HSCC Superprix Brands Hatch GP 17^th July 2004.

Qualifying for Race one of the Superprix weekend on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit was the first of the day, it got under way on time, the weather was dry and warm, twenty seven FJ cars recorded times from the thirty cars entered in the programme.

Early front runner and looking very fast was Michael Schryver in his Lotus 22, blasting round right through the session, both of the Lotus 27's running were suffering from serious misfires during this session, Mike Hibberd heading for the paddock after just three laps, Roy Waltzer only managing a couple more, Edwin Jowsey was in trouble, he only managed a couple of laps in his Lotus 22 due to his steering rack being excessively tight.

As the cars and drivers settled into a rhythm Schryver maintained his relentless lapping in the Lotus 22 and was clearly the pace setter, his final time of 1.41.975 being 2.75 secs ahead of the Cooper T59 driven by Simon Armer, Mark Woodhouse had his Lotus 20/22 a couple of tenths away in third spot, Mike Hibberd's Lotus 27 was fourth on a 1.46, Anthony Binnington Cooper T67 and Paul Smeeth Lotus 22 completed the top six runners overall with 1.47s.

Bill Grimshaw in Gemini Mk 2 was cock a hoop with his time of 1.51.702, to lead the front engined runners, he pulled into the paddock after nine laps to save the car for the race, Mark Green was driving his Lotus 18 to good effect and was the best class B car with 1.52.820, Peter Jackson Cooper T56 recorded a 1.56 and Peter expressed alarm at being so high on the grid !

An interesting session which left some potential front runners with a lot of work to do before the race, the Hibberd team changed literally everything on Mike's 27 to cure the persistent misfire, team Jowsey were struggling to correct the steering rack on their 22, while all this was going on the sun shone brightly as everyone toiled away on the cars. Midday saw a sudden change in the weather with black clouds , thunder lightning and monsoon type rain nearly up to race time.

As the cars came out on to the streaming wet track they were shown a board advising them of two green flag laps, interesting this, for the last couple of years HSCC had dispensed with green flag laps for the Juniors, obviously in the conditions the two laps to gauge track conditions were essential.

When the grid formed up it seemed to take forever for the rear of the field to take position, Edwin Jowsey was right at the back leading to much speculation by the commentator as to how far through the field he would get in the twenty minutes allowed for the race.

As the red lights came on pole man Schryver's 22 blasted away toward Paddock with Woodhouse 20/22 making an excellent start right with him, front row sitter Simon Harmer T59 bogged down with wheelspin and made a poor start, this allowed Mike Hibberd in the 27 now running properly into third before Paddock, on the run up to Druids he got the better of Mark Woodhouse and moved into second spot, also on the first lap the Armer and Binnington Coopers tangled somewhere out on the GP loop putting both cars out.

In the early laps the first three were maintaining station with Schryver, Hibberd and Woodhouse all together in the length of the pit straight, Waltzer's 27 seemed to be much improved he was well up, Edwin Jowsey was hurling the Lotus 22 through the field and progressing rapidly toward the leading group, in mid field the race of the day was in progress, with Bill Grimshaw Gemini fighting lap after lap for front engined position with Crispian Besley Elva 100 with Robin Lackford Elva 100 joining in, for good measure Mark Green Lotus 18 was mixing it with them all, lap after lap on a drying but still treacherous track, this melee went on unabated, it continued to the end of the race, they were all swapping places and appeared to be having the race of their lives,.

On the tenth lap Jowsey 22 began to close up on Mark Woodhouse's 20/22 in third who saw the danger and speeded up putting pressure in turn on the Hibberd 27 in second spot, Schryver's 22 by this time was out clearly some 40 secs ahead, also on this lap the private joust between the Lotus 22's of Andrew Hibberd and Michael Waller came to an untimely end when they collided on Druids with both cars sustaining frontal damage,

Michael Schryver Lotus 22 won at an average speed in the wet of 81.60 mph !! he also set fastest lap with 1.49.939 a speed of 85.88 mph, second 40 secs away was Mike Hibberd Lotus 27, Mark Woodhouse Lotus 20/22 held on to third from a hard challenging Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22, less than 2 secs covered second to fourth places, close, in the conditions very close, Beale and Westmoreland in Lotus 22's completed the top six overall.

In eleventh place and a lap down Bill Grimshaw held on in the Gemini Mk2 to take class honours from Crispian Besley Elva 100 with Mark Green still sandwiched between them in spite of Mark having had his Lotus, still best in class B, in front of the Gemini, only to be repassed, at a least a couple of times.

As always the Brands Hatch GP circuit provided a real challenge, and some magical racing for FJ cars and drivers, the weather conditions added an extra dimension, but did seem to have a positive affect on the quality of the racing, a big topic after the race was the front engined scrap which was described by several observers as the dice of the race.

Stan Hibberd 19^th July 2004.