Sincere congratulations to Chris on getting together a brilliant race day. And getting a massive 33 car grid by getting at least 5 cars from the woodwork. Fantastic racing in all the classes. The only downside to the weekend was a speed camera between Towcester and the M1. I hope some of you fustrated people that were not towing did not fall victim to it.
Looking forward to the next outing.
Wow! Yesterday was amazing and is right up there with my 40 years of Clubmans highlights.
Following Saturday night's paddock BBQ and the following morning's 30 minute qualifying, with 33 cars over five classes, we had 32 cars from four classes for the start of race one. Mark Charteris in his Mallock "A" Class won overall ahead of Dan Gibson in his father's designed Proto Nemesis by 0.660 of a second, with Paul Gibson third overall. Multiple Clubmans champion Barry Webb was ahead of Clive Wood by a car's length followed by Trish Hunter in Classic "B" class. In Proto, Dan Gibson's second overall won the class with Paul Gibson (Dad) just behind, followed by Marcus Bicknell in third. The biggest field of the day of 17 Sports 1600 cars was won by the talented Michelle Haywood from Mikey Day, but not before a last lap spin at the penultimate corner from a leading Chris (Wyd) Pickering dropped him to third. I'm told that the TV coverage of the lead battles makes for riveting watching.
Race two had 27 starters, with notably Mark missing with an engine that refused to run cleanly. The track's slippier circuit following the GT's three hour race made for slightly slower lap times, with Paul Gibson winning overall 1.1 seconds ahead of son Dan, followed by the very popular Malcolm Jackson in his Mallock "A" class car. Class "B" reversed race one with Clive Wood ahead of Barry Webb this time, followed by Trish Hunter. The Proto class was dominated by the Gibson family's Nemesis as reported above, followed by Marcus Bicknell in third again. A strong field of Sports 1600 cars, minus Jamie Champkin who non-started because of race one overheating, highlighted the talents of Sports 1600 champion Alex Champkin who, starting from the back of the grid (following being crashed into by Mikey Day in race one), came through the field like a hot knife through butter, overtaking 15 cars in one and a quarter laps, before squeezing by class leader Michelle Haywood to take the class win by one second, followed by a very close Chris (Wyd) Pickering in third.
Congratulations to the new lap record holders of "A" Class Mark Charteris 2.07.969, "B" Class Clive Wood 2.22.688, Proto Dan Gibson 2.07.988, and Sports 1600 Michelle Haywood 2.15.872. Clubmans Register Drivers of the Races were Rob Manson and Alex Champkin resp., with Mike Evans being awarded the Mechanic of the meeting. Race report to follow on your website, Facebook page, and Newsletter.
Food for thought: On one of the fastest circuits in the world a Bentley Continental GT3 twin-turbo 4 litre 600bhp with pro-drivers set a best lap of 2.03.932 yesterday, compared with a Mallock Mark 20/21 built in 1979 with a 1700cc push-rod 180'ish bhp at 2.07.969, and a Nemesis Clubmans Proto class with 2 litre Honda 235bhp stock engine at 2.07.988. Perhaps someone out there can let me know how much that extra 4 seconds cost Bentley?
