Masters Top Hat Snetterton 29 March.

[Andrew Kitson]

Oh yeah...is there a prize?

[Peter Mallett]

Nope.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kitson

By the way John, that Dodd XK was one of three or four that were black flagged and pulled out of the race for pit lane speeding. Graeme looked furious with race director Dave Scott for such a penalty, his co-driver committing the offence.

I didn't know anything about that! Wouldn't a fine and penalty points on the drivers licence have been more appropriate, or was the speed so in excess that it warranted exclusion?

[Andrew Kitson]

Not that quick, but hey, this is 2008, there are too many jobsworths, rules and regs everywhere not just in motorsport. 'Health & safety' they call it destroying the spectacle.

[Peter Mallett]

Actually (and I stand to be corrected) the exclusion was for, let's say, an over exuberant retort to the penalty.

[rogerwills]

I understood they were given drive-through penalties but claimed not to have seen the signs or their numbers. I certainly saw them as I noticed my number wasn't one of the three on the board. It may have been that I was extra observant following my issues earlier in the day but thats another story.....

As they failed to come in for the drive-through, they were black flagged.

That was my understanding anyhow.

[John Turner]

Two races in one over 45 mins with a compulsory stop. Cloth cap cars are Sports/Gt cars. The whole grid with Shaun Lynn's Cobra on pole with Chris Scragg's E-type alongside. Just a few thousandths separated their qualifying times. On the second row you can see Roger Wills Corvette Stingray with the Tice/Conoley Marcos 1800GT alongside. Third row is the similar Ian Cox Marcos and Harry Wyndham's E-Type. I can also see the Mini Gem there, so I was wrong, it did start (but didn't last long):-


End of the first lap with the order already established and Scragg shadowing the Cobra, as he did for much of the race until the pit stops, and both gradually pulling away from the pair of Marcos (Marci?):-


You can see that Roger has already fallen behind the battling XKs of Rob Newall and John Burton. I think I should let Roger tell the whole story if he wants to, but basically, in practice, he fell foul of the noise regulations (it sounded great!) so then over muffled it for the race. I couldn't even hear it during the race, and unfortunately, the power loss was substantial, his best lap being 8 seconds slower than his best qualifier. He was to finish 7th in the Cloth Cap race, even further back if you include the frontrunning XKs:-


Rob Newall swaps ends, but despite appearances Burton missed him as did the following Elan. Newall was to retire after 9 laps :-


There was a red flag which I'm assuming was following the accident with the Mini Gem, and after the restart Scragg continued to follow Lynn closely and stayed out longer during the pit window. After his stop he emerged in the lead with Lynn within striking distance. However, Scragg, who I think has been steadily improving over the years, ran a well judged race, and appeared to have matters under control when Lynn (it was not to be his day at all - see later) called it a day when engine temperatures rose to unacceptable levels. Thereafter Scragg maintained a lead over the Cox Marcos to win by 7.5 seconds:-


The disappearance of Newall did not leave the XK victory to Burton since he then became embroiled in a battle with the Love/Keen XK150. It was the latter that prevailed having taken the lead and in his attempts to stay on terms, Burton (I believe!) spun and finished 2nd ,12.5 seconds behind in the XK race:-

[Andy Bacon]

Hmmm.
Looking at the blue A35, what has happened to the rest of the bonnet inner paneling?
And are those E type style louvres in the bonnet?

[Peter Mallett]

Yep Andy which prompted my question (among other things).

It does seem that the Speedwell class is a bit free in terms of engine and so on. Not sure about the rest of it though.

As somebody said. When the Zephyr expired it left very few real cars out there.

[terence]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kitson

Not that quick, but hey, this is 2008, there are too many jobsworths, rules and regs everywhere not just in motorsport. 'Health & safety' they call it destroying the spectacle.

Absolutly,next thing will be the Pit Crews having to wear hard hats.

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Absolutly,next thing will be the Pit Crews having to wear hard hats.

Not to mention the safety specs .... and don't forget to do the risk assessment for all raceday activities!

[Peter Mallett]

Better look out for those bacon butties then!

[John Turner]

Over 60 minutes, again with compulsory pit stops, a bit of Mustang walkover, this, with 4 of them occupying the first two rows and going on to finish in the first four places. John Young was on pole and but for a brief period led all the way to win. Behind the Mustangs on the grid were 3 Lotus Cortinas, and the grid comprised of 17 cars in all.

Roger Cope drove well to usurp the Lotus Cortinas and finished 5th, albeit a lap down on the Mustangs:-


The Frankel/Williams Alfa GTA slips passed the Shelby Mustang GT350 of David Wenman, through Coram Curve. The Mustang failed to finish, but the Alfa made good progress from the back of the grid to finish 9th:-


The Churchill/Baldwin Mini Cooper S finished last of the 13 classified finishers but Mike Wrigley failed to finish in his LC:-


The Frankel/Williams GTA, again pressing on through the Bombhole, about to lap the sister car of Brustio/Smith which finished 11th:-


In period the Jaguar Mk11 was a dominant force. Unfortunately for the Mk11, in historic grouping, it now falls between two stalls, since it is too new for the period covered by the pre 60's and too old to compete with the later mid 60's cars. A lovely thing to watch though, and Chris Scragg, fresh from his E-type win, takes the saloon through the Esses to finish 10th:-


John Young was only headed briefly, and that was by Robert Hartley who made the quicker pit stop. Young soon reasserted himself though, and here he is seen having just recaptured the lead. Hartley, for a short while, looked as though he was going to make a race of it but in the end gave best to Young who finished 4 seconds ahead:-

[simon drabble]

I totally agree about your comments re Jaguar Mk2's - they look and soun superb and good on the ever improving Chris Scragg to race one, he is clearly a fellow Jaguar nut!!
Nice to see Robert Hartley out on a track again - he is a great "Gentleman Driver", very talented and a good bloke! I look forward to seeing him peddle his Pantera when its finished

[John Turner]

You will note that the winning Alan Mann liveried John Young car is RHD. I thought all Mustangs were LHD. Was this factory produced RHD or a later conversion?

[rogerwills]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Behind the Mustangs on the grid were 3 Lotus Cortinas, and the grid comprised of 17 cars in all.

I think only 2 of the 3 Cortinas started the race, mine had no gearbox in it!

[zefarelly]

interesting re Jags, you could almost have a 60-63 and a 64-66 race such was the pace of developement and arrival of homologation/race specials nearly all of the pre 64 saloons have semi retired or have been redeveloped do different regs, and only appear occaisionally which is a great shame as they where really the last true entirely production saloon cars raced.

[John Turner]

Yes, sorry Roger. There were 2 others further down the grid though, and 3 finished - confused myself - nothing new there, then!

[simon drabble]

I agree Zef it is a shame and as Mk2 Jaguars are not cheap to run only the true Jaguar fan is going to enter one. I think I am right in saying that there are few FIA spec ones around - the two which run with HSCC/HRSR are I think HRSR spec

[Alan Morgan]

Iain "Delta" Rowley has asked me to post on his behalf. He apologises for not posting since Saturday, but just wanted to say how much he enjoyed meeting Terence and Peter. Maybe next time we'll find time for a beer as well!

Snett Saturday, Donington Sunday, Load the truck Monday morning, Peter Baldwin's rolling road Monday afternoon, ferry Monday evening for the drive to Mugello. 300 miles to go as at 17:30 this evening. He should know better at his age!

[Peter Mallett]

Shouldn't we all?

[terence]

Originally Posted by Alan Morgan

Iain "Delta" Rowley has asked me to post on his behalf. He apologises for not posting since Saturday, but just wanted to say how much he enjoyed meeting Terence and Peter. Maybe next time we'll find time for a beer as well!

Snett Saturday, Donington Sunday, Load the truck Monday morning, Peter Baldwin's rolling road Monday afternoon, ferry Monday evening for the drive to Mugello. 300 miles to go as at 17:30 this evening. He should know better at his age!

Thanks Alan,Lets hope he has the strength to drive back again.

[Moosehead]

Some Mustangs were converted in period to RHD when they landed over here.

More of interest though is that the GT350 should not be in the Top Hat race. Fastbacks are termed as sports cars and the Coupes as saloons. GT350 is not FIA homogated for saloon racing.

GT350's generally don't compete too well as they have to run in GT racing against Cobras etc, whearas the Coupes, as we know, are very competitive in saloon racing, both body styles being virtually mechanically identical.

So, if the Masters are keeping an eye on the tech side of things how or why was an unhomologated car allowed to run??

[Good Times]

GT350's are legal. See regulation 3.2.3

[Moosehead]

Apologies..........you are indeed correct.

That'll serve me right to keep my downloaded regs up to date