CSCC - Snetterton, 7th October, 2006 (With photos!)

[John Turner]

Ok, I can take a hint!

[John Turner]

The smallest grid of the day was for the Pirelli Ferrari Open over 20 mins, with just 10 cars. There were five F355 Challenge cars and you would expect them to dominate the field against the other class of older Ferraris. Indeed Witt Gamski pulled clear and won by over 13 seconds .......:-


........ however, in what was one of the best drives of the day, John Taylor in his 308GT4 took on 3 of the other 355s, and although being passed a couple of times by cars that were capable of lapping a bit quicker, he made no mistakes, was fast and consistent and at the end, his 2nd place was very well deserved. Behind him here are Charlie White, who came 5th and Marl L'Anson who achieved fastest race lap and finished 3rd:-


Tristan Simpson in 328GTB gets it slightly wrong but went on to finish 6th:-


The purity of line of Nick Chester's 308GTB shows up well here. He finished 8th:-

[COLIN STUBBS]

excellent pics john!!!!!!

[stuart05]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Ok, I can take a hint!

no hint intended at all John

[snetmarshal]

Originally Posted by White flag man

Terry,
Just think of it. Race Control. Nice, warm, dry, chair to sit on, slippers on, cup of tea in hand . I hope you remember all those still on the bank

The powers that be, are moving Terry inside (not due to his age!! ) but with the nights pulling in, they want to try and get the meeting finished in daylight and thus cant afford the red flags!!

[snetmarshal]

sorry, ment to say excellent pics, and as one of the marshals up at coram, yes the green/white jag was very entertaining and has to be said far better at drifting than the guys at the drift meeting earlier in year

[John Turner]

The following race was a 20 minute blast for the Henry Recruitment Thoroghbred Sportscar Championship. It contained two of the TVR Griffs mentioned earlier. When my eldest son first saw one of these at Brands many years ago he named it 'The Pocket Rocket'; a most apt name for these cars. Steve Watton's not only won this race but posted fastest lap of the whole meeting:-


Watton lapped the whole field bar Roy McCarthy in MGB GT V8. McCarthy was trying really hard to stay in touch, but handicapped himself by making a relatively poor start, and was already several car lengths behind at the end of the first lap. His game attempts to close the gap to the leader led to a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes, the second of which saw him apply the power just a tad too early out of Russell and a 'grassy' moment ensued. He eventually finished 27 seconds down to Watton, and fast driver though McCarthy is, his best lap time of 1.19.395, against Watton's best of 1.17.78 pretty much made it 'mission impossible' Great to watch though!:-


The other 'Pocket Rocket' was driven by Roger Connel who has been driving his Griff for years. He fought an epic defence against allcomers to finish 3rd. He was severely tested into the braking areas and through the corners, but 'foot to the floor' on the straights enabled him to maintain the status quo:-


I can't resist putting this one up. Is this a determined grimace or a hint of a grin? Possibly a bit of both - a grin of determination, then!:-


Incidentally, note the lengthening shadows. The second of the pictures above gives a good idea of the light conditions, and there was still another race to go! Since I have indulged myself with the TVRs on this post, my next will add a few more pics from this race ..... later!

[John Turner]

Safety in numbers! The D-type replicas of Justin Fleming, Tim Falce and Tim Burnett. They came 7th, 9th & 10th respectively .......:-


...... and the interloper was Mike Hazlewood who took 8th, and I note from the results sheets that he was just a 1000th of second behind Fleming at the flag!:-


Malcolm White finished 16th in his MGB:-


Now, pay attention at the back; I'll be testing you on this later. Watton is about to lap the MGA of Peter Hiscocks for the second time, having just lapped Connel and Paddick for the first time, whereas they are about to lap Hiscocks for the first time. Got it? Hiscocks came 17th:-

[Tim Falce]

Excellent photos there John and thanks for the synopsis on them.

[John Turner]

I thank you; one more race to go! Probably do that in the morning!

[Alan Raine]

John, I like the comments you are adding to your photos. Keep up the good work.

[sideways steve]

Originally Posted by snetmarshal

sorry, ment to say excellent pics, and as one of the marshals up at coram, yes the green/white jag was very entertaining and has to be said far better at drifting than the guys at the drift meeting earlier in year

Hi sports fans

I am humbled by your kind words, winning is cool but entertaining
is soo much better.
Thanks to all the marshal's there that day, I am glad you enjoyed watching me hurl the big green and white Jag around.
Snetterton is made for my particular style of driving I think, fast corners are wicked, especially in a car weighing around 1700kgs.

keep up the good work

Sideways Steve Avery

[sideways steve]

Originally Posted by White flag man

Steve Avery, we salute you.

Stop it, I'm filling up

[John Turner]

With more beer, no doubt!

[andy97]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Race 5, described in the programme as the '1 or 2 Driver Sports Car v Saloons Challenge' was another 40 minute race.

The early part of the race provided a great dice for the lead between the Edwards/Castardini Crossle 9S (surely a rare bird?) and the Porsche 964 RS Cup car of George and Andrew Christopher.

There are plenty of Crossle 9S racing in the SR & GT series (www.srgtc.org.uk) , including the Nigel Edwards example seen in this race at Snetterton. I think that they usually get 5-6 of them out. Beautiful cars, one of my all time favourites.

[John Turner]

Ah, thanks, very pretty sports car but 'plenty' on the grid, could still be small in manufactured numbers! I feel a chassis history thread coming on!

In already failing light, elements of the rather mixed grid for the Sports Car v Saloons Challenge (20 mins) contrived to have a first lap accident leading to the second red flag incident, the departure of 4 cars from the restart, and the prospect of a night race loomed large! The race was fairly well spread out with only a couple of dices taking place, and the race was won by the F355 Ferrari of Charlie White after the Saker of Ian Mortin, who did fastest lap dropped out. My camera does not like these conditions and since I didn't feel inclined to use flash in the faces of drivers trying to negotiate the chicane, the compensating slower shutter speeds led to some occasionally interesting (but usually appalling!) effects. This is the third 'Pocket Rocket' driven to 8th place by Michael Smith. This is much more of a road car than the other two, with its lovely wire wheels, and its lap speeds reflected this. Here, however, a real impression of speed!


One of the few good dices was between Andrew Christopher in the Porsche 964 RS Cup car and Tristan Simpson in the Ferrari 328 GTB. In a 'do or die' effort to pass the Porsche, coming into Russell he went in deep, braked late (see the lock up), held his line and safely emerged side by side with the Porsche. Great stuff! It was to no avail however, since the Porsche retained the initiative, and a lap or so later Simpson got his entry to Russell completely wrong, entering the first part completely sideways and only just missing the rear of the Porsche (presumably that would be called a 'reverse T-bone'!). He recovered to finish 4th with Christopher 7 seconds to the good in 3rd.


I'm afraid my attempts at capturing Ken Payton's pyrotechnic display have come out ..... erm, less than satisfactorily, and not remotely worthy of display, so ...... camera looking west towards the startline; spectators enjoying the last few minutes of racing, by which time the wind was getting decidely chilly!:-


About 15-20 minutes later, looking in the opposite direction, taken from the Paddock area!:-


And that, as they say, is 'yer lot', from me!

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by sideways steve

Hi sports fans

I am humbled by your kind words, winning is cool but entertaining
is soo much better.
Thanks to all the marshal's there that day, I am glad you enjoyed watching me hurl the big green and white Jag around.
Snetterton is made for my particular style of driving I think, fast corners are wicked, especially in a car weighing around 1700kgs.

keep up the good work

Sideways Steve Avery

Hi Steve, in the Jaguar challenge, did you drive first or second?

[sideways steve]

Originally Posted by falcemob

Hi Steve, in the Jaguar challenge, did you drive first or second?

Hi Falcemob

Chris, the car owner, let me take her round first, he just wanted her warmed up think

[Tim Falce]

Thanks Steve, you built up quite a gap from my uncle in the yellow Dtype. I managed to get it down to just under a second at the end but I think Chris slowed a bit on the last lap.

[sideways steve]

Originally Posted by falcemob

Thanks Steve, you built up quite a gap from my uncle in the yellow Dtype. I managed to get it down to just under a second at the end but I think Chris slowed a bit on the last lap.

He had no choice, apparently the tyres were coming apart, I cant imagine why!!
Your uncle was a tricky customer to get round, those D types weigh as much as my door so I couldn't get near him out of the bends, I had to do it get him under braking.

[Tim Falce]

Under braking would have been fairly easy as we had no rear brakes. Just before my second practice I found that one of the rear callipers was pouring fluid out and the pedal was going to the floor.
The only quick fix I could do was to clamp the pipe off with a pair of Mole grips and turn the bias all the way to the front.
It worked well though but I think uncle was a bit nervous about them.

[NeilT]

I certainly enjoyed Snetterton...... It was my first race there (race 4 & 8), and really enjoyed my battle with the Jag XJ6 in Race 8.....

[COLIN STUBBS]

hi neil. welcome!! very enjoyable race we had in the tintops and that was a very gracefull spin at riches mate!

[NeilT]

Colin,

If my memory serves me correctly, you was driving the jap-engined 216GTi?? I was trying to hold you off, and then spun...... I did tell mt wife that it was the "other" Rovers Fault.....

Was a good race..... I shall be out next year!!

[Eric Falce]

Originally Posted by falcemob

Under braking would have been fairly easy as we had no rear brakes. Just before my second practice I found that one of the rear callipers was pouring fluid out and the pedal was going to the floor.
The only quick fix I could do was to clamp the pipe off with a pair of Mole grips and turn the bias all the way to the front.
It worked well though but I think uncle was a bit nervous about them.

A bit nervous is an understatement,made a fantastic start,arrived at the first bent on the inside in third,could have been second then suddenly realised we hadnt tested the brakes,would it stop or carry straight on and take half the field with it,a great race ,thoroughly enjoyed our changeover when Tim hauled me out by my shoulder straps and dumped me on the ground,very original.
Another oldtimer there was Bob Winkelman over from the States with his girlfriend! still has one of the original racing Lotus Cortinas ,rust free in his garage at home in San Francisco.
A great meeting and a big thanks to everyone involved in it.