Race Report - Round 14 - 2003 Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge - Club Racing Series'

And so to our last PMFC round of the year at Thruxton in Hampshire. In an ideal world the last round of a championship should be a highlight. A celebration of the year passed with a full grid at a major venue and the prospect of an end of season dinner and prize giving in the evening. However this year it was not to be and we had Thruxton for a single race, no dinner and a lowly fourteen cars on the grid. Perhaps it was what we deserved or perhaps some teams and drivers need to learn a little about loyalty and commitment – take your choice.

In qualifying it was Lewis Carter showing the way as usual from team mate Chris Niarchos. Next up was John Seale from Phil Burton. Marco Attard had qualified out of session and would start from the back of the grid. In fact Marco was set for an interesting week-end with two races at Thruxton on Saturday (PMFC and also a two driver enduro sharing his car with Robin Ward) and then a British GT race at Brands Hatch with qualifying on Saturday and race on Sunday sharing with Nick Adams, this time in the Damax 360 GT that did Spa a few weeks ago. Commuting was via helicopter – as you do. In class C it was G. Reeder, whose session was cut short with a broken driveshaft, from Reddick, Furness, Back and McCormick.

Lots of race circuits have difficult first corners that lend themselves to incident from the start. Some, like Croft, you would have thought had been designed to cause first corner accidents. Thruxton is not too bad but we have had incident here before. There are lots of versions of what happened and I am told that even with the benefit of several drivers' videos it is hard to work out. But what is sure is that there was a melée which both shuffled the pack and also led to the retirement of C class champion Graham Reeder who suffered both body damage and a n/s/f puncture. Not a nice end to the year for Graham as, at heart, he is a racer not a pot hunter and he wanted to finish his 355 racing career (360 in 2004) with a good one.

In the confusion Mike Furness found himself well up the order going in to the complex on lap one. Possibly with grass on his cold tyres he spun but managed to rejoin down the field. At the end of the first lap it was Carter from Seale and Burton. The biggest winner in the first corner confusion was Marco who, from the back of the grid, finished lap one in fourth. Chris Niarchos had been delayed and was fifth. The front of class C was Reddick in sixth overall from Back and McCormick.

Viewing at the end of lap chicane it was a pleasure to watch Lewis. He was visibly quicker here than anyone else but it was not heroics – it was talent. Neat and tidy with the power down very early. There is a speed trap on the exit of this corner which was very interesting. Lewis 83 mph. Best of the rest maybe 77 mph with not much difference here between 360 and 355. That extra speed gets carried all the way down the straight and this alone could have been the difference between him and the chasing pack. Niarchos, on the other hand, was all kerb and aggression. Let's put it this way, his undertray had a headache on Sunday morning ! Seale was inconsistent here and Marco sounded as if he had gear selection issues.

By lap 2 both Attard and Niarchos had relegated Burton but on lap 3 Niarchos lost it on the exit of the final chicane and spun. He rejoined but not without scaring a couple of drivers as he reversed his 360 into their path. It took Niarchos until lap 8 to regain his 4th place, ahead of a much improved Burton. The front three places looked set with Carter from Seale and Attard. The latter, however, was on a bit of a mission. Added to which John Seale has always tended to drive in his mirrors late on in a race. In other words he will only go as fast as he thinks he needs to in order to retain position. I know from personal experience that this can actually fire up the chasing driver as he sees the Seale car getting nearer and nearer. Most of the time John gets it right, but on this occasion he came across two backmarkers just at the wrong time. He was delayed, Marco had the momentum and Seale’s safe 2nd place became 3rd. . It was a super drive from Attard, who still had a busy afternoon ahead of him.

Class C was led all race by Reddick from newcomer Bo McCormick. Ted’s win meant that he ended the season on equal points with Graham Reeder but Reeder had more race wins and therefore wins the title for the second time. David Back had been third in class until a spin on lap 9 put him behind Gamski. On the last lap however he was right on Witt’s tail. Red mist descended and David went for a gap in to the chicane that was in truth only ever going to be there for a split second. There was quite heavy contact although both cars went on to finish.

The incidents which occurred at the first and last corner of the race summed up the year really. With many drivers at various times ambition has overcome experience and ability. This is an amateur club championship and mistakes will be made. The two differences with “the old days” are that a) the drivers are no faster but the cars are, which reduces thinking time, and b) today’s drivers tend to use less Horlicks and more Red Bull.

Next year we have a permanent clerk of the course – John Felix - a headmaster, if you will, to knock everyone in to shape. My best wishes to him for 2004.