CSCC Special Saloons and Modsports – Brands Hatch

Classic & Sports Car Club was out at Brands a few weeks ago, this is what happened at the famous Kent track. Words by Ricky Parker-Morris, the championship driver representative…

The CSCC ran our qualifying and two races all in a day, but kindly spread the times in an attempt to smooth the rush, with big hot brakes, tyres and engines, all requiring time to cool before the spanner checks and routine repairs required by these hybrid cars could begin.

Being spread out in the bottom paddock meant we lost a little of the camaraderie we experienced at Silverstone whilst bunched up in the garages. Fridays general testing was to blame though, with testees from all sorts of other classes seeming to stay set up for the weekend so we could only fill gaps where present, hence the distance apart, but I don’t think anyone really was upset by this, though we should try harder at Mallory Park to keep together for maximum impact when the fans come walkabout!

The biggest grid since the Mallory Park reunion of 2011, meant some 26 cars were qualifying, and 25 made the first race too, the single casualty being a mis- mapped X19 driven by a cheesed off Mike Kason. Race 1 saw 17 finishers, which left some with work to do, but a very healthy 21 made it to the grid for race 2, this time with 16 finishers. What a fantastic turnout and many thanks for the efforts made by all the teams to keep the grid numbers high.

Race 1

Chuffed to bits was Ian Stapleton, first time with the series in his very wide ex-BTCC Alfa GTV6 (B), who qualified 4th and managed to fend off Pete in the Carlton (A) whilst chasing Class-B winner, Steven Moss in the Anglia and Class-C winner, Tom Carey’s CRX, all finishing very close in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th places and a mere 1.6 seconds between them. While that little battle went on, Matt Moore in his space framed Escort MK1 YB RSR (A), also a new boy, was tussling with last meet- ings winner Danny Morris in the other YB pow- ered car, the ex-Thundersaloon Peugeot 309 GTi (A). Danny on pole, was soon under fire from Matt’s Escort after he’d muscled out Paul Sibleys Elan Modsport (C) in the early stages. They swapped the lead several times until Danny put the Peugeot up the inside at Druids near the end and Matt had nothing left to give, leaving Danny to take a Class-A and overall win. Piers Grange took 7th in his V8 Sierra (A) freshly repaired after a rather large crash at Donington, and the M3 (B) of Mike Chittenden with Kevin Doyle’s mighty XJ12 (A) breathing down his neck came over the line together in 8th and 9th.

Tony Paxman, this time in his smaller engi- ne’d baby blue MK1 Escort (C) was next in tenth, chased all race long by John Woods in Robert Knox’s Maguire Stilleto (T), Luke Bennett’ 5.0-litre Capri (A), Tim Cairns Midget and winner of Class-D, Neil Dukes Anglia (C), Class-E winner and 15th overall, Martin Baker in his spaceframe Imp. David Franks also on his CSCC debut in the ‘Firefighters’ sponsored Mini took 16th place and 2nd in Class-D with a 1380cc en- gine and Jeremy Burgoyne finishing 17th in his bubble arched MK1 Escort 1988cc suffering from alternator problems. With all of the above machinery and the likes of Porsche, RX7, TR7 and the Harpers Spitfire, it doesn’t take much to imagine the splendid grid as they roared off the line!

Race 2

A large crowd stayed on in the summer sun to watch race 2. It was an equally impressive race considering the heat of the day, though can I say exhausting, let alone daunting as my brothers win put me on pole with a trophy hungry Matt Moore, hot to trot and out to prove a point, so no pressure aye?

It just doesn’t sound right, me having to write a race report that I was not only taking part in, but managed to push the op- position to destroy his brakes and take the win, but can I just say how gentlemanly I found both Mr Moore’s and Mr Carey’s driving throughout the race. My mirrors were rammed full of or- ange and blue so many times; enough excitement for my mother to tell me off for being so close to each other, but that’s racing mum. Seriously though, I hope it looked as good as it felt, and that’s how it should be, surely? I’ve never been so glad to see the end of 15mins, though Pete Stevens begs to differ, 11 years my senior and he was on a mission to catch second place man Tom Carey, as they crossed the line together Pete missed out by .1 of a second. Given another 5 minutes Pete may well have challenged for the lead. Ian Stapleton took his second Class-B win in 4th overall with a steaming Paul Sibley not far behind, now with gear lever which he lacked in race 1 which put him way back on the grid at 21st for the second race. In the latter stages of the race Kevin Doyle went slightly wide at Graham Hill Bend and spun to the inside, kissing the bar- riers head on. Next came Piers Grange, Steven Moss (who had a great recovery drive having visited the gravel at Paddock on lap 1) and Tony Pax- man with John Woods climbing all over the back of the Escort for most of the race. Mar- tin Baker, Luke Bennett, Neil Duke, Tim Cairns, Kevin Cooper, David Franks and Jer- emy Burgoyne completing the field in that order. Thanks again for keeping the cars going and creating an exceptional grid all week- end. I think everyone will agree both the Brands Hatch races were very entertaining, with Dr Jonathan Palmer himself having flown in by Helicopter and commenting on the wonderful grid and action. David Smitheram commented that it was some of the best club racing he has ever watched, with commentator Mark Werrell very animated,enjoying the cheering from team ‘Holmes Seafood’. Mallory Park next, for another ‘one-dayer’ on July 20th and at the time of writing, we already have three times as many entrants as normal for this stage, 17 to be precise, so if you don’t want to be a reserve, make sure you are one of the next 15 people to enter…

Words by Ricky Parker-Morris, CSCC Special Saloons & Modsports Driver Representative.

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