Nathan reigned supreme all weekend

Hetherington took a brace of seconds, here fending off......

....Bartholomew's 360/Ch in a close encounter

Alan Cosby's 512M woke up in the second race

Situation normal in O-class: Smeeton the easy winner

Ashburn did his best but Culver still ruled the C-class

The big grid meant cars everywhere

The Paddock plunge was great to watch

On the kerbs: Dunmore begins to realise....

....this is not going to work

The Avery/Carman tussle got very physical

Tony Jones was on the C-class pace all weekend

The Colonel's Ferrari: Everingham enjoyed his two drives

Cosby Jnr showed what he can do in a proper car, dad needs to get his wallet out now

Guest driver Ron Simons was very quick

Lowe and Nuttall had a great dice in the first race, just inches apart

pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse

PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
REPORT : ROUNDS 9 & 10 : BRANDS HATCH : 21 & 22 JULY 2001

This weekend was eagerly anticipated. The Brands event was billed as the biggest-ever Ferrari gathering in the UK and it probably got close to that. The only other comparable gathering was the Coys Festival in 1997, which featured the Italian marque as its centrepiece.

Racing alongside the European 360 Challenges as well as the prestigious Shell Historic series was another accolade for the thriving PMFC and it was little surprise when 37 entries were received - just one less than the maximum allowed on the Brands GP circuit.

Friday's free practice session showed that Nathan Kinch (360/Ch), who had won the previous round at Croft, was going to be devastatingly quick around Brands as well. He was over two seconds quicker than the next car, the 360/Ch of Ian Hetherington. Sure enough, in the afternoon qualifying session Nathan took pole position on 1:35.3, ahead of Ian on 1:37.9 followed by the rapid Gary Culver, who put his 355/Ch into third place on this highly competitive grid. Simon Bartholomew (360/Ch) again impressed to take fourth spot, ahead of the two 355/Chs of Tony Jones and David Ashburn.

The "O" class was poorly represented with just four entries. Richard Smeeton (360M) was the quickest but not far behind was Ben Cosby who for the first time had the use of a 355, loaned to him by David Ashburn.

The middle order of the grid would see some frantic racing, with fifteen cars covered by just five seconds. Nobody was used to this closeness in bulk.

Round 9

Immediately after Saturday lunch the field lined up for its first race. As the lights went out Kinch managed to overcome the awkward road camber of Brands' pole position and he led into Paddock Bend ahead of Hetherington, Ashburn (up from sixth), Culver, Bartholomew and Dave Jones (360/Ch).

As they streamed by on the first lap Kinch had eased out an advantage from Hetherington but behind there was a frantic scrap as Ashburn held off Bartholomew and Culver. On lap four Bartholomew broke free and set off in pursuit of second placed man, Hetherington, who was by now some distance up the road. It took him just two laps to attach himself to Hetherington's rear but there was no way past and he was forced to sit it out in third place.

Behind him Ashburn and Culver were locked together for "C" class honours. Ashburn admitted later that he could not have held Culver off for the whole of the race and sure enough, on lap four, he spun off leaving his rival with a comfortable class win.

The next places were also tightly contested between Dave Jones, Tony Jones, Alan Cosby (F512M), Elliott Kinch, brother of Nathan,(360/Ch) and Robin Ward (355/Ch). The quicker of this bunch worked their way to the fore and Dave Jones maintained his slender advantage from Cosby, followed by Elliott Kinch, Tony Tones and Ward.

At the front, however, there was no change and Nathan stroked it home to win by some 13 seconds ahead of Hetherington, with Bartholomew just half a second behind. Culver took another great "C" class win but Tony Jones has surely given notice that he will soon join the front of that highly competitive class.

Skid Carrera (355/Ch) had a lonely race into tenth overall and fourth in class but behind him the duelling Rod Carman and John Avery (both 355/Chs) came into frequent contact, which saw them both in front of the Clerk of the Course at the end of the race. Frustrated by Avery's wide 355 Carman eventually managed to scrape his way past on the very last lap.

The "O" class was easy pickings for Richard Smeeton who finished down in 19th place but achieved maximum class points. Ben Cosby's lap times were almost on a par as he finished second, some nine seconds behind.

Round 10

The meeting was running a little late by the time the grid formed up at 4.30 on Sunday afternoon. The Red Arrows were due and it was not quite clear what would happen if they arrived in the middle of the race.

The grid order was the same as before but this time Hetherington got it just right and he led Kinch into Paddock Bend, with Culver third and a fast-starting Alan Cosby fourth. At the top of Druids the 355/Chs of Tony Jones and Robin Ward had a coming together which saw Jones end up in the middle of the track facing the wrong way as the rest of the field somehow streamed around him.

Nathan dived down the inside of Hetherington at Graham Hill Bend but the door was firmly closed and the cars made quite heavy contact. However, by the end of the first lap Nathan was through into a lead he extended to over nine seconds within two laps. Hetherington ran in a lonely second place but was well clear of a battle between Cosby, Culver and Bartholomew.

Behind this lot there was another closely matched group of Dave Jones, Elliott Kinch and Ward and behind them yet another tight group of 355/Chs in the order of Rod Carman, Skid Carrera, Barnett Fletcher (355/Ch) and John Avery. Closing fast on this latter group was the only "guest" driver in the race, Ron Simons, in the incredibly quick ex-Klaas Zwart 308GTB. This was a portent of an incident to come.....

Whilst at the front young Kinch and Hetherington were secure in first and second places, the trio behind were inseparable and could not get clear of each other, with Cosby, Bartholomew and Culver less than one second apart, followed by the two 360/Chs of Dave Jones and Elliott Kinch, who also were running nose to tail.

Then, however, fate intervened as Ron Simons out-braked Avery going into Westfield. A video on Simons' car showed the ensuing heavy contact as Avery closed the door and the blue 308 spun off the road.

At that point the red flags were displayed around the circuit and the cars brought back to the start/finish line. As if by magic the Red Arrows then appeared and it was only after their lengthy display that an announcement was made that the Ferrari race would not be re-started but the results called after just five of the scheduled ten laps. This was a major anti-climax as a number of battles throughout the field were still unresolved.

Nathan Kinch therefore took his second win of the weekend, ahead of Hetherington who had also turned in two excellent results, and Cosby, who had driven a good second race when compared with his quieter appearance on Saturday. Culver was the clear "C" class winner and again Smeeton took the "O" class, with young Cosby the runner-up.

A disappointing end to a race but then how does one stop the Red Arrors from turning up on time!

In the paddock afterwards Dave Jones was presented with the Wilkinson Driver of the Meeting award for his gritty two races and Richard Stevens was awarded the Wine & Beer "Best Turned-Out Car" bottle of champagne for the achievement that his 355/Ch was probably the closest thing to an unmarked car in the paddock after the two races.

The next round of the championship takes place at Oulton Park on Sunday 26th August.

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