Mallory Park, Peter Morgan Memorial Meeting, Non-Championship Races 6 July 2009

A few years ago I watched in awe at a Silverstone F1 tyre test as a state of the art machine defied the laws of physics. It braked impossibly and turned in incredibly through Bridge. Then I realised it was Force India on its out lap. The effect was similar as I sat watching from just behind the barrier opposite the pit exit at Mallory. The speed of even the slowest of our cars, the way they stop and corner is simply stunning – and don't forget that even a one minute lap of Mallory is an average of 81 miles per hour. I'll explain later why I had this vantage point for race 1. I will start by reporting race 2, as I had a reasonable view of that.

Race Two

Grid order was race one finishing order, except that Dave Porter in his Club F3 spec F300 joined the back as 3rd reserve, just in front of the transgressing Nick Catanzaro. As the lights went out, Jeremy Goodman had a problem and rather than be involved in an accident drove smartly into the pitlane from where he started the race. David Cox made good use of pole, finishing lap 1 nearly a second ahead of Barry Smith who just edged out Amnon Needham. Amnon, however, fought back and took Barry on lap 2. Then it got a bit complicated. There was a problem at Shaws in which Bill Janson's Jamun lost its nose, and Bill parked up. This obviously brought out the yellow flags, which wouldn't have been an issue except that Caroline Webb's Jedi was still having a few problems and was going quite slowly, so David had to back off and control the first 3 until the green was passed. A difficult situation which was well handled by all. However, this gave Amnon an opportunity to close and during the next lap passed David for first. David held second until lap 7 when Barry Smith made use of the outstanding traction of the FIreland (or perhaps he has a super-sensitive right foot) to demote the racing Stroud professor to third.

Meanwhile......Tim Cameron started 7th having overcome the traditional Mallory program jinx of being tipped. He began behind Len Turner, who used the nimble Jedi chassis to pass Lou Watts's Vauxhall Lotus on lap 4; Lou had taken Len on the first lap. Now, Lou and Len are formidable competitors, but on lap 8 Tim passed Lou. And then, on lap 11 came one of the most exciting moves of a very exciting race. Tim lined up to attack Len at Devils Elbow, got alongside him on the outside of Gerards and they fought side-by-side along Stebbe straight, through the Esses and up to the hairpin by which time Tim had triumphed. It was very much a case of who would blink first, and this time it was Len. It's been suggested that some lesser formulae drivers (ie those who deem themselves "professional" which is a euphamism for "dirty") would have contacted in a dice like this. Mono's above that, thank goodness.

A couple of laps later, we were surprised to see Barry take Amnon for the lead, and having taken it he never looked likely to lose it. Congratulations to Barry on a maiden win in Mono and a beautifully driven race. Amnon began to drop back and his previously steady 47.5 laps extended to 48's then 49's and 2 laps from the flag to a 56. The car sounded bad, and it was a great pity that an apparent mechanical fault robbed him of a podium and gave an eventual 7th. It did, of course, mean that David Cox moved to second and Tim Cameron, having been left on the grid in his Jedi in race 1, got a podium with the “big boys”.

This wasn't the only activity, however. Dave Porter, starting as a reserve from the back, took his time, doubtless mindful of the dogs dinner your scribe made of starting at the back. It was lap 5 before he got below 50, but the times kept falling and the local man (who has raced but once since the last lamented Christmas Pudding meeting in 2006) was putting in 47's which, with a series of undramatic but effective overtaking manoeuvres got him 4th.

Eighth and ninth, after the Len 'n Lou show, were Jeremy Goodman and Nick Catanzaro, both of whom started at the back, Jeremy from the pitlane after his dash into it, and Nick through a technical contretemps where he missed a flag signal. Jeremy spent around half the race following Dave Porter, about a second away, but in the last quarter of the event traffic seemed to cause a few problems and whilst Dave managed to get past Len and Lou, Jeremy didn't. Nick was first of the lapped runners, just over half a minute behind Jeremy.

Another back of the grid man was Geoff Fern, recovering from a race one issue. Geoff was making steady progress through the field until on lap 8 we suddenly saw him parked in the run off area at Shaws hairpin. Doubtless either Geoff or Sarah will let us know the cause to amend this report.

Elsewhere in the field, Simon Davey had been commenting on the behaviour of his Swift. Watching him around Shaws, two thoughts came to mind: (1) it was 'orrible (2) if I had been driving it, I would have been hard pressed to do a sub-60 with that handling, so Simon's 50's were impressive – but not good enough to beat the 'homme du jour' of the 1600 class, the Bottesford battler himself.

Malcolm Scott proved the form book right by winning the 1800 class at a canter. Richard Evans and Jonathan Baggott seemed to have a good day, Henry Fryer was, after a steady qualifying getting his old speed back, and Eddie Guest was going quicker all the time. Brian Jones's Jedi sounded dreadful, but he coaxed it to the finish, and Chris Helliwell scored his first finish. Welcome, Chris, we hope it's the first of many. After a few pit visits, CarolineWebb, was a finisher but was sadly unclassified because of completing too few laps, which was a pity. A mixed class race (that sounds a politically incorrect phrase!) at Mallory is a baptism of fire, and congratulations to both Caroline and Chris on surviving. Donington and Silverstone should be even more fun!

Race One

For reasons which will become apparent I can report very little from this race. It was good to see Geoff Fern back out in a 1200, now JKS mounted, looking very smart in gloss black with TFR logos.

With the race oversubscribed, Paul Winterbottom could not start his Renault so Tony Cotton (that's me) was in luck as first reserve. Oh no I wasn't! I think that as the lights went out I got past Caroline and Henry and with the red mist in place tried to slip between Chris Helliwell and Eddie Guest. I would have made it too, but for you pesky kids. Sorry, too much Scooby Doo as a child. I should say I think I would have made it but for Tim Cameron having stalled, who I saw too late. Eddie quite rightly moved to avoid him and we touched. There is clearly some justice in the world as the wholly innocent Eddie apparently suffered a dinged steel wheel whilst I lost wishbone, upright and rocker, cracked the bell housing and pulled some bits off the gearbox, and came to an ignominious halt on the grass, 30 metres past the start line. My apologies to anybody who I frightened and for any damage I caused, and if you missed me, thank you very much indeed.

While I was sorry for myself the field was approaching the hairpin. I understand that there was a coming together which left Graham Read with a corner missing from the Dallara 399, and which I think may have contributed to Geoff Fern and Stuart Digby's retirement after 1 lap.

Other than that, the start finish straight is not a great viewing spot, and so all I can report on is that from fourth on the grid, David Cox passed the line in first after one lap and held it Schumacher-like to the end. Amnon Needham stayed behind David for second, and Jeremy Goodman for third. Tim Cameron fought from last to leave the grid after his stall to a well deserved 7th. The best action was undoubtedly between David Parkinson in his Reynard and wily Simon Davey in his Swift, whose handling, if not evil, definitely wouldn't have won any Sunday school behaviour prizes. They passed and repassed each other and the determination visible from each would have been enough to win a world championship, let alone a non-championship Mallory Clubbie. What a pity that the BBC weren't here to cover this rivalry (eventually won by Simon), as it was certainly better than the, by comparison, rather dull and easy victory of Federer over Roddick that they covered at Wimbledon.(Do you think this might be just a bit of an exaggeration? - ed)

Tony Cotton (with medication)

Sadly no pictures at all. Any (race, practice, paddock) would be gratefully received, please click here to email them.