Goodwood Revival 2002 - Chichester Cup for FJ2 Cars

Report By Stan Hibberd

Free practice Friday 6^th September 2002, not present…………………………..

Qualifying Practice on Saturday 7^th September 2002, was the first session of the day and began prompt at 9.10am on a track still wet from very heavy overnight rain. An early casualty of the conditions and maybe of cold tyres as well, was David Stevenson who went off in his ex Dudley Lotus 22, the pace was set by the Lotus 22s of Schryver and Walford, they were closely followed by Simon Ham in his Brabham BT2, Robin Longdon was next in the Lola 5A, Simon Diffey Lotus 20 was fifth, Hugh Chalmers in his final drive in his Lotus 22 sixth, Neil Dawes was next up in his 20/22, but lost control on his final lap ensuring a very busy Saturday to repair the car in time for the race, Simon Armer in his Cooper T56 once again showed his pace in damp or wet conditions in eighth, Mark Woodhouse was ninth in his 20/22, of the other fancied runners Edwin Jowsey feeling his way on an unfamiliar circuit was thirteenth, Mike Hibberd in his "new" ex Axelsson Lotus 22 was suffering a serious misfire and pitted a couple of times in the session to no avail and was towards the rear of the grid for Sunday.

The remainder of Saturday saw plenty of activity in the FJ paddock, Neil Dawes and David Stevenson were both trying to rectify rear end frame damage to their cars following their off's in qualifying, Mike Hibberd was down in the petrol pits with all the fuel system including the petrol tank removed trying to locate the cause of his power loss.

Sunday mornings weather was a complete contrast fine and sunny, the assembly lap saw Neil Dawes on his grid seventh in his repaired Lotus 20/22, Mike Hibberd was clearly still having problems but lined up in twenty second spot.

From the start Michael Schryver in his Lotus 22 set a scorching pace and led the early laps, Martin Walford in his similar car kept up his challenge for the lead, also in the lead group were Longdon Lola 5A and Diffey Lotus 20, on lap5 Mark Woodhouse Lotus 20/22 made a mistake exiting the chicane, this caused him to spin off from seventh place into the banking and retire, he was unhurt but the Lotus suffered frontal damage, at the front of the race the battle for the lead was resolved in favour of Martin Walford who won at a race average of 96.00 mph after Schhryver lost control and several places, this enabled Walford to settle down and pace himself to the finish, Robin Longdon in the Lola held on to his two second advantage and second place from a closing Simon Diffey in the Lotus to the flag, while a hard charging Edwin Jowsey in his 22 converted his thirteenth on the grid to a creditable fourth, Irvine Laidlaw Brabham BT6 was fifth and Schryver in his 22 recovered to finish sixth, Hugh Chalmers in his Lotus 22 finished a very relieved seventh with car OK and ready for it's new owner, Neil Dawes 20/22 was eighth, and Mike Hibberd's still misfiring Lotus 22 ninth, Barrie Baxter Cooper T67 made up the top ten.

The fastest lap was recorded by Schryvers Lotus 22 on lap 4 1.28.284 an average speed for the lap of 97.86 mph !! all the top six finishers in the race recorded lap times in the 1.28/1.29 bracket, a 1.28 lap has only been recorded in recent FJ races at Goodwood once before by Duncan Dayton in his Cooper T67.

As predicted by the glossy magazines beforehand the Chichester Cup was a cracking race before a very large and appreciative crowd, a credit to FJHRA.

Stan Hibberd