The race meeting was very different from the normal type of event that our drivers are accustomed to. For one thing, we have never before shared a race meeting with trucks and most of us weren’t sure what to expect. We soon found out. When two trucks overturned at Redgate late in the afternoon, the delay to the race meeting was considerable as heavy duty lifting equipment was brought into action to get them back on their wheels. Not only that, the damage they cause is significant, pit garage doors have to remain closed for health and safety reasons (the clouds of smoke they puff out are toxic), and they sloish out gallons of DERV as they rumble round the circuit.

The other thing that was different about this race was the amalgamation of cars from both our race formulae. We have tried it successfully at Spa in the past but never before in the UK, or on a shorter circuit than the Belgian F1 course. The reasons for combining the classes were complicated, but basically there was a big hole in the PFO calendar. To fill it, this Donington date was arranged, but to make sure we had a viable grid it was necessary to bulk the field up with formula classic cars.

The manifest difficulty with combining the two is the speed differential between the slick-shod Open cars and the less powerful classic machines running on road legal tyres. Having said that, in the old days of PMFC, when we had ‘O’ cars as well as ‘M’ Ferraris, we didn’t experience serious problems, so we decided to give it a go. We reasoned that if everyone drove sensibly and we set off the faster series cars ahead of the others, it might work pretty well. Nevertheless, your scribe had his fingers crossed.

The weekend that was blessed with glorious sunshine. By mid-morning the temperatures were climbing into the eighties, and most spectators were seeking sun cream or ice-cream as antidotes to the heat.

With 36 Ferraris listed in the programme, this was the biggest field we have had since 39 cars took part in the Coys event at Silverstone in 1997. [Notable absentees were Gary Culver (on holiday)and Marco Pulllen (recuperating after a GT Cup accident). Serial winners both, their absence gave others a chance! – Ed.] We had one new recruit: David Goodwin, son of Jon and Pauline, driving his father’s Mondial t. David has recent experience of racing Ginettas and it would be interesting to see how he would get on with the much heavier and perhaps less wieldy Ferrari.

Although not ‘new’ to us, Steve Tandy had dashed across from the Silverstone Classic meeting and a busy race schedule involving Lola T70 and Jaguar E-type, to drive his latest acquisition, the glorious Comp Daytona which was previously owned by Grahame Bryant.

The qualifying timesheets revealed that Charlie White (F355/Ch) had secured pole position with a time of 1:18.610, just three tenths of a second quicker than Wayne Marrs in his similar car. Third fastest was Marr’s preparer, Graham Reeder, which brought out some rude comments about customer relations. In classic, Steve Tandy demonstrated that he had rapidly got the hang of the big Daytona by setting the pace at 1:24.324, just a fifth ahead of Nicky P-B in the Gp2 328GTB. Third was a delighted Fred Honnor in his fleet Gp3 308GTB, at 1:25.188.

There was a long, hot pause before the 4 o’clock scheduled race came around. About a quarter of an hour after the appointed time, the Ferraris were summoned to the collecting area at the Melbourne loop. The line of cars stretched all the way up the short straight before Goddards – a most impressive sight.

The 34 cars duly lined up and instantly your reporter realised he had a problem. After setting a poor qualifying time, from the lowly position on the grid, with a few cars ahead out of their correct positions, the starter on his rostrum was invisible! When the flag eventually signalled the Classic cars away, the unsighted Swift was dead last – again!

Open
Dealing with the Open contest first, it was Reeder who got to Redgate first, with I’Anson and Marrs right on his tail. Pole man White settled into 4th, ahead of Ed Bourn. One lap later it was I’Anson in the lead, now harried by Reeder and White, the latter having displaced Marrs. After a little gap, Cosby led Edge and Scotsman Shirley.

It was on lap 4 that the sort of mix-up we had been dreading occurred at the back of the circuit. Contact between the leader, I’Anson, and the chasing Reeder, but also involving Richard Fenny whose classic GT4 was being lapped, resulted in the unfortunate Fenny being punted off-course and into retirement, and Reeder taking the lead. White took over second place.

At about this time Cosby pulled into the pits to retire the 512 with gear selection problems, leaving the order at the front Reeder – White – I’Anson – Marrs – Bourn – Edge.

On lap 9, White moved ahead of Reeder and into the lead while the flying Marrs stole I’Anson’s third place. And this is how it continued to the flag.

Charlie won the race by just a second-and-a-half, while Marrs set the fastest lap in 1:18.439. Tris Simpson, the only finisher in Class ‘S’, was the winner of his division. Hathaway finished 9th overall but his F355/Ch lost all its oil pressure on the cooling down lap.

formula classic
In the Classic part of the race, it was the blaring Daytona of Steve Tandy that took the initiative from the start, hotly pursued by David Tomlin, Nicky P-B, and Fred Honnor. Then came young David Goodwin in 11/10ths mode, Chris Butler and David Mountain (with the ex-Rea 308GT4).

By lap 4, Nicky had found a way past Tomlin and was just a couple of seconds behind Tandy’s yellow Daytona, while Honnor and Butler were set the difficult task of how to get ahead of the slower but exceedingly wide Mondial of Goodwin. It was also on this lap that Fenny retired after the previously mentioned incident involving the two race leaders.

We usually see a great contest between the 308GT4s but this wasn’t to be this time. On lap 6 William Moorwood experienced a big bang as he descended the Craner Curves and his GT4 immediately lost all power. Peter Fisk had already retired when he was unable to select any meaningful gears in his Mondial QV. There were lots of interesting scraps going on throughout the order although sometimes these had to take second place to the necessity of letting faster machinery get by.

On lap 8, Nicky slipped past the Daytona, the brakes of which were feeling the strain. However, Tandy was able to keep up the pace sufficiently to maintain a useful cushion to the warring Tomlin, Honnor and Butler, these three being covered by not much more than a couple of seconds.

At the finish the order was unchanged. Paul-Barron scored not only a notable victory but also broke the Gp2 lap record in a scintillating 1:24.053. Second placed Tandy was the winner of the Gp1 class, his best lap also being a new lap record in 1:24.378. He will be pleased with that since it beats the formidable time previously set by Bryant in the same car. The Gp3 winner was the 4th placed Honnor, who also set the fastest lap in his class (although in this case not a record) in 1:25.283.

The race meeting, despite its unusualness, was generally deemed to have been a success although we shall have to consider carefully whether we should combine the two formulae again in the future on such a short circuit. And the trucks, perhaps, we can do without.

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Open
The Open field are away, whilst the classics wait in the background
I'Anson leads a high speed crocodile
Cosby's 512M goes up the inside of Shirley's 355
Reeder leads, but Charlie's up to second now...
...and eventually takes a comfortable win
classic
The field streams towards Redgate
Tandy in the ex Bryant Comp. Daytona took an early lead
Geoff Neal leads this gaggle....
....whereas Tomlin heads this group at the sharp end
In fact everybody was Kung Fu fighting!
NP-B neatly disposes of Tomlin and went on to win
Well, you wanted "Red 5" Chris
Mother...
...and son in the same race
Ferrari Pic n' Mix!
pics by Simon Cooke. To buy hi-res prints go to his website