Castle Combe Formula Libre
Started by
simonlewisbooks
, Nov 25 2010 11:29
165 replies to this topic
#151
roversfan090
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- 18 posts
- Joined: July 09
New Member
Posted 08 January 2011 - 22:04
yeah that is a great video i hope someone has a combe libre video online would love to libre cars pounding around combe back in the mid 1980's
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#152
castlecombe nutter
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- 4 posts
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New Member
Posted 13 January 2011 - 19:06
Hi going back to Combe formula libre.I remember watching libre races in the 70s,and I am sure there was guy called Bobby Bell ( to do with Bell and Coville I think) who used to win a lot of races in either a old formula 1 or formula 5000 not completly sure.Does anyone else remember him or is my mind playing tricks with me.Also John Robinson pictured before was sponsored at the time by two guys from the band Frankie Goes To Hollywood,all from Liverpool.yeah that is a great video i hope someone has a combe libre video online would love to libre cars pounding around combe back in the mid 1980's
#153
alansart
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- 4,420 posts
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Posted 13 January 2011 - 19:14
Hi going back to Combe formula libre.I remember watching libre races in the 70s,and I am sure there was guy called Bobby Bell ( to do with Bell and Coville I think) who used to win a lot of races in either a old formula 1 or formula 5000 not completly sure.Does anyone else remember him or is my mind playing tricks with me.Also John Robinson pictured before was sponsored at the time by two guys from the band Frankie Goes To Hollywood,all from Liverpool.
Didn't Bobby Bell drive a Trojan at one time. I seem to remember him in Historic Sports Cars as well.
#154
Chris Townsend
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- 384 posts
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Posted 13 January 2011 - 22:21
Hi going back to Combe formula libre.I remember watching libre races in the 70s,and I am sure there was guy called Bobby Bell ( to do with Bell and Coville I think) who used to win a lot of races in either a old formula 1 or formula 5000 not completly sure.Does anyone else remember him or is my mind playing tricks with me.Also John Robinson pictured before was sponsored at the time by two guys from the band Frankie Goes To Hollywood,all from Liverpool.
I think he even had a BRM P153 at one point.
#155
Cirrus
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- 1,753 posts
- Joined: February 03
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Posted 14 January 2011 - 07:14
I think he even had a BRM P153 at one point.
He did. I have vivid memories of him blasting past me on the Club Straight at Silverstone in a combined Libre/F4 race in it.
#156
km1164
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- 82 posts
- Joined: January 03
Member
Posted 05 February 2011 - 14:21
Im not an avid follower of this forum
found this thread googling something else
Rob Cox Libre cars
ralt RH6 was sold to him from the factory and he had Grand Prix fabrications install Gaa V6
engine into the car it was a tad longer than Honda v6 but he was not allowed to buy the Honda ( all returned to japan)
The larrouse Lola cars
he bought 2 of them 1 he kept to race other was sold to Stock of stock aitkin waterman pop music trio who
wrote produced Kylie and others
Ralt RH6 is now in a F1 drivers collection as he raced it in period but after Rob had it the car went to Ray Rowan he installed 420r and sold it to Scotland cant recall the man, he drove it once twice then sold car around 94 to the present owner
Larrouse is probably in France with some BOSS racer
Cant recall if Rob was 87 Libre champ with Ralt Gaa car
I can recall my father racing his march bmw in can am format against the Ralt at Mallory in late 88
My father also had the Lydden outright lap record in late 88 breaking the record of 40.2? that Dave rackham set in 80/81? ( i was here that day too!) and left it at 39.9
That created a lot of interest in 89 for others to come down and have ago
Tony Trimmer came with F5000 car but didnt break it
Rob came down with LC87 3.5 DFZ power left it at 38.6
My father in practise a year later manged with the March now in F2 body spec to beat the record at 38.55 ish but it didnt stand
as it had to be repeated in a race but he did still better his 39.9
I cant recall if he did a 39 dead or 38.9 its 21 years ago now !!
Today he struggles to better 40.2 and he blames 3 things for this
1 car is now old and flexing
2 his eyes are not as good and reactions not so sharp
3 he is 68 next month and still wants to race his 92 F1 car this year -I need to council him on this matter !!
My father was the last true British National Libre champ in 89 as our great leaders at the RACMSA decided the Libre word was dirty and banned its use and said we cant run races for over 2.5 litre cars !!
So in 1990 he went to Lydden and did the Libre there and ran the March in Interserie at Brands then the next 4 years in europe
until Roger Cowman created the BOSS race series
We ran our F2 cars in that and hopefully now the HSCC have finally taken the logical and much belated step of moving the
DBT cut off date from pre 1980 forward to pre 85 we will look to run our cars in some national club races again
found this thread googling something else
Rob Cox Libre cars
ralt RH6 was sold to him from the factory and he had Grand Prix fabrications install Gaa V6
engine into the car it was a tad longer than Honda v6 but he was not allowed to buy the Honda ( all returned to japan)
The larrouse Lola cars
he bought 2 of them 1 he kept to race other was sold to Stock of stock aitkin waterman pop music trio who
wrote produced Kylie and others
Ralt RH6 is now in a F1 drivers collection as he raced it in period but after Rob had it the car went to Ray Rowan he installed 420r and sold it to Scotland cant recall the man, he drove it once twice then sold car around 94 to the present owner
Larrouse is probably in France with some BOSS racer
Cant recall if Rob was 87 Libre champ with Ralt Gaa car
I can recall my father racing his march bmw in can am format against the Ralt at Mallory in late 88
My father also had the Lydden outright lap record in late 88 breaking the record of 40.2? that Dave rackham set in 80/81? ( i was here that day too!) and left it at 39.9
That created a lot of interest in 89 for others to come down and have ago
Tony Trimmer came with F5000 car but didnt break it
Rob came down with LC87 3.5 DFZ power left it at 38.6
My father in practise a year later manged with the March now in F2 body spec to beat the record at 38.55 ish but it didnt stand
as it had to be repeated in a race but he did still better his 39.9
I cant recall if he did a 39 dead or 38.9 its 21 years ago now !!
Today he struggles to better 40.2 and he blames 3 things for this
1 car is now old and flexing
2 his eyes are not as good and reactions not so sharp
3 he is 68 next month and still wants to race his 92 F1 car this year -I need to council him on this matter !!
My father was the last true British National Libre champ in 89 as our great leaders at the RACMSA decided the Libre word was dirty and banned its use and said we cant run races for over 2.5 litre cars !!
So in 1990 he went to Lydden and did the Libre there and ran the March in Interserie at Brands then the next 4 years in europe
until Roger Cowman created the BOSS race series
We ran our F2 cars in that and hopefully now the HSCC have finally taken the logical and much belated step of moving the
DBT cut off date from pre 1980 forward to pre 85 we will look to run our cars in some national club races again
#157
simonlewisbooks
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- 2,118 posts
- Joined: January 02
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Posted 06 February 2011 - 22:31
My father was the last true British National Libre champ in 89 as our great leaders at the RACMSA decided the Libre word was dirty and banned its use and said we cant run races for over 2.5 litre cars !!
I didn't realize that !
Jeez....
It appears the RACMSA got into the nauseating-nanny-state mentality very early.
#158
IanMH
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- 186 posts
- Joined: April 07
Member
Posted 07 February 2011 - 00:06
Simon, I've done a search for stock cars on here and can't find any. I've found this old slide of stock car racing in the sand dunes near RAF Lossiemouth 1969 and wondered if you would like to add it to your defunct stock car track section of your website.I don't have any more info on the event. Cheers Ian 
#159
simonlewisbooks
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- 2,118 posts
- Joined: January 02
Member
Posted 07 February 2011 - 10:08
Simon, I've done a search for stock cars on here and can't find any. I've found this old slide of stock car racing in the sand dunes near RAF Lossiemouth 1969 and wondered if you would like to add it to your defunct stock car track section of your website.I don't have any more info on the event. Cheers Ian
Cheers Ian! Great photo. Never heard of that venue. At first glance you'd swear they photo was taken in the US ! Bizarre-looking cars..a cross between saloon stocks and Baja bugs!
I'll add it to the site when it's next updated. I have a whole heap of new material to include so I'll be doing that shortly. Have you got any others?
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#160
km1164
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- 82 posts
- Joined: January 03
Member
Posted 07 February 2011 - 13:48
It appears the RACMSA got into the nauseating-nanny-state mentality very early
[color="#FF0000"]yes must have been Tony Blair voters now we have this daft notion of seatbelt expiry dates- hell i have 3 new units here never been bolted into a car that i cannot use- FIA F1 race suit i now cannot wear and Fire extinguishers that are out of date!!
If they have pressure in them they will work Motor racing is dangerous we know that and we dont need some "Richard Head" in a blazer dictating daft rules [/color ]
[color="#FF0000"]yes must have been Tony Blair voters now we have this daft notion of seatbelt expiry dates- hell i have 3 new units here never been bolted into a car that i cannot use- FIA F1 race suit i now cannot wear and Fire extinguishers that are out of date!!
If they have pressure in them they will work Motor racing is dangerous we know that and we dont need some "Richard Head" in a blazer dictating daft rules [/color ]
#161
km1164
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- 82 posts
- Joined: January 03
Member
Posted 07 February 2011 - 13:48
It appears the RACMSA got into the nauseating-nanny-state mentality very early
yes must have been Tony Blair voters now we have this daft notion of seatbelt expiry dates- hell i have 3 new units here never been bolted into a car that i cannot use- FIA F1 race suit i now cannot wear and Fire extinguishers that are out of date!!
If they have pressure in them they will work Motor racing is dangerous we know that and we dont need some "Richard Head" in a blazer dictating daft rules
yes must have been Tony Blair voters now we have this daft notion of seatbelt expiry dates- hell i have 3 new units here never been bolted into a car that i cannot use- FIA F1 race suit i now cannot wear and Fire extinguishers that are out of date!!
If they have pressure in them they will work Motor racing is dangerous we know that and we dont need some "Richard Head" in a blazer dictating daft rules
#162
IanMH
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- 186 posts
- Joined: April 07
Member
Posted 07 February 2011 - 14:07
Have you got any others?
I'm afraid that's the only one, Simon. I had to make a 20 exposure film last the whole holiday fortnight in those days!
Cheers Ian
#163
simonlewisbooks
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- 2,118 posts
- Joined: January 02
Member
Posted 28 February 2011 - 20:57
Formula Libre is BACK AT COMBE!
Pete Stowe tells me that the circuit is running a 4-round series (starting July 18) to be called "Mono Libre" for single seaters limited only by their ability to pass the 108db noise limit.
http://www.castlecom..._Racing/183.htm
There are also equivalent 'sport libre' and ' saloon libre' series which will allow back cars recently regulated out of the circuits long running championships. I have to say it sounds like someone realized "the baby had been chucked out with the bathwater" with those last two series. If thats the case then
for doing something about it.
For those of us who are somewhat jaded by the endless proliferation of spec and one-make series it sounds like a breath of fresh air and will, I hope, bring back some old faces on both sides of the barrier. Will we see any real big-bangers ? There are a few doubts on the Castle Combe forum
http://www.castlecom...p?TOPIC_ID=4524
the noise limit being perceived as an obstacle to anything much above and F3 car but then a number of British Sprint series runners have competed with Judd and Cosworth powered cars at the circuit with a much lower 105db limit so it's a possibility. Certainly a lot of the big V8s on the hills are frustratingly quiet so the technology is there. Time will tell...
Pete Stowe tells me that the circuit is running a 4-round series (starting July 18) to be called "Mono Libre" for single seaters limited only by their ability to pass the 108db noise limit.
http://www.castlecom..._Racing/183.htm
There are also equivalent 'sport libre' and ' saloon libre' series which will allow back cars recently regulated out of the circuits long running championships. I have to say it sounds like someone realized "the baby had been chucked out with the bathwater" with those last two series. If thats the case then
for doing something about it.For those of us who are somewhat jaded by the endless proliferation of spec and one-make series it sounds like a breath of fresh air and will, I hope, bring back some old faces on both sides of the barrier. Will we see any real big-bangers ? There are a few doubts on the Castle Combe forum
http://www.castlecom...p?TOPIC_ID=4524
the noise limit being perceived as an obstacle to anything much above and F3 car but then a number of British Sprint series runners have competed with Judd and Cosworth powered cars at the circuit with a much lower 105db limit so it's a possibility. Certainly a lot of the big V8s on the hills are frustratingly quiet so the technology is there. Time will tell...
#164
ghinzani
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- 2,027 posts
- Joined: October 01
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Posted 02 March 2011 - 03:42
big thumbs up! saw this earlier in the week on their Facebook page, great news.
#165
arttidesco
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- 6,709 posts
- Joined: April 10
Member
Posted 02 March 2011 - 12:54
Formula Libre is BACK AT COMBE!
Pete Stowe tells me that the circuit is running a 4-round series (starting July 18) to be called "Mono Libre" for single seaters limited only by their ability to pass the 108db noise limit.
More reasons to visit Castle Coombe I can't wait 'til July 18th
#166
km1164
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- 82 posts
- Joined: January 03
Member
Posted 04 March 2011 - 22:41
108 dba is hard to get down to Club f3 had agro there 2-3 years ago
I for 1 will not be taking my race car there
I could pass it on static exhaust but fail on drive by induction
No real race car engines will not satisfy the Coombe noise meter so i will save my tow car fuel cost and run it in Germany
where they allow F1 f2 f3000 cars to run
Coombe libre willbe for strtte car based motors ie FFord 1600 2 litre FVL FVJ cars where there is no tuning involved
Bring back libre racing at other UK tracks
