HSCC Silverstone Finals Meeting 20th October 2007 Millers Oils Historic Formula Junior Race

Friday 19th October was fine and sunny for the HSCC test day. Some juniors were taking advantage of the sessions. Paul Smeeth’s Lotus 22 was the most active, with both Paul and his son Max taking turns at the wheel. Notably quick in the single seater sessions was the Lola 5A driven by James Murray, double race winner at Knockhill. Rudolf Ernst was alternating between his Lotus 11 Climax and his Lotus 22 throughout the day and did a lot of laps, Mike Hibberd was testing his Lotus 23B and also spent some time in Rudolf‘s 22 playing with the suspension settings.

Saturday the 20th October started out a little foggy but soon cleared and gave us ideal conditions for racing.
Qualifying got under way a little early and again the drivers out on Friday test day looked and sounded very quick. To quote Simon Diffey “ Andrew Hibberd, James Murray, Mark Woodhouse all looked very quick, Mike Hibberd didn’t seem quick at all but was on pole” Well that set the tone at the front of the field, Mike’s pole time was 1.06.116, but all the first six cars recorded times in the 1.06s
James Claridge Lola 5A was fifth and Steve Smith Cooper T59 was in sixth.
Paul Davis was fastest Class C1 runner with a time of 1.09.895 in eleventh.
Clive Wilson Lola Mk2 was next up and the pacesetter for the front engined cars at 1.10.592.
Andrew Robertson was best of the class B in his Crossle 4F in eighteenth spot.
John Truslove was a pit visitor on lap 8 in his troubled Lola Mk2.
Peter Jackson seemed to be enjoying his drive in his T56 Cooper fresh from it’s Goodwood adventure, he achieved a personal best time in the session.
Brian Arculus Emeryson suffered a blown engine after eight laps.
Tony Martindale Essenkay had a loose oil pipe and both he and John Milicevic Lotus 18, were unable to complete a single lap in Qualifying, thus unfortunately dropping back behind all the reserves.  This was a  tragedy for Tony, who still had an outside chance of taking the Class B Championship.
In fact an unlucky day for the “Connaught” team all round, as Tim Bishop was unable to drive his Sauter due to a severe back injury, the car spending the day on its trailer.
A rear wheel on Duncan’s Alexis, parted company with the car, due to metal fatigue, entering Luffield, and Duncan was extremely lucky to come to rest unscathed, and his spare was fitted for the race.

Thirty Nine cars recorded times in the session and the close times at the front of the grid promised an exciting last race of the day.

A bit of a panic was noticed in the assembly area, just prior to the race, Kevin Musson was helping Andrew Hibberd to free a sticking throttle his Lotus 22; in the end it came to a squirt of WD40 fingers crossed!

Race nine the cars went straight into the formation/green flag lap from the
assembly area, when the lights changed it was Andrew Hibberd in his Lotus 22 ahead of Mike Hibberd in the Lotus 27 and so it stayed at the end of the first lap, close third was the Lola 5A of James Claridge. This remained the race order of the leading trio until lap four, then Mike Hibberd took the lead from Andrew.  James Claridge had moved his Lola up to second spot.
Lap five was a real sizzler, Andrew took first and second places back in a
bold but well judged braking move at Brooklands, Mark Woodhouse closed right up on the Claridge Lola only to be sidelined when his fuel pump lost it’s electric feed.
The two Hibberd Lotus’s continued their side by side battle from Luffield
through the pit straight nearly to Becketts, on this lap Mike  in the 27 lapped in 1.05.935 the fastest lap of the race in his attempt to shake off Andrew, but bold youth told over experience. Andrew held on to a tenuous lead in the 22 but the Lotus 27 was on his tail or alongside for the rest of the race, James Claridge was also well mixed up in all this and had his Lola right in the wheel tracks of Mike’s 27, while this was going on the order from fourth to sixth was settling down with Steve Smith getting his Cooper T59 up to fourth ahead of Barry Westmoreland’s Lotus 22 on lap twelve and held onto the finish.  Clive Wilson in his Lola Mk2 was battling with David Stevenson in his U2 for the lead in the front engine category.                                                                      
Paul Davis Lotus 20 was class C1 leader, Andrew Taylor in Peter Green’s Envoy Mk I, substituted at the last minute for the more familiar Brittania; was leading Class B.
Rudolf Ernst Lotus 22 suffered a spin at Woodcote and dropped back several places.
Bill Grimshaw Moorland had a spin at Becketts but was able to continue.
                                                  
At the chequered flag Andrew Hibberd Lotus 22 crossed the line as winner with his hands high in the air, Mikes Lotus 27 and James Claridge’s Lola 5A were within .8 of a second. Steve Smith in his Cooper T59 was 8 seconds away in fourth spot, Barry Westmoreland 22 was fifth, James Murray Lola 5A completed the top six.

What a ding dong, the Hibberd family contest had to take due account of the omnipresent Claridge Lola right through the race. Formula Junior racing at it’s peak.

Thirty six cars started the race, three cars failed to finish.

Grandad Hibberd found it all very exhilarating and quite alarming all at the same time, but was very proud to represent the older generation of the family on the Silverstone podium.

Results

Winner and first in Class C2                  Andrew Hibberd        Lotus 22
Second overall                                       Michael Hibberd        Lotus 27
Third overall                                          James Claridge         Lola Mk5A

Winner Class C1                                     Paul Davis                 Lotus 20

Winner Class B                                       Andrew Taylor           Envoy Mk I

Winner Class A2                                     Clive Wilson              Lola Mk 2

Winner Class A1                                    Peter Mullen              OSCA

Fastest Lap  Michael Hibberd Lotus 27 1.05.935 (89.48mph)

Stan Hibberd 24th October 2007