PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUND 7 : CASTLE COMBE : 1/2 JULY 2000

Cosby's Anniversary Combe

The love affair between Howard Strawford, the owner of Combe, and Ferraris is well known and he was adamant that he wanted the Ferraris to race on both the Saturday and the Sunday of the meeting to celebrate Castle Combe's 50th Anniversary. There were even two separate qualifying sessions but the two races were to count as heats, with aggregate times giving an overall result. Some smoking calculators would no doubt be needed to sort it all out on Sunday afternoon.

Prior to qualifying for Heat One a few absentees were already noticed. Mike Reeder's 355 Challenge had unfortunately been damaged beyond immediate repair by brother Graham during mid-week testing and unfortunately Ian Hetherington's championship-leading F50 had been withdrawn as Ian preferred to do the GT race at Donington in his F40.

On pole sat John Seale (355/Ch), ahead of Graham Reeder (355/Ch) and, amazingly, Gary Culver in his "O" class F355. His class rival, David Ashburn, would have been alongside him in fourth place but he was sent to the back of the grid with a 10-second penalty for a yellow flag infringement. Lurking in 15th position on the grid was Alan Cosby's F512M, who had broken a quill shaft after just two laps of qualifying.

It was a major blow when pole-sitter John Seale had an engine failure during qualifying for another race and he therefore became a non-starter for the PMFC round.

At the start, Gary Culver took full advantage of the empty slot ahead of him and he shot off the grid to become the first ever "O" class car to lead a Maranello round. He was followed by Alan Cosby, who had made such an amazing start from his 15th place on the grid that the officials docked him 10 seconds for being out of position and moving before the green light. Peter Lowe (308GT4) held third ahead of Reeder and Nick May in the Zest Testarossa.

Culver's "O" class 355 could not maintain its position in front of all this modified heavy machinery and he gradually slipped down to fifth overall as Cosby, Reeder, Lowe and May went ahead.

Alan Cosby's progress at the head of the field was such that even with the 10-sec. penalty applied he ran out a clear winner ahead of Reeder in the class-winning 355/Ch, Lowe and May. David Ashburn drove a stunning race from the back of the grid to finish second in "O" class, ahead of Shaun Powell (F355), with John Swift (308GTB) finishing eighth overall.

Qualifying for Heat Two took place on Sunday morning and inevitably Cosby's F512M took pole position, but closely behind came John Avery (355/Ch) and Graham Reeder. In the highly competitive "O" class Ashburn was quickest, with Culver a smidgen behind and a very impressive Powell in close attendance, all separated by less than one second.

The start brought immediate confusion as one or two cars hesitated off the line and by the time the field had got to Folly corner Gary Culver was in the Armco with Powell, Reeder and various others also involved. Culver was the only retirement and everyone else managed to get back into the race.

Cosby was in a clear and decisive lead but with yet another amazing "O" class car chasing him - that of Ashburn. The latter was gradually overwhelmed by Peter Lowe's 308GT4 and also Nick May's Testarossa, and a lap later May took his powerful car into second place.

Ashburn took the "O" class victory and fourth place overall, with Powell recovering to finish fifth and take second place in the class.

John Avery's front row 355/Ch was slowed by mechanical failures but he kept going to win the Challenge class, ahead of Reeder, who was circulating slowly in his damaged 355/Ch in order to be classified as a finisher and take second place points in the class.

With Cosby winning both heats it was an easy calculation that gave him the overall result but behind him Nick May and Peter Lowe were barely separable on aggregate times. David Ashburn took the combined "O" class win, ahead of Shaun Powell. One would have to go down to 12th place overall to find the first Challenge car, which was that of Graham Reeder, who won the class ahead of Avery.

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