Friday afternoon/evening and the paddock at Llandow was busy as the Westfields that had been participating in a track day were encouraged to move to make space for the single seaters. By 09:00 Saturday the paddock was in chaos as 120+ competitors tried to find a slot to park their cars. Then after a rather tedious set of convoy runs followed by practice and a short lunch break the timed runs began.
First to the line were the Mod Prods. In the 1400 Division Martin Depper took an early lead then decimated the class record with the family Mini that now sports a BMW K1200 cylinder head. Eric Morley took second in his Clan whilst the Ferris Mini followed. In the two litre division Gareth Griffiths in the ex-Bobby Fryers Clio Williams was the class act as he strolled to the win. Phil Skipp flung his Astra round to good effect taking second whilst in third it was the abbreviated MG TF of Simon Andrews. Pete Sadler then took a solo win in the over two litre class with his Celica GT4. In the first of the Modified Kit Car classes Andrew Rushworth in the Megabird was light years ahead of the rest with Brian Jones in second followed by Nick Lear and Mark Stanton in this all Westfield class. In the Over 1800 class Derek Hodder took first finishing some 10 seconds plus clear of Steve Spiers.
Next it was the Racing Car classes and in the 600s Peter Roberts took a solo win in his Jedi. The 1100s provided a great tussle with Henryk Kozlowski taking an initial lead with Andy Potter and Jonathan Toulmin in second and third. On his first run Tom Potter missed out the Bus Stop when he out-braked himself but on his second run he got it right and slipped ahead of Henryk for the win. Once again the Formula Fords provided a fine contest. Andrew Henson led throughout setting a new class record; Tony Jarvis initially held second but Martin Pickles slipped through for the runner up slot. Just 3 cars and 4 drivers contested the 1600 Racing Car class; Nick Algar led throughout despite a floating steering column and finally took the Llandow class record he wanted so badly. Steve Broughton took second going sub 70 seconds for the first time whilst in the Pillinger family battle Scott just kept ahead of Dave. There was a great line-up of two litres next; Mark Smith took the lead on the first run then on his second clobbered one of the track markers and broke the front wing. Roy Sims beat son David for second whilst in fourth it was Mole Racing’s very own Inspector Gadget aka Steve Miles. John Burton & John Opie were next up in their Vauxhall powered RT3 as they just held off second run charges from Peter Howgate & Emma Williams.
In the over two litre class there was a ding-dong battle between the top three. Stewart Robb Jnr led throughout after unofficially breaking the Outright Record in practice on this his first visit to Llandow; he broke it again on each of the timed runs to finish on top. Matt Oliver got under the old record on his second effort as he just held off Stewart Robb Snr who was also inside the old record. Colin Calder took a fine fourth also on his first visit to Llandow whilst Terry Holmes finished fifth however the Chichester Flyers were out as the Crown Wheel & Pinion was shredded during Graham Porrett’s first run. Bitterly disappointed that she had missed out on the Top 12 was Heather Calder who was 8th in class and 15th in the BSC qualification.
Next up were the Rally Cars and Mike Griffiths expansively driven Escort took the win from Alun Jones in the 205. Ken Pryce was the solo winner of the Historic Rally cars whilst the Classic Car class went to Andrew Webber’s indecently rapid Elan Plus 2 ahead of a bevy of Austin Healeys.The final batch of classes was for the Roadgoing cars and in the Up to 1400 Saloon & Sports division Owain & Huw Turner finished 1-2 in their Mini ahead of the turbo diesel of Gordon Hick. In the two litre class Gary Thomas in the Elise finished light years ahead of David Marshall in the 205 whilst Fred Currell & David West were third and fourth with Steve Filkin fifth in his Elise ahead of a swarm of locals. In the Over 2 litre class Andrew Meek took his Impreza to yet another class win this time ahead of Phil Oram in the Pulsar. The final two Kit Car classes were dominated by the Westfields. In the Up to 1700 division Stuart Hill fought back from a first run third place to take the win ahead of John Palmer and Tim Pennington whilst in the Over 1700 class Matt Hillam led throughout finishing ahead of a recovering Richard Kerr who didn’t trouble the timekeepers on his first effort.
TOP TWELVE Run-Off
With Terry Holmes sidelined with transmission problems we were down to 11 runners. First to the line was Dave Sims and with the Duratec sounding like an asthmatic VW Beetle and losing power due to the cracked manifold he was going to struggle to go quicker. In fact he was far more determined and a lot smoother through the Bus Stop as he clipped nearly a second off his Q-time. Next was Phil Lynch, who had qualified 12th fastest. His start was excellent and his drive through the Bus Stop at the end of the first lap was looking good until he clipped a kerb just as he put the power down and the car gracefully spun to a halt. He got going again and recorded a time but would be 11th at the completion of the first runs. Steve Broughton was the next to battle his way through the traffic leaving the paddock. Mr SBD had been slowly chiselling away at his times and this first Top 12 run was no exception as he flawlessly sliced half a second off his Q-time to move into the lead. Bill Oliver was next and despite a clean get away he was the slowest to the split by two seconds! His second lap was on the pace but his time was well down on qualifying and he would only be ahead of Phil Lynch when the first runs were completed. Then it was Roy the Boy Sims looking very fetching in his Honda overalls. The Ralt was still as flat as a road-kill rabbit but Roy also improved on his Q-time but fell behind son David. Then it was the first of the Robbs – Big Stewart. His style is more aggressive than Little Stewart’s and his hard charge through the Bus Stop although spectacular maybe wasn’t the quickest. Never-the-less he improved on his Q-time by six hundredths to move into the lead. The second GR37 in the run-off was next with Colin Calder at the wheel. Having qualified fourth fastest Colin was determined to have a go. Off the line and through the first part of the course to the split he was just three tenths adrift of Big Stewart. Through the Bus Stop the light blue Gould went from clipping one kerb to the next but never lost momentum. On the run down the back straight the V8 was howling and as he crossed the line he was inside the old course record, the fourth driver to achieve this, and moved up just behind Stewart Robb Senior. Thanks to Team Orville Mark Smith was ready for his run with the old front wing in place. The Reynard looked more of a handful and this was represented in the time as the Welshman dropped four tenths behind his Q-time. Nick Algar was next with the newly liveried Firehawk. With a new class record in the bag Nick now wanted to beat more V8s! Despite looking super smooth he was well over a second off the pace loosing all the time on the first lap to the split; this would leave him back in seventh and what was worse behind bitter rivals Mark Smith & Steve Broughton. Matt Oliver then brought the family GR37 to the line and when he set off you just knew he meant business. He was by far the fastest so far to the split then under braking for the Bus Stop the car slithered all over the place before he launched it at the chicane; three wheeling through the chicane he was soon onto the power with a puff of blue smoke to mark his going. Down to the final corner the Judd was on song and after the scrabble round Glue Pot he was across the line to set a new outright course record. As Matt returned to the paddock young Stewart Robb was on the line. Could he take the lead and in doing so wrest the record back? We were about to find out. Off the line and through the early corners the Judd engine sounded rough as it hit the limiter. Down the back straight and it was howling like a banshee; through the split and he was a meagre three hundredths up on Matt Oliver. However under braking for the Bus Stop the MP88 was far more stable and controlled. Through the Bus Stop Stewart barely clipped the kerbs before a boot full of power sent the orange projectile down the back straight. All eyes were on the clocks and as he crossed the line Big Stewart turned away with a huge smile on his craggy face. Stewart Robb Junior had set yet another new Outright Course Record at 63.90.
As we all recovered from the intensity of the battle we were soon back to business and the second runs. David Sims made another slight improvement in the wheezy Ralt before Phil Lynch came forward. Lying in 11th after the spin he had it all to do. A super smooth drive to ensure he at least got a quick time saw him set his PB for the day and move up to 8th. Steve Broughton, like Dave Sims, made a slight improvement and would finish 7th. Bill Oliver declined his second run so as to preserve the car for Matt’s second run so it was Roy Sims next after a short delay. Roy looked just as quick on his second run but the clocks showed he was over two tenths slower so remained 10th. Stewart Robb Senior was next and he was desperate to split the two young chargers at the head of the times. Everything was on schedule until he arrived at the Bus Stop where under braking the Pilbeam slewed to the left and suddenly the back end started to overtake him! He half spun and ended up pointing back down the track so he drove through the escape road and abandoned his run. Had this error left the door open for Colin Calder to bag third? When Colin dropped the clutch the Gould leapt forward. In his attempt to cut the corners Colin climbed the kerb on the exit to the Bus Stop, collected the cone and with this trapped under his front wing he spun. In the act of spinning the front wing was torn off the Gould and he came to rest pointing more or less back to the start line. With a damaged car and a bruised ego Calder abandoned the run. The car was pushed back by the marshals as Colin collected what remained of his front wing. Mark Smith was next and with that spare front wing and reduced down force it was a big ask to move up the order. Despite this the Welshman did improve his time but only marginally leaving himself vulnerable to a late charge by the next runner, Nick Algar. The Firehawk was looking good on the outside but inside the steering rack was still giving Algar problems as it moved around. Despite this handicap he was able to better the old 1600 record and earn an extra point and at the same time move ahead of Broughton and Smith up into 5th. The penultimate runner then came to the line. Could reigning champion Matt Oliver move into the lead? It wouldn’t be for want of trying. Once again Matt drove the wheels off the Gould as he charged round the track. The car was on three wheels for most of the time it spent through the sweeping curves and bouncing off the kerbs through the chicanes. Despite lowering his own personal best he fell just 0.38 shy of the leading time. Stewart Robb Junior then came forward in the knowledge that he had 13 points in the bag (12 for the win plus 1 for breaking the old record); could he grab another bonus point on his second run? As he started to accelerate away from the Bus Stop there was a change in the engine note as he short shifted through the gears; when he crossed the line his caution meant that he was shy of the old record and had lost the bonus point!
,p>With the late finish everyone was rushing to pack up and it was only later that people began to digest what had happened. Matt Oliver and Stewart Robb Jnr had ended up scoring the same number of points and would go into the penultimate round at Colerne still two points apart. The championship was still wide open!
Results Rd 10 SBD Motorsport British Sprint Championship: Llandow
1 Stewart Robb Jnr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP88) 63.90secs; 2 Matt Oliver (4.0 Gould-Judd GR37) 64.28secs; 3 Stewart Robb Snr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP88) 65.21secs; 4 Colin Calder (3.5 Gould-Judd GR37) 66.09secs; 5 Nick Algar (1.6 DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 67.93secs; 6 Mark Smith (2.0 Reynard-Vauxhall 903) 68.27secs; 7 Steve Broughton (1.4 OMS/Jade-Suzuki CF08) 68.78secs; 8 Phil Lynch (3.2 Ralt-Judd RT37) 69.53secs; 9 David Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec RT33/34) 69.56secs; 10 Roy Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec RT33/34) 69.57secs; 11 Bill Oliver (4.0 Gould-Judd GR37) 71.94secs; Terry Holmes (3.5 Lola-Judd ERH) DNS – Crown Wheel & Pinion.
Class Winners: Owain Turner (1.4 Austin Mini) 94.02secs; Gary Thomas (1.8 Lotus Elise) 83.49secs; Andrew Meek (2.0t Subaru Impreza) 87.57secs; Stuart Hill (1.7 Westfield Super 7) 81.94secs; Matt Hillam (2.0 Westfield SEi) 80.10secs; Martin Depper (1.4 Rover Mini Cooper) 81.94secs - Record; Gareth Griffiths (2.0 Renault Clio Williams) 84.11secs; Pete Salter (2.0t Toyota Celica GT4) 91.87secs; Andrew Rushworth (1.1 Westfield Megabird) 79.55secs; Derek Hodder (2.0 Westfield SEiW) 76.56secs; Peter Roberts (0.6 Jedi-Honda Mk 4) 83.62secs; Tom Potter (1.0 Jedi-Suzuki Mk4) 70.15secs; Andrew Henson (1.6 Swift-Ford SC93) 80.76secs - Record; Nick Algar 67.84secs; Mark Smith 68.04secs; Stewart Robb Jnr 64.84secs – Record; Mike Griffiths (2.0 Ford Escort Mk1) 83.79secs; Ken Pryce (1.3 Austin Cooper S) 99.21secs; Andrew Webber (1.8 Lotus Elan +2) 88.63secs.