Race Report - Rounds 12 & 13 - 2003 Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge - Club Racing Series'

The weather could not have been any brighter for the PMFC's traditional end-summer visit to Castle Combe. It was a double-header with each race having its own qualifying session and in one or two cases some important championship places had yet to be decided. Chris Niarchos and Marco Attard were both in the running for second place in the "S"class championship and in the "C" class Graham Reeder could still be caught by Ted Reddick so he decided not to debut his newly-acquired 360/Ch but raced the yellow 355/Ch instead.

Joining the usual entrants was John Seale (360/Ch), who has raced in the PMFC many times before but took some time off to join the European series. Not having been out for a while he admitted to some rustiness but quickly got into the swing of things in the Roden-run car. An unfortunate non-appearance was that of Peter Sowerby (360/Ch), possibly spooked by the close action at the previous Brands round, and Oliver Morley (360/Ch), who had become disillusioned with the car problems he had been suffering in previous rounds.

Qualifying took place on Saturday at midday under lovely warm skies. Inevitably Lewis Carter (360/Ch) took a dominating pole but behind him it was very close between the similar tipos of Attard and Niarchos. Phil Burton was very pleased to place his 360/Ch fourth on the grid, just ahead of Seale and Coleman. Graham Reeder was quickest of the "C" class bunch but he had the greatly improving David Back right with him, with Reddick in third place.

We nearly lost most of the 360s when the inevitable Castle Combe noise problems reared their head. Burton fitted a new silencer which did the trick, Attard's team told the scrutineer he had re-packed his (how?) but the three Roden cars of Carter, Niarchos and Seale kept failing the noise test. Just before the cars assembled for the race, however, they re-appeared with additional silencer pipes fitted to the normal 360/Ch system. More about this later.....

At the start Marco nearly made it to the front but it was Lewis who edged ahead and immediately began to draw out a lead. Attard had Niarchos right on his tail and then at a distance came Burton, Seale and the class-leading Back (a tremendous start), Coleman, Reddick and Graham Reeder. Seale caught and passed Burton to take over fourth place and behind this lot there was the most tremendous "C" class scrap involving Back, Reddick and Reeder, with Coleman's 360 in the middle of them. Gamski (355/Ch) was trying to hang on to this group and behind him there was another tight quartet consisting of Mike Reeder, Furness, McCormick and newcomer Jamie MacLeod - all in 355/Chs.

Whilst Carter ran untroubled at the front Attard and Niarchos continued their duel for second place until, on lap eight, Attard received a stop and go penalty for clipping trackside markers. He dived into the pits and this released Niarchos into second place and, at the same time, John Seale appeared in a haze of smoke dragging the 360's undertray on the track. He also shot into the pits but elected to retired.

In the meantime the "C" class battle had all changed when, on the fourth lap, there were various comings together at the Esses. Coleman tried to go past Back's 355 but slid wide. Reddick then dived for the gap between the two but found it rapidly narrowing. The three cars tapped into each other and the outcome was that Reddick emerged at the head of the "C" class with Graham Reeder on his tail whilst Back slipped back even behind Gamski.

Carter took his easy win at the front, followed some 7 seconds behind by team-mate Niarchos, but then nearly half a minute further back was Burton, who just managed to scrape across the line ahead of the hard-charging Attard, infuriated by his stop/go penalty. Reddick won the "C" class to put further pressure on Reeder's championship lead. The next day they would have to do it all again......

Then the subject of 360 exhausts re-appeared. With some cars running additional silencers and some having found other ways to get through the noise regulations it was inevitable that some debate would ensue. According to the PMFC Regulations 360 Challenge tipos have to run with factory-standard exhausts which does not include extra silencer extensions. In the end, Attard, mindful of his points situation, protested the two cars of Carter and Niarchos. In what was probably an even-handed outcome the Assistant Clerk of the Course ruled that whilst the Regulations had indeed been broken there were mitigating circumstances, given Castle Combe's noise predicament, and that therefore no penalty would be handed out.

Early morning mist delayed qualifying for the second race by about half an hour but the strong sunshine quickly burned it away and the cars were soon on the track. It was very much a repeat of the previous day's session. Lewis Carter again put it on pole but not all that far behind was Attard - quicker in fact than Carter's pole time from Race 1. Niarchos, Burton and Seale followed in their 360s and in the "C" class we could anticipate another excellent scrap because Reeder, Back, Reddick and Furness were all close together.

The start was great to watch. This time Attard got to Quarry's first but Seale had been very slow away as his engine bogged down, causing much avoiding action from those behind him on the grid.

The first time round they thundered through in the order Attard, Carter,
Niarchos, Burton and Coleman with then the anticipated "C" class battle between Back, Reeder and Reddick. Seale, who had dropped to almost last, was already up behind this bunch. On the second lap Carter slowed ever-so slightly and fell in behind Niarchos, who was right on Attard's tail. Team tactics, we all thought, but later he was to say he was troubled by his rear brakes. As the three of them raced round for lap after lap, Niarchos was trying every way to get ahead of Attard. In fourth place Burton had another of the lonely races he seems to specialize in but Seale was continuing to climb up the order. He pulled free of the "C" class scrap and set off after Coleman, whom he caught and passed on lap six out of twelve.

There were two terrific "C" class groups - the first fighting for the lead of the class consisted of Back, G. Reeder and Reddick and the second (some way behind) consisted of M. Reeder, Furness, Gamski and McCormick. MacLeod, his engine now running much cleaner, was not far behind, with sole "O" class runner Andy Duncan (348) and John Swift (308GTB) bringing up the rear.

On lap eight Carter suddenly pulled into the pits with his oil temperature warning light flashing on the dash. A quick inspection from Stewart Roden showed that nothing serious was amiss and he was sent on his way again, but by this time had dropped well down the order. On the same lap Back finally succumbed to Reeder's intense pressure and had a spin, re-joining in third place behind the two class-leading 355s of Reeder and Reddick. On the very next lap the former disappeared. His clutch pedal had gone straight to the floor and, as the car hesitated, the closely following Reddick tapped him up the rear and moved into the "C" class lead as Reeder's 355 pulled off the track.

The battle at the front was spellbinding to watch - close but clean. Taking advantage of a slight error from Attard, Niarchos squeezed through into the lead on lap nine which he just managed to hang on to. On the very last lap they came up behind the intense four-car Reeder-et-all 355 battle and we held our breaths, would this go well? It did and Niarchos held on by just 3/10th of a second to take the chequered flag. He was absolutely delighted to take his first PMFC win.

Attard was second with the three 360s of Burton, Seale and Coleman next ahead of double "C" class winner Reddick. Back took second place in this class and then came the quartet of 355s which finished less than two seconds apart in the order M. Reeder/Gamski/Furness and McCormick. MacLeod finished next - just ahead of Lewis Carter who was only able to salvage 13th place overall but at least set a new lap record, over half a second quicker than his record established on the previous day. He had clearly been trying hard.