Super Saloon Sunday, Cadwell, 28 June, 2009

[John Turner]

Headed up to the lovely Cadwell on Sunday. As part of an 11 race programme, it included races for the Toyo Tyres saloons, PBMWs, which I will cover, along with the early model MR2 races.

Finally met up with member, Colin Stubbs (Rover 216Gti).

A few pit and paddock shots. It was very misty in the early part of the morning and at least one of the practice sessions ran behind the course car, as a result.

[COLIN STUBBS]

Nice to have seen you at long last John!
Shame we couldnt have put on a better show on the home track due to a dying engine (which went out with a large bang in race 2).
Found out the misfire we had was due to one pot only having one exhaust valve operating...
Anyhow its new engine time now!




And next time please snap me on my better side!!

[Stacy]

Colin,

Comiserations. Was that a PuttingTogetherError, UserError, or a failure of some description...?

S.

[johnw]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

And next time please snap me on my better side!!

That is your best side Colin

[COLIN STUBBS]

User error Im afraid far tooo much use of 8500 rpm+....
Weakened valve springs. Broken rocker. Dropped valve. New engine awaiting parts hopefully next week!

Back to you John so sorry for hi jack!

[John Turner]

Colin, it's not a hi jack if it has a bearing on the meeting and/or what took place there. This is just the sort of input we want from drivers; indeed from anyone who was there in whatever capacity. It's not simply about me putting a few pics with comments up.

I'll start on the race reviews for this meeting, hopefully in a couple of days time; I have some family commitments over the next 48 hours or so.

[John Turner]

22 starters; 15 Finishers.

Sponsored by Silverstone Tyres the old Mk1 MR2s provide cheap and competitive racing (incidentally, have you noted Steve Vince's robust response in the letters page of last week's AS to Marcus Pye's view of too many race series?). You will note a fairly high attrition rate in this race over 15 minutes but I think much of this was mechanical rather than 'racing incidents'. There was a great start by Shane Wright (11) to grab the lead from poleman, Alex Gasman (48) but Wright was nowhere to be seen when the leaders came out of Mansfield on the first lap, and it was Gassman who led from Ross Stoner (22), Adam Lockwood (51) and Sarah Wherry (4). They were to finish in this order - see pic 1. You will also note Jason Jesse (37) well onto the grass. He had also made a superb start from the 3rd row, and had actually got as high as 2nd but lost it all here. He was to retire after completing 3 laps. Meanwhile, it was clear that Wright had thrown the car off somewhere in the excitement of snatching the lead at the start and came through last. In pic 2, he is about to demote Jessica O'Halloran (84) to that position, where she stayed to the finish. Wright recovered to 8th by the end but I'm sure he was disapppointed not to have been higher up. Pic 3 is of Nick Read (6) off the racing line with steam emitting from the engine bay, and about to retire, as Matt Garnham (44 - 14th), Chris Gray (7 - 12th) and the recovering Wright go by. Pic 4 is of Sarah Wherry (4) who finished 4th to add to previous 4ths in this series. The programme suggested that as this was her home track, a better result might have ensued but it was not to be! Sabastian Fisher (81) was 13th. The final pic shows the intense battle for second. Despite talking to the grass here, Stoner held on to keep Lockwood at bay, less tha 3 tenths covering them at the end.

[Stacy]

John,

Yes I did notice the letter - thought it very interesting.

Shame I missed the MR2 race as I think we were prepping, looked a good one. Fun looking things.

S.

[John Turner]

22 starters; 20 finishers.

Sponsored by GAZ shocks, the Production BMWs tend to provide close racing, as we have discussed before. On this occasion, it was Liam Crilly (22) and Rob Smith (99) who diced closely for the lead leaving the others way behind to scrap for the minor placings. In the first pic, Crilly is already ahead with Smith on his tail as the front of the pack climb away from Coppice heading into Charlies for the first time. In the 2nd pic, and still on the first lap they are coming through Mansfield alread with a healthy lead, which they continued to extend until the end. Smith was never able to pass Crilly and they finished in this order, just under a second apart, and nearly 20 seconds ahead of 3rd placed Mike Dugdale. The third pic shows the battling pair of Jamie Smith (33) and Lawrie Dunster (65), who finished in this order 7th & 8th, separated by 4 tenths. I often go for striking liveries, so this is Tim Wilson (63) who finished 14th! 114 is a Touring bodied E30, of course, and this finished last in the hands of Stephen Murphy. The duelling team mates of Warren Gazzard (168) and Mark Gazzard (167). The former finished 17th; the latter retired on the last lap.

[John Turner]

21 Starters; 19 finishers.

Only 4 tenths covered the first 5 cars in qualifying so it looked as though we had a 'cracker' on out hands. The Mazda RX7s of Tony Ellis on pole and Stacy Vickers were split by the pair of E36 M3s of Les Johnson and Wayne Howlett. I don't normally watch practice/qualifying, preferring to use the time wandering around the paddock but on this occasion I stationed myself in Hall Bends which provided me with the opportunity to berate Mr Vickers for appearing to be slow through there - I think I used the word 'tentative' to be kind! I think that it was possibly the key to qualifying 'only' 4th! I don't know why he puts up with this sort of abuse from a non racer! However, I have to say that the star through Hall Bends in qualifying was Don Hughes in the VW Golf GTi; to me, he was visually quicker than anyone else there, and I believe this view was borne out by his excellent 5th place on the grid amongst the faster, more powerful cars, his time of 1:44:843 comparing very well with Ellis's pole time of 1:44:438 (anorak note - all nos the same but in a different order!).

I suppose it was a bit much to expect a 5 car train for the lead, given the respective strengths of the cars at different points in the circuit, and Vickers, clearly 'stung' by various comments about poor starts and slowness (), actually got a good start to drive around the BMWs to take 2nd place behind Ellis. A gap opened up between the two RX7s and the 2 BMWs, although, for the early part of the race it was not much of one. The first pic shows the 4 cars exiting Barns for the first time, in the order Ellis (83), Vickers (35), Johnson (67) and Howlett (85). I have several shots of the leaders coming through here, and it shows the Ellis car to be an understeerer and the Vickers, an oversteerer. Presumably,this is, in part, due to deliberate set up preferences of the two drivers, but surely also due to the ride height/CoG differences engendered by the 13" wheels on the Ellis car compared to the 15" wheels on the Vickers car. Anyway, enough of this waffle; the next shows Howlett, he was never quite able to get on terms with Johnson and stayed 4th, and towards the end of the race had a Sierra Cossie looming large in his mirrors. Ken Lark (9 - VW Corrado VR6) only had one lap in qualifying so started from the back row and as expected moved forward through the field during the race, to finish 10th. Here he is overtaking the yielding E30 BMW of Lawrie Dunster (65) who finished 14th. Pic 4 shows a car you couldn't easily overlook! The Renault 5 Cup car of Oliver Davies finished 16th. 106 is the Toyota Corolla of James Carpenter who went on to take 9th whilst, in his efforts to hold on, Colin Stubbs gyrates in the Rover 216Gti, before recovering to finish 12th. Last pic in this post is the Ford Sierra Cosworth (120) of Colin Tester. I'm guessing that he was learning the circuit, since he qualified 7th but found almost 2 seconds in the race, to record fastest lap and finish 5th just behind the Howlett BMW.

[Stacy]

Hi John,

"tentative". You dog, it cut like a knife I can assure you..

In my defence the information I was receiving was that I was already on pole - so I shamelessly blame my good friend of many years and timemeister Richard (who you met). Anyway, suitably stung I did try a little harder..

That said you've identified Don as the hero - and rightfully so, I'd back you up 100% with that.

BTW Tony Ellis fitted his camera back to front (unrelated to Snetterton I'm sure!) and came up with an interesting rearward perspective here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO6W-...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvG8MnjZx8s

All the best,

Stacy

[John Turner]

Meanwhile back at the front Vickers was pressing Ellis hard, but the latter didn't put a foot wrong and took the chequered flag 3/4 of a second clear after 9 laps. They each won their class B & C respectively (Vickers has the smaller engine!). In this pic, Johnson is still close, but was just over 4 seconds behind at the flag, but won class A. The Jaguar XJS of Simon Newbury (110) had a rather lonely race to finish 19th. In the next pic, Paul Cowland (96 - Golf GTi) holds off the attentions of the E30 BMWs of Lawrie Dunster and Peter Longworth, and they finished in this order, 13th, 14th & 15th. Pic 4 shows the M6 BMW of Brian Jordan sadly pulling off toward the end of Park Straight to retire and bring out the yellow. Note in the background that Ellis has pulled a gap on Vickers as they go through Charlies. Don Hughes (48 - Gti) was unable to stay with the leaders despite his excellent qualifying time, and I suspect much of the loss was at the start, and it would be interesting to learn whether both Tester in the Cosworth and Spurr in the Rover Tomcat (27 - see pic 6), which finished 6th, got him off the start. Nevertheless, he still won his class (E) in finishing 7th, within 10 seconds of the winner, and over half a minute clear of 8th placed Dean Keeble's class D winning E30 BMW 316is (I must confess that I'm aware of the 318is but never heard of a 316is!).

[big andy]

have you got a report for the nsscc john

[John Turner]

Andy, as this is the Historic Racing Today forum, I hadn't planned to cover these races, as the cars really are a bit too modern, but if you and your fellow competitors feel short changed, I'll see if I can put something together once I've covered the others; I certainly have pics, as I tend to snap all the races regardless of historical content!

Stacy, sorry but I hadn't spotted that you had slotted a post between the two parts of Race 5.

[John Turner]

20 starters;17 finishers.

I had just completed an absolutely cracking post about this race on Friday, when the storm broke out overhead and knocked out our electricity! Never mind, you'll now have to put up with a mere shadow of its former self!

Liam Crilly (22) and Tony Smith (19) resumed their earlier battle for the lead but this time it was Smith who had the lead and defying all attempts from Crilly to dislodge him from that position. Although Crilly took fastest race lap, he appeared to be really struggling to keep up and several times got two wheels onto the grass exiting Charlies. He finally had to give best when he went off completely in the Gooseneck and, recovering the track, finished 4.7 secs behind the tidier (on this occasion, anyway) Smith. The second pic shows Nigel Brittain who finished 13th in this very smartly prepared car (97), and the third is of Peter Longworth (47) who finished last but had earlier been embroiled ina battle further up the field, so I think he must have had an off or a mechanical problem somewhere. The battle for 3rd was as intense as that for the lead and here it is headed by Kevin Welsh (78) but pressed hard by Brian Jones (85) who unfortunately retired after 5 laps. His place was taken by Tim Wilson in the 63 car (see pic5) who took the fight to Welsh, but it was the latter who held on to take the final podium position by just over half a second. The final pic shows evidence of Longworth's earlier higher placing as he pursues Neil Adams (56) who finished 14th.

[johnw]

It's like being there John. Many thanks.

[John Turner]

18 starters; 12 finishers.

Thank you, John, but a bit of exaggeration there, I feel!

The grid for this race was based on the finishing positions of the cars in the earlier race. However, as Les Johnson didn't reappear in his E36 M3, everyone behind the two RX7s was promoted a place. The first pic, shows poleman, Tony Ellis (83) getting away well with Stacy Vickers (35), Wayne Howlett (85) and Colin Tester (120) in pursuit. Dean Spurr (27) soon became stuck in a no-man's land, not quite able to stay with the frontrunners, but easily outpacing the rest to finish 4th. We lost a third of the grid during the race, including Don Hughes and Colin Stubbs but the most galling from the driver's point of view must have been Joe Adam (125) who retired on the last lap! Ellis really had the measure of the pursuers on this occasion and won by nearly 6 seconds from Stacy Vickers who always had his mirrors full, initially with Wayne Howlett's E36 M3, and when he retired, with Colin Tester's Sierra Cosworth (See Pic 4). Ken Lark (9) was still making ground after the first race, and finished 6th, ahead of James Carpenter's Toyota Corolla (106). Lark's car is described in the programme/results as a Corrado VR6, but it isn't, is it? It looks more like a Jetta/Bora to me. Although I'm not particularly familiar with VW models, I know what a Corrado looks like and this ain't it! I'm also sure Ken's Corrado is silver. Final pic shows Paul Cowland ahead of Oliver Davis;they finished 8th & 9th.

[John Turner]

21 starters; 18 finishers.

The second MR2 Mk1 race of the day, over 15 minutes, and I'm sorry to say that I can't actually remember too much about it. Alex Gassman and Adam Lockwood locked out the front positions and finished in that order just under a second apart. Sarah Wherry was 3rd, albeit 15 seconds behind the leading pair but a few seconds clear of Jason Jesse at the flag. There was a fair amount of activity in Hall bends and the first pic shows Arron Pullan at the end of his spin, as Roger Pullan passes by! Arron recovered to finish 12th whilst Roger was 8th. Just after this incident Jeff McCall spun at the beginning of the bends, but recovered to finish 16th, whilst Steve Woolfe pulled off by the Marshal's post to retire. At the very end of the race, Nick Read took a very unorthodox approach, scattering the marker posts and eventually losing it completely, the whole incident occupying virtually the length of Hall Bends as he returned to the track at the exit of The Hairpin! Pic 4 is of Mark Scott who finished 10th. The next pic shows Jeff McCall (20) and next is Simon Lockey (69) who finished 6th. The leading pair exit the Hairpin and head down toward Barn, a part of the track that I've never seen, since there is no public access. The final shot is of Chris Shackle (77) who went passed the flag 11th.

[juliann]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Lark's car is described in the programme/results as a Corrado VR6, but it isn't, is it? It looks more like a Jetta/Bora to me. Although I'm not particularly familiar with VW models, I know what a Corrado looks like and this ain't it! I'm also sure Ken's Corrado is silver.

Well, at least I got the VW bit right

Ken wasn't sure if he'd have the Corrado ready so I had to flip a coin as to which car to put on the entry list.....just can't get the staff these days

[John Turner]

Understood, Julian; errors are inevitable in such circs; I like to highlight them to ensure we have the record straight for future reference. So my question now is, am I right about the model of VW? I'm no expert on VWs!

[Liam22]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Understood, Julian; errors are inevitable in such circs; I like to highlight them to ensure we have the record straight for future reference. So my question now is, am I right about the model of VW? I'm no expert on VWs!

VW Vento VR6 as I recall.

John, I trust your pre-blackout version of PBMW race 2 included more of my heroic efforts following my Gooseneck tyre wall excursion. My untidiness was mostly in an effort to distract Tony Smith into a mistake. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect!

[John Turner]

And that's your story, and you're sticking to it! Good to hear from you Liam. I tell it as I see/remember it; I've never pretended it was 100% accurate! I didn't realise that your excursion at Gooseneck included an impact; all I saw was you reappearing off track (see below) - I took this from way over the other side of the track near the Charlies end of Park Straight, where the second pic was taken earlier!

Yes, Vento, sounds right for the Ken Lark car, thanks!

[johnw]

Yes, Ken was in the Vento.
He has as many cars as the rest of us have socks

[John Turner]

20 starters; 17 finishers.

The final race of the day and sad to relate I cannot recall too much about it, although I was stationed amongst the trees at Hall Bends and the light effects could have been good but I failed on this occasion to make much of it. The grid was mix of the cars from the first two races, so that everybody had at least two races from three. I expect Johnw can explain it better. Anyway, this was a race of two Smiths with Tony Smith winning again by just half a second from Rob Smith who tracked him all the way (see pic - 4). Pic 1 shows Nigel Olive-Jones (3) who was 4th, whilst car 72 is Stephen Carter who finished 10th. Brian Jones (84) was 9th. Pic 5 shows Mike Dugdale who finished a fairly lonely 3rd, about 10 seconds behind the leading two, quite a gap in a 9 lap race. Finally, Neil Adams (56), Mark Gazzard (167) and Graham Collison (57) had a good battle finishing in the order shown, 12th, 13th and 14th covered by 1 second.

[johnw]

Originally Posted by John Turner

The grid was mix of the cars from the first two races, so that everybody had at least two races from three. I expect Johnw can explain it better.

It's a means of getting more than a gridful of cars racing for Championship points John.
Divide the number of entrants into three groups A,B & C
Then run race 1 as A+B, Race 2 B+C and Race 3 A+C

Very nice pics, thank you.