Anglesey
Entry and Quali
The Welsh Sports & Saloon Championship, which is its
34nd year, continued its 2024 season
at Anglesey with Rounds 5 & 6
in its usual format of Qualifying and 2 races on the weekend 3 & 4th
August. Usually the Angelsey track is a
fair distance away from South Wales, but with this years event so early in
August, there was lots of slow holiday traffic which made the trip seem twice
as long! However once there, the track made the trip worthwhile, with changes
in elevation and some excellent corners
We were part of
the Scottish Motor Clubs event, and were combined with the Scottish Classic
Championship, which made it a welcome 27 car grid. On pole position after quali was the current
WSSCC Champion Wayne Spiller (Maxda RX8) and alongside him was one of our Irish
guests ,Gareth Blaine with a Seat Leon. 3rd fastest
was James Harvey (Porsche Boxster) 4th 5th were Scottish drivers, 6th
was Simon Baker (RX8) and 7th was Craig
Attard (VW Scirroco Turbo).
Our Irish Guest Drivers including John Cardoo, Joseph Yates John
Newport (Our home Town) and Alan Millar all driving Wildcats and 18th was Andy
Williams. There was some good natured concern with Andys struggle with his
Renault Clio. The general advice was that he should at least soften up the rear
suspension
All races were rolling starts
Wayne Spiller lead the grid to the startline, and was
quickly into the lead. James Harvey was second, but Gareth Blaine hit his
stride and quickly passed James, and hounded Wayne for whole of the 11 laps.
Wayne drove the 'widest RX8 in Angelsey' Although Gareth tried hard, getting
almost alongside at 'Rocket turn' Wayne held on to take the Race Win, and some
Scottish Champers! Behind them Craig Attard had a wild grassy spin without
damage, and then retired to the pits! Simon Baker was initially 6th, but he
worked at it and in the later stages he overcame several big value Scots cars
and then passed James Harvey to finish 3rd overall. This action earned Simon 'The Driver of the Race' award !
Andy Williams reported ' Half way through the race, the
car came to me. He had taken 2 secs off his quallifying times! Our Irish guests
behind Gareth Blaine (2nd) was John Newport (9th overall) and Joe Yates (11th
overall) both in Wildcats (Spaceframe saloons with 2 litre Ford Zetec or Dutatec engines)
Race 2 Rolling Start
Wayne lead the first lap, but Gareth passed him by lap 2 and then held the lead for the rest of the 12 lap race ! Late on Wayne made sure of the Class 2 win, as Simon Baker was 3rd overall with James Harvey 4th. (Craig did not start the VW) Andrew Williams was 14th. Our Irish guests behind Gareth Blaine (1st) was Joe Yates (9th overall) and John Cardoo (11) and Alan Millar(13) all in Wildcats. This time Wayne won 'The Driver of the Race' award.
Times can be found on http://www.smart-timing.co.uk
On the left find 2024 and click on Anglesey
Qualli is on page
74
Race one page100
Race 2 page 131
The
Welsh Sports & Saloon Championship, which is its 34th year, continues
its 2024 season at Pembrey with Rounds 3
& 4 in its usual format of Qualifying and 2 races. In 2024 the current Champion is Wayne Spiller
and he will be trying to repeat his 2023 title win! Several other drivers are looking
to challenge him, including Simon Baker who is from New Zealand . In the classes, Class One is for cars will racing
on Treaded tyres. All other Classes the cars are racing on Slicks. Points are
scored based on the number of entries in each class. All races are rolling
starts. Full details are on www.wrda.co.uk
Current points are
Driver
and Car |
Class |
Points |
Wayne
Spiller Mazda RX8 (96) |
Two |
38 |
Simon
Baker Mazda RX8 (11) |
Two |
32 |
Chris
Everill Ginetta G55 (169) |
Five |
28 |
Andrew
K Williams Renault Clio (88) |
Two |
28 |
Mike
Cook BMW 330 (52) |
Three |
28 |
Russell
Haggerty (Class 4) NMR Kawasaki 1000 (99) |
Four |
28 |
Verity
Banks Renault Clio (53) |
One |
28 |
Fastest lap times at Pembrey
Driver |
Race Car |
Class |
Date |
Lap Time |
|
Chris
Everill |
Ginetta
G55 |
Five |
08-10-2023 |
00:59.696 |
|
Damian
Longotano |
Westfield
SE |
Four |
08-10-2023 |
00:59.829 |
|
Nick
Crompton |
Fisher
Fury |
Three |
21-05-2023 |
01:03.728 |
|
Wayne
Spiller |
Mazda
RX8 |
Two |
21-05-2023 |
01:05.888 |
|
|
Ford Fiesta |
One |
08-10-2003 |
01.18.834 |
For more details about joining in with the
championship, contact Robert Allender on 01792 791686 or 07722261988 and also
look on The Welsh Racing Drivers Association website wrda.co.uk
The Welsh Sports & Saloon Championship, which is its 34th year, started the 2024 season at Castle Combe on Easter Bank Holiday Monday with its usual format of Qualifying and 2 races. In 2024 the current Champion is Wayne Spiller and he is trying to repeat his 2023 title win! Several other drivers are looking to challenge him, including Simon Baker who is from New Zealand . In the classes, Class One is for cars will racing on Treaded tyres. All other Classes the cars are racing on Slicks. Points are scored based on the number of entries in each class. All races are rolling starts. Full details are on www.wrda.co.uk
The Grid, which we shared with the Classic & Modern Motor Clubsâ Tin Top and Super Saloons lads and it made for an interesting 30 car grid. Chris Everill was on pole but he had a horde of CC Mc Bmws all around him, with Adrian Bradley sharing the front row and Rod Birley . Paul Watson and Dave Cowman all close behind. Fabio Luffarelli was 8th. James Hunt (no not that one)was 10th (He wasnâÂÂt with us but it was too good not to mention it) In the battle of the Class Two Mazdas, Wayne Spiller was 14th and on Class 2 pole, with new guy Simon Baker 16th in Craig Attards RX8. 21st was Russell Haggerty in the NMR Kawasaki but the car broke a half shaft so he only recorded 2 laps. 23rd was Mike COOK BMW 330, 25th was Andrew WILLIAMS Renault Clio and an excellent 28th was Verity BANKS, still Ford mounted for the moment!
It was cloudy but dry for most of the morning, but the heavens opened at the end of lunchtime, and we had a heavy shower, just as the 500s had a grid walk and then the first race of the afternoon. NB the 500s refer to cars that raced from 1946 to 1959 with chassis from Cooper (yes that one) and Keift (from Wales). Basically they were spaced framed single seater car with a 500 cc Motorcycle engine. 500s launched the careers of Merlin Stoss (a humorous misspelling of Stirling Moss) and a certain Bernie Ecclestone. (google him if you donâÂÂt know)
Race 2 -10 laps â Mass Rolling Start â
The cars departed for the pace lap, leading to the rolling start, but
with so many cars on the grid it was perhaps inevitable that there may be few
cars left along the way. So to give the marshals time to clear them away, the
cars took another pace lap. Chris
Everill again took an immediate lead, and completed a lights to Flag winning run.
Behind him Rod Birley was initial close but so were all the C&M BMW runners,
and they all tripped over each other to ease any pressure Chris might have felt. Fabio got himself in the mix. In the end C&M
BMW Paul Watson was 2nd. Adrian Bradley came up from row 14 to
finish 3rd (surely C&Ms âDrive of the Race if they have one!) 4th
and ahead of 4 BMWs, Fabio Luffarelli was
awarded the WSSCC âDriver of the Raceâ for his mighty efforts! Rod Birley
tumbled away from 2nd place on the last lap and finished 8th
just ahead of Wayne Spiller who again was the first Class Two runner and was
only ½ a second away from taking Rod Birley scalp, (Wayne set a new Class B lap record on the way, shaving a few 10ths of
his race one time!)In 8th place Wayne was ahead of one of the other BMWs, the Pug 308, a Renault Megane and the C &
M mc Mazda RX8. Simon Baker was 15th in Craigs RX8 and was close to
the other RX8 as well and 2nd in Class B. Andrew Williams was
21st with Mike Cook 22nd. All the above were on the lead
lap.
Russell Haggerty was 23rd
and had a bright start, but sadly dropped
back after he was collected by a wayward BMW in one of the worst âRacing incidencesâ in the book. It seems that the BMW either missed his braking
point or ran out of brakes, and hit
Russell, inflicting a lot of damage to
the little NMR. Russell went off the find the Clerk of the Course to report the
situation. Russell had dropped behind Verity
but made back in front of her on the last lap. Verity was 25th.
Castle Combe WSSCC fastest laps Black type = 10/4/2023 Red = 1/4/2024 |
Race Car |
Class |
Lap Time |
Chris
Everill |
Ginetta
G55 |
Five |
01:10.419 |
Damian
Longotano |
Westfield
SE |
Four |
01:12.275 |
Robert
Rees |
Mini
R56 |
Three |
01:17.745 |
Wayne Spiller (race Two) |
Mazda RX8 |
Two |
0 1. 18.182 |
Verity Banks (race One) |
Ford Fiesta |
One |
01:33.520 |
|
|
|
|
4 + starters Ist = 20 points, 2nd = 18 pts 3rd = 16pts etc
3 starters Ist = 18 points, 2nd = 16 pts 3rd = 14pts
2 starters Ist = 16 points, 2nd = 14 pts
1 starter = 14pts
For more details about joining in with the championship, contact Robert Allender on 01792
791686 or 07722261988 and also look on The Welsh Racing Drivers Association website wrda.co.uk
Hi Being the only person to set the fastest lap in each of the four races at Pembery, Damian retains the Colin Gundersen Trophy for 2023
|
21st May Race 1 | New Lap records | 21st May Race 2 | ||||
Class | Name | Time | Points | Class/Name | Time | Points |
Class One | no entries | no entries | no entries | no entries | no entries | no entries |
Two | Craig Attard | 67.075 | 100.0000 | Wayne Spiller | 65.888 | 101.801 |
Three | Nick Crompton | 63.728 | 100.0000 | Mike Cook | 71.845 | 88.702 |
Four | Damian Longatano | 61.163 | 100.0000 | Damian Longatano | 59.982 | 101.968 |
Five | no entries | no entries | no entries | no entries | no entries | no entries |
8th October | 8th October Race 1 | ||
Class | Name | Time | Points |
One | Verity BANKS | 80.933 | 100.0000 |
Two | Wayne SPILLER | 65.941 | 100.0804 |
Three | Robert REES | 66.873 | 93.0795 |
Four | Damian LONGOTANO | 59.857 | 100.0000 |
Five | Chris EVERILL | 59.696 | 100.0000 |
8th October | 8th October Race 2 | ||
Class | Name | Time | Points |
One | Verity BANKS | 79.749 | 101.4847 |
Two | Craig ATTARD | 68.313 | 100.0804 |
Three | Robert REES | 66.263 | 104.9350 |
Four | Damian LONGOTANO | 59.829 | 99.7916 |
Five | Chris EVERILL | 59.848 | 99.7460 |
8th October | Race 1 + 2 | |
Name | Points | Total Points |
Verity BANKS | 101.4847 | 201.4847 |
Craig ATTARD | 100.0804 | 100.0804 |
Robert REES | 104.9350 | 198.0145 |
Damian LONGOTANO | 99.7916 | 199.7916 |
Chris EVERILL | 99.7460 | 199.7460 |
Wayne Spiller | 100.084 | 100.084 |
Hi We
just wanted to let you know that we have some firm dates (plus some offers and
others we are working on)
We will
start at Castle Combe on Eaaster Monday (1/4/2024) and the next Firm date
is at Pembrey on 18/19 May.
BTW This
is the only Pembrey date in 2024.
Please
put those dates in you diaries,
We are
working on others and will let you know when they go firm.
But now
is the time to register your interest!
(reduced
to £150 for 2024)
Please
pass it on
Regards
Robert
Venue |
Date |
Firm or
Possible |
Notes |
Castle
Combe |
Easter
Monday |
Firm |
|
Pembrey
|
18/19
May. |
Firm |
Only
Pembrey Date |
Angelsey |
August |
Possible |
|
Castle
Combe |
August
Bank Hol |
Possible |
Re October 7th and 8th Hi Just to let you that have been given this Special Deal.
For just ã350 we will have a qualifying session on Saturday 7th October (see below* ) and on Sunday our usual 2 championship races plus an extra race for the 'Presidents Cup'
Just to say our Club Motto is 'You dont have to be Welsh to join in the fun' and if you are worried you might have join us to race on the 7th/8th October..you can join us as guest!
*BTW Phil Davies has already agreed to provide a session on Sunday
morning for those drivers who are unable to attend the Saturday
qualifying to complete the mandatory laps required to compete in Sundays races.
Regards Robert
Entry forms are here http://www.wrda.co.uk/assets/files/Pembrey%20October%202023%20WSSCC%20RACE-ENTRY-FORM.pdf
Payment Details are here http://www.wrda.co.uk/assets/files/Pembrey%20October%202023%20Entry%20Payment%20form.pdf
The Welsh Sports & Saloon Car
Championship (WSSCC) is ending its' 33rd
season with races 9 & 10 at Pembrey on Saturday and Sunday 7th & 8th
October . The current Overall Points
leader is Wayne Spiller but Mike Cook is close. In Class Two although Wayne Spiller leads there
is only 2 points between Graig Attard
and Mark Williams for 2nd * 3rd
in class. Dropped Scores should have some impact.
Fastest laps - lap records for some
to the new classes were set in May
Driver |
Car |
Class |
Date |
Time |
To be
set |
No
entries in May 2023 |
One |
To be
set |
To be
set |
Wayne
Spiller |
Mazda
RX8 |
Two |
21-05-2023 |
01:05.888 |
Nick
Crompton |
Fisher
Fury |
Three |
21-05-2023 |
01:03.728 |
Damian
Longotano |
Westfield
SE |
Four |
21-05-2023 |
00:59.982 |
To be
set |
No
entries in May 2023 |
Five |
To be
set |
To be
set |
|
|
|
|
|
Current points
Driver |
Class |
Points |
Wayne
Spiller |
Two |
159 |
Mike
Cook |
Three |
130 |
Craig
Attard |
Two |
118 |
Mark
Williams |
Two |
112 |
Verity
Banks |
One |
84 |
Andrew
K Williams |
Two |
74 |
The Welsh Sports & Saloon Car
Championship (WSSCC) latest races
7 & 8 at Silverstone National
Circuit on Saturday 29oh August. Topping the entry list in Class Five it was good to see Keith Butcher, and his Lamborghini Huracan and
this time the engine chimed up and kept running, after a change of wiring loom
fixed the misfire! Keith confirmed âÂÂWe
were fortunate to borrow one, as it
seems that Italy shuts down during Augustâ (This seemed to be a factor in
Robert Rees deciding not to run his Ferrari! ). Joining us in Class Five was Nigel Mustill from Salisbury in his potent
7000cc Volvo S60 but David Krayem was
missing, as he had damaged the gearbox in
his 7litre Ginetta G50 during Friday test sessions!
It was nice to see Gareth John back with us in his Ginetta G40 (now Class
4). in Class Three we had Mike Cook (BMW 330) In Class Two we had
current points leader Wayne Spiller and his Mazda and also Craig Attard (also Mazda) and Mark Williams and his Renault Clio. Sadly
Andrew Williams wasnâÂÂt fit to drive but was looking after Verity Banks in her
Ford Fiesta. Plus we also had 2 Guests, Christian Douglas in his Aerial Atom who has raced with
us before, and Scott Parkin in a TCR
Audi TT. From Barnsley, Scott was new to
us. Nice to see Andrew Barron who is
part way through the Motorsport UK: Clerk of the Course Training Programme have
previously done a similar role in America, and hope to be our C of C in 2024.
The Race 15 minutes Rolling Start Apparently
we were the only championship to have a rolling start on the event. With Nigel on Pole with Keith 2nd
and Christian Douglas 3rd and all 3 under 60 seconds for the 1.64
mile circuit (Nigel was on 102.19 mph for the lap) it was clear that these
would be setting the pace at the front. And it was Nigel who jumped into the lead,
but Keith harried him setting the races fastest lap early on, only for Nigel to
set the overall and Class 5 lap record on lap 6 and pulled a gap to Keith who
then had to keep Christian at bay crossing the line after 16 laps with only
4.95 between them at the end.
Scott Parkin settled into 4th and was the only driver on 15
laps. After a bit of a mix up on lap one it was resolved with Mark Williams
leading Class Two until the actual Class Two winner Wayne Spiller caught him to
finish 5th ahead of the
returning Class Four Ginetta G40 of
Gareth John who had Mark WILLIAMS for close company ! Craig
ATTARD was 8th overall & 3rd in Class 2. Mike COOK BMW 330 was 9th and Verity was 10th and picked up âÂÂDriver
of the Raceâ award as she had bettered her Quali time by 3.5 seconds.
The grid We lost Nigel Mustill as he said his
gearbox had picked up a leak, and he made an early start for home! This left Keith Butcher and Christian Douglas
on the front row.
Scott Parkin had Wayne Spiller for company. Mark Williams played his Double point Joker
for this race and had Craig Attard for company. Mike Cook and Verity Banks were
on the last row!
Race Two -15 minutes Rolling Start Christian & Keith put on a power show as they diced for the lead. Christian
got ahead, but Keith was at times very close and got into the lead, only for
Christian to re-take the lead on the twisty bits. On the penultimate lap Christian set the
races fastest lap (59.301 seconds 99.58 mph). Keiths fastest lap set in the early laps was 59.309
seconds - 99.57 mph, so there was not much between them, but Keith rolled it back as he knew that Christian was a non-points
-scoring guest, so no points were at stake. One lap down Scott Parkin, Our other guest settled
into 3RD. Behind the podium finishers Mark Williams made a rocket
start to lead Class Two point scorers from 4th and although Gareth John got by
Mark early on, Mark was still leading Class Two from Wayne Spiller. Craig
however had a slow start. It took a few
laps before Wayne got by but Mark Kept him honest
all the way to the Cheqeured flag! Wayne set the Class Two fastest lap
on his last lap! Craig was 7th
Mike Cook was 8th and Verity was 9th. Christian Douglas
was judged to be the âDriver of the Raceâ by Andrew Barron and his fellow
Clerks.
For those who unable to see what the Silverstone National circuit is all about,
should look up Wayne Spillers You Tube
feed showing 100 mph on the straight and 60 mph on the corners! Wow Thatâs what
I call motoring!
You can see the action on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH2R3IIqroY
Results https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=TCRUK/2023/233330wss.pdf
Current points
Driver |
Class |
Points |
Wayne
Spiller |
2 |
159 |
Mike
Cook |
3 |
130 |
Craig
Attard |
2 |
118 |
Mark
Williams |
2 |
112 |
Verity
Banks |
1 |
84 |
Andrew
K Williams |
2 |
74 |
Hi the latest scores in the Blake Edwards Trophy standings after 8 rounds is
Damian Longotano 3 wins
Nigel Mustill 2 wins
Running with the CCMC Super Saloons & Tin Tops at Thruxton on Saturday 29th July , The Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship (WSSCC) ran rounds 5 & 6 at Thruxton There are a mixture of familiar faces and cars, with some new Faces and some new cars. After several false alarms, Nigel Mustil who lives in nearby Salisbury, actually turned up his potent Volvo S60 which has a 7litre Chevy engine! Nigel was in Class Five, the same class as WSSCC stalwart Chris Everill. Also In Class Five was fellow WSSCC stalwart Keith Butcher, who entered his new black Lamborghini Huracan! However Keith couldnâÃÂÃÂt get the engine fired up for more than a few seconds and sadly had to put it back in the trailer and head home, having never turned a wheel! Ian Hall was having another outing with his Darrian T98. Both Ian and newcomer Tommy Field (spaceframe Ford Escort RSR 2000T) were running as Non point scoring guests.
Although the weather forecast was
for rain-showers throughout the day, and
we had 5 minutes of heavy drizzle about
an hour before Quali , but that was it!
The rest of the day was Sunny, Cloudy but
Dry! After Quali we had a WSSCC lock out of the first 2 rows! Nigel Mustil was
fastest with a pole time of 1min 20 seconds dead! (lap speed of 106.02
mph)Tommy Fileld was next (1.20.66) 3rd fastest was Chris Everill
(1.21.531) with Ian Hall 4th (l1.24.553 a lap speed of 100.31 mph)
No one else could crack the 100 mph barrier! Wayne Spiller was 9th fastest but
on Class Two pole (1.28.478) Craig Attard
was 11th and Mark Williams 14th. Mike Cook was 17th
and Verity Banks was 21st on her Class One treaded Tyres. Andrew Williams was looking after VeritysâÃÂÃÂ
car as he wasnâÃÂÃÂt able to drive himself, but he hopes to be out again at
Silverstone.
Race 1 15 minutes . rolling start. Tommy Field took an immediate lead and lead for first 3 laps. Initially Nigel Mustil had Chris Everill alongside him, but a heavy moment over the kerb saw Chris out of race 1 with a broken half shaft. Nigel quickly reeled in TommyâÃÂÃÂs flying Ford and then pulled out a lead that grew to almost 8 seconds after the 11 lap race! Ian Hall was 3rd but had a gaggle of BMWs for Company! After successfully defending 3rd place for a long period, the BMW of Ronan Bradley slipped by with3 laps to go! Ian won the Driver of the Race award for his efforts! In Class Two Mark Williams made a fast start, but Wayne Spiller took over on lap 2 but it took some time for Craig Attard to latch onto the back of Marks Clio, but lap 9 he made a big effort, setting the Class Two fastest lap, as he passed Mark in the later stages. Wayne in 9th place was 1 lap down with 10 laps done as did everybody, including Mike Cook who had Rod Birley for company in the later stages. Verity Banks was 19th but the only driver on Class 1a tyres!
Race 2 Before the start we had
lost Nigel Mustil and Ian Davies, both with a variety of reasons. Chris Everills team worked hard rebuilding
his broken half shaft and hub on the picnic table, and got him back on the grid
(Defo a candidate for Team of the Year)
Race2 15 minutes âÂÂrolling start. There were several false starts as one car stopped on the circuit and had to be recovered, and at the second time of asking, another car one stopped on the circuit and had to be recovered. On the 3rd time of asking the grid got away! Tommy Fields team had worked hard to balance the car, as in race one, the front tyres of the Ford Escort RSR had taken a pounding! This time he took off like a rocket and built a substantial lead he was never to loose! The only opposition was likely to come from Chris Everill who had to start from the back as he was a DNF in race 1. He sliced through the grid but had to work hard to make his way through the top 5, eventually moving into 2nd place by lap 3, but by then Tommy was long gone. Chris got his head down, setting his fastest lap of the race on lap 9 but still was unable to significantly dent Tommys lead. However as Tommy was running as a 'no points scoring guest', Chris was the first points scorer in the race, so can chalk it up towards the Blake Edwards Trophy.
In Class 2 Wayne Spiller was an early leader, until he retired on lap 4
with no clutch. This left Mark Williams in the class lead, but he was overtaken
on lap 5 by Craig Attard. However Mark kept the pressure on Craig throughout
the race and set the Class 2 fastest lap on lap 7! Even so Graig was awarded the
âÂÂDriver of the Dayâ for his efforts! So with Wayne only scoring points in race
one, Craig took 17 points out of Waynes lead
and Mark Williams took 14 points. So Class 2 honours are still up for grabs!
Hi the latest scores in the Blake Edwards Trophy standings
after 6 rounds is
Damian Longotano 3 wins
Wayne Spiller 1 win
In the Colin Gundersen Fastest Lap Trophy the points after 2 rounds at Pembrey are
Calculated as follows
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pembrey 21st
May 2023
A small, select band of brothers (to misquote Shakespeare's
King Henry V) We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, made it to Pembrey and
although the grid was small, the racing was excellent!
Damian Longotano was on pole, whilst
Nick Crompton gave his Class 3 Hayabusa engined
Phoenix,, a run out, but was hampered by Clutch Slip. (unfortunately the
Timekeepers confused Nicks name, with the car maker! Ie the car name was âÂÂA Stuart Taylor PhoenixâÂÂ) Nick confirmed âÂÂIts like a round tube Fisher
Fury type of car.âÂÂ
On the 2nd row was the Mazda pair of Wayne Spiller and Craig Attard
On row 3 was the Clio park of Mark Williams
and Andrew Williams, making it a Class 2 double row
In 7th place was Mike Cook who was also in Class 3
During the Lunch Hour the drivers gathered in the pit-lane,
by the Pace/safety car, to pay respect to Blake Edwards, who passed away recently!
In 1990 Blake was our 1st WSSCC champion and was our Pace/safety car
driver for several years. Roger Dowden, while he is waiting for his engine to be
fixed, stepped into the role.
Andrew Williams and Mike Cook both played their double points Joker Card
for this race
Race One â 15 minutes â Rolling Start. As expected, Damian Longotano took an
immediate lead.
After a lot of
work between practice and the race, Nick Crompton gave it good try, but the slipping
clutch only got worse, and after only 4 laps he was heading for the paddock! The waring Mazda pair
were next up in 2nd & 3rd with Wayne Spiller holding a
narrow lead from Craig Attard. However on lap 6 Damian dramatically slowed! He
had lost the right front mudguard, and suspected the right front tyre might
have slow puncture! Wayne Spiller was
now leading the race, and pulled out a lead from Craig. Andrew Williams was 3rd
as Mike Cook had Mark Williams bottled up, at least until Mikes heavy metal BMW
started to eat his tyres, and Mark was then able to get through on lap 11! The
questions still to be answered were, will Damian make it to the end, and could
Mark Williams catch Andrew Williams? The answers were that, Damian didnâÂÂt make
it to the end, as the tyre started to shred, but his efforts were worthy of âÂÂDriver
of the Raceâ award! Mark did pass Andrew
in the late stages to finish 3rd overall! Craig made a determined
effort to catch Wayne and set the Class 2 lap record to earn himself an extra
point! However Wayne responded and was 1.75 seconds ahead at the end of the
race! Nick Crompton set the Class 3 lap
record on lap 2! Although the grid was
small in number, the racing was excellent! Photo by Roger Dowden,
Race Twoâ 15 minutes â Rolling Start
With Nick Crompton missing with terminal problems with his car and Damian
starting from the back of the grid, the start was taken Wayne Spiller from
Craig Attard on the front row. Wayne
lead for the first laps, but was then overtaken by Craig, just as Damian hove
into view. Damian took time to play himself in, but was in the lead by lap 5.
He then simply drove into the distance and set a series of fastest laps,
setting the fastest lap of the race (59.982) on his penultimate lap, having completed 14
laps! Although being the only starter in his class, meant he wouldnât get an
extra point for the fastest lap, he will still score points in the âColin
Gundersen Trophyâ as well as leading the âBlake Edwards Trophyâ with 3 wins out
of 4 races. Wayne Spiller being the other race winner! Whilst Damian was
powering on his way, Craig was still leading Wayne! The crowd roared*. Or at
least his family did! Craig held sway, until late in the race, he went a little
wide a Hatchets Hairpin and in a shot, Wayne had re-taken the lead! Wayne
pulled a little gap by setting the Class Two Fastest lap â 2 laps before the
end! Damian, Wayne & Craig were all on 14 laps. Meanwhile Mark 180 Williams,
Andrew 88 Williams and Mike Cook were on
13 laps. With Damian, Wayne and Mike Cook all setting Class Fastest laps! Craig Attard was given the âDriver of the Raceâ
for his efforts. So now on to Thruxton and Silverstone before the final race of
2023 at Pembrey in October, however we will need a zoom conference soon as we
need to explain why the club and Championship (Your Club and your Championship)
need more entries especially at Pembrey. More details soon.
Pembrey results https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2023/232021wss.pdf
·
BTW The Crowd Roars is a 1932 American drama about Club Racing in America starring James
Cagney
WSSCC Rounds 1 & 2 Castle
Combe Monday 10th April Entry and
Qualifying.
It was a sunny & warm Easter, that is until it came to race day, when
an overnight heavy rain band swept across the circuit! This left the track too
wet for an early start, and the action was delayed until 10.00 and the Qualifying
for the Combined C &M Sliiyhoutes and WSSCC runners started at 11.30. The track was still damp. Fastest was C& M mc runner Lewis Smith
Mercedes SLK Next was
Chris EVERILL with fellow Ginetta
driver David KRAYEM. 7th
was Damien LONGOTANO with fellow Westfield driver Nick CROMPTON Westfield was 9th
Robert REES was 11th BMW Mini
with Wayne SPILLER Mazda RX8 16th The rest of WSSCC runners were 19th to 25th
starting with the returning Jason âÂÂpeg-legâÂÂPeard for his first race since he recovered from
his broken leg, (Honda Civic Type R) and
Andrew WILLIAMS ( Renault Clio), Both in Class 2 as they were running slicks for the
first time. Next, and making his WSSCCC debut was Craig ATTARD (Mazda RX8). Gareth HAYCOCK joined us as a guest in his âÂÂHot Hatchâ BMW Mini S) and he was
really pleased to support us on this occasion. Mike COOK (BMW 330) and Verity BANKS (Ford Focus) were the final WSSCC
runners ,with C&M runner Keith WHITE
was last (having won the WSSCC Championship in 2014/15 lets hope he can see the
new WSSCC regs would suit his car again). Sadly several of the potential
runners hadnâÂÂt got their cars ready. One of the missing was Nigel Mustill, as
he damaged the Volvo S169 the
previous weekend in a warm-up race, so
he may know the famous Swedish drivers
Axil Bengt or his cousin Bengt Axil!
Dave Krayem and Chris Everill were also doing the Castle Combe GT races as well as ours. However Dave had
problems and missed our races as well as the 2nd Castle Combe GT race.
Race 1 (WSSCC round 1 â Rolling Start )
The Clerk decided to start the C &M Silhouettes first with a light
start and us with a 20 second gap would get a flag start. Chris and Damian are well used to controlling
the WSSCC starts and they kept the gird
nice and tight until the flag
waved. Chris took off like a proverbial
scalded cat and chased after the Silhouettes, and he soon caught and passed
quite a few, until he pulled up after 8 laps. He said later â I wanted
to catch them allâ However he had done enough to take the âÂÂDriver of the
Raceâ award. This left Damian to take
the WSSCC race win. Behind him was Robert Rees who took the Class 3 award.
Wayne Spiller headed Class 2 with Mike Cook next.
Jason Peard won the battle of the former BT team mates ahead of Andrew Williams. Verity Banks was the only BT/ Class One runner .
The weather was dry, but very windy, and there should be an award for
âÂÂCatching Roberts cap!â It was such a problem that we decided to do race 2
awards at the next race at Pembrey.
Results race One https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CCRC/2023/231568rc1wss.pdf
In between races , (the lunch break didnâÂÂt happen) it was nice to catch up with a
breaded Mike Moss and his wife Jenny,
who was wearing one of those thick Orthopaedic boots, having fallen downstairs
at home! Sadly she said it may be October before she can do without it! Which
kind of took the gloss of the old joke that came to mind, about Poison
Mushrooms and falling downstairs!
Race 2 (WSSCC round 1 Rolling Start )
Flag start timed at 17.59 ( one minute to 6.00 pm) At the start of race 2 we were missing Chris
Everill who had a big front end shunt in the Combe GT race, when someone
unexpectedly jumped on the brakes in front of him! A lot of red tank tape was used, but sadly
the car wasnâÂÂt fit to do the 2nd WSSCC race.
However starting from the back we had, Gareth Haycock, who had solved
his race 1 fault . Also starting at the
back was Craig Attard âÂÂThe car had fuel
pickup/ pressure problem so i could only use 3/4 throttle and only had 6500 rpm
instead of 9500. Iâ ve got a whole new
tank and fuel system to go in so fingers crossed for Pembrey. â Nick Crompton was also starting from the back, after missing race One. Nick takes
up the story âÂÂMy daughter called me just before race 1, upset she was stuck on the motorway on her
way up to Combe as the dsg gearbox had
gone bang! So dad to the rescue, I went
to pick the car up with the trailer, so I missed the raceâÂÂ
As the flag dropped to start the race, Damian went into the lead from
fellow front row man Robert Rees, but Nick Crompton was soon on the move! Unfortunately Mike Cook had to take to the
grass to avoid the charging Nick! Nick later apologised to Mike having seen the
photos of the start. âÂÂIâÂÂm sorry I didnâÂÂt realise it at the time!â However Nick, using an engine he bought
from Damian, was soon up to 2ND
place, and on the 3rd lap he was in the lead of Class Four, and the
lead of the race! Entering the closing
stages, Damian retook the lead and set the Class fastest lap to stay on the
lead lap! Meanwhile Nick, Robert Rees and Wayne Spiller all went 1 lap down. Jason Peard,
Andy Williams, Mike Cook, Gareth Haycock were on all 11 laps , with
Verity Banks on 10 laps. With the race
due to end at 18.15 (6.15) with the high
winds not showing any signs of slackening off, we decided to do the race 2
awards, at Pembrey.
In the meantime
Wayne Spiller leads with 42 points from Jason âÂÂpeg-leg Peard â 36 pts & Robert Rees 34 pts
Driver |
Class |
Points |
Wayne
Spiller |
2 |
42 |
Jason
Peard |
2 |
36 |
Robert
Rees |
3 |
34 |
Andrew
K Williams |
2 |
32 |
Damian
Longotano |
4 |
31 |
Verity
Banks |
1 |
28 |
Mike
Cook |
3 |
28 |
Nick
Crompton |
4 |
14 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship (WSSCC) is entering its 33rd season with the first 2 races at Castle Combe on Bank Holiday Monday 10th April with some changes aimed at simplifying the regulations to help the championship stay relevant, as a new series of cars become available. There is still the same mix of cars and Class One is for cars up to 2 litre on List 1a Tyres.
In all the other classes there is a free choice of tyres. Classes 2 to 5 are only separated by the cc of the engine.
Class 2 - Saloons, Road Sports, and GT Cars up to 2000cc.
Class 3 - Saloons, Road Sports and GT cars over 2000cc.
Class 4 - Supercars and Kit cars up to 2000cc + Motorcycle Engine Cars.
Class 5 - Supercars and Kit cars over 2000cc.
There are a mixture of familiar faces and cars, with some new Faces and some new cars.
Several faces are trying Slick tyres for the first time. Also among the new faces for 2023 are Craig Attard who is joining us with a Mazda RX8.
Nick Crompton is re-joining us with a 'Stuart Taylor' sportscar (a Fisher Fury type of car) powered by a Haybusa motorcycle engine.
However if he runs into problems with the car, he has a Westfield waiting in the wings. Keith Butcher, who has used various Audi cars over the years, has entered a Lamborghini Huracan!
Keith a WSSCC stalwart will be in Class Five the same class as fellow WSSCC stalwarts Chris Everill and Dave Karyem.
Joining us a guest is the familiar face of Gareth Haycock, who has spent some time setting up his new business 'Image Paintworks' and counts several F1 teams amongst his clients!
Colin Dunn who is the current champion is taking a short break but may join us later in the year. Colin from Cheltenham, proves the championships motto ' You don't have to be Welsh to join in the fun'
Castle Combe Entries
Car No. |
Class |
Name |
Car |
Sponsor |
|
53 |
One |
Verity |
Banks |
Ford Focus |
|
7 |
One |
Rodney |
Teague |
Renault Clio |
Hillcroft Garage |
14 |
One |
Tyrone |
Dowsell |
Renault Clio |
Hillcroft Garage |
52 |
t b c |
Mike |
Cook |
BMW 330 |
Cockoo Spring Cottages |
33 |
Two |
Jason |
Peard |
Honda Civic Type R |
Hillcroft Garage |
88 |
Two |
Andrew |
Williams |
Renault Clio |
Hillcroft Garage |
96 |
Two |
Wayne |
Spiller |
Mazda RX5 |
Intelle Construction |
56 |
Two |
Craig |
Attard |
Mazda RX5 |
Rocket Dog Racing |
180 |
Two |
Mark |
Williams |
Renault Clio |
Prompt Transport |
|
|
||||
15 |
Three |
Robert |
Rees |
BMW Mini T |
|
80 |
Three |
Nick |
Crompton |
Stuart Taylor Haybusa (M) |
AKA Fisher Fury |
or |
Maybe |
Nick |
Crompton |
Westfield |
|
|
|
||||
44 |
Four |
Damien |
Longotano |
Westfield SE |
Whitchurch Motor Sevices Ltd |
36 |
Five |
Keith |
Butcher |
Lamborghini Huracan |
|
169 |
Five |
Chris |
Everill |
Ginetta G55 |
CE Commercials |
888 |
Five |
David |
Krayem |
Ginetta G50 |
Speed Tec Motorsport |
17 |
Guest |
Gareth |
Haycock |
BMW Mini S |
Image Paintworks |
The weather was ok for the final
races of the 2022 season. It wasn’t the heatwave conditions we had at
Silverstone & Donington, but at least it was dry! We were also in the pit
garages for this event!
Entry and Qualifying
The
races were on the ‘Classic’ AXA National Circuit It was the first time in many
years that all our races had been on this layout. We had a good grid of Championship points
scorers, plus a few guests, most notably Ian Hall in a big-engined V8
Darrrian Wildcat T98-GTR 5995. Ian, an old-time engineer set the 6th
fastest time but his big engine must have blasted the silencer wading and he
was taken to task for being too noisy!
Some people offered with some spare wading but Ian was content to have
found his car could turn left, and decided to miss the race! Another driver who
would practice but miss the race was Roger Dowden, who was having his first
race of the season, but found the engine
on his Davrian Mk6 had blown up! (Same as last year) Verity Banks was missing from the grid as her
car has sprung an Oil Leak. A Man that did make it was Martin Davies, who had
now bought back the RS 2000 that he used and gave him his first races in the WSSCC in 1992!
Unfortunately, all he had this time, where some unsuitable rally tyres !
Pole
went to Chris Everill in CE Commercials Ginetta G55 with Deri Davies alongside.
Damian Longotano was 3rd with Mike Manning 4th
5th
and on the Class BS pole was Gareth John with a gap where Ian Hall should be
7th
was Todd Garner with Wayne Spiller
alongside making it a Class BS1-2-3
9th
was Robert Rees with Colin Dunn 10th and on Class BT Pole
11th
was the sideways MGB GT of Aled Dark. 12th
was Andrew Williams Honda Civic R
13th was the also sideways Martin Davies 14th was Rodney
Teague Renault Clio
15th
was Tyrone Dowsell Renault Clio in 16th
should have been Roger Dowden
17th
was Mike Cook and the big BMW 330
Clubsport in 18th was Alan Smith and his Ford KA Sport on AT tyres
19th
was Russell Haggerty with his Ford KA on
BT tyres and 20th was Neil Thomas
(guest Class I) with his 2.5 MG B GT 2.
In the
paddock, Damian Longotano
was flat out (actually on his back,) underneath Gareth John's car, helping to
pack his exhaust, to help get Gareth’s car to pass the noise test!
At the start of the race, Colin Dunn, had one hand on the Overall Winners Trophy, but he needed to finish both the last races of the 2022 season, as he had Wayne Spiller and Tyrone Dowsell close, if he had any hiccups!
Round 13
After the
pace car lap, the car showing first was a fast-starting Deri
Davies who got his Darrian going first but he was overtaken by Chris Everill
who has stalked by Damian Longotano, who took over to
win after pressuring Chris into a tyre-locking moment at Hatchets Hairpin. I
don’t propose writing too much as we paid to have the race covered by the BARC
film crew. Suffice to say that having passed the Ka’s, Neil Thomas had a wild spin and worked hard to
keep it away from the crash barrier! Meanwhile Neil's mate and fellow MG driver
Aled Dark was going well, (but with a lot of tank tape on his bonnet), until he
noticed a Black and White Flag showing with what he thought was his number ‘ I
could only see the ‘5’ so I thought it might be my number (135), and maybe it
was because the tank tape was coming off, so I pulled into the pit lane but the Clerk of
the Course told me he didnt want to see me!
It was too late to make up time, and I ended up as NC!’ (Not Classified
as a Finisher) Robert Rees had a race-long duel, with Mike Manning, and got past on what should have been the last lap! Mike
repassed Robert on the next lap! However, the organisers realised their mistake
and started to show the Chequered Flag, but counted the results back to the 15-minute mark, which put Robert 4th and Mike 5th!
Robert was awarded the ‘Driver of the Race’ as decided by the Pembrey Marshals.
Round 14
So the grid set off for the final race in
the 2022 season. Damian Longotano won the race but Chris Everill
kept a close watch on the Westfield! The other sight was seeing the Class BS
runners all in one close order.
Deri Davis got the Driver of the
Race’ for race 2. At the end the race 2,
it was Colin Dunn, who was the overall champion, with Wayne Spiller and Tyrone
Dowsell tied on points for 2nd
place overall.
So having had some great racing in 2022, we
now need to start planning for the 2022 awards night and the 2023 season!
In the meantime, you can relive some of the 2022 races.
WSSCC on Camera Pembrey on Camera with Race 1 2hr 24m
Race 2 7hr 15m
On the BARC Truck Racing Pembrey Oct 9th https://youtu.be/00mIo3Cm2p4
Castle Combe 12th June 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkm61w2ei6Q
DONINGTON PARK CIRCUIT 2022 WSSCC Donington Park Race 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inffLq4qqew
750mc Anglesey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HF_LdAuv5w
Blake
Edwards Award Winners |
||
Driver |
Car |
Wins |
Chris Everill |
Ginetta G55 V8 |
7 |
Damian Longotano |
Westfield SE |
4 |
Rhys Lloyd |
Opel Astra |
1 |
Todd Garner |
Renault Clio |
2 |
Colin Gundersen Trophy |
||||||
Race 1 |
Race 2 |
Race 1 |
Race 2 |
|||
Class |
Name |
08-May-22 |
08-May-22 |
09-Oct-22 |
09-Oct-22 |
Total
points |
CS |
Damian
Longatano |
100.67 |
100.67 |
99.69 |
98.64 |
399.67 |
D |
Chris
Everill |
98.65 |
97.45 |
98.25 |
97.75 |
392.10 |
AT |
Alan
Smith |
78.85 |
90.62 |
90.07 |
98.22 |
357.76 |
BS |
Gareth
John |
99.66 |
- |
100.16 |
- |
199.82 |
BS |
Wayne
Spillier |
- |
100.15 |
- |
98.30 |
198.45 |
BT |
Colin
Dunn |
- |
- |
97.47 |
98.30 |
195.77 |
BT |
Andrew
Williams |
94.06 |
94.07 |
- |
- |
188.13 |
CT |
Mike
Cook |
- |
- |
93.81 |
91.93 |
185.74 |
AS |
Russell
Haggerty |
- |
- |
91.27 |
- |
91.27 |
It was nice and sunny, for us, when
the clouds parted. It wasn’t the heatwave conditions we had at Silverstone
& Donington, but at least it was dry, as most of Wales had been hit by
heavy showers in the run-up to the race day!
Entry and Qualifying
The races on the Anglesey Coastal course https://www.angleseycircuit.com/venue/circuit-configurations/coastal/
are the first time for the Welsh Sports &
Saloon Championship to race on this layout, so Fastest Laps for the classes
present would be set. We had a good grid of Championship points scorers, plus a
few guests, most notably Christian Douglas, who was driving an Ariel Atom. (a
car we have had in the WSSCC a few years ago)
Christian joined us to link up with Ben Scriven,
who also looks after Chris & Dave’s cars, among many others. We have a
pair of drivers who are having their first race of the season, Neil Thomas
& Aled Dark, both driving an MGB GT, but it has various states of tune. Thomas
& Dark are from the Mid Wales/Aberystwyth area, as is Deri Davies, who
drives a Darrian T90. John Morris from Hereford made It 4 guest drivers
in the 17-car grid!
Pole
went to Christian Douglas (non -points
scoring guest) In the Lucky 7 Racing Ariel Atom! with Chris Everill alongside CE Commercials Ginetta G55 (Chris was the first of the
points scorers)
On
the 2nd row, Dave Krayrem was 3rd fastest in his Ginetta
G55 but a sensational 4th
fastest was Wayne Spiller, who took the Class BS pole in his Edwards & Ross
Pallets sponsored Mazda RX8! Wayne was on his 3rd engine of the year
and he said he bought this one from the internet!
On row 3 were Deri Davies and Gareth John.
On row 4 was Todd Garner, the former BS points leader, and (non-points scoring guest) John Morris (Tigra)
On Row 5 was (Aled Dark (non-points scoring guest) MGB GT V8 & Colin Dunn on the Class BT pole.
Row 6 was an all-BT row with Rodney Teague and Andrew Williams.
On Row 7 were Mike Cook CT BMW and
Tyrone Dowsell (Class BT Clio )
On Row 8 was Neil Thomas’ MGB GT (non-points scoring
guest) and Verity Banks
Race 1 – Round 11 -15 minutes
After the
pace car lap the car showing first was Christian Douglas (Ariel
Atom) in close dice with Chris Everill, Dave Karyem was an untroubled 3rd,
with a fast starting Wayne Spiller in 4th place. But then Deri Davies got his Darrian going and passed Wayne
to run in 4th but was then in a close dice with Wayne for many laps!
Deri drew away late on but by now Wayne was well in charge of BT, but Gareth
John, recovering from a spin at the hairpin (it was on his own and perhaps he
was trying too hard) put in a late spurt
to close on Wayne at the end. Wayne finished 5th and Gareth has 6th
and the last driver on the lead lap! (Wayne’s efforts netted him the ‘Driver of
the Race' award, and with him choosing to use his Joker in this race it was all
good.)
Todd Garner had a good dice with John Morris, until Morris pulled off
with a cloud of steam coming from the engine! Aled Dark had a good, if
untroubled race to 8th place. In Class BT Rodney Teague was the initial leader
from Colin Dunn! But Colin applied the pressure and passed Rodney for the Class
lead. Rodney stayed in touch, to keep Colin in sight. Andrew Williams had a close dice with Tyrone
Dowsell which was elevated to a fight
for 11th & 12th after Mike Cook had a quick spin, which dropped him behind
Neil Thomas MGB! Andrew meanwhile was doing anything to shake off Tyrone who
included kicking a cloud of dust on the exit of turn one, which had only
partly cleared when Christian Douglas hove into view!
Christian lapped Tyrone but before he could catch Andrew, the chequered flag flew, which ended the race! Neil Thomas’ MGB
GT was 13th, Mike Cook was 14th and Verity Banks was 15th.
In the meantime, Christian Douglas had straight forward lights to flag victory,
but it was Chris Everill, who was the first points scorer!
Roger Dowden
made the trip up, and we were able to ask the pace-car driver to bunch the grid
up at the start of race 2 as Race 1 was a bit too quick and spaced the grid
out too much!
Race 2 – Round 12 -15 minutes
This time the grid was good as the lights change to start
the race! Chris Everill took the lead from Christian, who later
retook it and then ran to the chequered flag! Chris was the first Class D point
scorer and had used his Joker card to double his points. Deri Daves got a good
start and was in 3rd place early on, until Dave Krayem overtook
him! But Deri wasn’t willing to accept this and in a ‘David and Goliath act
using his kept harrying Dave and his 7 litre Ginetta, with his more nimble 2
litre Darrian until he retook 3rd place late on. Dave then chased
hard but Deri was able to break away after lapping some backmarkers, and
crossed the line some 2.5 seconds apart. Deri was awarded the ‘Driver of
the Race’ award for his efforts! Behind the big ‘D’ fight in the BS Class, Todd
Garner got the best start, while Wayne Spiller got a bad one and found himself
bottled up behind Gareth John. Wayne could sense Todd getting away, and so he
was maybe somewhat forceful whilst getting past Gareth! (Post-race Wayne was
called up to discuss the incident with the Clerk of the Course) Wayne in the meantime reeled in Todd Garner and got
past him to take an Anglesey BS double win, with the extra point for the Class
BS fastest lap! Todd finished 6th and was the last car on the lead
lap! Gareth John was 7th. Aled Dark rumbled once again and had a
straightforward run to 8th place In 9th place Colin Dunn
was in charge of Class BT, but Rodney Teague ran him close, getting alongside
in the early laps! Andrew Williams and Tyrone Dowsell had another close dice,
with only a second between them. Tyrone was the last runner on 12 laps. In 13th
place was Neil Thomas sideways MGB which held Mike Cooks BMW at bay. Verity
Banks was also on 11 laps.
So our Anglesey sojourn came to an end. Bright and breezy and within the sight of Mount Snowdon!
750 filmed us (at no cost) and the link is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HF_LdAuv5w
It starts with our 1st Race and Thanks to Eric Dunn who says
our 2nd race is at 3hrs 19
minutes
Results are available here
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NP7u_rh5Wvlqt-2n7itPdfbuP2AWYNc0
Pre-event Championship
points Andrew K Williams BT Honda
R/Clio 153 points, Tyrone Dowsell BT
Renault Clio 154 pts, Colin Dunn BT
Renault Clio 146 pts Todd Garner BS Renault Clio 139 pts, Wayne Spiller BS Mazda RX8 130 pts, Gareth John BS Ginetta G40 112 pts, Chris Everill D Ginetta G55 110 pts Damian Longotano CS Westfield SE 96 pts, Verity Banks BT Ford Fiesta 90 pts, Rodney Teague BT Renault Clio 65 pts
Entry &
Qualifying. It was another heat-wave weekend, only this week there were no
garages to shelter in! Barc Clerk Andrew Harris gave us a briefing, which
included not damaging Johnathon Palmer's grass! With dire consequences, if you
did!
The front row had a familiar feel! Chris Everill was on pole in his red
Ginetta G55 1:14.756. Alongside him was Damian Longotano with his Westfield SE
On the 2nd row and 3rd
fastest was the first of our Irish guests Paul Parr and his SHP Wildcat 2000 and his
mate Charlie Linaanne SHP RT2000 2000
On row 3 was one of our UK guests , Klaas Kooiker and his BMW M3 plus Gareth John who took the Class BS pole with
his Ginetta G40
On row 4 was Todd Garner (Renault Clio) and fellow BS
man Wayne Spiller (Mazda RX8) Todd had a straight-on, tyre smoking moment at
Redgate. It may have been he was trying too hard, for a quick time!
On row 5 were Robert Rees ( BMW Mini R56t) and Colin DUNN who took the
BT pole with the first of the many BT Clios .
On row 6 was another Irish pair of
John Newport and Gary Grattan both in Wildcats (seem like the RT2000 cars from several years ago.
On row 7 was an all BT row of Andrew WILLIAMS (Honda) and Rodney Teague Renault Clio 2000
On row 8 were Tyrone Dowsell (BT Clio)
and Alan SMITH Ford KA (AT)
On row 9 was Russell Haggerty
also with a Ford KA but not on List 1a tyres so Class AS
On row 10 it was a low start for Mike COOK (BMW 330 Clubsport) and Verity BANKS
(Ford Focus)
We should have had at least 2 more starters but one of the Irish guys Gary
Cochran, damaged his engine in testing
And John Morris who couldn’t get
to Donington.
Race 1 15 minutes – Rolling start. As the cars approached the lights, Chris Everill took a lead he was never to lose, although Damian Longotano closed up to a couple of 10ths of a second, Chris’ lead had grown to a second or so by lap 7. And that’s where the fun ended, as Andrew Williams had gone off on the same lap, and the safety car was scrambled. With Andy stuck, the race ended under the safety car! Meanwhile, Tyrone Dowsell had disappeared to the pits! Behind the flying Chris & Damian, the first of the Irish rovers, Paul Parr was in 3rd place. 4th was Charlie Linanne, but he disappeared leaving our UK guest, Klaas Kooiker and his BMW M3 in 4th place. And he worked at closing the gap to Paul, until the safety car stopped play! Gareth John was then 5th but Jon Newport (Irish Wildcat) passed him and began close the gap to Klass. Up until lap 5 Gareth seemed well in charge of Class BS, but then he spun down the order, as he explains,’ I’d managed to build up quite a healthy lead but then mid-way through the race I overheated my tyres just pushing too hard in the heat. Turned into McLeans and suffered huge understeer, tried to correct it but ended up spinning the car and ended up in the gravel trap. I managed to get across the gravel onto the grass but ripped part of the rear bumper in the process. I managed to get back onto the track by which time I’d lost a lot of time. Was slowly catching Wayne and Todd back up, but then the safety car came out and so it was game over! Ah well that’s how it goes sometimes. At least I had the fastest lap as consolation!’ All this drama let Todd Garner into 6th place followed closely by Wayne Spiller, and Robert Rees, with Gareth now he passed Robert to finish 8th! Behind the Class BS runners, it was hammer & tongs time in Class BT. Verity Banks disappeared early on, but this time it was just a Flat Battery, (that was soon fixed for Race 2, thanks to Colin Dunn ) Leading Class BT was Andrew Williams, (back in Jason Peard’s Honda), by a narrow margin from Colin Dunn and Tyrone Doswell. Gary Gratton (Irish Wildcat) and Mike Cook (BMW 330) were also in the mix! Andrew continued to head the class, but Colin was keeping the pressure on! Suddenly on lap 7 at the Craner Curves Andrew had a brief trip around the edge of the Gravel Trap! With a flat tyre and tyre-rim full of gravel, the marshals were not minded letting Andrew continue, although he wanted to. Rod Teague had retired to the pits. With cars stranded around the circuit, the safety car was scrambled, and the race ended under the safety car! So Colin was the Class BT winner with Tyrone Dowsell as the only other BT finisher, although 5 Class BT cars had started! Behind them, Russell Haggerty and Alan Smith, had a battle of the Ford KA’s, although Alan was in AT as he was on list 1 tyres, and Russell would be in Class AS as he wasn’t. So the race ran its 15 minutes distance under the Safety Car with Chris taking his 5th win of the year.
Race 2 – Rolling start! Earlier in the
programme, the 50-minute Britcar took an age to complete with 2 red flag
moments and lots of clearing up to do! This had a knock on effect and instead
of our race starting at 17.50 (with a Circuit curfew at 18.30) it actually started at 18.23! However
Chris Everill was missing, ‘I had a problem with my lorry and had to get that
sorted so missed the race!’ ( Gareth John will understand. He got stranded at Silverstone
when his tow car stopped!!)
This left Damian Longotano to charge into the lead! He was chased by Paul Parr
who keep him honest and Jon Newport!
Klaas Kooiker moved into 4th place and a quick starting Robert Rees was
5th until the Class BS trio caught and passed him! Todd Garner was under pressure from Gareth
John, who pushed him all the way. Gareth confirmed ‘ I could have a made a
pass on him a few times during the race, but it would have been too risky. He
would pull too much of a gap on me on the straights and I just couldn’t get
close enough to make a clean pass. I still enjoyed the race. It was clean to be
fair to Todd, and he defended well. Again I had the fastest lap so I was happy with
that.’ Wayne Spiller was 6th and Robert Rees was the last
runner on the lead lap and finished 7th. The leading runner on 11
laps was Gary Grattan (Irish Wildcat) who finished in 8th place and was chased all the way by the Class BT winner Colin Dunn. 10th and on 10
laps was Mike Cook. (Class CT BMW 339. If I say the remaining runners included Alan
Smith, Russell Haggerty, and Verity Banks (2nd in Class BT), you may
say, ‘What happened to the rest of the BT starters!’ Redgate is what
happened! Having taken the start, Andrew
Williams and Tyrone Dowsell found themselves disputing the same piece of Track!
Andrew’s (or is it Jason’s) Front bumper/aerodynamic aid was stranded in the
middle of the track until one of the marshals dashed out to collect it! Both
Andrew and Tyrone were out on the spot, and Verity Banks stopped to avoid the
chaos, but restarted, and motored on to take some welcome points! Alan Smith
was another to emerge from the fracas, but did not get off lightly, with a huge
dent in the passenger side door and front wing area! However, the adrenaline must have been flowing,
as he stalked, and then passed Russell Haggerty! In the latter stages, Jon Newport retired to
the paddock, with a dead engine! So
Damian ran out as the winner, as the race eventually finished a few minutes
after the curfew!
Post-event Championship
points Colin Dunn BT Renault Clio 187 points, Todd Garner BS Renault Clio 175 pts, Tyrone Dowsell BT Renault Clio 172 pts, Wayne Spiller BS Mazda RX8 160 pts, Andrew K Williams BT Honda
R/Clio 153 pts Gareth John BS Ginetta
G40 144 pts, Chris Everill D Ginetta G55
124 pts Damian Longotano CS Westfield SE
130 pts, Verity Banks BT Ford Fiesta 108
pts, Rodney Teague BT Renault Clio 65
pts
Donington
Park Lap Records |
|||||
National Circuit |
|||||
Class |
Driver |
Time |
Date set |
Conditions |
Set |
Class AS |
Russell Haggerty |
1.34.096 |
14/08/2022 |
Sunny& hot |
Race 2 |
Class AT |
Alan Smith |
1.36.101 |
14/08/2022 |
Sunny& hot |
Race 1 |
Class
CT |
Mark Williams |
1.26.761 |
26/07/2018 |
Rainy /Wet |
|
Class BS |
Gareth John |
1.20.033 |
14/08/2022 |
Sunny& hot |
|
Class BT |
Colin Dunn |
1.26.417 |
14/08/2022 |
Sunny& hot |
Race 2 |
Class CS |
Damian Longotano |
1.14.569 |
14/08/2022 |
Sunny& hot |
Race 1 |
Class D |
Chris Everill |
1.14.948 |
14/08/2022 |
Sunny& hot |
Race 1 |
Class I |
Jason Davies |
1.14.426 |
26/07/2018 |
Rainy /Wet |
|
Class M |
Fabio Luffarelli |
1.18.849 |
26/07/2018 |
Rainy /Wet |
The races on
the Silverstone National course were the first time for the Welsh Sports &
Saloon Championship to race on this layout, so Fastest Laps for all classes were there to be set.
The entry – It was the start of the ‘Heatwave’ and it was Hot in the sun, but as we were assigned garages it was cooler! Especially when the doors on both the pitlane side and paddock side were open! Although Class BT was the largest, with Andrew Barron giving an Aston Martin V12 a run out in Class D, and with Keith Butcher, Chris Everill & Dave Krayem, that made it 4 Class D runners for the first time in many years! Robert Rees joined us for the first time and made a good debut with an impressive 9th Place!
Qualifying We shared the grid with C&MMC (Classic and Modern) Modern Cars class. However the man on a mission was Dave Krayem, who had raced at Combe the day before, and he annexed Pole with a time of 59.866 secs and was just over a second faster than Chris Everill (who was also at Combe on Saturday!) Keith Butcher was 3rd making it a Class D 1-2-3 lockout! Damian Longotano shared the 2nd row with Keith. On row 3 was the first of the C&M runner's Matt Eddolls Aston Martin and Gareth John who took the Class BS pole!
On Row 4 was
Wayne Spiller(Mazda RX8) and Todd Garner (Renault Clio )
On Row 5 Robert
Rees made his WSSCC debut in his Mini R56 and shared the row with the massive C&MMC Ford Taurus!
On Row 6 Colin
Dunn took the Class BT pole ahead of WSSCC Guest, Matthew Jones, and his Ford Focus. On Row 7 it was Class BT Renault Clios of Rod Teague & Tyrone
Dowsell
On Row 8 Andrew Barron moved to Class D to debut his Aston Martin V12 and the returning Mike Cook BMW 330 (now Class BT). Andrew Williams(Renault Clio) & Verity Banks (Ford Fiesta) made up the grid.
Race One – Round 7 -
15 Minutes Rolling Start. Dave Krayem converted pole into the lead, but he
had Chris Everill and Keith Butcher in close attendance. With the leaders
making a glorious rumbling sound, Dave held sway for the first 3 laps, but
outduelled himself and gifted the lead to Chris Everill with Keith in 2nd
place! Dave was soon back on it, and
he closed up to Keith and re-took 2nd
place on Lap 8, and set the Class D lap record in the process! He put Chris
under extreme pressure, until on lap 11,
after a big spin, he drifted into the pits to check the car and tyres over! This left Chris to reel off the laps, with Keith keeping
him honest! This should have let Andrew Barron into 3rd in Class D
and a trophy! However, he also pitted having overheated his brakes. ‘The Pedal
went long, so I decided not to risk it! Dave Kayems demise let Damian Longotano into 3d place overall, some
way back but with Matt Eddolls Aston
Martin for company! These 4 were the only cars on the lead lap at the end! The massive C&MMC Ford Taurus was 5th 6th
and winning Class BS was Gareth John; just ahead of Todd Garner (7th)and Wayne Spiller (8th). An Impressive
9th on his debut was Robert Rees! In 10th and winning
Class, BT was Colin Dunn who was 12 secs ahead of Tyrone Dowsell, who had Rodney
Teague right on his tail! In 13th
place was Alex Balwin, one of the C&MMC
guys in a Citreon Saxo! 14th was the returning Mike Cook and
his Big Beemer, who took the CT spoils.
We shared the grid with Peugeot 206 GTi cup runners, Andrew Williams
was 18th in the midst of them and Verity Banks 23rd out
of 25 finishers. So Chris Everill ran out the winner but the Ginetta was less
than 10 seconds ahead of Keith Butcher.
Among the
lap record setters
In Class D David KRAYEM Ginetta G50 59.930 secs 98.54 mph
Class CS Damian LONGOTANO Westfield SE 1:00.963 secs 96.87 mph
Class BS Gareth JOHN
Ginetta G40 GT5 1:06.339 secs 89.02 mph
Class BT Colin DUNN Renault Clio 1:11.737 secs 82.32 mph
Class CT Mike COOK BMW 330
1:12.663 secs 81.27 mph
Race Two – Round 8 - 15 Minutes Rolling Start. With the finishing order of Race 1 setting the grid for Race 2, this meant we were missing Matthew Jones but Andrew Barron and Dave Krayem were at the back along with the massive C&MMC Ford Taurus now with its 2nd Driver in.,. At the front Chris Everill took the lead he was never to lose! A fast-starting Damian Longotano slotted into 2nd place ahead of Keith Butcher. Robert Rees also made a good start, but Dave Krayem was on the march and slipped by into 4th place on lap 2. It took him several laps to move past Keith Butcher and then Damian Longotano but by the time Dave got into 2nd place, Chris had a good 14-second cushion he kept until the Chequered flag flew after 15 laps! Damian Longotano was 3rd and Keith Butcher was 4th only a few seconds behind! In 5th place, Matt Eddolls Aston Martin was the last car on the lead lap! The massive Ford Taurus was 6th with Robert Rees 7th. In 8th place, Wayne Spiller and his RX8 was the only BS runner to finish and gained a full points Class win, after Gareth John took the start, but ended his race on the first lap! (Sadly Gareth also had some trouble getting home as his tow Vehicle broke down and left him and his crew stranded at the circuit until the rescue vehicle turned up!) There was even more joy for Wayne as Todd Garner drifted into the pits to retire on Lap 2! In 9th Place, Colin Dunn was the Class BT winner and the last person on 14 laps, but Tyrone Dowsell did keep him honest! I’m sure Rodney Teague would have liked to put more pressure on Tyrone but he had a good dice with Alex Baladwn one of C&MMC guys in a Citreon Saxo! In 13th Place was Andrew Barron in his Class D Aston Martin (his other car is a Rover BRM) 14th was the Douglas Bader of the WSSCC, Mike Cook, and his CT BMW. Andrew Williams was in 18th place, but sadly Verity Banks was the last runner and after a smoky last lap, slowed to a stop in the pit lane, and was pushed back to the garage by 2 kind marshals! (cue for a lot of work by the Hill Croft boys aka Andrew Williams) So Chris Everill took a win double from Silverstone, cementing himself at the top of the Blake Edwards Award standings!
Photo- Wayne Spiller- Class winner!
Name | Venue | Date | Win(s) |
Chris Everill | Silverstone National | 17th July | 2 |
Chris Everill | Castle Combe | 12th June | 2 |
Todd Garner | Mallory Park | 22nd June | 2 |
Rhys Lloyd | Pembrey | 8th May | 1 |
Damian Longotano | Pembrey | 8th May | 1 |
Castle Combe report –
entry and qualifying.
There were some new faces/ new cars we haven’t seen in 2022.
Prime among them was Russell Haggerty, who had entered a Ford Ka, to give Alan
Smith some company. It was also the first sight of the year for Rod Teague, was
worked long and hard to get his car out, and the welcome sight of Fabio
Luffareli! (We were missing Mike Manning
who had gearbox problems and Lyn Morgan who damaged the engine in his Westfield
at a local sprint!)
Deri Davies had an engine problem and stopped out on the
track without completing the 3 laps needed. The Clerk of the Course arranged to
let him do 3 laps behind the pace car if he could get the engine to start! Deri was pessimistic until up
stepped Jim(Jimbo) Lyons who was with Mini Miglias. Jimbo sorted it out and
Deri was able to start race 1, from the
back of the grid!
The Grid
Chris Everill and his
mighty 6.2 litre Ginetta was on Pole
with a time of 1:09.942. Damian
LONGOTANO was also on the front row, but was unable to match Chris’ time!
On Row 2 were Fabio
LUFFARELI and on the Class BS pole was
the Mazda RX8 of Wayne SPILLER.
On ROW 3 was an all Class BS
affair with Todd GARNER leading from Gareth JOHN
On ROW 4 Rodney
TEAGUE took the Class BT pole, by a 10th Colin DUNN!
On ROW 5 Tyrone
DOWSELL led from Andrew WILLIAMS whose
Clio wasn’t ready so drove the Honda Type R
On ROW and on Class AT pole was Alan SMITH ahead of Class BTs Andrew BARRON
On ROW 7 was Verity BANKS and Russell HAGGERTY
Finally on ROW 8 was Deri DAVIES, but for how long!
Nice
to see Mike & Jennie Moss plus Mark Nicholson and also Mark Williams. but
all without cars. Also Susanne Williams who caught me making a mess of noshing
an Ice Cream. Doh
The Race – Round 5 - 15
minutes – Rolling start
So the cars came around Camp Corner, and as the lights changed Damian was quick off the mark, and lead for, just a few yards actually, until Chris’ engine hit its stride. With the run from the start-line to Quarry Corner being almost a straight line, from then on Chris and the red Ginetta held a lead he was never to lose, and he set a new lap record on his way with a time of 1.10.120! Damian kept in touch for a while but Chris extended his lead, taking the win by 58 seconds. Fabio Luffareli almost caught Damian, and was the only other driver to remain on the lead lap. Deri Davies was 4th having risen from the back, and was involved with many a tussle on his way. Todd Garner continued his Class BS winning ways, and also took the extra point for a fastest lap (indeed setting a new lap record on his way) he had Wayne Spiller for close company from early on! Gareth John was 7th. Behind them, it was Class BT that held the attention with Rod Teague holding a strong lead from Colin Dunn with Rod setting the fastest lap of the class on lap 8! However coming into Camp Corner, Rod clipped the grass on the right and with a set of squealing List 1a tyres he exited across the track! However luckily the Clio clipped the barrier side-on, and was ready to get back in the fray. ‘The Marshals held me because they wanted me to wait for a gap!’ Rod re-joined after Tyrone Dowsell and Andrew Williams had passed and finished 11th. In 12th place was Andrew Barron who was ahead of Alan Smith. Verity Banks completed the finishers, as Russell Haggerty had pulled off after 4 laps, as the Ka needed more work to make it competitive.
Race 2 – Round 6 - 15 minutes – Rolling start
So
the cars came around Camp Corner for race 2, and as the lights changed Damain again
was quick off the mark, and lead for, just a few yards actually, until Chris’
engine hit its stride. With the run from the start-line to Quarry Corner being
almost a straight line, from then on Chris and the red Ginetta held a lead he
was never to loose. This time however Damian made a determined effort to keep
up, and on lap 8 he joined the ‘Record Breakers’ leaving the Class BS lap
record at 1.10.937, only a few 10ths slower than Chris best time! Behind them
battle was joined between a fast starting Deri Davies and Fabio Luffarelli. The
battle was intense with Fabio pushing Deri all the way! In fact it was so intense that Deri set his
fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap and the pair of them began to
make inroads into Damion’s 2nd place! Damian duly took 2nd
overall but with Deri 3rd, two seconds behind and Fabio (4th)2
seconds behind him, and the last driver on the lead lap. In 5th
Place and a lap down Todd Garner took the Class BS honours with the extra point
for fastest lap too! Behind him it looked like Gareth John had the measure of
Wayne Spiller, although Wayne was never far behind! On the last lap Wayne made
his bid and overtook Gareth to finish 7th overall and 2nd
in Class BS. Gareth chased Wayne to the
end and was Just about 1 second behind in the end! Behind them there was
another scrap between Rod Teague and
Colin Dunn. Rod had found the brush with
the barrier had not damaged the car internally, although it did look a little
battle scarred! Rod lead Colin Dunn for a few laps before Colin got by and
started to pull away to finish in 8th place. As well as winning
Class BT and setting fastest lap, Colin was the last of the runners on 12 laps.
Rod Teague was 9th (2nd in BT) Tyrone Dowsell was 10th
(3rd in BT) with Andrew Williams in 11th place. Alan
Smith was 12th Verity confirmed
she had good dice in Race 2 - Another goodish start, got slightly bogged down
initially, but managed to get pass Andrew Barron (#59) at Quarry and almost got
Alan (#13). I had quite a ding dong battle with Andrew all race long, had a few
squirrely moments
Results are on https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CCRC/2022/222368wss.pdf
Mallory Park Sunday 22nd May 2022 The Entry and Qualifying.
In contrast to the ferocious heatwave of 2021, this time the sun was
there but so were some clouds, making the 2022 event much nicer. An intrepid
band of WSSCC competitors made the trip for the Classic and
Modern Motorsport Club run meeting. In
the paddock we had our first sight of Andrew Barron’s Rover BRM (basically an MG XF under the skin, but
renamed to honour the BRM Chassis used to house the Rover Gas Turbine
experiment at Le Mans in 1963 & 65 driven by the legends that were Graham
Hill and Jackie Stewart) Also new was Darren ‘Daz’ Owen who had a very pretty
and very potent spaceframe Ford Escort with 2.4 Duratec engine. Darren, who is
well known for his exploits in other cars, was having only his 3rd race with
this car, and we have to thank Deri Davies for recommending him to us. Darren
recounted the story. ‘I was on holiday in the area and dropped into a Butchers
shop in Aberystwyth, which turned out to be Deri Davies shop! We got talking
about racing’ he said ‘Why don’t you join the club! So here I am’. Also seen for the first time this year in
Class BT was Colin Dunn, (Clio) after sorting out some wiring issues and a
dodgy connection, he was at least ready
to race. Andrew Williams was using Jason Peards Honda in between getting his
own Clio going. Jason broke his leg in a road car accident, so hopefully, he is
on the mend. Tyrone Dowsell (Clio) and Verity Banks (Ford Fiesta)
completed the Class BT runners. Local lad Todd Garner’s 1.6 Renault Clio was
the fastest car in Class BS ahead of Wayne Spiller and Gareth John.
There were several CMCC runners and one of their BMWs
coated the track with oil, which put paid on any mega last laps attempts!
Darren ‘Daz’ Owen was on pole! The BMW E36 of CMMC member Gavin Dunn was
alongside. Todd Garner was 3rd
& also Class BS pole winner, with Wayne Spiller 4th Gareth John was on row 3 with CCMC runner Vic
Hope alongside. On row 4 it didn’t take Colin Dunn long to get back in the
swing and he took the BT Class Pole with CCMC runner Ken Angell alongside.
Andrew Williams (Class BT Honda TypeR ) was on row 5
with CCMC runner Matthew Johnson for company.
Row 6 was an all WSSCC Class BT affair with Tyrone Dowsell (Clio) ahead of Andrew Barron (Rover BRM). Verity Banks was the last BT runner.
The race (WSSCC round 3) – Rolling start – 15 minutes at 12.05
So the pace car lead the pack around and it was Darren in the Escort that emerged as the leader with the BMW E36 of CMMC member Gavin Dunn in 2nd place. However, Darren’s tenure in the lead was short-lived, for although he set the FTD at 50.401 on the way, he only lasted 5 laps in the lead and then drifted down and then out of the race on lap7, but had done enough to earn himself the ‘Driver of the Race Award! Verity Banks was already out, having stopped at the end of the first corner! So the BMW E36 of CMMC member Gavin Dunn took over the lead he was not to give up. Local lad and WSSCC Class BS points scorer Todd Garner was in 2nd and had wisely chosen to use his Joker! Gareth John tried hard to catch Todd but admitted he could not catch him. Behind Gareth, Wayne Spiller drove his Flame-spitting Mazda hard and kept Gareth honest, finishing only 2.36 seconds behind at the end! CMMC members Ken Angell and Vic Hope (Honda Type R) had a great race in 5th & 6th place. Class BT cars made up the rest of the finishers, with Colin Dunn taking the BT win, ahead of Andrew Williams (Honda Type R) (Two Hondas in the top 10 – and 3 Clios -somebody may read that and weep!) Tyrone Dowsell (Clio) and Andrew Barron (Rover) were the final finishers!
The race (WSSCC round
4) – Rolling start – 15 minutes
In the lunch interval, we had lost Gavin Dunn and Andrew
Barron but had re-gained Verity Banks, so it was only 10 starters that made the
grid but it showed there can still be some great racing. So the pace car lead
the pack around and it was Todd Garner on Pole with Gareth John 2nd
and Wayne Spiller 3rd CMMC members Ken Angell and Vic Hope looked set for another
classic dice ahead of the Class BT runners of Colin Dunn (now playing his
joker) Andrew Williams, Tyrone Dowsell and Verity Banks. Darren Owen in
the Escort started last. From the lights, Todd Garner took a lead he was never to lose. Gareth John kept him in sight for
a while but then had Wayne Spiller keeping him honest. Darren Owen made up to
3rd by lap 4 but then pulled off again. (He said it was nothing serious and he
hoped to join us again at Donington Park!)
CMMC members Ken Angell and Vic Hope had another
great race, whilst Colin Dunn made the most of his joker but Andrew Williams
kept him in sight. Tyrone Dowsell was 3d in BT whilst Verity Banks got some
mileage out of the Ford Fiesta. So the race ran to a close and Todd Garner made
it a full race win! Not only that, but he also took the Class BS 1st in Class award and also ‘Driver
of the Race’ award, and a special Winners trophy from the event organisers. Just
as well his dad bought a big family SUV!
With Todd & Colin using their Joker
cards, the points will make some interesting reading!
All the results are on https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=SPECIAL/2022/222091wss.pdf
2022 WSSCC Races 1 & 2 Pembrey Sunday 8th May
The weather & entry for the first races in the 2022 season, looked good, but more of that later.
Entry & Qualifying. For this event we used the Classic ‘National’ circuit.
In the event, the front row was a Class CS Champions lock- out! Damian Longotano , (2019 champion) with the Westie now sprouting a nice looking wing, who took Pole with a time of 1:00.071! 2nd fastest saw the return of Rhys Lloyd ( 2008 Champion) who set a time of in a 1:00.21 in his nice looking Opel Astra!
The 2nd row was an all Ginetta V8 affair with Chris Everill 3rd in his familiar red 169 car and Dave Krayem in 888 with a 7 litre engine!
On the 3rd row was Mike Manning and his Ford Sierra RS500 & on the Class BS pole Wayne Spiller Mazda RX8
On the 4th was current Champion Gareth John (Ginetta G40) and Todd Garner’s 1600 cc Renault Clio
On the5th row (and on BT pole ) was Andrew Williams who borrowed a Honda Civic Type R as his Clio wasn’t quite ready . In Andew’s old MG ZR car and making his race debut was Ralph Budd!
On the 6th row were the all BT shod new guys Rob Gaffney in a Ford Fiesta and Tyrone Dowsell on a Renault Clio!
On the 7th row was our favourite Yorkshireman Alan Smith Ford KA and a hobbling Deri Davies Darrian T90. (Vince Longotano ran his magic fingers over the car and cured the T90s misfire, by making sure the HT lead was securely in contact with the coil.
On the Final row was Verity Banks (Ford Focus) and Mark WILLIAMS Peugeot 205. Mark was unable to set a time!
So it was a nice number of 16 cars that did practice, however before the race we lost Rob Gaffney with the dreaded Head Gasket Failure (aka HGF). However we had already lost 6 cars in the days before the event so we could have had a really good entry. One of the guys missing was Mike Cook (BMW 330)who broke his leg as he was getting his car ready for the event. Hopefully we’ll see him back racing with us before too long!
Race 1 WSSCC Round 1 – Rolling Start – 15 minutes
So Blake Edwards brought the cars around to the start, and Rhys Lloyd made a good start, but was followed closely by Chris Everill and Damian. Mike Manning was 4th ahead from Dave Krayem. Gareth John was 6th with Wayne Spiller for company! Deri Davies was making his way up from the back and was 9th. Andrew Williams was 10th. With Tyrone Dowsell in 11th place. Alan Smith had Verity Banks for company! There was no sign of Mark Williams or Ralph Budd. But all of a sudden a Safety Car (driven by Bake Edwards) made an appearance! Regulations regarding the use of a Safety Car had only just been written into the Championship regulations, but I didn’t think it would be used at such an early stage! The Safety Car was needed so that the marshals could recover Ralph Budds car which came to rest, facing the wrong way, after an incident with the Mark Williams who had got on the grass as he was making his way up from the last row! Mark regained the track right in front of Ralph Budd, who couldn’t avoid T-boning the Peugeot! Whereas the Peugeot was at least mobile he had a massive dent in his door! Ralphs car was recovered, but had suffered too much front-end damage and may need re-shelling! After 2 laps, the safety car was withdrawn and there was still time for a further 10 laps!
Rhys Lloyd re-established his lead but behind him there was a tremendous battle between Chris Everill and Damian Longotano that went on for several laps, until Damian got ahead and then went after Rhys. Damian briefly took the lead on lap 10, but then began a slow descent down the order to finish in 8th place with the front mudguard rubbing on the tyre.
So Rhys Lloyd won with Chris Everill 2nd In 3rd place was Mike Manning, with Deri Davies right on his tail! ‘Mikes car had just too much straight line speedI’
In 5th place was Dave Krayem and his pretty Ginetta G55 ‘I’ll have to get used it’
In 6th was Wayne Spiller who was the Class BS winner in his Mazda RX8 after a race long duel with Gareth John ! Gareth (Ginetta G40) lead the class until Wayne slipped by in the closing laps! Gareth had the consolation of taking the point for the Class fastest lap!
Damian Longotano (Westfield SE ) slipped to 8th but also had the consolation of taking the point for the Class CS fastest lap!
In 9th place was Class BT winner Andrew Williams with his borrowed Honda Civic Type who took the point for the Class BT fastest lap!
10th was Tyrone Dowsell making his debut in his Renault
11th was Todd GARNER (Class BS Renault Clio)
12th and the final finisher was Verity Banks and her Ford Focus.
Alan Smith posted a DNF after the Coil on the Ford Ka went down. Lucky he had a spare.
There was a lot of fettling in between races to get Damians front mudguard race ready, which featured a lot of black tank tape!
Race 2 WSSCC Round 2 – Rolling Start – 15 minutes
With at least 3 non-starters it was a select bunch that formed up behind the Pace car, but somehow Dave Krayem had also withdrawn; so it was only 12 cars to bring the curtain down on the days racing! Even so the racing was excellent! Chris Everill got the drop on Rhys Lloyd and lead the early laps, until Rhys Lloyd took over for the next few laps! Damian Longotano was on the rise from the 4th row, and by lap 5 he had Rhys in his sights, and took the lead on lap 8 and held it to the end! Deri Davies got the drop on Mike Manning and went on to finish 4th with Mike in 5th place! Once again Wayne Spiller and Gareth John had a real ding-dong. However this time Wayne not only won Class BS but he also took the Class Fastest lap.
In 9th place Andrew Williams played his Joker and again won Class BT and set the fastest lap!
Tyrone Dowsell was 10th with Alan Smith 11th and Verity was 12th.
At the end of the day, the marshals on Post 5 nominated Damian Longotano as their ‘Driver of the Race’
On next to Mallory Park!
Result are at https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2022/221821wss.pdf
Pre-season action. Silverstone seemed to be the venue of choice for
those drivers who wanted to blow away the cobwebs with some pre-season action.
Amongst those who did, (but not all on the same day!)were Rhys Lloyd,
Andrew Barron, Gareth John. Mike Manning and Jason Davies (2014 Welsh
Young Driver of the Year) who blasted to two race wins
Re the 2022 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship. There is only 4 weeks to close of entries (29th April) to the rounds 1 & 2 at Pembrey on May 8th. Please note at all BARC events, although ‘Signing on’ will be electronic as per last year. However Barc events will see the reintroduction of physical safety scrutineering, which will take place at all BARC race meetings. It is of paramount importance that you check all relevant aspects of both your race car and race wear, in particular things such as fire extinguisher systems and belts / harnesses, to ensure that they comply with the latest regulations. In addition, items such as the pull cables, rain lights and tow hooks - as well as many more - should all be checked as they will be physically inspected before you are permitted to race this year. I suspect this will be the same at all other meetings we go to, as well. For Race entry forms go WRDA.co.uk and on the left ‘Membership’ and drop down to WSSCC
Re Mallory Park. 22nd
May-WSSCC rounds 3 & 4- Please note the WSSCC have been allocated more
places on the grid, but even so please get your entries in asap! The closing
date is May 4th to encourage early entry, after that you get charged an extra
£30, (up to May 18th ) subject to space.
For Race
entry forms go WRDA.co.uk and on the left ‘Membership’ and drop down to
C&CMC
As in previous years in addition to the WSSCC Class & Overall Championship, there will be the Blake Edwards Award for race winners and the Colin Gundersen award for the Fastest Laps at Pembrey.
(Photo - 2021 champion Gareth John in action at Thruxton)
Young Welsh Drivers award winners are still in action. 2007 winner, Hwyel Lloyd has moved into team management with CF Racing and, amongst other wins, has won the Hardall F3 Cup 2021 Teams Championship. https://www.facebook.com/hywel.lloyd.39
2008 winner Rhys Lloyd is still racing saloon cars and
will do the Pembrey rounds in 2022
2009 winner Andy Meyrick https://andymeyrick.com/ currently races with United
Autosports in the Michelin Le Mans Cup ,https://www.lemanscup.com/en in LMP3 (aka Road to Le Mans series). Andy
has been a factory driver for Aston Martin, Mazda and Bentley, along with a
variety of privateer teams. Outside of
his driving duties, Andy is also Director of the BRDC SuperStars programme
where he is responsible for all aspects of managing and training some of the
UK’s most promising young drivers, something he is extremely passionate about
and he is a co-founder of Greenlight Sports Management.
The 2022 Porsche Championship GB has a distinct Welsh flavour! GT3 heroes Seb Morris
and Ryan Ratcliffe will compete with Team Parker Racing, while Spa 24 winner, Jules
Westwood has moved to manage the Toro Verde GT team. Morris was the 2011 Welsh Young Driver of
the Year, and he & Ryan have also won the ‘Neil Cunningham Award’. The Porsche Championship is part of the BTCC
package which is shown live on ITV!
(Photo - Seb Morris in action with GT3 Bentley Continental)
2022 Racing Season Starts Soon!
The 2022 Racing Season starts soon! and those who need a boost to get their cars ready for the new season, there is only 2 weeks to go to get your entry to C&MCC for the Pre-season races at Silverstone on March 20th!
Re The 2022 Welsh Sports And Saloon Car Championship (i.e WSSCC) There is only 8 weeks to close of entries to the rounds 1 & 2 at Pembrey.
Please note at all BARC events, although 'Signing on, will be electronic as per last year; BARC events will see the reintroduction of physical safety scrutineering, which will take place at all BARC race meetings. It is of paramount importance that you check all relevant aspects of both your race car and race wear, in particular things such as fire extinguisher systems and belts / harnesses, to ensure that they comply with the latest regulations. In addition, items such as the pull cables, rain lights and tow hooks - as well as many more - should all be checked as they will be physically inspected before you are permitted to race this year.
I suspect this will be the same at all other meetings we go to as well.
Re Mallory Park. 22nd May - Please note the WSSCC have been allocated more places on the grid, but even so please get your entries in asap!
We are pleased to reveal our new-look website for 2022. Packed with new features, such as our race calendar, race results, and also all the forms you need are all now in one place. Please let us know what you think in the contact us section on the home page.