| Well done to the 6 Classic Formula 3 members who entered the Oulton Park combined race with the Derek Bell Trophy. Congratulations to Benn Simms who took the honours in race 1, which unfortunately got shortened due to a red flag and to Graham Fennimore, who just pipped them in race 2, which by all accounts was a pretty exciting race. The excuse given for combining us with DBT at Oulton, was lack of available track time to squeeze all the races in, but I find that very disappointing, when Classic Clubman the E-type Challenge and FISCAR, none of which are recognised HSCC series, managed to get invitation races. Would we have got a good grid 15-20? Who knows, but we obviously stand a better chance when we are racing on our own than with the DBT.
Race report:
Graham had a missing fourth gear which forced an early retirement from qualifying putting him P3 behind Benn and Simon midfield on the mixed grid. It only takes a few to have a great race as race 1 showed. It was a mighty scrap between Benn and Graham with Simon close behind until the red flag. At the first corner following a shambolic rolling start from the field of Derek Bell cars, Graham jumped both Simon and Ben only to be passed by Benn in traffic when getting baulked behind a slower F2 just before the red flag finished the race.
Race 2 was a real dogfight between Graham and Benn, hounding him for 5 laps before Graham found a way past. When Benn came back past, Graham made the same move again at Old Hall after which Benn ran wide and damaged his left front wing. The resultant understeer dropped Benn back from challenging around 1.5s and Simon had already lost ground getting stuck behind a slower atlantic car for several laps and ended up 2.5s behind.
Mark improved his times by 2s over last year and poor old Alan suffered fuel woes which robbed him again of any serious track time all weekend. Our good friend Tom Powell ran as DBT entry but shared our garages..
Graham public stated what a great races he and Benn had at a fantastic race weekend! He also sincerely hopes more guys turn up at Brands Hatch, as this series has such potential given the nostalgia, the number and great looking cars that could be on the grid.
Well done to all for making the effort.
So, now we turn our attention to Brands Hatch in 3 weeks’ time, where I have already been asked if we think we can make up a reasonable grid. I therefore am calling on all members with racing cars to rally together and put on an excellent show. Entry forms have been posted, so let’s get them back and see if we can’t get 20 cars plus on the grid for the Brands Indy meeting. Your support is crucial at this time, so give it every possible opportunity of being a success.
Myself, Jonathan and Greg in the 803 should all be out, so that’s 3 for starters!
Regards Hugh Price |
