Cadwell Results 080613

After the Silverstone festival, it was back to normal for the traditional Cadwell Park meeting, again with the VSCC. And it was noticeable that, despite the absence of a some regulars like Nigel Ashman and Mike Fowler, the 500s again provided the best entry of the programme, with twenty-one cars arriving.

The most notable news was Nigel Challis arriving with the Petty-Norton, having bought the car from David Lecoq. Richard Ashford was present with Ruth Ross’ Twin as the sole invitation class car – Simon Brown had appeared at the Friday test with Freddie Harper’s similar car, but problems meant they did not stay for the race. Richard de la Roche also made use of this test day to re-acquaint himself with the circuit he hadn’t raced for a couple of decades. Unfortunately he walked straight into a string of ignition troubles that would plague his weekend, although Neil Hodges rolled up before the end of the day with a spare magneto, so he at least got some attempts at laps.

Qualifying
Saturday morning opened with the predicted sea cloud holding down temperatures. Against forecast, the cloud never lifted and it remained stubbornly cold all day, but at least strong winds of Friday eased and it was at least bearable.

Despite that, the track was offering up good grip and it was an on-the-rivet Roy Hunt who stormed to a rare pole with a lap under two minutes – a quite rare feat for morning sessions from all but the superfast combinations. Roy would be joined by Darrell Woods, just missing on the two-minute barrier by hundredths, then Gordon Russell and JB Jones, the latter forsaking the Cousy for the green-&-cream Cooper. John Turner was slightly off in fifth, beside an impressively rapid Fred Walmsley. Richard Ashford had considerable trouble getting the Twin fired up (flooding) but posted a respectable time in just a couple of laps. Neil Hodges was surprisingly off the pace in eleventh, lining up beside Nigel Challis, getting comfortable with his new mount.

Row seven comprised two rookies. Mark Riley was discovering that not all race tracks are nice and flat, and was wisely easing himself in with a safe 2’ 12. Beside him was young David Kingsland, having his first run in Dad’s Staride.

Barring yet more spark trouble for Richard de la Roche (slipped timing this time) there was surprisingly little trouble – even Shirley Monro had no complaints for Bill to fix (or was that his birthday present?), and all twenty-one cars would present in Assembly later in the day.

All very neat, except for that bloke in the middle!

Race
First casualty of the day was John Chisholm, whose Arnott flat refused to fire in the Assembly Area, despite at one point six people managing to something to push against at the same time. Also very late away was Paul Hewes (in the Cooper Mk VIII) – too far back to even catch the cars on formation lap, he would by his own admission have a pleasing but rather expensive drive through the countryside.

Up the Mountain on that formation lap, the Petty stuttered and died. The problem was just a dislodged plug lead, but having located and fixed it, poor old Nigel couldn’t find any willing pushers from the marshals (whilst the rest of us were just out of sight and didn’t realise no-one was helping).

Which left nineteen cars to face the flag in the now standard Cadwell rolling start. A late flag left the front four hesitating as they got closer and closer to the line. But John Turner had his own problems as the clutch had already failed – he couldn’t wait, so didn’t, and made the best start to go wheel to wheel with Roy towards Coppice before taking the lead. Gordon would also nip past Roy and as they approached the Mountain for the first time, John already had an impressive 3” lead from Gordon, with Roy another three seconds behind and with JB all over him. A small gap back another battle was joined between Fred Walmsley and Ian Phillips. For a change, Neil Hodges had made a decent start, jumping the Richards (Ashford and Bishop-Miller) at the start and Rodney Delves soon after, to take seventh place, with those named in close order behind. Completing this group was Darrell, who was completely mugged on the start as a fuelling issue left him stuttering along the bottom straight as the rest passed. Completing lap one he was back to eleventh, having already disposed of Mark Riley and Richard de la Roche who by contrast had made a great start from the very back. Frustratingly, the ignition again expired and Richard would not complete a second lap.

Roy's consistency puts him second in class in the series

John Turner’s clutchlessness was more of an issue through the fiddly woodland section than the open country, and Gordon had quickly brought the gap back under one second in that short loop. Roy, JB, Fred and Ian were in very close contention across the line, and after a second’s gap, so were Neil, Rodney, the latter sticking his nose ahead of the Cooper, but realising Neil had the line into Coppice and was in no mood to share. The remaining Richards followed, with Ashford able to blast past on the straight but Bishop-Miller coming back in the corners. This battle, which had started in qualifying would be short-lived ad the smaller JAP expired after just the one lap. Behind the following group of Darrell, Mark Riley, Richard dlR and David Kingsland (already growing in confidence, but happy to watch for now), a gap was opening to Shirley, who was to have a very solitary race as shoe could not stay with this group, but was too fast for the pair of Mark Palmer and Roy Wright. Behind these two was John Potts in David Baldock’s Cooper Mk IV. The car was looking rather good and sounded clear and strong, but it would again contrive to throw off its carburettor after two laps.

Through the second lap, Gordon moved closer to the yellow Cooper and whilst not quite close enough to make a move, he very much onto John’s tail. Roy had established control of third place, a couple of seconds behind the leading pair, but now inch by inch slowly drawing away from JB. Ian was now on the move. Having once passed Fred, he missed a gear and was re-taken, but as they crossed the line to complete lap 2, Ian was pulling past and clear before the next corner. For a while, it looked as though he might be able to set off after JB, but the gap would open quite quickly as John still had Roy as a hare to chase.

Gordon through the Hall Bends

The liveliest battle came behind these. As Neil and Rodney continued to fight, the surviving Richard (Ashford) came past both with Twin power. Rodney passed Neil, but was surprised by that rarest of (successful at least) moves, the lunge into the old Hairpin. Launched off the last of the crests through the Hall Bends, Neil planted the Cooper, wheels locking but still just about in control, right on the inner kerb where Rodney had expected to go. Rodney saw him arrive, and fortunately didn’t try to turn in, but Neil had timed it just right and didn’t plough on straight across the corner. A great move, albeit one that was only worthwhile for a few hundred yards until Rodney was back in front. again. Despite, or because of all this, the trio were moving in on Fred, and by the tail end of the third lap Richard was right on the tail of the smaller Cooper, with the other two in close attendance. Richard would be tripped up on the fourth lap, falling behind the brace of yellow cars and it was Rodney taking up the chase. Normally Neil would have rapidly joined in, but he was starting to lose a bit of power and was more concerned with keeping the Twin behind.

Following these, Darrell was running in fits and starts, at times taking a second or more from the cars ahead, then hacking and coughing its way along the bottom straight and losing half a dozen yards. He remained comfortably clear of Mark Riley (still learning the circuits, let’s not forget), but close enough to give Mark a useful lesson. David Kingsley was in turn following Mark closely enough to also benefit, and both were clearly growing faster and more confident with every lap. Given David’s much lower level of experience, staying so close to Mark was particularly impressive. Both were being towed by Darrell towards the group ahead. Whilst Shirley continued to motor alone, Roy Wright had won the battle with Mark Palmer and was easing away.

Into the second half of the race, the form seemed settled. John had eked out a gap of over two seconds from Gordon, who led Roy by a similar amount, and JB was falling away. Ian ran some fifteen seconds behind, but now had a comfortable lead of half a dozen seconds from Fred. Richard had a moment behind him which had dropped him behind Rodney and Neil, with the former now taking up the fight with Fred and the latter trying to eke out whatever he could through the turns to avoid being trounced on the straight. Darrell was now just a couple of seconds behind these two, with Mark and David in close attendance.

Age and treachery shall overcome youth and skill, eh John?

But changes were afoot. Through the fifth lap Roy knuckled down and rapidly closed in on the Mackson, nipping past at the end of the country loop, he started the final lap exactly three seconds behind John but continued pushing, getting the gap down to two seconds, and making an adequate gap from Gordon, who himself hadn’t given up. And this is the order in which it would finish – fine drives by all three, and a remarkable amount of grey hair on the podium!

Whilst JB and Ian would have uncontested runs to fourth and fifth places, there was a lot more to come from the extended group behind. Darrell’s Cooper seemed to be running a bit better and he quickly disposed of both Richard and Neil. Cresting the Mountain for the fifth time he latched onto the tail of Rodney, who was now all over Fred. Crossing the finish line Darrell passed the yellow Kieft and set after Fred. Behind, as Neil and Richard drifted away, Mark now had the latter firmly in his sights, whilst David’s growing confidence had him just a couple of car lengths behind the blue Cooper.

Roy focuses through the Hall Bends, he's quick as a Flash....

Completing the final lap, Darrell looked both sides of the green Cooper first at the bottom of the Mountain and again at the top. He pulled alongside on the approach to the first Hall Bend and held the line. Fred looked to brave it out but  the car twitched on the first right hand turn, Fred’s correction twitched the car back the other way across the second bend and somewhat in a barrier-like direction – fortunately the grass was fairly dry and he threw the car into a spin, completing a full 360 and keeping the engine running.

Through went Rodney and Neil, now being caught rapidly by Mark Riley who had already dealt with Richard’s Twin and would finish barely a car’s length behind the slowing Neil for ninth place. Back at the Hall Bends Fred rejoined just in front of David, who had taken longer to pass the Twin and had become detached from his tutor for the afternoon. Still, eleventh and a lap time barely off the two-minute mark was a most impressive debut, and Mom & Dad were suitably proud. Shirley, Roy and Mark all ran to the flag in fairly uneventful style, unlapped, and Paul Hewes completed his jaunt and the finishers.

Charlie's new cyclemotor receives some attention

Classified Finishers