including
Round 1 of the FJHRA "JMW" Front Engine FJ Series.
Mallory Park 3rd April 2011

The venerable 750 Motor Club hosted our second Championship race of the season, plus round 1 of the front engine race series, at a cool and latterly damp Mallory Park.

Drivers were surprised to find a noise test at the Assembly area entrance because the Supplementary Regs did not mention any limit. This point was communicated to the race organisers but in order not to disrupt the meeting all cars were fitted with silencers and thankfully all passed the test.

First group out for Practice were the rear engine classes of 16 starters but this was immediately reduced to 15 when the engine in Andrew Robertson’s Crossle suffered a partial seizure on the opening lap and he immediately withdrew the car.

Very welcome to FJ was Nick Fennell with his beautiful Lotus 27 immaculately restored by Classic Team Lotus, resplendent in the correct shade of “bleu” which Nick had very carefully researched to accord with the cars French period history and additionally he races his Lotus 25 with the HGPCA.
Steve Jones equally new to FJ with his recently bought ex Morrison Cooper T67 also races a Cooper 500, aside from flying in air races and aerobatic competitions.

However, it was Jon Milicevic, Cooper T59, who emerged on pole position with a lap time of 0:49.87, which may well be a new FJ lap record.
Peter Mullen led Class C2, his Kieft producing a very respectable 0:54.29 lap.
John Truslove brought his Elva-DWK experience to the cockpit of Tim Bishop’s similarly engined Sauter to head Class C1 with 1:00.07 despite a minor problem with the gear selection, which was soon rectified by Tim.
Class D2 leader David Hall’s BMC Mk2 made 0:55.59 whilst Malcolm Wishart’s ex Tyrrell Cooper T65, presently in Class H guise, set a time of 1:03.64.

Remarkably Coopers occupied the first five places on the grid and after a full green flag lap the start saw Milicevic lead from Sam Wilson and Simon Armer in Cooper T59s and John Sykes Merlyn Mk5/7 made a superb start into 4th to be ahead of Steve Smith’s Cooper T59 at the end of the first lap.
Jones bogged down on this his first FJ start and lost his outstanding 5th start place to Paul Smeeth’s Lotus 22, eventually finishing 8th.
Something of a duel took place between David Hall’s BMC Mk2 and Kevin Musson’s Lola Mk3 and after some spirited passing and re-passing Musson prevailed.
Peter Mullen, in his Hoole Racing attended Kieft, kept ahead of Fennell who took a very steady approach to his first FJ race although he did successfully fend off Richard Smeeton’s Lotus 22 (not Wainer as printed in the programme & results).
Mike Gregory’s De Tomaso Isis ran consistently although somewhat frustrated by the slow pace afforded by the FIAT engine and Truslove most unfortunately had to retire Bishop’s Sauter after 7 laps when coolant spray extinguished some of the sparks.
Malcolm Wishart’s new engine in his Cooper T65 performed well but he naturally took it easy only to then find that a gearbox seal leak caused some smoke.
Peter Anstiss moved his Lotus 20/22 past Jones but couldn’t catch Sykes, whilst Armer had a rather lonely race once Milicevic and Wilson has disappeared into the middle distance.
Having passed Sykes the battle between Smith and Smeeth continued for 4th place finishing in that order, only for there to be an unfortunate misunderstanding at the finish line, when the last lap board missed the leader, further compounded when the chequered flag also missed the winner.
Thus some cars slowed and lost places to others who were still racing, a potentially dangerous situation.
After some remonstration the results were counted back by 1 lap and an amended results sheet was issued.
The final result proved something of a tour de force for Historic Team Cooper recording an unprecedented 1, 2, 3, 4 finish.

1st overall and Class E, Jon Milicevic, Cooper T59, fastest lap 0:49.94
2nd                                 Sam Wilson, Cooper T59
3rd                                  Simon Armer, Cooper T59

1st Class D2, Kevin Musson, Lola Mk3, fastest lap 0:55.79
2nd                 David Hall, BMC Mk2

1st Class C2, Peter Mullen, Kieft, fastest lap 0:54.06
2nd                Mike Gregory, De Tomaso Isis

1st Class H, Malcolm Wishart, Cooper T65, fastest lap 1:01.27

Practice for the front engined class cars had barely started when Derek Walker’s Terrier Mk4 gearbox failed comprehensively and he had to withdraw the car. This was very poor luck for the Walker/Robertson family who now had both of their cars back on the trailers with only 3 laps completed between them.
The remaining dozen cars continued and by lap 11 Brian Mitcham’s Class B2 Mallock U2 had made the pole setting time of 0:53.47 only for the car to then suffer a broken half shaft for which there was no spare available. Keith Roach was unusually well down the order, the engine in his Gemini Mk2 being noticeably below par.
Michael Ashley-Brown’s lovely Volpini on 1:02.24 secured best time for Class A whilst Stephen Bulling’s Sadler, the only Class B1 contender, made 1:03.97.

With Mitcham’s U2 confined to the paddock, Andrew Tart’s Bond was promoted to first place but he was so busy looking for a starting flag that he failed to see the starting lights and threw up his arms in horror as those around him shot past.
It would seem that Stephen Barlow maybe dropped his clutch a little too suddenly because he stalled his mid grid position BMC Mk1, but fortunately a disaster was averted by the alert drivers behind who waited for a safe way past.
Bill Grimshaw was trying out a new camshaft in his Moorland and it looked to be successful but sadly Bill’s unaccustomed speed achieving a personal best lap took him twice into the gravel. MAB was also able to gain several places and was leading Roach for many laps, meanwhile Peter St.Barbe had got his Elva 100 out in the lead and stayed there until the recovering Tart passed him after 5 laps and drew away even more when in the latter stages of the race there was light rain which made it very interesting for the drivers on the brand new tarmac track surface.
Gordon Wright’s Stanguellini was hopelessly strangled by the silencer so sadly there was none of that wonderful exhaust bark and he was unable to make any impression on Justin Fleming’s Elva 100.
Roger Dexter had suffered over fuelling in practice but judicious adjustment of the triple Amals during the interval had his Elva-DKW right on song moving him up many places in the race to finish a very good 5th.
The BMC Mk1 pair David Hall and Barlow became close once Barlow had got going but Hall finished just ahead.
Roach did eventually manage to get past MAB but not before loosing the entire tail of the Gemini when he had to straddle the curb during an earlier attempt.

1st overall and Class B2, Andrew Tart, Bond, fastest lap 0:55.37
2nd                                   Peter St.Barbe, Elva 100
3rd                                    David Hall, BMC Mk1

1st Class B1, Stephen Bulling, Sadler

1st Class A, Michael Ashley-Brown, Volpini

After each race all the cars were weighed on the bridge by the scrutineers and none were found underweight.

Peter Anstiss announced the winners of both of the races and also presented Bill Grimshaw with the trophy he was unable to receive at the AGM-Prizegiving.
Partway through the proceedings the heavens opened and the awning which seemed quite full with 20 people was suddenly bursting when over double that number crammed inside trying to find shelter from the torrential rain.

The paddock exit remained steadfastly closed for some hours until the last race of the day had finished causing a massive queue of waiting vehicles, but Malcolm Wishart cunningly used the time to remove his leaky gearbox, which he subsequently dropped off at his favoured specialist’s place, eventually arriving home in Scotland at 2am.

Peter Jackson, The Cooper Cockpit Correspondent.
(with thanks to spotters Col Bob Birrell and John Greenwood). 5th April 2011