Donington Report. Donington 8th April 2018

CF3/URS had its first qualifying and two races of the season at Donington on Sunday 8th April. After a very wet two weeks it seemed the weather may finally be kind to us on race day. At the close of entries there were 9 Formula 3 cars and 7 URS, but several late Formula 3 entries including former champions Paul Smith and David Shaw, plus Jonathan Price and Paul Dibden brought the total up to 21 in all, 13 F3 cars and 8 URS.

Unfortunately, Formula 3 returnee, David Brotherston from Scotland had to withdraw after his Chevron B38 suffered fuel pump failure in testing. We look forward to seeing David, as he raced as a period driver in the 1976 Championship winning ex-Rupert Keegan Chevron B34 in 1977/78, and is itching to make his comeback in his B38.

Series newcomers were Lee Cunningham in Nick Edginton’s Dallara 381 and Jon Finch in a Ralt RT1 recently completed by Ken Thorogood of URS. Nick purchased all three of the ELF Alloni Dallara 381’s back in the late 90’s. The Jones’ brothers acquired the later B type chassis 381/2 and Nick prepared the other two cars, one finishing 4th in 2010 in the French Formula 3 race at Spa and this entry, the ex-Pasquale Zullo / Luigi Giannini car, for his friend the very experienced Lee Cunningham for Classic F3. Lee has competed in most forms of motorsport from Formula Ford to GT, but this is his first venture into Formula 3.

Nick also brought along the recently acquired Forte Corse car of Thomas Hall, which was on display in the paddock prior to Nick starting a full restoration on it. Jon Finch won the DBT Championship a couple of years ago in Ken Thorogood’s Formula Atlantic Chevron B39 and joins CF3 with a host of single seater experience. This Ralt RT1 is the ex-Alan Hicks car and has Monaco pedigree from 1976.

David Shaw was a welcome returnee in his ex-Piquet RT1 as was Nick Taylor, in the ex-De Angelis Chevron. Nick does the French series as well in the B38. Andy Langridge was having his first race in the 2 litre category in his newly acquired ex-Brian Shaw/Mark Bailey March 803, now beautifully turned out in the 1990/91 period livery of William Hewland. There was no sign of son Adrian Langridge in the Baty March or in fact any other 1600cc F3 cars, hopefully they all will be out at Silverstone.

Qualifying saw Pat Gormley head the time sheets from Lee Cunningham, David Thorburn and Keith White, all recording times in the 1 minute 14 second bracket. Graham Brunton has obviously been hard at work during the winter on David’s ex-Brundle RT3, shedding loads of weight and was duly rewarded by David’s excellent qualifying time.

Andy Langridge was 5th in his new March, just pipping Jon Finch and Hugh Price, who was treading cautiously making sure his overheating problems from last year were finally cured, and was not assisted by a lack of an operational rev counter, and also a lack of rear brakes, the problem for which was not evident until race 1. A spin at McCleans did not help and brought out the red flag in the middle of qualifying.

Talking of brakes, poor David Shaw’s qualifying came to an end in the gravel at McCleans after only three laps when his rear calliper brake line sheared proving irreparable on the day. Paul Dibden had a freshly rebuilt engine with a new cylinder head in his Argo JM6 and this was the first opportunity he had to run it. Unfortunately it was only good for 3 laps so more work is needed to get that running as well. Paul Smith also had unidentifiable engine problems with his VW engine in his RT3 and so recorded no time.

Jonathan Price was late out because his mechanic (his son!) had not fitted his nose properly onto his March 783 and Nick Taylor, Jonathan and Rudolf Ernst completed the Formula 3 runners. Erik Pagano and Chris Levy were 5th and 6th fastest overall and the first of the URS cars in qualifying.

Race 1
Lee Cunningham made the best start from the front row and out dragged Pat Gormley into Redgate, followed by Keith White and David Thorburn. Jon Finch deposed the two URS cars in front of him by lap 7 to take up 5th on the road. Lee by now had built up a 5 second lead, but Pat Gormley, Keith White and David Thorburn were all running close together behind. On lap 9 a URS car unfortunately spun at the pit straight chicane and brought out the safety car for two laps. He was not the only spinner as the track was getting very slippery as a result of Hugh Price depositing the contents of his oil tank around the track from a loose oil pipe. This was the cause of no rear brakes in qualifying and the race.

After 2 laps behind the safety car the race resumed on lap 12 with Keith White immediately getting the jump on Pat Gormley and moving up to 2nd and this is how it finished. Cunningham by 5 seconds from White, Gormley and Thorburn, followed by the first two URS cars, then Jon Finch and Jonathan Price in 5th and 6th respectively in CF3. The only retirement was Hugh Price whose oil ran out with 1 lap to go.

Race 2:
Good old British weather graced us with its presence half an hour before the start of race 2 with a splattering of rain, so as usual it was a question of slicks or wets. The front runners all chose slicks, but a few others opted for wets and that turned out to be the wrong choice on a rapidly drying track.

Lee Cunningham made a cracking start and led by 5 seconds after 2 laps. Pat Gormley was passed in the damp conditions by Chris Lord (URS), but led Keith White and David Thorburn. A few more URS cars joined the mix and a good old ding dong ensued. In an effort to move up Keith White spun after making contact with Chris Lord in a URS car on lap 7 relegating him to 12th place. Jon Finch moved ahead of David Thorburn for 3rd, as Keith White started to claw his way back. By lap 12 David Thorburn had regained 3rd from Jon Finch and Keith White was up to 7th and by the end of the race he was up to 4th overall. A very good drive rewarded with fastest lap in the drying conditions.

Summing Up:
A good season opener. We hope Paul Smith, Paul Dibden, David Shaw, Hugh Price and David Brotherstone, who all had problems can sort them out by Silverstone where we need a good entry on the Grand Prix circuit. Who knows, it might be good practice if we were ever to get a chance to race at the Silverstone Classic race in 2019!