Was that Bill Cox, Andy? And Alan's other Capri pic doesn't prove its the Hill car, does it. The only bit on that 1st pic is the bonnet, and thats missing from the 2nd pic!

We are all guilty of proclaiming the past's superiority from time to time, but the evidence of Saturday's 750 Motor Club meeting at Oulton Park implied that some things are still just as good as they ever were...


Nigel Brown (Sylva Phoenix), Richard Stables (Radical) and Jeff Holden (Toyota MR2). Proper. British. Club. Racing.


Robert Thorp (XR2) chases about 472 hatchbacks towards Island.


Robert Palin: not bothered with the circuit's true perimeter, apparently...


...although that applied to most of the SaxMax field...


...especially Ryan Jenkinson.


Whose line is it anyway? Absolutely no idea. Three Stock Hatches and one of Jonathan Palmer's omnipresent litter bins.


Country life: Tim Gray (Radical).


Scott Mittell's immaculate Locost.


Scott Mittell's less than immaculate Locost.


A clue to how Locosts sometimes lose their sheen.


Richard Jenkins on the cusp of an accident...


...and actually having the accident.


Surprise visitors – and almost as slick as the 750MC.


Leaf and liege: Robert Cowburn (Sheane).


May the Formula Fours be with you: Robbie Watts (Van Diemen RF97).


John Hughes came into the weekend as Formula Vee series leader...


...only for his hopes to go up in smoke.


Instead, the crown was collected by Sam Oliveira...


...whose driving style might resonate with anybody weaned on Formula Ford in the 1970s.

I allways say, you cant beat a good clubbie at Oulton Park, and the Red Arrows as well, what more could you ask for?

Busy lads, those Red Arrows boys. They flew over Donington's VSCC meeting on Sunday in a perfect (as usual) Big Big Battle formation on their way between gigs. It always stirs the soul.

Have to agree with Simon the 750 MC meeting last weekend at Oulton reinvigorated my passion for British Club racing.

Simon and I did what's known as a " Steve Jones " at Oulton, that is we watched every single lap of practice and racing…..the time flew past. While seeing the cars three abreast over Hill Top I thought it was a FF1600 race from 1975.

A few snippets:

The rally stage at Cascades proved a hit....





But when the second stage was moved to the grass it all went pear shaped






Don't know how many members the Sam Oliveria or Pip Hammond Fan Clubs have..........but I want to join they were stars






"Come on lads one more corner to go and then we have done the whole lap without touching the tarmac"



"Always look on the bright side of life "



Enough said.....



Behind you!!



For those who can remember "Jaws" here is the original model of the shark




PAR

They were performing a couple of miles away from Mallory Park on Sunday and at one time we had Super karts on track, Motocross opposite the Start/finish straight and the Red Arrows in the sky.

Yeah, but. Re True Clubbies, were there 2 heats and a FF Final, recent F2 and F5000s out in a Libre, Clubmans A & B-Sports and a 'big' Special Saloon race to fionish things off......???

Fionish things off?

Of course not we are talking 2009 not 1979!

However in 2009 the StockHatch event had to have a qualification race and a final, while apart from the F4 race there were full grids.........believe me Dan you would have loved it and there was not a Chevron Formula Atlantic car in sight

PAR

Cast your minds back, folks, to August 26th 1972, and round 10 of the Shell Super Oil British F3 Championship at Oulton Park..

The shutter on my usually trusty Zenit B was playing up - Lap one, and Jochen Mass nearly totals his works March

Tony Brise (GRD) trails a bunch as they go light at the top of Clay Hill

It turned out to be a 1-2 for Ensign, with Rikky von Opel taking the honours...

....from Mike Walker

Three weeks later was the F2 Gold Cup meeting and the F3 guys were back for round 11 which, bizarrely, also constituted a round of the French F3 Championship and attracted 64 entries with 13 different nationalities.
F3 assembly area:

124 - Ken Sedgeley, 120 - Matt Spitzley, 114 - Peter Hull, 116 - Mike Walker, 152 - Randy Lewis.

This week, Mike Walker managed no more than 2 laps before an accident.

24th March 1973, round 1 of the BP Atlantic Championship. Third place went to Cyd Williams, Brabham BT40.

Bit of a duff shot, but Colin Vandervell, nonetheless. Second place behind David Purley.


The meeting also featured prodsaloons and prodsports

Tony Lanfranchi leads Gordon Spice and John Cooper in the gloom - can any TNFers spot themselves in the Lodge grandstand?

Nick Faure, Porsche Carrera

Superb selection of pictures Alan


PAR

Great photos Alan, those cars bring back fond memories

Wonderful pictures, Alan. I watched that race from the Start line and at Lodge. We were on our way home from the family holiday in Abersoch and my Mum and Grandfather were with us. I can remember Albert - he was never "Granddad" or "Grandfather" actually, just Albert - telling me about Mass at Knickerbrook. He was on the grass nearly every lap at Lodge as well. Never liked the bloke, never rated him - Mass, that is. Albert somehow survived the Somme, but never told us how...

Enough said......total respect


PAR

Aston Martin Owners' Club Donington 1998.
Gerry Marshall and Richard Chamberlain were involved in a ding-dong battle for the Intermarque lead when Chamberlain's orange Porsche collided with the Marshall Aston as they were braking for the chicane. This was the result.

Was Richard Chamberlain ok Alan?

PAR

No injuries to either party, IIRC

As Alan says, no injuries just a lot of gesticulating!!
I have more pictures of the accident but I don't know who took them - I don't think Alan did. Am I okay to post them?

I seem to remember that some pics of this accident were published in Autosport or MN at the time. He certainly lost his no claims bonus!!

I remember that one, was sitting in the pit lane stand but couldn't see the shunt itself. What a mess!

A mess is what Donington looks like today due to earthworks - if they do get it done or not, the place will never look the same anyway, judging by the amount of soil removed:
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/gallery.php?catID=4280

Tomorrow is D-day on the deal / money in place, according to Autosport.

Well, i hope the deadline is met and BCE keeps to his part of the deal or there will be a spot of remedial work to do...........................

Can't remember how many years it is since I last attended a Silverstone clubbie - 11-12, at a guess - and at least 20 have passed since I used to do so regularly. The drought has just been broken...




In my head, Abbey is a quick, left-handed kink rather than a tight right, but... The Ian Simmonds/Phil Hall Ligier JS49 loses out on the opening lap of the three-hour SPEED race.


Mark Speller wobbles under pressure from Martin Donnelly. It didn't make a huge amount of difference as Donnelly was later given a 10s penalty for failing to heed yellow flags. I recall something similar happening during the Brands Hatch FIA F3000 race in '89, but he got away with it on that occasion. Note Silverstone Racing School punter minding his own business in the background.


Mark Fullalove (Lotus 2-Eleven)


Andy Ruhan and some blurred companions.


When you try to cram about 40 Lotus Elises (or variants) into 2.249 miles, this happens.


Sky rocket: Nick Padmore/Jean-Lou Rihon led the first 60-odd laps of the SPEED race, but then things began to go wrong.




Far from the madding crowd: the Bicknell of the Gibsons, père et fils, lead the group at the top. The Mike Jenvey/Robin Webster Ligier heads several rivals and a half-built (or half-deconstructed) grandstand in the image below.


Sideways to, erm, 29th place: Neil Livesy.

Snap




PAR

I presume that six chapters of Autocourse have now been completed.....

Yes it is a snap!

Approximately half true... but I have uploaded a few more pictures.










Sarah Bennett-Baggs (BMW Z4), David Botterill (Porsche 944 Turbo), winner Mike Gardiner (Dodge Viper), Howard Spooner (Morgan Aero 8) and Chris Bialan (Lotus 2-Eleven) add a splash of diversity to the Ferrari 430- and Porsche 996/7-rich GT Cup.




Talking of which, here's Alex Martin. Going, gone.


Sam Allpass/Julian Ide (Juno).


Lights, karma, action: Jamie Stanley won the second Elise race, which attracted just the 43 starters.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs - was she not the young woman who accompanied celebrity chef James Martin on the Classic Mille Miglia, in the documentary shown on BBC2 last Christmas?

August 11th 1973 - Oulton Park MCD Lombard North Central British F3 meeting

'Cussons' Trophy - as you can see from the number of photos taken, I was enthralled by seeing an ex-JW Mirage (1001) at a humble English 'clubbie', being run by Anthony Hutton.

lap 1, and he leads John Cooper (GT40) and Mike Salmon (Aston Project 212)



In the background of the picture above, wearing the maroon blazer, you can see Motoring News reporter, and author of the Chevron book, David Gordon and his rather attractive girlfriend.

Hutton's other mount that day was this Lister Jaguar

World Champion-to-be Alan Jones, DART GRD

2nd place went to Richard Robarts, Myson March 733..

..and the victor was Mo Harness with the Team Modus March

Did Don MacLeod make a guest appearance in Roger Bell's Rothmans BMW 3.0 Si that day? I'm sure I was there, but no longer have the programme. The MacLeod thing sticks in my mind because he crashed at Druids and the car caught fire, which rather captured one's attention in the Lodge grandstand.

Indeed, he did make a guest appearance in a BeeEmm, but it was entered by Dealer Team BMW. At the time, the only well-known Antiguan racing driver was Mike Tyrrell (currently serving a 26-year sentence for drug trafficking) but in the F3 race at this meeting there was a second Antiguan named Jimmy Fuller, who drove a Brabham BT38 entered by ADM Business Systems and finished 10th behind Tyrrell. Anyone remember him?

Is he as famous as Bengt Radmyr, who sometimes drove a Lotus 69 in '73?

Yes- I think she's been a regular competitor in GT Cup this year
http://www.girlracer.co.uk/component/conte...nett-baggs.html

Magnificent. Thank you Alan, you have made my evening.

They bring back memories of F3 which had the next generation F1 drivers in the mix , and then Drivers like Mo Harness who in my opinion was much underated . In his F Ford days was just as quick as Dave Walker in the JRRDS Lotus 61 's .
Although rather wedgy in shape those GRDs were quite smart looking, comparing well with the rather rounded March chassis.



Pete

Delighted that they have hit the spot, Mark

Can't say I remembered the name, but he seems to have been a regular runner back home in Sweden since the late '60s in a range of Lotuses ranging through Type 35, 41 and 59/69. In the UK, he seems to have been something of a serial 'DNA'.

I thought so, too. Particularly in the dark blue DART livery. I never thought it looked as good in the white, Wheatcroft scheme.

I just love it when SA opts for "Nostalgia on the Day"
It means I have just seen a shot of my mate Jamie Stanley winning yet another oversubscribed Elise race.

White is such an awful colour to photgraph. I did like the wedgie GRDs as well as the Ensigns.


Mike Walker - Mallory 1972

Richard Robarts was pretty good in F3 and won the Lombard Championship in 73 so I expected him to do a little better than he did with Brabham in F1. A distant relation of mine started racing with Robarts and still knows him quite well. The last time we met he was telling me about the Brabham drive and how it all fell apart. Basically the car was a heap bodged together from old bits and the only thing in common with Reuetemann's car was the bodywork, so he had no chance and as soon as Bernie was paid a bit of the cash owed Richard was shown the door!

.....he then tried his hand at F2 and proceeded to have a huge accident in Italy which he somehow walked away from.


PAR

Twinny posted some amazing photos of the aftermath of Robarts's accident here in the Richard Robarts thread.

To continue the pictures on British Formula 3

A trio of shots from 1985........



Cathy Muller ( Reynard 853 )



Ross Cheever ( Ralt RT30 )



You wouldn't want to be the meat in this sandwich : Anthony Reid and Russell Spence on the limit at the pre-chicane Knickerbrook

PAR

Jimmy has been competing in the HSCC Historic Race Saloon series this year in an Alfa (but I see is not entered at Silverstone on Saturday) and I think was leading the class when I checked.

Until last year, when it was beaten by a modern car, he had held the "short" circuit track record at Noth Dakota, Guyana, since 1972. He competed (with Mike Tyrell and Bernard Unett) in the 1970 London-Mexico World Cup Rally in a works-built London-Sydney replica Hunter.

Thanks for that info re: Jimmy Fuller, RS.

Moving on a few years, here are some shots from the opening meeting of the 1983 British F3 season at Silverstone.

American prospect, Davy Jones

Whatever happened to Tommy Grunnah?

Eric Lang's unsponsored Ralt

Mario Hytten


With helmet painted by the legendary "Sid", Ayrton Senna could never have failed

Martin Brundle

Allen Berg

Best of friends, winner Senna and runner-up Brundle

Forget about F3, there was some real racing going on elsewhere....Gerry Marshall/Lotus Esprit


I'll leave you Formula Ford pundits to sort out this crowd

First FF pic, as a guess Alan, David Wheeler and Keith Fine in RP33s? Is that the Martlet at the back in second pic? At the front an RF82, and one of the lovely RF83s...

The first FF pic shows works Royale drivers Keith Fine (correct Dan) and David Button with Andy Wallace behind in his BRP Van Diemen.

The second picture is John Swailes ahead of Paul Mather in the Eddie Jordan Racing Van Diemen. The car at the back is the RF79 of Nick James. The third car, the oversteering Van Diemen, is John 'Butcher' Booth - Manor GP supremo next F1 season.

Could that be David Hunt in 3rd?


PAR

David Hunt was in F3 in 1983.....plus I think Andrew K has a programme

Should have read Andy's post


PAR

For Ian Smith, alansart etc, some Oulton Formula Ford snaps that have never seen the light of day before - Featuring Richard Peacock, Wally Warwick, the Allinson brothers (and others who will be named before long by the Oulton regulars)














A slightly fuzzy photo of Richard Street