Monoposto Championship, Cadwell Park, 2000, Classic and 1800, Saturday 6 September 2008

Our reporter gets carried away with F1™ comparisons...

I didn't attend on Sunday so as I switched off the TV after the Belgian GP I thought the parallels with the Saturday Mono 2 litre race were startling. The track is in a beautiful setting, it has a fast, blind uphill corner, long straights and tricky high speed 180 degree corners. The race was started in the damp and then a storm came near the end. The established leader in his red car went off while lapping, allowing a prodigious young talent to take the win. Well, the parallels sort of work but as we have professional, fair minded officials we didn't have any silliness afterwards. And Julian didn't cut any corners.

Enough of this waffling, let us go to practice. With recent wet weather performances it came as no surprise to find Tristan Cliffe on pole, though 1.38 seconds over Jeremy Timms was perhaps more than most expected. Those in the know weren't surprised to see Julian Cutler next up. My mechanic asked me if this was Julian's first time out in the car, as Cadwell is an intimidating track for a new car. I explained that no, coming to Cadwell first time out would be ridiculous. Julian had prepared by testing (and getting a podium) at Spa. The Reynard remains great on fast corners and a handful in the slow stuff, but still good enough for third. Neil Gregory's attractive Mygale Novis was under a second behind, ousting Richard Purcell by half a second. Thereafter there was the usual Mono gentle spread back with the quicker 1800's like Jim Timms and Peter Bragg being ahead of some 2litres. Jim was destined not to start the race, along with Geoff Fern whose Toyota engine finally expired after being a bit smoky at Oulton. Sad to say, Geoff was unsurprisingly not his usual cheery self in the paddock. He deserves better luck, but things were to get even worse (see 1600 report).

Race

The lads all changed to slicks and lined up for a dry race. Virtually as the assembly gate opened, so did the heavens, so it was back to the paddock for wets. The commentator gave a great build up, stressing Tristan's liking for the wet and we weren't disappointed. As the lights went out he took a mighty lead and went round gaining about 4 seconds a lap on the field. The gap was so big to second that more than once we were convinced that the duelling Julian and Jeremy had clashed. In fact, they had a close race with Julian apparently getting the drop at the start but Jeremy taking it back for a lap, and then trailing Julian to the end of the race. Jeremy was obviously handicapped somewhat by a misfire, whether it was caused by the rain I do not know, but it sounded 'orrible.

Neil Gregory and Richard Bastow formed a Mygale duo in fourth and fifth, after Richard Purcell dropped back to 17th on the first lap. His recovery to 13th by lap 3 led to some impressive charges on the start finish straight. Richard Snuggs finished next up in his classic RT30, which I think he's been driving for well over 10 years. He circulated at a constant 6th, but finished fifth. Lenny Coleman gave the lie to Cadwell being too tight to overtake by rising from 10th on the grid to 6th at the flag. Russ Giles had much the same experience. After a poor start where he slipped to 15th from 13th, he made up no less than 3 places on the first lap and then another to finish in the top ten. Mark Smith had a similar fight back, this time from last but one at the end of lap one to an eventual 13th. Apologies to Barry Smith, Graham Read, and Nick Rudd who I haven't mentioned, and to Graham Probyn who brought up the rear and on the forum reckoned a pushbike would have passed him. In my view, finishing in one piece is an achievement at a streaming wet Cadwell, and we look forward to seeing the neat Reynard 863 out again at Snetterton.

The rain became torrential as the race continued and, back at the front, this led to the undoing of Tristan. While lapping Patrick Huston at the Gooseneck he moved off line to improve visibility and aquaplaned off, removing the rear wing and causing the red flags to be shown. And so it ended on lap 5, with the new Classic Champion in the barriers, and the race won by Julian Cutler, delighted to have a win first time out in the Reynard 903 in the Mono championship.

It came as little surprise that Peter Bragg won the 1800 class, another Mygale at the front. They'll soon be the trendy chassis to get. Patrick Huston seemed to have a hectic race, starting 19th, running as high as 14th and then dropping back until he blatantly took out the leader amid suggestions of large payments from Classic 2000 competitors (just joking Patrick!).

Bill Janson and Rupert Reader had a great fight. Rupert was chasing Bill, and was driving the FVJ as if glued to the track until he “Lewised” the chicane at the bottom of the Mountain, setting him back. The fight was resumed for the last couple of laps, and I think he can now memorise the serial number of Bill's gearbox. He certainly got close enough.

Although the wheel-to-wheel racing was limited, this was a race worth watching, not least for the fact that there were 94 completed racing laps in appalling conditions without a retirement. As he opened his Champagne in the paddock to celebrate the Classic Championship, Tristan didn't look too disappointed that he'd been the one to go off. After all, if Raikkonen can chuck it off in the lead at Spa, and Senna at Monaco he's in pretty good company. Or maybe it's them that are in good company?

Tony Cotton

To prove that in reality our editor didn't take Tristan out, here's some of the latter's video from the Forum, mainly for our hard copy readers.

No pictures yet, so here are a couple of simulations:

Tristan Cliffe leaves his car having gone off while in the lead (YouTube, Senna, Monaco 1988)

Rupert Reader straightlines the chicane with Bill Janson in the background (Autosport.com)

Are they perhaps related? I think we should be told.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, and Andrew Cliffe's pics aren't up yet. We will replace the pics above as soon as possible.