| My last newsletter dated the 16th April preceded the Cadwell Park meeting and if you read the last paragraph, I said we were hoping for good weather at Cadwell following the rather cold first encounter at Donington Park! Well, other than a dry spell during testing on the Friday afternoon, the weekend weather was anything other than good! A wet qualifying on Saturday morning was followed by a wet race on Saturday afternoon. Whilst it started damp, heavy rain and hail came down halfway through the race and by the end it was fair to say that the track was flooded! Unfortunately, the race should have perhaps been stopped 2 or 3 laps from the end, once the start/finish straight became totally waterlogged and it was unfortunate that Adrian Holey, who had an excellent race in his B38, ended up crossing the line against the barriers and extensively damaged his car.
Richard and Colin laid on a BBQ on the Saturday night, attended by 18 CF3 people, during which the heavens opened yet again and the arctic type conditions did not lend to “happy barbequing”, however it eased whilst cooking and we managed to huddle under the CF3 awning and enjoy the food before everyone slid off to somewhere warm once it looked as though is wasn’t going to stop completely.
Our race for Sunday was rescheduled, as 2 races were unable to be run on Saturday night due to the conditions and as we assembled it started to dry out. The usual panic in these conditions ensued with some people opting to go on slicks and some staying on wets. The cold damp track didn’t really enable the slicks to get up to proper temperature, but at the same time it was probably too dry for wets. It was disappointing that the entry level at Cadwell was not much more than at Donington, because this is a fabulous track for Formula 3 cars.
Next we headed off to the sunnier climbs of Monte Carlo for the now prestigious Formula 3 race that supports the Historic Grand Prix meeting. Some 80 entries had been received, which had been reduced to 49 acceptances, which were divided into two groups of odds and even numbers for qualifying purposes. Each group would have a 7 lap qualifying race and the fastest 36 would make the race.
Unfortunately, Ian Rowley in Colin Painter’s Oliroy had a fuel pipe burst in his qualifying race, Peter Meyrick had an accident in the ex-Elio des Angelis Chevron and Richard Trott, who we fancied to do very well, and who had qualified 5th for his qualifying race, broke a driveshaft coupling on the second lap, so these three would not make the final on Sunday.
Classic Formula 3, however, was well represented. The race was won by Ben Barker in Peter Hiscock's 1978 Lola which, he campaigned regularly last season. Not the most fashionable car but when pedalled by a top pilot, as good as it gets. David Shaw in the ex-Piquet Ralt, put on a superb display ultimately finishing 5th. Rob Moores 10th, Marcus Mussa 21st, Richard Smeeton 26th and Jonathan Price 29th out of 36 classified finishers.
Whilst the whole weekend had been gloriously sunny, during a safety car period 9 laps into the final the heavens opened and we were back to good old British wet weather. That was it for this year, though, four qualifying sessions, two qualifying races and a final gave the Formula 3 cars a magnificent presence at Monte Carlo and surely the AMC will want to continue this spectacle in 2014.
The week after Monte Carlo was Silverstone where we were back to freezing cold British weather! We had a good entry for Silverstone and it was good the see Ben Simms back. Keith White and Paul Dibden were out again and we had 27 cars for qualifying including some Formula Ford 2000 entries. Ben Simms snatched pole from Jamie Brashaw and then ran away with the race when Jamie pulled off with overheating problems at the end of the first lap. Nevertheless, a cracking race ensued between newcomer Simon Jackson in his Chevron B43, David Shaw and David Clark. These 3 ran nose to tail, swapping positions until David Clark fell back with engine problems and Simon Jackson eventually got the nod over David Shaw. Jonathan Price raced well too, passing Keith White who had qualified in front of him and then chased down Paul Dibden, who it looked as though he would overhaul for 5th place until he ran wide at Beckets and dropped back on the last couple of laps.
We now move on to Snetterton, where we have a double header all on the Sunday. As I write this I’m not sure of the entry numbers but hopefully with the prospect of some better weather we may look forward to a bigger grid of Classic Formula 3 cars.
If you are hoping to run at Brands Hatch along with the French on the Grand Prix Circuit at the beginning of July and you haven’t yet come out in Classic Formula 3, you will probably need to get an entry in quickly for Snetterton. There will only be 18 or 20 places available to UK registered cars and priority will be given to those who have competed already in CF3 UK rounds.
Richard Ranson and I continue to get calls and approaches from people interested in acquiring cars to join the CF3 ranks. That in itself is encouraging and with the prospect next year of some European races, with our French and Italian counterparts, we still have the basis of something good.
In conjunction with the HSCC, we are allowing the 81-84 cars to run at the same weight as the French 81-84 cars, namely 455 kilos for the Brands Hatch race only. Hopefully that will be an encouragement to one or two people who have not yet shown us their 81-84 cars.
AND FINALLY, for those competing at Snetterton, bring your HTP papers or HSCC VIF forms with you. The HSCC are wanting to ensure that all competitors in all categories are racing legitimate historic cars, so checks will regularly be carried out starting at Snetterton.
Hugh Price |
