AMOC Thruxton 4^th July 2004

After a break of thirteen years the Formula Juniors were back at the Thruxton circuit, the weather was cloudy but fine, and twenty two cars passed the decibal test and lined up in the assembly area, ready for qualifying/practice.

After such a long absence from this venue, it was no surprise to see a Thruxton regular Anthony Binnington in his Cooper T67 setting the early pace, his 1.30.196 was good enough for pole, also looking very quick right through the session was Mark Woodhouse in his Lotus 20/22, he set a time of 1.30.750 to share the front row of the grid, Edwin Jowsey's Lotus 22 was oddly a couple of seconds off the pace of the front runners, Andrew Hibberd Lotus 22 was black flagged when his undertray became detached, Kevin Musson had his Lotus 18 in ninth spot on 1.38.875 easily the quicker of the two class B cars, David Stevenson's Mallock U2 on 1.39.654 was the best of the front engined runners, Bill Grimshaw was very close behind also on 1.39 in his Gemini Mk11.

Unusually for Formula Junior the first six places on the grid were over 4 seconds apart, the Binnington Cooper 1.30.196 as compared with the Longdon Lola Mark 5A on a time of 1.34.342, much of the chat in the paddock after practice was whether Edwin or anyone else come to that could find the missing seconds in the race.

During the interval between practice an the race, Andrew Hibberd's Lotus 22 was found to have sticking brake calipers, Simon Hamilton's Lotus 18 had suffered an engine failure on the last practice lap, both these cars were loaded up ready for home.

From the start of the race Edwin Jowsey's 22 powered into the lead from the second row, Barry Westmorland in his 22 lost it and was a spinner in the first corner of the race, being passed by several cars, as the leaders powered up the hill into the chicane at the end of lap one Jowsey 22 was in a clear lead from Binnington T67 with Woodhouse 20/22 close in third, the speed of the leading cars on the approach to the chicane looked really phenomenal ! after a couple of laps Woodhouse had his car all over the back of the Binnington Cooper, next time round he was in second place and closing fast on the Jowsey Lotus, further down the field, some tussles were developing, Michael Waller Lotus 22 was in the top six and enjoying himself until petrol surge cost him four places. David Stevenson in the Mallock was having a scrap with the Gemini of Bill Grimshaw, the Gemini seemed to be better in the twisty bits but not quick enough on the straights, Stevenson's Mallock looked a real handful in the chicane bouncing about in an alarming way, as the race progressed. Throughout the race Duncan Rabagliati in his Alexis HF1 seemed to be in splendid isolation, while a lap ahead of him Mark Woodhouse 20/22 was gaining relentlessly on Edwin Jowsey's 22, it all looked set for a photo finish. As they powered out of the chicane to start the last lap Mark's car was visibly quicker than Edwin's Lotus and sure enough when they reappeared up the hill for the final time the Woodhouse Lotus was in a clear lead from the Jowsey 22, with Binnington T67 right up with Edwin, as they headed for the flag more excitement as Edwin pulled into the pit lane, the flag marshal at the finish line was watching for Jowsey and failed to flag the winning Lotus as it crossed the line, this meant Mark Woodhouse and the rest of the cars needed to complete a precautionary extra lap to be sure they had finished, this confused everyone, so no surprise when the results were delayed and published almost an hour after the end of the race.

A thoroughly deserved win and fastest lap 1.29.038 for Mark Woodhouse Lotus 20/22, Anthony Binnington Cooper T67 was second nine seconds in arrears, Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22 best lap 1.29.504, was declared as third in the pit lane, Simon Armer Cooper T59 fourth, Robin Longdon Lola Mk 5A fifth, James Hicks Caravelle was sixth and yes all the top six runners had improved their lap times and were now lapping near the pole time of 1.30 seconds !! Barry Westmorland Lotus 22, recovered after his early spin to take seventh overall.

David Stevenson Mallock won the front engined battle from Grimshaw's Gemini by a clear margin in the end, Kevin Musson Lotus 18 took class B finishing thirteenth, Michael Ashley-Brown Volpini took the award for class A1 (Italian engined cars) last of the runners to be classified was Erika Pilkington Gemini Mk 11 who finished two laps in arrears.

Twenty cars finished Martin Carter in the Ausper Type 4 suffered a misfire and failed to be classified though still running at the end.

An interesting race, exciting to watch from the spectator banking at the chicane, I hope it is not another thirteen years before Juniors return to Thruxton, everything seemed very relaxed, in the paddock, the cars all passed the noise test which can sometimes be a problem at the less familiar UK circuits Juniors visit.

Stan Hibberd 5^th July 2004