Keith forces his way out front

Snetterton - 17 June 2001

The ditty goes, if its wind and rain, you must be at Snett again. Or something like that. So it was clearly and unmistakably at Snetterton that the Morgan drivers were to be found making their way wet and cold but cheerily around the paddock on Sunday June 17th.

Scrutineering passed off slowly but uneventfully and those who had raced in the 750 Roadsports race the previous day passed the time relating tales of driving almost blind behind misted up windscreens in torrential rain until given a dispensation to race on aeros. Keith had won yet another victory to bring his race total for the season to 10 out of 10.

Matthew was therefore to be found poring over race data from his laptop while Rick was plotting subtle changes to his car, which had at long last survived testing, practice and a race intact! Both were looking for elusive seconds. The remaining class A drivers were sadly absent, obviously feeling either too cold to race or inadequate to face the challenge. Other drivers and supporters were busy mopping up those cars whose owners had been unwise enough to abandon them to the mercy of the paddock after testing on Friday. The Lloyds were engaged in a game of hunt their possessions which had floated away in the deluge. Should anyone find an overshoe it belongs to Rick.

Simon OG found that he had wasted his money on two car waterproofs as his seat was discovered to be very wet, the fact that we were the other end of the paddock from the facilities being entirely irrelevant. Your scribe does have the name of a company which does indeed make waterproof covers as number 54 was nice and dry which was just as well since water and residual oil probably don’t mix well. Just before practice the unthinkable was found to have occurred. Somehow Keith had been so busy cleaning his car and glorying in the daring of the previous day that he had quite forgotten to position his car at the front of the practice queue. To much good humoured banter, he had the audacity to push it to the front from where it was summarily pushed back by the others. It was then that Mr Noise Tester came along and colluded with the cheating by allowing those who had raced the previous day to drive through un-retested. Some cars, notably a red one with lots of farmyard residue still clinging to it, also sneaked through notwithstanding the lack of a race the day before.

As the MMCC was to be the penultimate race of the weekend, our practice was late in the morning and the track was declared slippery, although broadly dry. Drivers were spotted visiting the pits with an alarming regularity but none as the result of accidents. A despondent Peter Horsman was first in with a broken clutch. Rick just passed through perhaps out of habit but then Billy went bang and that (as they say) was the end of that. He was next seen being towed out of the circuit, for what purpose your discreet hack couldn’t possibly comment but it could have involved orange vans with flashing lights atop. David was next in with his fuel starvation problem which he got to work on, treating us to a glimpse of alternative uses for copper piping.

Practice results brought mixed emotions to the participants. Keith was on pole yet again with Rick second and Matthew third. Chris A was fourth, leading class B with the gearless Peter in fifth. Kate is thinking of bringing a watering can to future events as Simon outqualified James to take sixth place and lead class C. Kelvin outqualified first Jack and then Mary for class D, but as usual Alan, class E, was faster than all of the class D drivers as well as his own.

Sarge had been unable to lose any weight since the last race and had consequently resorted to removing his bumpers and fitting a rather smart new underbelly to his car, so he was pleased with his new lighter modifications if not his times. Stephen Wheatley drove around resplendently in his recently mended car sporting a new gearbox and axle so didn’t even care about his position but rather was delighted to have a place on the grid at all.

Following post-practice euphoria, or abject despair (which was rather infectious in the case of one driver), and then a long lunch in the warmth of the cafe, oh and some spectating, the MMCC race was at last called and the cars filed out for the green flag lap. It was here that Peter H realised that his race might be on the tricky side as he was unable to select a single gear to drive out of the Parc Fermé. The lure of the track took over and he managed to find something and drive out for what turned out to be an unfortunate start. As the lights changed to green, Keith decided to give the others a start and he got bogged down again while Peter two rows back, but behind him, also had problems starting with huge clutch slip. Matthew took his chance, passing both Keith and Rick to lead into the first corner and for the initial 100 metres, but then Keith recovered and overtook with Rick hanging onto the pair. Matthew and Keith were so close that on the second lap Matthew came within tapping distance of the leader who remained unfazed and determined to make it eleven wins out of eleven starts.

Paul B also saw his chance, in the confusion at the start, to make up a few places on his slow qualifying position. He whizzed past some class B cars but instead of slowing for the corner his brakes locked up and he ended up hitting the barrier and rather rearranging the line of his car. Once everyone else had safely raced off Paul restarted finding himself behind even the disconsolate Peter.

Jack too had some ground to make up, but after a blinding start (his description – your scribe thinks this means he had his eyes closed) passing both Leigh and Kelvin, had to slow to avoid the Burry off, whereupon Kelvin saw his chance and leapt into the lead, a place which he firmly held until the flag. Mary saw that Jack was vulnerable and also overtook, not once but twice during the race, leaving Jack no other recourse but to throw stones at her as he spun on some gravel cracking her screen in the process (well if you will race on screens). Eventually Jack threw Mary off his tail but Kelvin was well away finishing X seconds ahead (the time sheet went haywire here with later placed cars apparently taking less time to finish than those who had beaten them).

Philip G, also in class D, had a good start, overtaking four cars, and so was rather despondent to finish last, but could take great comfort from the excellent crowd support which he received from two tiny spectators who could be heard above the roar of the engines urging Daddy on to faster times.

Kelvin turned his attentions to the pursuit of Alan, and the two had a good scrap until Alan found an extra 7 seconds, comfortably winning his class and in front of all the class D cars. However it must be mentioned that David’s pipe job proved successful and that Stephen W was ahead of both Peter and Paul for a lap and moreover, he overtook Philip G down the straight on the sixth lap to his immense satisfaction. Back at the cutting edge, Keith slowly and definitively pulled away from Matthew into yet another unassailable lead, finishing over a second faster than his nearest rival. Rick never gave Matthew a moment’s peace in his attempts on Keith, pursuing him and making him work for every corner, except when taking a few excursions onto the grass. This was reflected in the best lap times, where Rick, although third, was a minuscule of a 100th of a second faster than Matthew. As your scribe gets rather confused here with the small numbers she will probably have to borrow Matthew’s computer to work out this sum! And maybe find that Matthew won after all. It certainly made the spectating enjoyable for those still left at the end of the afternoon.

Chris A followed the race leaders at a respectable distance remaining untroubled by the gearless one (by this stage, third gear was found to be there or thereabouts so long as it wasn’t asked to accelerate the car quickly) and gentlemanly enough not to cock a snook at him when lapping his usual rival.

Simon OG roared off the start closely followed by Grahame, who was in turn followed by James. James spent three laps hassling Grahame at every chance while Simon used the opportunity to put as much track as possible between himself and the usual class leader. Finally James took Grahame on lap four, but then spent the next five laps in pursuit of Simon. Certainly by the seventh lap James had caught up with him and was desperate to overtake. The two changed places twice on the tenth lap, with Grahame always ready to pounce if either made an error, until it all became too much for Simon’s brakes and nerve and James overtook for the final time holding onto his place as class leader and championship contender. Although Grahame was unable to overtake Simon, he was delighted with his first finish of the season. Behind them a little sub-class of class B comprising Sarge, Phil H and Phil M was having some fun sparring politely with one another. Originally Paul C made this a quartet but got left behind on lap four when Phil H overtook him.

Paul B was awarded Driver of the Day for his valiant attempt to make up some places in the order following his disastrous spin, eventually finishing eleventh of twenty two. With the exception of Paul and Peter, the other drivers all thoroughly enjoyed their race, none more so than Phil Brown who declared it the best fun since 1974. Sad. What happened in 1974 your scribe wonders? Was anyone there to witness (or indeed share) the 1974 Best Fun? Did the 1974 Best Fun last longer than the 2001 Next Best Fun (that was 20 mins 26.602 secs, so maybe 1974 Best Fun was Best Fun indeed)? Anyway, with eleven wins out of eleven starts (in this country anyway), Keith had the greater adrenaline rush. But in the overall and class Championship standings, there are some interesting battles looming. And if you stand very still, you may even hear the distant sounds of calculator buttons a-tapping.

Ruth Horsman