With Daniele Salodini and Greg Thornton hors de Combat after Jerez, the rest, including Iain Rowley, but with broken Lotus 22, headed West to the Algarve, for the final round of the 2013 FIA Lurani Trophy, to be joined by Duncan and Mair on the (very) early Thursday flight from Gatwick, Richard Smeeton and his Wainer, towed out by Robert Boughton, and Vern Williamson, already enjoying his Praia de Luz villa, the village in the news again as the search for Madeline McCann continues. 
Pierre Tonetti’s blue Brabham BT6 was already back in Italy following his brother Roberto’s Jerez accident, and the familiar yellow one no 991 had arrived in its place for Pierre’s welcome return to the FJ grid.

Thursday was all day “free practice” – sold only as a day package which equated to almost the same as the full weekends entry fee, but fortunately the organisers relented and at least split the sessions half way – several FJ’s took the chance to familiarise themselves with the demanding track, with its two blind turns and two blind straights, but no incidents or problems.  Almost all the FJ drivers and teams were staying in the Algarve Casino Hotel in Praia de la Roche, and several gravitated to the restaurant on the beach that evening, with its splendid fresh fish. Duncan and Mair and Grant and Penny enjoyed Australian hospitality from Don and Jeanette before they return down under, the T53 Cooper F1 also not having been sold.

Friday AM was an official ‘free’ practice, and all the 30 FJ’s were out except Luc Deneve (Lotus 18) and Gill Duffy, Andrew Tart taking Bond FJ-1 out for three installation laps after repairs, following its accident at Jerez.  David Methley (Brabham BT6) recorded a 20m 5.06s, over a second faster than Tonetti, with Philipp Buhofer (Lola Mk5A) and Jerez star, John Dowson (Brabham BT2) a further second adrift, Stephane Rey (Lola Mk5A) being well off the pace with handling problems, its first race following post Pau rebuild.  At the back, Martin Aubert was going gingerly in the ex-Peter Denty Lotus 20, hoping that post Jerez engine work had been effective.  Vern just managed 2 laps in the T4 Ausper before the electrics cooked, but advice from Grant Wilson, who carried out the original rebuild, saw installation of a heat shield between exhaust and coil, which seemed to work a miracle cure – sadly Tommaso Gelmini managed but one lap in the Branca before gearbox troubles intervened.
With Friday PM free and warm weather, there was time for a swim in the pool or sea, joining those like Chris and Felice Chilcott, and the Coopers only here for the sun!  Meanwhile Julia de Baldanza was leaving on Saturday morning to take a 3 day leisurely road trip back to the UK to enjoy her new McLaren supercar. Friday night, and some ventured further afield, Duncan, Mair, Grant and Penny joining the FIA stewards, HGPCA’s Martin Grant-Peterkin and Jürgen Barth at the quayside fish restaurant in Alvor – the quaint town near which the FJ’s used to stay in the early years of the Algarve event.  Jürgen may only have had a BMW hire car, but it was a pleasure for Duncan to be driven by a Le Mans winner!  The Bond Team, and a number of Portuguese endurance drivers had also wisely selected this restaurant, with fresh fish cooked on the barbeque outside.

Saturday was a busy day on the track, but still a respectable hour to start at 10.50 for qualifying.  David Methley’s purple Brabham was a whole 1.8s ahead of Tonetti with JP Campos Costa a further 2.7s behind Pierre – a great drive in the yellow ex-Picko Troberg Mk5 Lola, although it was his ‘home’ territory!  Next up was the ever improved John Dowson, with Philipp Buhofer just behind  - and then another two seconds back to Mark Pangborn’s orange Lotus 20B, Richard Smeeton’s Wainer and Stephane Rey’s Lola.  John Delane was putting in a Championship effort in the Lotus 18, sandwiched between Peter Anstiss’ Lotus 20/22 and the MRC of Don Thallon – Andrew Tart was further back, while the second Bond of Gil Duffy, now also in 1100cc trim, was propping up the back with Duncan in the powerless Alexis – sadly, again, Tommaso managed but one lap and put his gearless Branca away for the weekend. Dramas came after practice, the first 6 or so cars were weighed and the two cars that had fitted new bodywork after their Silverstone Classic crashes were found to be underweight and docked 10s each, which pushed Dowson back to 13th grid slot and Pangborn to 17th, for the weekend.

The race of the BT6’s was never to be – sadly David Methley’s ex Birrell car had stripped its c.w.p and that was that.  After R1, Pierre very generously offered David his BT6 for R2; a much appreciated gesture, but David did not want to risk himself in someone else’s toy.  Instead David laid hands on Duncan’s Alexis’ struggling BMC engine and reset the timing which was to give a consistent 7 seconds a lap different in R1 – thank you David!

Race 1 was at 14.50, so only just time to enjoy the splendid lunch in the Drivers Club – by wrist band purchase this year – before the full grid lined up, minus only Methley and Gelmini; although Mark Pangborn found himself up behind Andrew Tart’s tail as they lined up on the grid which was to cost him a drive through penalty, although judiciously taken, so, in the event, only one place was lost.

Lights out and Pierre led away – and stayed convincingly ahead. Behind, JP held 2nd spot for a couple of laps, before Buhofer took up the chase, only to roll into the pit lane after 7 laps with a broken contact within the ignition coil, leaving JP ahead of John Fyda, Stephane Rey and Don Thallon.  Kim Shearn was an early retirement into the gravel at Turn 3 with only 4th gear, on lap 2; having had one gearbox change, the last one had cried enough, while Richard Smeeton following into the pits with what turned out to be a tiny blockage in a jet on one of the carburettors.

Duncan was now going well, albeit still at the back, but on the 7th lap, John Dowson came up to lap him, then dropped back – no gears and he was to trickle into the pits, his c.w.p gone, while Duncan looked at his dials, found the temperature off the clock and wisely pulled off under the rotunda.  Then the following lap misfortune hit Andrew Tart at a blind spot,  dumping all the Bond oil, and led a bevy of spinners including Larry Kinch (ex Mark Green Lotus 22), Steve Futter (Lotus 20) and our Professor Dr Anthony Nobles in the ex-Christian Cane Lotus 22. Wisely the stewards put out the safety car, not that there weren’t a few more wobblies, and so the race ran its last 4 laps to the flag, with Tonetti, JP and John Fyda on the podium – Italian, Portuguese and Scottish flags waving behind them – surely the first time in Historic FJ that Portugal has been so well represented?
No weighroom drama’s this time, and initially it looked as if Andrew’s title hopes has been dashed, but a Bond conclave ensued, and the full team set to, removing the dead engine, and replacing this with the identical unit from Gil Duffy’s car – eventually all finished by 11pm!! Likewise, while Duncan could only scratch his head, Iain Rowley, once he had fettled James Owen’s Elva 200, set upon the Alexis, “changed everything that moved”!  - and had it running sweetly round the paddock next morning!!

But for the rest of us it was FJ party time and once again Vern and Copper Williamson very kindly opened their villa to drinks and  teas before a full house of 64 (sans the Bond drivers and workers ) sat down for a buffet service dinner at our familiar Lote 1 Mirage Restaurant, now in different, but same family, hands, since the original couple had split up – and indeed – it was officially closed for the winter and had reopened especially for us.  Our stewards joined us, and were welcomed, as were our Australian friends, Don & Jeanette and Kim and Marie, it being their last race before returning to Oz. Mair was thanked for her sterling efforts in organising the evening, and Penny and Grant for their ‘stand in’ at Jerez in Duncan’s absence on family duty.  The biggest table was John Lord’s family and team, being joined this weekend by daughters April and Chloe and their partners.  A splendid evening, and the restaurant were particularly accommodating in feeding and wining late comers, metaphorically, at least, hot and sweaty from late evening work on the cars back at the track.

Sunday was even more leisurely, although the clouds looked ominous, and a sharp dose of rain arrived around lunch time, the race getting away some 30 minutes late, only a very wet track, but the rain had largely stopped.  Not only had Andrew Tart been working on Bond cars, but he was also to be seen arm deep in Bob Birrell’s diff, to get Bob onto the track. James Owen, having had to change the cylinder head gasket after the car overheated in race one, and needing only to complete a few laps to qualify, elected to start from the pit lane, while drama struck JP – he could not get away from his 2nd row grid position for the green flag lap, and although he shot off in the end, it was behind all the field.  As he said afterwards, if he had known the rules, he would have been better to (correctly) start at the back of the grid, rather than suffer a drive through penalty for catching up to his original grid slot place for the start!!

Whatever rain does, it certainly evens the field! However, Pierre Tonetti was also the ring meister! Philipp Buhofer followed, but was to spin on the very first lap, as did Stephane Rey, so it was a Lola Mk 5A recovery situation – both driving well, but Philipp the more so, to catch up through the field.  Philipp was faster than all but Pierre, and was up to 4th, 6 seconds behind Richard Smeeton, but John Fyda was a secure 2nd place, while the consistent Don Thallon was more than happy with 5th spot, and Rey up to 6th’s at the finish.  Even without the penalty, JP was clearly not so comfortable in the rain, behind Pangborn and Anstiss.  Andrew Tart was going cautiously but seeing Delane ahead, had a brief dice before drawing in front, while Martin Aubert, going very well in front of wife, Carol and two little children, was the excellent Class D leader.  There was a good tussle between Andrea Guarino (Lotus 22), Vern’s Ausper T4 and Duncan, the former two having a spin each, and Duncan splitting them at the flag, with James Owen not able to recover sufficiently, and Bob Birrell with only one gear, while Francesco Baldanza (Brabham BT6) dropped it off the track on the uphill left hander, and Anthony Nobles called it a day after the two exploratory green flag laps – he wanted to be alive to sign a $2m contract on Monday!

A long inspection of the two championship contenders, Andrew and John took place in the scrutineering bay, but all was deemed correct, so Andrew Tart ran out overall FIA Lurani Trophy Champion for 2013, just 4 points ahead of John Delane, both taking their class wins, while John Fyda secured Class E1, Luc Deneve D2, Gil Duffy B1 for his first 4 races this year, and Daniele Salodini Class A – we hope to see them all in Marakesh in February for the FIA Historic Prizegiving.

John Delane was clearly disappointed, even missing the F1 race, running late due to earlier rain, as he rushed back to catch the flight back to the USA and on to COTA, so only 3 cars, out of 8 present lined up on the F1 grid for a shortened “45” minute race.  Anthony Nobles, the rain having stopped, was elated by a class win in his Rizla March 821 – truly a case of everyone is a winner!! – except sadly, Larry Kinch who had a suspension failure in his Williams FW 07 in practice and ended up at speed into the gravel and the wall, fortunately without injury, which is more than can be said for the Williams tub.

Mair and Duncan, James Owen, and Matt King caught the late (and ultimately) delayed Easyjet flight to Gatwick and all were back to the ‘office’ for Monday morning, Mair for two nights of 4 hour sleep, taking Sarah and family to Gatwick after a 3 am debrief on Silverstone to Duncan, and then on to Austin TX on Tuesday early AM…

DCPR