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Following our desire to change the team's direction, we sold
the Riley Special and purchased a Lotus 11. The car already had
an entry for the final 2 rounds in Imola so we bundled everything
in the van and trailer and set forth for foreign climes. The run
out and back was good fun but totally exhausting; the van is simply
not up to towing for long journeys, as it "dies" on
hills, so we shall replace that for next season.
However, on the way down we went through Belgium, Luxembourg,
France, Switzerland and finally Italy, so we became very European.
The organisation worked OK and we quickly set ourselves up in
the paddock. (As the sun beat down mercilessly, lovely!)
Friday, we had 2 practice (familiarisation) sessions, one of which
we lost trying to cure a misfire, which we eventually traced to
a loose condenser in the distributor cap.
The second session went better and we were able to record some
times, though at this stage, we had no idea, what markers we had.
Saturday was dull and overcast, or was that the hangover? Anyway,
qualifying was held in damp conditions which Mark likes and we
were rewarded by 2nd in Class B behind John Clark in his Cooper
Bobtail T39 and just in front of Peter Austin in his very pretty
Lola Mk1. Most notable scalp was out qualifying Mark Knopfler
in his Class A Maserati 300S
Win Percy easily annexed pole in Don Law's
Mark gets ready for the first run on Saturday
Lotus 15, harried by Alan Minshaw's stunning Birdcage Maserati. These Class A runners were well supported by a fine collection of Lister Jaguar's, which looked a real handful coming out of the chicane onto the pits straight.
No 90 gets a last minute tweak from Andrew.
Race 1 on Saturday afternoon was held in drying conditions and we were rewarded with a second in class behind the Bobtail, after a good dice with Austin's Lola. Win Percy took the win and Class A.
Sunday was cold and damp (Or was it the hangover??) Conditions
varied between "Wigan" and "Venice" (When
the water started running though the middle of our awning). Our
race was set for 1520 and at about 1500 it actually stopped raining
and started to dry.
Race 2 kicked off
and there seemed a long pause before the field came round with
Mark leading Class B! (Cue wild waving of pit board with P1 on
it) The field going into Tamburello had had collective madness
with a number of spins amongst the Class A runners, one of which
involved John Clark in his Class B car. It seemed an age before
Mark next came round and this time he was being hounded by both
Austin AND Clark. Mark had celebrated being in the lead by spinning
also and battle was now joined. John Clark was on a roll and quickly
passed both Mark and Peter to take the lead. Peter also bested
Mark after a tough well fought race, so we finished with a 2nd
and 3rd in our first meeting with the car.
The first lap problems meant Win Percy could literally disappear
into the distance and romped home a clear and unchallenged winner.
Alan Minshaw also
survived an "off" to take a well-deserved 2nd in the
race and Class A.
The meeting was an interesting one with races for HGPCA cars and
Historic Saloons, amongst others. There were some lovely old Alfa's
present, which were very unlikely to appear outside Italy, I suspect.
Lined up and ready for Race 2 on Sunday.
So that 's the season finished. We intend to test both the 11 and shake down the Lotus 18 also as soon as we can. (Spring settings on the 11 were set far too soft and the throttle wouldn't open to its maximum, so we know there is more to come.)
Alan Minshaw in the Birdcage, dodging the weather.
More news about these
events as they occur, plus full reports next season in the newly
designed web site. Keep checking progress please.
One of the lovely old Alfa's in the pit garage.