Class D rules. OK?

Pembrey - 14 June 1998

For the third round of the challenge the Morgan Motor Company roadshow moved over to South Wales for its only visit to the Country within the eight races of the Challenge. This race was noted by the absence of current Class A leader Peter Garland owing to damage incurred at the famous Prescott hillclimb by Mr A. N. Other upon Peter very kindly loaning his car, oops ! We all very much look forward to your return Peter, bringing the exciting racing that you display. At this event we give a big welcome back to Rob Wells owner of Libra Motive, running in Class B having his first race of this season. Rob’s return adds a little more competition than of late to Class B giving our existing runners, Malcolm Paul and Grahame Walker, something other than each other to think about.

Another change but this time being only in Class was to be Chris Springall who has moved to Class A, formally being of Class D. With Chris moving to A we now have a large contingent of eight cars available to race.

We also looked forward to seeing Barry Sumner in his Flat Rad +4 again appearing in his first race of this season. We had the potential for another good race with another superb attendance of nineteen cars booked in to race, unfortunately Class E runners John Clarke, Barry Sumner and Class A runners Chas Windridge and Chris Springall had to withdraw prior to the meeting We missed you all and look forward to seeing you all again soon – best wishes to Chas and a speedy recovery.

At this meeting we were again guests of the Jaguar Car Club. On arrival at the circuit on Sunday morning the weather was slightly overcast and damp although by the time of our practice (9.51am) things had brightened up. The race proper was to be the first after lunch at 1.45pm. Practice started promptly as is the way at such events when the organisers are trying to squeeze as much racing into one day as possible. Everything was going fairly smoothly, Tony Howard in the SLR and Leigh Sebba in plus Eight ran a little off-line at Hatchets Hairpin slowing both of them for the odd lap, Class A drivers Simon McDermott and Keith Ahlers both had the same problem of being unable to select 3rd gear although Simon overcame the problem to gain pole position, with Keith getting third. Class D runner Rick Lloyd suffered some loss of traction but despite this achieved a super time of 1:07.80 placing himself in fourth place, on the second row of the grid.

Class E runner Peter Horsman suffered a braking – or lack of it – problem, after using the brakes excessively when slowing down on approaching Hatchetts Hairpin. His brakes did not come back into full effect until just before the Esses which of course had a further downside of making his times 0.38s slower than the times achieved in Saturday’s practice session. Peter assured me that a minor detail such as this would not stop him from competing! Class D runner Simon Orebi Gann was praying to the rain gods as he could achieve a faster time in the wet practice of Saturday as he could on the dry circuit on Sunday.

On lap three things turned sour for two of our Class B runners, Malcolm Paul and Grahame Walker, in an incident that provoked much controversy in the paddock afterwards. Malcolm had spun coming out of Dibeni Bind finishing up with his car on the grass verge at the side of the track just before the Esses. He had climbed out of the car and attained safety on the tyre wall. The yellow flags were waved with lots of observers thinking that imminently the red flags would appear to stop the session. A stationary yellow flag was clearly displayed opposite the car for all drivers to see although the flags before and after were withdrawn. The rnarshals advised the Clerk of the Course that the session should be stopped in order to remove Malcolm’s car but that was overruled by the Clerk who deemed this unnecessary. This decision proved to be disastrous for Grahame as on his fourth lap, slowing as the yellow flags indicated also spun off at the very same spot slewing into Malcolm’s car. Everybody’s primary concern was as always the well being of the drivers, both of whom thankfully escaped injury. The result of this accident is that two of the series hardest fighting contenders’ cars were very seriously damaged probably finishing both of them for this season. The eagerness of the organisers to save time and keep to schedule went seriously wrong on this occasion. The clear up operation took considerably longer than any red flagging and car removal would have. The accident was particularly unkind to Grahame as on crossing the line at the end of previous lap he achieved second place on the grid with l:06.28 being only 0.56s off pole position. Both drivers had the “that’s racing” attitude which, under the circumstances, must be considered very honourable.

The cost to our friends, both financially and through loss of fun is obviously immense and so unnecessary. We all wish Malcolm and Grahame a speedy return to the Series. Owing to the incident in the morning we now had a contingent of only thirteen cars.

The lights went out at precisely 14:06pm with Simon McDermott holding the lead. Simon Orebi Gann made a disappointing start dropping a place. This was soon recovered owing to Simon McDermott having a big spin after putting two wheels on to the grass after exiting Dibeni Bend. Simon managed to get started again although now running with a three hundred yard deficit at the back of the grid. Chris Acklam and James Paterson both made good starts gaining a place each off the line. Keith Ahlers took the lead with Rick Lloyd in close pursuit followed closely by Class B runner Rob Wells and Class D runner James Paterson. By the end of lap one Simon McDermott had managed to overtake Class C runners Doug Taylerson and Tony Howard and was hard in pursuit of Peter Sargeant.

Keith Ahlers, Rick Lloyd, Rob Wells, James Paterson and Chris Acklam continued their monumental battle with Peter Horsman, Simon Orebi Gann and Jack Bellinger hot on each other’s heels.

Leigh Sebba was running one hundred and fifty yards off Jack’s bumper at this time with Simon McDermott being a further three hundred yards back but in front of Peter Sargeant who was in close competition with our other Class C contenders, Tony Howard and Doug Taylerson.

At the third Keith was coming in for some stiff opposition from Rick who was riding very close behind, obviously the gear box problems of practice were coming to a head. Rob was also experiencing some pressure being exerted on him by Class D driver James Paterson who was close enough to count the stitches on Rob’s tonneau cover.

The following four runners had dropped back seventy five yards with Simon McDermott passing Leigh Sebba to pick up another place. Keith had survived the onslaught from Rick pulling out fifty yards on him with both racers pulling an additional two hundred over James, Rob and Chris. The field was separating out in to three battles. Simon Orebi Gann, Peter Horsman and a hard driving Jack Bellinger. Leigh Sebba was trying to keep in touch, with Simon McDermott taking another place from Jack. Battle number three was that of our Class C runners, a hard charging Peter Sargeant, Tony H in the SLR and Doug Taylerson in his Plus 4. Simon managed a further place in the fifth by taking Peter Horsman.

On the sixth Rob Wells outbraked himself at the end of the startling straight, ran wide and lost position. Peter Sargeant was pulling out a good two hundred yards over Tony and Doug although dropping away from the back of Leigh Sebba.

By the seventh lap Keith had succumbed to the pressure from Rick and we had a new race leader with James, Chris and Rob behind. Simon McDermott passed Simon Orebi Gann regaining yet another place. Doug Taylerson was enjoying a spurt, closing down Tony Howard to seventy five yards. Jack Bellinger continued to drive his pants off giving the impression that he was really enjoying himself whilst trying to catch Peter Horsman. At the twelfth things took a turn for the worse for Keith Ahlers. Keith was giving Rick a hard time when a small puff of smoke appeared from his exhaust pipe at the Esses. The inevitable was about to happen and it did, his engine let go in a spectacular way when all of a sudden great plumes of smoke could be seen. Keith withdrew at Brooklands Hairpin, eventually driving slowly back to the finish line being classified tenth, terribly bad luck.

James Paterson closed up to second with Chris Acklam in third. James made a bid for the lead but only achieved a temporary excursion on to the grass rejoining to hold his position. Simon McDermott finished fifth after running out of laps before being able to regain the lead, commenting after the race on his inability to select any gear due to a broken gearbox,

Our congratulations go to Class D, particularly Rick Lloyd for a fine win, James Paterson for second place and Chris Acklam for taking third – an unusual result but not undeserved. We also congratulate Rob Wells for winning Class B, Simon McDermott for Class A, Peter Horsman for Class E and Peter Sargeant for Class C.

Jon Hopkins