The View from the Back - Reports 2004 N°6 and 7
A Tweak too far
Croix-en-Ternois, Powertrain Clubmans Cup
in association with MG XPower and Ricardo
Sunday 27th June 2004 5th June 2004
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Sample photos from Derek Binsted. Pretty neat. Email him at <dj.bin3@ntlworld.com> if you'd like to commission him.

Qualifying

.Massive understeer in all the slow corners. As there is only one fast corner at Croix, this was a big handicap, and 11th was not too disappointing in the circumstances. The circuit had been modified slightly since last year. Turn 3 (Virage de la Ferme) has had the two apexes eased. Turn 4 (Virage du Pont, the fast one) has had its apex eased, although with an undulation just before the apex I found this corner as difficult as ever... read on.

Statistics: Qualifying
Circuit
 Croix
 Fastest test lap 
 no testing
Conditions
Dry, spots of rain
Previous personal best
 60.39 (circuit revised 2004)
Fastest qualifying lap
 59.26
Qualified in position
11 out of 16

Race 1

To combat the understeer I fitted the high down-force nose cone, slackened the front anti-roll bar to its weakest, and slackened the front dampers by two clicks. The race 1 handling was not too bad, although the car would snap from understeer to oversteer pretty quickly. I'm not too unhappy with the back stepping out at Croix except on turn 4, so the race was fun. I got past Steve Dickens at the start and took on Vaughan Thomas in the beautiful ex-Matthew Slinn Dragon-blue-painted Mallock EBX. We had a wonderful ding dong for the whole race with a lot of work two-abreast. I had to drive defensively once I had got past him after 8 or 10 laps and was only half a second ahead et the end. Mark Cousins was visible ahead and I thought I would get up behind him when he locked up in a cloud of smoke at the end of the straight and spun, but he got going again too quickly and stayed 3 seconds ahead.

Statistics: Race 1
Finishing position
9 out of 16
Number of cars at start
 16
Average speed
71.27 mph 
Fastest race lap
58.61 personal best
Conditions
Dry, scattered light rain 16°
same lap
Good battle with Vaughan Thomas

Race 2

Well that was good. The tweaks had worked and I had picked up half a second on my qualifying time. So I decided to go a bit deeper with the set-up, which turned out to be a tweak too far. I disconnected the front anti-roll bar, and increased the rear wing by 2° to help the rear end adhesion at the fast corner. The rain held off so I lined up alongside my sparring partner Vaughan and behind Ian Crombie (who had been going well all weekend) and Mark Cousins. Quite a good start, although Vaughan's was good too, and I was on Mark Cousins' right as we approached the left hand turn 2 (Virage de l'Ecole). He drifted wide and I was pushed quietly onto the grass and gravel. Yuk. Vaughan was through. With tyres dirty I managed to tuck in behind him through the right hander 3. Forgetting the dirty tyres I took the fast turn 4 right hander at normal speed but as I put the power down at the apex the rear end let go with a snap. Luckily the first oscillation was still on the road as I hurtled towards the tyre wall on the right, so the line of travel of the car straightened back a bit. I kept the brakes on to avoid careering back onto the circuit in the path of the half dozen cars behind me. As I pirouetted twice clockwise my nose cone flashed past the wall a foot away, then my rear end did the same, then the nose, then the tail. Looking at the skid marks and grass trails afterwards it was clear that my escape was by inches. The car undamaged I drove back onto the circuit and continued fourth from last. After that I chased Jamie Champkin, in his very beautiful Phantom P96/04, but my car's handling was atrocious. My set-up instincts had been wrong! And I should have brought my 4.2 diff because I was hardly getting past 6000 rpm on the straight against the 7000 available. Jamie was much faster than me in a straight line. I got alongside him at the exit of the hairpin before the straight a couple of times, but he pulled away. Anyway, I finished just behind him and happy not to have been taking a mangled wreck back across the ferry.

Statistics: Race 2
Finishing position
12 out of 16
Number of cars at start
 16
Average speed
69.70 mph 
Fastest race lap
59.53
Conditions
Dry, 16°
same lap, just
Near catastrophic spin, chased Jamie in vain.

Paddock chat

Despite a long-running committee meeting the rounders match against the Caterham Graduates drivers took place on Saturday evening. Martin Covill's umpiring was majestic (imperious even) and he was able to officiate over a doubles-all-round draw, 11 runs by each team of 24 batters. We played that a ball hit over the fences into the paddock counts as a catch. The batter is out if caught. The team is out if there are three catches. The sporting standards were high and the bonhomie rampant. We all retired to the Caterham camp for a barbecue together, where the competition was 1) getting through the throngs to the giant Mike Luck grill with your meat and 2) picking match boxes off the ground with your mouth hanging over the back of a chair, thank you Melissa.

Unofficial Race Report - Martin Covill writes

2004 Powertrain Clubmans Cup in association with MG X-Power and Ricardo - ROUND 6  - CROIX en TERNOIS

Dark clouds and cold breezes greeted us for our annual ‘holiday’ visit to the usually hot and sunny French circuit. With one eye on the impending rain, the sixteen stalwart clubmen who had made the trip across the channel snatched the last dry session of Saturday morning to set the fastest times of the weekend in their first qualifying session.

Barry Webb put in his usual smooth and skilful performance to take pole position in under 57seconds with Adrian Lester only 3 tenths behind to take the second slot on the front row. Russell Munns, who had never before driven the Croix circuit and declined the opportunity to test on the previous day, put in a stunning 57.52 to take third position on the grid.

Barry Webb was never under threat from lights to flag as he gradually extended his lead from an on-form Adrian Lester who took an unchallenged second place. Russell Munns continued his good form and took third place and his first podium in the Championship.

The first lap saw Howard Payne overtake Pete Richings and Paul Freeman, who lost some momentum as he conceded fourth and came under immediate pressure from Mark Cousin who pushed him hard for the fifth slot. Behind this action a fierce battle was taking place between fellow opera buffs, Vaughan Thomas and Marcus Bicknell who were displaying anything but Covent Garden etiquette as they swapped places in the opening laps. Stephen Dickens again demonstrated his youthful potential by hanging on to the back of the ‘operati’ until a failing clutch ended his competitive run.

After losing his way in the first half of the race, Paul Freeman became ‘a man on a mission’ as he overtook Howard Payne and Pete Richings and seriously threatened Russell Munns in the final laps.  Ian Crombie valiantly resisted the attentions of Mark Cousin despite a misfiring engine, Cousin recovering from a solo spin induced by overheating brakes to hold on to 8th position. Chris Hart, driving his newly acquired ex Peter Hall EBX followed the midfield battle with Jamie Champkin hanging onto his coat-tails in his new Phantom. Clive Fidgeon needed his entire rally driving skill to keep his ill-handling punctured car on the black stuff as he had to concede 14th place to Pete Burnham and manage to stay ahead of a closing Philip Allen in the ex-Tom Bellamy Phantom.

On Saturday afternoon the clouds disappeared and the familiar Croix sunshine returned in time to shine on a Marcus Bicknell inspired softball challenge, played on the circuit, against Nick Frost and Sheila Marshall’s Caterham team members. A broad interpretation of the rules ensured a nail-biting finish at 11 runs to each team. A barbecue and the odd small shandy completed a typical Clubmans fun evening.

2004 Powertrain Clubmans Cup in association with MG X-Power and Ricardo - ROUND 7  - CROIX en TERNOIS

The previous night’s efforts to force feed Barry Webb with barbecued chicken did have some effect on his constitution but not enough to change the result as Barry, Adrian Lester and Russell Munns repeated their round 6 performance to dominate the podium positions. Lester held off a concerted attack from Munns as they entered Manguy for the first time then dropped back to a secure third.

Further dramas ensued at Manguy as a fast starting Clive Fidgeon had contact with Chris Hart and spun, causing Pete Burnham to follow suit and stall. Philip Allen took full advantage and slipped through to gain two places. Both Peter Richings and Howard Payne slipped past Paul Freeman as the race settled down.

Marcus Bicknell, having taken the advice of son Christopher to take Du Pont ‘a little faster’ produced a spectacular spin which put him to the back of the field. Vaughan Thomas and Chris Hart had a superb dice with Arf Dickens in close attendance. Chris and Arf exhibited some good old fashioned formula 3 style weaving as they raced nose to tail down the starting straight.

Howard Payne came off second best as he tangled with Pete Richings at the L’Epingle Hairpin and incurred some front end damage. Paul Freeman soon took a place back from Howard who then came under attack from Ian Crombie. Paul Freeman got a nose in front of Pete Richings coming out of Manguy only to loose the place again temporarily at the next corner until he finally made it stick.

Meanwhile another exciting battle was taking place between Philip Allen, Clive Fidgeon and Pete Burnham, the latter two recovering their the first lap spins and not finding it easy to get past a determined and improving Phillip Allen. Mark Cousin pressured Ian Crombie into locking up as he reached the end of the straight and slipped through.

Arf Dickens finally overtook Chris Hart with a superb manoeuvre as they headed to Du Pont and then Hart slowed to retirement with a transmission problem. Jamie Champkin had another quick and reliable run in the Phantom having finally put the early season gremlins behind him.
 

‘Le Week-end’ proved to be yet another superb combination of good racing, fun and club spirit. Come on those of you that left your cars in the garage, you don't know what you're missing!!!!!
 

Official Report


News from the Powertrain Clubmans Cup -  Race report: Rounds 6 and 7, Croix-en-Ternois: 10/11 July 2004

Webb does the double in France

Barry Webb further extended his lead of the Powertrain Clubmans Cup with a double victory in rounds six and seven at the French circuit of Croix en Ternois over the weekend (10/11 July). His nearest challenger in the points' standings going into the weekend, Howard Payne, could manage only two sixth-place finishes.

Webb's domination started in qualifying, when he set a time 0.31s faster than fellow front row starter Adrian Lester. He converted that into the lead at the start of race one and he soon asserted his authority over the rest of the field, going unchallenged on the way to victory by six seconds. "It was quite easy," said the Mallock Mk23/03 driver. "I got a good start made sure I kept to the right hand side of the circuit. I made it to the first corner first and then put some fast laps in."

Lester (Mallock Mk35k) also held station to take second place, gradually easing away from third placed Russell Munns (Mallock Mk28/30). "I'm really pleased with that," said Lester. "It matches the result I had last year but that was a bit of a fluke - I really deserved this one!" Munns added: "I went out in qualifying and had a couple of offs, so we made a couple of changes which improved the handling but we were never going to catch Adrian."

Fourth position went to Paul Freeman (Ardmore FR95B) who made up for a poor start by passing first Payne and then Peter Richings in a fighting drive.

Sunday's race followed a remarkably similar pattern, with Webb again getting a clear lead to win by four seconds. Munns managed to challenge Lester's second place briefly but again settled for third from Freeman, who once more regained the two places lost on the opening lap.

Results; race one - 17 laps:
1 Barry Webb (Mallock Mk23/03) 16m19.96s (73.69mph); 2 Adrian Lester (Mallock Mk35) 16m25.780s; 3 Russell Munns (Mallock Mk28/30); 4 Paul Freeman (Ardmore FR95B); 5 Peter Richings (Mallock Mk27SG EBX); 6 Howard Payne (Mallock Mk20B); 7 Ian Crombie (Mallock Mk28B); 8 Mark Cousin (Mallock Mk31 EBX); 9 Marcus Bicknell (Mallock Mk26/27); 10 Vaughan Thomas (Mallock Mk30). Fastest lap: Webb 56.65s (74.99mph) record.
Race two - 17 laps:
1 Webb 16m24.390s (73.36mph); 2 Lester 16m28.59s; 3 Munns; 4 Freeman; 5 Richings; 6 Payne; 7 Cousin; 8 Crombie; 9 Thomas; 10 Arthur Dickens (Mallock Mk29). Fastest lap: Webb 56.80s (74.79mph).

Next rounds: Brands Hatch, 7/8 August.

Issued on behalf of the Clubmans Register by Paul Lawrence (01952 510382).

12 July 2004
 
 
 

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