Cold and Clear

Brands Hatch - 5 October 2003

The wonder of the internet means that you can discover what has happened on the first day of the meeting. So we knew that Keith Ahlers had won the Allcomers Scratch on his slicks – and that Rick Lloyd and Andy Green had not finished, but not the reasons why. Soon after arriving on a very cold sunny morning we knew that they would both be fit for the Morgan race on Sunday. Rick had had a coming together which removed a tyre valve causing a flat, and Andy had collided with a spinning car in front of him at Clearways and broken an alloy wheel. Chas Windridge and Brian Gateson ensured that they were able to enjoy the next day’s racing. Those others who had been suffering at the end of Snetterton a fortnight earlier were also fully fit. John Lindsay had refurbished Mary’s car so that the engine did not rattle and all 8 cylinders were working. David James had secured his front pulley and Kelvin Laidlaw had polished the paint work so that the scratch from Philip Goddard only showed a little. We were all delighted to see both Serena and Mark arrive together to organise things for us.

The call came on time to go to the collecting area with a noise test along the way. Everyone, or rather their cars, passed that, so all 20 Morgans along with 6 MGs were off into practice at 10am. As usual Keith and Rick were ahead of the game (helped by their cars being in pit garages from the day before) and they soon showed us how slippery the going was through Paddock Hill Bend. They must have been missing their slicks from Saturday, because the sliding and back end waggling was interesting to watch. Keith watched the readout on the control tower which showed that he was in front of Rick but had 2 MGs ahead of him – last lap he managed pole. Rick had an incident free session and gained 3rd on grid with an MG between him and Keith. Grahame Bryant was out for the 2nd time in the series and ended up 5th on the grid. Also in Class A was Philip McKelvey who was experimenting with brakes after sharing his car with Adrian Van der Kroft in testing on Friday. Older pads might give better braking? Chris Williams’ car was mended and ready for racing.

Class B was finding it a bit slippery too. Peter Horsman slid into Paddock Hill Bend on various different trajectories as did James Paterson and Chris Acklam. All of them were finding “limits of adhesion” and their cars “a bit wayward”. Cold road, cold tyres and dozy drivers were blamed. Phil Hollins enjoyed his practice but wondered why some people were visiting the gravel? Paul Burry could tell him – “they” had removed the bridge that gave him his braking point for Druids. Guessing where to brake meant that he got it wrong and beached himself. Andy Green also found it slippery and he threw out some of the gravel he collected in his “off” from Saturday on his first drive round Paddock. Leigh Sebba was twitching at Clearways; Simon Orebi Gann had a gentle drive around and Chris Dady had the same engine cut out problem that he had experienced at Snetterton. After practice he wired in the spare chip – marked “James Paterson Blueprint” so he had great hopes for the race.

Class D had an eventful practice: Mary Lindsay commented that the MGs have no manners. Jack Bellinger was chuntering about having to hire a transponder because he had left his at home on charge (he was also a bit slow because of the Full English Breakfast he had before practice – most of us wait till after). Philip Goddard was delighted to be an Ivory car that finished as he watched Paul Burry go off at Druids and then Kelvin Laidlaw lose his front offside wheel and grind to a halt up the hill. Kelvin’s stub axle has sheered off – giving us all opportunities to speculate on “new 3 wheelers for the 21st Century”, “forget the Plus 6 we now have a Minus 1” – great that car and Kelvin were otherwise undamaged. (Jackie James told us spectators not to worry – it had happened to her years ago in Wembley High Road – no problem fro her, the AA dealt with it – Kelvin was relying on the RAC.) In Class E Adrian was not bothered by all the traffic but David had to spend the morning cleaning out his fuel pump which was not working – and then clearing the airlock inside it.

After a leisurely break (apart from Paul who was trying to work out whether he had already won the Championship or not, and trying to cure his misfiring engine) the Morgan race was first after lunch. The start was crowded with a grid of 25 heading into Paddock at a rate of knots. Peter Horsman had not been able to get his engine going in the collecting area so had to start from the pit lane. Otherwise it was fairly uneventful – no comings together, no visits to the gravel – some having a good start (Keith, Chris W, Paul, James, Chris A, Simon and Philip G and as usual, Philip McKelvey) and others getting bogged down in the first corner (Rick, Grahame, Jack, Phil H). James managed to get past an MG, Andy got ahead of Simon while he was avoiding a tank-slapping MG, and Philip McK and Philip G made up 3 and 4 places respectively. Philip G was glad to have a cushion of three cars between him and Jack.

Peter H immediately started to make up places – something to do with the red mist descending – passing most of Class E and D on the first lap and the rest on the second. Keith had allowed Steve Williams in his MGB V8 past at the start but was hot on his tail for 4 laps. Grahame was stuck behind the 3 MGs on lap 1 but passed two of them on lap 2 getting him back in sight of Rick and Keith. Chris W had his personal battles with both Jan de Jonge and Roy McCarthy in their MGs throughout the race, enjoying his car behaving excellently, though sadly he let Roy beat him in the end. Further back Mary found herself going past Jack at Clearways and thought that it could not last – but it did! He made her work for it though, and he commented that her rear end wiggled a lot to keep him behind her. Both had large grins on their faces at the end of the race...

On lap 3 Peter H was past Chris D and Philip McK and Simon passed Philip too. Lap 4 Peter passed Simon and Chris D overtook Philip. Lap 5 all eyes were at the front as Keith took too wide a line through Paddock Hill Bend, span and landed backwards into the tyre wall halfway up the hill. With the car sticking out into the track and debris scattered a bit further onto the tarmac the waved yellows were a necessary warning. Even so, Chris W managed to pass two MGs and Peter H overtook Andy and Phil H. For the next two laps we had quartered flags out so that the race leader (Steve Williams) drove at no more than 50mph – like a safety car- and the others collected behind him. Some confusion arose from this as was apparent at the end of the race – more later. The marshals quickly pushed Keith’s car to a safer position and removed the worst of the debris from the track – and on lap 9 we were back to racing. Some drivers were quicker than others to realise that they could tread on the accelerator again, so Chris W got in front of Jan de Jonge again and Peter H passed Chris A and Paul up into Druids. Brian Halford, the slowest of the MGs, overtook Adrian and drew away for the rest of the race. Next lap Rick got revenge for Keith by overtaking the leading MG and drawing away from him throughout the rest of the race. Paul had been fending off Chris A but went sideways into Clearways and Chris had a better line out passing him at the start/finish line. Further back Leigh overtook Philip G hanging on into Paddock, and then diced with Adrian for the rest of the race. There was lots of overtaking but each lap as they crossed the start/finish line Adrian was ahead. (Memories of Le Mans Historic Races following XOV for Leigh).

Peter passed James on Lap 11 and then had him less than a second behind for the rest of the race – no chance to relax. Phil Hollins had a fantastic end of race as he passed Paul on Lap 12 and Peter Collis (MG) on Lap 15. Andy, Simon and Chris D were close throughout the race, with Andy and Simon looking as friendly as Mary and Jack. As they came through the final bend there was a reprise of Snetterton with David James in front of them – this time there was no collision and Andy was just pipped to the line. Chris Dady got fastest lap in Class C with the JP Blueprint chip – others might pay him loads of money for that..... Keith was philosophical about his crash – 70 or so Morgan and Roadsports races since 1999 without an incident.... Various of our number then had to report to the Clerk of the Course for reprimands, some deserved and some not, for overtaking under waved yellows or quartered flags. Andy was eventually completely exonerated and the others got away with a slapped wrist or two. Kelvin hopes to have his car mended before the Birkett at the end of the month. The last race of the season was won by Rick Lloyd with Peter Horsman winning Class B and Paul Burry Class C. Philip Goddard won Class D and Adrian van der Kroft Class E. The Championship was decided – Congratulations to Paul Burry!