MARKETING MACHINE SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE – The Story so far pt 2

Goodwood - June 30

BARC organised this 1 lap sprint on a hot and sunny day. Practice was dry but a light sprinkling of rain for first timed runs caused many people to slow down a bit and with only 2 timed runs, this was another event where it all boiled down to one run. Gordon Franks moved from class 1 to class 0 in order to stand a better chance of points. This did pay off but Jonathan Harmer took the win in this class with a very rapid 107 seconds in the 1.9 205 that he shares with Marc Noaro. Chris Fulke-Greville was once again beaten only by a Lotus Exige to pick up 15 points in class 5. Andy Webber had to pull out of the event as his engine is still being rebuilt after the block cracked at North Weald 2 weeks ago. Class 6 saw no fewer than 6 contenders taking part in a class of 16 cars. Keith Crocker came 3rd for 21 points on a personal best 99 seconds. This was a good result achieved after a few problems in the morning. First a 6 inch nail punctured a rear tyre about 1 mile from the circuit. Once this had been repaired the engine was popping and banging on acceleration and it wasn't until after first timed runs that we discovered a faulty spark plug that had left the engine running on just 7 cylinders. Jon Miles brought out his hi-tech Evo VI but it was out-gunned by a bunch of 2WD cars at this power circuit. Jon came home in 5th spot just ahead of me also driving Keith's Ginetta, as my Westfield has a broken clutch. Mind you, 6th in this class got me more points than are usually on offer for winning my regular class! Martyn Ellis took 7th and Jim Giddings 8th with a personal best 102 seconds. In class 8 Peter Holm had to retire when his exhaust system snapped off by the turbo in his Dax Rush. The bad luck continued for 7Oaks members when Ric Lee's RS200 blew a core plug and came in steaming after his practice run, leading to retirement. In class 16 Dave & Alli Gibbons finished in 3rd and 4th place, the win and FTD being taken by the ex-Moon Reynard on 81 seconds.

Lydden  - July 7

MMKMC ran the National 'A' sprint as usual. Unfortunately the day did not go well and many competitors went home disgruntled because we were only allowed one timed run even though most people were driving home at around 3pm. This happened due to a combination of bad weather, a few accidents and the need for the National 'A' people to complete their top 10 run-off. In “Std up to 2000cc”, Gordon Franks was relegated to 2nd place by the margin of just 0.03 seconds by fellow 7Oaks member, Jonathan Dalby. Mike Edwards won roadgoing up to 1400cc. Roy Nicholls won roadgoing up to 2000cc with Stephen Craig just 0.17 seconds behind him and Chris Fulke-Greville pushed down to 3rd spot. Keith Crocker, Jon Miles and Ian Crocker took 2nd, 3rd and 4th in unlimited roadgoing, the Lancer EVO VI making a tasty filling in a Ginetta G33 sandwich, just 0.16 seconds separating the 3 cars. However Martyn Ellis ate the lot for breakfast with a comfortable win in his 230HP Lotus Sunbeam. Chris Judge won ModProd up to 1400cc. John Hewat took Nat B FTD a long way clear of Dave Gibbons who took second place in the 2000cc racing car class. John Milligan won the Post Historic class - I'm not sure if the title refers to the driver or the car!
 

IMPORTANT!

Since we have had no official notice of the cancellation of Pestolozzi, we can only assume at this date that previous reports are correct and that it will not run. It has been decided to omit this from the calendar and reduce the qualifying events to best 9 from 14. This should not disadvantage the front-runners as this is (was?) a popular event and well attended by MM2001 contenders. The omission will therefore affect everyone the same unlike, say, Harewood. Any major objectors please contact Steve Medhurst with an appropriate solution.

Ian Crocker

The Acorn : August Edition