2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - ST MARY'S TROPHY
- 13 September 2018
RACE 1
Andy Priaulx emerged victorious after a frenetic St. Mary’s Trophy race although fellow former World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff was first on the road as they crossed the line.
Huff blasted off the front row once the flag dropped, but he was a bit too eager and received a ten-second penalty for his trouble. Without pits-to-car radio, Huff was unaware of this, and in the early stages battled mightily with fellow Lotus Cortina man Ash Sutton and Matt Neal in the 4.4-litre Studebaker Lark Daytona 500. Andy Jordan, who started from the back row, was the man on the move, however, and the rallycrosser turned touring car ace tore through the field in his Lotus Cortina and was up to ninth place within four laps. Progress was blunted somewhat for a few laps mid-race after he struggled to find a way past the lumbering Ford Galaxie 500 of Pikes Peak hero Roman Dumas. After attempting several overtakes, he eventually found a way past that didn’t involve driving on the grass, and homed in on the lead battle.
Once in the lead, Sutton eked out his advantage over his pursuers, but the reigning British Touring Car Champion dived into the pits late in the day which promoted Huff back into the ‘lead’ as Priaux took Neal for second. Unaware that second place was actually first, Priaulx tried everything he could to get past Huff on the final tour, and was only made aware that he had won during the post-race interviews. Neal was second from Jordan, with Huff classified in fourth place.
RACE 2
19-year-old Olivier Hart took a brilliant win in the incident-filled second instalment of the St Mary’s Trophy saloon car race. The Dutch teen, whose Alfa Romeo 1600GTA was driven by countryman Tom Coronel yesterday, drove brilliantly in a race of two parts.
Lotus Cortina man Mike Jordan led Roger Wills’ lumbering Mercury Cyclone at the start, but there were frenetic battles up and down the order. This was brought into sharp relief on the fourth lap after Duncan Pittaway demolished the chicane in his Plymouth Barracuda. The race was red-flagged as a result.
The race was restarted, only for the safety car to be deployed almost immediately after Peter Chambers barrel-rolled his Lotus Cortina on the approach to St Mary’s. Fortunately, he walked away unaided. The race got underway again with only a few laps left to run, with Hart in a class of one up front, with Ambrogio Perfetti chasing him in his Lotus Cortina.
Unfortunately, the Italian’s car was then tagged by Bill Shepherd’s Ford Galaxie 500 and spun off into retirement. Fourth-place man Andrew Jordan was also a casualty of this melée, and had to cede a place to arch-rival Steve Soper who was fielding his own Lotus Cortina. Hart came home the victor from Wills, but Soper and yesterday’s winner Andy Priaulx triumphed on aggregate.
Report courtesy of GRRC.
2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - FORDWATER TROPHY
- 13 September 2018
Darren Turner claimed a fantastic Fordwater Trophy win on Saturday morning. The works Aston Martin star appropriately claimed honours aboard Peter Kappeler’s Aston DB2, but star of the race was Porsche 356 man, Sam Tordoff. The pole-sitter fluffed the start and was swamped by the entire field which prompted an epic comeback drive during the 20-minute encounter.
Former British Hillclimb Champion David Franklin lead early on in Arnold Meier’s sublime Ferrari 225S Vignale Berlinette, but his lead lasted only a half a lap before he had a grassy excursion. Veteran charger Stuart Graham then assumed the lead aboard Guy Harman’s blisteringly quick Jaguar XK120. Turner, however, worked his way past on the third lap and was never headed. Tordoff, however, was the fastest man on track, and had moved up from last place to ninth inside seven minutes in his Porsche 356 coupé. He lost a little time while attempting to lap Guy Loveridge’s Connaught, but the British Touring Car Championship ace had moved up to third place going into the final lap. This soon became second, but Turner was too far up the road for him to be denied victory, though.
The elated winner accepted the garlands and said: “I love racing the Aston and have finally won at Goodwood. I couldn’t be happier.”
Report courtesy of GRRC.
2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - BARRIE WILLIAMS
- 13 September 2018
As Saturday morning broke the sad news that Goodwood fan favourite Barrie “Whizzo” Williams had passed away at the age of 79 spread through the paddock. In a career that spanned more than half a century he may not have made a mark on the international scene but was a star in British national motor sport in everything from rallying (winning the 1964 Welsh Rally) through touring cars and single make production saloons through the 1970s and 80s.
As his professional career wound down, historic motorsport became his passion and his ability to dominate the most difficult cars and his to slide a car to outrageous angles thrilled and entertained crowds where-ever he raced.
He won several times at Goodwood, including the inaugural RAC TT Celebration in 1998 in Nigel Corner's E-type Jaguar but as much as anything it was his willingness to stop and spend time to talk and joke with fans that won many hearts. My first memory of Barrie was at the 2002 Revival where he was driving a Morris Minor in the St Marys Trophy. No chance of winning but the display of drifting he put on meant that you knew where he was on the track from the cheering of the crowd as he hung the back out, smoking the tyres through every corner. A couple of years later during a delay to recover a damaged car I made the suggestion to Barrie that he may be able to jump Frank Sytner at the re-start if he swept some of the dust and debris on the start line under the rear wheels of Sytner’s Brabham. Minutes later with broom in hand both he and Richard Attwood were all giggles.
A wonderful man to – I won’t say have known – but met and spent time with. My sympathies to his partner Cathy and countless friends across the sport.
Sam Snape
12-9-2018
2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - KINRARA TROPHY
- 12 September 2018
Emanuele Pirro and Niklas Halusa claimed a convincing victory in the Kinrara Trophy race, which kicked off the on-track action at the 2018 Goodwood Revival Meeting on Friday evening. The Ferrari 250GT SWB ‘Breadvan’ duo were made to work for the win, however, with Jaguar E-type pairing Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen being a threat for much of the one-hour running. It was only in the final few laps that the win was assured for veteran Pirro and his young wingman.
Halusa was slow off the blocks at the start of the race, the Austrian’s Ferrari smoking its rear tyres as it struggled to find traction. Even so, the pole-sitting ‘Breadvan’ was in the lead as the field arrived at Madgwick for the first time. Halusa belied his lack of experience by keeping the fast-starting Minshaw at bay for the first two laps, only to get jumped at Madgwick third time around. He returned the favour at the same spot a lap later, and the warring duo continued to trade places as they streaked away from the rest of the field. Just 0.47sec covered the top two at quarter-distance, and there was barely a car’s length between them when the pits opened for driver changes 23 minutes in.
Minshaw was the first to blink, with Keen emerging on track in third place behind the Franklin/Lindsay E-type and the leading ‘Breadvan’. Halusa pitted 15 laps in, with Pirro venturing onto the circuit a few seconds after Keen had assumed the lead at the chicane. The race soon returned to a Ferrari versus Jaguar battle, with five-time Le Mans winner Pirro taking the lead at half-distance. The Roman wasn’t allowed to escape, though, and Keen nosed ahead in traffic, but the ‘Breadvan’ wasn’t to be denied. In the final quarter-of-an-hour, Pirro gradually eked out an advantage after Keen lost time amid errant backmarkers.
In the closing minutes, all eyes were on the battle for third place. Nigel Greensall had seemed assured of the position aboard the E-type roadster he was sharing with the car’s owner, Chris Milner. Nevertheless, Rob Huff threw caution to the wind in the E-type coupé started by Richard Meins, the former World Touring Car Championships guided the car on its lock-stops as he chased down his rival, and was glued to his tail with only 40-seconds left to run. Huff didn’t let the small matter of an unsecured bonnet obscuring his windscreen slacken his pace, and he pushed Greensall wide at Lavant to take the place. It was a thrilling end to a race that rarely lacked for dramatic dices.
Report courtesy of GRRC.
F1 - THE GREAT BIG WHIRLYGIG
- 06 September 2018
Well it’s that time of the year again. The equinox has arrived, witches are brewing their potions, druids are prancing around the stones ,occultists everywhere are gazing at their crystals and the annual F1 silly season is in full swing. Except that this year it is on overdrive. With turbos and superchargers on full song. Going into the summer break everything seemed to be quietly settled for another bout of steady conservatism. And then four days later Danny Boy threw a sizable spanner into everyone’s works.
With all the details worked out to Ricciardo’s precise requirements regarding money, length of contract, non-race activities etc he phones Mr Horner out of the blue and says I am going to Renault. Horner thinks this is Danny pulling his finger (or some other part of his anatomy) but gradually realises he is serious. This deal then buggers up the plans of both Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon who were both angling for the second Renault seat. Ocon’s position got a lot worse a few weeks later when Lance Stroll’s daddy bought Force India from the administrators. Daddy would have been unlikely to stump up the necessary readies to buy the team unless he was going to plonk his pride and joy into one of the seats next year. Or even this year. As Sergio Perez had already signed a contract for 2019 and brings muchos pesos it became pretty obvious that Esteban needed to find somewhere else to park his extremely talented tushy. King Fernando then gives these chaps a lifeline by deciding that, as he had decided a few months ago, he couldn’t be arsed trolling around at the back for another year and that at least one year in Indycars and another crack at the 500 would be much more fun. And it appears that McLaren are happy to pay him to do just that. So fun and dosh, doesn’t get much better than that.
Perhaps Carlos would go back to Red Bull and reignite his (not so) happy relationship with Mad Max. Nope, the afore mentioned Mr Horner announces that Pierre Gasly will step up from reserve grade to the top team and Carlos’s contract says he ain’t goin back to Toro Rosso. King Fernando seems to have put in a good word and bingo, Carlos is confirmed with McLaren. So Stroll is off to Racing Point Force India, but when? Will that take place this year and leave Esteban sitting on his thumb? If he does, will Robert Kubica realize that fairy-tale and get a race drive with Williams this year? Will he get a promotion for next year? Will he get screwed over by another rookie with wads of cash/Roubles? It has been suggested that GP2/F2 stalwart Artem Markelov might be able to pinch that ride but will Markelov’s and Sirotkin’s Russian sponsors clash and force one of them out of the team as well? Ocon’s week gets worse when both McLaren and Toro Rosso say that they would not employ him while he still holds a Mercedes development contract and the view is that with Williams loosing their Martini sponsorship, they will need way more cash than Mercedes is willing to spend to buy Ocon that drive. This sorta sucks as Ocon is one of those guys that everyone expects to be World Champion one day. But seemingly not one day soon.
A bit like Charles Leclerc. He is going to Ferrari. Ferrari boss dies and Leclerc is staying at Sauber as the new Ferrari boss is a mate of Kimi’s and Kimi is having a pretty good year actually. Or perhaps they will honour the old boss’s desire after all. So if Charles does go to Ferrari, what does Kimi do? Back to Sauber has been suggested, but what does that then do to Antonio Giovinazzi’s prospects. Ferrari only gets to place one driver at Sauber and Ericsson’s sponsors own the team so…….Maybe McLaren could rehire Kimi and get him to join King Fernando in their Indycar team. That’d actually be pretty cool, what about it Zak? And back to McLaren. Norris gets an FP1 session at Spa and impresses while Vandoorne has another shocker of a weekend. Even King Fernando says this is not his fault and that he is actually driving very well but just being let down by his machinery. As McLaren then decide to change his chassis, he may well be right. But then just after Monza Norris is confirmed as the number two to Sainz as if McLaren did not place him in some F1 seat next year they would have lost their contractual hold on him and they consider at this point that he is a better long term option that Vandoorne. Who was their better long term option over Kevin Magnussen just 18 short months ago. Not that I am against Lando but lets hope Stoffel can prove them wrong. He has such huge talent and being thrown into the trash bin so early is one of those things that shows just what is wrong with F1 these days. A bit like Ocon really.
Sam Snape
6-9-2018
Postscript
Of course just a few days after writing this came the news that Charles Leclerc is in fact heading to Ferrari and Kimi to Sauber in a straight swap. That would seem to leave Giovinazzi squatting in the merde. Unless it was Marcus’s backers that wanted Kimi and then……Still it buggers my idea for a McLaren super-team in Indycars. Oh well.
2018 MONACO GRAND PRIX & INDY 500
- 28 May 2018
AUSTRALIA DAY
An odd historical factoid was set on Sunday May 27 2018. Until this date no drivers from the same nation had won both the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 on the same day. Yes it has occurred on a few occasions that one nations drivers had won these races in the same year, Emerson Fittipaldi and Ayrton Senna in 1989 and 1993 for example, but never on the same day. Hill and Clark won them on the same weekend but again, different days – May 30 and 31 1965. Oh, and Scotland and England don’t count, Scotland never has been, and never will be, English. So there. Nyahhhh (and raspberry like noises)
But first – an update. HAS MAX STACKED TODAY? …..YES….After nurfing Stroll’s Williams at the end of a safety car period in Spain Max Verstappen made it eleven incidents (spins. collisions and crashes) in six races so far this year when he comprehensively stuffed the Red Rag into the barriers exiting the swimming pool section during third practice. The resulting damage meant a new gearbox was required and that he would not take part in qualifying. Last on the grid. Zero hope of a good result at Monaco. When will he ever learn?
In complete contrast, team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was in complete control for the entire weekend. It doesn’t much more dominant than this; Practice 1 – 1st, Practice 2 – 1st, Practice 3 – 1st, Qualifying 1 – 1st, Qualifying 2 – 1st, Qualifying 3 – 1st, Race – 1st, all 78 laps – 1st. And the last 50 of those laps were with an MGU-K (motor generating unit – kinetic) that had gone on the fritz on lap 28. For those wot don’t know, a rooted MGU-K means you have no electrical power supplied to the battery from the turbo. That is knocking about 160 bhp off you maximum engine power at the end of the straights meaning his Red Bull had about as much grunt as the McLaren Honda of 3 years ago. It also means you have no electrical assistance to the rear brakes through the brake by wire system and the tiddley little discs overheat like all buggery and usually expire. A bit like Leclerc’s front ones did, much to Hartley’s chagrin. So, with sod all rear brakes, sod all engine power and using only six of the eight gears available, Danny boy, who by his own accounts had lost about two and a half seconds a lap in performance, held off the attentions of Vettel and Hamilton for 50 laps. OK this is Monaco and the other two had chewed their front tyres early in their second stints, but………BUT this was the sort of performance under extremis that should have just doubled his asking price for whatever contract he signs for 2019 and beyond.
Max at least put his carambolage in the locker for the race and put in a fine drive through to ninth place, just 1.7 seconds behind Ocon in sixth. As just about everyone else finished where they started it was possibly Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso who put in the second best drive of the race. Even though the power deficit that the Honda engine still has doesn’t mean as much at Monaco as any other race it was still an outstanding effort to make the top 10 on the grid and then to drive through to seventh at the finish, less than a second behind Ocon while holding off Hulkenberg and Verstappen.
As usual this was not the most exciting, in the way of wheel to wheel racing, Grand Prix of the year, but oh boy, was it tense over those last 50 laps, not knowing if the Red Rag would hang in there and if Ricciardo would get his just reward after the disappointment of 2016.
For full results go to; http://www.mmmsport.com.au/index.php/the-database/formula-1-races/2010-2019/2018-formula-1
Meanwhile, over the pond, the other big race of the year was getting underway. For the first 50 odd laps, pole-sitter Ed Carpenter looked the man most likely, but as the race wore on some of the others got faster while Ed, well didn’t. It’s probably no surprise that those who got faster were from teams like Penske, Ganassi and Andretti Motorsport. At about the halfway point, after a series of caution periods caused by accidents to James Davison, Takuma Sato, Ed Jones and Danica Patrick, Will Power took a lead he would only relinquish during differing pit-stop strategies. Power had been running in the top six all race before claiming the lead when crowd favourite, Tony Kanaan, had to pit with a puncture. Power then held off challenges from Carpenter, Dixon and Rossi before another series of late accidents to Bourdais, Castroneves, Karam and Kanaan scrambled the top positions with 13 laps to go. Hoping their fuel would last, Oriol Servia led from Jack Harvey, Stefan Wilson with both Power and Carpenter fully fuelled when the green flag flew again just 8 laps from home. Servia blew the restart and Wilson then led from Harvey and Power. It would have been a lovely story if Wilson could have won just his 2nd Indy 500. Stefan is the younger brother of Justin Wilson who was killed in an accident at Pocono a few years ago and runs at the Indy 500 in a spare car supplied by Andretti Motorsport born out of respect for Justin. It was not to be however, and with just 4 laps to go both Wilson and Harvey had to pit for fuel handing the lead, and a deserved win, to Will Power.
And so ended what is possibly Australia’s greatest day in motorsport. Two hugely popular winners of the two biggest open wheel races of the year. And although Adrian Newey didn’t look too keen on the “shuey”, and the Indy Queen looking a tad surprised after being accidently doused with milk, the partying began in earnest. Gotta stop the boys tearing up though, bit of a dent for our macho image. Although I will admit to a moist eye or two…..
Sam Snape
28/5/2018.