Aston Martin OC Silverstone 11th September 2004

Friday the 10th September was a test day at Silverstone, several of the Formula Junior cars entered for the AMOC race on the following day were there, it proved to be a splashing round all day sort of day, so not very much could be gleaned of use for the next day's event, unless it was to be very wet on Saturday !

Saturday's AMOC race was held on a much better day and though showers were forecast it remained fine and dry all day.

Qualifying/Practice got under way at 10.45 am, 29 cars were timed in the session, pole position went to Mike Hibberd Lotus 27 who recorded 1.06.722 second fastest was Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22 on 1.07.006 Mark Woodhouse third with 1.07.693 Simon Armer Cooper T59 Fourth, Rollo Beale Lotus 22 and James Claridge Lola Mk5A completing the top six, Robin Longdon Lola Mk11 was the pace setter for the front engined cars with 1.10.080, Derek Walker Terrier and Bill Grimshaw Gemini Mk11 were second and third respectively in class A2, Michael Waller Kieft FJ was the quickest class B car with Doug Martin in his improving Elva 200 next, the quicker cars were able to complete fourteen laps in the fifteen minute session, this caused some head scratching as the pole car had about half a litre of petrol left in it's tank at the end of the session.

Newcomer Gordon Pate completed his first ever race qualifying in the ex Hibberd Lotus 20 and recorded a time of 1.19.590.

Race Five got under way at 3.40pm still in fine dry weather, the drag race into Copse corner was won by Edwin Jowsey in his Lotus 22, Mike Hibberd had the Lotus 27 hard on his heels at the end of the first lap with Mark Woodhouse Lotus 20 close in third Simon Armer Cooper T59 fourth, Barry Westmoreland Lotus 22 in fifth, Rollo Beale Lotus 22 sixth, Paul Smeeth Lotus 22 seventh, Andrew Hibberd Lotus 22 eighth, Reg Hargrave Brabham BT6 in ninth spot on his first outing in a Junior this year, next was Robin Longdon in the Lola Mk11 with Derek Walker Terrier Mk4, Stevenson Mallock and Grimshaw Gemini battling it out for front engined honours, Michael Waller in his Kieft was in control in class B.

The race continued much as described above being a very high speed Junior spectacle, the smooth easy Silverstone National circuit provided a nice opportunity for the Juniors to show their pace, but not much overtaking was seen, on the tenth lap Gordon Pate Lotus 20 had a spin at the end of the pit straight entering the complex ending his debut race there without damage, during the last couple of laps both Robin Longdon Lola and Paul Smeeth had spins in the complex without either of them losing track position.

During the final lap leader Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22 was under threat from Mike Hibberd's Lotus 27 but Edwin responded with the quickest lap of the race 1.06.113 to keep his lead, so it ended with Edwin .9 sec ahead of Mike, Mark Woodhouse was third in his 20 some 18 secs away.

Robin Longdon took front engined honours in his Lola, and Michael Waller was class B winner in the Kieft another good result for Mike in this car.

The race provided a high speed spectacle, not a lot of passing for position, but in true Formula Junior style some high speed lapping went on through the race and three cars abreast along the pit straight was common. The first nine drivers/cars to finish completed fourteen laps with one minute covering them, they were all driving extremely hard to achieve this close result. Twenty five cars were classified there were four retirements. We were blessed with fine weather all day, which ensured it was all most enjoyable.

Stan Hibberd 12th September 2004