Spotted at Mallory

Testing at Mallory on 10 March revealed some new/modified cars.

Peter Whitmore was in a "real" 1400, having had a Hayabusa installed by Graham Read

Graham had also installed the Toyota engine in Richard Purcell's new Dallara F399

This is the third injection installation we've heard of, all using Toyotas.

Another Dallara - this time an F300 - was on bike carbs and driven rapidly by Ray Rowan.

A Ferrari 512 was fresh from restoration and owned, we were told, by a man who had another 27 Ferraris. No apologies for showing a non-Mono as beautiful as this.

As well as the cars shown here, Magic Motorsport was present with Neil and Wednesday Tester Lee Bennett driving the yellow F398, mark in attendance. Unofficial timing had Neil under the 2000 lap record. An unusual feature was Team Manager Nick Harrison engineering the car in collar and tie, which hasn't been seen in most paddocks since the days of Mike Hawthorn. It was also good to see the Mono badge on a black Lola 640 Formula Ford, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to speak to the driver and welcome him to the Club.

Away from Mono, there was much sympathy for a young man in a BARC Renault 2000 (eligible for Mono) which sadly ended up in the barriers on the exit of Gerards.

The rest of the paddock contained a few interesting (and mouthwatering) items - Mike Wilds in a March 761, an Arrows A3, a March 782, a Lola T70, what looked and sounded like a genuine GT40 (all unsilenced!), but the car of the day just had to be a Ferrari 512. Looking ready for a Le Mans start, one Mono driver was ambling past it when the engine suddenly burst into life. I don't think I've ever seen a hand move to a deafened ear so quickly. Lee Bennett asked if we could find a Mono class for it, but seemed to be in genuine pain when it was suggested the mudguards would have to hacked off first to make it an open wheeler.

Graham Easter

PS To whoever does the registrations for your Forum - I am not, nor have I ever been Phil Moore.