HSCC Brands Hatch Superprix FJ Race 22^nd June 2002

Report By Stan Hibberd

The Juniors were first Qualifying at 9am, the weather was fine and warm, as the 25 cars assembled in the paddock.The qualifying pace was set by the Michael Schryver Lotus 22 with a lap of 1.43.984, running with an open exhaust the car looked and sounded very quick, next up on 1.45.191 came Mike Hibberd in the Lotus 27, he traded positions on the road during the session several times with Robin Longdon's Lola Mk5A who was third with a time of 1.45.765, Mark Woodhouse and Bruce Montgomery both in Lotus 20/22's were fourth and fifth fastest with 1.46's, Bob Birrell in his Brabham BT6 on 1.47 made up the top six for the starting grid, plenty of variety at the front, Neil Dawes was ninth with a creditable 1.49 in the Lotus 18, Derek Walker in the Terrier Mark 1V was the fastest of the front engined runners on 1.54, Reg Hargrave in his Kieft F3 recorded a I .55 , Andrew Hibberd in his Lotus 20 was fortunately unhurt when a steering failure at the entrance to Clearways had him in the gravel trap on his ninth lap, the car being damaged against the Armco.Before the afternoon racing got under way there was a mandatory drivers meeting to explain the green flag lap/start procedure, to all the drivers, basically what happened was that the cars left the assembly area and joined the GP circuit at Surtees bend, they then completed the rest of the lap and formed up on the grid to take the start, in practice this seemed to work very well. Soon after 1.30 pm the race was under way, first into Paddock was Schryver's Lotus, with Hibberd and Woodhouse close behind, Robin Longdon in the Lola Mk5A made a poor start, out in the country Mike Hibberd got the Lotus 27 in front of the Schryver Lotus 22, but only very briefly, by the end of the first lap three cars had retired Robin Longdon in the Lola, Bruce Montgomery's Lotus 20/22 lost all it's oil and Ken Collins was stranded in the gravel trap on the outside of Druids Hairpin, because of the position of the Cooper, the Safety Car was deployed, surely a first in FJ racing !, the field bunched up behind the SC while the recovery vehicle went to Druids, the Cooper was freed from the gravel it then drove back to the paddock under it's own power, so after a couple of laps the SC was able to pull off into the pits and the race was under way again, Schryver's Lotus was challenged briefly by Hibberd and Woodhouse, but soon began to draw away from both of them, Birrell in the Brabham was fourth, the race settled down with the leader steadily drawing away from a slowing Mike Hibberd, the Lotus 27 seeming to be off colour , Mark Woodhouse in his Lotus 20/22 began to relentlessly close on the second place man, this turned into quite a tussle in the later laps, Schryvers Lotus had pulled out some 27 seconds from his pursuers by the time the chequered flag came out, his best lap in the race 1.43.306 was an improvement on his pole setting time in qualifying, second place was a very close run thing, with Mike Hibberd managing to hold off the challenge from the Mark Woodhouse's Lotus, just, by about half a cars length at the end, Bob Birrell was a worthy fourth in the Brabham, Malcolm Ricketts Lotus 22 fifth, Neil Dawes looking very comfortable and quick in the Lotus 18 a very close sixth place and class winner, Derek Walker Terrier Mk1V was tenth overall and class winner in the front engined field, Reg Hargrave had a rapid but lonely run in the Kieft F3 for eleventh spot, Besley Elva 100 and Grimshaw Gemini Mk 11 were only a second apart at the end in their private race, Peter Mullen Brabham BT6 and Martin Carter Elva 100 were the last two to finish but a lap down at the end.

Stan Hibberd 23^rd June 2002.