AMOC Castle Donnington 12^th October 2002 FJHRAReport By Stan Hibberd

Miller Oils final race 2002 Championship

The last round of the FJ championship attracted twenty entries, they arrived to find a very wet Donnington Park. Heavy rain overnight had left the track saturated, as we waited for FJ qualifying we watched the sports cars in action, Denis Welch was on the pit counter looking after Bruce Montgomerey in his Austin Healey , as their session ended Denis warned us that the circuit was like skating rink, their practice had been red flagged !.Not surprising then that the FJ cars set off quite gingerly at the start of their fifteen minutes, the times were in the order of 20 secs below the dry lap times, the fastest rear engined runners were recording very similar times to the best of the front engined cars, the red flags came out on lap five when Andrew Hibberd's Lotus 20 spun harmlessly on the grass, he was unable to restart the car so practice was stopped, the cars returned to pit lane to await clearance of the track,this was quickly done and off went the remaining 18 cars, for what turned out to be one more lap before they were flagged off, end of session, Robin Longdon Lola 5A had pole position with a lap in 1.44.687, Mike Hibberd Lotus 27 was next with 1.45.523, Steve Smith Cooper T59 was third with 1.45.975, a creditable fourth was Derek Walker in the Terrier Mk5 with a 1.46, another good time in fifth was Mark Woodhouse Elva 100 also on 1.46, Edwin Jowsey was sixth in his Lotus 22 with a 1.47, Reg Hargrave was Ninth in the Kieft on 1.49.It appeared that the cautious approach to practice had paid dividends, all the cars and drivers emerged unscathed, from what could have been a hazardous Qualifying stint, this on a track infamous for it's lack of grip in wet conditions, a lot of chat about this afterward, is it the kerosene from the low flying jets that could be the cause, or is just the type of track surface material ?A very long wait then until race eight, made much more bearable by the hospitality of Millers Oils, during the early afternoon steady drizzle and a couple of very heavy showers had the circuit streaming with water again, but as the race time of 5pm approached the sun shone brightly, a breeze sprang up, the track dried out and the scene was set for a decent last round. Mike Hibberd made a better start than pole man Robin Longdon (who had a problem with first gear in his Lola) Mike led into the first corner, as they went out of sight the Lotus 27 was being pressed by Jowsey's Lotus 22, when they came round it was Hibberd still in the lead, from a hard challenging Jowsey with Longdon and Dawes right with them, at the end of the second lap Jowsey was challenging again into Redgate corner and this time was through into the lead, next time round into the pit straight it was Hibberd in the 27 in front, just, this battle continued unabated, with Robin Longdon third and Neil Dawes fourth hard on the heels of the leaders, as is often the case at this circuit the lapping of slower cars was heart stopping to watch at times, what must it be like in the cars, at about one third distance the pit straight was full of cars about four of which in a bunch were about to be lapped by the four leading cars also in a bunch, well it looked a tangle, all the leaders were very nearly safely past this bunch when Rod Delves Kieft F3 500 got tangled with the front of Neil Dawes 20/22 this damaged a front wheel on Dawes Lotus and put him into a spin, Neil recovered and continued but had now lost contact with the three leaders, amidst all this excitement Mark Woodhouse had his Elva at the front of the front engined runners, he was just ahead of Walker's Terrier and Besley's Elva, next in tenth was Reg Hargraves who had the Kieft ahead of Mike Waller's Lotus and Peter Jackson in the Cooper, the situation at the front of the field had remained Mike Hibberd 27 in a slender lead over Edwin Jowsey in the 22 with Robin Longdon unable to make any impression on the two leaders, in third, so as the flag came out after 11 laps in the 15 minutes allowed for the race Mike Hibberd's Lotus 27 was first over the line, Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22 was second to finish (but was given a ten second penalty for his jump start) this promoted Robin Longdon in his Lola 5A to second overall, dropping Jowsey to third, Mark Woodhouse finished seventh in the Elva 100 on the same lap as the leaders to take front engined honours, Reg Hargrave took the F3 class in his Kieft.An exciting contest and a very good last round of the championship, the racing was as always fast and furious, the leaders battled hard for their honours and the eventually dry track ensured a fast relatively safe close race.

Stan Hibberd 13th October 2002