Sparse Grids at Wet Pau

The Monday morning edition of “L’Elcair” perhaps gave some flavour of the meeting – on the front cover was a colour photo of cars in action – not beautiful historic cars, but the motorcycle engined ¾ size ‘Legends’ with Ford Pop type bodies – and inside – photos of empty grandstands and umbrellas! Indeed the weather was so bad on Saturday night that the last race of the day – for Classic F3 – was cancelled as inches of water ran down the track – and the cocktail party that evening was, quite literally, deserted, leaving the hardy party of 11 from F.Junior to consume the trays of caviar and other canapés and the glasses of Kier that had been prepared for the drivers and their guests at the beautiful old English Mansion, Villa Saint Basil, that the Mayor now uses for official entertainment.

With Engine troubles halving the F3 1000 entry, and Monza only a fortnight away only 18 cars finally arrived at Pau for the F.Junior race – only the ‘Legends’ [no connection with Duncan Wiltshire’s group!] and the mixed Classic F3 and F.Renault race having near full grids, with the Prototypes mustering only 8, two of which were manned by young Euro F3 driver borrowing the Lotus 23’s from the Mark Green Equipe to put in some preparatory work ahead of next weeks ‘modern’ F3 GP. Rumour had it that the Legends winner and one of the Classic F3 front runners were also racing with the same end in view.

Heading the FJ teams was local Nogaro doctor Stephane Rey in his Lola 5A, while Paul Alquier made a last minute swap of his Lotus 61 for his usual 20. Paul Davis towed his familiar red 20 from GB, missing the ferry blocade at St Malo by jumping ship to Caen, while Mark Green brought out his 18, John Dowson’s Elva 200 and Duncan’s Alexis, Hall & Hall were running Tupper Robinson’s Bandini, which DID feature in the local press “Sud Ouest”, with two splendid photos, while Ian Nuthall had Steve Russell’s red Elva 100, straight from Monaco, and his Stanguellini (0002G) for Belgian Francis Boodts, former owner of Steve’s ex-Borch Christensen 18, but actually making his race debut. Tony Goodwin had been back to UK after Monaco, even though the van had been abandoned for repairs in Nice, and had changed the “Monaco” longstroke BMC for the usual shortstroke, also managing to defeat the ferry strike, though somewhat delayed.

Of the F3’s, Steve Wilkinson (BT21) and Richard Urwin (BT28) were both making their Pau debuts, Francois Derossi had his B17, Maurice Slotine his Mk 14 Merlyn, Philippe Bonny a Tecno, and Dominique Bertin his Formule Blue Martini – Paul Busby made up the field with his 1000cc F2 Cooper – BRM.

No troubles with scrutineering, although, amusingly, those parked in Tissier were required to produce HTP’s while those in Tribunes were not! Practice was in the dry, and it was shaping up for an excellent battle between Stephane Rey and Derossi. Paul Davis was magically ahead of Tony’s Gemini, while Duncan was much happier than at Monaco, ahead of Richard Urwin, Tupper and John Dowson. Steve Russell was going well, but the session ended behind the tow truck with a broken gearbox. Tony Goodwin’s spare was locked in his car in Nice, so Steve, sadly, was a non starter. Francis kindly offered to return the Stanguellini, but Steve would have none of it. Poor Paul Busby only managed one lap before a spin at Foche, Tony Goodwin just coming to a halt in time, and the BRM Engine refused to fire again for a restart.

Race 1 was bright and early on Sunday, and, despite the heavy overnight rain, by the time the Legends had run, the track was near dry. Derossi and Rey made the start from Alquier and a good battle ensued, however it did not end there, for Alquier, already showing damage from a FF practice incident, put on a stunning performance, while Stephane and Derossi were changing places, with Stephane getting the second podium place behind Alquier for a French 1.2.3. There was a fabulous battle between Slotine, Paul Davis and Tony Goodwin, with only half a second separating all three at the flag, Mark Green had a lonely race, but Duncan, who’d been slow away from the line, and overtaken by all except Francis Boodts, clawed back the places of Dowson and Tupper over the race, pulling away from the latter over the last couple of laps. Francis drove a steady but careful race, 4 laps behind the winner.

Race 2 was Mid afternoon, and the rain was now pouring down. Richard Urwin and Paul Busby elected not to run. Paul Alquier had gone straight on at Foch in the FF race, so was hors de combat, so it was just 13 runners – but it was an excellent race down the field. The wide groves on the Avon wets for the F3’ made mincemeat of the Juniors for Derossi and a delighted Bertin, in second place. Stephane had no answer on his L-section Dunlops, but held off a late charge for Philipp Bonny’s Tecno. Paul Davis did well in 5th, while Steve Wilkinson, who had been slow away from the grid, and behind Duncan for several laps before the latter had a loss of concentration at La Gare, then stormed through, passing also Tupper, Goodwin, Green and Slotine, which was quite a feat in these conditions. Mark, Tupper and Duncan were close for many laps but Mark eventually got up behind Goodwin, while Tupper was driving really well – Duncan caught up finally at Oscar on the last lap but Tupper held on safely to the flag, which frankly you could only just see in the rain and spray. John Dowson, largely brakeless, was a lap behind, and Francis a further two adrift, but still he kept a good eye on his mirrors. So it was another chance to hear the “Marseillese” From another French 1.2.3 and a highly delighted Dominique Bertin on the second step.

Despite all the rain, the FJ contingent had a good social time with meals at Taverne Maitre Kanter, Le Saint-Jacques and Aragon washed down with lashings of Madiran Fleury, local wine recommended by Stephane and Helena.

DCPR