What a Weekend

Michael in front of Equipe Team 76 at Brands Hatch

This was the first event with the Fiesta and it was to prove eventful. In Post Historic Neil spun the Capi into the kitty litter after three laps of qualifying and when it came to the Fiestas turn the engine died on the first lap.

Come the races the Capri's Ric Wood engine blew up after three laps. The Post Historic race was won by David Howard with Steve Pimett just a few seconds behind. We were denied seeing what David Thomas could do when he went off after tangling with Simon Kinseys rapid Escort.

Things were better for Neil in Group 1, despite having to start from the back of the grid. Neil made a super start and finished second in class, a great début with the new car. Stacy Vickers had a conclusive win over David Howard and Mark Fowler.

Post Historic

All had not gone well at Retro Fords Bruntingthorpe cay and the number one Capri had to go back to Ric Woods for a re-build before Brands. We only got it back on the Tuesday before, in an epic 850 mile day, which was, described elsewhere!

The plan was to take things easy for the first few laps of qualifying before opening things up. Unfortunately, when open up time came Neil overdid things a little and ended up in the kitty litter at the foot of Paddock Hill bend! Up front, things were similar to last year. David Howard set fastest lap followed by Stephen Primett. It was a little surprising to see David Thomas back in third and well done to Tony Crudgington for qualifying in fourth.

After the qualifying problems, Neil started well down the grid in 15^th place. He got his usual superb start though and by the first corner had passed Nick Jones (Anglia), Andrew Clarkson (Firenza), James Christie (Avenger) and Len Allgood  (Escort). Neil outbreaked Mark Osborne (Dolomite) into Paddock Hill bend, only for Mark to get by again. The Capri was going like a train though and by the end of the third lap Neil had passed Mark Aistrip (Escort) and was up into seventh place when David Thomas (Capri) and Simon Kinsey (Escort) came together and went off. Passing the start finish line Mike Hayward thought Neil’s Ric Wood motor was off song. It was, there was a sudden loss of power and Neil pulled off, his race over.

Up at the front David Howard had got away first but Steve Primett bogged down and  both Simon Kinsey and David Thomas got by. These two were close, too close, coming together on Clearways taking both of them off. I didn’t see the incident but afterwards David Thomas had damage on the offside front of his Capri and Simon Kinsey the nearside rear wheel-arch. This suggests they touched when David tried to overtake on the inside.

Going back to the start a lot more had happened. Tony Crudgington snaked sideways, which with Steve bogging down caused those behind to lift off. Both James Christie and Mark Lucock got away very smartly, in Marks case a little too smartly and he was docked 10 seconds, which would drop him to ninth in the results, even though he crossed the line in fifth place.

Things stayed pretty much as they were amongst the leaders, apart from David Thomas charging through the field to get up to fourth by lap nine, when the race was red flagged after Andrew Clarkson went off in what was adjudged a dangerous position. Not a good race for team 76 as when we got the Capri back to the paddock it looks as if the pistons have melted.

Click here for results

Group 1

We were full of anticipation for our first race in the ex-Hugh Poston Fiesta XR2, freshly painted in team 76 colours and bearing Neil’s racing number. Qualifying didn’t go very well as the new car didn’t compete a lap before rolling to a stop after Druids with what transpired to be a HT problem. Class rival Don Hughes didn’t have much luck either, last years champion had his Golf stick in third gear and he didn’t make the start.

It took a while to diagnose the problem with the Fiesta and while Neil and Marc Lawrence left the circuit in search of parts Michael and Mike went to see the Clerk of the Course and Neil was given the OK to start from the back of the grid.

Come the race it was another super start by Neil, gaining four places off the line and tucking in behind son Chris’s Escort, which was being driven by Steve Barber. These two had a quite a battle, passing and re-passing each other until about half way when Neil got by for good, pulling away and passing Richard Langeveld’s Capri as well. We thought Neil had the lead of the class when he passed Pete Nixon’s Golf, which retired soon afterwards when he missed a gear and blew the engine. However, despite what the program said Gregory Carpenters Lotus Cortina was also in the same class so Neil was officially second. Michael had been signalling Neil to slow down once he got nearly ten seconds in front of Steve Barber so we will never know if Neil could have got by him.

Up at the front pole sitter Stacy Vickers had a lonely race at the front of the field. Brian Stevens pursued him in his XJS before loosing it at Druids and failing to get out of the kitty litter. This left fellow Jag driver David Howard to try to restore British superiority over Japanese rotary power but it was not to be. As well as loosing Peter Nixon and Brian Stevens, James Sobey rolled his Renault 5 into a ball on the first lap and David Weir lunched his smoky Hermetite Capri’s engine on lap eight.

Click Here for Results

Page added 27 April 2007 and updated 28 April 2007
**Link to Dave Kirby's & Pete Nixons sites added 29 April 2007