Cadwell Park

Following the cancellation of the Dijon championship round the CF3 cars were invited to join the URS race at the Wolds Trophy meeting held at the challenging Cadwell Park. It is some time since the CF3 cars graced the Lincolnshire track but a promising entry was reduced to just three cars in the end to add to the seven URS cars and the lone interloper from the Geoff Lees Trophy.

Qualifying
The cars were first out at 9am Saturday morning on a dry track and it became clear that pole was between Matthew Wrigley (Chevron B38) who, despite having the car for some time, was having his first run, and championship contender Ben Tilley (March 743) as they traded times at the top. In the end Wrigley just shaded Tilley by 0.8 sec to fill the front row, although Wrigley reckoned Tilley had some speed to come. They were kept honest by URS front runner Ben Stiles (Van Diemen RF82) who was just a couple of seconds down in third ahead of fellow URS runner Chris Levy (VD RF83) who just beat the final CF3 runner Jon Finch (Ralt RT1). Ex McLaren F1 designer and Senna engineer Steve Nichols (VD RF82) just beat his chum Iain Rowley (VD RF82), who couldn’t cope with the thought of a weekend without racing and decided to race a car he has owned forever but never driven! The final places were sorted in the order Rodney Toft (VD RF82), George Fowler (Reynard SF84), Alan Lancaster (PilbeamMP52) and David Jones (VD RF82).

Race 1
Wrigley led away at the start from Tilley and Stiles. For 11 laps Wrigley just led Tilley the gap constantly under 1 second with Stiles holding a constant third. On lap 12 Tilley finally got by and Wrigley dropped back a little with the beginning of the clutch trouble which would see him DNS race 2. Stiles chased them home for third followed by Finch after a lonely race with Nichols and Rowley next up after a race long scrap. The remaining runners finished in the order Toft, Fowler and Jones. Levy and Lancaster were both classified DNF with Lancaster battling to fix damage. Pilbeam spares are not exactly plentiful in the paddock and the team did splendidly to get him on the grid next day.

Race 2
With Wrigley out race 2 lost some of its sparkle but with Tilley leading away at the start and Finch out dragging Stiles the trio stayed remarkably close together with Finch driving well to keep Stiles at bay. Levy started well from the back and was soon challenging Nichols. Rowley had dropped back, unable to understand why he was still slowest on the straight despite changes to the engine overnight. The Nichols Levy battle was getting close, the cars touching at the mountain and on the next lap another touch on the fast straight resulted in both cars leaving the track at high speed and hitting barriers resulting in a red flag. Both drivers were fortunately ok although the same could not be said for their cars. The race was eventually restarted and ran out the final four laps with Tilley taking another win from Finch, still being pressed by Stiles from Rowley, Toft, Fowler, Jones, and Lancaster, the Pilbeam looking nervous after its repairs.

Thanks to all who took the trouble to enter. And thanks to Colin for the race report.

Silverstone Finals

Our next race event is the Silverstone Finals on the weekend of 17th/18th October. Although entries are technically closed, late entries will be accepted. The CF3 entries, currently standing at 11 cars is the best this year, but the CFF2000 is a bit lighter than usual at just 3. We hope more will enter.

Unfortunately, because of Covid restrictions we are unable to provide for a drinks event following the racing on Saturday as we have to maintain social distancing.

2021

We will soon be looking forward to next season where we hope that Covid will be on the back foot and we can return to a full season’s racing without social restrictions.

There are some important changes being made following the HSCC updating its rules.

The first is that it will no longer be compulsory to be a member of CF3A in order to score points in the Championship. This also applies to at least one other series.

That makes it even more important that CF3A provides its members with both social activities and a forum where topics can be discussed and maybe lobby on behalf of its members.

Under the HSCC rules, there is an election of a Series Chair, currently held by Hugh Price who is seeking re-election for next year. The relevant HSCC rules are set out below. In CF3’s case the series covers both CFF2000 as well as CF3. Ordinarily, this would be discussed, and an election take place at the Finals meeting, but that isnot possible because of the social distancing rules.

If requested we can set up a voting system using Google Forms, in a similar way to that used for the election of CF3A directors or the HSCC have offered their online voting system.

Those individuals eligible for election have been emailed by Hugh, who is organising the vote, in accordance with the rules below. If you have not had an email, believe you meet the criteria and would like to stand, please contact Hugh prior to the 9th October. We will keep you advised of progress and the outcome. We hope we will see you at Silverstone.

Regards
Geoff Hoodless Richard Ranson Ken Thorogood