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Silverstone
27/08/2007
A wet Silverstone
As the title suggests this round was run in wet conditions. The morning started off wet as it had been raining most of the night although by eight am the rain had ceased and the track had remained wet but was drying slowly. The first driver to hit trouble was young Sam Oliveira; on his second or third qualifying lap Sam lost his front right wheel. Sam came into the pits where several people set about getting Sheane back out on track, this was done with time enough to spare for Sam to post quickest time in session A with a 1:08.14. This was almost 1sec faster than the next placed man Ian Buxton on 1:09.02; not bad when you have had to make a stop to have another wheel put back on your car. At the other end of the grid was Suze Bisping, although this was Suze’s first race she was not last in session A putting the more experienced Gordon Beshaw behind her. Session B was held in slightly drier conditions; this meant that the grid positions were not taken directly from the qualifying times; but were the fastest driver from each session being on the front row of the final. The second fastest from both sessions on the second row and so on right through the field to the back of the heat. This is done to make the race line up as fair as possible and not give one session a big advantage.
The Heat
Our man Simon Readman was on pole for this one on a 1:09.440 with Peter Studer alongside on a 1:11.250, the second row comprised of Jake Oliveira 1:09.460 and Tim Hill on a 1:11.800. Row three had Peter Belsey on a 1:10.350 and Steve Ough on a 1:12.160, as you can see from the times way the grid is formed when one session is held in better conditions than the other does not mean the faster driver is in a position corresponding to their lap time. Our next drivers were Paul Taylor (7th) Neale Hurren (10th) Alan Robinson (11th) and Alan Forster (12th). Our drivers were dotted throughout the grid with the seventy one year old going on twenty one year old Mr James Conyers putting no less than seventeen younger drivers to shame by showing them his exhaust pipe. The race got under way with Simon Readman leading for the first lap, on the second lap though Jake Oliveira came through from fourth on the grid to take a lead he would not relinquish. Throughout the race Simon Readman tries hard to put pressure on Sam but he has to settle for the runner- up spot, our next drivers are Steve Ough, Paul Taylor, Tim Hill and Miles Southerton in fifth through to eighth positions. Our drivers are scattered all through the results sheet with a certain Mr James Conyers finishing in twentieth place; James has once again put thirteen finishers and three non finishers in his mirrors, not bad for a seventy one year old single seater race car driver. Down at the back of the grid poor Suze was finding car racing a whole lot harder participating than watching; unable to get Brooklands right she soon wished she had tested, still she finished and not last; she has also promised to return; good for her.
The Final
The final looked as though it would be a bit of a nail biter between Martin Galpin on pole and Martin Farmer in third, unfortunately this proved not to be the case. On the opening lap Martin Farmer and James Birch touch wheels putting Martin back down to twenty ninth and in reality out of the running unless an early red was shown. Martin was not the only one to fall back; Danny Hands has also suffered on the first lap and was back down in twenty sixth. This means that in the space of one lap Martin is some thirty five seconds adrift of Martin Galpin and Danny is over thirty seconds adrift him as well. This puts Martin Galpin in a strong position in terms of championship points; all he now needs to do is finish well. Our next man is Ryan Lindsay in fifth, Ryan has been doing well this weekend and although he has dropped back five and a half second on the first lap he will fall no further away. Making a good start is Jake Oliveira from thirteenth on the grid to sixth at the end of the first tour; James Birch is up from fifth to third on the same lap but from then on falls back somewhat at one place per lap. On the second lap Galpin makes a mistake and Ian Buxton who is up to second from the fourth starting slot grabs the lead he will not be ousted from; Galpin resumes in second and sets about closing the two second lead. The first two places look to be sown up but third is up for grabs; Sam Oliveira holds this position until he is put into fourth on lap five by Ryan who is finding his feet and getting faster with each lap. Another driver to put in a strong drive is number eighty seven Warren Smith; Warren has taken nine cars on lap one and is up to seventh from sixteenth and holding position. On lap five however Warren makes a mistake and slips to tenth; lap five is as bad for Warren as it is good for Ryan. It is also quite rough for Alan Robinson; perennial spinner Ankit Love decides to lunge inside him at Luffield. This in turn leaves a hole in the side of our Alan’s Challenger and the track blocked with the red flags waving, as nine minutes of racing has elapsed a result is declared after five laps. Ankit’s antics has shone good fortune on Martin Galpin for Martin went through the gravel trap at Brooklands and dropped down to seventh position; because of the one lap count- back Martin is classed as second. Also thankful to Ankit is Ryan who also went off on lap six and so is classed as third for the same reason as Martin. At this meeting both of the championship contenders did their best not to do their best although Martin Galpin came away with a second place as to Martin Farmer’s seventeenth. Thanks in no small way to Ankit Martin Galpin has turned a two point deficit into to a ten point advantage. Further down the field our next man was Alan Forster putting in an excellent drive to finish in ninth ahead of Steve Ough and Paul Taylor both five seconds adrift in tenth and eleventh. Danny Hands has also done well to climb back up to eighth, Tim Hill and Steve Robbins ended nineteenth and twentieth with Miles Southerton twenty fourth and Angus Mayhew twenty seventh. Simon Readman was not running at the red flag and so was not classified; James Conyers did a lap but decided that it was too wet and probably did the right thing by coming in as Lauda did in Fuji in 1976. Neale Hurren was completely overlooked by the officials and appears nowhere on the results sheets for some reason. After the race in Parc Ferme several engines are checked by the scrutineers where Jake Oliveira’s is found to have valve stems that are five thousands of an inch too small so he is excluded. All in all it was a bit of a damp day in weather as well as racing; so we go to Snetterton next where the weather can be just as fickle.
Our driver of the day?
Ryan Lindsay
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