The Silverstone International Meeting – formally supported by The Daily Express has a long and distinguished history – being one of Britain’s non championship F1 races and along with the Goodwood Easter Monday F1 race, a real try out for that season’s World Championship – of course there was from 1960 – 63 always a Formula Junior race on the bill – so of course we had to be there.

As has become the norm, we had a cracking entry – 48 cars – sadly Chris Merrick’s Cooper was Hors de combat after his engine ate itself at Donington.

Nice to welcome new drivers and cars to the family – Ian Phillips in the ex Monson/Hall BMC, Ian Simmonds with the ex Jon Gross Mk1 Envoy, David Innes’ sublime ex Ron Harris Team Lotus   - Lotus 27 from Australia. Lukas Halusa in a smart ex Andy Prill Lotus 20 and Mike Peck out after a long restoration with his unusual early Tojeiro.

Practice – no its not – it’s Qualifying
OK, OK, qualifying – produced no real surprises – first 7 cars were Lotus (Loti?) despite the time sheet totally mixing the cars – but the names and times were correct – Sam Wilson looking smooth and in control – was exactly that – on pole by a second from Manfredo Rossi whose Lotus looked slightly unfamiliar without its Martini livery. The Hibberd Duo came next with Andrew slipping to 4th after a fuel pick up problem.
Class duels looked on the card with Simon Diffey’s Lotus recently changed to Drum Brakes leading the close pair of Roach and Wilkinson in Class D2. In the front engine class, Mark Woodhouse narrowly bested Andrew Tart with Justin Fleming close behind.

The Race
As expected, Sam Wilson led off the start – what was not expected was a beautiful outbraking  from Andrew Hibberd to take the lead at Brooklands – there followed an enthralling dice for the lead until Sam got past and gradually eased a more comfortable gap – Andrew just gets better each year and has now definitely joined the very small “Superstar Category”.

There was a grand scrap for 3rd between Manfredo Rossi and Michael Hibberd – the radio commentator and some spectators made much of Manfredo apparently losing the place (temporarily) to Michael when baulked by his wife Caroline – a great story but the facts are rather different – which I will examine separately.
Another great race between Jack Woodhouse and Sam Smeeth in Loti – Jack got the nod by under half a second.

In the Drum Braked D2 class, a great battle ensued between Diffey, Wilkinson and Roach- Diffey made superhuman efforts to stay in front of Roach – a most entertaining scrap which ended in a spectacular spin by Diffey which started at Brooklands – ending just before Luffield – he got going but had lost contact, thereafter Roach dropped back a little from Wilkinson who won the class by 4 seconds.

The front engine class B2 was even closer – Andrew Tart led by a whisker – Mark Woodhouse got absolutely the very maximum from his Elva 100 – drawing alongside on the run to the line on several laps – on the last lap they negotiated Luffield and Woodcote side by side – at the flag, Tart was ahead by rather less than 1 tenth of a second – probably less than half a nosecone! Justin Fleming initially joined the fun but the addition of David Innes’ Lotus 27 separated him from the Tart/Woodhouse dice.

In class A for FIAT engine cars, Peter Mullen drove well in his sublime OSCA to win the class – after Michael Ashley Brown “broke his nose” on the warm up lap – examination of his finely chiselled features led this correspondent to conclude he meant the Volpini’s nose.

It was good to see two friends from far afield, Aussie Martin Bullock and South African David Innes in their pair of immaculate Lotus 27s – Martin got badly bogged down at the start but recovered smoothly to finish ahead of David – Martin is the driving force behind the forthcoming 2016 Anniversary race at Barbagallo in Perth WA – it’s a great place – the welcome and hospitality is fantastic – have a word with him about it – he will be doing a full season this year in UK & Europe.

The entire race was notable for close racing throughout the field – providing fun and satisfaction for the drivers and supporters and entertainment for the spectators – it was encouraging to observe close and fair racing throughout – in the spirit of Formula Junior – well done and haste ye back.

The Rossi Family “Domestic”
I’m really sorry to spoil a great story with facts but I was watching closely and could see Manfredo and Mike Hibberd – very close and approaching Caroline rapidly through Luffield and Woodcote – the fact is that Caroline was on the inside line through Woodcote with another (unidentified) car alongside her on the outside while Mike and Manfredo bore down upon the pair – it might be thought that Woodcote is a corner taken (just) without lifting  - but believe me it’s a potentially dangerous corner and there is for sure no scope for ducking and weaving to make room for a faster car (even if it is your husband)  In any case, Caroline was on the Inside with another car to her left – all 4 concerned did exactly the right thing and maintained their line – Mike and Manfredo have great skill and experience – as the scene unfolded, Mike got a better run and ended up ahead of Manfredo until the last lap –  as they say where Caroline comes from “That’s the Way the Croissant Crumbles”.