MGCC, Snetterton, 4/5 October, 2008

[restyles]

I have included a sequence of Rob's coram exploits in my Autosport submissions so as you say John we had better wait until after Thurs for my postings. However I think your pictorial accounts are excellent especially considering you are on the 'proper' side of the fence. I am sure many look forward to viewing them following each meeting just as I do.

[Peter Mallett]

It's about time he went to Spa!

[Rovcoup]

Complete wash out today no racing due to bad weather.

[terence]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

It's about time he went to Spa!

He did have the offer of a free ride over for this year Peter,obviously we are not in his social circle.-------------------------------------------

[dtype38]

Hi John, nice to see you out supporting yesterday. And really rather pleased that our team had pulled out of the Relay Race today. As it was I got to have a nice night in my own bed then off to watch the footy with my son today instead. Shame we lost 3-1, but at least we were dry!

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by terence bower

He did have the offer of a free ride over for this year Peter,obviously we are not in his social circle.-------------------------------------------

Yeah, I'm not affluent enough! Seriously, I think I may have missed that one. It's on my list for next year though!

Originally Posted by d-type38

Hi John, nice to see you out supporting yesterday. And really rather pleased that our team had pulled out of the Relay Race today.

The car held together well for the first race though. Flames from the over run into Russell Chicane were good (a pic of which is now in the Spot the Logo section on the home page) although not as spectacular as came from Roger Connel's TVR Griffith, though.

[dtype38]

Yup, she did well, but needs a complete rebuild now.

I passed Roger once into Russel, then again into the Esses after he got back past me - each time with both of us on the over-run. I'm hoping someone got a photo of us "synchro-flaming" !

[terence]

[quote=John Turner]Yeah, I'm not affluent enough! Seriously, I think I may have missed that one. It's on my list for next year though![Quote]


I seem to remember those words from last year.

[John Turner]

Elephant memory! Trioble is my list is a bit long and I'm not getting any younger!

[terence]

Well, all I'll say is the offer is still there should you be able to drag yourself out of the bathchair John.

[jerryk]

Originally Posted by dtype38

I'm hoping someone got a photo of us "synchro-flaming" !

no pictures but if i can ever get it to load on google lots of video

[dtype38]

I've got quite a lot of pretty close views of the flames from the TVR from my front onboard camera.

I've got some of you from the front one... and then the back one! ........

[John Turner]

Since we've mentioned it quite a bit, I thought that we would get this out of the way first. Basically, Rob left the track on the exit of the long Coram bend at 90 mph and once on the grass the car slewed sideways at unabated speed which meant that the nearside wheels dug into the ground and launched him into a series of violent barrel rolls. The first four shots are part of the sequence I took, the fifth shows the good bit - Rob walking away, the sixth, receiving some consoling words no doubt from the marshal, who had run across from the inside of the Russell chicane, and finally, the MGB GT V8 being recovered. I think it stood up remarkably well, considering.

I'll start the race pictorial review when I have progressed one or two other earlier meetings a bit further!

[terence]

I'd heard it was pretty dramatic!.Glad he's OK though.

[NLaskey]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Since we've mentioned it quite a bit, I thought that we would get this out of the way first. Basically, Rob left the track on the exit of the long Coram bend at 90 mph and once on the grass the car slewed sideways at unabated speed which meant that the nearside wheels dug into the ground and launched him into a series of violent barrel rolls. The first four shots are part of the sequence I took, the fifth shows the good bit - Rob walking away, the sixth, receiving some consoling words no doubt from the marshal, who had run across from the inside of the Russell chicane, and finally, the MGB GT V8 being recovered. I think it stood up remarkably well, considering.

I'll start the race pictorial review when I have progressed one or two other earlier meetings a bit further!

John,

I hope you don't mind if I reproduce your pics on my motorbike forum (invitation only) I was at Donnington and watched Rob taking the spin and was surposed to be racing myself on the Sunday but as we all know Sunday didn't happen.

I found your pics after telling people on the bike site about the accident so have reproduced them, if you have any probs with this please let me know and I'll remove them.

Cheers

Nev

[John Turner]

Nev, absolutely no problem; just let them know they came from here!

(You mean Snetterton, of course!)

[NLaskey]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Nev, absolutely no problem; just let them know they came from here!

(You mean Snetterton, of course!)

Cheers John,


Err yes Snetterton of course lol I'm still half asleep!

And yes I've already mentioned they are your pics and linked them here.

I didn't say earlier but fantastic pic mate, and thanks for your prompt reply.

Cheers

Nev

[John Turner]

This proved to be a Morgan Plus 8 benefit race. They seem particularly well suited to Snetterton. I don't think Tony Lewis was ever headed and he is seen leading out of the Russell chicane on the first lap. However, he was only 1.3 seconds ahead of Philip Goddard, who at this point wasn't in the top 3. Behind Lewis is Chris Acklam (93) who finished 3rd, and Andy Green:-


Jo Parrington finished 16th in his MGB GTV8:-


Andy Green threw away his chances of a podium place when he spun his Morgan. He still finished 4th albeit 21 seconds behind the winner:-


Peter Barnard was 22nd in his Elva Courier:-


Ken Paton was first non Morgan, 6th in his flame spitting D-type replica. This picture also appears occasionally as part of the spot the Ten-Tenths logo feature on the Home page:-


The all yellow duo of Mike Hazlewood (1 - TR6) and Tim Falce (81 - D type replica), who went on to finish ahead in 13th. Hazlewood was 15th:-


Not the best of shots but worth it for the illuminated rear end. Roger Connel's Pocket Rocket does its best to set its backside on fire! He lost his early dice with Ken Paton and eventually finished 8th in the TVR Griffith. I have to admit that of this field of cars, this is the one I would most want in my garage!:-

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by John Turner

The all yellow duo of Mike Hazlewood (1 - TR6) and Tim Falce (81 - D type replica), who went on to finish ahead in 13th. Hazlewood was 15th:-

Also because I finished one place ahead of Mike in class, I took a vital point from him which cost Mike the overall championship. I don't think I was the most popular driver with the TR camp that day.

[John Turner]

Well, Tim, that's racing, as they say. Anyway, I note that 3 other cars also finished ahead of Mike Hazlewood in that class in the race. Hmmm .... they too, were D-type replicas .... I'm sure this means nothing! I assume that since Peter Samuel's won his class (B) in the MGB roadster, and he was Mike's closest challenger according to the programme, it was he who snatched the overall championship?

[John Turner]

Split into 6 classes, although there was no class E entry in this race, but I don't know how the classes structures are arrived at. There were 34 starters and 29 finishers.

Leader from the off was Simon Hutchinson in his MG Midget, and he was never headed, winning by 4.6 seconds. Here, on the first lap, he is seen leading the pack out of the Esses and into the Bomb Hole:-


Variety is the spice of MG life. This shot of the middle of the pack shows MGs covering over 50 years of production:-


Oldest car in the race was John Bussey's TC. He failed to finish:-


Shane Terry of the MGB Hive (who look after my MGC) could not have got much closer to Paul Rigg's MGF VVC if he'd tried. He was never able to overtake and they finished 14th and 15th still tied together. Shane has a copy of this image and said 'I was pretty close wasn't I?' . Err, yes, Shane you were!:-


Rob Spencer's GT V8 looked very much smarter earlier in the day and he drove well to finish 7th. He probably now wishes that he had called it a day and gone home!:-


Blaine Neaves finished 2nd in his MGB which has an MGC type bonnet bulge. He tried hard to stay in touch with Hutchinson whilst at the same time holding off the MGB GT of David Brooke who finished 3rd just over half a second behind:-


Simon Cripps has an interesting moment under braking into the Esses, in his GT V8. It went on for a long time! He didn't really get it completely back together until he was halfway towards the Bomb Hole. He finished 6th:-


Going around the outside into the Esses is always a risky move but James Walpole made it stick and Sam Polley (54) left him enough room to do so. Well done, both. Walpole was 12th and Polley, 13th, in their B roadsters:-

[John Turner]

This 32 year old championship was, for 2008, also sponsored by 'surveying with Devon and Cornwall'! Three classes from Modsports (Class A) to Standard cars (Class C), there were 19 starters with 17 finishers in a 20 minute (15 lap) race.

The race was won comfortably by William Smallridge in his maroon Midget winning by 38 seconds, so on average over 2 seconds a lap quicker than anybody else. Here, heading into the Bombhole for the first time, he has already opened a small gap over Paul Sibley who finished 2nd but who was challenged strongly by Edward Reeve in the blue Midget lying 4th in this picture:-


Reeve was a bit slow out of the Esses and Gill Duffey (63) has a go at diving up the inside. It was Reeve however, that once into his stride, chased Sibley home to take 3rd place, whilst Duffey pulled off into the Esses escape road on lap 9:-


Class B runner, Ian Stagg, was 8th in his Midget:-


The series, quite logically, allows Austin Healey Sprites to run as well, and this Frogeye example, driven by John Wilson, finished 9th:-


Competition at the back was briefly strong with these 3 battling not to finish last. Stephen Collinson (36) was the one to drop to the back of this group and lost a lot of ground on them to finish 17th. In fact, his lap times suggest that he must have made a great start to be in front of the other two at this stage. John Stanyon (41) finished 15th, and Ian Langford (34), 16th:-


This battle for Class B honours went to Dominic Mooney (2) who took 4th place overall, from Peter Collinson (7), 5th:-


Adrian Moore makes life interesting for himself, on his way to 6th:-

[John Turner]

A 30 minute race with 28 starters and 24 finishers, a field of British sportscars, primarily from the 1960's with MGBs forming the backbone, but with a good smattering of TVRs and Triumph TRs and singleton entries from other marques, this puts on a great show with close racing.

Initially, 10-Tenther Rod Begbie grabbed the lead in his TVR Grantura Mk3, and he is seen heading out of the Esses for the first lap, chased hard by Tom Smith (22-MGB), Neil Howe (42 - TR4A) and Malcolm Johnson (49 - TVR Grantura Mk3). Begbie was soon to be demoted to 3rd by Smith and Johnson, who proceeded to draw away gradually from the field in a monumental battle that raged until the fall of the flag. For most of the race Johnson led but towards the end Smith squeezed his MGB ahead of the TVR going into the Russell Chicane only to lose it again a lap or two later in the same place. Johnson took the flag by just 3-tenths. It had been a superb race between these two and the race for 3rd had been pretty intense too, as Begbie and Howe reprised their earlier season battles (on those occasions for the lead!). Unfortunately for Howe, he had to retire his TR4 after 14 laps, leaving Begbie to take 3rd:-


Another retiree was the TVR Grantura Mk3 of Rob Cull, after just 6 laps:-


Mark Pangbourne races the oldest car in this series; his 1955 Austin Healey 100, and on this occasion, he finished 16th:-


Stephen Radcliffe (6th) held 5th for quite a while in his MGB but was eventually overhauled by fellow MGB driver, David Beresford (5th). Here Radcliffe locks up in the Esses, but ......... :-


...... anything a 'B' can do, a TVR can do better. Begbie again!:-


The one foreign interloper was the Lancia Fulvia of Dave Wood which finished last of the classified runners:-


Not quite on the pace of the frontrunners but always hovering just behind the leading group was John Anders, who benefited from the demise of the fellow TR4 of Howe to take 4th place:-


Keith Hampson took 19th place with his Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans:-

[John Turner]

Notwithstanding the title, over half the MGBs in this race were of the 4 cylinder variety, sporting 1860 or 1950cc engines. However, the Class D cars are V8s and recall the old modsports 'attitude' in their appearance and their level of modification/performance ensure that they are the frontrunners.

This race was over 30 minutes, but was interrupted by Rob Spencer's massive accident which we have already covered.

Adrian Beer triumphed after a mighty tussle with Paul Sibley:-


Brian Smethurst (4 cylinder) leads the ill fated Rob Spencer GT V8 through the Russell chicane. Smethurst was 15th:-


Martin Jones was 14th in his B roadster:-


Phil Walker's GT V8, a class C runner was, 4th:-


Here Sibley leads Beer but eventually finished 2nd, 1.3 seconds behind:-


James Wheeler dives up the inside of Brian Cakebread (any relation to Bill?) and went on to finish 7th. Cakebread was 9th:-