2007 World Series (England) round 17 Birmingham, 09/06/07

Stimson’s fourth and final final

Graham Brown reports: Neil Stimson finished off the 2006/7 National Hot Rod World Series with a flourish, by taking his fourth final in a row at a very warm and sunny Wheels Raceway.

With the annual points race reaching its conclusion of course, victory here went to Malcolm Blackman, the destination of the English title just about remaining in doubt until the final. Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, it was Andy Burgess who eventually clinched the last remaining qualifying spot up for grabs.

Perhaps the most notable point about the entry here was that Colin White wasn’t one. Several weeks of speculation about whether or not the three times world champion was fussed about doing this year’s race thus came to an end. This came as no real surprise under the circumstances, as Colin has been without the ready loan of a car for a little while now and had, in any case, decided a long while ago that he would be racing in Germany on this particular weekend.

Clearly then, that left Andy Burgess and Richard Spavins with a clear field of fire when it came to nabbing that last place in the top twenty. Burgess actually only needed to turn up and race at Brum to bump White from the world grid, but he had only a scant lead over Spavins, who could still have taken the spoils if he had a good night.

Elsewhere, there were a few things still to play for. James Jamieson was just about able to entertain hopes of overhauling Steve Thompson for a group one start, likewise Stuart Carter with Simon Bentley for group two, and the returning Mike Thurley with Neil Stimson, or more likely, Colin Gomm (who’d cancelled his booking) for group four.

Unable to do much about improving his grid position at Ipswich, but there nevertheless and giving it his all (as in, clipping the wall in practice) was Phil Spinks in his new Tigra. This was looking very smart, and indeed a trifle menacing, in its virtually all black livery.

Pole position winners were once again going to be the order of the day in the opening heats. Matt Simpson led from flag to flag in the first of these, although he was never allowed any respite, with Carl Boardley snapping at his heels throughout. The reigning world champion did have a couple of serious attempts at getting past without being able to make anything stick.

Boardley’s second still looked like it might stand him in good stead in his battle for the points championship with Malcolm Blackman, but with Blackman getting home fourth, Carl really hadn’t gained as much as he would no doubt have liked.

Andy Steward was the recipient of pole for heat two, and like Simpson, duly led every single lap. His opposition seemed most likely to come from Stimson, despite the fact he got involved in a brief first bend clinch with Burgess, which no doubt had his supporters holding their breath. But they both recovered and got going OK with virtually no time lost. Neil did pick up a black cross after the incident, and then got on with putting up a spirited chase.

Along the way, Peter Blood and Ralph Sanders collided and had a bit of an ‘off’ near the start/finish.

In the closing stages it was clear Stimson’s pursuit of Steward was a lost cause as not only was ‘Doughnut’ now pulling away but Simon Bentley and Blackman were closing fast. This trio came together with four laps to run, Blackman going straight for the outside pass on Bentley. He’d all but got it done as they tore into turn one with three to go, but tried to cut in a little sharply. This led to what might have been a minor exchange of paint, although a lot of people swore the two never touched. Whatever: Blackman all but spun out, appeared to gather it up brilliantly, but then left the corner with his wing hanging awry and behind Bentley once again. Needless to say Stimson’s second spot was now left safe by all this.

Heat three was not won from pole but by third row starter, Stuart Carter. Stuart was still in the lead before the completion of one lap though, and once through to the front, pulled away fast.

At the tail end of that opening lap, Sanders was having an exciting ride as first Bentley and David Brooks shot past one either side, and then Boardley and Simpson did the same!

Spavins obviously knew what he had to do, and was busy holding down second place for a while until he was caught and passed by James Jamieson. Graham Luscombe took a spin on the pit bend, ending up in a T-bone situation with Brooks

Once Carter had extended his lead to over a quarter of a lap, no amount of effort by Jamieson managed to make much of a dent in it. Spavins was a similar distance behind Jamieson but still third and keeping his hopes of a WF place alive, just four points behind Burgess going into the final.

And speaking of the final, it was going to take something like a non-finish by Blackman with Boardley still scoring well to tip the balance at top of the points race.

In the end, it was one of those races which promised much but didn’t actually deliver a great deal. Or to put it another way, nothing much changed about the world qualifying prospects of any of the participants.

Stimson started on the front row outside and wasted no time about grabbing first place and running off with it. No one was seen placing any bets against his fourth final win in a row.

Second was in doubt all the way though. Thurley held sway there initially, with Spinks, Russ Wilcox and Steward following on. Further back, Brooks was running seventh until he got ‘freight trained’ by the mob behind him, dropping the white Tigra about seven places in the course of a single lap. Prior to this, Blackman had been behind Boardley, but never far behind, and slipped by down the inside of the far turn. It looked like they were only ever going to be scrapping for the minor places, but that was no good to Boardley in any case, and if Blackman finished in front of him anyway…

The dice for second now featured Thurley, Spinks and Steward. Spinks dived up the outside and away, as Thurley and Steward clashed exiting turn four, Mike spinning across the infield as a result. That also let Carter and Wilcox past Steward, but he was soon in recovery mode, re-passing Wilcox to go after the leaders once more.

Carter had managed to get on terms with Spinks, causing a bit of a double take as the two black Tigras hurtled round in close company. Close company that was, until Spinks’ car spat the speedo drive plug out of the gearbox, throwing all the transmission oil over his exhaust. He exited sharpish in a cloud of smoke, leaving Carter to face up to Steward’s challenge instead, Andy finally claiming the position down the inside into turn three just shy of the last lap board.

No one got within a quarter of a lap of Stimson for the duration, and in the crucial points arguments, the main players finished on track where they would be in the final reckoning, Blackman ahead of Boardley by one place, Burgess ahead of Spavins by one place.

Blackman’s supporters can rightly celebrate that their man finished on top, Boardley fans will doubtless point out that Carl missed a meeting, and surely would have gained more than the 13 points he needed if he’d been there. In truth, there’s never really been all that much between them over the whole year. For sure, Carl had the edge last year. Blackman’s revamped car looked to have put him back on top early this season, and lately, they’ve looked pretty even-steven.

And so, that was it for another world series. After a bit of a ‘time out’ for Mallory this coming weekend, all roads will lead to Ipswich, T-500, Press Day and on from there. Graham Brown.
Results
Heat One: 303,41,305,911,67,170,61,271,291,198,2,3,95,55,742,427,92
Heat Two: 198,271,59,911,85,277,61,291,14,219,2,95,49,115,734,92,35
Heat Three: 85,305,3,170,14,41,219,59,303,49,55,277,67,427,115,35
Final: 271,198,85,219,59,305,170,303,911,41,67,277,3,742,55,49,427,92,35


2007 World Series (England) round 16 Ipswich, 28/05/07

Stimson’s wet hat trick

Graham Brown reports: On an afternoon when the Ipswich rain only varied between drizzle and torrential, Neil Stimson once again looked quick all day and went on to win his third final in a row.

Unfortunately, this was one of those rare days when the weather forecasters got it completely right, and had been doing so for several days in advance. Well, you could rely on that, what with the predictions being fairly dire and it being a Bank Holiday and all, couldn’t you?

The entry proved remarkably resilient under the circumstances, with almost no cancellations and zero no-shows. Colin Smith did cancel, on the grounds that he had no wets and wasn’t planning on buying any just to do basically the one meeting. Mind you, had he decided to go and buy some, he might not have got very far with that plan in any case, as Phil Spinks discovered!

That entry included a couple of interlopers in the shape of Irish racers Tom Casey and Barry English, who decided to give their scheduled Tipperary meeting the day before a miss, in favour of some test mileage at Foxhall. Not that it probably did them any good, unless of course the WF itself turns out to be wet, and seeing that the last truly wet race was very nearly 20 years ago, we are probably due another…

These two welcome visitors aside, the most interesting entry here was undoubtedly James ‘Jay’ Austin, whose ex-Hadfield car was looking mighty well prepared in its smart new colours, even if I’m not all that sure about the bright green interior. Still, I don’t have to live with it, and maybe Jay finds it calming!

With the rain persisting down and everybody (presumably) on wets, it was Russell Wilcox who set off in a very brief heat one lead, losing out to Andy Burgess – who we’ve noted before likes it damp - as soon as they left turn one.

But Neil Stimson had made an even better start than Burgess, and went rocketing past not only Carl Boardley, but the leader too. Boardley doggedly went after him though and finally assumed the lead going down the back straight to clinch the win.

Colin Gomm was looking his typically speedy wet weather self throughout the early stages, but his charge definitely faded the longer the race went on, and certainly after he’d given the far turn wall a hefty biff.

By the finish, the lead pair were just about half a lap clear, with Andy Holtby ‘best of the rest’ in third spot.

Heat two was no less wet, Ken Marriott having the briefest of leads this time before losing out to Steve Thompson. Another wet weather fiend, Matt Simpson, was swiftly up into second and hounded the leader every step of the way without ever really looking as though he was going to find a way past. He certainly got very close at one point when Neil Muddle took a back straight spin nearing the finish. The leader was forced to get out of the throttle for a few seconds and the 303 Corrado homed in fast then.

A quarter of a lap and more behind these three (Marriott, incidentally, another who was looking very much at home in these conditions), Dick Hillard took an unscheduled trip into the home straight wall. Boardley was making lots of moves in the right direction as usual, having started with the last group and gradually working his way up to relieve Holtby of fourth around mid-distance. But undoubtedly the biggest impression in this one was made by Jay Austin. As befits a provisional licence holder, he’d started stone last and, whilst he’d gone a lap down to the leader by the finish, he’d done his fair share of overtaking along the way and got home a highly creditable seventh.

The third outing was Phil Spinks’ turn to have the lead for just a few seconds, Chris Haird the one to relieve him of it. As Spinks fell back to duel with James Jamieson over third spot, it was Malcolm Blackman who came up on Haird’s shoulder, finally taking advantage of a little back straight wobble by the leader to go ahead. He stayed that way as well, despite Stimson giving chase throughout the closing stages once he too had overtaken Haird.

Once again, in the early going, it was Gomm who appeared to be loving it on the widest of wide outside lines and got up into the top six as a result. However, he wasn’t the only one who looked happy out there, because someone else was making every bit as good a job of it – Austin! What he lacked in caution he was obviously making up for in grip, and cheekily darted past Simon Bentley going down the back straight to prove it. Eighth was his reward this time, with the seven ahead of him reading like a veritable who’s who of hot rodding.

I did go and ask if he was sure he hadn’t done this before, but he didn’t really get my little joke, and simply remarked that he had done two litres. Well, I already knew that, but Nationals aren’t 2.0’s, and these were hardly ideal conditions to be making your debut either.

With the rain heavier than ever and track curfew time approaching, the final distance was cut to just 20 laps. In fact, heat three had been shortened by a few as well. In this respect – running out of time - matters weren’t helped by a stoppage early on, after a collision between English and Ralph Sanders.

Ralph had spun coming off turn four and very neatly snicked the car into reverse and zoomed down the home straight backwards. He went straight as an arrow, right in the midst of a group of cars and without touching anything. He then backed the car against the wall just beyond the pit gate, obviously awaiting either a chance to get back into the race or a yellow flag. Now, I know for sure the message came over the Raceivers twice about 734 being there. Indeed, there was time for a personal warning to Tony Goodsir, who appeared to be going straight towards Sanders at one point. So quite why Barry English drove slap into him is anyone’s guess. Barry had complained earlier in the meeting that he couldn’t hear things over his radio (“Just like at home!”), and when I looked at it, he had the volume down to just one bar. The only driver I know who can hear the things properly at that level in a moving race car, is Mike Thurley. For most people, three quarters volume is more like it, which is what I set Barry’s to, at which point he positively jumped when I gave him a radio check. So, maybe he then found it too loud and turned it down again later….

After a brief hiatus to drag the two badly damaged Peugeots off, the restart saw Stimson soon stamping his authority on the lead, and the rest of the racing was obviously going to be all about the places.

Simpson managed to out-fumble Thompson as they went around Wilcox to eventually go second, the remainder of the race a reversal of their earlier encounter, with Thompson this time unable to really get on terms. Quite whether that was because he couldn’t just get up to him, or because Steve couldn’t see through the diabolical spray whenever he neared Matt’s car, I’m not sure.

And speaking of not being sure, I’d love to give you some controversial comment about Brooks/Gomm and Boardley/Steward, but I’m afraid your correspondent was having one of those races when he was always looking in the wrong direction at the right time, or vice versa. I saw Brooks spinning with his door hanging open, but had no idea how that had happened until later, when Gomm got disqualified. Likewise, I saw ‘Doughnut’ spun and stopped on the far turn, but had no clue how he’d got there either, until much later. Sorry guys. It’s just as well I wasn’t stewarding.

Austin also spoiled his possible ‘three races, three places’ record, when he too spent some time parked on turns three-four, but we would still have to call his day’s work highly impressive nevertheless.

Most significantly perhaps, this was yet another meeting when Colin White showed up, but without a car. With Richard Spavins having a less than great day, and Andy Burgess continuing to pick up useful points here and there, Andy is now poised to bump the three time world champion from the top twenty. In fact, all it will take is for Burgess to show up and race at Brum, and White not to. And Spavins could still pull things out of the fire too, of course. Now: is Colin bothered about all this, or not, I wonder. Graham Brown

Results as seen trackside by Garry Staines
Heat 1: 41 271 61 170 911 277 305 219 278 85
Heat 2: 170 303 41 2 61 198 427 277 67 14
Heat 3: 911 271 115 305 14 198 278 427 59 219
Final: 271 303 170 911 41 305. Result not complete/confirmed.


2007 World Series (England) round 15 Hednesford, 07/05/07

Mixed weather, racing to match

Graham Brown reports: A day of sunshine and showers at The Hills was at least an improvement on the blizzard meeting there earlier in the season. And if the weather was somewhat mixed, the racing was of a similar calibre, with some runaway wins but also some exceptional dicing for the places, most notably in the final, which went the way of Neil Stimson.

Most notable point of interest regarding the entry was the return to National Hot Rod racing of Graham Luscombe, at the wheel of Ralph Sanders’ spare 206. By Graham’s reckoning, it is 20 years since he last raced a hot rod and 15 since he last raced anything! The ‘anything’ at that time, was a BriSCA F2, the class in which his brother Dave was world champion in 1987.

But, let us not overlook Mike Oliver, the popular Welshman choosing to have a welcome (if short lived, due to mechanical woes) outing at Hednesford instead of his ‘home track’ Tipperary. Nor indeed Chris Haird, who brought out his new 206cc, which as far as I can tell, looks exactly the same as the old one!

There had also been half a chance that Colin White was going to appear in the newer of James Jamieson’s two Tigras, but the arrangement never reached fruition.

Although there was undoubtedly rain in the air prior to start time, it hadn’t come to anything very much. That is not to say that the track itself was dry because it wasn’t. An oil spill on the West bend exit, and the mess left behind by the clear-up, meant things were going to very slippery round there.

Simon Bentley made the most of a front row grid position to grab an immediate lead, with Andy Holtby making something of a demon start to hurtle from the third row and into second by bend one. Richard Smith soon showed how tricky the turn four exit was by losing it coming out of there and cannoning into the unfortunate John Holtby. Meanwhile, Tony Goodsir took a scary ride over the winner’s ramp before plunging off the other side and getting stuck there.

Holtby hounded Bentley throughout, but despite opportunities presented by clumps of traffic near the finish which enabled Holtby to get very close indeed, he couldn’t manage to unseat the leader. Andrew Burgess and David Brooks settled into third and fourth, with Brooks overhauling Burgess some time after mid-distance. But both men lost a lot of time lapping back markers and were just about half a lap behind by the end.

A shower created a wet but drying track for heat two. This apparently presented no problems for Carl Boardley, who had, much to his disgust, drawn a front row start yet again. The world champion was forced to take his punishment and promptly ran off to hide. No one saw him again unless it was in their mirrors, the real battle in this one being for second.

With Malcolm Blackman only two rows back from Carl on the grid, he was expected to give chase to Boardley. But not only could he not keep up with the leader’s pace, Malcolm found himself under pressure from wet track expert Colin Gomm, driving a superb race round the wide outside. Colin might well have a reputation as a good jockey when the going is damp, but this was still an outstanding drive. He even overcame the problem of having what looked like a dead-cert pass foiled by an awkwardly placed lapped car. On any other day, a drive like that would probably have garnered a win, but that’s racing.

Blackman still didn’t get any peace, as Stimson took Gomm’s place on his shoulder, and made repeated efforts to get past an increasingly defensive 911 car. Neil never gave up trying, despite smacking the wall four times by his account and finally whacking it hard enough to bend the steering, Stimson limping over the line to gain a mere eighth when he’d been looking good for at least fourth.

Heat three provided the first real chance for Chris Haird’s brand new car to show its mettle, because this was going to be another race which proved to be a flag to flag job for a front row starter. Andy Steward and Matt Simpson stayed close enough to keep the leader honest, but the real focal point here was the places battle that raged between Steve Thompson, Stimson, Boardley, Blackman and Jamieson. It was Thompson who came out of it best to take fourth spot.

After a run of relatively easy, if not actually predictable, wins from the front ranks, there seemed to be no real reason why Stimson shouldn’t keep up that trend in the final – which he did. Nevertheless, it was still probably the best of the year so far.

With 28 cars on track it was always going to be busy, and so it proved. Ken Marriott took the early lead, but lost out to Stimson with only half a lap gone. Neil was chased for a long time by Gomm, who apparently hadn’t noticed it was no longer wet, the gap see-sawing back and forth as first one and then the other benefited from the traffic. Stimson finally gained enough ground to be comfortable however, and attention switched elsewhere.

There was certainly no shortage of traffic, which was making matters very lively in the tooth-and-nail fights going on for all the places. Nowhere was it livelier than the dice which comprised Bentley, Boardley, Jamieson, Blackman and Thompson. They may only have been arguing over sixth spot and back, but it took a lot of hard work for Jamieson to finally come out top of this lot. He seized his chance when Boardley went for an outside pass of Bentley, JJ sticking his nose in between them and then boxing Boardley in to make good his escape, the blue Tigra spitting spectacular exhaust flames as it set off after Stuart Carter in fifth.

Meanwhile.....Boardley, Blackman and Thompson were still faced with trying to overtake Bentley, which, they couldn’t. But it was still a lot of fun watching them try. At one point Boardley and Blackman came down the home straight running side by side, certainly not turning into one another or anything like that, but so close together their tyre sidewalls were touching and sending up little plumes of blue smoke. Now, that’s pretty close!

OK: they may not have been racing for the lead, but to this old timer, this really did feel like proper hot rodding from a bygone age.

In the end, we wound up with the same first two as at Skegness, in the shape of Stimson and Gomm, but Andy Steward took the third spot this time. Brooks had another solid run for fourth, while fifth didn’t really seem like much reward for JJ after such a hard race. Oh, and if you’re wondering what happened to Thompson near the finish to rob him of a position, the diff let go. Graham Brown

Results
Heat one: 59,61,67,198,277,31,303,39,85,734,2,92,95,6,742
Heat two: 41,278,911,85,61,305,219,271,115,55,49,3,734,59,170
Heat three: 115,198,303,170,271,41,911,305,278,67,2,3,277,39,31
Final: 271,278,198,67,305,85,59,41,911,303,61,2,734,3,277
PHOTOS by John Perry & Martin Kingston

2007 World Series (England) round 14 Skegness, 22/04/07

Stimson’s sunny Skeggy

Graham Brown reports: The annual seaside outing for the National Hot Rods at Skegness provided a different winner in every race, but it was Neil Stimson who made the most of a pole start to take the final.

The weather was kind to us once again for the trip to Orby and, although the entry wasn't colossal, there were certainly enough cars on the track. Actually, too many at times, or so it seemed. Let's face it, there aren't that many meetings where trouble kicks off in practice! But it did here, with Stimson and James Jamieson exchanging paintwork and harsh words long before any racing started in anger. It wasn't a particularly auspicious start to the afternoon....

Just one 'parish notice' (with apologies to Jim Gregory) regarding the entry, with John Holtby - Andy's brother - making his debut in a smartly turned out 206cc. This prompted some discussion about when was the last time two brothers raced at the same time. We think here in England it was probably Colin and Keith White, but we're also still open to suggestions, and naturally thoughts turned to the Grimers, Dances, Freestones, Hattons...well, fill in your own memory.

Heat one kicked off with Ken Marriott leading briefly until Matt Simpson went by at the end of the opening lap. Matt soon pulled out a small advantage, but with Malcolm Blackman and Carl Boardley charging hard through the pack, there seemed little doubt Matt was going to come under real pressure before the finish. Blackman was clearly out-running Boardley too and, once he was past Marriott and through to second, had a free hand to chase down the leader.

The pair were together with five to go, Blackman trying every which way to get past, but it was still the Corrado that held sway at flag fall. Boardley was never close enough to have any say about the outcome, and in fact Carl came under pressure himself towards the finish, as Stimson showed his obvious pace by sniffing at the world champ's back bumper.

It was a similar story at the start of the second race, with Richard Spavins out front for just about a lap before Chris Haird took over. It was Steve Thompson who soon got into second and gave pursuit this time. Further back, Blackman was trying desperately to get through to the leaders again, making full use of Skeggy's exceptionally wide outside line in order to do so. But one particularly wide sweep into the pit bend, in an attempt to overhaul Jamieson, saw Malcolm lose a load of ground and let Andy Holtby and Simon Bentley past into the bargain.

This part of the pack was subject to a good deal of dicing, with Holtby going by JJ and then tucking in behind Mike Thurley as they both relegated Spavins. Blackman managed to re-pass Bentley, taking Simpson through with him, but out front, the first three of Haird, Thompson and Stimson were pretty safe throughout, Haird extending his lead to around a quarter of a lap by the finish.

Stuart Carter out dragged pole man Gavin Murray to head heat three, with Andy Steward swiftly into second this time. Murray was giving a good account of himself, but soon found he was being overwhelmed by his more experienced competition.

‘Doughnut’ kept up the chase every step of the way until his diff let go three laps from home, leaving Carter well clear and handing second to Andy Holtby. By that point Boardley was up to third, having managed to put the hard trying David Brooks behind him a little over two laps from the end.

The heats had in fact passed by fairly uneventfully, but the final was to be a different story.

Stimson made good an immediate getaway from pole, initially pursued by Marriott and Russell Wilcox. Wilcox went by Marriott going into the pit bend, taking Colin Gomm through in his wake. It was at this point that all hell broke loose on the home straight, where a coming together between Mike Thurley and Carter sent Carter’s car hard into the wall, the wreck bouncing back out to collect James Jamieson and Andy Holtby.

Holtby tried to press on, but with a broken wing and smoke pouring from the car, he too was forced to pull up, leaving three badly battered Tigras scattered around the circuit by the time the yellows came out. In fact, even after all this, the yellow wasn't actually for any of the cars involved in this rumpus, but for Neil Muddle, who'd spun to a stop in a dodgy place up by turns three/four. Carter was clearly keen to have a frank and honest exchange of views with Thurley where they were both parked on the infield, but marshals intervened to prevent any such discussion.

The resumption (conducted from a standing start for some odd reason) saw Gomm get the jump on Wilcox to snatch second. Stimson continued leading, while further back, Brooks found himself stuck on the outside and freightrained by Bentley, Boardley and Simpson. An attempt to cut back down to the inside sparked a collision with Thompson, which saw Brooks spin and Thompson delayed. Soon after that, Marriott too found himself facing the wrong way after a difference of opinion with Haird about who's piece of track was who's.

Stimson went on to complete his flag-to-flag victory, with Gomm and Wilcox completing a welcome and unusual top three. Unsurprisingly, the steward (Roy Eaton) was not impressed with some of the driving in this. Brooks took a two place penalty for cutting in on Thompson, and Thurley got loaded up and put on notice that further penalties were likely to follow for his part in the Carter/Holtby/Jamieson incident.

It was an unfortunate end to the day, which had generally been good, as Skegness usually is. Indeed, there were still a number of drivers of the opinion that we should go there more often. I certainly wouldn't mind, if only somebody could stick a rope on the place and tow it about sixty miles nearer London! Graham Brown
Results
Heat one: 303,911,41,271,2,55,67,198,305,85,115,278,(291),3,6
Heat two: 115,170,271,61,(291),305,911,303,59,219,31,734,95,3,35
Heat three: 85,61,41,67,59,278,219,170,95,31,277,2,6,35
Final: 271,278,219,115,41,59,303,911,734,170,3,277,67(-2),6,35


2007 World Series (England) round 12 Northampton, 06/04/07
and 2007 World Series (England) round 13 Ipswich, 09/04/07

Same craic, different track

Graham Brown reports: The enforced shift of scene of Autospeed's annual Good Friday meeting from Ringwood to NIR did nothing to spoil its usual success. And for nobody was it more of a success than Phil Spinks, who's flying visit from Dubai paid dividends with a superb heat and final double.

A couple of bits of news on the entry front. Warren Farazmand at last made his National Hot Rod debut with an immaculately turned out Peugeot 205 and, whilst this may be an 'old' car in NHR terms, its presentation was a real credit to the sport.

Peter Blood's winter time revamp of his Corrado had it still yellow but now looking rather different and fetching with the addition of some chequers, while Winnie Holtmanns was back again for his by now annual Easter UK mini-tour. Sadly, car problems meant he didn't get to do all that much racing at either event this time around.

Things did not start well either, for triple world winner Colin White, who'd arrived late after transporter problems along the way, and then went spinning on bend one, lap one, heat one!

It was Simon Bentley who set the pace at the front and went quickly clear. But with Carl Boardley cutting through from mid-grid to catch Andy Steward and David Brooks, the trio were soon closing down the leader. Several side-by-side laps with Steward eventually saw Boardley through to second, the world champion taking over the lead two laps from home.

Heat two looked like providing a stiff test of nerve for Matt Simpson, who grabbed the lead on the first lap, but had to contend with Malcolm Blackman breathing down his neck every step of the way, and Boardley too in the closing stages. This would have been very interesting indeed if it had gone another five laps, but that still might not have upset Simpson's controlled victory.

The third outing was Spinks' first opportunity to really shine, his second row grid position quickly turning into the lead and a win, despite a car that appeared to have oodles of oversteer. There were a couple mechanical maladies on the loose here, with David Brooks forced to become a non-starter with a busted half shaft, and Chris Haird crawling away at flagfall into immediate retirement with a blown gearbox.

A row further back on the grid didn't look as though it was going to delay Spinks for long in the final, and so it turned out, with Ralph Sanders finally forced to turn over the front runner's spot at about mid-distance.

With plenty of oil finding its way onto the track in the closing stages, there were a number of incidents, one of which accounted for Boardley, who clipped the fence and spun when a damaged tyre suddenly deflated.

With a number of other spinners too, there were certainly chances for the leader and the loose looking Citroen to throw it all away. But Phil is far too experienced to fall for any of that these days and went on to take an accomplished victory over the hard trying Brooks and Mike Thurley. Graham Brown
Results
Heat one: 41,59,198,67,31,271,85,911,115,55,734,278,291,718,92,637
Heat two: 303,911,41,170,305,271,31,278,61,2,14,718,92,3,277,219,35
Heat three: 14,61,170,85,291,305,277,198,303,3,2,59,55(-2),637,629,35
Final: 14,67,291,734,61,911,31,718,3,303,305,219,271,55,170

Get Carter!

Graham Brown reports: It was a case of ‘Get Carter’ at the bank holiday Monday Ipswich, but the rest couldn’t, as Stuart Carter took the win in a hotly contested final. On an historical footnote, this was of course, the first official Deane Wood promoted meeting at Foxhall.

On the entry front for this one, we had two complete 'newbies', both at the wheel of beautifully turned out 206cc's. One was former Outlaw racer Richard Smith, who'd been forced to forsake his normal 28 number for a new one of 38. He spent the afternoon finding out about the differences between Avons and Hoosiers, but was soon looking quite at home round Foxhall.

Joining him was ex-Lightning Rod star Gavin Murray, son of long time racer Graham Murray. The 'Sole Bay Car Spares' logo is emblazoned down the side of the car in prismatic red writing which was quite blinding when caught by the sun. As the car itself is dark blue, it also made it look very similar to Reuben Taylor's at a quick glance, so it's probably just as well the transponders are keeping up with lap scoring and not just human eyes...

Farazmand and Holtmanns were in action again, Colin Smith was making one of his all-too-infrequent outings, with Terry Hunn also rejoining the fray. Someone who wasn't, for the first heat at least, was Simon Bentley, who'd broken a stub axle in practice.

Carl Boardley out dragged Chris Haird in heat one to set off in the lead, which looked to be the end of that, with the world champion going in front that early in the race. A three wide moment involving James Jamieson, Haird and a back marker gained Jamieson second at the expense of a black cross, the Scot spending the rest of the race inching up on the leader without ever managing to get in touch. He also got dropped two places in the result, a penalty which stood despite a later protest.

Heat two provided an easy flag to flag victory for Matt Simpson, who blasted away from the outside front row and proceeded to have a very lonely race the rest of the way. This race seemed to be punctuated by sick cars, with 'Doughnut' having to retire, Richard Spavins and Colin White following soon after.

The third race was a while getting going, after Colin Gomm had a problem (gearbox?) and spun during the warm ups, and White got a puncture. Even with that repaired, the 718 car was soon sounding rather less than healthy again when the race got going.

Then we were interrupted by a caution, thrown when Chris Haird went spinning along the back straight and banana-ed his axle on the wall.

Prior to this, Simon Bentley had been doing the leading after hasty repairs. However, Neil Stimson just had his nose in front when the yellows came, and went on to take a clear victory after the resumption.

The final was run at a frenetic pace throughout. Following something of a ragged start, Spavins took the lead and stayed out front until his diff blew up. That put White into the lead until he was passed by Andy Steward, only for Steward to retire as well when a drive shaft failed. They weren't the only ones experiencing car troubles either, with James Jamieson attempting to press on with a broken panhard rod, until the left rear tyre rubbed through its sidewall, sending him spinning.

White assumed the lead again after Steward's demise until a clash with the hard pressing Phil Spinks allowed Carter to zip past both of them to claim his first victory of the year.

Nearing the finish, a home straight collision saw Neil Muddle, Andy Holtby and Boardley all end up in an undignified heap on the pit bend. This meant the second final non-finish in a row for Carl, who was left punching the steering wheel in frustration. Opinions in the box (where Dave Longhurst was assisting with stewarding) seemed fairly divided about whose fault all of this was, but it was Holtby who ended up carrying the can with a disqualification. Graham Brown
Results
Heat one: 41,198,115,305(-2),14,491,85,39,291,219,55,95,637
Heat two: 303,67,61,85,31,41,911,170,3,734,491,277,637,38,271,49
Heat three: 271,911,59,291,170,14,55,734,305,31,39,219,277,278
Final: 85,303,14,911,271,718,291,59,170,278,31,491,277,55,95


2007 World Series (England) round 11 Hednesford, 18/03/07

Blackman in a winter wonderland

Graham Brown reports: After his ‘warm up’ at Birmingham a week previously, Malcolm Blackman came up with the goods for a heat and final double at Hednesford in a meeting blessed by blizzard conditions for much of the afternoon.

There were just a couple of points of interest among the entry for this one, both concerning unusual visitors. One was well known Scot John Sibbald, giving his shiny new provisional licence an airing for the first time. The other was Joey Butler who I believe was doing the meeting in the nature of a test for a newly fitted Ford Duratec motor.

I say ‘I believe’, because by the point where I had the time to have perhaps gone and checked, the weather had deteriorated to the exact level the forecasters had predicted it might. Well….they’re always crying ‘wolf’ when it comes to snow in Britain, so we’d really just dismissed out of hand the idea of any serious precipitation of that sort. That was, until we got to the track, and the first gentle wisps were already drifting around in the bitter north wind. Not nice at all, and it wasn’t long before both the snow and the wind got into a much higher gear…..

Actually, I don’t know why I was even slightly surprised – I’ve seen weather like that at Hednesford in May before now, never mind March. But, it didn’t last all that long that day!

One of the shorter lived blizzards greeted the field just as they were lining up for heat one, necessitating last minute tyre changes all round. Naturally by the time they were all done with that, the snow had virtually stopped again, hey-ho.

Reuben Taylor got away first to lead but they were only a few yards into lap two before wet weather specialist Matt Simpson went by. That was the last the rest saw of him, unless it was in the distance or when being lapped.

Taylor hung onto second for a while before ultimately losing out to Steve Thompson and Carl Boardley. The latter pair had previously been embroiled in a big fight over third thru eighth with Simon Bentley, Stuart Carter, Andy Holtby and Russell Wilcox. This dice provided much of the interest in this one, especially as the first three were well spread apart in a stalemate condition throughout the closing stages.

If Taylor was away fast in the first race, it was nothing compared to the pace set by Chris Haird in the second, the Duratec/Fiesta roaring off into a big lead over Dick Hillard and Thompson. Thompson swapped places with Hillard but Haird looked to be home and dry, until he came upon Taylor, Richard Spavins and Joey Butler having a moment on the East bend exit.

Haird wasted quite a bit of time and tyre smoke sorting it all out, by which time Thompson was through and away. Chris nonetheless spent the rest of the race staging a magnificent recovery and was only narrowly beaten by Thompson at the line.

Another downfall of heavy snow left the track soaking for heat three. In fact, most of this fell during the previous race, where the poor old Stock Rods got the brunt of it, and at about midway through that, with the sky so dark and a virtual white-out sweeping across Cannock Chase, I began to think abandoning the meeting was soon going to be the only option. Even putting the track lights on would probably only have made things worse, as they would have reflected off the snow flakes. But eventually, the weather god relented at least a bit. There still seemed to be rather a lot of white graded cars coming out for heat three however…

Actually, several people did ask me if I’d ever seen hot rods raced in a snow storm before, and I can actually only ever remember seeing it once previously. I knew was at Ipswich, around about 1978 and went and checked the archive for about the right period. It was actually the second programme I picked up, and there it was; the ‘World of Sport’ (so must have been televised) Winternationals on December 30^th 1978. My notes in the programme actually state, “Freezing cold, wet track for Winternational, final raced in a blizzard with settled snow on the track”. For the record, Mick Collard won that snowy final, but it was the drive of Micky Hall for fifth that sticks in my mind. He’d picked up a wooden block, about a foot in length, from somewhere (Christ only knows where) and got it jammed in his left front wheel arch so that whatever angle he had the steering turned at, the block stayed in position. It was cutting down the amount of opposite lock he had available – mighty inconvenient for racing on a snow covered track as you can imagine – making his fifth spot highly creditable.

When I told Neil Stimson (one of those who asked, had I ever seen, etc.) that I thought it was in 1978, he smiled and said, “That’s the year I was born.” Yeah, right, thanks for that!

Anyway, back to the plot and heat three. It was Malcolm Blackman’s turn to make a quick getaway this time, and he gradually left James Jamieson behind for the rest of the race.

The places fight was a lot closer, particularly in the dying seconds, when the dice between Andy Holtby, Andrew Burgess and Boardley came to the boil.

Holtby headed for the wide outside coming off the final turn and just managed to pip the other two to snatch fourth, while Burgess went spinning across the line in a desperate (and successful) attempt to stay ahead of the world champion. Even if he did crash heavily into the infield embankment in the aftermath, and fail to prevent Holtby getting through, it was still sterling and determined driving from Andrew, who has always looked something of a natural, particularly in the wet. Although Boardley went and apologised to Burgess for the incident afterwards, the video appeared to show nothing more than just a racing incident between two totally committed racers going for the line.

By final time the weather had shifted again to blinding sunshine, reflecting massively off the wet track – charming, and especially good fun trying to look towards the West bend from Race Control.

The race started out with Ken Marriott swiftly relieving Richard Spavins of the lead and then pulling away for a time. It was the battle to decide who was going to go after him where the interest lay. Colin White, Thompson, Blackman and Jamieson were all arguing the toss, with Boardley and Simpson not far behind.

Eventually though, it was Blackman who stamped his authority on the race, scything through to second before reeling the leader in. Boardley did his level best to stay with the red Peugeot in the early stages, but was clearly fighting a losing battle in that respect.

By the finish, Blackman was well ahead – to the tune of a quarter of a lap - and a clear winner at flag fall. Thompson, Jamieson and Boardley had all made their way past Marriott too by the finish, but Ken had nevertheless driven a race to be proud of. Graham Brown

Heat One: 303,170,41,61,718,271,59,85,305,278,277,49,219,629,55,151,35
Heat Two: 170,115,718,31,911,59,67,303,55,291,2,734,49,151,35,3
Heat Three: 911,305,198,61,277,41,271,2,85,31,115,3,67,219,734,629,151
Final: 911,170,305,41,2,303,718,85,61,115,198,59,271,3,67,55,291,629


2007 World Series (England) round 10 Birmingham, 10/03/07

Brooks and Brum

Graham Brown reports: David Brooks got the National Hot Rod World Series back underway in fine style when he steered his Vauxhall Tigra to a well taken maiden final victory at Birmingham.

Not a massive entry for this, indeed it was one which might almost have been called disappointing, given the number of new licences issued over the winter and that everybody should have been raring to go after a few months off.

Still, the track certainly never looked empty and I know from bitter personal experience, that one tends to think “Oh we’ve got plenty of time yet”, when completing a winter rebuild, only to find the start of the season arriving like a big surprise! According to some of the phone calls we received last week, this phenomenon didn’t die out in the 1970’s….

So: what of those who aren’t members of the Never Ready Racing Team? On the car front, probably the item of most interest to form book students had to be Malcolm Blackman’s 206cc. It is just the 206 revamped, but with Malcolm’s usual thoroughness, it looked like a completely new car, and fooled many into thinking that it was.

"We just fancied some new kit”, Malcolm explained.

“The chassis is nigh on the same, there's not much different really, although it is a few inches lower. The thing is, the 206 was built in 2003 and we've had a lot of rule changes since then, plus Carl (Boardley) had raised the level a bit. We have got a Tigra, but we thought we'd have a rebuild this winter rather than finishing the Tigra off.

"It feels really good, much better. We have done the engine as well though. We never had time to do much to it last year, when we were just chasing the rounds - now we've had time to sit back and do things properly."

Exactly what he meant by properly was to become evident as the evening went on.

Another car to have morphed into a cc was Mike Thurley’s, although his was barely complete in time to make the meeting, and somebody really needs to tell him that red sign writing on pale blue cars just doesn’t work.

The black paint now applied to Stuart Carter’s Tigra however is, in my opinion at least, a big improvement over the gold. The gold somehow suited it when Ian Thompson was the owner, and don’t ask me why it didn’t suit it for Carter, because I can’t tell you – it just didn’t, OK!

The other main item of interest was the fact that Chris Haird was in the team’s (now fully legal) Ford Duratec powered Fiesta. Although the car has, up to now, been something of a ‘mule’ – a test bed with no regular driver – the move was a planned one for Chris, who always intended using the Ford once his own cc was sold on and before his next new car was built.

Away from the cars and drivers, the biggest change for the whole formula was that this was to be the first meeting conducted with RACEceivers, the one-way radio transmitters which enable the steward (or other officials) to talk to the drivers during racing.

The system, which has proved its worth so conclusively both in the USA and in Legends here, made no huge difference to the racing on this particular evening. But for those of us lucky enough to be able to listen in on the transmissions, the potential was obvious. While some people were convinced that at least one potential shunt was avoided by the radio warnings the drivers received, I’m content to say that maybe that was coincidence. But one of these days I’m sure, it won’t be, and in the meantime, it makes sorting out grid line ups and ensuring observance of the blue flag that much easier.

The draw for heat one had placed Carl Boardley on pole, so it was he who eased off the line and into an immediate lead to get 2007's proceedings underway.

It certainly looked like a fairly predictable win was on the cards here, but Carl soon found himself being tracked by Brooks, who was looking pretty sharp right from the off. David's challenge faded a little in the closing stages when he came under pressure himself, from Andy Steward, but Brooks had done enough by then to prove he was well on the pace.

Boardley was never going to do anything but win once he’d left Brooks behind, but there was still some racing going on elsewhere. Matt Simpson looked decidedly out of sorts and seemed capable of losing places whenever challenged. Later on in the pits, Mick Sworder wandered over and Matt asked him how he was doing. “Won the first heat”, replies Mick. “How about you?”

Matt looks at the ground and thinks seriously for a second or two, “Total crap” his eventual response.

“Oh. Well done!”, says Sworder, with a false levity that even had Matt laughing on a night when he really didn’t have all that much to laugh about, yet somehow still managed to cling onto his fourth spot in the points.

Aside from Matt not doing awfully well, probably the other focal point of this race was Colin White, who I unforgivably forgot to mention earlier on in the bit about the entry. The three times world winner was giving Malcolm Clein’s reworked cc another Birmingham outing, but didn’t look to be enjoying it much more than the last time that happened. Certainly, he was being forced to drive in an uncharacteristically defensive fashion, and it was only by dint of that, that he managed to take a ninth placing.

One of those who’d gone by during the course of the race was Blackman, whose outside pass had made nonsense of any amount of defensive driving. Clearly, he was enjoying his reworked car.

But if heat one hadn’t been totally riveting, the second race was similarly uneventful as far as any dicing for the lead went, with Steve Thompson the beneficiary of pole and a relatively easy win this time.

The real interest in this race was the battle for fourth thru seventh, where Neil Stimson and Chris Haird were busy scrapping with Phil Spinks and Russell Wilcox. Despite all of them trying very hard indeed, the quartet finished still in that order after an entertaining battle.

Thompson was pursued initially by James Jamieson (in the older of his two Tigras) and Carter, but a coming together between the pair left JJ out of it, Carter also losing a lot of ground following the incident.

The third encounter was a far more interesting race. This time it was Simon Bentley doing the leading, having started on the outside front row, but soon having to face up to Blackman. Their fight eventually went Blackman's way after he executed a masterful outside pass a few laps from home. It took another superior outside pass – by Boardley this time – to wrest fifth away from White, while Haird too was looking quite at home around the outside as he also managed to relegate Bentley to claim second.

Richard Spavins had pole for the final and, perhaps surprisingly, managed to out-drag fellow front row starter White to lead.

White's car looked somewhat tail happy and he quickly lost second to Brooks who was clearly on a charge, as he overhauled Spavins as well, going down the back straight.

When Spavins and White collided a lap or so later, the leader was left on his own, well clear of a chasing Andy Steward. Steward was gradually reeling him in, but it never looked like it would be fast enough to alter the final outcome.

Further back, the interest centred on a lowly places duel between Boardley, Blackman and Thompson which raged until Carl slowed into retirement with a flat.

Early in the race, Brooks had picked up a black cross after a first lap incident had seen Ralph Sanders go spinning. It was Ralph’s spun car – pretty much hidden from view on the entry to turn three by Birmingham’s infield embankments – which saw the pack streaming past on a wide line which may (or may not) have been occasioned by the radio warning they’d received about the danger.

It certainly gave rise to the steward’s enquiry afterwards before the trophy presentation, with video being viewed to determine any part Brooks may have played in the incident. He was ultimately judged to have no case to answer. Graham Brown

Heat one: 41,67,198,911,2,14,85,170,718,303,271,59,291,734,49.
Heat two: 170,85,31,271,115,14,219,67,278,61,2,55,3,291,35
Heat three: 911,115,59,303,41,718,198,305,31,61,219,734,49,39,35
Final: 67,198,85,14,115,219,911,170,31,303,61,305,271,278,55,291,49,35


2007 World Series (England) round 9 Birmingham, 11/11/06

Haird adds another

Graham Brown reports: Chris Haird added to his season's tally of final victories at Birmingham's Wheels Raceway as the National Hot Rods brought down the curtain on this year's World Series races.

For a track the Nationals don't visit all that often, we've certainly had a range of weather types at Birmingham this year, all the way from bitter cold to an evening warm enough to still be wearing shorts at 10pm, to just, well, wet.

This particular evening looked like being very much a repeat of the previous Wheels outing a fortnight earlier, but in the end, turned out to be a good deal drier - for the most part - with just the odd spit of rain occasionally right up until final time.

The meeting certainly did have something of an 'end of term' feel about it. The entry wasn't short on numbers, but with little of news to excite NHR twitchers. However, Mike Oliver was back for another guest outing, Wilson Hamilton was having one of his less than truly frequent runs out as well. Terry Hunn and Neil Muddle were also back in the fold, while young Mr Haird's Peugeot was 'fresh' from its exploits both in the hands of Neville Stanley, and James May at the MPH '06 shows at the NEC and Earls Court.

May is sometimes known by his Top Gear colleagues as 'Captain Slow', and the cc still bore the giant word 'SLOW' on its doors instead of the more usual #115. I did suggest that maybe the team should perhaps have painted over or removed this particular 'sponsor' from the car before they came to Brum, but as things transpired, it turned out they were only joking after all...

The draw for heat one placed Carl Boardley on pole and duly provided the world champion with an easy victory. I have to say that this was easily the dullest race I've seen all year but, by contrast, as Carl was involved in the best race I've seen all year in the final at the previous Birmingham, I suppose you have to take the rough with the smooth.

The entertainment in this was mainly provided by Malcolm Blackman, who worked hard to come through from mid-grid to third.

The second heat was far more interesting. Outside front row starter Simon Bentley took the lead, but faced stiff opposition from David Brooks and Colin White. White lost out to 'team mate' James Jamieson before James spurred Brooks on to put more pressure on the leader. Brooks was rewarded with the lead exiting turn two and proceeded to keep Jamieson at bay until the Scot managed to out-fumble him around the back marking Muddle four laps from home. Later, Jamieson and Brooks were both equally aware that anticipation of where exactly Muddle was going to be when they came upon him, had been the difference between winning and not. Jamieson had the experience to get it just right, but I doubt it's a mistake Brooks will make much in the future!

Ralph Sanders was first to show in heat three, challenged from the outset by Andy Steward, whose combination of two slicks and two wet tyres - prompted by a sprinkle of rain - was clearly working well. As that particular mix of tyres isn't usually a great idea, Andy was surprised by the car's performance, later speculating, "Maybe it's something to do with all the tyre softener the F2's are dumping on the track!"

As good as the car was working, 'Doughnut' was still unable to complete the pass of Sanders (now back in his cc) quickly however, a massive eight car scrap for the lead building up as a result. But Steward was eventually able to make it by going down the back stretch and cleared off into the distance, pursued by Dick Hillard once he too had overhauled Sanders.

After that, Russell Wilcox and Boardley became the men to watch as they advanced up the places. Although very much the underdog, Wilcox claimed a highly satisfactory third spot and, what's more, was still ahead of Boardley at the finish.

The final turned into something of a messy affair. Things started badly, when a more serious rain shower slicked the track at just the wrong moment and played its part in an early incident when Stuart Carter, Brooks, Colin Gomm and Mike Thurley all came together on the home straight. This left Colin Gomm and Mike Thurley up the infield embankment and brought out the yellows.

Following a lengthy pause and the rain stopping, they set off again, although without Gomm, Thurley and Carter, the latter having first got disqualified for getting out of his car under yellows, and then loaded up for arguing with officials about it.

When the race finally resumed, White was leading Wilcox, although Haird soon found a way past Russell and into second. Chris had the leader under the cosh for a while too, but eventually White called on all his experience to draw clear and it wasn't too long before he looked to have the race all but won.

That was, until he tangled with the back marking Hillard and spun - twice - leaving Haird and Wilcox disputing the lead instead of second. Although Hillard was initially disqualified for this incident, after the steward had studied the video, this penalty was rescinded, as he appeared to have done nothing wrong beyond trying to unlap himself.

Wilcox was looking something of a revelation here (as indeed, he has been for the past few meetings) and was in with a real shout at winning too - until the last lap.

It may have been that White was trying to obstruct Hillard as they left the pit bend, both men now a couple of laps down, but however it came about, their presence right in front of the leaders and with Muddle's VW in the mix as well, a real scramble ensued going down the back straight. This allowed the fast closing Matt Simpson steal second away from Wilcox almost in sight of the flag, although Haird kept his head and the lead throughout the difficult last few seconds.

As for Russell Wilcox, I did enquire whether he still thought now was a good time to sell his venerable Fiesta, just when he seems to have it going so well. His reply? "Oh yes. Because now I'd like to see what I could do if I was in Boardley or Jamieson's car!"

Fair point, well made. Graham Brown.

Results as seen trackside and not confirmed, by Marlene Clarke
Heat 1: 41 170 911 278 85 31 305 55 67 291
Heat 2: 305 67 59 303 911 115 61 718 55 170
Heat 3: 198 31 219 41 115 303 85 278 734 291
Final: 115 303 219 61 67 911 305 41 170 55
Driver 85 ‘loaded-up’.


2007 World Series (England) round 8 Birmingham, 21/10/06

Boardley's Wheels thriller

Graham Brown reports: Carl Boardley brightened up a damp and chilly night at Birmingham Wheels by taking a superb final win after a sterling round-the-outside drive to pass the battling Corrados of Colin White and Matt Simpson.

There were relatively few points of interest regarding the entry at this one for students of National Hot Rod racing's constantly evolving roster of runners and riders. Actually, the entry wasn't all that much to write home about generally, definitely not helped by having the highly attractive fixture of the Superstox World Final and BriSCA F1 British going on at Ipswich. Indeed, Andy Steward actually cancelled Birmingham in order to spectate at Foxhall. We know there were plenty of others tempted to do likewise, and the number of regular officials and staff missing from Birmingham told its own story. Who plans these fixtures anyway?

Anyway, Matt Simpson was back out for this one, even if conducting a rather lower key operation than usual, having arrived with car behind an ageing Transit van, and no bus in sight. None of this appeared to harm his results however...

Dick Hillard had his 206 all ship-shape and Bristol fashion after its Tipperary misfortunes, while Phil Spinks was also back in the hunt after his excursion to Germany. Wilson Hamilton was a last minute arrival (I can't even say 'entry', as he never booked in) and Colin White was back on the world qualifying trail after giving Northampton a miss in favour of SCSA at Rockingham. Reuben Taylor was another who'd made it back out, no doubt after using up plentiful supplies of midnight oil fixing up the mess he took home from Hednesford. But perhaps the most notable 'unusual' entry, was Mike Oliver. Being officially a Republic of Ireland racer, he was forced to go off the back of the grid all night, but clearly just fancied a run out after his impressive showings at the European.

Although it was no longer actually raining by the start of the first heat, the track was still wet and grip was clearly going to be at a premium all night. Indeed, The Wheels is one of those tracks which never really dries while there's even the remotest chance of it staying wet, if you see what I mean!

This was quickly illustrated by Chris Haird and Taylor getting together exiting the far turn, Haird spinning and getting collected by Malcolm Blackman to cause a stoppage. Prior to this kerfuffle, Boardley had gone around the outside like a bullet to snatch the lead but was naturally faced with having to do it all over again following the complete restart.

Carl might well be a fan of the catch phrase "Do I look bothered (etc.)", and wasted no time repeating the exercise, front row men Spinks and Richard Spavins seemingly having no answer to the 41 car's pace and grip. He was using the extra wide outside line favoured by many in these conditions, with Spavins taking up second by the same method.

It might just have been the quickest route round the oval in the first couple of laps, but Andy Holtby soon got busy proving that it actually wasn't. With the others leaving yards of inside line open for him, Andy cheerfully accepted all their places as he swiftly moved up the order. Boardley's use of the wide outside for rather too long allowed Andy to close right up once through to second, but the world champion still never really allowed him to get within striking distance.

Indeed, Andy found himself under threat in the closing stages once James Jamieson had his favoured line sorted out, JJ having left behind an entertaining scrap between Malcolm Blackman and Haird.

They'd spread out a bit by the finish, with Boardley still well clear of Holtby and Jamieson, and the Scot half a lap up on Blackman and Haird.

Heat two was subject to a false start (no green came out when everyone was expecting it), and then to a restart after David Brooks went spinning exiting turn four.

Simon Bentley took an initial lead when they got going properly, while Brooks went spinning again, although it looked as though he might have had a little assistance that time. Bentley was soon to be put on the back foot, as first Simpson and then Holtby and Boardley went by.

Some way back from these, Haird, Andrew Burgess and Stuart Carter tried a run down the back stretch three wide, but three into two really doesn't usually go at Birmingham, and it was Burgess who went spinning at the far turn when they emerged from this clinch.

With Simpson and Holtby engaged in fighting for the lead, Boardley was rapidly closing on them too. When the lead pair encountered a trio of backmarkers, it was all the chance Boardley needed to join in. One of the lapped cars was Burgess, busy trying to recover from his earlier problem. As Boardley went for an outside pass on Holtby, it looked as though there just wasn't anywhere for him to go, with Burgess' car blocking the way - but Carl got through anyway! This three wide situation didn't end in tears, but it didn't get Boardley second either, as Holtby fought back with a vengeance.

With four to go, Boardley finally made it past to set about Simpson. Matt has already proved he positively loves the slippery stuff, and doesn't mind racing Carl in those conditions either (remember Ipswich?), so he was able to calmly hang on at the front till the chequers, with Boardley and Holtby welded to his bumper in a very close finish indeed. I somehow doubted we were ever going to see a better race than that on this particular evening - but I was wrong.

The rain came pouring down just at the start of heat three, although fortunately, very few drivers appeared to have been lulled into thinking slicks (certainly not four anyway) were a good idea yet. Given the speed demonstrated since its debut, Jamieson's Tigra always looked the likely winner of this one from the outside front row.

On top of that, the soaking track appeared to suit James just fine, the Scot leading from flag to flag and lapping everybody up to third. While James was enjoying being completely dominant, the real feature of this one was the race-long fight for second between White and Simpson. Colin had been running second all the way, having started from pole but been seriously outpaced by Jamieson. He wasn't being outrun by anyone else though, and it took a while for Simpson to catch up, having started on row three.

Once he did catch up though, it was almost like being back in year 2000 all over again; 718 White versus 303 Simpson, with the 718 Corrado generally just that little bit in front. Matt has had a good grounding in not giving up therefore, and he didn't, trying several failed passes around backmarkers when the pair came up on them. It wasn't until the very last lap that Simpson finally saw the opportunity he'd been working for, boxing Colin in behind a lapped car and sprinting down the outside, leaving the triple world champion no way out of the trap.

With Jamieson three quarters of a circuit clear of all this, these first three were the only cars on the lead lap by the finish, and even then, Simpson and White were another half lap up fourth man Colin Gomm.

Several eagle eyed observers had spotted Steve Thompson sending Ken Marriott spinning a few laps prior to the finish, Steve copping a black cross and subsequent disqualification for the incident.

The oval had just about achieved an upgrade back to 'greasy' for the final, although this did not prevent further early problems.

All sorts of shenanigans kicked off on the back straight before they'd even really got going, with Bentley spinning on the pit bend, seemingly sparking off a chain of events that saw Mike Thurley and Tony Goodsir rotate as well. With most of the rest of the pack going every which way, red flags were the only way to go. As the cars lined up for the restart, Boardley had a front end which looked distinctly cronked (the rear wasn't a great deal better) and it was fortunate for him that the rad is set well back in the car.

With the race under way more permanently, White went immediately clear from pole, tracked by Ken Marriott, Richard Spavins and Russell Wilcox. But all eyes were once again on Boardley and Simpson, who were carving through the traffic in fine style.

Boardley was threading his way past everything he came across, almost as though he was carrying a magic charm, and had managed to pass Simpson early on. But Matt was soon busy fighting back, and somehow managed to out fumble Carl when they encountered traffic.

Leaving Boardley to find a way past Marriott - who was definitely going much better than of late, despite his earlier problem - Simpson went off after White, assisted by the fact that the leader had been struggling with the traffic too. Very soon, only four back markers separated him from Simpson and with the back markers remaining largely underfoot, it became White versus Simpson again, but for the lead this time. With Boardley now charging back up to them as he won back his lost ground, things were definitely shaping up for a grandstand finish.

As the lead dice continued to rage, it was clear Carl was going to catch them too, and with five to go it suddenly became a three way lead fight. Boardley went straight for the outside pass, taking Simpson down the back straight. Two laps later and White got the same treatment, the world champion going on to record a victory which simply had class written all over it. Graham Brown.

Heat 1: 41 61 305 911 115 14 2 219 278 85
Heat 2: 303 41 61 59 219 115 14 291 170 85
Heat 3: 305 303 718 278 277 911 31 2 92 3
Final: 41 718 303 170 305 219 14 61 115 911
Results as seen trackside and not confirmed, by Lisa Dedman


2007 World Series (England) round 7 Northampton, 08/10/06

No mistake for Steward this time

Graham Brown reports: After losing the final win at Ipswich to a retrospective penalty, Andy Steward shrugged all that off to put together another heat and final double, this time at Northampton and with not a penalty in sight - or even on the horizon!

Probably the biggest point of interest about the entry for this one, was the lack of it. Well, not initially, but that was ultimately the way things turned out. With Phil Spinks away working abroad (now, I've told you about that before Phil - grid position 13 again then next year...), he was never coming to start with. Marc Rolls was forced to cancel on doctor's orders, as he still has chest problems following on from his Hedno shunt. Richard Spavins had been planning on having his newbie out, but it wasn't ready.

Mind you, they did at least cancel. Billy Bonnar, Hughie Weaver and Terry Hunn just didn't show up (well, Terry did, but minus car), and with Carl Boardley having a baby (yes, yes, you know what I mean) and having to cancel too, things weren't looking so good. Andrew Burgess being unfortunate enough to comprehensively blow another motor to bits in practice didn't help either. Needless to say, all of this left more holes than a colander in the grids and, it has to be said, drivers who no-show without telling anybody first don't help the organisation of a meeting one bit.

That said, last minute or even very late bookings can cause similar problems, although these are naturally rather more welcome! Wilson Hamilton was one such, and Neil Muddle - back with his trusty Corrado for a further shot at Nationals after a lengthy break - was another.

Still: all of this did give everybody more room to manoeuvre, and it was probably no coincidence that incidents and damage were at a total minimum.

This was also the day, that discussions with Des Chandler led to his offering to bring some Race Ceivers along for a test session. Des was the man responsible for the introduction of these handy little devices into UK racing via the Legends, the formula he races in himself these days.

I remember Des from his time as a BriSCA F1 driver, but had never actually met or spoken to him prior to our recent discussions about the possibility of using these radio links in Nationals. I have to say that he couldn't have been more helpful, trekking down from Leicester at his own expense, and obtaining a couple of extra units from other Legends drivers, in order that we could test them for ourselves. You might recall (if you have a very long memory), that Des was the guy who built an F1 stocker in his back garden and then found, when the time came to go racing, that it wouldn't fit down his alleyway! He got a local crane hire company to lift it over his house, creating so much publicity that the company ended up sponsoring him!

Sorry, wandered off on one there.

Anyway, four drivers were picked at random to give the system a try, both during practice and racing, with Matt Simpson, Mike Thurley, Colin Gomm and Dick Hillard the recipients. Stuart Carter took over Matt's radio after Matt left the meeting early. Steward Paul Gerrard was the man on the transmitting end of the deal - as he always is for the Legends - and was careful to ensure that nothing he told any of them could constitute an advantage of any sort. I know this to be true, as I was listening to him as well, via a scanner Des had thoughtfully provided.

OK: enough background already. James Jamieson stepped off the line to lead the first heat away and on recent form, looked the likely winner from the drop of the green. But the Tigra was clearly not going like it usually does, James struggling with a new tyre which had badly deformed, making the car handle very unpredictably.

Simon Bentley was the man who moved up to take advantage of that situation by assuming the lead, while Jamieson's wayward handling got him into bother with David Brooks. Brooks had got by, only to have JJ run into him and re-pass. Although this episode had gone un-noticed by the box, James approached officials himself to apologise for clouting Brooks and displaying the weirdly shaped tyre to account for it, Hoosier themselves having already agreed that something very odd had happened to the now thru'penny-bit shaped tyre. The steward eventually just reversed their finishing positions, with no further penalty attached.

Elsewhere, Simpson and Chris Haird had a bit of a contretemps, which saw Matt go spinning and Chris trying to continue with a cracked half shaft, which finally gave out altogether, leaving the cc with a detached left rear wheel and significant other damage. It was to be the start of a pretty awful afternoon for both of them.

Colin Gomm got the best start to heat two from the front row outside, but pole man Mike Thurley wrested back the advantage going through turn one and wasn't to be headed again. Malcolm Blackman worked his way up third and then second once he'd overhauled Gomm, but despite chasing Thurley the rest of the way, he was never able to make any impression on the leader. Muddle's reappearance on the scene came to something of an ignominious end, as he got black flagged for running with a door hanging off.

Meanwhile Simpson was obviously struggling with a car which simply wasn't having it in the handling dept. This eventually led to him sliding about in front of somebody once too often, Bentley sending him spinning along the back straight. After this, and with things clearly far from right under the 303 Corrado, Matt called it a day and headed for home.

Heat three saw Andy Holtby make the early break, although he was soon pursued by Steward. The pair conducted an entertaining dice for a while until 'Doughnut' found a way down the inside going into turn one. Holtby stayed with him for a bit, but Steward had made the win quite safe by flag fall. An even closer scrap for third between Steve Thompson and Blackman, saw the former world champion just snatch the place in a virtual dead heat, Blackman looking much more like his old self, as indeed he did all afternoon.

It was one of the lightest grids of the season for the final, just 19 cars coming under starter's orders, but as we said earlier, at least it gave everyone a bit of elbow room.

Brooks, having easily his best day since joining the Nationals (maybe the go faster stripes which have appeared on the previously all-white car had something to do with it!) made a clean getaway from pole to lead all the early laps, initially chased by Ralph Sanders and Russell Wilcox. But Steward was clearly moving in the right direction again in this one, as was Blackman, albeit somewhat further back.

Steward was through to second spot before too long, catching and passing Brooks with a clean-as-you-like outside swoop. To his credit, Brooks stayed very much in touch the rest of the way and even once the hard working Blackman was up to third, he never looked like catching the second man.

Bentley had a spin along the way and lost lots of ground and places, while Holtby struggled for much of the race with a sick motor that sounded like maybe it wasn't getting all the fuel it would have liked. On the other hand, Ralph Sanders and Russell Wilcox rounded off fairly good days for themselves by getting home fourth and fifth respectively.

On a final historical note, Stuart Carter - having taken over the Simpson Race Ceiver for the final - became the first Nationals driver ever to be directly informed by the steward that he'd been black crossed, during his dice with Colin Gomm. Stuart was somewhat put out by this, not because he got a penalty (the cross was not acted upon) but because he was using one of the less clear, non-standard headphone sets, and therefore hadn't actually heard it! Oh well - best laid plans, and all that.

And now, all roads lead to Tipperary! Graham Brown.

Heat 1: 59 305 67 61 291 219 31 55 904 103
Heat 2: 291 911 278 734 170 198 59 85 92
Heat 3: 198 61 911 170 67 219 305 2 55 278
Final: 198 67 911 734 219 291 31 305 170 85
Results as seen trackside and not confirmed. With thanks to John Perry


2007 World Series (England) round 6 Ipswich, 23/09/06

Steward back on track

Graham Brown reports: Andy Steward went some small way to expunging the bitter memories of this year's world final, and made significant progress toward being on the grid for 2007, by returning to Foxhall and leaving with a heat and final double under his belt.

Just a few relatively small points of interest regarding the entry for this one. Ralph Sanders was back in his 206, the cc presumably still hospitalised after its Hednesford battering. Colin White had discovered a worn out and incorrectly mounted fuel pump - to say nothing of fuel tank - on 'his' Corrado, which hopefully would see that run a little more reliably. Oh, and just while we're on the subject of sorting out recurring mechanical problems, Carl Boardley had a completely new gearbox in the Tigra!

Steward Chris Studd had clearly heard all about the shenanigans at the previous meeting, and held a drivers meeting prior to the start of racing. It did seem to have some effect on the driving standards, although he might well still have ended the evening writing 'could do better' on his steward's report form....

It was Andy Steward who adopted an easy and immediate lead in the first heat of the night too, albeit the race didn't get very far before a red flag following a far turn fracas. Alan White, David Brooks and Mike Thurley were all involved, with video evidence later leading to White's disqualification for causing it all by cutting down on Brooks.

The stoppage made no difference to Andy, who led again at the restart. But the memorable feature of the race was a tense (certainly for the watchers!) world final replay over the closing stages when Carl Boardley had passed Steve Thompson and Chris Haird and caught up with Steward. On this occasion, Andy left stacks of room up the outside, Carl tried repeatedly to get any further than just partly alongside, and through it all Steward stayed in front till the flag. Hmmm.

Along the way, White had got blue flagged, blue and white flagged and eventually, black crossed and dropped a couple of places for ignoring it. Couldn't have seen that happening a few years ago. Mind you, Colin was going to be in some good company by the end of the night.

Front row starters Sanders and Stu Carter got into a first bend, first lap clinch at the start of heat two, allowing Billy Bonnar to grab the early lead by nipping past both of them. Billy didn't have long to enjoy being out front, as he was overtaken by Phil Spinks fairly soon. A brief caution for a spun and stranded Sanders had no effect on Spinks' lead, but a comprehensively blown engine did!

It was one of the "best" sounding blow ups I've heard in a long time. One moment zinging down the home straight building a bigger lead with every lap, next moment "Fatoom!" and silence. It was like a dragster that ends up coasting the rest of the quarter mile, Phil having the presence of mind to pull straight to the infield, streaming smoke and steam from the crippled Clio. Somehow he made the grass without apparently laying a drop of oil - probably the sudden explosion had put the oil pump out of action pretty swiftly too.

Anyway, that left Bonnar and Malcolm Blackman duelling for the lead until Blackman got through with Stuart Carter in tow. Carter was clearly enjoying his new ride and had the former world champion severely under the cosh, though without making it past.

Bonnar never made it to the finish, after a clash with Neil Stimson left him in the wall. Both drivers were interviewed by the steward, with further video evidence yet to be viewed of this incident.

Heat three turned out to be a flag to flag job for Colin Gomm, although he didn't quite have it all his own way with Neil Stimson and Andy Holtby hassling him in the dying laps. Really though, the man to watch in this one was Boardley, who was on a mission right from the drop of the green, as he raced around Simon Bentley and proceeded to pick off everything he came across, including Jamieson's Tigra, which wasn't exactly hanging about in any case. Fifth was as far as Boardley got, but he certainly hadn't been dull to watch.

A crash in the warm up laps is fairly unusual even for National Hot Rods, but they managed it for the final, four cars (Brooks, Andy Burgess, Bonnar and Tony Goodsir) coming together on the pit bend which left Burgess a non-starter. I think maybe the last time a similar thing happened was at Newton Abbot and involved Dick Hillard, although I believe he was on the way to line up rather than doing pace laps. My memory may not be that reliable in this instance, so if anybody else has other suggestions, answers on a postcard please. And before anybody says it, yes, I do remember Martin Freestone putting a car upside down on his way to the grid once! But that was a very long time ago....

The first half of the race was all about Gomm and Stimson battling over the lead, with Stimson trying repeated outside passes without ever being able to make one stick. This dice allowed Steward and Hillard to catch up, with Steward emerging from the ensuing scramble with the lead.

After that, he swiftly pulled out a half lap lead, leaving Gomm defending second spot vigorously against a whole mob of others, who eventually made their way past with Holtby, Carter and Boardley in the vanguard. Blackman got home fifth, but was another to suffer the indignity of a blue and white flagging along the way. Graham Brown.

Heat 1: 198 41 115 170 305 303 14 291 734 718
Heat 2: 911 85 59 31 303 61 198 271 170 278
Heat 3: 278 271 61 491 41 67 31 115 305 59
Final: 198 61 85 41 911 31 271 291 303 305
Results as seen trackside and not confirmed, by Garry Staines


2007 World Series (England) round 5 Hednesford 17/09
Thurley tops in Hednesford fitness test

Graham Brown reports: Mike Thurley took the spoils at Hednesford Hills from a final where survival was as important as outright speed, the race requiring three restarts and eliminating around half the starters in the process. As this was Mike's second final in a row at the Hills, I think we have to say that he is becoming a bit of an expert at both going quickly and staying out of trouble.

Points of interest amongst the entry? Well, for a start, it should have included Barry Lee, but he ended up being a no show for whatever reason. However, we did have a couple of new (well, nearly new in one case) Tigra's to examine. James Jamieson's beautifully turned out car absolutely looked the part - and went like it too. James' opinion during testing, was that it wasn't actually any better than the Corrado - until he took the VW out to try a back to back run.

"It felt heavy and awkward to drive all of a sudden! The Tigra seems so light and goes where you want it. And, the brakes suddenly don't seem to work in the Corrado either!"

The other Tigra on display was Stuart Carter's ex-Ian Thompson goldie car, not yet sporting the superbly executed and somewhat sinister looking black and red paint job of the team's 206. But as Stuart pointed out, having only had it a couple of days, they were lucky to have got his name, number and a few other bits added to it.

Just one other thing before we get to the racing proper, for those with an interest in the technical side of racing. Carl Boardley blew up another gearbox in practice, the car rapidly stopping out on the circuit. The team were busy pushing it back through the pits when I walked past and raised an eyebrow at them. "Number five!" called Richard Boardley ruefully, without pausing from shoving the Tigra along. I make that number five in not much more than a fortnight actually, the team producing an impressive collection of semi-bald 2nd gears when I went along for a nose later. Very depressing. Even more depressing, there doesn't even appear to be any obvious good technical reason for the failures - ask Richard!

OK, all of you who don't care how a car works can stop glazing over now.

A first heat, first bend fracas involving Steve Thompson, Hughie Weaver and Peter Blood left Blood stranded atop the East bend and caused a complete restart.

When they did get underway, it was Ralph Sanders who did the leading initially until Simon Bentley, Thompson, Mike Thurley and Carl Boardley all got by. Bentley pulled out a small advantage on the others and held it to the finish.

Terry Hunn had an eventful race, picking up a black cross at one point, and later having to pull up with bodywork stuffed up on his tyres. Sanders eventually spun to a stop in a bad spot right on the East bend exit, although fortunately, far enough to the inside that the others were able to avoid him without a stoppage.

Matt Simpson got away smartly at the start of the second heat, which was more than could be said for Andy Burgess, who failed to move at the green and was lucky not to get shunted by somebody.

Smartly away or not, Simpson was soon under real pressure from Neil Stimson, who slipped into the lead and drew clear. Matt remained safe in second, with most of the action centering on the dice for third between Andy Holtby, Malcolm Blackman and Boardley. They eventually finished still in that order, while Stimson was lucky to hold on to the win with smoke pouring from his car, caused by a fouled tyre.

Along the way, David Brooks and Richard Spavins got together leaving the East bend, the Focus ending up parked in an undignified nose up position against the winners ramp. This incident later led to Brooks' disqualification.

Meanwhile, Colin White suffered yet another bout of his hard-to-pinpoint engine sickness with the Corrado.

A fine drizzle was coming down by the start of heat three, fortunately just not enough to make the track really slippery.

It was sufficiently slippery to suit Colin Gomm though, who led for a while until James Jamieson worked his way to the front. But before Jamie got through to the lead, there'd been an interesting dice between himself and Colin White, perhaps giving James a real chance to compare the Corrado's pace with that of his new steed under race conditions. Colin was using the wide outside "ideal in the wet" line, while James stuck to the inside. It wasn't really wet enough for that high side driving to succeed for long and, after swapping places repeatedly, it was the Tigra and Jamieson which won out. And in any case, Colin's car was sounding all fluffy and warbly again before too long.

Jamieson went on to give his new Tigra a debut victory, unhindered by a brief caution thrown for Stuart Carter, whose ex-Ian Thompson Tigra had quit on the East bend exit. Gomm held onto second, well clear of a scrap for third involving Dick Hillard, Chris Haird and Andy Steward. Dick never allowed either of the other two by, but they had a rare old time racing him and each other, finally resolved with Steward in fourth and Chris docked a couple of places for punting Steward out wide at one point. To his credit, Andy was soon up the 'box to say that he'd gone wide by simply making a mess of his braking, and that Chris had nothing to do with it, thus getting the penalty rescinded.

The final very soon looked like a try out for Formula Restart. Firstly, Reuben Taylor slammed into the wall very hard indeed and trashed his chassis - and that was before Rob Hadfield collected him at full chat. Later viewing of video evidence laid the blame for Taylor's demise at Sanders' door, getting him a retrospective disqualification.

The next attempt ended after Richard Spavins and Carter got together with each other and the wall exiting the West bend. Third time wasn't lucky either, with Sanders spinning to a halt in mid-track and getting clobbered by Blackman and others.

When they did finally get going properly, Colin White looked set fair to win, leading away from the front of the grid, as he had every other time. But the VW was eventually to succumb to another bout of its recurring motor troubles. Nevertheless, he didn't go down without a fight....

Steward was another who went out with a sick sounding motor soon after that final restart, with Blackman sidelined as well not long afterwards. He'd survived crashing into Sanders, more or less, but some debris had chopped through his oil pump drive belt, which suddenly lost him all the pressure - and very nearly the motor too - a lap later. Funny, I'd only been saying earlier in the day how vulnerable those oil pump drives look, all exposed as they usually are.

So, even with the occasional bouts of fluffing up, White continued to hang onto the lead, despite repeated challenges from Thurley and Thompson, with Boardley rushing to join in too once he'd overhauled Bentley around the outside.

Thurley and Thompson continued to squabble over who should be second - or even first - until finally White's car went down onto what sounded like maybe two of the available cylinders. Even Colin couldn't do much with that, and the others hared past, Thurley having been in second at the time and thus taking over the lead.

Thompson had other things to worry about in any case, with Boardley now itching to get by. And with Steve having to pay attention to that, Thurley was able to make good his escape to record a fairly well deserved win. Graham Brown.

H1: 59 170 291 41 210 198 61 303 305 3
H2: 271 303 61 911 41 115 85 141 59 904
H3: 305 278 31 198 115 170 67 219 291 844
Final: 291 170 41 59 303 115 305 718 67
Results as seen trackside and not confirmed, by Marlene Clarke

2007 World Series (England) round 4 Hednesford 28/08

Thurley’s thriller at Hednesford

Graham Brown reports: Mike Thurley fended off a stiff challenge from Carl Boardley to take the honours at Hednesford on Bank Holiday Monday after the pair fought out a classic battle over the closing laps of the final.

There were a few ‘parish notices’, (with apologies to Jim Gregory) concerning the entry for this one, perhaps the most notable being the return to the formula of former world champion John Steward, JS taking a turn behind the wheel of the experimental Team Haird Fiesta. Of course, he was also back at the scene of all those National championship triumphs of a few years ago. John spent most of the day grumbling about the cars unpredictable brakes and a tendency to push that he couldn’t get rid of – or in other words, seemed perfectly happy to be back in the thick of things!

David Brooks arrived with a new and very white Ludlow Tigra, although it has to be said, the car did not remain in that virginal condition for long! Also toting new (to him) machinery, was Marc Rolls, now the proud owner of the ex-Mick Robertson Colt. And best of all, for fans of the popular Scots trier, Billy Bonnar was back out again, 'scotching' recent rumours of retirement.

Carl Boardley, on the other hand, arrived fresh from his match race encounter with Frankie Wainman Jnr. at Wimbledon the night before. I had always figured that Carl was going to be up against it here, as it just has to be a lot easier to jump out of an F1 stock car and into a National, than the other way around. And, although neither driver fitted their ‘new’ cars at all well, Carl definitely had more of a problem in that respect than Frankie.

It hadn’t occurred to me before, but there is a considerable difference in height between the two, and especially when it comes to length of leg! I watched Carl get into FWJ’s car to try it for size, and it did look at first, as though he wouldn’t be able to drive it at all. His legs were bowed severely outwards, and he had to physically lift his accelerator foot up and place it on the brake at the end of each straight. On top of that, his helmet was permanently touching the roof. Frankie, on the other hand, had a heck of a stretch to reach the pedals in the # 41.

What’s more, this was the first meeting at Wimbledon for some time, and when the pair went on track for the first time, only one race had been run, and you could clearly see the dust rising as they rounded the corners.

The second time they went out was many races later, and by that stage, there was a lot of rubber on the track. Frankie drove a very strange line (as you might expect) in the National, on a trajectory which seemed to be taking him towards the fence in a rather dangerous manner – but this was the style which enabled him to out-run Carl’s time in his own car! I guess FWJ was seeking out what he perceived to be the stickier parts of the track.

Yeah well, I’ve made all Carl’s excuses for him! But he was completely unfazed by Frankie’s performance, and laughingly commented, “I’m not surprised he went faster than me with the track as it is now – what you should be surprised at, is how fast I went in his car!”

Nevertheless, we all know Frankie is a real driver’s driver and you’ve got to give him credit for driving the Tigra that quickly – with less than ideal cockpit conditions for him too, remember. So, if you ever fancy a change of scenery Frank….

Right: back to the plot.

Dick Hillard had been struggling with a nasty misfire in practice, which unfortunately persisted into heat one, so he didn’t last very long in that.

It was Reuben Taylor who set the early pace until he was overhauled by James Jamieson, while an incident involving Brooks, Matt Simpson and Alan White on the East bend exit led to a big shake up in the places behind. This brought Colin White up to second and he was closing on the leader for a time, until he came under loads of pressure from Malcolm Blackman. After that, Jamieson got away again for a clear win.

Chris Haird gained permission to give the experimental Duratec powered Fiesta a run off the back of heat two, a race he was not slated to take part in. This was actually the first time he'd been able to try the car in any sort of anger on a short oval.

Steve Thompson made a quick getaway at the start, zipping past Dick Hillard (whose car sounded more like its usual self now) and into the lead. But Carl Boardley had made an even more demon start and rocketed past Thompson at the end of lap two. As Thompson is no slouch at Hednesford himself, this said something about Boardley’s pace, the world champion going on to win by a comfortable margin.

Nearing the finish, Peter Blood took a spin on the East bend and got stuck on the inside line, giving all those coming up on the obstruction, a few problems to negotiate. Perhaps the most significant place changes as a result of this, was when Hillard, who'd previously been holding down a reasonably secure third spot, went wide and lost out to the chasing trio of Simon Bentley, Phil Spinks and Simpson.

A shower had left the track in a semi damp state for the third heat, but this certainly didn’t bother Chris Haird (back in his usual car now), who went off like a shot from the outside front row and pulled clear of the rest very fast indeed. He lost it all when a caution was thrown for a West bend crash involving Rolls and Richard Spavins, but second man Neil Stimson was still unable to hang onto the leader for long at the restart either.

The 30 car final always looked like being a lively affair, and so it proved, with more fun and games guaranteed by occasional rain showers during the race.

Spavins' Focus had looked well and truly out of it when it was dragged off after that heat three shunt. The left front wheel was almost under the bulkhead, so he and his crew did very well to get it out for the final, sporting only the bare minimum of tape too! Not only that, but he got off into a useful lead, chased initially by Curly Baines and later, Andy Steward.

They were all interrupted in their pursuit of the win however, by a multi car crash that brought out the yellows. There'd already been a more minor coming together between Brooks, White and Colin Gomm, but this second wreck was of a whole different order. Somehow, Ralph Sanders had got into the wall coming off turn four, and ended up in mid-track. No amount of waved yellows were about to halt the cavalry charge behind him and they all piled in, with Rob Hadfield, Stimson, Baines, Bonnar, Hughie Weaver, Hillard and Taylor all involved to some extent or other.

Spavins was still holding point for the restart with Steward looking very good in second after the restart as the rain started to come down again.

Andy took the lead and appeared to have it all sewn up until his sudden retirement with a seized motor. That left Spavins back in charge but now under the cosh from Thurley and Boardley, both of whom got by going through the West bend to start their long dice to the finish.

Carl tried everything to get up the outside without ever quite succeeding in getting in front, the race coming to a messy finish when Spavins’ long suffering car spewed oil on the track. This caused all sorts of incident all round the track and an early red flag, with the results taken from the last completed lap, a fortunate situation for several drivers who would have been out of the results otherwise. Graham Brown

Heat 1: 305 718 911 198 14 41 170 115 85 92
Heat 2: 41 170 59 14 303 31 278 271 911 61
Heat 3: 115 271 61 844 85 67 734 718 59 305
Final: 291 41 115 61 170 718 303 2 67 55
Results as seen trackside and not confirmed, by Marlene Clarke


2007 World Series (England) round 3 Ipswich 12/08

Boardley tops at damp Ipswich

Graham Brown reports: Carl Boardley took the honours at Ipswich from a rain-swept final and after a race long battle with Matt Simpson. Simpson managed to get in front at one point, but the world champion was back ahead by flag fall.

Not too much news on the entry front regarding new cars and/or drivers, although the rumoured appearance by Joey Butler in the Team Haird Fiesta didn't happen. Even so, there were certainly enough cars on hand for the three heats, and particularly given the weather conditions.

Fairly heavy rain had been about in the area earlier in the day, and a persistent drizzle was making life unpleasant long before start time. It had more or less given up by then, but it was a still wet oval which greeted the heat one runners, with the only real track surface choices all night ranging between 'greasy' and 'seriously wet'. Given the time of year, it was also windy and as a result, b****y cold...

Steve Thompson got the luck of the draw in the first heat and never looked like being remotely troubled on his way to victory. He was initially pursued by a mob headed by Mike Thurley, Stu Carter and Malcolm Blackman, with Blackman taking over second spot after a big shake up in the places. He was eventually forced to turn over the position to Boardley, who made up loads of places around the outside line, but even Carl struggled to get anywhere near the leader. Blackman went down a further place when Simpson gave further warning of his wet weather prowess nearing the finish.

Colin White went out of this one with a very sick sounding motor, he and his crew struggling to find the answer the rest of the night. It sounded like a fuel supply problem is the best I could say about it.

Simpson wasted little time going to the front in heat two, bypassing a spinning Dave Brooks in the far turn to take it up. It was another Corrado runner - Scot James Jamieson - who gave chase throughout without ever getting near enough to trouble Simpson.

Man to watch on the outside - for the most part - in this one, was Chris Haird who always looked willing to give it a try, and just managed to pip Phil Spinks for third at the line.

The circuit had managed an upgrade to 'slippery' for the third heat, which seemed likely to hand a win to pole sitter and wet weather man, Andy Steward. But fellow front row starter Colin White was ready to make a fight of it and pressed hard throughout the early laps, eventually creating an opening down the inside into turn one with a truly classy move. "Did you like my dirt track driving?", he quipped afterwards.

Colin pulled clear for a time too, but the triple world winner was obviously in trouble thereafter, his motor getting progressively sicker as the race went on. He was eventually forced onto the infield, with Steward going on to take the win.

White's crew had the petrol tank out of the car after this episode, a situation which was not going to be sorted by final time, making him a non-starter. Proper rain, as opposed to occasional drizzle, had arrived by then too.

Richard Spavins set off in the lead, soon to be hounded by Boardley and Mike Thurley, with Simpson rushing to join in too. Matt slipped past Thurley coming off turn four and swiftly set about closing the gap to Boardley - now leading.

It wasn't long before the lead pair had left the rest far behind - they even managed to lap Blackman shortly before mid-distance. Simpson continued to close in until Boardley got caught up behind a back marker. That was all the encouragement 'Slippery' needed to sneak past the pair of them going into turn three. But Boardley came right back at him, with two further lapped cars getting under Simpson's feet and enabling the leader to get away again.

There were some lurid spins and slides going on amongst the rest, with Spavins giving a brief rallycross demonstration as he shot across the infield and rejoined at the home straight having missed out half a lap. Given that his route of getting there took rather longer than the conventional method, nobody was quibbling about corner cutting! Simon Bentley also had a high speed excursion across the grass which didn't exactly appear to be his fault, while Blackman struggled on for a bit before calling it a day.

Simpson was carving big chunks out of Boardley's lead once more in the closing stages, but was still too far back to mount any real challenge on the final tour. By then, they were well over half a lap clear of third man Andy Holtby, who had a further quarter of a lap buffer between himself and Chris Haird. Graham Brown

Results as seen by Garry Staines to be confirmed.
Heat 1: 170 41 303 911 61 305 2 3 219
Heat 2: 303 305 115 41 278 31 271 49 3 277
Heat 3: 198 911 115 278 59 61 14 271 85 41
Final: 41 303 61 115 291 170 198 2 305.


2007 World Series (England) round 2 Ringwood, 22/07

Simpson gets it together at Matchams

Graham Brown reports: Matt Simpson overcame a recent bout of handling difficulties with the team's Corrado to land the final honours at Ringwood after a tussle for the lead with Hughie Weaver.

But before we even get around to talking about any racing, mention must be made of the massive freak thunderstorm which flooded the track not long after midday and came close to causing the cancellation of the meeting altogether.

The massive downpour flooded the Matchams Park track to a depth of several feet - the inner Armco barriers had all but disappeared - leaving the racing scheduled for a few hours later seriously in doubt.

However, Spedeworth South boss Deane Wood and a willing band of helpers pitched in to clear up the mess.

"When I first looked at it, I thought we were going to have to cancel", Deane confided.

"But I knew we had pumps and just hoped they'd do the job - which they did. What we hadn't reckoned on, was all the soil, sand and stones the floodwater had brought down from the terraces!"

However, following a great deal of spadework - literally - the track looked almost as if nothing had ever happened by start time. It cannot be emphasised how much effort Deane and co. put into getting that job done and, as several people who were still there at the time remarked, how often do you see a promoter and his wife picking up litter in the pit area after an event? No doubt, others do, but this was 'hands on' promoting with a vengeance, actually seen in action. It is also worth remarking, that it should not in fact be necessary for anybody to be picking up litter after a meeting, in the pits or anywhere else....

Entry-wise, a few less than usual which, allied to Deane's liking of having a track with plenty of cars on it, meant two heats rather than the more usual three.

Colin White was back for another outing, this time at the wheel of James Jamieson's spare Corrado, while Rob Hadfield had abandoned thoughts of trying to get the broken engine in his regular car fixed and switched to the new (to him) ex-Keith Lynam car. Incidentally, due to some differences in plumbing, the motor from this car could not be fitted into Rob's usual mount.

Whatever problems had been experienced earlier in the day, the now bone dry track proved to be in great shape, judging by the excellent racing in the first National heat. Indeed, Roy Eaton (stewarding) was heard to comment that maybe the track should be subjected to this treatment every week!

The race still required a complete restart however, when Ken Marriott and Ricky Hunn got together with each other and the wall at the first time of asking. With both cars eliminated, things got underway more permanently; it turned out to be the best race of the night.

Andy Holtby was first away at the green but was still out dragged by Dick Hillard into turn one. The draw had placed an interesting group of drivers close to the front of the grid and they were soon locked in combat. With Holtby getting stuck on the outside, Simpson dived underneath, followed by Malcolm Blackman and Colin White with Carl Boardley rushing to join in too.

Blackman got past Simpson through the pit bend as most eyes swivelled to see what the apparently rocket powered Boardley was up to. Blasting round the outside, he zoomed past both the blue Jamieson Corrados before nipping inside Curly Baines along the home straight. A dart under Holtby along the back stretch netted Carl fourth spot just as Blackman's attempts to wrest the lead away from Hillard allowed Simpson to re-pass down the inside.

Next Boardley tried an outside pass on Blackman which didn't come off. Meanwhile Simpson dived under Hillard to snatch the lead, only to lose out on the next bend, Dick hanging on to the win by the skin of his teeth from Blackman, Simpson, the battling Holtby and Boardley in a fine definition of a blanket finish.

Heat two kicked off with a first bend shunt involving David Brooks and Marc Rolls, and didn't get much further before red flags after a controversial clash between Hunn and Boardley that left both cars wrecked. It appears Carl had got under Ricky coming off turn two, whereupon Boardley found himself heading for the infield Armco. He braked out of this situation and tried to drive around the outside instead into turn three, whereupon the yellow Corsa went straight on and T-boned the Tigra hard into the wall.

Ricky's attempt to get at Carl through his window and subsequent kicking of the smashed Vauxhall suggested, at the very least, that the original incident may not have been entirely accidental. The steward promptly decided Rick's services would not be required any further on this particular evening, not that either of the cars involved were fit for further competition.

Thereafter, another great race ensued, with race long leader Steve Thompson having to fend off repeated challenges from 'Mr Outside', Phil Spinks.

Behind these two, Russell Wilcox ran third ahead of Ralph Sanders and the dicing Simon Bentley and Chris Haird. Haird drove around the outside leaving the pit bend and set off after Sanders. But before too long, Bentley had re-passed and Haird was clearly in trouble, swiftly departing to the infield. He was joined there by White not long afterwards, who'd got a flat in the left front.

Spinks continued to pile pressure on the leader, especially as they approached some traffic nearing the finish, when Phil was all over Thompson. But even a desperate last lap attempt to get by up the outside ended in failure. Bentley was past Wilcox by the finish to claim third, with Russell managing to stay clear of Sanders till the end.

Restarts seemed to be the order of the day, as the final suffered another one when Andy Burgess blew his motor not long after the start and several cars crashed on the oil, including Wilcox, Spinks and Holtby.

The fight for the lead came down to Hughie Weaver and Simpson, once Matt had taken Reuben Taylor, who seemed to be going rather better in this one than of late. He went on to prove it too, despite having lost third spot to Richard Spavins, by putting up a spirited defence against a flying Blackman. These three eventually came together in a far turn clinch that saw Blackman emerge ahead and now third.

With Blackman playing catch up all the way, Simpson had finally got by Weaver coming off the pit bend. But once Blackman also passed Hughie to claim second nearing the finish, and with Matt having wasted some time in a coming together with the now limping Spavins on the back straight, the leader certainly didn't need to hang around any more. In the end, Malcolm's late charge was just too late to do anything about Simpson, despite his closing fast once the lap boards were out.

Weaver had to settle for a still well taken third in the end, ahead of Thompson, Jamieson and Haird. Graham Brown

Results as seen by Marlene Clarke to be confirmed. Keith Duke’s PHOTOS
Heat 1: 31 911 303 61 41 111 305 115 85 59
Heat 2: 170 14 59 219 734 85 2 305 911 31
Final: 303 911 210 170 305 115 49 31 59 2


2007 World Series (England) round 1 Ipswich, Saturday July 15th

Bentley strikes first blow in new world series

Graham Brown reports: Simon Bentley struck the first blow as the National Hot Rods got back on the world series trail at Ipswich, the Mitsubishi driver taking a controversial victory in the final.

The entry was pretty much what you'd expect for such a swift return to qualifying - good but not oversubscribed either, with several drivers still feeling the need for some extra time out, notably Neil Stimson. Steve Burgess had unresolved gearbox problems, probably a legacy of his Skegness crash, while Colin Gomm was on holiday.

On the plus side however, James Jamieson Jnr. was back and fully intending to do the whole series this time round as well. He'd clearly lost none of his sparkle and was quickly back in the groove, having been testing the previous day at Northampton, in the company of Colin White and Matt Simpson. Marc Rolls was another returnee, and there were also a number of drivers looking for licence application forms, which bodes well for the future.

Mark you, they'll be hoping for better luck than that which befell Andy Burgess, who broke a cam belt and never got out for a race. And right in the same boat was a despondent Billy Bonnar, Billy having naturally hauled all the way from Scotland for the benefit of a non-start, and in his case it was a brand new motor which had gone west.

Speaking of brand new motors, perhaps the most interesting of the cars on the grid, was the Team Haird Fiesta. This was the car originally seen at the NEC show bearing the number 4 (as in, '4 sale'), and seen again sat alongside the team's bus at speedweekend liveried up for Barry Lee to drive. That time it was kept to the role of exhibition vehicle again, by clutch slave cylinder problems. Such teething troubles are not that remarkable, the car being something of an experimental prototype, fitted with a Rouse/Mountune Ford Duratec engine for evaluation purposes. On this particular evening, the drive had been offered to, and accepted by, Spedeworth EA boss and NHRPA chairman Roy Eaton, Roy taking the chance for his second National ride courtesy of the Haird team. He went out in every race in order to get as much track time as possible, naturally starting off the back of the grids with no entitlement to points.

The mechanical gremlins hadn't finished with the driving strength yet this day either, with Steve Thompson suddenly pulling out of his spot in the line up for heat one, suffering with clutch trouble. He was reduced to having to make rolling starts from the back every time he raced, making the half decent points he scored all the more creditable.

The evening started well for Bentley too, as he stepped off pole position in heat one to lead every lap. Mike Thurley gave chase all the way from grid two and was very close indeed by flag fall, but had left it too late to mount any sort of real challenge.

Behind these, Dave Brooks was going much better than on his previous outings, inheriting third when Richard Spavins was forced out with bodywork fouling the back tyres. Brooks looked set to hold onto third for a while until he came under pressure from Andy Holtby. The pair collided going down the back stretch, Brooks spinning and Andy going on to claim third spot just ahead of Jamieson, who looked as though he'd never been away. Roy Eaton's eleventh spot from stone last was also noteworthy, the Duratec sounding remarkably similar to any old GM 16-valver, but producing a very healthy turn of speed in a straight line.

Heat t