THRUXTON 12 September 2009 Non-Championship

It's been nearly 20 years since the club last raced at Thruxton. Because of the restrictions on the spectator areas, few have seen the legend which is the back section, and in reality it's as daunting as the myths suggest, with corners taken at over 120mph. It's a course which favours the brave, or perhaps the unimaginative – that's my excuse. So when the Ferrari Owners pulled out of the Aston Martin Owners' Club meeting and we were invited to take up the slack, it can be little surprise that 34 members and guests took up the challenge. For those that weren't there, I'm sorry, but it was great! For those who were there, I'm sorry as well because with Simon and myself racing, no Tristan to give a view from the cockpit, and no Andrew for pics, we've got my general ramblings and Nigel Bland's paddock-only pics, as he was busy wielding my pitboard in the race so couldn't photograph the track action.

Race

With just the one Mono 2000 Dallara present, it wasn't hard to predict a win for Jeremy Timms. He might have been forgiven for deciding that this was a fun event, with no points at stake, so just cruise it. But you wouldn't expect that of Jeremy, now would you? So it was just as unsurprising that he drove the race as if Neil and Tristan were glued to his rear wing, ending 34 seconds in the lead. Even his best lap was over 3 seconds ahead of the other finishers, at 1.15.3. The only lap time below 1.18 was Arty Cameron who, from 8th on the grid was second by lap 3, only to retire with a failed clutch on lap 5.

Whilst it was a pleasure to watch Jeremy's driving, there wasn't much racing involved in it, unless you count some very surgical lapping. This wasn't the case for the next 2 places. Driving classic, in every sense, RT3s that were, believe it or not, closer in age to the Formula Juniors on the programme than to a current F3 car, Jeremy Goodman (RT3-Zetec) and Jim Blockley (RT3 in F3 trim) had an interesting race. Jim led Jeremy by 3 seconds until the lapping started midway through the race when Jeremy slipped into the lead which he held and extended to the flag. Jim, meanwhile, fell into a threesome. Nick Anstruther and Stuart Digby had already had a good fight resolved in Nick's favour on lap 8, but when Nick caught up with Jim, the latter saw no reason why he should come past, and they spent half the race virtually welded together, with Stuart barely a second behind.

After that, I have to admit that much of the action passed me by – literally – as I was concentrating fairly hard on my own race. Therefore, I've set up the lapchart on a spreadsheet so that it can be downloaded and you can put 3 numbers into the top left hand corner of the spreadsheet and see them highlighted over the laps. Whilst it's not exactly Autosport.com graphics, it might be of interest and you can see your own progress.

Other Random Observations

Dave Rippin qualified well, slipping a little in the results, but his awning and support vehicle were something to behold. Some of us have seen F3 teams with smaller kit!

Peter Whitmore proved that there's little wrong with the aero of the VanDiemen, recording a maximum of 135mph round the back.

The oldest car in the race was Andrew Ames's Jamun T2, a '70's Formula Ford. I spoke to his dad, ex-British Sprint Champion Richard, who said how much they had enjoyed it, especially considering that they had entered because “it was better value than a test session”!

Worcester Banker Arty Cameron made a return of mixed fortunes. The engine overheated in practice, but he was still up to 2nd in the race when the clutch went in his new Yamaha R1 powered Jedi. (Thinks – He needs a Superclutch, who by an odd coincidence are our sponsors.) The car looked resplendent in Renault Wedgwood Blue, only just dry when it turned up.

Scott Blakeney won the 1600 class. He was the 12 year old driver who made Sebastian Vettel look like (insert name of any Mono driver over 50). I was told that his dad was responsible for getting FF Kent back on the bill at Thruxton.

Welcome to Kyle Tilley in the orange Anstruther FVJ. We were impressed with his crash helmet which matched the car. Obviously touting for Outspan or Jaffa sponsorship.

Another welcome to Rob Manger, who last raced in Mono in 2000, when he was 1800 champion. Now running a FF in the Castle Combe championship, he is also an instructor at Thruxton Racing School, so knows his way round very well.

It was a pity that Lewis Hamilton didn't take a leaf out of Geoff Fern's book when he crashed on the last lap of the Monza GP. Geoff showed the right way to do it, taking Simon Davey for second as our racing administrator eased off a little too much. Simon came close to getting back at the chicane, but discretion was the better part of valour and he decided it was better for 2 cars to finish than none. The chicane, in any case, already held bad memories for Geoff as something happened in practice when he was braking for it and he ended up off the circuit with a damaged car. Never one to be daunted, he dragged the 1600 out of the truck, started from the back of the grid, and swept to 13th overall, second in class.

Richard Evans's Renault was going well until it suddenly slowed going up Woodham Hill. Hopefully not something major.

We'll need some Thruxton historians, please, to help with lap records, and somebody clever to tell me and Stephen whether lap records count in a non-championship round. However, the outright lap record fell, not too surprisingly, to Jeremy Timms with a 1:15.339, beating Mono's answer to Michael Schumacher, David Dudley in the Anson, who did a 1:15.4 in 1990.

I would like to thank Sara Hughes for kindly bringing cake for driver refreshment. As I say, I would like to thank her, but I didn't get any so I'm not going to.

Finally, a word of praise for the organisers. A good atmosphere, efficient marshalling, good paddock organisation, and no officiousness. I hope we impressed too with well presented cars and not too much activity to put the marshalls and recovery crews to work. Not to mention 34 cars and therefore entry fees, which must have pleased AMOC. A sunny day was the final flourish to make it a great day's racing.

Tony Cotton

Click here to download a pointlessly complicated lapchart and resultsGeoff Fern pushes JKS to practice, but drove 1600 in the race

Andrew Ames's Jamun T2

In a role reversal, Kat Impey makes sure Arty Cameron is OK. Terry Clark is self sufficient

Terry again with Dave Rippin's JKS

JB's RT3 frames Kyle Tilley's FVJ and (right) John Whitbourn's Ray

Orange car and helmet. Which came first?