The Parkinson Line.....at Silverstone Arena GP

I attended the Friday and Saturday races at Silverstone primarily to assist my little friend Michael Dale as my car was not ready after my Anglesey shunt. I was hoping the weather would be like last year, heavy rain, so that when the cars left the assembly area to line up on a huge fifty odd car grid, I could say in all honesty that I was happy that I wasn’t racing. Can you imagine what visibility would have been like in the rain with that many cars on the grid. As it turned out the freak weather meant that conditions were fabulous and I was really sick that I wasn’t out there. But that’s life and I did enjoy the meeting.

As this was a non championship meeting I will not do a report on the 1600s as there was not a full compliment. Nigel Davers saved his trusty Van Diemen for Snetterton and borrowed the Flavio Fern 2 litre Zetec engine car. It was the first time in the car so he didn’t challenge the front runners, particularly on Saturday, when a first corner spin put him to the back of the field. He enjoyed it though which was the main point of the exercise.

Speaking of the Mono classic event I felt sorry for the talented Peter Venn in my favourite mono car. Problems in qualifying put him down the grid and resulted in a third place on Friday. Saturday saw him leading the class when the stub axle broke at Copse and saw the car retire. Other than one wheel which decided to carry on. Peter is toying with the idea of getting a Dallara (or some other wizzy carbon car - they all look alike to me) for next year which could be bad news for the present class runners. Knowing Peter, it certainly won't be conventional.

The driver of both days for me was the talented Jeremy Timms. In the Richard Purcell Mono car he finished second in both races, first in class, beating most of the F3 cars in the process. But don’t worry boys. Jeremy is returning to the 1600 premier class next year. Having said that he beat all of the bike engine cars in the Bragg machine at Anglesey. I wouldn’t put it past him to do it in the 1600. He almost did it at Donington. Brought back memories of Simon.

Speaking of the Timms, both Jim and Jason also picked up a couple of trophies each. If we could find out their route to Snetterton and hi-jack their truck from the M11 services, or wherever they stop for a break, there would be an extra six trophies to share.

Ollie Thorpe also had two fabulous drives. Other competitors in both equal and better machinery commented on his outstanding car control.

Prajesh Shah was another driver who did very well. Specifically on the Saturday. He is now being run by Chris Dittman Racing in the ex Henry Fryer Formula Vauxhall. This being the Chris that is engaged to our Sarah Harvey-Fern and who himself was out in a 2 litre for, I think, the first time this year. You may remember he made his single seater debut at Spa a year ago, so never having raced his Dallara he chose the Silverstone GP to debut. The team has a big awning that took all of the Flavio cars as well. I’m not sure I dare turn up again with my van and trailer.

I had a chat with both Prajesh and his father Hemanchu (Probably spelt that wrong, It took me three weeks to learn how to pronounce it) who were telling me that Prajesh would either go to Formula Renault or Mono 2000 next year. I advised that he stick to Mono as we are far nicer guys then these other clubs. I think for his relatively small experience he will be better off anyway.
I was talking to Tony Cotton at the weekend who was in attendance watching Ray Rowan drive his Dallara. Tony was telling me that neither he, nor Nigel, his mechanic, have the necessary knowledge to run the Dallara. He’ll be back in the premier class soon.

After the prize giving on Saturday, Doug McLay thanked Simon for his efforts and requested a round of applause to show our appreciation. I hope that Simon realises the respect and gratitude that the Mono members have for him.

David Parkinson

Disclaimer: The above represents only the unofficial view of the writer and not of the Monoposto Racing Club in any way whatsover. We are unable to reproduce results due to copyright reasons.

Sorry, no pics.