Lloyd banks championship after overnight engine change

Silverstone - 26 September 1998

The final Round of the Challenge took place on the 26th of September at Silverstone. There was still lots to play for in Class A with Keith Ahlers having 32 points closely followed by Simon ‘Orange’ McDermott with 31 points and Chas Windridge with 26 points. Class B was all sorted with Malcolm Paul being the winner. Class C was also tight with Peter Sargeant leading on 45 points followed by Doug Taylerson with 42 and Tony Howard on 41, although some of the potential excitement was detracted from this on the non application to race of Peter and Doug. Class D was sewn up with a commanding win with 71 points from Rick Lloyd in his first season. Class E was also a tight contest with Peter Horsman having 62 points over hard charging Jack Bellinger with 51. The Championship was still potentially up for grabs although for Peter to win outright he would have to win his Class and achieve the fastest lap in Class, relying on Rick not finishing higher than 6th in his Class. Nevertheless as Formula 1 has shown us this season anything is possible.

Practice was scheduled to be at 11:40 am but at this time the circuit was shrouded in low lying fog. The powers that be decided that three laps of the circuit (the minimum to qualify ) was all that was needed and as laps would not be timed , normal qualifying conditions would not apply. The usual range of problems befell our racers, Chris Springall had his throttle cable snap, with Peter Garland – welcome back – also having a throttle problem which led to the car revving higher than necessary whilst idling. Peter and his mechanic were seen stripping down the engine in the paddock in order to make the repair.

Current Championship leader Rick Lloyd had a heart murmur (metaphorically speaking) on Friday when in practice his engine let go. Rick spoke with specialist engine supplier John Eales who built a new one through the course of Friday and Friday night. Rick took his car to London where the shot engine was removed. The new engine was delivered and installed overnight. Rick then ran the car in up the M1 at 4 o’clock in the morning, used the car to qualify and then sent his mechanic out to loosen the car up some more !

Simon McDermott had yet another problem this time being of running a V6 instead of the usual V8. Martin Kurrein spun at Becketts with Malcolm Paul locking up at the same spot. This was an unusual occurrence as Becketts – being a virtual hair pin, on the national circuit was of course a slow section begging the question was there oil on the track ?

We also had the great misfortune to watch Class A runner Andrew Jenkins losing control and spinning around at Becketts in front of Adrian van der Kroft. Adrian took evasive action by moving to overtake Andrew up the inside which proved fatal as whilst still being out of control Andrew unintentionally shut the door leaving Adrian nowhere to go. Both cars were seriously damaged putting Andrew out of the race with an unrepairable bent chassis amongst lots of other damage, an unwelcome winter project, but we look forward to your return next year. Adrian left his car with Rick and Brett, aka Team Brands Hatch, where frantically but methodically they began to try to rebuild the car. In the true spirit of club racing Jack Bellinger was seen to straighten the steering rods with a rather large pounding implement with many other racers offering help in a total team effort to get the car ready to race. The objective was achieved with Adrian taking his place on the grid.

Simon Orebi Gann raced out of his usual Class owing to non standard tyres. As there was no timed practice as such, position on the grid was given against previously attained places so Peter Garland was given Pole with Simon McDermott in second.

Our race was to have started at 4:55pm but due to the time saved at a shortened practice session in the morning races were being brought forward by approximately half an hour. In the event our race began at 4:37pm in conditions that were slightly improved on those of the morning being overcast but dry.

The cars lined up on the grid and after receiving the fifteen second warning, the green flag was held out and all the cars set off on the green flag or warm up lap, all navigating the circuit without hitch to reform on the grid for the start proper which duly came. Keith Ahlers made a good start as did Chris Springall who managed a superb start to pass Simon McDermott, who in turn made a bad start off the line and was quoted after the race as saying “ it warms the tyres up “. Peter Garland also made a good start to take the lead in the race. Chris Springall inadvertently turned off the engine cut-off switch when leaving Woodcote and dropped two places before realising what he had done and hurriedly reinstated the switch to get back on his way. At the start of the second Peter Garland had already started to dominate gaining a good three hundred yards over nearest contender Chas Windridge who in turn had Simon McD in tow. The pack followed on in very close contest which found Adrian van der Kroft with two wheels on the grass at the complex in a side by side contest with Peter Horsman. The cars only started to open out after Leigh Sebba who had pulled two hundred yards over David James and Tony Howard.

By the third Peter G was well and truly on his way with a good five hundred yards and a completely dominating performance. Simon McDermott was in second place closely followed by Chris Springall, Keith Ahlers and Chas Windridge who was starting to feel the full effect of the wrong tyre choice (wets). Rick Lloyd was ahead of another batch of cars to include James Paterson, Martin Kurrein, Graham White, Chris Acklam, Simon Orebi Gann and Malcolm Paul. These cars had managed to pull four hundred yards over Adrian van der Kroft, Peter Horsman, Jack Bellinger, Kelvin Laidlaw, Leigh Sebba and John Clarke. David James had dropped back a further two hundred yards but pulled one hundred over tailender Tony Howard.

At the forth Peter had well and truly made the race his own with the interesting battles taking place further back down the field. Rick Lloyd and Graham White were having their own contest closely followed by James Paterson. Another battle was raging further back down the field between Kelvin Laidlaw and Leigh Sebba who try as he might couldn’t find the extra power to pass Kelvin on the bends, knowing that a straight line pass was not possible. ‘ble. Jack Bellinger missed selecting third gear at Luffield and struggled to retain position, the downside of a moss box. Tony Howard’s gearstick snapped to leave a short stub with which to change gear. Simon McDermott’s car had a mechanical problem which effectively meant that he had started to go backwards, although by his own admission would not have caught Peter. At the fifth Simon’s car let out a flash of flame from the side pipes when coming out of Woodcote, surely this would not be another unfinished race? The Keith Ahlers / Chris Springall battle had eased a little but was by no means over as Keith dropped back one hundred yards from Chris. Chas was still going backwards on wets losing four hundred to Keith A. Graham White, Rick Lloyd and James Paterson had pulled clear of the Martin Kurrein, Chris Acklam pack. Simon Orebi Gann had out braked himself at Becketts and found himself in the gravel, dropping two places. Adrian van der Kroft was involved in a tight battle with Peter Horsman.

By the sixth Peter G had lapped David James and Tony Howard. James Paterson had managed to pass Rick Lloyd whose car had no pull in a straight line whatsoever. Graham White who was feeling particularly pleased with his position, being sixth, had a moments loss of concentration and spun at Becketts dropping five places. Not to be deterred he rejoined in a determined effort to regain losses. Malcolm Paul had made a successful move on Chris Acklam to gain a place.

At the seventh Peter G had also lapped John Clarke who also later admitted to the wrong tyre selection. Chris Springall had a hard charging Keith Ahlers right behind him again. James P and Rick L were still in a close contest. Malcolm Paul, Chris Acklam and Graham White were also in close contact.

By the eighth Peter G had passed all cars up to Peter Horsman. Graham White showing great bravado (well as much as you can in someone else’s car !) had managed to claw back two places from Malcolm Paul and Chris Acklam to ninth place. At nine Peter G passed another two cars in Adrian and Peter H. Graham White whilst probably trying a little to hard made the gravel at Copse but managed to drive out losing those two hard fought places of lap seven – hard luck .

Peter Garland took the chequered flag and a well deserved first place in Class A. Class B was won by Martin Kurrein with C going to Tony Howard. Class D was won by James Paterson with Adrian van der Kroft winning E.

The final championship Class winners are; Class A Simon McDermott Class B Malcolm Paul Class C Tony Howard Class D Rick Lloyd Class E: Peter Horsman

The overall Championship winner is Rick Lloyd with a thoroughly well-deserved win – well done.

Jon Hopkins