Loton Park (1) Sunday 21st May 2006
This was the second event of the 15th Year of the PMS Lotus Championship. It was also a 4-week gap following the Gurston meeting.
Well, I think that it is important to set the scene for this meeting…
The Boss and June were in Monaco, not that it was talked about much by the rest of us left behind. With millionaire playboys, the worlds best looking police force, amazing models, restaurants, bars, casino’s and Historic race meeting we just could not understand why they did not opt for Loton Park….
Jon and Kay on their annual trek to the Outer Hebrides, sampling the clear air and a tot or two, also meant that I was doing the report for this meeting. So don’t expect the usual high standard.
I think that the entire class was watching the weather reports for at least a few days prior to the event, hoping in vain that the meteorologists were wrong. But they were not. As I rolled the polished car out of the garage on to the trailer late on Saturday in preparation for the Sunday meeting the skies opened just to show me what I could expect… so much for all the preparation we all put into our Loti.
It was good to see Andy Bradshaw at this meeting, however he was not in the 30 as it has new slicks and a 30 on slicks in the wet is not a good idea. Instead he turned up in the attractive 59, currently fitted with an FF engine rather than the 1 litre Holbay screamers they ran in their heyday in the late 60’s, because it had tyres with tread. Dave rose who recently had his covered trailer stolen did not show. He had borrowed Roy Bury’s open trailer but due to the conditions decided to save himself the job of cleaning it again. Some of us think that it was due to the fact he could not find his swimming trunks…
So on to the first practice. I knew it was wet when I watched a Mitsubushi Shogun slowly jack-knife into its own trailer trying to get into the trailer park!
Nick Glazzard, Grayham Parker and Dave Elliott decided to stay on Slicks, poor Dave Hamton had no choice and his slicks are very old rubber too… any older and they would be period to the car. As predicted, rain started to fall as first practice got underway. . First practice was run in mixed batches where possible and we (batch 5) ended up going out in front of batch 4!
With water running across the track at triangle it proved very interesting for all. The most interesting was the brake failure on David Richardson’s 18 as he approached triangle. A few bulging eyes from the marshals but Dave’s quick response saved the day . Unfortunately he couldn’t repair the fault and had to retire from the meeting.
Andy Bradshaw had a pretty hairy moment too on the exit from Museum, spinning the 59. Luckily he didn’t do any damage and only got a Fail.
The result of practice 1 was that only 5 cars got into the 70 second runs. Leading the way was John Crook, from Tony Wallen, Greg Ellaway, Nick Glazzard and Grayham Parker.
We all spent some time talking with Dave Hampton in between the Practice runs. He has now fitted L1 profile Cams into the 69 and we were all interested in how it was performing for him. Dave was obviously happy with the rain and was quite happy to sit in the car with his brolly showing his bright smile. As we all know Dave loves the rain…
Second practice was soon upon us and the rain was only interrupted by heavier rain. There were more moments experienced by all but everybody went faster. 9 out of 14 went into the 70 second arena, but no one managed to get into the 60’s. The biggest improvements came from Dave Hampton 14 seconds, Pete Bottrill 10 seconds, and Steve Millward by 8 seconds. Andy managed to record a time and stay on the track too. All were pushing hard in anticipation of the main event.
The handicapping was going to be a nightmare. Myself, John and Jane looked at the practice times and compared them to the PB’s. We also looked at the results from last year where it was damp but nothing seemed to help us reach a decision. John suggested that we just use the PB’s for everybody as Loton Park can dry out quickly if it stopped raining. It was agreed that this was the only solution. With John representing the Single Seater boys, myself representing the Modified mob and Jane representing the Road going bunch we decided on PB’s. The rest of the class seemed to agree with the decision too.
We also received the Championship Shirts over lunch. Another splendid effort from Paul and June, Gold on Red with the sponsors Logo’s nicely displayed. I hope that all will be wearing them for the night out in Abberley?
So on to the First timed runs.
The rain seemed to ease up over lunch providing all with a little respite from the drenching but it was only Mother Nature preparing us for a little surprise. As we got ready to go the skies opened and dropped a small ocean of water down on us all. Dave Elliott was at the pre start line he stopped, got out and pushed the car back. I shouted over is the water causing a problem with the electrics he shouted back no I have not got enough petrol in. I think that he should have used his dipstick hint, hint.
To say that we all had an exciting run is an understatement. There was only one person who went faster than their practice time and that was the Silver Scotsman, Dick Swindall. He also informed me that he had quite a moment through triangle and he still went faster? Experience does pay off then! Peter Bottrill also recorded a time of 62.32, FTD 10 seconds faster than anybody else. Peter resolved himself to another run as the rain had obviously affected the timing gear. Peter did a very respectable 72.84 after spinning off at Fallow. A number of us had a very interesting experience over the finish line.. There was a vast amount of water in some very deep puddles in fact it caught out John Crook who spun off over the finish line. An announcement was made to all the following competitors after John’s excursion. The only thing that worried me slightly was Dave Hampton, he was following me in the running order and as I coasted gently to a halt behind Greg, Dave insisted on testing the power range of his Cam! It’s a daunting noise, a Lotus 69 at full cackle in the wet behind you!
Dave Elliott having filled up his fuel tank took his run only to record a fail due to the impressive spin off at Fallow. The results show that the weather was in favour of the treaded tyre choice myself and Grayham decided that if it kept raining we would not do the final run as it was too dangerous on the slick’s.
So the results as they stood after first timed runs were;
Scratch Race – Tony Wallen 72.55, John Crook + 0.11, Peter Bottrill + 0.18 a very close battle.
Scratch Road – Nick Glazzard 74.78, Grayham Parker + 1.99, Dick Swindall +2.19.
Handicap – Tony Wallen, Nick Glazzard, Grayham Parker, John Elliott, Greg Ellaway.
On to the final Runs and all to play for.
Grayham waited around for a while after the first run but it continued to rain so he decided to call it a day, loaded up and went early. The god of Loti decided to give us a break and the area around Loton Park suddenly had blue sky and some sunshine. We all needed this to dry out boots, overalls, demist cars and helmets. It was apparent that the track was drying out as the times in other classes was coming down and the number of ‘offs’ was down too. Just as we were going for our final run it started to rain again but not as heavy as before, a light rain. On the start I noticed one of the big Single Seater’s tyre warming and there was Smoke. This gave me a little more confidence and I decided to go for it following my usual style. In fact the entire class decided to go for it, everybody improved. Jane Millward made a 7 second improvement and touched the bank at Museum, she is definitely getting used to that S3. This run also provided the first 60 second runs of the meeting.
So to the final results;
Scratch Race – 1st John Crook 66.33, 2nd Peter Bottrill 67.85 and 3rd Tony Wallen 68.14.
Scratch Road – 1st Nick Glazzard 66.49, 2nd David Elliott 73.70 and 3rd John Elliott 75.37. their first run times.
Handicap – 1st Nick Glazzard, 2nd Dave Elliott, 3rd Tony Wallen, 4th John Elliott and 5th Steve Millward.
Despite the weather conditions I think that all would agree it was a great meeting for some strange reason… Amazing
Next meeting is Shelsley and since Jon will be back you will get a much better report. Jon will take back his normal duties.
See you at Sunny Shelsley!
Twiz
