The CNC Consultants intermarque silhouettes were guests at the Touring Car rewind meeting at Brands Hatch. As is normal for this summer, the weather was hot and sunny on both days.
Qualifying saw 15 cars take to the Indy circuit, missing were Colin Smith and Chris Ayling who had damaged their engines in the earlier “free” practice session. After ten minutes it was Ray Harris on pole position, 0.68 of a second in front of Warren Farazmand. Next up was leading senior Keith White in his BMW Z4 from fellow senior Phil Spinks. Row three contained Reuben Taylor and Richard Smith, with Mick Robertson and Joe Russell next up. Joe was back in his familiar Audi TT this time. Jason Waterman was adapting well in his Toyota Starlet, lining up ninth quickest with Nick Bass alongside. Paul Cocksedge was going well to set the 11th quickest time, then it was good to see Volker Timm back on the grid in his Audi TT. Kurt Russell was driving the ex-Ian Hales Tigra this time, but a few mechanical issues reduced him to 13th position. Steve Phillips and newcomer Anvi Ropica completed the timed runners in their Ford Fiestas.
Race one was late in the afternoon, and Colin Smith completed his engine change just in time to join in. It was a good clean start and Harris held a slender lead from Farazmand, with Richard Smith powering up to third. From the back of the grid Colin Smith was already up to 7th by the end of lap one. Although the two leaders remained close throughout, it looked like Harris had it all under control. Smith appeared to be comfortable in third, until the safety car appeared. Meanwhile Colin Smith continued his progress up to fourth place. Spinks had settled into fourth initially, until a wayward moment going through Graham Hill bend allowed both White and Colin Smith to go either side and demote him to sixth. Phil then had to fend off the attentions of Taylor.
Another back row starter (by his own choice) was Mick Robertson. He made his way up to 8th by lap four, passing Waterman who was holding his own in 9th. A little further back there was a good battle between Bass, Timm and Cocksedge. An early retirement was Ropica, who had a bad vibration possibly from the propshaft. Kurt Russell pulled off on lap 7 with a defective alternator, whilst his father (Joe) was struggling with issues in the Audi. On lap 11 the safety car suddenly appeared as poor Cocksedge had a catastrophic engine failure with his Tigra. This dumped him into the gravel exiting Graham Hill bend. A sad end to what had been his best run to date. Some of the following cars had a slidey moment on the dropped oil. The recovery crew very swiftly moved the stricken car and it looked like a re-start was about to happen. The safety car lights were turned off, but exiting Clearways they were hastily put back on. This somewhat confused the pack and a disaster looked imminent. Luckily everyone sorted themselves out. Oddly there was Bass’s Mazda stranded in the middle of the track on Cooper Straight, whilst Richard Smith had pulled off to the inside of Paddock bend. The net result was that the race finished behind the safety car, in the order of Harris, Farazmand, Colin Smith, White, Spinks, Taylor, Robertson, Waterman, Timm and Phillips.
Sadly the drama did not end there. At the official “weigh in” Colin Smith’s Ginetta was found to be under weight. In the team’s haste to change the engine they had omitted to fit the splitter. Colin took it on the chin, but was obviously disappointed. Timm also suffered a penalty for a yellow flag infringement, which resulted in a 5 place grid drop.
The grid draw for race two put Taylor on pole position with Spinks alongside. Race one winner Harris was back in fifth spot. Joining in at the back was Ayling, who had finished fitting his spare engine. Reuben controlled the start well, with Spinks dropping into second. White was immediately passed by Farazmand and Harris. Ray then picked off Warren, as Spinks had a grassy moment at Surtees. Richard Smith and Colin Smith were on a charge up through the order. The blue and white Mercedes reaching third by lap five. The Ginetta of Colin Smith took a bit longer to pick off Spinks to take fifth position. Taylor resisted Harris until lap 9, when the two Ginettas swapped places. Richard Smith was only a couple of seconds further back and holding on well. On lap 11 Taylor had two uncharacteristic spins in succession. Clearly something had broken on the grey Ginetta and his good run came to an end. This put Richard Smith into second and leading senior.
This time the race ran its full distance uninterrupted. Harris took his second win of the weekend, with Richard Smith a delighted second. Farazmand was equally happy with third, whilst Colin Smith was good for fourth. White brought his “for sale” BMW home in fifth, just holding off the late advances of Robertson. Bass was only two seconds behind them, having his best race in the Mazda RX8. Kurt Russell finished 8th in the Tigra, with Timm a rather lonely 9th. Volker having done a very good interview for the live stream on “you tube”. Phillips completed the classified finishers, as the other two retirements (besides Taylor) were Joe Russell and Spinks.
The next outing for this series is at Snetterton on September 19th. In the meantime the super and production saloons return to Brands Hatch on August 16th