Track & Race Cars Magazine Mono Championship
Snetterton 4 April - Mono 2000 and Classic 2000

Snetterton's a funny place for entry numbers. Last year we had 17 cars for the first 2000 race of the season, pretty much at this time of year. This year we had only 10, whoich included Pete Bragg in an 1800 which now also properly qualifies as a 2 litre. At the end of 2006 we had only 10 cars and had a cracking race. Sadly despite everybody trying very hard, there wasn't much to be excited about for a spectator.

Qualifying

It was great to see 2 beautiful "new" cars out. Neil Harrison's Dallara 398 re-appeared in yellow and black, and in my view looked far more purposeful than the previous pastel blue. There was debate in our team whether Neil was showing allegiance to a (reasonably) local football team of Wolves. The other car was the the ex-Andy Uttley 398 of Tristan Cliffe with Toyota 3AS-GE power and, we think, a rather natty way of attaching the engine involving a lost-wax casting. It goes without saying both cars were immaculate as befits the McLaren and Ferrari teams of Mono. Unfortunately for both of them, Jeremy Timms took the part of Brawn and qualified 1.6 seconds clear of Neil, who was 1.5 ahead of Tristan, complaining of wing collapse early in practice. Jeremy's achievement was all the greater when you know that Neil was under the old lap record despite a low end misfire.

Behind them, Russ Giles Classic Reynard 913 was 3 more seconds away, followed by Kevin Mason's 395 (and not 399 as the programme and MST say), Barry Smith's FX02, and just less than a further 3 seconds back Terry Clark in the one-time mainstay of 2 litre, the FVL. Pete Bragg's interloping 1800 was way ahead of Graham Probyn's always pretty Reynard 863. Graham lacked confidence in the brakes, changed the pads after practice, and transformed the car for the race; at least I think a 6 second gain counts as transformation.

Unusually we had 2 starters from the back. Lenny Coleman failed the noise test (according to the noise inspector - an editorial is in progress) and Jeremy Goodman's belts were out of date. Fortunately Chris Dittman kindly loaned him a set. As I was surprised to find my "neary new" belts were in their last year, there's perhaps a lesson for all of us to check belt dates.

Race

Unlike the end of last season, Jeremy's team topped up the 397 with fuel and really nothing else can be said. The first few laps were a dominant 1.5 seonds or so quicker than the rest of the field, and then at lap 6 he switched on Radio 2 and cruised to victory. Which is what it looked like from outside, but in reality we all know that it's far from relaxed to do 1.10's of Snetterton, so a well deserved victory. Along the way he broke his own existing lap record no less than 5 times - but not by enough to retain it as Tristan slotted in a 1:8.306 for fastest lap and the record. Looks like there's a good season of fighting ahead of us.

The close racing started behind Jeremy. Tristan rarely let Neil relax, and on lap 9 managed to pass him to run thouh to second. Neil's 3rd looked secure until on lap 10 of 13 he suddenly, around Coram, started to tow a huge white cloud. During the next lap he came to a stop and was doused by marshalls with extinguisher powde. The smoke's cause was a pressure sensor leakage, fortunately repaired by the team within a couple of hours of the race end.

Kevin Mason stalked Russ Giles until lap 5 when he nipped through to 4th and took the remaining podium place when Neil dropped out. Kevin, Russ and Barry Smith then circulated as a close trio until 2 laps from the end when Russ spun entering the Esses. He re-joined quickly enough to maintain 5th and deprive jeremy Goodman of the Classic win.

Behind Jeremy Pete Bragg kept the pressure on Terry Clark's attractively reliveried gunmetal Vauxhall Lotus, with several sideways moments and enough wild action to maintain his deserved reputation for car control. Graham probyn looked to be having an uneventful race in the 863 until he appeared to outbrake himself into Russells and took out one of Mr Palmer's corner markers in spectacular fashion. There were rumours that it went high enough to record on Norwich airport's approach radar. And finally, after running strongly in September last year, Lenny Coleman had a few problems and brought up the rear.

After the race Jeremy Timms reported serious braking problems with the pedal unpredictably going to the floor - perhaps a reason for those slower mid race laps.

Super Clutch Driver of the Day: Barry Smith

The closest anybody got to Jeremy was on the warm up lap.	Neil Harrison's Dallara 398 resplendent in new paint job after winter rebuild	Kevin Mason Dallara 395 ahead of Barry Smith	The Tristan Cliffe 398 looked as good as we expected
Kevin again	Graham Probyn had a fairly lonely race but went well	Russ Giles Reynard 913	Jeremy Goodman's evergreen RT3
Terry Clark's FVL in its new paint job. Pete Bragg follows closely	Tristan pushes Neil
Lenny Coleman - who would have thought the new V10 Judd would have been so noisy?	Tight line by Kevin	Russ leads Barry
			Looked terminally expensive but it wasn't
	Little damage to the lovely 863, and even the marker looks to be in one piece	Why has Graham got a marker coming out of his head?
	Engine covered in extinguishant	Hard work for the pit crew.

Pics by JNB Racepix. Report by Tony Cotton with insight by Simon Davey.