Monday

Our classic racers had not been to the Brands Indy circuit since 2009. Brands Indy is a great little circuit  to race, but is an even better one for spectators, as the entire lap is pretty much visible from the Paddock Hill grandstand. 
Qualifying saw the expected top four, but not perhaps in the expected order. It was David Tomlin who got the nod in his Grp 2 308 GTB from Jim Cartwright, Wayne Marrs and Nigel Jenkins, all in Grp 4 328s. Top of Grp 3 was Ben Cartwright, and Nick Whittaker’s 308 GT4  took top spot in Grp 1.

Race 1

Almost 6pm on Bank holiday Monday and the last race of the day, but what a race!. It was a decent enough start for most, but Ben Cartwright lost a tyre valve off the start and retired, which seemed typical of his luck so far this year.  Tomlin lead from Jim C, Marrs & Jenkins. Jenkins got past Marrs on lap 4 and was looking pretty racy. Richard Squire lost the lovely Rosie (328 GTB) on the exit of Druids on lap 6 and collected the barriers. This brought out the Safety Car, bunching up the field. Richard was fortunately fine. Rosie was a tad bruised, but like all great warriors will be back to fight another day.

We all rate Jim Cartwright highly, what a great racer, but sometimes he can frustrate his supporters ……..……….

Safety Car in, Tomlin all fired up (natural state), but where’s Jim? About 4 seconds back that’s where – Tommo couldn’t believe his luck!  Almost as bad was Chris Butler who was also sleeping peacefully in P5 when the race re-started.  Oddly enough Jim’s “tactic” seemed to be working as Tomlin lost his mojo somewhere and was struggling to get back up to speed. Jim was catching, but so was Jenkins. Those last few laps were some of the most exciting we have ever seen in classic.

Tomlin was clearly struggling for some reason, but through intelligent positioning (not blocking) and great racecraft was able to keep ahead and take a well deserved win.  The first four home amazingly all under Gary Culver’s previous benchmark time from 2009 – new lap record Jim Cartwright  – 55.371.

Tuesday

Having sorted his tyre valve issue from Monday Ben Cartwright was flying in Tuesday qualifying. His Grp3 328 getting the better of both Nigel Jenkins and Wayne Marrs’s Grp 4 examples.  In searching for that little extra David Tomlin beached his 308 in the Druids gravel, however his best lap of 55.53 was good enough for pole position. Tyres in 2012 are an issue which is too involved to go into here. Suffice to say that Tomlin was left with four bald flatted spotted P Zero Cs on which to race. He is a brave chap.

Race 2

The expected rain held off and there was much anticipation for another great race. Tomlin bogged down at the start and it was the Cartwright due of Jim & Ben who lead at the end of lap1. This was no fluke either as Ben’s lap times were really good. In the early laps these two lead from Nigel Jenkins and Tomlin, with a rather off song Wayne Marrs gradually falling back. On lap 8 Tomlin’s fight with his tyres was eventually lost, and he spun at high speed coming into Paddock. Fortunately there was no damage and he managed to reverse out of the gravel and continue, albeit at reduced pace.

Jim C basically had this one in the bag, but brother Ben was being reeled in by Nigel Jenkins and Nigel got through on lap 11. On such a short circuit there were lots of backmarker moments, and the gaps fluctuated, but the podium positions were never in doubt. At the flag it was Jim Cartwright (Grp4), Nigel Jenkins (Grp4) & Ben Cartwright (Grp3). Tomlin took Grp 2. Jack Dwane took Grp 1 honours in his Mondial.

Click here for Race 1 results.

Click here for Race 2 results.

Next meeting: July 20-22, Spa-Francorchamps (D/H)

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