Sevenoaks Motor Club Speed League 2005

The Sevenoaks Speed League is the club's own speed championship open to all registered members. Full regulations can be found elsewhere on this site. The club is very grateful to Ric Lee's StorGuard and the Miles brothers' Verdant companies for sponsoring this series.

year end scores

Wiscombe Park (Apr 23rd)

All the bad weather that had been absent from the previous two rounds seemed to descend on Wiscombe with a vengeance!  Most 7oaks members made the 200 mile trip to Devon on the Friday, leaving Kent basked in sunshine and hitting torrential rain around Salisbury which continued all through the night and up until mid-morning the next day.  The paddock was a quagmire straight away with people even struggling to reach their allotted spaces!  The people who made the trip were Roy Nicholls, Andy Webber, Jon Wright, Jon Miles, Steve Thompson, Ian Crocker, Keith Crocker and Richard Harber.

First runs were a very tentative affair, especially for those who hadn't visited the venue before.  During these runs the mist came down so thickly that practice was suspended for 30 minutes as the marshals couldn't see from post to post.  By second practice the rain had stopped but the hill was getting greasy and most people slowed slightly.   Jon Wright was running in second place in class and tried a little too hard at Wis, an untidy downshift unsettling the car enough that he hit the bank on the outside of the bend causing slight damage to the nsf of the Honda CRX.  Roy Nicholls was now firmly in charge of this class while Steve Thompson was getting to grips with his new Alfa Romeo 155 at the other end of the class.  Jon Miles had lead his class in first practice but rallycross driver Barry Squibb was making his first trip to Wiscombe in a 480HP Evo 6 and he slashed 6 seconds off his time to lead the class with only 1 single seater bettering his time. 

After lunch timed runs started on a track that was getting even greasier and times were generally still getting slower.  Roy Nicholls held on to his lead from practice while Jon Wright slipped to 5th in a class of 11.  Andy Webber was languishing in 9th place after a mistake but he wasn't bothered as he still had another run to come...  In class 3 Barry Squibb continued his amazing pace while Jon Miles slipped to 3rd spot.  In class 5 Ian Crocker overshot Martini but he wasn't bothered as his split time had put him 2nd in class and he still had another run to come...  Unfortunately a Sports Libre Westfield then had a huge accident at Bunny's Leap.  It took the rescue crews over an hour to extricate the driver and after the barriers were rebuilt it was decided to abandon second timed runs costing Andy and Ian dearly.  The Westfield had hit the barriers at Bunny's, taken off, flipped over and landed upside down.  Amazingly the driver had no injuries and was released from hospital later on Saturday night.
(Ian Crocker)

North Weald (Apr 10th)

Despite ominous weather in the run-up to North Weald this was another early season event blessed with fine sunshine all day.  The course was the usual run down to the banjo via a chicane, but on the way back part of the chicane was passed through again providing a very high speed entrance to the main runway.  There was then a series of 4 very widely spaced gates leading to a single cone hairpin at the far end that allowed a choice of line round the hairpin and across the finish.

Class 1 was a close battle with one car taking a big lead early on but the other two drivers catching him all day until Mick Rose got 2nd place just 0.7s down on the leader.  Class 2 saw an easy win for Chris Fulke-Greville with Adrian Miles having a fraught sprinting debut. Adrian first failed scrutineering, needing to relocate his fuel pump, then had problems after Dad connected the pump outlets up the wrong way round(!), he then wrong-routed twice in practice and finally came home last in class.  Things can only get better!  Class 3 saw Keith Crocker as the highest placed 7oaks driver in third spot, just 0.01s ahead of Ritchie Gatt's Porsche 911.

In class 5 Ross Savile was sharing the webmaster's car and a comment he had made on the forums the previous week came back to haunt him big time! 'What amazed me is it is about the easiest car in the world to drive too.  I assumed that it would be hard because the mini was totally undriveable but no.'  On his first run he nearly lost control leaving the start line, then visited the grass on the way to the banjo, before finally spinning the car in the slalom down the main runway!  However a little more restraint with the loud pedal saw him get faster with each run until he took 4th in class.  2nd place was the Westfield SEiGHT of new member Graham Smith, with the webmaster taking first place.

In class 6 Bob Hoare's Clan Crusader came home in 3rd spot and displayed some very interesting angles on the wheels while going round the corners!  Class 7 saw Steve Dann sharing his Golf with Darren Russell after Darren failed to get his Visa ready in time.  Darren repaid Steve's kindness by chasing him down all day and then pipping him on the final run for 2nd place in class!  Steve Stringer, ex National Autotest champ and stage rally driver won class 8 in his Sunbeam Lotus and FTD went to Bill Oliver in the Ralt.
(Ian Crocker)

Brands Hatch (Apr 2nd)

This was the first time Brands had been used for sprinting for many years and it attracted a full field despite the hefty £130 entry fee.  Despite being so early in the year the weather was fantastic all day.  There was one practice of 2.5 laps and two timed runs of 1.5 laps each, starting from the pit lane.  Attendance from the Speed League competitors was low.  Maybe this was due to the high entry fee, the fact the event was full, or (more likely!) their cars were still in bits in their garages.

Brands is a tricky venue and caught out a number of drivers.  Jon Miles was one of the first, losing control on the exit of Druids first time through it and causing heft damage to the Mk I Escort on the offside and damaging the steering.  Jon normally trailers his car everywhere but had driven to Brands as it was so close!  Fortunately he knew a very nice man...  Chris Fulke Greville was pushed very hard in this class by a pair of Renault Clio Cups but managed to hang on for the win by the skin of his teeth.  Tim Jeffrey was the highest place 7Oaks member in class 3 taking second place behind a very fast Porsche 911 GT3 RS.  This class also had 2/3rds of the Kemsing Crew in attendance with Jim Giddings bringing the TR8 home in 4th spot and John Milligan in 9th place.

The event had numerous stoppages for accidents and cars stuck in gravel traps, one Mini Cooper ending up on its roof at the bottom of Paddock.  In the end they only just managed to get all the runs in before racing started in the afternoon.
(Ian Crocker)