HSCC Snetterton Autosport Guards Trophy 3hr race meeting (9 & 10 June, 2007)

[John Turner]

Madness of a most acceptable kind, eh, Pete?

James Paterson put his multicoloured Morgan Plus 8 on pole by over a second from Chris Randall in his Ginetta G4 but in the race Randall really gave his all to harry the Morgan for the early part of the race. Eventually, the Morgan eased away to win by nearly 13 seconds:-


I always love to see the unusual being campaigned and Mike Bell's Gilbern 1800GT continues to entertain this season. He finished 18th:-


Bill Smith brought the Marcos 1800GT home in 19th:-


Joss Sadler took his Ginetta G4 to 6th and a class win. The photographer is one Jeff Bloxham!:-

[Andrew Kitson]

Keep up the good work John. You can see where the 2CV's in their 24 hour race upset Dr.Palmer by cutting up his nice new turf on the inside of Russell apex 2!!
Good shot of James' Morgan. The car is sometimes campaigned by his partner Suzanne Sears (Jack's daughter).

[John Turner]

There were some notable absences from the DBT so it was a relatively small grid of 15 cars which qualified for this race. However, a welcome boost was the addition of 4 late entrants, and well done to the organisers for displaying this flexibility. Frank Lyons put his Lola T332 on pole from Mark Dwyer's recently acquired T400. Unfortunately, the latter was only able to complete 5 laps, leaving Lyons a relatively comfortable ride to the flag. It should be noted that Matthew Watts elected to do the DBT in his Brabham BT29 as well as the usual Classic Racing car events, and duly annexed a class win and 3rd overall.

A little further down the field, Daniel Pyett brought his Tecno into 5th place:-


The ever cheerful Lincoln Small finished 8th in his Brabham BT30 and is seen here about to be lapped by the winner:-


Bruce Fullerton took this T300 to 7th:-


No doubt cheered on from above by the sadly and recently departed James, Simon Diffey took 2nd place in John Monson's Chevron B28:-

[petestenning]

Even thought the DBT had a smaller entry there were several F5000 cars that entertained and as said Matthew Watts does wonders in the Brabham BT29.
It was said that his car is an Atlantic Brabham ,but if he runs treaded tyres then surely it in F2 spec.?

I accept that by running slicks in the DBT it would be in Atlantic Spec.

Excuse my ignorance in this what was the engine differences between the 1600 F2 engine and an Atlantic 1600 .


Pete

[Alan Morgan]

I'm more of a chassis man than an engine man, but here goes....

The 1600 F2 engine is a Cosworth FVA. Designed around the same time as the DFV, it shares a number of design ideas, particularly in the area of combustion chamber design. FVAs ran Lucas fuel injection and were an out and out race engine.

The BDA, on which the Atlantic engines were based, was a sort of productionised FVA, using belt drive, rather than a chain, for the cams. It first appeared in the Escort RS1600. Atlantic BDAs have to run carbs. They don't produce as much power as an FVA, but they sound almost as nice and they're a lot cheaper to run.

Regarding DBT rules - I thought that all cars had to run Avon A11 (slick) tyres. I guess that the HSCC allowed Matthew Watts in on different (inferior) tyres simply because he was up for it, even though his car was equipped with the treaded Dunlops required by Classic Racing Cars rules. MW is a very good driver, and treaded tyres are but a small handicap to him...

[petestenning]

The car did have slicks on in the DBT , hence he had to forgo his Historic racing car session which preceded the 2nd DBT race, i have checked my photos of Matthews car deffinately on slicks.

As Matthews car is an FVA engined car it could not be an Atlantic as it would have the BDA instead if i am correct.

Pete

[John Turner]

Well, I'm ignorant about such matters but the programme says that Watts car was running a 1594cc engine which if I recall correctly was the displacement of the classic Lotus Twin cam unit. In the Classic Racing car race, he is entered in the E2 class which is for 'single seater racing cars up to 1600cc fitted with engines with 2 valves per cylinder' and surely is therefore neither FVA or BDA. I'm sure he didn't change it for the DBT, and for that race, the engine size is also given as 1594cc.

[James Murray]

Matthew has a Lotus Twincam in the BT29, which makes the result even more impressive. Not sure but I suspect he was on slicks. Ted will know.

Atlantic BDA engines produce about 210-215 HP. FVA are about 240-245HP and Injected 1600 BDA with the FVA bore and stroke which is what many people including myself substitute the FVA with in 1600 f2 cars produce approx 245-255 HP depending on who you believe.

[John Turner]

Thank you, James, for the clarification.


The second race for these cars, it was again Richard Trott who set the pace chased by Keith White and Ben Simms. However, a broken throttle cable saw an end to Richard's race, and victory was taken by Simms with White 4.2 seconds adrift.

I was stationed on the outside of the Senna Straight for this race (in preparation for the 3 hours start), initially towards Riches Corner, but latterly nearer Russell Bend. The former is not the best place to watch and certainly not ideal for a camera.

Warren Moye (79 - Delta T79) finished 21st whereas Peter Denham (65 -Reynard SF 78) finished 16th:-


George Lambton took his Reynard SF79 (15) to 15th but Tom Thornton worked his Argo JM3 (42) forward to finish 11th:-


Hugh Price finished 6th with his Chevron B38:-


Not shown in the results sheets at all, even as a non finisher is the March 803of Geoffrey Hoodless, so shown here just for the record. No transponder, John?:-

[johngee]

You're right John. I know you and I have slightly different views on this but we've been telling competitors that they MUST have them for two years. Sometimes, MST will time 'untranspondored' cars, if they're not too busy and the field is spread out but we can't insist that they do!
I will always try and get something done for people who have a transpondor but it stops working for some reason - I have a lot less sympathy for those who just can't be bothered.
The alternative is bigger timekeeping teams, higher charges and thus higher entry fees....not something that seems very fair on the 99.8% of drivers who 'play the game'

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by johngee

You're right John. I know you and I have slightly different views on this but we've been telling competitors that they MUST have them for two years.

Not differing views really, John! I can't understand why anybody should still compete without a transponder. My only concern is that they will not have been recorded as having been present at the event, which could be a nightmare for future motor racing archivists/historians. As I think I have suggested before why not record them under 'Not classified' - as 'No transponder'? At least then their presence is recorded for posterity!

[johngee]

Originally Posted by John Turner

My only concern is that they will not have been recorded as having been present at the event, which could be a nightmare for future motor racing archivists/historians. As I think I have suggested before why not record them under 'Not classified' - as 'No transponder'? At least then their presence is recorded for posterity!

A valid point and I'll see if we can address this with MST. I rather suspect the response will be along the lines of "if the system doesn't record them, then they effectively didn't exist"
I'll do what I can

[John Turner]

Good man, John!

This was the feature race of the weekend. 3 hours enabled me to attempt photographs from various different parts of the track, all accessible to the spaectator, so I intend several posts to pictorially cover this event, but, as ever, don't expect too much reporting detail, as I don't take notes!

There was a rolling start for this race and the first picture shows them getting under way. The Michael Schryver/Simon Hadfield Chevron B6 was on pole, started by Schryver, with the Martin Stretton/Malcolm Clubbe Elva Mk7S alongside, started by Clubbe. The second row was occupied by the Crossle Mk9 of John Shipman and Mark Hales with the Chevron B8 of father and son, Andrew and James Shryver alongside. Row 3 was Lotus 23B, shared by the Hancocks, Sam, Anthony and Olly. I won't continue with the full grid, but point to the E-type (31) nearest the camera, of Andy Jenkinson and John Young, that qualified an excellent 12th, and by dint of some consistent fast lappery brought the car home to a superb 5th place just 6 laps behind the winning car after 3 hours. In fact, all 3 E-types that started from 12th, 15th and 17th, also finished, in 5th, 7th and 9th.


The next 2 shots were taken at the end of lap 1. A very good start by James Schryver, saw him in early pursuit of his uncle, Michael. The latter however, eased away and except for pitstops, he and Simon Hadfield were never headed. At one hour they were 2 laps up and at one stage their lead was up to 3 laps, although at the finish the lead was down to just over 1 lap. James and Andrew Schryver, however, had problems with the B8, and although I remember commiserating with a very hot James (it was a day for open cars in terms of temperature), I have got a complete blank on the cause (Help, James, I know that you get on here sometimes). They did however get the car back on track and recovered to 12th place at the finish.


I think that the Shipman/Hales Crossle has already gone through in 3rd, and that this is the battle for 4th, with the Hancock Lotus 23B already establishing itself strongly. The Hancocks were to finish 6th. Behind, the B8 of Charles Alison and Philip Nelson has the power on too early. This car was to retire half way through the race having completed 54 laps. The last of this trio is the Elva mentioned earlier and put on the front row by Martin Stretton. Driven here by Malcolm Clubbe, who whilst no slouch himself was not as quick as Martin, and not helped by a relatively poor start, it is already dropping back. Nevertheless, I was hoping that over 3 hours they could be in contention for a top 5 finish, a view shared by Stretton, but it was not to be, as the car suffered transmission failure after an hour and 20 minutes:-


Starting 27th of the 29 starters, the oldest car in the race, the 1956 Lotus 11Le Mans achieved a very creditable 18th place finish in the hands of Ivan Dutton and Paul Chudecki:-

[james s]

Simon started the B6 and now Lester Owen has sorted the fuel injected engine they were always going to disappear.We lost about 14 laps when the king lead broke going past the pits,I was helped by a couple of marshalls to push the car back into the scruteneering bay and fixed it.

[John Turner]

Thanks, James - 'King Lead'; that was the one!

Confused about Simon; could have sworn Marcus Pye who was commentating said that Micheal was doing the opening stint. Still, I stand corrected ..... again!

[John Turner]

It seemed an unlikely dice to me but this went on for much of the race. The Jenkinson/Young E-type and the Hancocks Lotus 23B were always fightimg over the same piece of track. As previously mentioned they finished 5th and 6th respectively albeit one lap apart:-


The Tony Bianchi/Frank Lyons B8 was, sadly, the first car to retire, after 36 laps:-


The Porsche 911 of Michael Masters and John Philips finished 20th of the 22 finishers (there were 8 DNFs) and the Lotus 23B of Mark Green/Simon Hamilton/James Hicks finished 16th:-


Karl Wetherell's solo effort in his TR4 earned him 19th place, but better still, The Peter Swinger Memorial Trophy, awarded by Kay Springer, to the driver of the race who best displays the competitive spirit of her late husband. In the background the Alison/Nelson B8 awaits to rejoin following a spin:-

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by james s

Simon started the B6 and now Lester Owen has sorted the fuel injected engine they were always going to disappear.We lost about 14 laps when the king lead broke going past the pits,I was helped by a couple of marshalls to push the car back into the scruteneering bay and fixed it.

excuse my ignorance but are they all fuel injected or was that a Freudian slip?!
Not that it matters as they (along with the Crossle, Morgan V8, Lotus 7 and the other B8/6') were in an invitation class as they were all post 66.

[John Turner]

Well, Simon, was it an invitation class? Can't see any reference to that. All the Chevrons were in class SRD for Sports racing, Sports Prototype, competition and GT cars 1601cc-2000cc built and raced before 31/12/68. The only one to fall outside that date was Andrew and James Schryver's 1969 B8, but that is clearly part of the B8 chassis run which started well before the cut off date.

The Morgan +8 didn't, I agree look or sound right, in the sense that no Morgan had V8 Rover power during the original Autosport 3 hour era. However, this along with the Lotus 7 entry were running presumably to make up numbers and in fact, belonged to the the French CHE class. I would imagine that they would not form part of this race in the future, once it was established with full grids of the appropriate cars.

The Crossle was a 1966 car, so not one of the more recently produced continuation series.

[John Turner]

The Malcolm Paul/Rob Wells 1959 Morgan Plus 4 presses on to a fine 14th place:-


A 'Tunex' Diva GT. Steven Farrall and Ian Jones took it to 15th place:-


Shaun Lynn and Dean Lanzante only qualified their GT40 7th, but after 3 hours it had finished 3rd. It was the only class D (Standard and Competition cars over 4000cc) entered. Here it is rounding Coram Curve:-


Through the Bombhole howls the Christopher Scragg/John Bussell E-type on its way to 9th:-

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Well, Simon, was it an invitation class? Can't see any reference to that. All the Chevrons were in class SRD for Sports racing, Sports Prototype, competition and GT cars 1601cc-2000cc built and raced before 31/12/68. The only one to fall outside that date was Andrew and James Schryver's 1969 B8, but that is clearly part of the B8 chassis run which started well before the cut off date.

The Morgan +8 didn't, I agree look or sound right, in the sense that no Morgan had V8 Rover power during the original Autosport 3 hour era. However, this along with the Lotus 7 entry were running presumably to make up numbers and in fact, belonged to the the French CHE class. I would imagine that they would not form part of this race in the future, once it was established with full grids of the appropriate cars.

The Crossle was a 1966 car, so not one of the more recently produced continuation series.

all the sports racers after 1966 are an invitation class, last year all sports racers were invitation class but this year they changed that to include pre 66 as a championship class.
Dont get me wrong I love to see the B8's etc out as they are wonderful but of course would never have raced in the original Autosport 3 Hour. The Crossle is open to some debate asto its age. At Spa it had to run as an invitation class car in the 6 Hour as someone pointed out that they had an earlier chassis number and theirs was a 68 car! Not sure when Crossles started running with BMW engines.
The Morgan and Lotus 7 were entered through a French series. The Morgan was being a bit naughty as he is a regular HSCC member and must have worked out that he wouldnt have been eligible but as you say its unlikely that they will have that problem next year now people have seen how good the race was. Its a pity more MGB's werent running but HSCC are, correctly in my mind, very strict about engine size not allowing the 1950cc cars that run in the 6 Hour.
As a competitor I think it was a fantastic first race and look forward to it becoming a regular feature on the HSCC calender

[terence]

I had hoped to bring my car out Simon,lack of time prevented me from getting it ready, always worried about other peoples car,s ,so mine takes a step back !! Just one of those thing,s and a shame because the old girl seem,s to go well at Snet. Then there was the case of the missing drive!!

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

all the sports racers after 1966 are an invitation class, last year all sports racers were invitation class but this year they changed that to include pre 66 as a championship class.

I must confess that I thought the 'new' Guards Trophy series was new for this year. There is no way a layman spectator like myself would know that classes SRD or SRE were invitation classes so I would guess that out of period or not, these are permanent classes. I certainly hope so.

Originally Posted by simon drabble

The Crossle is open to some debate as to its age. At Spa it had to run as an invitation class car in the 6 Hour as someone pointed out that they had an earlier chassis number and theirs was a 68 car! Not sure when Crossles started running with BMW engines.

Yes, two interesting points here. So what year actually is this car, and when were BMW engines first used? There are certainly some members who can tell us, and hopefully will!

Originally Posted by simon drabble

As a competitor I think it was a fantastic first race and look forward to it becoming a regular feature on the HSCC calender

As an 'involved' spectator, I totally agree.

Simon, for some reason it appears that your Merlin Mk6 was fairly elusive to my camera. However, here it is exiting the Esses, on your way to 17th place, sharing with Terry Van Der Zee:-


The Marcos 1800GT of Thomas/Methley circulated with great regularity to finish a fine 10th:-


The track was still busy halfway through the race. Looking down towards the Bombhole from the Esses:-


In the Esses, the Andrew Hill/Harry Wyndham (I reckon he races every weekend in the summer!) B8 heads towards an 8th place finish.

[rogerwills]

John, you didn't manage to snap my Elva Mk7 by any chance did you? Car 81 I think we were. Roger

[John Turner]

Roger, I'm pretty certain that I have. In fact I'm sure that I have al least one shot of every car entered, and in many cases several. My aim has been to ensure that every car entered appears in at least one of the shots I put up, so yours (if I can find one remotely reasonable!) will appear in my mext post, as I want to make it the last covering this particular race!

Stephen Bond and Keith Fell completed 97 laps to finish 21st:-


The 2nd place Crossle driven by John Shipman and Mark Hales, and already discussed earlier:-


The Lotus 23B, over from France, driven by B. Tcherniavisky and Regis Prevost took 11th place:-


Les Ely and Graeme Dodd took their E-type to 7th and this lock up was not an unusual occurrence as I have at least two shots like this. The previously mentioned 5th place Scragg/Bussell E-type sits behind:-

[johnh875]

Great summaries and photos again John. Interesting to see a Gilbern being raced, I looked at buying a Mk3 Invader years ago which would have to be about the only one in the country, there are approx 3-5 GT's here I think. If you thought Le Mans was bad, you definitely don't want to go up to the top of the mountain during the Bathurst 1000 - they blow up toilets and burn cars! Were the issues at LM localised to certain areas also?