Chimay History Formula Junior Races 6/7^th July 2002

Report By Stan Hibberd

Before travelling to Chimay for the "History" weekend I re-read the article about the Chimay circuit in a recent Motorsport magazine. Feeling suitably subdued by the prospect of FJs racing on public roads, I joined the Hibberd and Woodhouse teams for the journey to the Belgain road circuit.A substantial part of the FJ circus was setting up camp in the Paddock on Thursday with more arriving on Friday. The first lap around this intriguing track was in the Motor-homes, followed by many more on cycles by the drivers !, early indications were that power and tall gears were required, the long straights were broken down into manageable length by the inclusion of four 'bus -stop type chicanes, this made it into a good challenge for the drivers and looked certain to prove a stern test for the cars as well. The schedule for the FJ cars included two practice sessions on Saturday, the morning one, to set the grid for the first race on Sunday, the second for race two on Sunday, the results to be decided on aggregate over the two races.The first 35 minute qualifying practice featured 17 cars, seven of the entered cars failed to arrive. As expected there was a wide variation of times, from the astonishing 2.09.062 set by Mark Woodhouse in his Lotus 22, to the 2.34.789 of Martin Carter in his Elva, second fastest in the session was Robin Longdon in the Lola Mk 5A on 2.12 third Michel Wanty in his Lotus 27 third with a 2.13, Mike Hibberd in Andrew's newly repaired Lotus 20 found the gravel trap on the sharp righthander at the top of the circuit on his first lap, but recovered to set a 2.14 for fourth, Simon Armer's Cooper T56 was fifth also with a time of 2.14, Claude Bourgoignie with a Lotus 20, from the Stavelot Museum was sixth, also with a time of 2.14, best of the front engined runners was Clive Wilson in the Lola Mk11, Reg Hargrave in the Kieft Managed a lap of 2.28. With the second session set for 18.00 all the cars were prepared for the next 35 minute blind, with ratio changes etc in progress around the paddock to try and get near the excellent time set by Mark Woodhouse.The second session was a very exciting affair amongst the faster runners with improved times from Hibberd who managed a 2.08.832, Longdon went quicker with a 2.10.201, Mark Woodhouse was also in the 2.10s having proved his point earlier, Armer a couple of seconds better with a 2.12, toward the end of the session it all got very exciting watching the times come down, and there was a real contest to get on the pole spot for Sunday's second race. During this the sun shone brightly and the showers which had threatened all day moved on without troubling the FJ runners.Sunday was cloudy but not much fear of rain and as race time approached the sky cleared and we had a lovely day in prospect. An unfortunate non-starter in the race was Michel Wanty who damaged his Lotus 27 in one of the chicanes.There was only the assembly lap from the paddock, no green flag lap, as the lights changed to green Longdon in his Lola led the charge up the hill toward the first corner, he was joined by the Lotus's of Woodhouse and Hibberd and the three of them were side by side as they approached the first bend, Longdon's outside front row grid position gave him the best line into the first corner and somehow all three made it safely round and out of sight, two minutes later their progress through the old tribunes could be clearly heard, and they were round into the pit straight with about a second covering the first three cars, so it continued at the front of the race for the full eight laps, Hibberd's Lotus was alongside the leading Lola several times into the pit area but Robin held on, Mark Woodhouse was directly behind them, Mike Hibberd found the gravel again to the detriment of his undertray, but recovered without Mark managing to get past, Simon Armer was a lonely fourth, he said he a had a grandstand seat of the battle ahead, Paul Smeeth and Malcolm Ricketts both in Lotus 22's were in fifth and sixth respectively, Fred Boothby was lapping consistently in his Lotus 20, Michael Waller was catching him quite rapidly in the Lotus 22 but was still a couple of seconds adrift at the end, Phoebe Rolt in her Elva FJ 200 was just ahead of the Clive Wilson Lola who was leading the front engined cars, the closing laps of the race had the three leaders nose to tail, and at the final corner Longdon and Hibberd were side by side in the dash to the flag, the Lola held it over the line the winning margin 0.284 with the Woodhouse Lotus 2.024 behind the winner. A very close contest with three leaders giving the large crowd a demonstration of FJ slipstreaming in the old manner, befitting this type of circuit.Race 2 actually got under way slightly early at about 16.00, Pole man Hibberd lost out in the sprint to the first corner from the start Longdon's Lola first out of our sight at the first corner way up on the skyline, as before second and third place cars were tight behind as we lost sight of them, two minutes later out of the old tribunes and into view it was the Hibberd Lotus in the lead, with Longdon challenging and being challenged in turn by Woodhouse, next time round it was the Lola in the lead, and out of our sight in the chicanes Hibberd led again but only briefly as the Lotus 20 brakes began to falter leading to another excursion across the kerbs and more damage to the undertray, the lead battle continued in earnest to the end of the race, and again Longdon's Lola won the drag race from the last corner with the Hibberd Lotus 0.270 behind and the Woodhouse Lotus much nearer than in race one, 0.628 away at the end. with Paul Smeeth up to fourth spot in his Lotus, Ricketts fifth, Boothby was in sixth place followed by the Lotus's of Wanty and Waller, ninth was Clive Wilson in his well turned out Lola Mk11, with Reg Hargrave a couple of seconds behind in his Kieft, Len Selby in the Cooper T56 eleventh with Phoebe Rolt, Martin Carter (7 laps) and Bernard Brock (7 laps) in three Elva's in the next three spots, Peter Jackson Cooper T56 was also a lap down as last finisher but seemed to be enjoying himself, Simon Armer's Cooper only managed two laps this time.Everyone enjoyed the weekend enormously, it was excellent value for money, two 35 minute practice sessions on Saturday and two 8 lap races on Sunday, the atmosphere was electric, the road circuit on first acquaintance daunting, turned out to be a real drivers circuit, and well suited to FJ racing, the first three drivers, Longdon, Hibberd and Woodhouse all recorded times in the 2.08's in the second race, very competitive, seeing the first three drivers on the podium for the presentation and the National Anthem very moving.

Stan Hibberd 9^th July 2002