Finally the months of waiting were over. It was suddenly Spring, and our racers were out at Snetterton. There was an excellent entry of 19 for the revised Open series.

The PFO field was an exciting sight indeed. It has been too long since we last saw up-to-date racers in the Club, in fact you have to go back to the end of the PMFC in 2005. Anthony Cheshire’s FF Corse team was running five cars, no fewer than three of whom were having their first ever race. Also a first timer was Paul Bailey in his lovely 430 Challenge.

The more modern 430 models were joined by seven 355 Challenge cars and four 360s. Everyone’s favourite to take home seemed to be the 360 GTC of Wayne Marrs. This car competed at Le Mans in 2004 and was thereafter re-fitted at Michelotto at great cost. It is just georgeous and sounds amazing, with every gearchange being accompanied by a great crack, as unburnt fuel is ignited in the exhaust. I wonder if QV can get my 328 to do that?

Honours in qualifying were taken by a 430 GT3 driven by guest Jamie Stanley. Next up was Leon Price (430/Ch), Wayne Marrs (360 GTC), Mick Dwayne (360/Ch), Stuart Tarrant-Willis (430/Ch) and Paul Bailey (430/Ch). First 355 was Gary Culver. This successful car is currently for sale and was only there as Gary’s 328 was not ready to race in the Pirelli formula classic race.

Dave Tomlin was next up (355/Ch) from a totally transformed David Hathaway (360/Ch). David has improved so much now, and really looks the part these days. It was great to see him go so well. Birthday boy Mike Reeder was a welcome returnee (355/Ch) and Gavin Shirley was having his first outing in his father’s 355.

Race 1

It had been decided at the last minute to have a rolling start for PFO in place of the planned lights start. It should have been the safer option. However the circuit car lead the field around for one lap only, and at such a slow pace, that the slick tyres fitted to the race cars must have been all but stone cold. This caught out several cars on lap one. Most effected was Paul Bailey, who girated his 430 Challenge (not the only one to do so).

This delayed Gary Culver and others who had to take avoiding action. Biggest losers were Tarrant-Willis, 5th to 16th, Bailey, 6th to 14th, and Culver, 8th to 15th. Still, at least there was no damage. At the end of Lap 1 the order was Stanley (430 GT3), Marrs (360 GTC), Price (430/Ch), Dwayne (360/Ch), Hathaway (360/Ch), Tomlin (355/Ch), McKallister (430/Ch) and Mike Reeder (355/Ch). 

Pro driver Stanley proceeded to drive away into the distant blue yonder, giving an excellent sales demonstration of what is last year’s state of the art GT3 430. What a shame that the car’s owner did not feel able to race the car himself, or at least put a competent club racer in it.

By lap three Leon Price had got past Wayne Marrs, but there was not a great deal of dicing going on. Just about the only good thing about the old PFO was, oddly enough, the racing. The cars were all pretty much equal, and raced in close company. The joy of Race 1 of the new PFO was not the racing, it was the cars. I believe that good racing will happen but it may take a while. There is a world of difference between the various models, too big a difference to be masked by driver talent alone. 

We should congratulate all the novices for taking the plunge and wish them many season’s great racing with the Club. Final order then was Stanley, Price, Marrs, Dwayne, Tarrant-Willes and Bailey.    Stand out drives I thought were David Hathaway and Mick Dwayne, both in 360s.

Race 2

As with the PFfc race grid positions for Race 2 were determined by the finishing order of Race 1. The circuit had been asked for a better green flag lap, and of course the drivers caught out in race 1 were now much more aware of the importance of tyre temperature. As with formula classic, Sunday’s Open race was set for 30 minutes.

After an incident free start lap 1 was lead by Stanley from Marrs and Price. Next up was Dwayne from Hathaway, both confirming their excellent form from Race 1. Leading 355 was Tomlin from Culver. These two were just ahead of the 430 of Paul Bailey. Price soon got past Marrs for second place, and Stanley did his disappearing act at the front.

By lap 10 the leader had 26 seconds on Price, who in turn lead Marrs by 10 seconds. Dwayne was a further 12 seconds behind that. Not a great race at the front but places 4 to 6 though looked like a lot of fun with Dwayne, McAllister and Hathaway having a great tussle.

Thirty minutes must have seemed a very long time to some of our novices. It was long enough for the winner Stanley to have lapped everyone bar 2nd place man Leon Price. I don’t think we will see a pro driver in the series again, even as a guest and certainly not until our fledgling series has developed. Class winners were Stanley “S”, Price “C3”, Dwayne “C2” and Tomlin “C1” (as with Race 1).

There was much to be pleased about with the first round of Open. The cars are terrific. Our compromised calendar (due to Donington’s malaise) really works against us now however, with three long haul races – Spa, Knockhill and Zolder. It will be August 21st at Oulton Park before we get a good idea of true entry levels and general support for the series.         
  

Click here for the results.

Next meeting: 28-30 May Spa-Francorchamps

Click here to return to the Pirelli Ferrari Open index page.