Mallory Park, 12th August 2007
The John Taylor Memorial Trophy Race

Splendid weather throughout made for a very pleasant day and some compensation for
the early risers which included Simon Smith and Clive Wilson both of whom were up at 4am for long journeys.

Twenty-two cars were ready in the paddock and two minutes early the practice session
got underway. In addition to the nineteen Formula Juniors we had three F3 500s running.
Tim Llewellyn’s Cooper Mk6, John Potts diminutive Monaco and Rodney Delves Kieft, although Rodney was late through scrutineering and went out in a later practice session.

Quick to show form were Simon Armer Cooper T59 and Clive Wilson Lola Mk2.
Simon Smith Cooper T56 was bedding in new tyres and left his best effort to near the end and both Steve Smith Cooper T59 and Marcus Mussa Brabham BT2 put up their fastest times on the very last lap.
We welcomed Tim Metcalfe, sizing up Formula Junior in Simon Diffey’s Lotus 20 borrowed for the occasion and he was getting to grips with the car quite quickly.
Fastest in the front engines was Clive Wilson and then came Derek Walker, whose car was amusingly described in the programme as a Terror. Stephen Barlow was very pleased to qualify midfield in his BMC Mk1 after a broken differential sidelined him in his previous race. Paul Smeeth was similarly happy to be running well again in his Elva 100 after his differential had failed earlier in the season. Roger Dexter has overcome recent carburetion maladies afflicting the Deek engine of his Elva 100 and Gordon Wright was steady in his Stanguellini, now beautifully repainted in its original period colour of light blue.
When the times were published it was clear just how tight it was at the front. Steve Smith had pole position in 52.32 seconds followed by Simon Armer and then Marcus Mussa, both within half a second of him. Simon Smith was clearly well in the hunt with a close 4th slot.

Col Bob Birrell was most unfortunate when some electrical wiring failed in his Brabham BT6 without him completing even one practice lap. Bill Grimshaw kindly lent some lengths of wire which were spliced in and all seemed to be well. However when Bob went out in another practice session the car failed again and this time it was declared terminal (pun intended) and he packed up for home.
Clive Temple had a slipping clutch on his Cooper T56 so made some readjustment and Simon Smith made some minor alterations to rear suspension set up on his similar model.

A proper lunch break allowed time for your scribe to wander the VSCC paddock in company with BJ Colaric and we chanced upon all manner of astonishing, if very dirty
and oily, machines sporting huge chains, impossibly fragile chassis members and vast aero engines ~ many vehicles comprising all three elements. When they aren’t throttled by an obdurator the speed of the engines may be more readily counted not by how many revs per minute but by how many revs per mile.
However, your scribe was particularly impressed with a small but exquisitely formed Austin 7 special, finished in pale green with a very very very  long pointed tail cleverly detachable for transportation purposes which then almost halved the length of the car.

Back to Formula Junior matters, though.
Being a VSCC meeting, the old traditions are honoured and so a chap is appointed as starter to drop the Union flag.
Marcus Mussa, a man with some 40 years racing experience, spotted the merest twitch of cloth and rocketed away to be some 3 lengths ahead of Steve Smith going into Gerrards. Simon Armer’s grid position did not afford him an easy view of the flag and he was slow off the mark allowing Simon Smith to get ahead of him.
So, when the leaders appeared over the Devil’s Elbow for the first time the order was Mussa, Steve Smith, Simon Smith and Armer but the situation changed dramatically when a patch of oil caught Mussa by surprise and he spun 360 half way round Gerrards.
This let the leaders and Tim Metcalfe get through before Mussa collected the Brabham to get going again and so it remained until lap 6 when Armer, now with the hammer well down, overtook Simon Smith for 2nd place. Then on lap 8  Mussa  passed Metcalfe, who was racing extremely well considering that it was his first race in a Formula Junior car and a borrowed one at that.
Clive Wilson picked up the pace and led the front engine classes, consistently ahead of the usual battle royal between Crispian Besley Elva 100 and Bill Grimshaw Moorland.
Surprisingly Derek Walker wasn’t there to take the fight to these three because his Terror had dropped out right at the start with a gearbox problem. Derek later graciously admitted that this was a shot in the foot because he had previously adjusted the selectors merely to take up some tiny amount of slack at the gearlever, which offended his exacting standards of preparation and had clearly over adjusted something.
Meanwhile Besley & Grimshaw continued hammer & tongs, changing places a couple of times, whilst man on the move was Paul Smeeth who passed 6 cars in almost as many laps.
Clive Temple unfortunately had to retire his ailing Cooper after just one lap because the clutch was useless and equally unfortunate was the Kieft 500 of Rodney Delves who raised a hand and coasted onto the grass just beyond the pits after one lap, but the engine picked up so he staggered on for a further lap before deciding that it was likely to be expensive to continue further. The Cooper Mk6 500 of Tim Llewellyn sadly expired with a flat sounding engine after 4 laps and he pulled off.
The race continued with the leaders settled and the midfielders Paul Dixon Gemini Mk2, Stephen Barlow BMC Mk1 and Geoff O’nion Elva 100 a few seconds apart mostly. Geoff was particularly buoyant and clearly really enjoying his car, getting ahead of Paul Hewes Lola Mk2 as did Roger Dexter’s howlin’ 2 stroke Elva. BJ continued his steady learning process with more seat time in his Elva 100 and he was followed by Gordon Wright’s Stanguellini and finally Joe Potts’ amazing little Monaco Unk, whose lap speed was close to half of what the leaders were achieving. I’m unsure of the origins of the appellation Unk ~~ maybe this was another delightful VSCC programme affectation.
For your humble scribe the last few laps were a torment of excitement reaching fever pitch on the last lap when Simon Smith’s Cooper slowed dramatically approaching Shaw’s Hairpin allowing Mussa to come right alongside. However the Cooper picked up the last few remaining drops of fuel and just kept ahead of the Brabham to the chequered flag and ensured a wonderful Cooper 1 2 3 victory for Steve Smith, Simon Armer and Simon Smith.
Winner Steve Smith recorded a 54.25 and Simon Armer secured fastest lap with a 54.19.
The leading front engine cars finished in order Clive Wilson, Bill Grimshaw and then Crispian Besley who after the race generously broke out the celebratory Cobra beer which was avidly consumed along with Derek Walker’s equally customary home made Flapjack.
It was quite a momentous day.

Peter Jackson, the Cooper Cockpit Correspondent