HSCC Donington Park 15th April 2007 Round Two FJHRA UK Championship.

Glorious spring weather greeted the Formula Junior teams at Donington, as they assembled for round two of the 2007 Championship. The event was massively oversubscribed and eight reserves were listed in the programme.

Qualifying got off to a prompt start at midday, with the cars spread fairly evenly round the track, this made picking out the quicker cars pretty tricky. Just as the pace seemed to be picking up after about five laps out came the red flag and the session was stopped, worse though was the fact that all the cars were then directed back into the paddock.
Pole position went to Robin Longdon Lola Mark 5A who did the best lap in 1.23.187, also recording 1.23s were Christopher Drake Brabham BT6 and Mike Hibberd Lotus 27.
Steve Smith Cooper T59 and the Lotus 22 of Andrew Hibberd managed 1.24s. Barry Westmoreland Lotus 22 and James Claridge Lola Mark 5A recorded 1.25s.
In eighth overall and best front engined runner was Derek Walker in his Terrier MkV1.
Andrew Robertson Crossle 4F and Simon Hamilton Lotus 18 were close on time with 1.31s to head the class B runners both having managed 6 laps in the session.
Doug Martin's Elva engine was seen to be smoking and returned to the pits behind the tow truck as the other cars were flagged off.

After the seriously shortened session several drivers remonstrated with race control, the response, that they had already had eleven of the fifteen allotted minutes practice, was treated with a fair amount of scepticism but that was how it remained.

Race Eight included most of the reserve drivers on the starting grid. Derek Walker in his Terrier and Duncan Rabagliati Alexis were waiting hopefully at the pit exit to see whether all the cars took the start.
Rudolf Ernst Lotus 22 was stranded in the assembly area with gear selection problems, also two cars pulled over after the pit exit on the green flag lap so all the reserves started.
The leading bunch all seemed to arrive at Redgate together but they all made it through and at the end of the first lap Robin Longdon Lola had a clear lead over Barry Westmoreland Lotus and Chris Drake Brabham, Mike Hibberd's 27 was making up ground on the lead bunch, with Andrew Hibberd 22 also chasing hard to get up with the leaders. Barry Westmoreland's Lotus was on a real charge and was mounting a  real threat to the leader until his engine suffered a major blow up the Old Hairpin and deposited all it's oil on the circuit, causing mayhem for the cars behind.
Out came the red flag and all the remaining runners stopped on the start finish straight while things were sorted. Barry explained later that he suffered overheating leading to failure of the water pipes in the cockpit, result - engine seizure and con-rod through the crankcase, followed by an oil fire, fire extinguishers activated the lot - most alarming.
A revised starting grid was issued and it was announced that the restart was to be a green flag lap followed by a seven minute race.

The Restart saw Robin Longdon straight back into the lead in the Lola, immediately behind him into Redgate were the two Hibberd Lotus's disputing second place side by side out of sight toward Hollywood.
At the end of the first lap the Longdon Lola was firmly in the lead and Mike Hibberd had his 27 just ahead of Andrew's 22, Chris Drake was fourth with Steve Smith running in fifth with his Cooper T59, James Claridge was running in sixth with the Lola 5A.
This then was the pattern of the race until the final lap when Mike Hibberd's 27 began to close the gap on Robin's Lola until at the chicane he was able to outbrake the Lola and take the lead in his Lotus 27, this when Robin went a little wide. This error also led to a loss of momentum for the Lola this allowed Andrew Hibberd to power past into second place before the line. Leaving Robin a very disappointed third in the Lola after a dominant race at the front of the field.
Christopher Drake in his Brabham BT6 was fourth. Steve Smith Cooper T59 a strong fifth, James Claridge Lola 5A completed the top six.
Derek Walker Terrier Mk1V was eighth overall, to take class A2
John Chisholm Gemini Mk3A finished ninth to take class C1 honours.
Andrew Robertson Crossle 4F was eleventh overall taking class B.
George Coopers Cooper T59 was laying a real smoke screen through much of the second part of the race. Watching Peter Jackson in the T56 groping his way along behind was comical, perhaps not so for Peter ! This must have contributed to the very slippery state of the track commented on by several drivers after the race.

Duncan's Alexis had also suffered an expensive blow up and a con-rod through the side of the engine, which must have spoiled his pleasure at getting the start !

An eventful race then, thankfully any damage was mainly of a mechanical nature only, the race at the front of the field was as hectic as ever, promises to be an interesting championship year.

Results

First and winner of Class C2               Mike Hibberd          Lotus 27
Second overall and in class C2          Andrew Hibberd     Lotus 22
Third overall and in class C2              Robin Longdon      Lola Mark 5A

Eighth overall winner class A2            Derek Walker          Terrier Mk1V

Ninth overall and winner class C1     John Chisholm        Gemini Mk3A

Eleventh overall and winner class B Andrew Robertson  Crossle 4F

Winner Class D                                    J B Jones                  Cousy No2
Fastest Lap    Mike Hibberd     Lotus 27    I:22:583     85.324 mph

Stan Hibberd 17th April 2007