Castle Combe May Madness SRCC Enduro Round 06.05.24 Report by Alan Jones
Round 4 of the SRCC Sports 2000 Championship came to the Wiltshire circuit of Castle Combe for their one day Enduro Event. The 50 Minute race would feature a pit stop and for some a fuel top up too. The Championship regulations had been written to extend the pit stop for Enduro races which in the case of Castle Combe proved to be a safe idea. Refuelling not being allowed in the pit area, meant that those wanting to top up had to peel off into the Scrutineering area before rejoining the pit lane.
20 Cars entered for the race sadly only two of the Historic cars taking part. One of them was John Deane-Bowers getting his season started. Grant Gibson had a new co-driver being introduced to the class. Tom Wheatley who is another Monoposto racer trying out closed wheel racing for a change. He was very taken with the cars and enjoyed the paddock ambience.
Following the opening rounds at Silverstone Paul Trayhurn’s Gunn and John Iley’ MCR were repaired although in the case of John’s University of Wales car the bodywork was still hardening off when the students collected it on their way to the circuit. Sadly Steve Ough, despite entering could not get his car ready in time and was a late withdrawal.
The day got off to a misty start but was quick to clear. From those travelling in from the West there were reports of rain. But in the dry morning qualifying the reports of afternoon rain looked like they would not arrive until after the Sports 2000 race.
Qualifying
At the top of the timing sheets were the anticipated duo of Michael Gibbins and Josh Law. The MCR pair whilst having a margin of time still had the Tim Tudor/Patrick Sherrington car in third with Ben Cater 4th all within a second of the pole time.
The Tim Tudor/Patrick Sherrington car is certainly giving the students some tough team building experience this season. Tim limping his car into the pit when a rear upright failed entering the very fast and bumpy Quarry corner. It would certainly have been a very focussing moment for Tim. With the car back in the pits and the rear wheel at an interesting angle the team set to work repairing the car in a rapid orderly fashion. I am sure they will have earned some good course experience marks for their efforts, as they were able to have the car back and running before the end of the 25 minute qualifying session for Patrick to get in his required laps to start the race.
Another pit caller was John Deane-Bowers, he was reported for smoke appearing from the car. This was John’s first experience of the Hoosier tyres, the body work rubbing under load. It was quickly remedied and the body work refined further after qualifying .
Adrian & Wayne Ridge continued with their introduction to the joys of racing when their Gear change sync came loose. Quickly fixed they were ready for the racing in the afternoon.
Peter Williams was the last one to report problems in qualifying. Top steering arm did not feel right. He had a little work to do prior to the race.
The order at the end of qualifying was Pole Michael Gibbins, alongside Josh Law, Row 2 would be Tim Tudor starting, sharing the row with Ben Cater. Row 3 was all Gunn Tom Stoten starting 5th with Paul Trayhurn 6th, Colin Peach in his Van Diemen headed Class B in 7th place sharing the row with John Iley. 5th Row would be Roger Donnan, with alongside him Grant Gibson in his Van Diemen. The Historics shared a row with Mike Fry heading John Deane-Bowers.
Race
Never has a race meeting been so aptly named as May Madness. As soon as the racing started the Castle Combe Racing Club Team of Officials were fighting the fates to keep to schedule. A big accident at the start of an earlier race was the first of many issues the club would face during the remainder of the day.
Thankfully no injured parties but a major barrier repair called for an early lunch break. The rain predicted earlier for around 4.00 p.m. arrived at 1.00 p.m. The circuit was soaked for awhile but luckily there were some big grids of tin tops to clear the wet from the track that does drain quickly. With the rain having passed through and a bright sky. Everyone was studying the circuit.
With the changing conditions, Race control had issued three variables for the race start which must have confused all of the teams, but with a dry line and improving track conditions the consensus was slicks. Save the wets for another day. Well there was one Australian who must be part Aborigine because he arrived at the collecting area with Wets on.
With the race start approaching it rained. There were some nervous faces, do we – don’t we? The first team made the decision to switch and then the race was on.
I will quote from Adrian Ridge “The first drops of rain brought some amazing behaviour, we all looked at each other. No one moved, but then one moved and, we all moved like startled Wildebeest. What happened next was nothing short of amazing. Everyone worked to get themselves ready but immediately afterwards helped each other to ensure we all made it out. That’s the spirit of Sport 2000 there for all to see.
In race control they were battling with their own issues. The advent of rain had created some technical issues which meant during the race the timing screens dropped out of sync for awhile.
Back to the race and all cars filed out to form up behind the Pace Car. The Weather and incidents were starting to impact the timetable but the club worked hard to ensure the single Sports 2000 race would run to its scheduled length of 50 minutes. With many cars on brand new Wets, the decision had been made to make this a pace car start giving the tyres a warm up cycle before racing.
In the early laps the cars very much followed grid order, Grant Gibson noticeably slipping back, whilst Peter Needham sharing the Van Diemen with his son Josh, was the driver moving forward along with Peter Williams. Tony Barwell, was another driver to slip back preserving the car for his son James to take over in the second stage.
Wayne Ridge starting in the family Gunn was the first spinner of the day at the Esses. He came into the pits on lap 8 returning on lap 10. The delay I imagine would have been to clear any grass from the radiator.
Lap 13 proved to be very unlucky for John Deane-Bowers, collecting the barriers at Quarry. John stepped out later being cleared by the Medical team, but there was damage to be repaired. The Safety car was called for just as the Pit Window was to be opened.
The University of Wales Team were very quick off the mark with Tim Tudor being the first to take to the pit lane to make the driver change. He was followed in by the Ridge brothers car, Grant Gibson and Tony Barwell. As Michael and Josh stayed out in the lead positions the other cars filed into the pits to take advantage of their pit stops.
At this time the technical issues stepped in and whilst the system continued to record the cars this was not displaying causing confusion amongst the teams trying to keep an eye on the race order.
On lap 16 the two leaders came in together with sufficient advantage to make the stop and come out ahead of Patrick Sherrington in 3rd place.
When the Safety car finally released the cars, the order would be, Michael Gibbins from Josh Law and Patrick Sherrington almost 30 seconds behind them, Tom Stoten would be 4th from Ben Cater with John Iley completing the last of the cars on the lead lap.
With the Pit Window closed there would be a race to the finish. With the reduced pace and a period under the safety car none of the teams scheduled to make a fuel stop needed to make use of the the alternative route.
With the safety car in all was set for 10 minutes of racing. This unfortunately was reduced to a little over two minutes. Ben Cater became the next victim of Quarry Corner. Ben’s car was damaged in the impact and would require a full lift recovery. In view of the position and damage to the barrier it was decided to end the race rather than continue under another safety car.
A disappointing end to the race, with a definite victory for the weather on this occasion. Given the conditions and the fast nature of the track. Post event the officials were full of praise for the Sports 2000 grid for their responsible and considerate performance on track particularly when the Marshals were out dealing with an incident.
The result would be another win for Michael Gibbins, Josh Law second with the Tudor/Sherrington team 3rd, 4th and top Gunn Tom Stoten, with John Iley 5th being the last of the runners on the lead lap.
Peter Williams who had made steady progress through the field moved up to 6th place to win the Derek Bell Trophy Class after Paul Trayhurn had pulled off and then continued at Quarry out just 30 seconds before Ben Cater’s off. Colin Peach came in 7th place to win Class B. Mike Fry would be the single finisher in the Historic classes coming home in 15th place.
The driver of the day award became the team of the day. For their terrific performance in qualifying repairing the Tim Tudor car in time to get Patrick Sherrington out to qualify the award went to the University of Wales students. A great effort worthy of recognition on the day.
Brands Hatch is the next event on the calendar when the Championship returns to its more familiar Sprint race format.
Many thanks to Alan Jones for this report.
Full results are available via the Results Page. Here
Event Images
Many thanks to Kevin Gibson of KJG Photograpy for these Images from the event. To view the full set or purchase copies visit https://www.kjgphotography.co.uk
Driver of the Day – the University of Wales Trinity St David team
The driver of the day award became the team of the day. For their terrific performance in qualifying repairing the Tim Tudor car in time to get Patrick Sherrington out to qualify the award went to the University of Wales students.
Race Images
Historic Winner – Mike Fry.Duratec Podium. 1st- Michael gibbins, 2nd – Josh law, 3rd – Tim tudor/Patrick Sherrington.
