Sixteen FJ cars and one F3 500 car recorded times on the still slightly damp Snetterton track , after very heavy overnight rain, to qualify for round seven of the UK FJ championship.

Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22 set a scorching pace, his lap of 1.18.821 was I think the fastest lap by a FJ car that I have seen recorded at Snetterton, it was 2.4 secs quicker than second man Mike Hibberd in his Lotus 27, Paul Smeeth was third 6.8 secs behind the pole time, Ian Robinson Lola Mk 5 fourth and Reg Hargrave Brabham BT6 fifth before suffering a major engine failure at Coram curve, on his fifth lap, Bill Grimshaw Gemini MK11 was the pacesetter in the front engined category with a time of 1.31.556, Paul Hewes in the Lola Mk2 was less than a second behind, Rod Delves Kieft was the only F3 car to set a time and this was ahead of the three J1R cars Simon Hamilton's Lotus 18, Sue Spence's very pretty Elva 200, and Ken Collins Cooper T56.

From the start Edwin Jowsey was into the lead in his Lotus 22, Mike Hibberd's chase was virtually over when his Lotus 27 took to the grass on lap one, so first time round Edwin Jowsey had a clear lead over second man Paul Smeeth Lotus 22 with Andrew Hibberd Lotus 20 close behind in third, Ian Robinson had his Lola in fourth and Len Selby 's Brabham fifth ahead of Barry Westmorland's Lotus 22, Mike Hibberd was recovering from his off and made it into the top six but the Lotus 27 was not running properly so his progress didn't last, Edwin Jowsey was running in a lonely but commanding lead but second place was being disputed Paul Smeeth 's 22 having Andrew Hibberd's 20 alongside on the straight but Andrew just not able to make it stick, Paul Hewes Lola was heading the front engined runners in seventh with Bernard Brock Elva close behind, Simon Hamilton was much improved from qualifying and Had his Lotus 18 in ninth, Rod Delves retired the Kieft on lap nine, Mike Hibberd retired his out of sorts 27 on lap eleven,

the first three, Jowsey, Smeeth and Andrew Hibberd all put fifteen laps into the twenty minutes allowed, Edwin lapped everyone up to fourth place and had a very comfortable win in his Lotus 22, Paul Smeeth was second and Andrew Hibberd third, Ian Robinson had his Lola in fourth, Len Selby fifth, Paul Hewes held on for front engined honours from Brock's Elva, Sue Spense brought the Elva home fourteenth and last finisher.

An interesting race but a not very good turnout, which is a shame as I seem to always be reporting poor support for Snetterton FJ races !

Stan Hibberd 29^th July 2003.