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The
Ferrari display brought (too much) attention
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Barnett
Fletcher's little conflagration caused excitement
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A
bit late now.. Carman and Hethers study the circuit map
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Chef
Tavernier brought crowds to the tent
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Nuttall
prepares himself, carefully watched
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Lowe
took a good result home
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Driver
of the Day award went to Franck Pelle
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C-class
winner for the first time: Robin Ward
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Heat
1 winner Bartholomew
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All
in the line of duty. Swifty gets the phone numbers
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pics
by CMDigicams
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PIRELLI
MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUND 11 : OULTON PARK :
26 & 27 AUGUST 2001
PADDOCK STORIES
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click
for Results & Points
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- As
is normal in these competitive days, almost the entire field was out
in free practice on the Friday. However, it poured all day and with
sunny weather forecast for the weekend it gave everyone no useful
information whatsoever. You could tell the few who opted not to turn
up on Friday by their smug grins during the weekend.
- This
was our annual outing with the TOCA touring car teams. The crowds
were really big but it also meant that even the impressive SCS transporter
was decidedly overshadowed by the vast pantechnicons parked
up at the posh end of the paddock. Still, we huddled together in our
little enclave and the Ferraris probably attracted more attention
than anything else.
- Speaking of crowds,
the five or six Ferraris on display outside the Club's hospitality
marquee had to be watched like hawks because every now and again someone
would simply open a door and get in. We really missed the policing
capabilities of Derek Seymour, who was supervising the Club's other
big hospitality unit at the Silverstone Historic Festival.
- Star
chef Eric Tavernier performed wonderful work in the Moodies' kitchen.
The Club's hospitality unit was full to bursting and the food was
lovely. For once the marquee was right next door to the Ferraris'
paddock space and that may have helped to attract these extra customers.
It's better than that long walk to Redgate corner.
- Gary Culver's incident,
when he ran over an unidentified object on the track, was scary.
Whatever the item was it gouged two holes in his floor pan and probably damaged the braking system as Gary soon had to retire
with no rear brakes. The noise of the impact was such that he first
thought his engine had grenaded.
- Old metal doesn't
get any better with advancing age. Swifty's venerable 308, having
already retired with engine maladies during the previous Brands' rounds,
eventually cried enough and broke its crank on Sunday. Surely the
time has come for something a bit newer.....
- Frenchman Franck
Pelle had his first drive in Graham Reeder's 355/Ch. Although quite
an experienced racer, this was his first PMFC outing and he was immediately
on the pace. Second overall at one stage in Heat 1, he drove another
strong race in Heat 2 (up into fourth) until a fuel leak caused an
engine fire and instant retirement. He was deservedly awarded the
Wilkinson Driver of the Day bowl.
- The "O"
class was again a barren place. Only two were entered and Steve Young
cruised round in his 355 to pick up the maximum points. Will this
once popular class ever be resurrected or has the easy and relatively
cheap availability of the (sometimes tatty) 355/Chs made it obsolete?
- North West Area Club members,
Sydney and Ed Brown, thought they were there just
for the beer but instead got press-ganged as judges to select the
best turned out car. This Wine and Beer Company-sponsored award went
to Gary Culver's very nice 355/Ch.
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