Gurston Results 230613

Gurston Down 23rd June 2013

The previous day’s event had been marred by showers so thirteen sets of fingers were crossed hoping the rain would stay away for the duration. Carl Klarberg had come over from Sweden to co-drive the Alfa Dana with John Forsyth. Carl, who had owned the car for 25 years before selling it to John, normally races so speed would not be a problem. Both had driven at the Saturday meeting. There were seven different makes with only Cooper and Iota being duplicated. Dennis Williams had brought his Mark V powered by a JAP with a Rudge 4 valve head and unique cranked rear leaf spring arrangement.

Alistair takes the Hornet ploughing

Practice one was mechanically largely uneventful. Charles had replaced his front brake shoes for the meeting and they had yet to bed in, giving him some uneasy moments and Stuart was a little unhappy with his fuelling. Practice two saw times improve and the spread reduce. Stuart’s fuel flow issues stopped him running and Charles brake gremlins persisted prompting further investigation after the run. This time he found a broken pipe but fortunately Ted came to the rescue with a flaring tool. Many hands helped Stuart diagnose only one float chamber seemed to be filling properly in addition to the filter causing problems.

Fortunately the afternoon weather remained dry and all thirteen drivers recorded a first timed run. Stuart and John F both had fuel issues necessitating a tow back from the top assembly area. Both cars were patched up in time for the second run. The final run of the day saw only twelve starters, of which three were to better their first run times. The Alfa Dana needed attention after Carl’s run and could not be fixed in time for John to take his.

Looking back over past results shows how things are improving. The leading times are still roughly the same but the spread to those at the back is getting shorter – we must be doing something right! Roll on the next visit in September.

Dennis Williams's Cooper Mk V

Classified Results

Pos Name Car Run 1 Run 2 Best

Words Mike Wood

Pics Mike Wood & Jonathan Smith

1 Mark Riley Creamer-JAP 41.50 41.84 41.50
2 John Dent Cooper Mk VIII-JAP 43.33 42.50 42.50
3 Alistair Dent Hornet-JAP 43.09 43.31 43.09
4 John Forsyth Alfa-Dana-JAP 43.33 N/T 43.33
5 Xavier Kingsland Staride-Norton 44.22 45.63 44.22
6 Carl Klaberg Alfa-Dana-JAP 45.02 44.26 44.26
7 Charles Reynolds Cooper Mk IX-JAP 44.70 45.13 44.70
8 Mike Wood CBP-JAP 46.38 47.09 46.05
9 Alan Hartfield Cooper Mk V-JAP 46.64 47.09 46.64
10 Ted Sharpe RGR-JAP 47.78 49.65 47.78
11 Dennis Williams Cooper Mk V-JAP 53.24 53.59 53.24
12 Stuart Barnes Iota-JAP 58.67 Fail 58.67
13 Tim Ross Cooper Mk IV-JAP 58.68 Fail 58.68

Ted Sharpe, RGR-JAP