Anglesey 2024 Race Report

05-09-2024

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

Race 1

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

Wayne Spiller you tube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzOdVQH561A

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Pembrey with Rounds 3 & 4 preview

09-05-2024

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

Verity Banks

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     

 

 


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2024 WSSCC Easter Monday Castle Combe full Report

27-03-2024


 

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 Clubs’ 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 wasn’t 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 don’t know)


Race One  -10 laps  -  Mass Rolling Start  By  the time of our first race, the weather was bright, the track was drying , and Chris Everill took an immediate lead, and looked like he was on for a lights to Flag run. However Adrian Bradley only lasted 2 laps, allowing the highly experienced Rod Birley  to move into  2nd place. Rod ran just behind Chris, but  on lap 4 he made a big effort and closed right up on Chris.   Chris seemed to have the situation covered, until the last lap as he came on a group of backmarkers! Chris made his way through the backmarkers, giving them some racing room, but Rod followed him through and made a grab for the lead with the finishing line in sight, finishing just 0.887 ahead! Chris was the first Welsh Championship contender home.   Fabio Luffarelli in the meantime had qualified 8th but pulled up to finish in 6th place.  Meanwhile in 8th place Wayne Spiller converted  his Class 2 pole into a Class 2 win, but had a running battle with one of the BMWs,  Chris Haynsford in a ccmc RX8 and when those both dropped out, he had a Honda Civic (read it and weep Mike Moss) and a Pug 308 to deal with, which impressed enough for Wayne to be given the WSSCC ‘Driver of the Race’ award. All of the above were on the lead lap. Wayne also lowered his own Class Two lap record from 01:20.431 in 2023 to leave it at 1:18.362. In 14th place, Kiwi Simon Baker acquitted himself well on his Castle Combe and Welsh Championship debut. In 19th Andrew Williams round out the Class Two Runners and was the last runner on 9 laps. 21st was Mike Cook (BMW 330) 22nd was Russell Haggerty, whose  pit crew had worked wonders to fix  and  replace the broken half-shaft, Russell said he  was just going to see  how  It held up in Race 1 and if it was good, then really go for it in race2. 23rd out of 30 starters and 24 finishers , was Verity Banks who improved her Class One lap record slicing a few hundredeths  to leave it at 1:33.520.


Race 2 -10 laps – Mass Rolling Start –

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 ‘Drive of the Race if they have one!) 4th and ahead  of 4 BMWs, Fabio Luffarelli was awarded the WSSCC ‘Driver of the Race’ 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  â€˜Racing incidences’ 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

 

 

 

 

Points go down to 10th place in each class.

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     

 








 


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Damian Longatano retains the Colin Gundersen Trophy for 2023

24-12-2023

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 


Total Points 
Name May  Oct Total
Damian Longatano 201.968 199.7960 401.7639954
Wayne Spiller 101.801 100.0804 201.8814
Verity Banks DNE 201.4847 201.4847
Craig Attard 100.00 100.0804 200.0804
Chris EVERILL  DNE 199.7460 199.7400
Mike Cook 88.702 88.7400 177.442
Nick Crompton 100.00 DNE 100
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

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2024 WSSCC dates so far

13-11-2023

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

 

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Pembrey October 7th/8th Special Deal +_Preveiw

01-09-2023

Re October 7th and 8th Hi Just to let you that have been given this Special Deal. 

For just £350 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

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Silverstone Race reports

19-08-2023

 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  ‘We were fortunate to borrow  one, as it seems  that Italy shuts down  during August’ (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 wasn’t 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 ‘Driver of the Race’ 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 ‘Driver of the Race’ 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 That’s 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

Chris Everill  1 win

Keith Butcher 1 win

Wayne Spiller 1 win

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Thruxton Race Reports

04-08-2023

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 couldn’t 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 Veritys’ car as he wasn’t 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 Tommy’s 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 –rolling 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 ‘Driver of the Day’ 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!


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Very Latest Blake Edwards & Colin Gundersen Points

07-07-2023

Hi the latest scores in the Blake Edwards Trophy standings after 6 rounds is

Damian Longotano  3 wins

Wayne Spiller 1 win

Nigel Mustill  2 wins

Chris Everill  1 win

Keith Butcher 1 win

In the Colin Gundersen Fastest Lap  Trophy the points after 2 rounds at Pembrey  are


 


Calculated as follows

Total Points
Class/Name
Damian Longatano 201.968
Wayne Spiller 101.801
Craig Attard 100.00
Nick Crompton 100.00
Mike Cook 88.702
 
 2023 Colin Gundersen Trophy Race 1 Race 2
21st May  New Lap records 21st May
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 - Lap record 100 Wayne Spiller 65.888 New  Lap record 101.801
Three Nick Crompton 63.728 - Lap record 100 Mike Cook 71.845 88.702
Four Damian Longatano 61.163 - Lap record 100 Damian Longatano 59.982  New  Lap record 101.968
Five no entries no entries no entries no entries no entries no entries

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Rounds 3 & 4 of the 2023 WSSCC at Pembrey on May 21st

25-05-2023

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 ‘A Stuart Taylor Phoenix’)  Nick confirmed ‘Its like a round tube Fisher Fury type of car.’

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 – 15 minutes – 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 didn’t make it to the end, as the tyre started to shred, but his efforts were worthy of ‘Driver of the Race’ 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 Two– 15 minutes – 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 wouldn’t get an extra point for the fastest lap, he will still score points in the ‘Colin Gundersen Trophy’ as well as leading the ‘Blake Edwards Trophy’ 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 – 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 ’Driver of the Race’ 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 

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Airbourne Andrew

17-04-2023

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 ‘peg-leg’Peard  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 ‘Hot Hatch’ 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 hadn’t 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 – 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  ’ I wanted  to catch them all’ However he had done enough to take the ‘Driver of the Race’ 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 ‘Catching Roberts cap!’ 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  didn’t 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 wasn’t 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  Ã¢Â€Â˜The car had fuel pickup/ pressure problem so i could only use 3/4 throttle and only had 6500 rpm instead of 9500.  I’ ve got a whole new tank and fuel system to go in so fingers crossed for Pembrey. ‘   Nick  Crompton was also starting from  the back, after missing race One. Nick takes up the story   ‘My  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 race’   

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. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t realise it at the time!’  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 ‘peg-leg Peard – 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The wait is over. First race of 2023 is this weekend at Castle Combe.

05-04-2023

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

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Pembrey Race Report

02-11-2022

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



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Anglesey Race Report

16-09-2022

Anglesey Report

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

 

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Donington News Report - Rounds 9 & 10

19-08-2022

 The 2022 Welsh Sports & Saloon Championship (aka WSSCC) was at Donington Park on Sunday 14th August with its usual format of Qualifying and 2 races, to make up the 9th &10th rounds in the 14-round 2022 Championship. The last time the championship raced on the Donington  Park  National Circuit it was wet & windy, and as the 14th of August had better weather,  it may well be that the current Lap Records will fall!

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

 

 

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Silverstone National Races - Full Report

23-07-2022

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!

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Blake Edward Trophy for most outright wins in 2022 WSSCC

21-06-2022

Chris Everill leads after Silverstone Double

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

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Castle Combe Race Report

16-06-2022

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 , though I managed to beat him at the finish still had grip and braking issues, with it overheating., That was a hot and tough race, but fun. Even with no trophies, I finished both races in one piece!

 Results are on https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CCRC/2022/222368wss.pdf


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Mallory Park WSSCC Round 3 & 4

25-05-2022

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 

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Race Report Rounds 1 & 2

10-05-2022

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




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Countdown is on as the 2022 WSSCC Racing Season Starts Soon!

07-04-2022

Pre-season actionSilverstone 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)

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Welsh Award Winners in action in 2022!

07-04-2022

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! http://porscheracinggb.porsche.com 

(Photo - Seb Morris in action with GT3 Bentley Continental)

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2022 Season - Some Important News And Dates

08-03-2022

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!

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New Website For 2022

17-02-2022

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.

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