Historic Formula Ford Newsletter 11/2017

Transcription

1 able border="0" align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="main-template" bgcolor="#d6d6d6" style="background-color:#d6d6d6;"> Rounds 13 and 14: Silverstone, 21/22 October 2017 View in browser Historic Formula Ford Newsletter 11/2017 HSCC HISTORIC FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP In association with Avon Tyres Supported by: Titan Historic Racing and Radio Caroline Race sponsor: Rest Express Rounds 13 and 14: Silverstone, 21/22 October 2017 We had a Drivers Meeting, we qualified and we raced twice and showed the crowd some proper racing. We put on a great show, presented a few prizes, trophies (Champagne too, courtesy of Westie & Claire Mitchell s Rest Express Sponsorship) and welcomed some new guys and generally had a good time all pretty normal for our Series oh, and we had TWO Championship Winners too. The permutations amongst the front runners to be top dog for the main series were endless and a headache to predict even after the first race points were won and it was all down to skill, experience and luck in whatever measures serendipity served. Single points separated them The other Championship that over 50 drivers were chasing was the Radio Caroline Over50 s Competition and up to a couple of races ago was a four-way battle in the points in a sometimes 8-car train battle until Neil Shinner and Rob Smith leaped ahead. Rob went into this weekend only 2 points in front. No pressure then Here s Paul Lawrence s report with a bit of my stuff thrown in Richard Tarling, Michael O Brien and Callum Grant were the three title contenders but drivers like Cameron Jackson, Sam Mitchell, Ed Thurston, Benn Tilley and Max Bartell were all contenders in two fantastic races, with up to eight cars slipstreaming around in the lead pack. O Brien put a marker down in qualifying by taking pole by less than a tenth of a second from Tarling as Jackson and Grant made up the leading quartet. Mitchell was fifth as eight drivers qualified within a second of the pole time and 2.5 seconds to 19th. O Brien drove a fine race to win the opener after a touch of wheels with Jackson sent Tarling into a spin at Brooklands. Tarling dropped to sixth place and that left him on the back foot for the second race when only a race win would be enough. That was one of the best races of the year, said O Brien. I was in the right place at the right time. Grant chased O Brien home and Thurston was elated to complete the podium from Jackson, Mitchell and the recovering Tarling, Bartell & Tilley. 1.3 seconds covered them. Neil Shinner beat off Rob Smith, David Wild and Brian Morris in a lively contest among the over 50s. They all had the crowd gasping in fact. Later in the day, Tarling got a demon start for race two and drove a mighty race to win the race and seal the title as O Brien was cruelly sidelined by a rear puncture. It was a crushing blow to O Brien who had done everything right and was looking well placed for the title when a piece of debris punched a hole in the tyre and, after struggling with massive oversteer for a couple of laps, he pulled off. Such was the fight up front, Club photographer Charlie Wooding (he, who produces our Annual Album) said he has shots of 6 consecutive laps at Becketts

2 each with a different leader. Jackson and Grant chased Tarling home in the second race while Thurston was a few yards back in fourth before Bartell and Tilley completed the top six. Mitchell didn t start due to wheel bearing issues. Smith topped the Over50s this time with a handy margin after Shinner spun on oil at Becketts. Fractions of a second between groups back to last showed quality racing through the field. And Rachel Arnold beat her Dad and was very happy Tarling clinches the crown. There could scarcely have been a better end to a quite remarkable season for the HSCC Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship. A packed grid delivered epic racing of the highest order and through it all came Richard Tarling to win the title, taking the victory he needed by just over half a second. Tarling was elated at his success and O Brien was one of the first to congratulate him. "I ve learnt that you have to keep plugging away and don t ever give up. After the first race I knew I absolutely had to win race two." "It has been a fantastic season. Everyone in the championship is so friendly and happy. There is a group camaraderie which is missing from a lot of other championships and series. The whole thing keeps together because of that and it makes the racing good as well. You give a bit and you take a bit. People give way when they should give way instead of ramming you off the track." Paul Lawrence (small additions by Dick). At Our Prize presentation, we thanked Jane Brise for her marathon Cake making and all the girls for some great food through the year, we welcomed new entrants Chris Sharples Danish Nephew Mads Gravsen and Ross Dryborough s friend from Canada, Tony Cove, in the beautiful rare March 709. Anthony Ross and Kevin Williams were welcome returnees to our little band of heroes and, although not at our little party, about four drivers introduced themselves during the weekend intending joining us next year. Race winners received trophies, novices received Trophies and our Over50 s Champs had silverware too including Rob Smith with The Radio Caroline Trophy. Attached you will find the results table for the 2017 HFF Over 50's Championship and Radio Caroline jingle celebrating it. This last, apparently, goes to 4million listeners! From our Champ points man Andy Wiggins; The Radio Caroline Trophy Championship was won by Rob Smith on 260 points (after two dropped scores), second was Neil Shinner on 259 points, and third was a surprised Kevin Stanzl on 197 points. Congratulations all round. In total we had 54 Over 50's entrants this year, which by any means is an impressive turn out. So, the main Championship Winner Richard Tarling won on 237 points, Michael O Brien on 236 with Callum Grant on 229. An impeccable drive by all. Callum also won the Trophy for most points at the Finals. Sam Mitchell was fourth Benn Tilley 5th and Max Bartell 6th Cameron Jackson, Ed Thurston, Benn Simms and James Buckton 10th after many well fought and supertight battles between close friends. Novice Trophies went to Alison Langridge and 18-year old Mads Gravsen (who passed his ARDS test 4 days before!) with last to 13th drive. Bit of talent worth watching there I think first race with us on to F1!? Finally, a spectator (who I know to be no mean peddler himself) came up to me afterwards to say that in all the years of watching he thought our racing was Superb and the best historic racing he has ever seen, nice one boys and girls. Let s do it all over again next year eh? News from the Historic Sports Car Club Calling all Historic Formula Ford Competitors, Don t forget you have one last shout for the year at the Walter Hayes Trophy. This year event organiser, James Beckett, has come up with a cunning ruse to round off the 50 year celebrations for Formula Ford. If you have a Pre 83 Formula Ford car, that is HSCC Historic or BARC Classic Formula Ford, you can enter the Walter Hayes Trophy, take part in the heat qualifying and then elect to either take part in the Walter Hayes progression races themselves or go straight through to the Historic Final. The grid for the Historic Final will be established by the times you set in qualifying. To take enter the event follow the link

3 All Walter Hayes Formula Ford Entries will be allocated garages. Our drivers meeting details of officers etc will be reported by outgoing Co-ordinator Andrew Mansell and incoming David Wild at some point. HSCC s Historic FF Championship shortlisted for award The Historic Sports Car Club has been recognised in the build up to the 2017 Octane Awards, where the Club s Historic Formula Ford Championship has been shortlisted for the Race Series of the Year award. Celebrating the best people, companies, events and more from historic motoring world, this year s awards will cover everything that has been great in the industry between 1 October 2016 and 30 September The awards will be presented at a ceremony at London s Globe Theatre, with the winners being picked by a star-studded cast of judges that includes Jay Leno and Nick Mason. As the 2017 season draws to a conclusion, Historic Formula Ford has rightly been shortlisted for one of the evening s most prestigious awards. With entries regularly topping 50 cars and racing of the very highest order at the head of the fierce competition, it has been a superb season for the Historic Formula Ford Championship as the HSCC marked the category s 50th anniversary season in style. As well as sensational racing, the championship year has been typified by superbly presented cars, tremendous sporting rivalry on and off the track and an excellent social atmosphere in the paddock. Significantly, the competition has been just as fierce in the category for drivers over the age of 50. HFF Provisional Calendar for th Feb 7th-8th April 21st April 19th-20th May 2nd-3rd June 16th-17th June 30th June-1st July 4th-5th August 25th-27th August 22nd-23rd September 13th-14th October 3rd-4th November Dinner Dance Donington Park Snetterton (200 circuit) Cadwell Park (Wolds Trophy) Thruxton Silverstone International Trophy (GP Circuit) Legends of Brands Hatch Superprix (GP Circuit) Croft Nostalgia Weekend Oulton Park Gold Cup (International Circuit) Brands Indy Silverstone Championship Finals (Non-Champ) Walter Hayes Trophy We will continue to compile an overview of mainland European racing opportunities. One for your diary The Marcel Albers Memorial Trophy at Zandvoort on April Invite by our Dutch friends. One Qualy and two Races and then later the final race. MARCEL ALBERS MEMORIAL TROPHY 27th 29th APRIL 2018 Circuit Zandvoort organises on the 27th 29th April 2018 the fifth Edition of the Marcel Albers Memorial Trophy. (Free practice(s) will be planned for Friday 27th April, as well as the Technical Scrutineering and Licence Check. One and another will be definitive scheduled at that time). The Marcel Albers Memorial Trophy is open for Formula Ford 1600 Kent. Entry fee to take part to the Marcel Albers Memorial Trophy will be again 350,00. When you want to receive an entry form or more information, please don t hesitate and contact Menno or me: Menno Weeda (Circuit Zandvoort) menno@circuitzandvoort.nl Helana van der Wouden (HMR) helana@monoposto.nl 2018 Shows Historic Motorsport Show: Excel London Docklands Feb HFF on stand helpers needed Race Retro show February Stoneleigh. HFF on the HSCC stand - helpers needed

4 Drivers discussion items here. Points for consideration by drivers Over 50 s: any improvements? Andy Wiggins will bring a points system in line with the Main Champ system. See point 1 below Series versus Championship: stay as we are? Stay. Post-race presentation: Will start 20 minutes after last car leaves Scrutineering. We all need to get home. Lap timers/data logging: currently timers without data logging allowed - discuss Complex subject, we were told an ipod in your pocket will give feedback too. Mirrors should we mandate a standard mirror design? No. should we introduce a test for mirror vision field? Yes. Roll hoop to helmet clearance checks will be introduced next season Cameras should they become mandatory or strongly encouraged. Strongly encouraged was the order of the day. Driving standards- continue to stress space, lines, and safe overtaking Buddy system for coaching inexperienced drivers. Shall we adopt? If so who will run it? Undecided but we will encourage. Tyre draw still random despite voting for a standardised method last AGM. I promise to improve! Tyre compound for information only at this stage (current A25 to possible (harder) A29). Mixed feelings; It seems from a respected historic racer (Simon Hadfield) that in Championship series using them front runners are tempted to buy fresher, harder tyres for the edge they give and therefore harder tyres are not economic for them. Others (including Westie Mitchell) say a harder tyre makes a lot of sense in not stressing our cars as much as A25 s. Over50 s Points from Andy Wiggins; At present we submit points by counting up the number of OF participants in a race weekend and then allocating 1 point for the last competitor, up to a number of points that equals the number of OF entries for the winner. We did this for two reasons: So that every OF got some points if they were racing and if you won a race with a small number of entries you weren't awarded as many points as someone who won a race with a large field. The unintended consequence of this system is that for the leaders it gives a very inconsistent number of points for winning a race, and when you then deduct the two dropped lowest scores it can look very odd depending on which race you missed or did badly in. I would therefore propose that going forward into 2018 we adopt the same points system for the OF's as we have for the main championship e.g. the top 15 are awarded points, at the same level as the main championship. Regards to you all, have a great winter, Christmas and New Year, see you in Dick Dixon HFF Drivers Rep. Historic Formula Ford Series Motor Racing Video In 50 years of Formula Ford racing 2017 has seen the one of the best years in the Historic Formula Ford Championship. With packed grids watch our exciting races to celebrate the 50th Anniversary. Throughout the season we ve had racing of the highest calibre and witnessed spectacular battles throughout the field. Josh Barrett has been around to capture these moments and has put together a compilation of the highlights along with commentary of this great season. If you would like a record of what has been a fantastic season of racing it s yours for the price of Complete a bank transfer to the following account. The reference should be your surname so we can identify who the money is from Account name: Historic Formula Ford Account Number: Sort Code: IBAN GB96 LOYD Alternatively send a cheque for payable to Historic Formula Ford to Rachel Arnold (HFF) 2 Milton Close Dukinfield Cheshire SK16 5DZ

5 And don t forget Charlie Wooding s photo Album of us at our exciting and silly moments. Order on his website here. This was sent to { } You received this because you are registered with HFF Unsubscribe here 2017 HFF