-Peterkin. Crispin Schlaefli was starting to drop back through this bunch as the battles raged ever more intense.

With Macleod edging away at the front it was a surprise when the yellow Merlyn pitted on lap four after being black flagged for a broken gear linkage. Macleod had been stuck in fourth gear and he was out but not before setting a new lap record in his opening couple of laps. This left the Mitchell / Lyons scrap as the lead for the race as well as the Championship. It was a superb demonstration of Formula Ford racing from both drivers. Numerous lead changes with the cars never more than inches apart made for compelling viewing. It was also noted after the race by a number of people as to how fair this fight had been, neither driver resorting to desperate tactics, well done lads!

Amanda Whitaker was now third, up from 7th on the grid, albeit helped by Burke’s non start and Macleod’s demise. John Sykes had been another driver on the move after starting in 12th spot the Merlyn driver was battling with Whitaker, Hayes-Harlow, Sharples and Finneran before a spin dropped him down the order. This helped Sharples, the previous lap record holder on the Silverstone National circuit to leap frog his Palliser ahead of Whitaker with Hayes-Harlow leap frogging both into third place. His delight was clear as he crossed the line, hands punching the air after having spent the previous evening building a ‘bitsa’ engine in the Silverstone garage.

So at the flag it was Westie Mitchell who took his maiden win from Michael Lyons, who took his maiden HFF Championship win with Hayes-Harlow in third. Chris Sharples was fourth just pipping Amanda Whitakers Elden for 5th place. John Bladon had had a corker of a race (Good to have you back John!), his freshly rebuilt Merlyn looking fabulous. Bladon had started in 20th spot but bought the Merlyn home in 9th just ahead of Clive Fidgeon’s Lola T200. Crispin Schlaefli had slipped to 11th ahead of Adam Sykes and Diogo Ferraro’s Merlyn Mk20.

It was good to see not one but two Lotus 51’s on the grid with us at Silverstone, Paul Stringers example joining the immaculate ex Jim Russell car of Albert Clements. Gary Critchers Nike Mk4/6 and Roy Macgregors Hawke DL2B made for 11 different chassis marques represented on the grid, great stuff.

Well, it was another top race to round off another brilliant HFF season (didn’t it fly by!). Hopefully, we may have impressed sufficiently to secure a spot at the Silverstone Classic in 2009? Let’s hope so. Time now for a well earned rest and rebuild in the winter months and we hope to see you all again in 2009. HFF Winter Series anyone?!

Race Report: Peter Alexander.

[John Turner]

Great report, but has Peter given his permission for it to be posted, here?

[dikko]

OOps apologies, am finding out now...

[Auriga]

Hi Dick

No problem at all!! Thanks for the mention!

Pete

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by johngee

I think it's fine if it's a 'livery' that's 'in period' but modern advertising on historic cars certainly isn't easy on the eye.
That's just a personal view btw - not an interpretation of the rules!

John probably took the view that advertisng on a Jensen Healey was hardly glamorizing the product. Quite an ironic sponsor - didn't a J-H spray fluid all over the track at the Classic...

[delta]

Soory fo being a thicko. But what has a J-H. Got to do with Sir Johns Chissoms Jag.

[dikko]

Ref Formula Ford Report....."No problem to reproduce" From PA. Race report on pamotorsport.com is here along with one or two Formula Fords for sale if anyone would like to join us next year http://www.pamotorsport.com/latest_news/view.asp?id=284
Don't forget HSCC web site has info about us too.
Sorry for the copyright hiccup....

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Auriga

Hi Dick

No problem at all!! Thanks for the mention!

Pete

Many thanks, Peter.

[John Turner]

Neglected this thread so long, it fell off the first page!

28 starters with 22 finishers. This was without doubt one of, if not THE, best historic saloon car race of the year, with some great close racing right down the field.

The lead turned into a monumental battle between Graeme Dodd in the MkII Jaguar and Dan Cox in the Lotus Cortina. Here they are through Brooklands, on the first lap, and one of the reasons I have included this rather scrappy shot is because it includes 3rd place man, James Fuller in his Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint. Despite taking hundreds of pics of this race, most of which I had to delete, there is no other worthwhile shot with the Alfa in. Fuller was unable to hold on to the leading duo but kept 3rd to the flag despite the closing attentions of Neil Wood (Anglia) and Steve Shuttleworth (Lotus Cortina):-


It's always good to see Tim Bishop in the DKW 3-6, not least because it provides a distinctly different shape to these races. He finished 21st:-


These two Imps diced together for a while although Steve Gunton (92) got away from Shaun Hazlewood (95) in the end. They were 15th and 16th. I think Hazlewood was a late entry as he did not appear in the programme. However, Gunton's car is described as Red/Green in it, a description which is, I think, loose, at best. Auburgine/Turquoise is maybe a tad closer!:-


Roger Cope took his BMW 1800Tisa to 9th, working forward if memory serves.
Behind is outgoing champion, Simon Benoy in his Hillman Imp in which he finished 14th:-


Sadly, Micheal Steele, retired the Ford Galaxie after 9 laps. What truly immense cars these look; their size militating against them ever being successful racing saloons, and yet they were, aided by 7 litres of V8 muscle:-


Now, like many, I'm a bit of a fan of Dan Cox and his driving, but I have to say that on this occasion, I was cheering Graeme Dodd onto victory, because, to me, the Jaguar 3.8 MkII is the archetypal classic racing saloon and we rarely see them at the front of a competitive field these days. These cars pretty much ruled the roost in the very late 50's, early 60's until the advent of the big American V8s. These two fought out a superb race long duel which really should have been filmed. It was a classic, so well done to both these guys, and yes, the Jaguar did win by just under 4-tenths:-


Behind the first 3 or 4 in this race was a mighty melee of Lotus Cortinas and Anglias, which battle, whilst initially going in the favour of the LCs, saw the the Anglias generally to the fore, at the flag. This is one of the latter, driven by Andy Yool to 7th:-


Another excellent race was between the Austin Mini Cooper S of Barry Long, the Imp of Adrian Oliver and the Chamois of Graham Martin, and they finished in this order, 11th, 12th & 13th, covered by 1 second:-


Oldest car in the race, Ed Glaister's Anglia 100E was giving a good account of itself until retiring after 10 laps of what turned out to be a 13 lap race:-


The definition of this pic is not good, but it does illustrate the closeness of the racing and the LC v Anglia battle referred to above. I can't tell you in what order the LCs are here, but the Anglia is that of Neil Woods, and he was to work his way forward through this group to take a fine 4th, less than a second behind the Fuller Alfa. Steve Shuttleworth took 5th in his LC but of the other two LCs in this pack, Mark Jones succumbed to the attacks of Bob Bullen (6th) and Andy Yool, both in Anglias, to finish 8th, and Peter Hore pitted to retire with mechanical maladies:-

[John Turner]

17 starters and 15 finishers, this proved to be a Michael Lyons benefit, as he scampered away from his father, Frank (Lola T332), who had his hands full of the Chevron B28 of Daryl Taylor, until the latter became equally occupied trying to hold off, ultimately without success, the attentions of the Surtees TS11 of Gregory Thornton. Lyons junior won by 10 seconds in the Lola T400 (64):-


Mike Scott in the Martin BM16 retired after 16 laps. I think that this was its first season out in Scott's hands and if memory serves, it has not been too reliable, so far:-


Judy Lyons keeps the Gurney Eagle FA074 well out of the way by the lapping and battling duo of Mark Dwyer (54 - March 742) and Bruce Fullerton (Lola T300). Fullerton was able to make the power of the F5000 car tell in the end and took the place, to finish 5th. Meanwhile Dwyer was to finish 7th having been caught and passed by Gareth Burnett:-


Daryl Taylor, Chevron B28, 4th:-


To be honest, I was quite oblivious to the fact that Gareth Burnett was in this race, driving the Chevron B40. He wasn't in the programme and I wouldn't have expected to see him there! It was only after checking the results that I realised that Gareth was in the green Chevron, a welcome addition to this field, and a charging drive that saw him take 6th place and the Class C win:-


Crispian Besley (Brabham BT38) holds a slender lead over the BT35 of Nick Overall but it was the older car that prevailed in the end. They finished 10th & 11th:-


I'm guessing that this was a shakedown run but it was great to see the Shadow DN1 driven by Gerry Wainwright from the back of the grid (practiced out of session) through the field until, unfortunately, it retired after completing 10 laps:-

[John Turner]

Supported by Dunlop, this race had 26 starters and 22 finishers.

I love this field of cars, and whilst I have a preference for closed cars, it's great that this year Stuart Tizzard in his Lenham Spyder (Spider?) was joined in his quest to beat the Chevron B6/B8 brigade by Ted Williams in the Ginetta G16. In fact Williams has taken a couple of wins this year. He took the lead at the start of this race but by lap 2 when this was taken, he had been passed by both Robert Shaw (54 - Chevron B8) and Tizzard! Shaw went onto win, but Williams regained 2nd from Tizzard and briefly looked to get back to the B8. But in spite of putting in the best race lap time, the G16 was 3.5 secs adrift of Shaw at the flag, with Tizzard a further 4 seconds behind:-


Sid Hoole sadly retired his Cooper Monaco, but Steve Seaman took his Lotus Elan 26R to 15th, whilst, almost completely hidden from view, the Lister Jaguar of Phil Bennett went on to finish 14th:-


Occasional poster here, Robert Barrie finished 16th in his Porsche 911. Better still however, his consistent results all season brought him the the Guards Trophy, so well done, Barry.


Dwarfed by the brave Manuel Farrao (well you have to be to enter a Ferrari 275GTB), is the Lotus XI of Rudolf Ernst who finished 20th. The Ferrari got ahead to finish 19th!:-


Ed Cottam, in the oldest car of the race, an Arnolt Bristol, worked mighty hard in last place to hold on to the MGB of Clare Surtees but in the end was 7.2 seconds behind; fine effort though:-


A great middle order battle involving 4 cars was propped up here by the TVR Griffiths of Don Salvage. He was eventually to overtake the E-type of Steve Tandy to finish 12th, just behind the Paul Castaldini E type (10th) and the Marcos 1800GT of Ian Cox (11th). 1.6 seconds covered all 4, at the end.


Nick Thompson was 6th in his Chevron B6:-


In his humourous summing up of the Guards Trophy season in the latest HSCC News mag, Stuart Tizzard informs us that Ted Williams earned 'Spirit of Competition' award. In reference to the Autosport 3 hours at Snetterton, and mentioning this years winners, Schryver and Hadfield, he says that they are '..... both showing promise and I'm sure we'll see more from them .....' Certainly worth a chuckle.

Incidentally, I somehow managed to post the pics before the text for this race, but for those who were grateful without them, sorry, but here are the words!