CLASSIC CLUBMANS CHAMPIONSHIP 2007
Mark is King of the Castle
Classic Clubmans returned to Castle Combe, after a break of three years. Mark Charteris took the overall win, after poleman Pete Harper’s car failed on the line.
Clive Wood took Class B honours, but was made to fight all the way by Dave Facer and John Deane-Bowers.
Entry
27 cars were entered for the first of two HSCC meetings this year. Sadly, Ray Mallock’s engine started making funny noises, so he withdrew, leaving a field comprising 15 A-Sports, 8 B–Sports, 2 F1300 Class D and 1 pre 1970 Class C.
In Class A, there were first appearances of the year for Graham Onion and Robin Booth and in Class B, welcome returns for Bob Beazer and Alan Davenport. Also making a rare return was David Childs in the ex Peter Green Centaur, a car that he helped to design back in the 70’s
Qualifying
On a day when scorching temperatures were expected, the morning was surprisingly cool and cloudy. This favoured the competitors and some scorching times were expected.
Sure enough, despite a stop to reattach an errant plug lead, Pete Harper topped the timesheets, with a time 3 seconds under the current lap record. He was joined on row one by Mark Charteris, just 0.04 seconds adrift. Mark had a ‘meeting of minds’ with DC and nudged the tyre wall early in the session.
Row two saw Malcolm Jackson and Anttt Denham, both with trouble free sessions, Anttt the last to break the 1 min. 10 second barrier. On row three were Steve Chaplin and Mike Hickson, each complaining that any lack of speed was nothing to do with the car!
Row four saw two drivers obviously destined for the ENT clinic, because they both complained about nose problems! Ray Harper had splitter problems, whilst Keith Whyman’s fell off completely! (I don’t know how you can blame the wife for that Keith…you should do your own braising in future!).
On row five were Bob Crozier and Gavin Childs. Bob was doing two races and needed to ensure the car stayed in one piece. Row six saw Graham Onion, having his first outing of the year, and the first Class D car, the Batten of Jared Wood, neither with any problems.
Ian Mitchell was on row seven in the CTG, still learning the car. He was joined by the first Class B car, that of Clive Wood. Clive’s only complaint, being lack of heat in the tyres (I did offer to huff on them for him!).
On row eight were Sam Lancaster and John Deane-Bowers. This was both drivers’ first visit to the circuit, John doing particularly well to grab the second B-Sport slot on the grid. Two B-Sports also occupied the next row. Mike Sales, having his second race back since the 80’s and Dave Facer, who was limited to just three laps when a plug lead came off. Mike discovered a rear hub problem which may have hindered his times.
On row ten was the B-Sport of Bob Beazer, having his first run of the year, and Reg Powell, whose practice in the Pink Panther was restricted by ignition failure. I’m not sure if that was the driver or the car!
Robin Booth and Jeremy Banks shared row eleven, both experiencing the fast sweeps of Castle Combe for the first time. Robin owned up to getting lost and frightening himself (I had wondered why he was studying a circuit plan of Croft before qualifying). Jeremy, still in his first season, took it steady whilst learning the circuit.
The lone Class C car of Bob Yarwood was on row twelve, alongside Alan Davenport. Bob had also not been here before and this was Alan’s return after his big accident at Silverstone at the end of last year.
The final row was occupied by David Childs and Ash Seymour. David, out of retirement to shake down the recently acquired Centaur, had his practice cut short by a coming together with Mark Charteris early in the session. Ash’s clutch went, limiting his track time.
Race
The weather perked up in the afternoon and it was bright and sunny when the 26 cars took to the track to do battle. The cars were held on the dummy grid for what seemed like an age, before mechanics were allowed out with slave batteries. No overheating casualties though, although Bob Yarwood dropped out with a failed ignition switch (Defra may need to advised of Reg Powell’s contagious problems). The remaining 25 cars made it round the green flag lap and back to the lights.
As the lights went out, Mark got away cleanly from the front row, but the red car on pole went nowhere, as Pete’s differential decided it really did not want to connect the engine to the rear wheels any more. It caused some chaos, but the field streamed safely by, albeit, many of them on the grass!
At the end of lap one, it was Mark, comfortably clear of Malcolm, who in turn was followed by Anttt , Steve Chaplin and Ray Harper. Keith Whyman got a flyer off the line and was in front of Mike Hickson, these two being shadowed by Gavin Childs, Bob Crozier and Graham Onion.
The real surprise was in B-Sport. John Deane-Bowers also got a flyer and kept Clive Wood at bay, being helped just a little by Ian Mitchell and Sam Lancaster. Dave Facer had gained an advantage from Sam’s errant grid positioning and slotted through into third, ahead of Mike Sales and Bob Beazer.
Robin Booth was next up, clear of a squabbling trio of cars. These were Reg Powell, David Childs in the Centaur and Jeremy Banks in the ex Glen Eagling Mallock Mk.20. Alan Davenport was next, ahead of the Tasman of Ash Seymour, bringing up the rear.
On lap two it all started to happen. Graham Onion spun and then Keith Whyman spun at Bobbies Chicane, collecting Mike Hickson in the process. Keith continued but Mike was out on the spot with the nose completely wiped off the front of the car. This incident also claimed Bob Crozier, who parked up just after the chicane.
As the race reached half distance, Mark and Malcolm were comfortable, but a real battle had developed between Anttt , Steve and Ray.
The real fun though, was in B-Sport. Still unable to get past J D-B, Clive Wood then fell behind Dave Facer, after losing momentum out of Bobbies Chicane. Clive got Dave back though, a lap later and having lost his A-Sport ‘escorts’ (Ian Mitchell and Sam Lancaster) it was starting to look ominous for JD-B. Sure enough, at the Esses Chicane on lap five, John succumbed to a pincer movement from Clive and Dave, becoming the kipper in a Mallock sandwich, and went from first to third in one easy move!
Further back, Reg, DC and Jeremy were having a humdinger, whilst Keith Whyman made progress through the field after his incident on lap two. Robin Booth was starting to get to grips with the circuit and Graham Onion was also making progress after his early spin.
The second part of the race was incident free and at the flag, it was Mark , three seconds clear of Malcolm . A further six seconds back, Anttt just beat Steve Chaplin to the line, with Ray Harper hot on their tails.
Gavin Childs had a very lonely race in 6th. Jared Wood took Class D honours, in an equally lonely race in 7th. overall and Ian Mitchell completed the unlapped runners in 8th.
Once past J D-B, Clive and Dave Facer put the hammer down, finishing just 0.6 seconds apart. Keith Whyman recovered to take 11th. well clear of Robin Booth in 12th. JD-B took 3rd. in B-Sport, earning himself the spoils for ‘Driver of the Day’ award, comfortably clear of Sam Lancaster and the B-Sport pairing of Mike Sales and Bob Beazer.
Graham finished 17th and David Childs was 18th just clear of Reg Powell and Jeremy Banks. Alan Davenport completed a satisfactory return, a further lap down and Ash Seymour logged his first finish to complete the runners. Well done to Ash who can now rank amongst the drivers, as well as running around like greased lightening between race and qualifying to get other driver’s cars sorted and ready to race, which earned him ‘Mechanic of the Day’.
Whether it was the conditions, or just significant progress in car preparation or engine performance, but both the A and B-Sport lap records took a beating. In A-Sport, five cars were under the old lap record, Mark Charteris setting a new mark almost three seconds faster. Ray Harper set the 2nd. fastest lap, also in the 1 minute 8 second bracket. This bodes well for the future!
In B-Sport, both Clive Wood and Dave Facer were under the old mark, Clive finally lowering the bar by almost a full second.
Summer Ball
Having got the racey stuff out of the way – the field of runners and riders moved in spick and span fashion over to South Cerney to scrub up for the Summer Ball. Everyone looked amazingly unrecognizable in their finery, especially the naked men I met in the communal bathroom. The pre-dinner drinks in the bar gave everyone a chance to study the magnificent array of raffle prizes. Everyone very generously bought raffle tickets and swelled the coffers (which saved Mike H having to do the washing -up). The meal was excellent, as was the mind boggling choice of wine (white or red!) The service left nothing to be desired. Perhaps, next time we can teach Reg in which order to use his cutlery and not to consume alcohol from Pat’s shoe. Although Reg did do a sterling job rallying people to leave the bar to ‘go and boogey on down’ ( I think that was the term he used! Anyway I phoned my Grand-mother’s Great Aunt Letitia who explained the term to me …..mmm how quaint). After the port and the toast to the Queen (some people seemed to be confused, because they raised their glasses to Jeremy!) the Mitie Spanner was awarded to Ann Childs who has shown great fortitude supporting David’s, and then Gavin’s, racing expeditions over a period of 40 plus years. Well done Ann.
The Next Day
Everyone appeared to be in fine condition and raring to go at the ‘full monty’ breakfast, all departing with great glee looking forward to the next outing at Oulton for the Gold Cup on 27th August (mostly because they had been wondering how to spend their bank holiday.
Susie F xxx
The Demonic Perm