FJHRA ‘Silverline’ Championship Rounds 11 & 12
Silverstone Finals
England’s beautiful Autumn weather continued for Friday, and Saturday…however the mist rose up on Sunday – but no cloud over Formula Junior, with a great weekend of 44 FJs in the paddock, and a dramatic climax to the Championship both before and during the final race, Nic Carlton-Smith nonetheless emerging once again as a well-deserved winner, in his Sam Wilson rebuilt Lotus 20, with Patron Howden Ganley, and Joy, in attendance during the weekend.
Friday was test day, and plenty of FJs out to play, Sam Wilson giving the newly rebuilt ex Alex Rogers 22-J-887 a test run, before new owner, Clinton McCarthy took to the wheel; Duncan Ross was not sitting too comfortably in the ex-David Kent Lynx Mk 3, and asked Callum Grant [racing his Merlyn FF this weekend] to have a go, but poor Callum couldn’t even get his shoulders between the tight bodywork! Duncan and Bob Juggins took it home with a view to switching safety kit to the 18, but in the end concentrated on the ex-Marty Bullock 17C Chevron, which Duncan has also acquired for slick tyred racing elsewhere. Last, but not least, Team Hibberd came, with only customer Jeremy Flann in the bright yellow ex-Ian Walker, Peter Boshier-Jones 22, but with a multitude of cars for personal use, Michael with the ‘Monza’ 22, and Andrew the Lola BRJ II for the front engine race, and a choice of Tim de Silva’s BT2 and the ex-Rudolf Ernst 22 for the rears; after testing both, he opted for the 22. Perhaps surprisingly, Nic Carlton-Smith was pounding the 20 round for a full session; Iain Rowley was testing other toys, on Friday, and busy on Saturday, so Duncan had an enjoyable couple of days of chat around the paddock, departing for Mair’s birthday on Sunday, the Alexis already prepped for the Misano trip in 10 days.
Sarah had orchestrated four track time slots rather than six, keeping FJ finances, and cost of entry fee for everybody in mind, which, in the end, proved eminently successful. With the 20% over grid size allowance for qualifying, everybody had a go, including Andrew, successfully in both Lola and Lotus, but less successful for Rudolf Ernst with half a lap in the PBA II-DKW, and a clutch problem all weekend in the Mitter-DKW; However, all would be well, qualifying out of session, and later racing both races enthusiastically in the Class C1 PBA.
Sam Wilson (T 59) dominated, carefully weaving through the traffic, and Andrew (22) not far off: Jon Milicevic, very much enjoying being back out with FJ, was in third spot, just ahead of Michael Hibberd. Geoff Underwood is now a serious racer in the BT2, flushed with his Copenhagen successes, but both Jeremy Flann, and Stuart Monument are too, the latter really enjoying the James Denty rebuilt ex Alistair Morrison 22 and just behind, on drum brakes. Nic just held off Nathan Metcalfe, with the long snout of the blue Condor S II a smidgeon behind … Good to see Mark Gillies back, both from USA, and racing in FJ again after 20 years with his own Cooper T52, and Darren Dunne giving the late Ralf Emmerling’s Gemini II another run; poor Graham Barron, next stop NZ, had the engine go, so home to prepare to fit the ‘spare’ before the cars are loaded into our containers for the start of the World Tour.
To even out the grids, it was universally approved that C2 would run with the front engine A and B classes in Race 1, and this provided race long battles throughout the field, with James Denty in the family’s own T56, keeping Adrian Russell honest throughout the race, although Adrian’s cornering is a beauty to watch in the long wheelbase Condor, no doubt past Caterham experience being well employed, although whether that helped his super navigation of Chris Wilks’ Deep Sanderson oil slicks at Brooklands [oil ‘flag’ light], and Copse [no oil flag], I am not sure, but dramatic nonetheless. There was another great battle in mid field between Trevor Griffiths in the ever-so-smart Emeryson prototype and the two Elva 100s of veteran, Mark Woodhouse, and muchly enthusiastic Goodwood Governor Niall McFadden; Wonderful as always to see two Stanguellinis, Martin Sheppard really enjoying the red one, while Peter Fenichel broke a gear lever on the last lap, finished, but no one had a spare for this Dan Setford part. Poor Chris Porritt pulled up to drive home with gear problems in the red 18, Keith Pickering had a broken gearbox selector finger, while Darren Dunne had drop box problems in the Gemini II. Chris Wilks eventually saw the smoke behind, and pulled in, amazingly finding that there were no long-term repercussions for the engine, while Rudolf did manage to get the Mitter going – but not for long …
The rear race, featuring Classes D and E, and C1 (to ensure that Rudolf did not have to race two cars in one race !!) was a Sam Wilson benefit, for the brave. The previous race had left oil down on the whole circuit, especially at maggots, but with no oil flags, it was left to the drivers to navigate as best they could, unsurprisingly resulting in many spinning. Andrew kept Sam in sight until he collected a rubber cone under the front suspension, then another off at Brooklands to lose the cone foreshadowed a pit stop to check, and retirement. So it left Sam and Jon at the head of the field, like ‘history past’, but actually rather a long way between them. An impressive drive by Clinton McCarthy split the drum 20s of Nic and Nathan, despite Clinton having unfortunately had contact with a spinning Jeremy Flann, resulting in Jeremy’s retirement. Modern racer, Oscar Trepess, is much enjoying the ex-Simon Diffey ‘gold’ 20, now in the custodianship of Jon Titmuss. John Timoney had a short stop, but resumed, and it was nice to see the two Ausper T3 circulating together, albeit three laps apart!, with Adrian Holey ahead of Ralph Carter’s ex Richard Bradley’s BT2, while John was left ‘tail end Charlie’ behind both George Christadoulou (BMC Mk 2) delighted to be back after his Festival contre temps, car extensively repaired, but foot still troubling him; and the equally delighted Rudolf, bringing the DKW engine PBA II, that Duncan drove back in 2008 at Lime Rock, home without a missed beat. Robin Longdon (Lola 3) was another early retirement off in the oil, although he did escape and toured round to the pits to inspect and retire: fortunately, all was OK for Sunday and Andrew was able to repair Flann’s 22 overnight.
A full 35 were on the grid sheet for Sunday, only Martin Sheppard, with no Fenichel to keep Stanguellini company, decided to head home ahead of a USA flight, and Michael Hibberd chose not to race. John Chisholm had Sam Wilson working on the Gemini brake drums in the paddock after the Saturday qualifying, and took the car home that night for further work, and even into the collecting area for the dummy grid, but still not happy with the brakes, elected not to start; no such option for Championship contender Nic Carlton-Smith, who almost saw his aspirations disappearing when he COULD not start, but he was eventually pushed by willing helpers to catch up the pack, and kindly allowed passage from the rest of the field to his grid slot.
At the front, it looked at first that Andrew might challenge, but Sam is the FJ King at Silverstone, and ran to a controlled victory, just 3s ahead, with Jon Milicevic ex John Truslove BT6 ahead of a Monument(al!) battle between Stuart and Geoff Underwood, and then a bit of fun behind, Nic again risking [but safely !!] his championship, battling with young Nathan Metcalfe, before Robin Longdon joined the party too!! Jeremy Flann was a little more subdued, Alan Schmidt’s Speedsport BT6 just having the edge ahead of Russell and Denty, much further apart this time. Richard Ferris is an impressive Octogenarian and 13th out of 30 finishers is real credit to him; John Timoney won the Ausper T3 battle, and Niall the Elva 100 one, although he may be looking for a Ford powered steed for the future, and Mark Gillies a little more BMC engine power than at present, while George and Rudolf were both again happy to see the flag, and Chris Wilks defied the pessimists, his premature stop only being a loose plug lead, rather than trouble with the engine, while Darren Dunne’s drop box failed early, as rather feared.
The FJ garage was filled after the race with drivers, supporters and photographers alike, gathering for prizegiving. Sarah thanked everyone for their support this season for our very successful first independent FJHRA Championship, a year on from having made the announcement. Warm congratulations to winner Sam on the day, and to Nic for the Championship, with both he and Adrian having completed a clean sweep in Class; Sarah then presented the Class awards for the weekend and the ‘Silverline’ workshop prizes for which we are so grateful.
DCPR
