HSCC Silverstone Finals Meeting 18th October 2008 – Formula Junior UK Championship

Conditions at Silverstone were perfect for racing; sunny, very little breeze with just a little nip in the air to remind us it was October. Thirty seven cars took part in the Qualifying session for race 8; Rudolf Ernst in his Lotus 22 was the only reserve and was allowed to take part in the timed session.

Qualifying got under way well on time and the pacesetters were the Cooper T59s of Ben Simms and Sam Wilson with times of 1.05.622 and 1.06.085 respectively. Mike Hibberd in his Lotus 27 was third with 1.06.203. Edwin Jowsey was running without a transponder on his Lotus 22 and the timekeepers had him in fourth place with a 1.06.396, as with so many cars , they were only timing every fourth lap.

John Chisholm was in ninth spot and quickest of the Class D runners on 1.07.777, in his Gemini Mk3A.

Champion elect Jon Milicevic Lotus 18 was the best of the Class C cars with a time of 1.08.935.

Peter Mullen Kieft topped the Class A cars and Brendan Roberts Lola Mk2 was the best Class B front engined car a second ahead of Derek Walker’s Terrier Mk 1V and Crispian Besley in his Elva 100; sadly, Bill Grimshaw had an all too familiar plume of smoke from the Moorland, leaving him a non-runner , but at least it gave Rudolf a start.

Race 8 started a few minutes early; at the end of lap one it was Ben Simms Cooper T59 ahead of Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22 (already penalised 10 seconds for a start line infringement) with Mike Hibberd Lotus 27 close in third, on the second lap Edwin tried a little too hard and suffered a spin which dropped him back to seventh place, before he began the climb back up the order and by lap 5 was behind third place man Simon Diffey’s Lotus but the track was very crowded by now with numerous lapped cars mixed up with the leaders. The leader was now coming under pressure from Mike Hibberd in the Lotus 27; this led to Ben Simms recording the fastest lap of the race at 1.05.81 on lap 8. On lap ten Mike moved his 27 into the lead and Edwin was back into third place on the road in his 22. By lap 12 Ben Simms had the T59 back in front and this was to stay the order of the leaders to the finish. Further down the field matters were far from settled and a grim battle was joined over places fourth down to sixth.

Prominent in this tussle were Sam Wilson in his T59, Andrew Hibberd 22 and Simon Armer also T59 mounted. Also trying to take a hand were Simon Diffey in his Lotus 20 and James Murray in the Lola Mk5A. Sam Wilson was attempting to pass Andrew Hibberd into Copse corner on the outside but was unable to make it stick but on lap ten he did pass Andrew into fourth spot, which seemed to settle the finishing order at the top of the field. Simon Armer finished sixth in his T5, Simon Diffey was seventh and James Murray in his Lola 5A finished eighth.

Ninth was John Chisholm Gemini Mk 3A with his usual rapid drive to Class D honours, followed by the 1992 FJ Champion, Steve Bradley , back in a Junior again for only the second time, pedalling Peter Denty’s newly restored Lotus 20.

Tenth, four seconds behind Chisholm came Jon Milicevic in his Lotus 18 to take Class C.

Derek Walker’s Terrier took front engined honours from Crispian Besley’s Elva 100 by some 9 seconds, after Brendan retired early at Luffield, and John Truslove, making a welcome return in his Lola Mk 2, was another non-finisher. All this was however enough for Crispian, fittingly, to pass Duncan for the class championship and the Hillwood Trophy [ as well as his name to be on Bill Grimshaw’s van !! ] With Gordon Wright’s Stanguellini still in the US container, Anthony Childe-Freeman took the Italian honours in the Volpini. Every one on the pit wall was very sorry to see the highly original Gemini II of Paul Dixon seriously damaged after the chequered flag, when the suspension broke and it vered 90 degrees into the wall, fortunately without any damage to Paul himself.

After the finish there was some confusion with the podium, which featured winner Ben Simms, second place man Mike Hibberd with third place honours going to Sam Wilson, this presumably due to the 10 seconds penalty suffered by Edwin Jowsey at the start.

This was compounded by the Clerk of the Course calling several drivers to race control to explain some overtaking of back markers under yellow flags at Becketts when Peter Mullen’s Kieft had ploughed off into the gravel; in the end there were no further penalties, although some of the leaders had their knuckles rapped.

Eventually after about an hour’s delay the final results were issued which showed Edwin in third place after all, very confusing.

It was a shame the final UK race of the 50th Anniversary year ended with some uncertainty; it had been a good Junior race on the National circuit., but at least it allowed a jolly party, closing the Jubilee Year in the UK, to consume plenty of “ Freedom Beer” from our sponsor, Crispian.

Stan Hibberd 21st October 2008