StartlineOnLine

Startline OnLine

SPA 11/12 JULY 2008 (Part 1)

Francorchamp Frolics

Few would deny that Spa is the Blue Riband race of the Monoposto Club. It's therefore unfortunate that there were only 14 Mono runners in the paddock with the balance made up of Jedis and guests. However, enthusiasm compensated for lack of numbers and paddock spirits were high.

Anybody who watched the GP last year knows that a huge, soul-less concrete edifice has been built next to the F1 startline, effectively replacing the charismatic (and presumably now doomed) Uniroyal tower and associated offices. The idea is that as it's at the highest point of the circuit Max and Bernie can look down on their groveling subjects, and Max enjoys the pain of climbing the steep hill. (Joke - he will of course be helicoptered in from the lower paddock.)

QUALIFYING

As usual there were two half hour qualifying sessions. Heavy rain on Friday night was followed by regular showers throughout the morning and so for most teams the first job before struggling up the hill to the F1 pit complex for the 8.00am briefing was to change to wets and wet settings. These remained throughout both sessions. The briefing contained a bit of a surprise as we were not to be put on a grid and given a green flag lap but would leave the assembly area and do a flying start over the F1 start. 100% different to the final instructions.

Daniel Cook and his family were delighted that he put his Jedi on pole. “It's my first pole with a Jedi and I'm really chuffed. The wet is my natural territory and I hope it rains for the race.” In a 2.55 lap, Jeremy Timms was on Mono pole, only 0.1 seconds behind Daniel, ahead of last years winner Nigel Reuben. Nigel chose to run his Jedi with a straight through exhaust. I can report that this was deafening from inside Mr Bell's product with Mr Vauxhall's a foot away from my ears, and pitlane observers say it was worse for them.

Belgian Monopostos

The Belgian Monopostos, also known as Van Diemen Formula X, were an interesting car. The suspension and wings are directly from the familiar Formula Ireland/Peter Whitmore version of the car, but instead of a spaceframe the main chassis is a nicely made Carbon tub. All up weight with drivers is said to be around 450kg. Power comes from a Scholar-prepared 2 litre Duratec, gears are sequential Hewland and the car is similar to that used for Formula Mazda in the USA. John Svenson told me that the performance is on a par with a Duratec FF, which surprised me as I would have expected better unless the aero is seriously wrong or it's being driven by somebody with my own low level of talent.

The overall effect is a very pretty car, strong, very effective and yours for around €30,000.

3 seconds away, Russell Melrose had 4th whilst Phillipe Bourgeois was 5th. This was an incredible achievement. His Belgian Mono car (see sidebar) was run by Michael Schumacher look-alike John Svenson who told us that he had done one endurance race in an Alfa 156 and that this was his first single seater race - at Spa. No pressure then. During the morning session he had gone off at Eau Rouge and the team had repaired the car between sessions, in pretty much a repeat of last years incident by Mark Harrison. John reckoned Phillipe was a bit forceful with the steering, had some oversteer, and could have had pole with a bit more time.

Next car up was a bit of a surprise. Julian Cutler has been quietly developing his Reynard 903 Vauxhall. We asked him about progress. “We've stopped the car catching fire now, which is a good thing.” Like many of that generation of F3 cars it's very stiff, and Julian was very envious of the writer's Cadillac-style ride. I assume that the flat floor design of the 903 meant that it was very good in the fast corners but a bit of a handful in the slow ones. Clearly, Julian could be as much of a thorn in the side of the front runners as he was some years ago in the Mark 1 Vauxhall Lotus, should he return to regular Mono competition. Dallara runners – be afraid. Mono Classic runners – be very afraid.

To find Chris Vinall as far back as 7th was a bit of a surprise, though as we know from Rockingham the 1200's can be difficult in damp conditions. Next driver, Allan Dallas was in his first single seater race this year and was also competing in the 25 hours VW Fun Cup race, sharing a spaceframe Audi powered Beetle look-alike with Nigel Reuben and others. Not one to do things by half, he was run by Le Patron de Jedi John Corbyn – a full works Jedi team. His place was earned in Q1 as a broken drive shaft leaving the paddock lost Q2.

Ironically, Allan was just in front of the other factory team, the JKS (run by John Kirby and bearing Steve Cave's name) of Geoff Fern. Geoff is, I think, playing Monoposto Poker. He now has a full house of 1200, 1600, 1800 and 2000 entries, which I think is unique. How did it compare to the Dallara and Van Diemen? “It's very easy to drive” said Geoff, “it's a lot of fun, and forgiving. It's tricky getting used to shifting with no clutch. I think I've done quite well for a young lad.” Just wait till you're my age, sonny.

The ever cheerful Brummie engineer Kevin Mason (cheerful Brummie ?– surely a non sequitur? - Ed) completed the top 10, 7 seconds behind pole.
A little further down was Kevin's Bournville near neighbour Jeremy Goodman, having changed from Dallara to the old, reliable Ralt RT3 . We asked for a quote as he sat in his customary post-qualifying deckchair. “No”, he explained , but then added “I want to go quicker. This afternoon was awful because I had understeer and oversteer. So I decided to chuck the car around a bit to play to the non-existent crowd.” We asked how long Jeremy had owned the Ralt. “22 years”. Kevin added “I told that to somebody I was getting some parts from. He said that all he'd ever kept that long was his wife.” Jeremy then advised on the line through Eau Rouge. “I thought I had it right when I was going over the kerbs to straighten it a bit. I could hear the car grounding but had to change line after a few laps when my bum started to get a bit too hot.”

It was good to see the Leastones from Ireland join us. Coming straight from a round at Anglesey the Kawaasaki 900 powered cars look attractive (mini RT30 was one description), and were driven by their builder Paul Heavy and customer Ken Elliot. Sadly they had a harassed qualifying with a gearbox problem in Q1 meaning Ken didn't get out for Q2.

Jumping to the near back of the grid, the writer had a couple of minor paddock problems, an exhaust issue solved by Jeremy Bennett (many thanks) and an intermittent rain light solved by Peter Whitmore and Ollie, during which I electrocuted myself. (My brother once did that with an oxy-acetylene welder.) Although it was very welcome, the help might be thought unremarkable because it happens all the time, but to me it sums up the spirit of Mono, especially as Peter offered an "after-sales service" by giving me the thumbs up to confirm the light was working as he passed me in qualifying!