CROFT NOSTALGIA WEEKEND

As last year, Croft made a huge effort to make their Nostalgia weekend much, much more than just another Historic Race Meeting – combined with the vision and forward thinking of Grahame and the HSCC Team, the meeting was a great success despite the tragic weather on Saturday which inevitably delayed the racing and certainly ruined the anticipated attendance.

The Military Vehicle Trust turnout rivalled anything from Goodwood and the Classic Car Display didn’t seem at all affected by the weather – sadly but inevitably the flying displays were weathered off.
One prominent FJHRA member absented himself each hour on the hour to hear the static Griffin Aero Engine starting and running (the Griffin was an enlarged and much more powerful version of the Rolls Royce Merlin)

QUALIFYING
No surprises in the first 3 qualifiers – but the wet conditions produced some surprises for 4th, 5th and 6th places – Alex Morton, Steve Futter and Gordon Russell respectively – no, I didn’t take any notice of their modest disclaimers – it was just really great driving in difficult conditions.
It was particularly nice to see a full grid of 32 with no reserves or disappointed non starters.

RACE 1
Well, few people thought that Saturday’s race would happen at all – torrential rain fell, flooding the track – the Croft Team worked hard with mobile pumps clearing the worst – we eventually got going at 1810 – the rain had abated but not stopped – some customary suspects made their way to the sharp end and when Denis Welch had a driveshaft break, the first 3 were Milicevic, Murray and Woodhouse.
Stephen Cooper had his annual race in Dad’s Cooper and finished a most impressive 6th – Gordon Russell easily took the Front engine class – wow that Gemini flies.
Really nice to see newcomer Chris Wilks enjoying himself in the Deep Sanderson.
Also wonderful to see the 3 Class A cars of Michael Ashley-Brown (Volpini), Gordon Wright (Stanguellini) and Tony Pearson (Bandini) having such a close race.
A huge shame that Alex Morton’s stellar qualifying came to naught when his recently replaced driveshaft let go.

RACE 2
Alhumdilallah, a dry race – Up front , no surprises (I’m told – I was too far back to see!) Milicevic, Welch and Murray.
In midfield a great scrap with 6 or 7 cars including the 3 BT6s – rudely interrupted by a cambriolage at the Complex.
Brian Mitcham after a subdued race on Saturday, set off with a vengeance – he caught Gordon Russell’s Gemini and after a titanic duel, took the class.
Nice to see Gerald Ludwig from Krefeld in Germany – his Brabham BT6 is truly immaculate and original – he’d come a long way to join us – just not quite as far as Tony Simmons and his BT6 – he was the only battler from the Aussie tour to make it this time. The 2 and a 2 half Aussies have greatly added to the ambiance of FJ races this year – really hope you will be back next year – with reinforcements?
(The first half is Tony Simmons who is actually a Kiwi, and the other half is Roger Ealand who stands accused of being a Pom in disguise!)
In summary a great meeting – not to be missed – everyone makes great efforts to make this the Goodwood of the North – In just over 12 months it has established a well deserved place on the Historic Scene.

RESERVE 4/5 August 2012 for the next (dry inshallah) installment
           

Lt Col Bob Birrell