On Good Friday and Easter Day it was sunny, warm and quite beautiful conditions for Sprinting. Where on earth did that go on Saturday when we had to run?! It was cloudy, damp and often persistently drizzling and conditions never really dried out trackside throughout the day.
The competitors were sad to lose the 2003 event, being one of the tracks everyone revels in and is a favourite with many. However it is clear that McLaren- Mercedes' woeful beginning to the 2004 GP season cannot be put down to the money they are throwing at the Lydden paddock, which still remains sadly the worst the Championship visits all season. It just is in need of a little tender loving care, but the track remains a corker!
However the season had started with many regulars, a few returnees (notably Steve Broughton, Steve Miles and Tony Wiltshire) and one or two newcomers (Glenn Del Medico who had collected John Whyte's former Scottish hillclimb championship mount collected from deepest Scotland only a week or two before the event and, maintaining the Scottish connection, Roy Dawson in what was formerly Ian Chard's DJ Firehawk became the first Scot for over 10 years, since John Gray was a regular, to embark on a full British Sprint season) assembled for the first of a two event weekend at the most southerly English event in the Championship (before the long trek north for the most northerly English event).
We were also graced by the presence of two very significant returnees in the form of the Clerk of the Course team of former British Sprint regulars Neville and Tina Moon. Everyone knew when their names appeared on the roster that they would be in safe hands, and they were not to be disappointed.
The conditions were probably the best of the day for the Top 12 Run off and everyone who managed two runs improved on their second run. Sue Griffiths and Tracey Ashby had a rare old battle, both qualifying for the Top 12 (and the new for 2004 practice of scoring 12 - 1 they knew that a finish would secure themselves points). They both looked spectacular on the quick corners at Lydden (most notably Paddock Bend) and revelled in the worst of conditions, which all competitors fear most, where slicks are the order of the day but damp patches make ultimate performance hard to judge. Ultimately they both finished outside the Top 10 but Sue overcame Tracey to become Top Lady. Mechanical dramas allowed Graham Porrett only one run in the Run Off. A suspected head gasket failure meant that one run was judged wise in the first event of a long weekend for the Bognor pair. Graham not getting the opportunity to improve on his, far from typical time, and 10th place was his reward. Dick Hulbert and John Sampson battled in Modified Production cars, the Quantum boss outdoing the Westfield driver. Dickie had a mentoring task over the course of the day with Carole Torkington as his co-driver. They sandwiched Glenn Del Medico debuting his Pilbeam with the engine not fully on song as the day progressed. Nonetheless he showed that, despite its advancing years (the car that is not the driver), the chassis had lost none of its poise and this aided him more than its misfiring motive power to a satisfying 8th place finish. Terry Holmes suffered, like his co-driver Graham, through only having just one run when improving conditions meant that a better time was possible but a 6th place opener was unrepresentative, as his performance in the remaining event in the weekend, after repairs had been effected, was to demonstrate. Terry and Graham's car was showing yet further developments on the aerodynamic front with drag reducing flip-ups being added just forward of the rear wheels. Simon Ashby leapfrogged many compatriots after an indifferent first effort to a worthy 5th. Roy Dawson, like Del Medico, a Championship debutant struggled with an unfamiliar car. He, like SBD boss Steve Broughton, was starting out the season with a bog standard Suzuki Hyabusa unit, with which to learn the car before a more suitable tuned 1600cc version appears later in the season. Nonetheless he revelled in Lydden track after the tight confines of the Scottish venues with which he is more familiar. More than once over the weekend he opined "I'd love to go back there on a sunny day!" His 4th place finish was a worthy end to his close battle with Tony Wiltshire who returned to the series, after a few years absence armed with a Ralt RT34 motivated with an ex BTCC Longman built Peugeot engine. A battle with Dawson ensued as the Scot outqualified the Devonian who, with a failed first timed run was immediately on the back foot. Their competition got ever closer and they were hundredths apart after the first Top 12 runs but Wiltshire's greater run off experience told as he stretched the intervals to a few tenths eventually to pip Dawson for the final podium place. The two Steve's, Broughton and Miles, battled frantically for top place. The SBD boss had a comfortable gap after the first runs but the Van Diemen pilot pressed him close, and came back strongly to close the gap to three quarters of a second in the end, the victor in his single-seater debut. Both drivers were seeking their inaugural British Sprint Championship win.
"Driver of the Day" was undoubtedly rallycrosser Pat Doran in his RS200 for sheer pace and spectacle. The local man was taking the opportunity of shaking his mount down after a troubled start to his British Rallycross Championship (at the track two days later) campaign and drew much admiration from his British Sprint peers, many of whom managed to take their place on the bank when Pat ran, and, despite experiencing yet another breakage on his second timed (see more details in my "Technical Notes and otherwise" piece elsewhere in this issue) was enjoying his Sprinting experience immensely and I am sure, when his new car is built, we will enjoy seeing him back in the future with his Ford RS200 prepared more suitably for the pure tarmac discipline.
Highlights of the eclectic array of entries in the classes included Mark Dawson's display in the Puma in the 2 litre Standard Cars, his being the only sub-100 second time and he was well clear of the opposition. The same comment applied to Tim Jeffrey's effort in the unlimited class, his Renault Clio V6 well suited to Lydden's open turns and rises and falls. Mike Edwards was, as ever, the target everyone had to overcome in the small Roadgoing split and the Peugeot 106, Citroen AX and Autobianchi A112 Abarth lined up behind him, although battling closely amongst themselves in a very competitive display were well beaten by the Mini man. Roy Nicholls just managed to pip Chris Fulke-Greville, now racing in SEMSEC events at the venue to good effect. Andrew Silman, benefiting from many re-runs after being the victim of various red flags, must have been worn out by the end of the day but the additional mileage and practice this allowed helped him just to overcome the close attentions of Stephen Laing's Exige in the Roadgoing Kit Car class. Paul Mayhew's anti lag and spectacular flame outs (on the over-run) enabled the Impreza driver to overcome the attention of Steve Heaths big TVR 390SE and Jonathan Miles' Lancer Evo.
John Sampson took the "libre" class (which in the SE of England consists of ModProd "Kit Cars" as well as more usual Sports Libre machinery) just outdoing his former rallycross compatriot, Doran's sole effort. Tony Gomis' Marcadier Can-Am (which I seem to recall was French) comfortably overcame the attentions of the 2 Formula Ford 1600s against which it was ranged. The two British Sprint competitors, Broughton & Dawson (often seen in close discussion about fitting the SBD electronics to the DJ Firehawk, again see "Technical Notes and otherwise" elsewhere for more details) were a country mile ahead of the opposition in the 1600 single seater class. In the 2 litre/unlimited single seaters mention has already been made about the runners. One non runner was Mike Musson who won't be seen until the British Sprint runners venture to Scotland in May. However one competitor who didn't make the run off was Tony Eyles, who whilst waiting for his carbon fibre chassised Force-Opel V6 to appear, ferreted around in the family vaults to uncover the Lola-Judd which had remained unused for over a year (his own DFR engined model having been sold over the winter). Sadly a touch of over exuberance on his first timed run saw Tony plant the car on the top of the North Bend hairpin bank which damaged the nose of the car (and he had no spare with him) but the damage to his wrist from the incident, at the top of Hairy Hill, rendered him hors de combat for the remainder of the weekend.
Finally the John Cooper Mini Cooper Challenge bolstered the entry in no small way with 8 of the, new to the championship for 2004, BMW Mini Cooper 'S' models (bewinged and supercharged) and 19 of the 2003 "Club" models. A competitive display saw Martin Wallbank just pip Tony Skelton to take the new car split whilst Stephen Campbell just overcame the close attentions of Jonathan Shepherd and Barney Craggs in a very closely fought class.
Round 1 Lydden British Sprint Championship Run-Off:
1. Steve Broughton (1.3 OMS-Suzuki 2000M) 74.90: 2. Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen- Zetec/Dunnell RF96M) 75.65: 3. Tony Wiltshire (2.0 Ralt-Peugeot/Longman RT34) 77.13: 4. Roy Dawson (1.3 DJ-Suzuki Firehawk) 77.56: 5. Simon Ashby (2.0 Reynard-Millington 883) 78.16: 6. Terry Holmes (Reynard-Ford YB Tegra SF84) 79.23: 7. John Sampson (5.0 Quantum-Rover SD1 Xtreme) 80.37: 8. Glenn Del Medico (2.8 Pilbeam-Hart/Beattie MP50) 82.56: 9. Dick Hulbert (1.7 SBD Westfield-Vauxhall SeiW) 82.72: 10. Graham Porrett (2.0 Reynard-Ford YB Tegra SF84) 84.28: 11. Sue Griffiths (2.0 Chevron-Millington B47) 88.34: 12. Tracey Ashby (2.0 Reynard-Millington 883) 88.89
Class winners:
Mark Dawson (1.7 Ford Puma) 99.30: Tim Jeffrey (3.0 Renault Clio V6) 97.20: Mike Edwards (1.4 Austin Mini) 98.17: Roy Nicholls (1.9 Peugeot 205) 94.05: Andrew Silman (2.0 Westfield SEiW) 96.71: Jamie Philpott (1.9 Peugeot 206GTi) 98.35: Paul Mayhew (2.0t Subaru Impreza) 87.67: Sampson 84.73: Tony Gomis (1.6 Mercadier Can-Am) 94.29: Broughton 80.36: Miles 79.21: Martin Wallbank (1.6s Mini Cooper 'S') 91.76: Stephen Campbell (1.6 Mini Cooper 'Club') 93.93.