Wet Welsh Wales (.Mog)

Pembrey 9th June 2002

Once upon a time in a kingdom surrounded by sea, a posse of intrepid racers travelled long distances to a far Principality to a cold wet and windy site to dice with danger and bring home trophies. (To be totally fair, some of those who arrived early on Saturday were able to take their children to the beach in the sunshine and play with buckets and spades on the sand instead of in the gravel at the side of the track)

The advance guard (Paul Burry et al) got the worst of the weather testing on Friday, which provided fantastic practice for Sunday. The aquaplaning technique that was developed seems likely to continue to be of use throughout the rest of the season... Paul also can teach the rest of you racers a lesson in gaining Brownie Points – he spent Saturday taking Liz to look at interesting gardens in the area.

Saturday was very wet to start with for the first day of racing – it was a 2 day meet – but there was little of Morgan interest except personally to your (substitute) scribe as Simon OG entered the Tom Rowe Centurian race. The grid was mostly made up of Caterhams and Westfields, though there were a few real cars too. As the track dried the lap times diminished, the second driver in the Lotus challenging him fell off – so Simon won a pot.

Those of us on the pitwall were not only watching the race but noticing the arrivals of Morgans the other side of the track in Paddock 2. Pembrey is logistically even more complicated than Mallory (where you travel round the track anti-clockwise between sessions to get to the paddock). At Pembrey, the Morgans were assembled in Paddock 2, outside the track, where one is separated not only from the pits but also the café, the organisers, the results (more of that later) and, most importantly, the loos.

By 4pm on Saturday more than half the Morgan Explorers of the Far West were in residence (or had dumped their cars and gone to the beautiful sandy beach nearby). The sun was shining, and the usual discussions about where people were staying and where to eat were taking place. Important on this occasion was the proximity of eating places to sleeping places as Serena’s request, prompted by us all, for an early race meant that Signing On was at 7.30am, ‘Scrutiny’ at 7.45am and Practice at 9.00am. – and the consumption of red wine/beer had to be strictly regulated. Thank you, Hermann Ebner for arranging to protect our men’s livers!

Race day dawned with water on the ground, water coming out of the air and clouds at about 10 metres.

Everyone was present and correct except that we missed Chas Windridge who was on the list but unable to come. It was great to see James Edgerton who was grateful that his car was back in one piece after Spa, and to welcome Brian Jenkins whose local circuit is Pembrey but who had never driven it before. A welcome addition was the late entry on Friday of Grahame Walker– another great example of flexibility on behalf of the Race Series management. Also missing, through a prior commitment, were John Clarke and Chris Acklam who were racing at the VSCC meeting at Donington in John’s 4-4 Le Mans car, and Jack Bellinger and Adrian van der Kroft racing XOV in the same meeting. Sadly we learnt that John and Chris had withdrawn from their 2nd race on the Sunday to conserve the engine – so they could actually have made the trek to South Wales with ease by driving through the night to support the Race Series after all [Ed: maintains dignified silence].

Into the practice on time at 9am – but not without much rushing about. The normal collecting area was inside the track and so the usual suspects ( Keith, Rick, Simon – and unusually, Mary) were ready to go from there well before the start, only to be told at the last minute that the track entry point for us was to be from inside our paddock on the outside side of the track . Really good exercise for Rick who was the last one back to retrieve his car. It reminded us of the days when races started with the drivers running to get into their cars – perhaps we should do that more often?

The comments following practice were of two sorts:

Type 1: “Wet” “Wet, couldn’t see” “Couldn’t see – helmet misted up” “Zero visibility – nearly went straight on at the hairpin – not going to wear my glasses for the race” “Awful, no corner markers”

Type 2: “ Fine” Lots of “OK” “Great” “Fabulous” – they obviously had windscreen wipers on their helmets.....

Some people had an even more interesting time during practice. Rick Lloyd lost oil pressure and was unsure that he would be able to race. Peter Horsman had a major off (well, not completely off, as he parked half on the track to provide added interest for the others) – thought he could drive on the grass but the deep ruts span him and his fuel pump went so he couldn’t restart. Keith was delighted that his new tyres, which had tread, gave him some grip for once.....

In between practice and race the rain got worse and worse, and then when everyone had finished their fettling – it stopped. Peter Garland needed counselling from the resident HR person (me) because he was behind a Class C car on the grid (Paul Burry). “Drive a bit faster” seems to me to be the best advice in this sort of circumstance. Rick’s lads managed to restore enough oil pressure to make him viable and Peter Horsman’s lads rewired his fuel pump to the fog lamps so that he could start too – and keep going as long as he didn’t switch the fog lamps off.

Everyone else was working out the logistics of getting some breakfast, going to the loo, acquiring the grid positions – all in an hour while two other practices happened – and getting back across the track ready for the race being called at 10.30.

Out they went with a steadily drying track. Keith on pole, with Rick 2nd and Paul Burry 3rd with Peter Garland alongside him (suitably counselled); Peter H and Grahame Walker on the 3rd row racing for Class B; Chris Williams and Simon OG on Row 4; Andy Green and James Edgerton on Row 5; Phil Hollins and Kelvin next followed by Peter Sargeant, Mary Lindsay, Leigh Sebba, David James and Brian Jenkins. It was an impressive sight, especially as one week before the race there were only 5 entries. 17 Morgan starters on the westernmost edge of the known European World!

The race started and Keith set off ahead, and remained there, comfortably, the whole race through. Rick was in contention to begin with, but his lowered oil pressure combined with Keith’s new-found grip, meant that Keith drew away. Peter G had taken note of his counsellor and drove faster, getting ahead of Paul on the first lap and staying there. Paul was also passed at the start by Peter H but then drove like a demon. He overtook Peter, in a scarily sideways sort of fashion, around the outside of Spitfires and then kept ahead of him for the rest of the race – Peter obviously having decided that discretion was the better part of valour. He had managed to plant Chris Williams between himself and Grahame Walker, Chris having overtaken Grahame at the start, and they were fast vanishing in the distance in his mirrors, so Class B would be his (as long as he kept his fog-lamps on).

Mary had a storming start getting ahead of Peter S, Kelvin and Phil. In a crowded and confusing blind entry to the first corner Kelvin also passed Phil and Andy Green beat Simon OG. There was fantastic spectator sport over the next few laps. Kelvin passed his old adversary Mary on lap 2, and so did Phil Hollins on lap 3. James Edge took advantage of the battle between the Class C cars of Andy and Simon, and when their joust (which unfortunately damaged Andy’s rear wing) carried them both onto the grass he sailed serenely past. No change at all in lap 4 but in the 5th lap Peter Sargeant forced his attentions on Mary and she let him through. The fast cars were still having a difficult time on a damp track even though the racing line was fast drying out and Simon re-passed James Edge. This pattern continued and soon after Andy passed him too.

For the next 6 laps until lap 13, from a spectator viewpoint on the soggy ground above Paddock 2, there was little action as the race order did not change apart from the front runners lapping the slower participants. Then, in the distance, we saw a coming together of Simon and Grahame at Hatchets Hairpin. Although they were not racing each other (as they both admitted afterwards) Simon wanted to get past to claim the “fastest lap” from Paul and Grahame turned into the corner ahead of him. The debris was considerable and made an obstacle for the rest of the race for everyone else as the cars were across the track and 39 was not moveable.

Our 20 minute race delivered 17 laps and the final entertainment for those watching occurred in the penultimate one when Phil Hollins produced the most beautifully executed 360 degree twirl at the entrance to the pit straight. It was a generous gesture to Peter S, Mary and Leigh who took delight in sailing past, and maintained their positions to the end of the race.

It was another great win overall for Keith Ahlers. Peter Horsman won Class B in a controlled fashion and Paul Burry had a fantastic drive to win Class C with a fastest lap better than Class B – a well deserved Driver of the Day. Kelvin Laidlaw was Class D winner and David James the front runner in Class E.

The winning drivers had to make do with a trophy alone, missing their normal kiss from Serena at the prize giving (Mark’s offer to stand in was politely declined) as she was trapped inside the track waiting for the end of the hour of racing which followed our race so that she could come back to us, by which time most of the intrepid travellers had set off back to England.

So what was it that clearly identified the class winners at this race? What was the most powerful common characteristic? As it happens, on this occasion the class winners were the people who said “Fine” “Fabulous” “OK” and “Great” after the practice – and the one who said he would remove his glasses to race...

And everyone agreed that it is time we had a fine warm race at Mallory!

Kate Orebi Gann