FERRARI formula classic

There was a good and interesting entry of 21 cars for the first round of the 2005 championship, sharing the bill with the PMFC Ferraris and Formula Palmer Audi at the Oulton Spring Festival.

All the quick boys from the previous season, including Gary Culver, Nicky Paul-Barron, William Jenkins and David Wild, were back in the fray and there were some interesting entries from previous Ferrari racers such as John Pogson and Simon Bartholomew in their 328s, who would no doubt feature in the top half of the results.

It was a one day affair, with the single qualifying session at mid-day on the Sunday and the race late in the afternoon.

It was not unexpected that Culver would put his well-sorted 328 GTB on to pole position by 1.7 secs but it was a surprise to see Pogson in his newly acquired 328 alongside on the front row. This left-hooker didn't have a lot of track time in it but already looked a well-behaved car. Third on the grid was Paul-Barron driving the Geoff Shilton-owned 308 GTB which had last seen service as an "M" class PMFC racer some ten years earlier. There was much last minute work going on and the car had barely turned a wheel since its glory days.

David Wild and William Jenkins were next in their modified 308 GTBs and then came an excellent effort from Jon Goodwin, who was driving his wife's completely standard 328 GTB following a stub axle failure on his Mondial during testing. The remainder of the field, led by Richard Atkinson-Willes (308 GT4), John Swift (308 GTB) and Simon Bartholomew (328 GTB) lined up closely behind and it all promised to be an excellent and close race.

We were not to be disappointed. At the start Culver and Paul-Barron fluffed and Pogson put his 328 into an early lead. In fact, Paul-Barron dropped all the way down to seventh place.

At the front Pogson was being chased hard by Wild and Culver, with initially Spicer (328 GTB) in fourth, followed by Jenkins, Goodwin and then the recovering Paul-Barron. On the third lap Culver got ahead of Wild but was then forced to sit on Pogson's tail for a few laps until he figured out a way past the wide 328 ahead of him.

NPB began to work his way forward, moving into fourth place on the third lap and then soon joined the Pogson/Culver battle at the front. On the sixth lap Culver found a way through and immediately pulled away from Pogson, who by now had Paul-Barron crawling all over the back. It was not until the ninth, and penultimate, lap that NPB found a way through into second and then, with a record-breaking lap, he closed up to within half a second of Culver.

Behind there was high drama. Third-place man Pogson's howling engine finally cried enough and erupted in a cloud of oil smoke going into Lodge Corner, leaving the track covered in the black liquid that poured from a big hole in the block. The hard-chasing Wild and Jenkins immediately spun off and the rest of the field also had some hairy moments even after the oil flag came out.

Most of the cars had dramatic slides but in the end it was only Wild who got stuck in the gravel whilst Jenkins was able to extricate himself and continue in what was now third place behind the leading Culver/Paul-Barron duo. As they came upon the oily scene NPB thought about a dive up the inside of Culver but the yellows were out, and so they shot across the line barely half a second apart, with Jenkins in third more than half a minute behind.

Mike Spicer was elevated to fourth position but finished only just over a second ahead of Goodwin and Bartholomew, who had fought an entertaining scrap throughout the race. Atkinson-Willes had a lonely time and finished seventh, whereas John Shirley (Mondial 3.2) and Tristan Simpson (328 GTB) had another good scrap and finished less then two seconds apart.

Behind them, and possible the best dice of all other than the one for the lead, was a quartet consisting of Stuart Anderson (250 GTE/TRC), Richard Allen (328 GTB), Sam Whitman (308 GTB) and Marco Pullen (Mondial t), who had all sorts of attempts at getting past each other. Unfortunately Pullen was forced to retire on lap seven with gear selection maladies but the other three crossed the line within a couple of seconds of each other and clear of the Hitchman family duel which was won by son Chris ahead of dad Peter.

After the finish everyone, not least the drivers, were left breathless by all the action and already there are some good pointers for how the rest of the season will look. Pogson's 328, when its engine has been fixed, will clearly be a flier and there is little doubt that Paul-Barron's 308, with a little more preparation time, will continue to be at the very front of all the races.

But whilst all this is going on Gary Culver had driven a tremendous race against strong opposition and carried on where he left off last year - with another classy drive to a win.

Stuart Anderson and Richard Allen...	....Sam Whitman...	...and Marco Pullen all had a great dice	Chris Drake's GTO replica took second in class

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Gary Culver lost out at the start and had to follow John Pogson...

...for a few laps, until finding his way past and taking the win

Jon Goodwin made good use of his wife's shopping car

Richard Atkinson-Willes went well in his GT4

NPB bogged his start but fought through to take second

Pogson's engine lets go and Wild & Jenkins go off on the oil

What should a 328 rev to?

Mike Spicer did his usual good job and finished fourth

Tris Simpson had a good scrap with John Shirley...

...but the Mondial driver ended up on top

pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse & Simon Cooke