GOODYEAR MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUND 9 : DONINGTON

PADDOCK STORIES

• George Christopher's drive into ninth sounded busy. His throttle cable snapped at the pedal but as it ran through the cockpit he was able to pull it by hand. He confessed that whilst braking into the corners he had no hands left for the steering wheel as he changed down with his left and tweaked the throttle with his right. Even with all this going on he was only five seconds off his qualifying pace.

• John Seale's outing in the paddle-changed 355 may well stand as a world racing debut of this particular version. But the fixed paddles seem more of a hindrance than a help. Surely it cannot be long before the factory develop a proper rotating system. BMW seem to be able to do it.

• Of the 28 starters no less than 10 were 355 tipos. Not bad when you consider that the much vaunted European Challenge Series only produced 19 starters at Donington a few weeks earlier.

• Best dice of the meeting? Undoubtedly that at the very tail of the field, where Messrs. Seale, M. Reeder, Stirling and de Perre fought a mighty battle which sometimes saw them fan right across the track under braking for Redgate. Their fastest lap times were less than a second apart and it was all good clean stuff, unlike the rather fraught 355 encounter between Roberts and Hetherington which saw some odd lines and very wide cars.

• It looked a sorry mess afterwards, the Pogson 355, but the ever-optimistic Roger Bodill thought it could all be straight again within a week. Sounds like not many Italia Autosport customers will get much work done, then, during that week…….

• The wonderful Christopher BBQs always go with a bang. At the end of the party they placed all their rubbish in one of the oil drum bins, lit it and retired for the night. Unfortunately an empty can of brake fluid objected to the heat and the resultant explosion was heard for miles around.

• Goodyear's Natalie, in charge of the GMFC hospitality marquee, was looking lovelier than ever. Ah, those misty eyes!