Chas shifts into gear

Donington - 27 June 1998

The Fourth Round of the Challenge was held at Donington Park race circuit in the East Midlands on Saturday 27th of June. The weather conditions early on in the day were absolutely awful being very wet. On arrival at the circuit the conditions had improved slightly with the rain having stopped falling.

Scrutineering was an event in itself. A complete lack of organisation was the order of the day with cars of all classes and marques descending on the area at the same time, although despite this everything went reasonably well for our competitors with all cars passing.

Our turn for practice was set at 9.45 am being fourth in turn. The weather conditions at this time had picked up considerably, being sunny with a dry track although rain clouds were beginning to bank on the horizon.

We were to have fielded twenty one cars – another wonderful attendance although Class A runner Craig Jones missed his first outing of the season together with another regular, Class A contender Simon McDermott. Class C runner Chris Dady was also absent along with Class E runner Jeremy Holden. We missed you all and very much look forward to watching you all race again soon. A big welcome back to Class B runner Malcolm Paul driving Rob Wells car (number 88) following the disaster at Pembrey two weeks ago, We are also pleased to see Class A runner Chas Windridge back in the driving seat, now I understand feeling much better than pre-Pembrey. We also welcome Chris Springall, two weeks later than planned, entering for the first time in Class A with his new race car. Chris’s car took three years to construct and was eventually completed at three o’clock on Saturday morning, in a joint effort with his mechanic! Chris was very pleased with his performance in practice as only having covered ten miles in the car prior to this event, qualifying eleventh with a 1.32.44. Class A driver Peter Garland returned after his one race absence qualifying second with a 1.23.16 – his car suffering slight oversteer and being a little twitchy on cornering. Fellow Class A runner Chas Windridge won Pole position with 1.22.89. Class E runners Peter Horsman and John Clarke both suffered a similar problem – lack of stopping power when the brakes got very hot. John complained of his inability to achieve the correct line going in to Redgate comer however hard he tried. Class B runner Malcolm Paul got slightly out of shape at Goddards with a steering problem, taking a short but spectacular excursion across the grass with the additional requirement of needing some assistance to get back to the paddock – oops. Class E runner, Mary Lindsay was in front of Jack Bellinger and Tony Howard between McLaren and Coppice corners when she spun off with Jack in tow, both cars doing a little “grass cutting” before both rejoined. Tony had to “back off” while this incident took place in turn forgoing a fast lap.

Drivers are required to cover a minimum of three laps to qualify. Practice was a bit of a non event for some drivers who only managed to cover three laps in total. Our cars were obviously not held as a group in the pit lane before joining the circuit as some cars had completed a full lap when other cars were still exiting the pit lane. Rick Lloyd was the only driver to complete six laps.

Our race proper was to have been the fifth but owing to some rescheduling of the program was the fourth. By race time the weather was sunny with the track being dry although the sky behind Redgate corner was telling an altogether different story being very black with heavy rain falling.

Our cars completed their warm up lap without incident and formed up on the grid for the start. The roar of everyone’s engines was awesome, the lights changed to green signalling the race start. Driving like a demon Peter Garland made a super start overtaking Chas Windridge before Redgate Corner. Simon Orebi Gann passed Malcolm Paul with Tony Howard in the SLR making most gains at the end of the first lap after passing Mary Lindsay, Tony Dillon and Leigh Sebba.

At the second Peter was already starting to dominate pulling out one hundred yards over Chas. James Paterson ran a little wide at Redgate but held position followed by Chris Acklam on the same line. Chris Springall’s race sadly ended at this point when his car came to a halt at Hollywood corner with steam pouring out from his bonnet louvres. A water hose coming off being the root cause of his problem. The yellow flags were shown at this point whilst the car was pushed to a safer area of the grass. We also lost Keith Ahlers on this lap owing to a high tension lead coming off the distributor cap.

At the third Peter continued to increase his lead over Chas who in turn pulled out one hundred and fifty yards over Class D runner Rick Lloyd. Simon Orebi Gann gained another place moving ahead of Class E runner Peter Horsman, Class E runner John Clarke had got the best of Jack Bellinger and passed him with some very tight, competitive racing. Mary Lindsay was enjoying some close racing with Tony Dillon. At the fourth a stationary yellow flag was out for Chris Springall’s car as Peter Garland, his car releasing a small puff of smoke, passed still increasing his lead over Chas to two hundred yards. Class D runner Rick Lloyd ran off line at Redgate, he too increasing his lead over fellow Class D runner James Paterson who in turn was pulling some three hundred yards over Chris Acklam. Peter Horsman’s race ended on this lap when his car’s engine died just before McLaren bend, an electrical problem was suspected. Still continuing their monumental battle were Class E runners John Clarke and Jack Bellinger. Jack challenging extremely closely being all over the back of John. Mary was holding out against Tony Dillon who was also fighting intensely for her place. Leigh Sebba had pulled out one hundred and fifty yards over tailender Phil Brown running in Class B.

On lap five we lost Class A driver and race leader Peter Garland when his fan belt came off. Chas then took the lead, extending over Class D runner Rick Lloyd by three hundred yards. John Clarke was under increasing pressure from Jack Bellinger who had a look at overtaking at Hollywood bend but was held off by John. The Mary Lindsay/Tony Dillon battle continued with both cars being along side each other and Leigh Sebba joining them both at close quarters. Tony managing to overtake Mary before Hollywood bend providing some super racing for the spectators. By the sixth Chas looked to be attaining an unassailable lead with the field well and truly split apart. Jack Bellinger had at last proved too much for John Clarke when, at the chicane, John seemed to decide that a trip around the Grand Prix circuit would be a good idea and went straight on. Jack passed him with a vengeance pulling out a one hundred yard lead. Tony Dillon ran wide at Redgate bend but still retained position closely followed by Tony Howard, Mary and Leigh.

At seven the cars continued to string out with Mary temporarily regaining a place over Leigh Sebba.

At the eighth Chas looked to be in good shape easing away from Rick and James. Chris Acklam took the wrong line at the Hairpin, leaving the track, closely followed by Simon Orebi Gann who was forced to do a grand prix style turn (you know smoking tyres and all that!) in order to turn around and get back on the track losing two hundred yards to Chris in the process. Tony Howard in the SLR had been experiencing some fuel starvation problems probably due to an exceptionally light load. The irrepressible Jack Bellinger strode out over John Clarke by three hundred yards. We lost yet another car on this lap when Tony Dillon’s Plus 4 threw a piston, hard luck.

For laps nine and ten things stayed in much the same order. Rick Lloyd beamed with contentment over successfully starting and completing thirteen races on the trot. Chas commented on his partial inability to select the desired gear due to as he put it “having a telescopic gear knob” which had to he held on to the stick in order to successfully change up or down.

We received news from Phil Brown after the race that he had been disqualified. Phi] had taken his car in to be weighed after the race and had been declared sixty kilogrammes under weight –his car should have weighed 870 kg. He also received an endorsement on his incense which under the circumstances. For Phil who was racing in last place this did seem like overkill. Prior to this Phil was commenting on how much he had enjoyed taking part in the race despite missing the Chicane after being unsettled as Chas over took him – hardly surprising given the throaty roar of the said car!

Chas took a well deserved win in Class A, Malcolm Paul won Class B, Tony Howard won Class C, Rick Lloyd won Class D with Jack Bellinger winning Class E. Our Next Race is at Cadwell Park – See you there.

Jon Hopkins