Charity Kart Grand Prix 2010
This years Charity Kart Grand Prix was held on 1 August 2010
at the Clay Pigeon Raceway north of Dorchester.
15 teams were entered but only 12 teams started the
event.
Our Woolbridge Team consisted of 9 drivers, some of which
have competed for the club before, but with some new members, which was
pleasing to see.
James Beatt, Chris Beer, Merv Brake, Andrew Forsyth, David
Gill, Ed Hollier, John Hollier, Marc Rolls, and Adrian Taylor made up the team.
Practice started well with John taking the first stint and
putting in some good times, to eventually be the third quickest team member
after his brother Ed and Andrew Forsyth.
Ed managed to do a 42.99
on lap 68 of the 115 laps we completed, which gave the team a second
place on the grid for the actual race, with the polesitters on 42.83
Following a shorter than usual lunch break, as there were no
demonstration runs around the track this year, the actual race started earlier
than planned at 11.50am.
By the first bend Ed, who started the race for the team, had
taken the lead which he then held for 4 laps before dropping back to 2nd,
but on lap 14 he managed to regain the lead, losing it again on lap 20 before
re-taking it on lap 21 and holding on until the end of his stint on lap 25
Andrew took over in 3rd place, moving up into the
lead on lap 36 which he held until lap 45 and then dropping down to 2nd
before briefly regaining the lead towards the end of his stint. John took over in 5th place and
by putting in some fairly consistent laps held onto this position until he in
turn handed over to Chris who got up to 3rd place on lap 86 only to
drop back to 4th by the end of his stint, mainly because the kart
was discharging fuel from the filler cap.
He therefore came in unexpectedly early for his change and
the first refuelling stop, rather catching me unawares, but with the fuel
filler caps replaced there was no more dramas with the kart for the rest of the
race.
It was obvious at this stage that the racing was going to be
very competitive and the team would have to pull out all the stops to achieve a
creditable result.
David took over in 6th place moving up to 5th
on lap 104 and handing over to Marc who in turn moved up to 4th on
lap 134. Adrian took over then
unfortunately was shunted off at the bottom bend, but managed to recover well
and finished his stint in 6th place.
James dropped to 7th briefly before regaining 6th
place on lap 186 and handing over to Merv.
Merv also dropped to 7th in his stint but made up
a place on lap 208 to hand over to Andrew who was the first of the drivers to
do a second stint. He maintained 6th
place and when John took over again he managed to gain a place on lap 258. Chris and David then both did their second
stints with some consistent laps to maintain 5th place until Ed took
over for the final stint on lap 319.
Ed then proceeded to catch the 4th place kart
which was just over a lap ahead, with much encouragement and merriment from the
pit wall, mainly from his brother John, and finally on lap 352 he overtook with
about 4 minutes to go to the race end, claiming a 4th place for the
team which he easily held on to until the chequered flag.
Ed also claimed the best lap of the race for the team on Lap
11 of 43.10, even though this didn’t match the best practice lap.
4th place is the best result for the team since
2007 and were presented with the trophy for the best Motor Club team.
Many thanks must go to the team drivers who all put in a
very good performance and behaved themselves to achieve this result, and to the
organisers of the event, not forgetting
the other competitors, the marshals, the raffle and BBQ organisers and everyone
else involved on the day, which again has produced a good result for local
charities.
Dave Hiscock
WILLIS’S WISCOMBE DOUBLE
A
good crowd, glorious summer sunshine and another dominant Wiscombe Park performance by Trevor Willis combined to make this year’s Nick Williamson
Trophy meeting a fitting celebration of Woolbridge Motor Club’s 50th
Anniversary year.
As he said at the prizegiving, OMS
Powertec driver Willis has come to regard the Devon hill as his favourite venue. Not without reason – the nimble handling chassis
allied to Willis’s legendary determination is ideally suited to the tortuous,
tree-lined course as his run-off wins in 2007 (jointly, with Martin Groves) and
2009 showed. This time he was in charge throughout, denying Chris Merrick a
second career win in the opening run-off and producing a closing run deep into
the 34s that pipped triple champion Groves to the post by two tenths of a second. ‘I thought I might be able to stroke it
home – until I saw that Martin had carved over a second off his qualifier!’
said Willis.
The first run-off began with a
slight technical hitch, opening runner Roger Moran having to go again after a failure
to record a time was thought to have been caused, for the first time ever, by
Geoff Pickett’s run-off commentary microphone signal at Sawbench interfering
with the timing gear. This meant that, unfortunately, Geoff’s invaluable input
from this section of a hill, of which in any case only about 25% is visible
from the commentary point in the paddock, had to be abandoned.
The re-run put the Morans a little
on the back foot and with Roger not entirely happy about the handling of their
big Gould V8, a 35.83 would only be good enough for fifth place at the end. He
was in good company though, as not only his son Scott but Will Hall – with a
sensational sub-17sec Esses split – also equalled the Morans’ time, making it an
unprecedented three-way tie for the placing!
With the Groves/Ranson Gould hastily
repaired after Martin’s Le Val de Terres accident a week earlier, Paul Ranson
was next to run. But he never made the finish, knocking the new front wing off
the Gould’s newly repaired nose section at Martini. Fortunately Chris Merrick
and Tom New team stepped in with the loan of spare bodywork and penultimate
runner Groves was able to take his place in the lineup.
Meanwhile Guernsey exile Chris Guille charged up in the OMS-Vauxhall to finish just out of the
points, leaving Eynon Price with the final point for tenth. It was a
disappointing result for the press-on former rallyman after his record-breaking
class run duel with Will Hall had propelled both drivers into a run-off in
which Hall, who held the new record at the break, had been one of the three
tied for fifth.
After a lowly ninth place qualifier,
Chris Merrick produced a real stormer in the 4-litre Gould-Judd to take a lead
which he held right up until final runner Willis crossed the line. Wallace
Menzies, on his second visit to Wiscombe following last year’s altercation with
the Martini bank, was steadily whittling down his times and brought the svelte
Indycar powered DJ Firestorm home for eighth place ahead of defending Leaders
champion Paul Haimes, the 2-litre Dallara driver admitting to enjoying a
somewhat more laid back season in 2010.
Surprise of the opening run-off was
Oliver Tomlin, who flung the big Pilbeam-Judd up just shy of Merrick’s
lead time for what would prove a career-best British run-off podium placing.
Even Groves failed to match the MIRA engineer’s time and had to settle for
fourth place after Willis had launched into Wis quicker than anyone and charged
through the Gateway to hit the Esses split an amazing half-second quicker than
the three-times champion. Merrick, who had taken his first ever win at Gurston
in May, had joined the usual throng of drivers and spectators at Martini, but once
he saw the blue missile hurtle into view up Castle Straight he knew that a
second win would have to wait. Despite his considerable horsepower deficit, Willis
was half a second clear for the thirteenth win of his career.
Outqualified by a tenth by co-driver
Tom New, who had failed to make the cut for the opening run-off after the Gould
V8 had got considerably out of shape on the upper reaches, Merrick was first out for the closing shoot-out as shadows lengthened over the Devon parkland. He couldn’t quite match his morning time,
but with Paul Ranson just knocked out of the elite twelve this time, by Haimes’
2-litre, an eventual fourth place finish would give the affable ex.copper
enough points to retrieve fifth place on the championship table from Groves’
co-driver.
Roger Moran threaded the yellow
Gould up through the trees for another fifth place (on his own this time!) but
Haimes, despite finding another tenth, had to settle for eighth place behind a
recovering New who was delighted to claw back up to sixth on the table, level
with the non-starting Ranson.
After two class wins and a record
the previous week in the Channel Islands, another
driver with a big grin on his face at Wiscombe was Dave Uren, who had qualified
his 1-litre Force-Suzuki for his first ever British run-off. That he finished
just out of the points was certainly no disgrace in a car with a fraction of
the opposition’s horsepower. This time Chris Guille just made it into the
points but Oliver Tomlin, after a wild moment at the Gate had sent dust clouds
drifting across the park, had to be content with ninth place this time.
Having qualified a strong sixth while
finally wresting the 1600 record back from Will Hall, who had spun out of the
second qualifying runs as he attempted to retaliate, Eynon Price’s rally-style
technique failed to pay off this time and a 360º spin at Sawbench left him out
of the points…
The top three came to the line in
reverse order of their championship standings, and with Groves first away and
the original nose and front wing now back on the car, a typically hard charge
from the former champion set a personal best and the outright pace for the day
so far, shaving three hundredths off Willis’s previous winning time. Defending
champion Scott Moran’s challenge faded after an out-of-shape moment at
Sawbench, but at least he lost out only to his perennial rival. So once again
it was all down to Willis and again he was almost half a second up on Groves as the OMS charged
sideways into the Esses. Much later on the brakes into the hairpins, the nimble
OMS finally crossed the line and Trevor took his second run-off win of the day
with the outright fastest time although Adam Fleetwood’s 2004 record, the
oldest on the British hills, still remained just out of reach – by four tenths
of a second.
400 horse (albeit ‘badly behaved’,
according to the driver!) pushed Simon Neve’s Japanese import Mitsubishi Evo6
to a 3.5sec win over the Honda Integras of George Koopman and Lee Orridge in
the first of the ‘B’ licence classes, for roadgoing series production cars. In
the specialist division, Cliff Conibear’s Lotus 23B – must be fun on the road! –
took an even more comprehensive win from the Ford CVH powered Westfield of Ian
Hodgson and Rod Thorne’s wife Haley, enjoying her first season of competition
in the Westfield-Zetec.
Den Conibear took the modified
limited production car win in the reshelled Nissan GTiR from Adrian Langley’s
Mini and coachbuilder Ian Yeo’s Nissan GTiR. Undaunted by a first run spin over
Bunny’s Leap, Neal Coles’ Yamaha powered Sylva Riot split the Blakes’ race spec
Westfield Vauxhall, Geoff from Graham, in the specialist section. Former Manx
GP winner Allan McDonald rarely misses a Wiscombe National and made the long
trip down from Dalbeattie to run his unique Hayabusa powered Mini in the sports
libre class, although sadly there were no other takers in the division. The
original works Pilbeam MP62, as driven by 1977 British champion Alister
Douglas-Osborn, is now in the hands of father and son team Paul and Richard
Alexander, and they took the one/two as sole runners in the racing car class.
Motorsport all-rounder Alan Foster
opened the batting for the ‘A’ licence runners as sole runner in the roadgoing
series production class aboard his ‘interim’ (until his Morgan Plus 8 returns)
Toyota MR2. With Andy Fraser and Tim Painter out in their 4WD Porsche 997 Turbo,
Charlie Martin had to work hard to stay on terms with his Westfield-Vauxhall,
but in the end just a second and a half covered the trio. Tony Bonfield had an
argument with the Martini bank on his first run in the now 16-valve, BMW headed
Mini, so son Ben missed his first run. However Andy Russell and the evergreen
Ginetta-Imp G15 were on top form and when the Bonfields returned in the
afternoon they had to settle for the minor placings, with Tony in charge.
Cornwall-based Geoff Twemlow didn’t
have so far to travel as he does on most weekends during the season, but with
no other big saloons to push him he was justifiably pleased with yet another PB
in the Impreza. It was a different story in the big sportscar class, where amid
a Porsche 911 top three, Mark Mortimer turned the tables on father Bob with a
hard charging second shot as they headed Peter Turnbull’s 400 bhp ex.Carrera
Cup car. Incidentally, Yeovil baker Mortimer’s special Woolbridge Anniversary
cake went down very well during the course of the weekend – thanks, Bob!
Phil Montgomery-Smith is having a
good season with his standard engined Fisher Fury-Suzuki and the lightweight
machine carried on where it left off with another 2-litre specialist mod-prod
win, this time with a three second advantage over Peter Ede’s return in the
Westfield-Zetec. Ede is due to be back in another Pilbeam before too long, this time with a
motorcycle engine. It could well be a first for the marque – unless Ed Hollier
has other ideas…
After Michael Wilgoss and John
Churchley had both run on their own in Escort Cosworth and Mallock Clubmans car
respectively, Graham Wynn and the rebuilt Force sports libre car turned the
tables on early leader Derek Kessell’s spaceframe Maguire Mini, then Mike Manning’s
muscular turbocharged, Cosworth YB engined Puma split Colin Pook and winner Rod
Thorne in the big Pilbeam-Rover in the larger capacity libre class.
Despite running late following an
untraceable electronic glitch, the amazing ‘budget’ Martlet-Suzuki of Adam
Steel finally blitzed Adam Fleetwood’s eight-years-old 1100 racing record with
a time just outside run-off pace in the morning. Unfortunately Adam and Tony
couldn’t persuade the Suzuki to fire up again, but a fine shot by Dave Uren in
the afternoon closed the Force-Suzuki HC to within a tenth of the old mark,
which earned him second in class and that first-time place in a British
run-off. His co-driver Richard
Walker took third place ahead of Dave Gardner in the Bill Chaplin built Empire-Suzuki, and both demoted a
hard charging Olivia Cooper from third to fifth after her off-course excursion
second time up. However Olivia had already done enough to take the ladies’ award for the day.
The battle royal between Eynon Price
and Will Hall raged all day, with both taking it in turns to blitz the 1600
class record. Price was first inside Phil Cooke’s 2004 mark, followed
immediately by Hall. Then on the second runs, Price got the record back and
there it stayed, after Hall ran off course just after the start at Wis Corner.
‘The easiest corner on the hill!’ he exclaimed disgustedly. ‘I’m still eleventh
on the table so I’ll have to go to Craigantlet now!’
Chased hard by Tony Wiltshire,
Paul Haimes stayed in charge of the 2-litre division. But with Wiltshire
setting an identical time after lunch, Chris Guille stepped in to sneak inside
the Wiscombe expert’s Ralt-Peugeot by a tenth and grab second place. Trevor
Willis, of course, was in charge of the unlimited racing class ahead of the
Morans, Scott from Roger.
Two classes for the enthusiastic
Bert Hadley Championship runners in their Austin Sevens saw antique furniture
restorer Al Frayling-Cork’s 1931 version take the road car win as Penny Jones
and Charles Plain-Jones battled hard for the placings. Terry Griffin is the
current holder of the Bert Hadley Trophy and always hard to beat in his superb,
full race single-seater replica. With just 48 bhp on tap he reset his Wiscombe
record yet again to take the win in the race section from the Ulsters of Julia
Constantinos and Carol Woods.
With the event a round of the
Toyo Tyres Westfield Speed Championship, former Escort driver Ritchie Gatt’s
new Westfield-Vauxhall SEiW took the win from Wiscombe first-timer and
championship second place man Mark Anson’s Megablade.
The final class was,
appropriately, a special invitation class to celebrate Woolbridge’s Golden
Jubilee. There was a further cause for celebration for Kings Mews Elan driver
Roger Hodgson, whose 77th birthday was marked by fifth place in the
12-car class. First away was the familiar and very original Cooper Bobtail of
local man Reg Broome, the car that in the hands of Stirling Moss won the 1956
British Empire Trophy at Oulton Park. Roy Bray took the
win in his Escort Cosworth from press-on HGV driver Vince Stone’s Mini, with Jo
Hodgson upholding family honour in third place with the Elan.
It was the all-conquering Trevor
Willis, of course, that received the coveted Sir Nick Williamson Memorial
Trophy. It was presented by Woolbridge Motor Club stalwart and author of the
definitive Wiscombe Park history, Colin
Rolls, at the traditional awards ceremony that marked the end of a successful
and enjoyable Anniversary meeting.
Here’s to the next 50 years!
