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Track & Race Cars Magazine Mono Championship
Snetterton 5 April - Mono 2000 and Classic 2000

The editor failed to arrive at the circuit in time for Mono2000/Classic qualifying. As he drove to the sunny Snetterton, listening to F1 being abandoned at a flooded Sepang Circuit he contemplated on the vagaries of weather, and the fact that the same trip last year took place through snow flurries, he was hoping that the glorious 2009 weather was going to be an omen for the coming season.

Firstly, a mention of Peter Bragg’s entry. Peter is an enthusiastic racer, entering his FF1800 in the Mono2000 class does not mean that he has any expectation of a FF1800 challenging the Dallaras of the front runners, but it does enable Peter to have twice as many races during a weekend, and as some of the Mono2000 Classic competitors found, Peter really races. The entry exploits a slight change in the wording of the Mono2000 rules and also enables Peter to reduce the average cost of each race, as the fixed charges to the MSA are paid per meeting. Peter’s entry may have set a precedent for those who want more racing.

The Harrison team returned their refettled car to the circuit, clearly determined to produce a result for the team after Saturday’s disappointment. Tristan Cliffe appreciated the potential in his new Dallara and its ability to challenge Jeremy Timms, who is equally focused on maintaining his winning momentum. Mechanical failures removed two front runners before the start, Kevin Mason had to abandon with a failure in the clutch hydraulics while Russ Giles had the drive to his new oil pump fail, and the 2000 class reps car was pushed away, hopefully without engine damage.

Practice: Mono 2000/Classic

Jeremy Timms claimed his second pole of the weekend again in the 7s but not quite as quick as Saturday. The consensus was that the track was slower., but Jeremy seemed happier with the brakes on the blue and white Dallara. Neil Harrison was a strong second with the car sounding cleaner. Disaster struck Tristan early on, with a stall at Russell, which is when he discovered a flat battery. This confined the immaculate Dallara to the back of the grid. Peter Bragg – on the track yet again - was starting to complain he that he was feeling tired – quite understandably!

Jeremy Goodman took the Classic Pole having sorted the seat belts courtesy of Chris Dittman and Geoff Fern. Len Coleman was pleased to get 3rd after nearly being late out on track when he could not get comfortable with a spare balaclava!

Race: Mono 2000/Classic

First lap: Jeremy Timms stormed off pole, and moved into an immediate lead, he had pulled out 2s on Neil Harrison by the time the cars reached Russell. Neil was another couple of seconds ahead of Jeremy Goodman who was fractions of a second ahead of Barry Smith and Tristan Cliffe. Tristan having swept up to Barry as they exited Coram, the latter pair entered Russell alongside each other, Triston took the inside line through the second part of Russell to move ahead of Barry's Van Diemen into fourth place. Terry Clarke, Lenny Coleman, Peter Bragg and Graham Probyn followed through nose to tail.

Second time round Jeremy showed how hard he was trying by locking up the front right wheel briefly and had pulled out another second on Neil. Getting past Jeremy Goodman’s Ralt RT3 had cost Tristan some three seconds and he was already about five seconds behind Neil. Barry pulled the same overtaking manoeuvre on Jeremy as Tristan had used on him the previous lap and moved ahead; I was spectating at Russell and this was the only occasion that Barry lead through this corner but he tried a wide range of manoeuvres as the race, and the dice, progressed. Meanwhile, Peter Bragg had moved his 1800 Mygale ahead of Lenny Coleman’s FVL, and he set off in pursuit of Terry Clark’s FVL. Peter closed slowly on Terry, it took him several laps to challenge the FVL. But Lenny’s FVL had fallen to the back of the field, he pulled into the pits to retire with a flat tyre, probably the legacy of a suspension failure during practice. By lap six Peter Bragg had caught Terry’s FVL.

For the first half of the race, Neil Harrison was able to pace Jeremy, more or less, but as Jeremy was intent on retaking the Mono2000 lap record from Tristan, he was unable to be able close the gap, and with Jeremy driving beautifully a mistake was unlikely. Jeremy regained the lap record with a time of 1:07.819 set on lap 8. As the race progressed Neil fell into the clutches of ‘local hero to the commentators’ Tristan Cliffe, Tristan failed to get into the 1.07s by 0.045s. With two thirds of the race run, Tristan was with Neil, and Neil was defending hard and successfully.

Backmarker Graham Probyn had an interesting few seconds as Neil swept past him exiting Coram and Tristan followed on the entry to Russell. With a lap remaining Peter Bragg went round the outside of Terry Clark at Russell to take sixth position. And further to entertain the spectators at Russell, on the last lap the second and third placed cars lapped fourth and fifth i.e. Jeremy Goodman and Barry were lapped by the Dallaras of Neil and Tristan. With all this excitement, Barry overdid it and spun. His last lap excursion was immediately followed by Peter Bragg taking a most original line through Russell as he attempted to regain the advantage from Terry who was back in front. Despite their excursions both Barry and Peter finished without losing their places.

Super Clutch Driver of the Day: Pete Bragg (much deserved after a physically taxing weekend).