In the afternoon we had the annual general meeting for the club. About 20 people turned up and although last year was tough at times we have seen an upturn in membership numbers. The racing was good and competitive, plus our own Mallory Park meeting was judged to be a success. Overall the year resulted in a small financial profit, which has been used to help subsidise the awards evening and reduce the registration fee for the Intermarque class.
The chairman thanked the various sponsors for their financial help and the committee members for all their hard work. A special mention was made to Ken Angell as he is stepping down from the committee, but it was noted that Jonathan Bevan will be assisting at some events. The upcoming season was discussed and a question was asked about track time costs, which are inevitably costing more. The calendar had proved difficult to finalise and the club is already looking towards 2024 to alleviate this issue. The meeting concluded with an informal discussion.
And so to the awards dinner. Our guest speaker was Richard John Neil who gave us a fascinating insight into live television commentary and how he became involved. He then did a really good job announcing the award winners and even managed to get a some of our reluctant heroes to say a few words.
As we run series rather than championships we can declare “series winners” but not “champions”. The criteria is therefore mainly based on overall and class success
Presenting the awards for the super saloons was Ken Angell and starting with class S, which was a new category for the tube frame V8 cars. In second place with his V8 Ford Mustang in the colours of NASCAR champion Joey Logano it was MARCUS BICKNELL
The winner, representing the iconic brand of Holden was ALEX SIDWELL. The highlight of Alex’s season was winning four races on the Brands Hatch GP circuit all on one day in August.
Moving on to class D, where there was another season long battle for honours between two different makes of cars. We had in third place MARTYN SCOTT, who switched from a BMW to a rather rapid VW Golf. Just being beaten into second place was PETER OSBORNE who campaigned a very smart Vauxhall Astra.
Winning the class and beating many potentially quicker cars in the process was PETER SELDON with his rather standard looking (but deceptively rapid) BMW E36.
The runner up in class C with a BMW M3 that changed colour during the year was JACQUES WHITEHEAD
Class B saw a variety of German cars battling it out for honours. In third place it was STEVE DANN who had a much better year with his turbocharged VW Scirocco. It went to the very last race of the season to decide which of the Bradley team would be the winner. The runner up spot went to RONAN BRADLEY. The winner therefore was ADRIAN BRADLEY who raced his BMW until the final meeting when he drove a VW Golf.
Class A saw a number of drivers duck in and out during the year. In third place, using another one of his Holden Commodores, it was ALEX SIDWELL. The runner up was NICK SUTTON. Dispute a below par season by his standards the class winner was ROD BIRLEY, whose Escort WRC is soon to be available as a model from Scalextric.
Finally we have the overall series winner for this group. A driver who competed in a variety of championships up and down the country, but supported the CMMCS 100%. Taking two overall wins at Lydden Hill in July the winner, and class C honours was MARTIN REYNOLDS.
The Tin Tops secured a late deal from AFR media, who provided extra trophies and support for this series, as well as video footage of each event. Michael Knowles, better known as Knobby the series co-ordinator, was on hand to help present the awards.
Starting with the standard production TP class there was a terrific battle all year between father and son IAN and JAMES SEALE. In the end James took third spot, in his first season of circuit racing.
Meanwhile his father IAN took the runner spot in the class. Both of them campaigned Ford Fiestas which are owned and run by Colin Tester.
In class T3 it was the Citroen Saxos which usually came out on top. Again it went down to the last meeting where ALEX MARTIN secured the class win.
Class T2 saw some potent machinery often winning the races overall. It was primarily a Honda Civic battle with NEAL GARDINER taking third place.
Second place went to a welcome new addition, namely MATT ROWLING, who joined the series for the first time along with a few colleagues.
The winner of the class by a slender margin was DAVE HUTCHINS.
Class T1 was where we saw a good deal of variety. Claiming third place was West Kingsdown resident GRAHAM RICHARDSON who drove a Honda Civic.
In second place we had a driver who probably travelled the furthest in this category. All the way from North Lincolnshire DAVE CHARLTON who campaigned his Seat Leon with great enthusiasm
The winner of the class, who very nearly took the overall crown, was Ken Angell in his trusty BMW. Unfortunately the overall and class TP winner Alex Baldwin was ill, so he was unable to attend. Likewise the winner of the new class TH, namely Callum Perfect, was also unable to attend.
The Intermarque silhouettes had Pete Rosenberg in attendance from Waltham Services. He confirmed their commitment to this season and the fact that they will find an alternative tyre for 2024 and beyond. He then helped present the awards starting with COLIN SMITH who took third place. Although Malcolm Blackman was not present Graham Webster collected his runner up award. The overall winner was DANIEL SMITH who had a stellar season in his blue Mercedes SLK. Daniel said that the highlight of his year was winning a close battle at Silverstone and then consolidating the results from there on.
Sadly none of the senior drivers were present, but honorary mentions go to John Steward, Mick Robertson and the winner Paul Knight. Likewise there was a special award for Dave York, but he was unable to attend at the last minute.
Kelly Dann then helped present the team awards, which was a new innovation for 2022. Starting with the super saloons there were two drivers who brought some wonderful classic cars to the series. A Ford Anglia, a Triumph Dolomite and a pair of Ford Escorts, which meant the runners up were COLIN CLAXTON and MARTIN REYNOLDS.
Although there was strong sibling rivalry between the next two drivers, they put together a very strong team. It was the legacy duo of ADRIAN and RONAN BRADLEY who took the honours.
In the AFR Media Tin Tops it was clear that one team had it all sewn up by mid-season, which meant it was
congratulations
to IAN and JAMES SEALE.
The Avon Tyres/Image Wheels silhouettes had a good variety of teams competing for their prizes. In third place it was the father and son pairing of COLIN and DANNY SMITH. Danny has recently become a father so he was busy on parenting duties, so this now means that Colin is grandfather!
The runners up were two drivers who still battled hard against each other in their very smart Vauxhall Tigras. Again it was Graham Webster collecting the trophy on behalf of STEVE BURROWS and MALCOLM BLACKMAN.
The winners were a pair of brothers, one of whom had a tough start to the year with reliability issues, but came good by winning at the last meeting. The award went to LEWIS and DANIEL SMITH.
The final three awards were presented by Richard Culverhouse. During the course of the year there are a small group of people who work behind the scenes chasing drivers to sort out their entries, organising awards, making sure drivers go to briefings and get to the collecting area on time. The first recipient was responsible for ordering the awards and then sorts them out for the prize giving. She then has to round the drivers up to collect their prizes, so it went to SANDRA ANGELL.
The next person pleads with the drivers to get their entries in on time, sorts out most of their queries (and their problems) plus brings home made cake to the meetings. It was therefore KELLY DANN who got a well-deserved round of applause.
Finally there was one last special award. This was given to the most successful CMMCS driver of the past year, taken across all 3 categories. It was someone who supported the club at every meeting, encouraged other drivers to join in and brought along some very nice cars. The winner was MARTYN REYNOLDS.
The evening then concluded with a live band, The Spittin’ Feathers. Unfortunately the sound limit for the venue was relatively low, which somewhat limited their performance. However, it was still a very good event and full marks to everyone who attended.