|
Race Circuit Norfolk |
|
|
Race Circuit Norfolk |
The forecast for the day was, 'dry with sunny spells', so what did it do as as I drove towards the Norfolk circuit of 'Snetterton', yes it rained!....not much, but it was just enough to dampen the circuit for the first hours practice. After that it began to brighten up and the weather began to look a little more like the forecast.
I hope you enjoy the following race report and pictures
All photographs are copyright to Kelvin Fagan & MG - The Classic Marque
THE GRID - CLASS B
Row
8 57 WALKER
|- - - - - - - - - - - |
Back of grid + 10 seconds
7 14 MEADS
|- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:36.87
6 30 WHITEMAN 60 BUTLER
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:36.23 1:36.42
5 10 MELLOR 18 DEVINE
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:32.86 1:35.40
4 5 OLSSON 12 GOLHAR
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:32.69 1:32.64
3 20 EVANS 9 EVANS
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:32.49 1:32.64
2 2 SIMPSON 59 NAISH
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:31.80 1:32.11
1 3 Campbell 75 DAVIS
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:31.30 1:31.35
POLE POSITION
|
Above are the grid positions for Class B in the 11 Round of the BARC/MGOC Championship.
Car 57 (Robin Walker) started from the back row along with a 10 second penalty. The car was found to be underweight and his qualifying times were disallowed.
Polesitter was Andy Campbell and as you can see from the qualifying times he was just five, one hundredths of a seconds ahead of Daryl Davis
This was a race full of incidents, some people gaining the advantage as a result, for others, causing severe problems! More of that in a moment.
Campbell & Davis pulled away on the green side by side, Campbell on the inside with the advantage for the first corner, Davis held his line on the outside, and much to the surprise to of the commentator sped past Campbell, still on the outside!.....an unconventional way of passing on the first corner, but in this case, proving effective!
It was a hard fought race with the first five or six cars breaking away from the rest of the field, but amongst the front runners there was a fair bit of 'rubbing of door handles', twice no's 12 & 59 came together in seperate incidents. But the biggest incident which was to later be the subject of a protest, involved Davis, Campbell and Simpson. These three were fighting hard at the front, remember the unconventional Davis, well he performed one these moves which led to contact being made, himself, Campbell and Simpson.
It was around the halfway mark, lap five, that it really got lively!
Is not exactly clear what happened, (depending who you speak to), but was is clear is that Davis is the only one who made it out of 'Sear', the other two were sent off the circuit to inspect the crops! Both Simpson and Campbell were able to rejoin the race, but not after losing a place or two! In fact they finished the race in 7th and 8th place repectiveley.
While all this action was going on at the front, Adrian Olsson, who had started on the 4th row of the grid had moved up into second place with David Mellor now in third, some three whole seconds behind. A little further back was Nick Evans in fourth, and cars 59 and 12, Naish & Golhar, who both were inseperable for the whole race , came in fifth and sixth.
When all the cars returned to the pits, Andy Campbell was not best pleased with Davis.
Campbell had taken evasive in reaction to a move made by Davis. As a result Campbell ended up making more contact with Simpson than was really desired. Campbell believed Davis had made a 'dangerous move' and made an official protest! After, as it were, a 'stewards inquiry' the result stood. Davis came away with a win under his belt, and Andy Campbell went home with a twisted chassis!
Tit Bits From The Pits
Olsson who finished second, in fact did so with some parts which he took from his 'tow car' a MG Maestro Turbo. When I had stopped by the pits earlier in the day, 'Olly' was busy removing part of the cooling system from the road car, as the race car was losing water and overheating.
14 cars started the race, with 13 crossing the finishing line, Natalie Butler retired on the ninth lap, with what I believe was a burnt valve
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class B Results - 10 laps
Race Time 1..Daryl Davis....MG Maestro......15m:30.76s 2..Adrian Olsson..MG Maestro......15m:31.22s 3..David Mellor...MG Maestro......15m:34.14s 4..Nick Evans.....MG Maestro......15m:38.89s 5..Paul Naish.....MG Maestro......15m:41.69s 6..Nick Golhar....MG Maestro......15m:42.24s
Fastest Lap: David Mellor..1:31.16s @ 77.11mph
THE GRID - CLASS A
Row
8 36 KIDD
|- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:40.49
7 24 THORN 65 BELL
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:38.45 1:39.26
6 18 Barnes 31 JOHNSON
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:37.28 1:35.54
5 21 Taylor 13 Johnson
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:34.97 1:35.54
4 12 CLARK 35 VALENTINE
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:34.68 1:34.76
3 11 HARRISON 4 CLARKSON
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:33.68 1:34.56
2 38 WALKER 15 ATHERTON
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:33.36 1:33.65
1 5 FARMAN 2 MERCER
|- - - - - - - - - - - | |- - - - - - - - - - - |
1:32.62 1:33.23
POLE POSITION
|
Above are the grid positions for Class A in the 11 Round of the BARC/MGOC.
By the time the Midgets & MGB's came out onto the circuit, the sun was really warm, and it was a glorious late summers afternoon. As you can see from the grid positions, there was very little difference in qualifying times, and it took several laps for the front runners to break away.
On his sixth lap Mick Mercer, who had been tucked in close behind Terry Farman was forced to retire after a 'blowout' on a rear tyre. This was on the 'Revett Straight' as he approached the 'Esses', and Mercer later likened the blowout to that to which Nigel Mansell suffered in Adelaide, a few years back, the only difference being about 130mph!! Apart from that, there were few incidents thru-out the race.
There was a pretty good battle between 5th & 6th, with places been swopped several times between Sean Valentine & Lorraine Clark, with Clark unable to find enough 'top end' on the 'Revett Straight', then making up some ground thru the 'Esses', then the 'Bombhole' and onto 'Russell, but losing out again on the 'Senna' straight past the pits.
In practice Lorraine had reported some handling problems, which, and these are her own words, made the car feel, "wibbly wobbly" !!!
So with Mercer out, it was an easy win for Terry Farman.
Don't be be fooled by his winning time, he had pulled out a huge gap, but when he realised the pressure was off, he relaxed a little to cross the finish just 1.89s ahead of Phil Walker...he could have gone quicker!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class A Results - 10 laps
Race Time 1..Terry Farman......MG Midget......15m:50.93 2..Phil Walker.......MGB GT.........15m:51.82 3..Richard Harrison..MG Midget......15m:52.34 4..Roy Clarkson......MGB Roadster...15m:57.98 5..Sean Valentine....MGB GT.........15m:58.05 6..Lorraine Clark....MG Midget......15m:59.41 Fastest Lap: Darrell Atherton..1:33.34s @ 75.30mph
|
|
This site is maintained on behalf of the Cambridge & District MGOC
by Kelvin Fagan mg.maestro@mgcars.org.uk
Try out our Search Engine page