Final Jubilee Joy

Sunday night and Monday morning were a hive of activity at Killarney as the Australians packed their two containers and Brian Tyler coordinated the two open transporters, eight cars each for the UK contingent with the tools and spares in a separate truck kindly sponsored by Triton Express. Marc  Amez-Droz and Philipp Buhofer were returning home as planned, and Brian Mitcham’s Wainer would not race again in RSA, although he did manage to track down Marco Antonucci and endeavour  to secure arrangements for transfer of the Wainer moulds, which are still in Italy.  Marco has given up ‘Dales Place’ Restaurant, with all its rare breed menu’s, Zebra, Ostrich, Springbok etc, flattened the building, and erected an office block instead!

The three empty places were soon snapped up by Michael Waller in the t/cam T56, ex- Trevor Blokdyk, planning to run with the FJs, and Alan Baillie’s T71/3 Ford engined F1 and 23 sports car, patched up after its (rather too) hectic dice with Ned Spieker’s similar car, while in the Australian camp, Peter Boel’s Lola Mk 5 would not be out any more, so with the Howard Robinson/ Dickon Daggit Scorpion-DKW, the prospects were for a 23 car grid at East London.

John & Alison Boyes, the Spieker’s, and the Baillie base camp all flew down, but the rest took a variety of road courses and stops en route, Mair and Duncan opting for one stop; 3 days overlooking Platenberg Bay.  Some reached East London in time on Thursday to visit the amazingly original Grand Prix track running along the coast, the main straight being a minor public road.  There were plans to build student accommodation for the new East London University over the track, but fortunately well organised opposition has, seemingly, put this to bed, but, nonetheless, the presence of Juniors was undoubtedly good news for the cause of the Circuit.
Almost everybody was staying at the Garden Court Hotel, which increased the fun, and the first night saw an excellent gathering for a meal at Grazia Restaurant, convened by our host, Brian Tyler for both the SA Historic Single-Seater Series and the FJ’s.
Friday was free practice all day, the scheduled qualification in late afternoon being postponed as the official transponders had not yet turned up.  John Chisholm’s repaired drive shaft bolts and brakes arrived with Dave Alexander and the Gemini was soon back together.
Don Thallon’s gearbox was also refitted, Iain Rowley rushing from car to car lending a willing and able hand to all and sundry.  There were 3 or 4 sessions, and everyone had a run, though Norm Falkiner was much under the weather, and only ventured our briefly in the Stanguellini.  Sadly for Michael Waller, the c.w.p went in the Cooper, but he had 20 laps under his belt in the Historic Single Seater practices, where he had elected to participate rather than with the FJ’s.

Late afternoon and the first of the rains began.  Brian had arranged a boat trip along the coast up the Buffalo River but by scheduled departure time it was pouring! – only the West Australians, working Team Baillie, Mair and Duncan and the irrepressible Roger Woodbridge, who was undoubtedly the star turn of the whole trip, as enthusiastic on as off the Circuit, but until the very end when the clutch went, enjoying every minute in the Ausper T4.  Another meal, drying out, in Grazias, was equally fun, albeit too much for Sonny Rajah!

So Saturday was qualifying and race day.  Only a few went out for FJ testing, Norm feeling much recovered, and Marcus Mussa heading the times, with 1m 36-7s, well ahead of John Chisholm.  Marcus held his lead in qualifying, down to 1m 35.8, 0.1s ahead of Robin Longdon’s Lola 5A, with John Chisholm now well up for a race battle, only 0.6s behind.  Chris Drake (Elva 300) and Doug Mockett (T56 disc) were almost inseparable for the next spots  whilst Roger Ealand (18) and Bill Hemming (Elfin) continued their season long duel as fastest Australians with drum brakes ,while Don Thallon was finding  less power in his reserve engine.
A quick turnaround, and it was soon  ready for Mair to line up the cars in grid order on the pit apron – having already attached a number label to the steering wheel of each car – they then promptly drove round to the grid, stopped at their allotted spot, clearly numbered on the tarmac, five second board, red lights out and away – if only the English circuits and the HSCC and VSCC could get their starts organised in such a way: it would save them such a lot of time (and money!) and stop the horrendous startline prangs that featured in 2008.

A great start  - but oh dear – as John Chisholm changed up to 3rd the gearbox shaft gave way and he trickled to a halt.  So it was left to Robin Longdon and Marcus Mussa to thrill the crowds at the front, with Doug Mockett not far behind,  Longdon taking the honours by less than a second.  Chris Drake had a fright with the enormously consistent Roger Ealand (18) oh his tail, while Malcolm Ricketts, who, with Jill, stood out as a couple who really were enjoying themselves with Jill on every minute of the tour, in an Australian sandwich between Hemming and Kearn, half a second separating the three of them.  Near the back, a great battle before Lance Carwardine moved the blue McEntree slightly ahead, and Duncan took advantage of Paul Smeeth lappery to move past Roger Woodbridge, but they swapped back and forth over the remaining laps, with Roger just 0.3s behind in the race to the flag.

With only two hours in between, there was some hectic work to ready the cars again.  Iain Rowley discovered that Duncan’s starter motor had failed and successfully changed it (Duncan had a spare!), as well as assisting John Chisholm in reassembling the Gemini for loading, at the same time.
For the final event of the 14 month long Golden Jubilee Year, the race could not have been more exciting, with Longdon and Mussa battling all the way, and enlivened two laps from the end when spots of rain turned into the real stuff – it was nail biting stuff and as they came up to the line for the final time, Marcus nipped out and took the flag by a whisker, but on aggregate, Robin had time in hand to take overall victory.  American’s don’t like rain, so a well deserved third place went to Paul Smeeth in his sage green 22, having had a much more enjoyable SA tour that the last one (didn’t witness any killings this time!!), Malcolm Ricketts was beaming again, just failing to outdrag Peter Anstiss by a whisker.  Duncan had a more lonely race, as Roger broke the T4’s clutch, Lance Cawardine, after dog gear problems in free practice, had the final drive fail after a couple of laps, while Norm Falkiner got the Stanguellini on to the marbles at the hairpin and spun to a halt on the grass.
The Historic Single Seaters were out last.  Alan Baillie in F1.3.64 had managed 1m 32.96 in practice which would have put him right behind the works Coopers of Mclaren and Maggs  on the December 63 SA GP Grid, although he was 2s slower in race 1, well clear of second man Patrick Dunseith in his Merlyn 25.  Howard Robinson let Dickon Daggit continue with the Scorpion but solitary laps in testing, qualifying and race 1 were all that Dickon needed, as the handling still needs major adjustment, following the rebuild from its crash at the last outing a year or more ago – But in race 2 – the rain was now really falling, and Alan was prevailed on by the family not to risk the T.71/3 and 23  in the conditions , so Iain Rowley changed from 23 to Duncan’s Alexis  for his chance on the track, coming home a spirited 5th in the conditions, with Patrick Dunseith a well deserved winner.  Patrick is now seriously on the trail of a Formula Junior.
The cars were all packed and loaded, John Chisholm in haste completing the reassembly of the Gemini, and then making sure that everybody’s cars and kit was carefully loaded and stored away.  Thank you John.

And so to the final party and prizegiving – much jollity and photography for both the Australian and UK contingents, David Reid, Brian Tyler and Duncan said a few words from the Rostrum, signed posters were presented to Iain Rowley and Brian Tyler, with enthusiastic acclaim,  trophies were presented for both the races, and for the overall Springbok Formula Junior Series of 6 races, with Marcus Mussa the winner, from Doug Mockett and Robin Longdon.
After a splendid barbecue at the Circuit, the celebrations continued into the evening at the bar of the Hotel....!

DCPR