HSCC Silverstone 8th May 2005 Historic Formula Junior

Silverstone was bright and sunny, as ever though it was quite chilly, one or two sprinkles of rain during the afternoon but not enough to matter.  Again as at Donington the FJ cars were allowed to use pit garages.

Qualifying for the twenty five Formula Junior cars started just after midday, most of the front runners covered 14 laps in the 15 minutes allowed.
Pole position was taken by James Claridge his Lola 5A, it's Richardson engine sounding great and the car looking very smart in it's yellow livery, Simon Armer in his Cooper T59, was also lapping in the 1.08's for second, Barry Westmorland Lotus 22 third, John Monson Lotus 20B fourth and Steve Steve Smith Cooper T59 fifth, were on 1.09s and Andrew Hibberd Lotus 22, and Reg Hargrave Brabham BT6 were another second away in sixth and seventh. 
Christopher Drake Elva 300 headed the class C1 runners with a 1.11, Simon Hamilton Lotus 18 was first in class B with a time of 1.13.
Stuart Roach Alexis Mk2 managed a 1.11 to head the class A2 for front engined runners from the Terrier Mark V1 of Derek Walker.
Peter Mullen was the sole runner in class A2 in his Osca FJ and he recorded a 1.17.
Improving rapidly during the session was Gordon Pate in his Lotus 20 benifitting from a new set of tyres, these were still being fitted at HP tyres as the cars went out for the practice session.

The long wait for the start of race eight enabled us to watch the Spanish Grand Prix, a pretty boring F1 race, but with a change of winner, it helped to pass the long afternoon waiting for race time.

Race eight  started a little before the programme time, although we could see very little from the pit lane we heard on the commentary that Barry Westmoreland had his Lotus 22 straight into the lead from row two of the grid, Andrew Hibberd's 22 evidently also started well and made up several places on the first lap, at Luffield at the end of lap one pole man Claridge suffered a spin, dropping him back momentarily from the tussle for the lead.  Simon Armer retired from the leading bunch after two laps.

Barry Westmorland kept his 22 clear of the contest which rapidly developed between the Steve Smith T59 and the Claridge Lola.
Derek Walker came into the pits to retire his Terrier Mk1V at the end of lap four, this left Stuart Roach in a comfortable lead in the front engined class A2.

As the race progressed the leading three cars were much closer together, still Westmoreland 22, Smith T59 and Claridge Lola, by mid race John Motson in a 20B and Andrew Hibberd's 22 were alternating in fourth and fifth places, still in touch with the leading trio.

The three leaders were almost three abreast at times, towards the end of the race, at one point all three, running very close along the start finish straight, got into a terrible tangle with a group of slower cars everyone missed everyone else, just. It looked very nasty at this point for a front engined car which very nearly got collected in the middle of the melee. The pit wall must have looked very large and menacing for the driver of this car, only spotted out of the corner of my eye but still very scary.

Barry Westmorland worked hard to take the win in his Lotus 22 ahead of Steve Smith's Cooper which in turn eased away slightly from the Lola of James Claridge at the finish. The race long battle for fourth spot went to John Monson's 20B, but only just, from Andrew Hibberd's 22.
Christopher Drake in his Elva 300 confirmed his good pace in qualifying to take class C1, ahead on the road of Reg Hargrave's Brabham BT6, Reg still suffering from a damaged shoulder which made gear changing difficult and painful.

Stuart Roach in his Alexis took class A2 honours ahead of Crispian Besley's Elva
With Bernard Brock's Elva a distant third in class.

Andrew Taylor Brittania and Simon Hamilton Lotus 18 were very close at the end for class B, with a couple of tenths of a second between them, both of these cars completed the full thirteen laps. Douglas Martin Elva 200 was third in the class one lap in arrears, having enjoyed a race long contest with the Cooper T56 of Peter Jackson these two also only seperated by a couple of tenths at the end.

Peter Mullen brought the Osca FJ home in eighteenth position as sole class A1 car.

Twenty five cars started the race three retired. Close racing right down the field. Good reliability all round, an interesting championship round.

Stan Hibberd 10th May 2005