HSCC FJHRA/Millers Oils Silverstone 12th May 2007 Round Four Formula Junior  Championship

Proceedings got off to a damp and confusing start at Silverstone, oddly in view of the poor conditions Qualifying took place earlier than scheduled, this caught me out for one and I missed the early part of the session.

Qualifying was as they say a lottery, one or two drivers were able to get in early quickish laps, these times achieved before the track was completely awash were crucial for a good grid position. Before I arrived at the pit wall the Lotus's of both Simon Diffey and Andrew Hibberd had called in the pits to adjust their shock absorbers, both continued.
On lap two Bill Grimshaw's Moorland had a spin and was collected by the Kieft of Mike Waller, the Moorland had suspension damage while the Kieft had gearbox damage, neither were able to continue in either the rest of Qualifying or take part in the Race.
Simon Armer in his Cooper T 59 was, as so often in these sort of conditions, on Pole position with a time of 1.55.367, this was almost 3 seconds better than second place man Christopher Drake in his Brabham BT6. Simon Diffey Lotus 20 made good use of his softer settings to place third very close on time to Chris Drake.
Steve Smith was fourth another good wet track time for a T59, while Marcus Mussa BT2 was Fifth ahead of Andrew Hibberd's 22. Mike Hibberd in his Lotus 27 was having a torrid time in the conditions and made seventh ahead of James Claridge Lola Mk5A. Ninth was Mark Woodhouse 20/22 that was misfiring badly and way down on power.
A creditable tenth was the best Class B car the Cooper Mk11 of Jeremy Bouckley.
Best in Class A2 was Crispian Besley Elva 100.
Peter Mullen OSCA was best of the two Class A1 runners.

During the break between qualifying and race time, Mark Woodhouse sorted out the petrol feed problems on his 20/22, the fitting of a new Facet pump proved to be the answer.

Race Five got under way in dry conditions. Thirty-five cars started, the flying start achieved by Chris Drake in his Brabham BT6 gave him only a short-lived advantage, transmission failure sidelined him half way along the Pit straight.
This gave Simon Diffey a bit of a fright and held up his progress from row two of the grid but only slightly. By the end of the first lap Diffey led from a hard charging Mike Hibberd's 27 who had improved from seventh on the grid to second on the road. Andrew Hibberd had miscued at Brooklands toward the end of the first lap and got into a spin avoiding his Dad, this in turn caught out Simon Armer the polesitter, who in avoiding Andrew was delayed in the gravel, losing several places as a result, an interesting opening lap.
On the fourth lap at Abbey Simon Diffey sensed that Mike Hibberd's 27 was in an overtaking position, Simon claims that he ran out of talent, later the consensus seemed to be that he ran out of brakes, whichever it was he was firmly in the gravel and out of the running.
Steve Smith had his T59 up into second spot until the near side rear wheel came off at Woodcote, evidently all four wheel nuts came off, this in spite of them being checked before the race.
Mark Woodhouse now had his repaired Lotus 20/22 flying and  wrested second spot from the battling pair of James Claridge Lola and Marcus Mussa in the Brabham.
At last the race began to settle down at the front of the field. Andrew Hibberd had recovered from his first lap mistake, he caught up with the trio disputing second to fourth, when shaping up to try to pass Marcus Mussa's Brabham instead had to  spin his 22 avoiding Marcus's spinning BT1 at Abbey. Marcus got going again quickly enough to take fourth and Andrew also recovered to make it to fifth at the finish.
Sixth overall after a hectic drive was Simon Armer  who had not benefitted very much in the race from his excellent pole position in the very tricky Qualifying session.
John Truslove Lola Mk2 was seventh overall to head Class A2 from the Terrier Mk1V of Derek Walker in ninth.
Ninth was Jeremy Bouckley in his Cooper Mk11.
Crispian Besley in his Elva 100 completed the top ten in what had been a very fast and hectic Formula Junior contest.
John Dowson Elva 200 had an engine failure on the last lap and brought the oil flag out just as the leaders approached the finish. Caught out by this oil at Copse corner were Erica Pilkington in her Gemini Mk 2 and Gordon Wright Stanguellini both cars spinning and the Stanguellini being damaged.
On the last lap David Stevenson also went off at Copse corner presumably also on the oil, this damaged the U2 and "winded" David.
Thirty four cars were on the grid at the start of the race, eight failed to finish.
The pace at the front of the race was fierce with fastest lap going to Mike Hibberd in 1.37.016, Mark Woodhouse, Simon Diffey and Andrew Hibberd all posted times in the 1.37s during the race.

Results

Winner and first in Class C2                 Mike Hibberd           Lotus 27
Second overall and in Class C2            Mark Woodhouse   Lotus 20/22
Third overall and in Class C2                James Claridge       Lola Mk5A

Seventh overall winner Class A2          John Truslove         Lola Mk2

Ninth overall and winner Class B         Jeremy Bouckley    Cooper Mk11

Stan Hibberd 15th May 2007