| Thruxton Race Report
Our original entry of 14 looked pretty good and it was a strong entry. It included Richard Trott who only makes selected appearances but is always at the front when he does, David Shaw who in the past two seasons has been a regular front runner and Jamie Brashaw, a two times champion. In addition, Chris Drake had acquired the Graham Fennymore Championship winning Ralt RT3 from 2013 and along with our other regular front runners, it promised to be a competitive race.
At time of entries closing, the Derek Bell Trophy field was a little bit thin, and the Classic Formula 3 runners were therefore offered an excellent deal of being able to compete with them for only an extra £100.00 entry fee. This meant a qualifying session and race on Saturday followed by CF3 Qualifying, Race 2 of the Derek Bell and the CF3 Race on the Sunday. Plenty of track time for those who often complain about otherwise. As a consequence, the majority of the CF3 field took up the offer which boosted the DBT field, but also had the effect of reducing the CF3 grid for the Sunday. Chris Drake, Jamie Brashaw and Paul Dibden all fell foul of engine problems in the DBT qualifying or race on Saturday which meant they were non-starters for Sunday’s CF3 race. Paul Dibden was saved by the loan of Mark Hulme’s spare Modus which was a fantastic gesture and it was only fitting that his name was first out of the hat in our entry fee refund prize draw. As a consequence, we only lost two for the CF3 grid on Sunday.
Sunday Qualifying started off in the dry and everyone set their times early on because the rain fell four laps into the session and that aborted any hope of faster times. Richard Trott, who spends his time as a tutor at Thruxton, duly planted himself on pole by half a second from David Shaw. Hugh Price, having his first outing in the March 803 that Greg Caton has won a couple of CF3 races in, was 3rd. That however, was the last time that we saw a dry track for the rest of the day. Around about the time that we were due to go to the assembly area, the heavens opened and there was continuous heavy rain for the next hour or so. There was a threat of total abandonment, but as the rain eased a little and the sweepers managed to clear the bigger puddles from the track, our race was combined with the Classic Racing Cars and we duly took to the grid. Hugh Price spun the 803 at Goodwood corner on the first lap, letting the whole field through, but then worked his way back to 4th position. David Shaw gave chase to Richard Trott and was never far behind him, finishing the race less than a second behind him, in 2nd place whilst Marcus Mussa was 3rd and Hugh Price 4th. The conditions were generally accepted as appalling, and on a circuit as fast as Thruxton, one had to tread very carefully. It was good to see the Oliroy out again, this time in Iain Rowley’s hands driven to a solid 5th place ahead of Mark Hulme and Gareth Walters was the sole class B runner. Heinrich Langfermann and Matthew Sturmer decided it was not worth bent cars and pulled out on the first lap, and many others wished they’d done the same. Nevertheless, I think we were all glad that we were able to go home in one piece and now look forward to Round Two and Three at Snetterton in early June, a super track for Formula 3 cars, and where we should be able to get a jolly good entry. As I write, only 8 have entered so we are looking forward to an increase, especially from some of those whose cars were unable to start at Thruxton and might be repaired in time. The sun is beginning to shine, so hopefully the weather conditions that prevailed at Thruxton will be a thing of the past. We very much look forward to seeing you there.
Monaco F3 Report
You may have already seen the Motors TV broadcasting of the Classic Formula 3 race at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix. It was without a doubt, the best race on the programme, some 43 cars were accepted to qualify and 40 made the start. Our very own David Shaw in the Nelson Piquet Ralt, excelled himself by planting the car on pole position, just before he skated off on oil at Mirabeau. Regular CF3 participants, Hugh Price (Q13), Richard Smeeton (Q15), Marcus Mussa (Q16), Richard Dutton (Q20), Jonathan Price (Q29), and Leif Bosson (Q40). were in the field, backed up by other Brits Nick Taylor, a new CF3 member in the ex-Elio de Angelis Paul Smith 1978 Monaco winning Chevron B38, Tiff Needell, Alex Deighton, Ollie Hancock, Richard Eyre, Richard Piper, Michael Richings and David Clark. The rest of the field was made up of French and Italian F3 Classic regulars and guest drivers. David Shaw’s very damaged RT3 was admirably rebuilt in an all-nighter by Greg Caton and his team of mechanics, who got him onto the grid in pole position for the Sunday race. Unfortunately, a dragging clutch meant that he was given a drive through penalty for a jump start and having lead the race for five laps, made his drive through, coming back in 5th position. He soon converted this to 4th and was doing very well when the pace car came out for a rear wing that had been dropped (yes, you heard that right) in the tunnel on lap 9. When the pace car went in and racing resumed, David unfortunately overcooked it at Rascasse, and unable to select reverse, was the end of a fantastic effort. Tiff Needell finished a commendable 4th, having been on the pace all weekend, Alex Deighton was 9th, Richard Eyre in Simon Hadfield’s 743 finished in 13th, Richard Dutton 15th and Jonathan Price 16th. Hugh Price had been running 10th on lap 11 of 18 when his front left tyre went flat due to a broken valve, and after a pit stop to change the wheel, and a pit lane speeding penalty, finished in 22nd. A duly fantastic occasion and we hope to be able to obtain a copy of the Motors TV broadcasting to place on the “videos” section of the website before too long.
Monaco F3 Results (PDF format)
Finally, we want to remind everyone to get their entries in for the Silverstone Classic. The entries are already approaching 35 including commitments from the French drivers, and the maximum number will be 54 which doesn’t leave a lot of scope for those who haven’t yet entered. Remaining slots will be on a first come, first served basis so make sure you get your entry in early.
Hugh Price
CF3 Chairman |
