AMOC, Snetterton, 18/19 July, 2009 [incl. Martini trophy race revived !! (3 hr)]

[p261brm]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Perfect timing. 1970? I'm sure that isn't historic is it?

VSCC might not agree Peter, but long enough ago for me; would bought back those memories of Chevron/Lola battles of 1970/73 at Silverstone, without the rain of 71 I think it was? At 3 hours just enough length of time to make it a proper motor race.

[John Turner]

21 starters; 19 finishers.

Chris Rea, back to Ferrari racing this year, was due to race his 308GT4, but had his car fail scrutineering on seat belts and fire extinguisher. Once that was sorted, he practiced out of session only to find that he had brake problems, so sadly still failed to take the start.

The first start was aborted after an accident in Riches Corner which left some cars with minor damage and one with severe frontal damage; the Mondial T of Didier Benaroya, and an oil spillage to clear up. By the time the restart was taken, it had also started to rain.

David Tomlin (6 - 328GTB) grabbed the lead from the start, and the first pic shows him heading into the Bomb Hole for the first time, where Christopher Compton Goddard spun his 308GTB (44) in front of most of the pack causing them to scatter and make some great avoidances. He was able to resume virtually at the back and recovered to 9th at the finish. Pic 3 shows Ben Cartwright (72 - 328GTB) in his spirited chase of winner Tomlin and he finished 2nd, just 1 second behind. On lap 2, William Jenkins (38 - 308GTB) repeated CCG's first lap gyration, again without any impacts although he then cruised back to the pits to retire. In the foreground is Richard Allen (45 - 328GTB) who finished 10th. 24 is the 328GTB of John Day coming throughthe Esses and showing signs of front end damage. He fisnihed 12th. Finally the 250 Testa Rossa replica (250GTE donor) of Stuart Anderson who was 18th.

[John Turner]

14 starters; 10 finishers.

The Super GT series still hasn't really got going yet, and the Ferrari Open series has been suffering from reduced grids so it made sense to merge them for this race over 30 minute race. There was not much historic content to this race and it was very disapponting that the Tim Lewis Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint failed to complete the first lap as this is a genuinely quick car for a 1600cc, superbly developed and driven with commitment by Lewis who qualified it well. The anticipated battle between the David Ellis Virage Silhouetted Aston GTR700, Richard Chamberlain's Porsche 935 Replica (with origins, but not much, going back to 1974!) and Kevin Riley's modern Mosler MT900R didn't materialise. Chamberlain put the Porsche on pole but turbocharger problems meant he was going to start the rolling start from the back and, in the event, problem unresolved, he pitted as the race got underway. It was left to Ellis and Riley to battle for the lead (see Pic 1). Pic 2 shows the same two cars, this time with Riley outbraking himself into the Russell Chicane. Pic 3is of the tussle between Douglas Ellwood (45 - Marcos Mantis) and Michael Dwane (77 - Ferrari 355 Challenge). Ellwood took 5th, Dwane, 7th. Richard Chamberlain finally joined the race with 12 minutes to go and treated it as a test session and maybe also to make a point since he caught and passed the Mosler and was about to do the same to Ellis (although probably not on a straight!) when the Aston faltered going into the Russell Chicane giving Chamberlain a bit of drama trying to avoid it - see Pic 4. Ellis had overcome the challenge of Riley and was only a couple of laps from the flag when this happened and he crawled into the pits with apparent loss of fuel pressure and the car was pushed away leaving the Mosler to win a lap ahead opf everybody else.

[John Turner]

8 starters; 8 finishers.

The entry to this race was already disappointingly low, so it was real shame that we lost 3 cars before the start. The pole car was the Steven Byrne/Peter Snowdon DB4 which, as we have seen, crashed out of an earlier race, so that was out. The late entry TVR was badly damaged in a practice accident, and Tim Burrett withdrew his Lancia B20 to become co driver to the Kennedy version, Jason driving, as presumably Louise was basking in her 50's team challenge success!

So only 8 cars it was for this 1 hour race with a compulsory stop, the only driver going solo being the Anders Lotsengard Austin Healey 3000. The first pic shows the grid, with the reds about to go off for the start. The absence of the DB4 left the Chris Scragg/Charlie Kemp E type free of challenge and it rapdly left the rest of the field behind. In the meantime, Zoe North had to pit the Ford Falcon at the end of lap 2 to investigate a fuel leakage (overfilled tank possibly, as the car was soon out again) which allowed the Reed Aston Martin DB2 to briefly snatch 2nd, and the Johnson/Surtees MGB 3rd - see pic2 - North about to pull in. 62 is the Healey 3000 of Anders Lotsengard who went of a couple of times during the race but recovered to finish 7th. 65 is the lovely Aurelia B20 of Kennedy/Burrett which was the slowest car in the race but still going well to complete the race. Eventually to finish 6th, the MGB (31), is seen here rough riding the kerb!

[John Turner]

The Scragg/Kemp E-type (47) had what appeared to be an untroubled run to the flag. The Pete Foster/Tim Mogridge Triumph TR4 (77) had a good run to 4th. Half the field in one place, well in to the race was worth recording with lapping going on, of course. In fact it is quite possible that all 4 are on a different lap - see pic 3. Zoe North had pulled the big Falcon back into contention and then handed over to Robin who handled the car with real exuberance particularly exiting the bomb hole where the car was often sideways. Here he has just overtaken both the DB2 (which finished 5th) and TR4. His last realistic target was the 2nd place Lotus Cortina of Jarvis and Chambers, who he eventually caught and passed. However, the LC didn't give up and hounded him to the end in an excellent dice which kept the spectators very interested in a race which an hour long with only 8 cars could have become dull. In fact, this is another race that has plenty of potential if entries can be bumped up.

[John Turner]

16 starters; 12 finishers.

The Intermarque is not what it was but this was not a bad sized grid consisting of 6 Astons, 4 Sunbeam Tigers, 3 Porsches and 3 Ferrari 355 Challenge cars, although we had lost 4 of the field before the end of the race including two of the Ferraris. Over 30 minutes, the race looked likely to be another Chris Scragg victory in his Aston V8. However, Zoe North clearly had other ideas in her egg shell liveried Tiger. The two are seen alongside each other with the whole field in view coming into the Russell Chicane in preparation for the rolling start as the out of sight pace car pulls into the pits. The race broke up into several really good dices, one of which, in the early stages was between Martin Brewer in his Aston DB5 (53) and Simon James in the Sunbeam Tiger (99). James at one point got ahead but eventually finished 8th whereas Brewer then became embroiled in a tussle with the N24 of David Scott which he also won to finish 6th. Pic 3 - another one was that between Robert Rawe in his ex Pete Foster DB4 (19) and Les Goble in the modern Vantage GT 4 car. The later car was the quicker though and once ahead eased away, eventually to finish 2nd whilst Rawe was 3rd. Pic 4 is of the Porsche 911 Carrera RS of Tony Greatorex (6), one of the few not to have another car to play with, who finished 10th. Meanwhile up at the front, Zoe North was giving Scragg a hard time, and you see her here getting crossed up in her attempts to stay with the Aston. She even put up fastest race lap but unfortunately pulled off after 9 laps leaving Scragg to win comfortably by 28 seconds. Final pic is of an excellent and entertaining all front engined Porsche battle. The Adrian Clark 928GTS (92) had the legs of the 944 Turbo (7) of Alex Mansfield on the straights but the latter was better on the brakes, and on at least one occasion got ahead through the Russell chicane although his place at the front of this pair was shortlived. Disappointingly, he too retired, after 13 laps, and Clark went on to finish 9th.

[John Turner]

Starters - 20; Finishers - 17

Another 20 minute race for these cars. James Cartwright (69) took the lead early in his 328 GTB and pulled away to win by 9 seconds from the first race winner, David Tomlin - see pics 1 & 2. Christopher Compton Goddard made some amends for his first race gyration by taking the final podium position having also recorded the fastest lap. Car 48 is Nick Whittaker's 308GT4 which was last of the classified finishers, and pic is of 72, Ben Cartright who finished 4th in his 328GTB. Pic 5 shows Peter Moseley (15) spinning whilst Tomlin takes avoiding action. Moseley retired after 7 laps. Final pic is of Michael Squire (35) lapping stuart Anderson's 250GTE/TRC (2). They were 12th and 16th respectively.

[John Turner]

10 starters; 9 finishers.

Last race of the meeting. Again we were denied the sight of Richard Chamberlain's Porsche 935 replica in full flight, as he pulled off as the rolling start got underway, this time with input shaft failure. Thus any remotely historic element to this 30 minute race had departed. On top of that the Mosler of Kevin Riley did not take the grid, so thank heavens for the presence of David Ellis and his GT700R, the only Super GT left. Due to his earlier non finish he started from the back but by the end of lap 1, he was 3rd - see pic 1, and by lap 2 he was first and went onto win by a lap. He was followed home by Charlie Kemp in Chris Scragg's Vantage N24 who had overcome the challenge from David Venn's Lotus Motorsport Elise once the rain had started to resume towards the end of the race.

So ended a very good meeting only marred by insufficient entries to some of the races.

[terence]

Excellent reporting/photos John,as ever.Hopefully one for the list for next year!

[John Turner]

If it's run, Terry. I believe it's not a certainty and even if it is run, it may only be a one day affair! Although there is a historical link between Snetterton and AMOC, due to, if I recall corrrectly, the fact that the Club was the first ever to run a meeting there, the race entry figures suggests that a certain disenchantment with the circuit (layout or location?) seems to exist with some AMOC competitors. A great shame because I think it is a good and challenging circuit for Astons. We'll just have to wait and see.

[terence]

Oh, I will keep my fingers crossed then John.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by John Turner

the race entry figures suggests that a certain disenchantment with the circuit (layout or location?) seems to exist with some AMOC competitors. A great shame because I think it is a good and challenging circuit for Astons. We'll just have to wait and see.

Yes, that is a shame. I would think Snetterton is the ideal circuit to stretch the legs of a DB4GT etc. There are two hard braking points but they are far enough apart not to matter. What else was on that weekend? Could it be clashing calendars?

[John Turner]

Sorry, Peter, didn't mean to be rude. I don't think there was much of a clash, although it was of course in the middle of the holiday season. I also think that some Aston racers were 'saving' their cars for the Silverstone Classic the following weekend.