SPA 6 Hours Sept 2010

Woodcote RAC Trophy Race 24th-26th Sept 2010

Weather:- Qualifying Wet and cool.   Race Very Wet and cool.

Qualifying:-

25th out of 44 cars in the qualifying session of 40 mins.

Best time in wet conditions on last lap of 3mins 55sec.

Track not too bad on the Friday, only wet with not too much oil.

The Holding area just before the start:-

The Race:-

DB2 lemans blue grill in centre No.43

Race:-    17th Overall,   5th in class C3.     Best Lap 4mins 05sec on lap 14.

I started the race which was a rolling start due to the large size of the grid. Entry to the track is via T4 with a slow part lap up to the gird.

Getting darker I put the lights on the next lap

Grid positions were sorted but for some reason one car in our class which qualified 10 places behind us and 5 rows back ended up 3 rows in front which in the poor conditions made a very big difference.

The race started under a safety car and was run under the safety car for 2 laps before the green flags were shown.

The track was very slippey and wet partly due to the previous race which had a number of big oil spills around the whole track and mostly on the racing line.

I managed to get sideways up eau rouge but managed to get it back before any major disaster. I also found it very tricky at the far end of the track before the decent into the double left.

I was in 22nd position when a spinner infront of me caused me to take an off track detour which allowed several cars to over take on the straight. I managed to catch up but could not get past in the poor conditions so I decided to pit and hand over to Adrian who is quicker then me.

I thought if we can have a quick pit change we can leap frog the cars which had passed me on the straight the previous lap and so it proved.

Adrian managed to gain more places towards the end of the race as the rain started to reduce.

We finally managed 17th overall and 5th in class although this should have been 16th overall and 4th in class except for the error in the grid start line up.

Very Heavy rain during the race Adrian in car?

We were happy to finish the race in one piece both us and the car. The car ran very well during the weekend with no issues which was very pleasing considering the rain.

Overall very enjoyable if some what challenging and I hope I will be back next year with a bit better weather.

Some other cars in the holding area just before the race:-

Stirling Moss Trophy Gold Cup Oulton Park

The Stirling Moss Trophy (MRL)  30th Aug 2010.

The weather was warm and dry with light scattered cloud.

The was a record attendance for this meeting with full grids, great race cars and drivers and very full
car parks with the track lined with spectators.

Car:- Aston Martin DB2 Lightweight Lemans 175 UXM

Qualifying:-  9.30am

Best Lap 2mins 22sec.

Grid Position:- 19th

Grid Size:-26

Class:- C2

DB2 Lightweight Lemans 175 UXM in very full paddock

Race Results:-

Best Lap 2mins 20sec.

Position 19th overall.

Class:- C2  3rd.

Prize presentations

Class C1   3rd  Sir Stirling Moss & Ian Nuttal with Duncan.

Class C2   3rd  Glynn Allen

Comments:-

I had a very enjoyable race with Ian Nuttal in the OSCA of Stirling Moss up to lap 14 when I managed to do a 180' coming out of druids but fortunately I was able to recover quickly and did not loose to much time.

Towards the end of the race I started to catch the DB3 belonging to Martin Melling and managed to get with with 1 sec of him at the chequered flag, the only problem as I was a lap down.

It was a pleasure to meet Sir Stirling Moss and it was very kind of him to sign my copy of the results sheet when I know he was much in demand throughout the day.

DB2 Le mans Light weight

Finally thanks to Motor Racing Legends for their organization and hospitality.

AMOC Oulton Park Historic Championship

Weather Dry and warm with light showers towards the end of the race.

DB2/4 MKII being pushed back down pit lane into parc firme.

Qualifying:-

Best Lap 2mins 22sec on 3rd lap.

The car was going very well and I had intended to go for the fastest lap on the 4th.
I was hoping for about a 2 min 18sec but the flywheel broke just coming into deers leap.

I was able to cost into the pits but the car was finished for season.

The engine will know have a rebuild and upgrade during the winter period at DAVRON.

I was hoping for a good result at Oulton and to push Ann Reed as much as possible to the end of the season, as it happens Ann had a gear box problem which allowed Jon Gross a well deserved win in his DB MKIII.

This was a big blow for my Historic Championship hopes both for overall or handicap 1st position.

My plan is to use my other DB2 for Donnington and hope for a good finish and try for the handicap win within the Championship.

Silverstone Classic 23th - 25th July

Woodcote Trophy Pre-56 Sports Cars

Dry and Warm.
1 hour two driver race.
Race Car:- DB2 Lightweight Lemans 175 UXM
Drivers:- Mark Midgley and Glynn Allen

Paddock. DB2 le mans No.43

Paddock looking over DB2 lemans.

Friday Qualifying:-

Dry and warm.
30 Mins qual session.
Best Lap 2mins 34sec.
Grid Position. 38

There were a number of crashes towards the end of the qualifying session which prevented any good lap times.

We also over inflated the rear tyres which made the car very back end happy. For the race we dropped the pressure in the rear tyres by 4psi.

Saturday Race:-

Dry and warm with a very short light race shower during our race.

Best Lap time :- 2mins 33sec.
Finishing Position 34.
Class Position 5.

DB2 le mans in Assembly area & pre-griding

The Sir Sterling Moss Osca, our DB2 No.43 behind.

Glynn in DB2 side by side with ex Fangio Jaguar C type

Mark chasing TR2.

The start of the race was a rolling start which went well for Mark but an off by another competitor resulted in the safety car for several laps so Mark had a nice cruise round for 3 laps.

The DB2 started to loose power after the half way point and although still quick around the corners the car was slowing, down the straights and would not rev over 4,500. This lead to some over driving in the corners in an aim to maintain track position. This was fairly successful but with much sideways action which does not lead to good lap times.

Overall and enjoyable race meeting a pity the car lost power part way through the race which probably cost us about 4 or 5 places by the end of the race.

DB2 le mans after the race.

Exiting the Pit lane as part of the Green Flag Lap.

Brands Hatch AMOC Race Meeting 26th June 2010

AMOC Historic Championship Race 20 Min's Indy Circuit.

Very Sunny, Dry and Hot with a Breeze.

Qualifying:- 16th on Grid. Fastest Lap 65 sec

Race:- 12th on mixed grid with classics.

            2nd Overall.

            1st on Handy Cap

            Best lap time 64.3sec.

First ever race on this track which is quite technical. Kept very close to Anne Reed who won the race at one point nearly running into the back of her car. I felt the race could be would despite the much better straight line speed of Anne's car.

The chance to win went when I needed to let a leading DB4 light weight car through on blue flags and car 17 a V8 DBS came past at the same time so prevented me from challenging Anne and further.

The race was finally Red flagged as several cars fell off and ended in the gravel.

Podium?

Well done to Anne for a good win. I will keep trying and will send Anne lots of fatty foods.


AMOC 50s Team Race 20 Min's.

Qualifying:- 5th on grid. Best 64.4sec

Race:- 5th overall.

            1st on Handy Cap

            1st Team Overall       

           (Feltham Fliers) Doug Bark, David Reed and Glynn Allen. Well done to everyone.

            Best Lap 63.8sec.

Interview.

A very enjoyable race in which I spent most of it trying to get past a very quick Jaguar XK140. I got past once then made a mistake coming out of Graham Hill Bend, after which I had a few attempts to pass into Druids, but just could not get it quite right.

I finally finished just 0.5sec behind at the flag.

Overall I was happy with the lap time consistency which varied only a few 100th sec each lap through-out the race.

Thanks to DAVRON for the race support and sorting out the electrical problem, which occurred during the second qualifying session.

Classic Sports Car Club Oulton Park 12th June 2010

Race Type:- 40 mins race with a compulsory 1 min pit stop for 1 or 2 drivers.

Full International Circuit.

Weather:- Hot Dry and Sunny.

Paddock

Qualifying:- 30mins. Class E. Best Lap 2 min 22 sec.

Pit Straight.

The Race:- 40 Mins. 1st in class E, 1st Drum Brake car. Fast lap in class 2min.21sec.

Over taking Porsche (ex-Jim Clark car).

Coming out of  Lodge onto pit straight.

Race Support:- Many Thanks to Anthony Oade for his race support and these photographs.

MGCC MG-LIVE Silverstone June 5th 2010

MG Historic Sports Car Race.

50 min race for 1 or 2 drivers with a compulsory 1 min pit stop.

Race was run over the old historic GP circuit in very bright sunny hot weather.

As my own car was not ready for this race I was very generously offered a drive in the DAVRON Aston Martin DB2 belonging to David and Anne Reed.

Qualifying:-

A full grid of 39 cars. With Austin Healey, E-Types, Cobra, Ace, Jaguars, MG and other Astons.

We managed to qualify 36 with a time set by Anne of 2 min 44sec. My best was 2 min 47 sec.


The Race:-

Anne started the race and made good ground over taking several cars including our main Aston competitors.

After 10 laps Anne pitted for the change over but our overall in-lap, pit stop and my out lap was 17 sec slower than Car 49. This was may fault as I had problems with my gloves and wasted about 10 secs in the pits.

We managed to finish in 22 position and were closing on car 49 but ran out of time and ended just

10 sec behind.

Our best lap was 2 min 31sec.

We were 3rd in class and received a very nice trophy from MGCC.

Many thanks to David and Anne for offering me the drive.