Cadwell Park Saturday 3rd Sept Classic Touring Car Racing

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Ha Ha I used to work on those when they were new, the competition dept at the garage I used to work at had an estate as a support vehicle for the mechanics on the big rallies, including the Monte

Radford? A so liveried Estate on Minilites is always at Revival & Classic. Looks great!

A Super Snipe has raced at Goodwood Revival I believe in the last few years. Remember nearly collecting one on a test day there several years ago! Also one in the new 'Julius' 50's saloon series?

[Gerry Taylor]

That last photograph of the Humber was what it was like back when I started. All different types, out there havin' fun. As Gordon says, this was not really unusual back then. I'll bet he had as much fun as anyone else out there on the day, and, who knows, that old Humber might make him look at up grading to something else and joining the race to win.
Well done mate.

[Al Weyman]

This chap was racing the car in one of the others maybe HSCC but found the rules just too restrictive especially (I believe but dont quote me) brakes etc. for abig old tub it never went half bad. The last I had to do with these when I traded cars I bought an absolutly beautiful Humber Imperial Limo and sold it to a chap in his 50's at the top of the estate. He absolutely adored the car but sadly and i always wondered if it was the worry of ownership dropped dead a week later from a heart attack and I had the envious job of negotiating a buy back from his widow and son as it was no good to them. I think i did a deal with a nice Mini i had in stock in the end but very sad tale.

[Gerry Taylor]

Nice cheery story Al.

[Al Weyman]

Yeah was a bit, sorry.

[John Turner]

Starters - 12
Classsified - 12
Duration - 20 mins

Sponsored by Hammerite (Gp 1) and Autoglym (P H Touring). Thankfully the programme entry of 7 was somewhat bolstered by late entries, and although still a small grid it didn't seem to matter with it's mix of cars and some good racing. Poleman, David Hickton in his very well presented Opel Ascona (46) was swamped at the start, with David Howard making the best of all starts in the Jaguar XJ12 (55), briefly displaced by Tim Scott Andrews in his Rover Vitesse (4). However, by the time they hit the mountain for the first time Howard was back in front with the Triumph Dolomite Sprint (49) of Mark Osborne in close attendance (see pic 1) with Hickton 'languishing' in 4th behind Scott Andrews (see pic 2):-

3) Nic Strong, who, I think is a 10-Tenther, propped up the back of the field but then he was giving away a lot of power in his little Fiat 128 Berlinetta (32) and the car was being driven enthusiastically; it certainly didn't look slow.
4) Tim Scott Andrews
5) Mark Lucock (16 - Ford Escort Mk1 RS2000) who finished 5th
6) John Wright (2 - Escort RS - 7th)

[John Turner]

Hicton set about recovering lost ground and had soon worked his way back to 2nd, with Scott Andrews, now 3rd and Osborne down to 4th where he was to finish. The Opel driver closed in on the big Jaguar but an overly optimistic attempt to pass Howard on the outside into the Mountain seemed doomed to failure (see pic 3 below) and he climbed the Mountain on the grass but managed to retain 2nd. He eventually made a pass stick and started to pull a small gap whilst Howard then came under pressure from Scott Andrews. All Hicton's recovery work went to naught when the Opel slowed out of Barn on the last lap, out of fuel, and as it trickled down the hill to the flag, he was pipped by both Howard and Scott Andrews (see pic 6):-

1) Riordan Welby (8 - Rover SD1 - 6th) also took to the grass!
2) Tony Crates was constantly demonstrating understeer into the Mountain, not a trait I would normally associate with a Mk 2 Lotus Cortina (12). He finished 11th
4) Malc Best (89 - Ford Capri - 9th)
5) Andy Johnson (81 - VW Golf - 10th)

The only car not depicted (sorry) is the later Escort RS2000 of Steve Cripps who finished 8th.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by John Turner

The only car not depicted (sorry) is the later Escort RS2000 of Steve Cripps who finished 8th.

Seems unfair to miss him out when some others appear a couple of times!:-

[Al Weyman]

Nice report John I will steer club members her to have a look many thanks. BTW I have stuck some money in the BARC marshals fund as penance for my churlish outburst Onwards to Rockingham for the last round of the season. Oct 3/4th. The timetable has been massaged so its purely CTCRC stuff on Sunday although listed as a two dayer. I am hoping to have both cars there if I can find someone to tow one of them.

[ascona i2000]

Are we able to buy any of the above pictures at all. Cheers, Dave

[Al Weyman]

If john doesnt offer that service and with his permission I can download and as I have to do some prints on some high quality photo paper sometime today so I can soon do them for you.

[John Turner]

Anyone is welcome to download my pics that I put up here, but they are only 900x600, which I reckon is a bit small for printing from (depends on hard copy size of course). Although an amateur, I do now charge £3 per image if you want larger ones, mainly to cover my time/admin. I'll e-mail any size up to 2700x1800 for that. If anyone is interested please PM me (I don't do hard copy prints).

[John Turner]

Starters - 14
Classified - 12
Duration - 20 mins

Sponsored by Thermex, another fairly small but lively grid. Tim Davies had put his Lotus Cortina (10) on pole and he duly converted that into the lead and, ultimately victory but he was hard pressed for much of the way by Roger Stanfords similar LHD example (11). There were some good battles throughout and I'll mention a couple with the pic captions. Stanford unfortunately retired after completing 9 laps of what turned out to be 11 for the winner. Davies was over three quarters of a minute clear of eventual 2nd place man Elfion Jones, also LC mounted (9) with Phil Manser's Mini Cooper (15) 3rd. Apparently Davies had not been to Cadwell for over 25 years, and this was his first saloon car race and his first ever win at the circuit:-

1) The start!
2) The Leaders in the Mountain
3) Keith Wright (68 - Morris Minor - 11th), Stuart Radford (53 - Triumph 2000 - DNF) and the very game Hedley Simons in his Humber Super Snipe (12 - 12th) in which he managed to stay in touch with the others for a couple of laps until he either had a moment, or started suffering brake fade, which wouldn't have been a surprise!
4) The leaders in the Mountain again - Stanford really pressing!
5) Battling foursome -Elfion Jones (9), Phil Manser (15), Jim Burrows (27 - Mini Cooper - 5th) and Richard Spring (77 - Ford Anglia - 4th)
6) Andy Messham's Austin Mini Seven (1 - 7th)

[John Turner]

1) Stuart Radford's Triumph 2000, sadly did not quite make it to the finish, completing 8 laps
2) Davies on his winning way, through Coppice
3) Phil Manser
4) Chris Partington's Saab 96 (64 - 9th)
5) Gentlemanly conduct! Anthony Warnes keeps his Wolseley 1500 (72 - 10th)out of the way whilst the lapping Roger Stanford checks his mirror to make sure he is clear of the lapped car
6) Richard Sprigg

[John Turner]

1) Keith Peter Wright
2) Not a good picture but this was a master class in car control. Exiting Coppice, Sprigg got into an almighty tank slapper, and each correction increased, as it often does, the momentum; it had to spin surely, but no, after half dozen corrections he headed off towards Charlies, still pointing the right way.
3) Hedley Simons
4) Luc Wilson (69 - Austin A40 - 8th)
5) Great battle for what was to become 5th with the retirement of Stanford, Burrows (27) pipping Nick Jones Anglia (8)
6) Anthony Warnes

[Al Weyman]

Well held Richard in the Anglebox, you can see he is an ex rally driver, he loves it!

[johnh875]

Didn't expect to see pics of a Super Snipe when I clicked on this thread!

[John Turner]

No, it was real surprise to see it, John, and all the better for that. Unusual cars on the track always appeal. The Saab is another pretty rare sight; more at home on a historic rally, I would have thought, but great to see it out. The Triumph 2000 is another rarity although there have been one or two out in recent seasons. Have a bit of a soft spot for them, as I learnt to drive in my late Father's back in 66/67.

[SAMD]

Originally Posted by John Turner

No, it was real surprise to see it, John, and all the better for that. Unusual cars on the track always appeal. The Saab is another pretty rare sight; more at home on a historic rally, I would have thought, but great to see it out. The Triumph 2000 is another rarity although there have been one or two out in recent seasons. Have a bit of a soft spot for them, as I learnt to drive in my late Father's back in 66/67.

The first time I was in a car going sideways was as a kid on Holiday in Donegal in the late 60s. MK1 Triumph 2000 The guy used it for a bit of rallying. It made a big impression. There is one over here with a Rover V8 in it that a guy uses for going sideways. Quite a mean machine. I am off now to 'our' Croft hill climb. I might see it.

[Al Weyman]

Richard Sprigg mentioned on our club forum what a great write up and pictures that was John and says thank you.

[John Turner]

My pleasure, Al; first time that I had caught up with you guys this year, so thought I'd push the boat out!

[John Turner]

Starters - 19
Classified - 17
Duration - 20 mins

Full title - Sub Zero Boss Classic Thunder and Pro Driver Blue Oval Saloons; not too snappy is it! Numerically the best grid of the meeting, even my flexible approach to historic races probably wouldn't include this one (for a while yet, anyway!) so just half a dozen pics. Andy Robinson's mighty Ford Falcon, presumably ex Aussie V8 series (6) with 7 litre of V8 was probably a bit on the big side for Cadwell, but nevertheless made a good fist of it, blasted into the lead at the start and built a small lead until Gary Whittaker got into his stride in his E36 M3 (76) and caught and passed him to go on to record another victory, by nearly 19 seconds. Robinson fell back into the clutches of Joss Ronchetti's super developed and very smartly turned out Lotus Sunbeam (13). Apparently Robinson went a little wide at one point and was passed although I'm sure Joss said, when interviewed after, that there had been a bit of 'rubbing':-

1) Demetris Neophytou lifts a wheel of his Ford Fiesta Mk1 (72 - 14th) heading away from Coppice toward Charlie's!
2) Lawrie Dunster in his M3 (65) about to catch and become embroiled in a battle with Paul Nevill's Escort RS. It took him a few laps to overcome Nevill before he went on to finish 8th
3) Ronnie Haines Ford Mexico (45), the oldest car in the field finished 15th.
4) Another good battle - Martin Davies (32 - Ford Sierra - 7th) holds off Andy Robey's M3 (11). However, once in clear air the BMW was nearly 2 seconds a lap faster and went on to finish 5th
5) Whittaker laps Brian Long's Fiesta (2 - 13th)
6) Bullet chases Thunderbird. They had swapped by the end to finish 2nd and 3rd behind the flying Whittaker.

[John Turner]

Starters - 7
Classified - 6
Duration - 20 mins

Sponsored by Bernard Baxter Engineering, this was a very disappointing grid. I'm told they are usually larger, but by how much? The race was won by Andy Powell's Royale RP26 (26), although his lead was never very great and the following 4 cars battled for 2nd for a while until Colin Williams retired his PRS RW01. However, the remaining 3 stayed close with Steve Pearce (27 - Van Diemen RF78) finishing 2nd just ahead of James Buckton (60 - Elden Mk8) and Dave Lowe (69 - Lotus 69).

1) Jonathan Greenwood (88 - Dulon MP15 - 6th)
2) Powell, Pearce and Malpas
3) The veteran Dave Lowe with umpteen championships to his name
4) Williams and Dave Malpas (32 - Van Diemen RF78 - 5th)
5) Buckton
6) Pearce and Buckton

[Gerry Taylor]

Great pictures. Thanks. Well done Richard in the Anglebox!

[kipper]

Originally Posted by John Turner

this was a very disappointing grid. I'm told they are usually larger, but by how much?

I think the average number of starters over the course of the year is in the low teens.