Driving over the bridge into Silverstone circuit on a bright Saturday morning did feel pretty special. It was the first chance in 2011 to see our formula classic racers in action. There was an excellent entry and the anticipation was palpable.

In qualifying, race favourites Jim Cartwright and Gary Culver set off at full speed. This likely helped Gary get up to speed, as he admitted to feeling a little rusty. Others took things more gently at first. Chris Butler in particular seemed to be building speed through the session.

At the end of session it was the familiar name of Culver at the top of the time sheets from Jim C. Wayne Marrs was an excellent third. His 328 GTB looking particularly smart after it’s winter rebuild by QV London. Chris Butler was next up from a happy William Jenkins and a slightly disappointed Ben Cartwright. Ben had actually gone quicker the day before in open testing. Martin Hart just managed to get his Mondial ahead of the 328 GTBs of Everingham, Nick Cartwright, Peter Fisk, Richard Allen and Geoff Neal.

There had been some attrition in the session and four cars were set not to make the race itself. Wayne Marrs suffered transmission issues, Tris Simpson’s GT4 had a cam belt break, Richard Squire’s 328 broke its gearbox  and Swifty’s clutch cried enough.

Regular followers will know that if this was a drag race at Santa Pod we would all put our houses on Butler. The man has an uncanny ability to get his 328 moving first [because he learnt his art on the hills –Ed]. He actually lead the race at first before Jim C forced his way through at Beckets. Gary Culver  on the other hand finds the start a most challenging part of the race. At the end of lap 1 it was Jim C leading the pack from Butler, Culver, Ben C and William Jenkins. Peter Everingham had struggled to find gears off the line and had lost places. Making an excellent start was Peter Fisk who finished lap 1 in 6th position.

At this point one may have expected Culver to chase down Jim C. However looking at the excellent www.tsltiming.com it is clear that it was Jim actually driving away from Gary right up until lap 10, when Gary started to turn the tables.  The gap at its greatest was a full 7 seconds. This is not something we have seen before.

Chris Butler defended his 3rd position from Ben C and William Jenkins, with some determination. Ben finally got through on lap 10, his frustration being evidenced by the black tyre marks down his 328 and that of Butler. William never made a pass stick. In the first part of the race there were other really close groupings. On lap 6 for example the gap between places 6 (Peter Fisk) and 10 (Richard Allen) was under 3 seconds.

By lap 10 Peter Everingham had more or less recovered his poor start to the race and was holding 6th position despite continuing a dialogue with his gearbox, just ahead of the excellent Martin Hart in his Mondial.  William Jenkins had a spin on lap 16 trying once again to pass Butler, dropping him from 5th to 8th.  The last few laps featured Gary Culver finally chasing down a possibly too relaxed Jim C. Back markers played their usual part in this, and at the flag the gap between the two had reduced to just over a second.  At the end of the 20 minute race the class winners were:

Class 4 & overall Jim Cartwright,
Class 3 Ben Cartwright,
Class 2 William Jenkins,
Class 1 William Morwood.
Fastest lap Gary Culver in 1.08.652.

Next time out is at Donington for a double header on May 28/29th. Returning to the series at this meeting should be front-runners Chris Compton-Goddard, Nigel Jenkins and Nicky Paul–Barron, making things even tighter.

Click here for the results.

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