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Snetterton May 26th 2007 Farrell 'Title Favourite' Reporter: Anthony Wills Qualifying The second race of the season was at a not so sunny Snetterton. A smaller entry (19 cars and no Waltons) was greeted by an overcast day which worsened just as they reached the assembly area. There had been some significant testing the previous day and Rory Farrell had equalled the lap record with a 1.17.9. Stuart Kestenbaum had managed a 1.18.2 with Oliver Robinson managing a low 1.19. Oliver had rejoined the fray after a supportive contact had generously paid for some new tyres. Of course all this testing helps you learn the circuit but it also leaves lots of slippery stuff behind which, when water is added, provides tricky conditions. One novice driver was heard to say that he was hoping for the wet as it provided “level conditions”. Well apparently not as there were 16 seconds between the fastest and the slowest. The rain began as the 10th car arrived at the assembly area and there was only time for one or two to change their suspension settings. Most just had to struggle through and, whilst there was little spray, the track was clearly extremely greasy. Simon Davey simply excelled in these conditions. A number of drivers were quick to remind me that this was his home circuit and he does indeed know it very well but from the Russell viewpoint he looked fantastically quick. The car was very obviously on the edge and its behaviour under braking was spellbinding. His lap time of 1.32.7 was 1.6 seconds faster than Stuart Kestenbaum who also looked very fast. Stuart adopted the old lag trick of spinning on his first lap to check the level of adhesion and rumour has it this was not the only time. Oliver Robinson did very well to come 3rd; those new tyres had obviously helped. Rory Farrell was disappointed with 4th, especially after the testing as his wet settings changes did not deliver the benefits he had hoped for but he felt confident he had the right set up for the race. He admitted to one spin and also a trip on to the grass virtually every lap. Apparently he overtook Dave Lowe four times only to let him past again when mowing the lawn. Andrew Smith continued his Donington form with 5th and fastest Class B achieved after he had adjusted his brake balance on the first lap following a spin. He actually overtook Dave Lowe who is generally regarded as the class act of Class B although they managed to kiss wheels just to show there were no hard feelings. Dave Lowe’s tyres looked pretty bald and his Lotus 69, as attractive as ever after early season damage, is not a great lover of the wet hence his 10th position. Behind Andrew Smith was Steve Pearce who was pleased with 6th especially after deciding on the slowing down lap to “test the boundaries of the cornering envelope” and indulge in the second spin of his day. Matt Taylerson was 8th in the first completed session in his Hawke after the brake problems at Donington. He has been very grateful for the huge amount of help he has received from his fellow racers and it looks from this performance that he will soon find they become rather more monosyllabic if he continues to do so well. He has owned this relatively rare car since 1989 and mainly worries about where the next set of spares will be coming from. Alan Williamson, on his own so unable to change to wet settings performed very creditably to finish 8th. Peter St Barbe came in 9th although this reporter was reminded that whilst this was his second race in a single seater in the past 35 years he had raced other things since. Class B is still short of entrants but it is looking more competitive than for some years with Peter being just ahead of Dave Lowe. Albert Clements was next up having his first drive in his delightful Merlyn since a massive roll at Silverstone nearly two years ago. The car looked lovely close-up and out on the track but he was struggling to revert to the characteristics of a FF1600 after a successful season in an F3 (1600) in 2006. David Owen spun in a rather ugly way so immediately repeated the manoeuvre as he is never one to allow an improvement not to be attained. His second spin whilst not perfect certainly showed that one of his driving skills is developing. He did refer to his manhood after qualifying but only in the sense that he thought that they might need to be slightly larger if it kept raining. Alan Fincham was out in the Van Diemen RF 81 that he only bought 4 weeks ago, and with only the previous days testing under his belt he was satisfied with 13th. He has some karting experience and the conditions did make it a bit like a kart race but he was just relieved to get through the session in one piece and without recourse to the grass. Rod Stead could not get his
Royale RP26 to go well in the wet and was quite frustrated but Phil Norris,
sporting a rather dapper beard, had similar problems in a similar car and
admitted he had “never got it to go well in the wet in all the 7 years he had
owned the thing”. The tailenders were John Hesp, Jeff Palmer, whose car sounded
like a flatulent Aberdeen Angus, Matthew Johnson and Tony Folkes. Matthews’s
enthusiasm for the levelling experience of driving in the wet was unbounded
saying he had had a “fabulous time” although after 5 spins he called it a day a
lap early, probably because he was so dizzy. Tony Folkes was out for the first
time in 18 years (to be precise, not since August 13th 1988 at
Donington) and following a 3 year rebuild of his lovely Lotus 61. He enjoyed
the experience and is hoping to get closer to the front boys as the memories
flood back.
The Race Everyone lined up – even
Jeff Palmer who had taken his car for a test drive after his qualifying
problems and got stranded in The racing line was largely dry but on the grid Simon Davey and Ollie Robinson were on the wet side of the track (methinks the organisers should let the pole sitter decide which side he wants to start from in these conditions) and Stuart Kestenbaum and Rory Farrell were on the dry bit. The weather did its work and Stuart stormed into the lead with Rory chasing hard. The commentator was hear to say, rather hyperbolically, “Davey has got thousands of wheelspin” but he did get it going eventually and with enough awareness to rather “rudely” – his term – chop Steve Pearce off who had made a great start. In fact Steve Pearce was only undone by a missed gear soon afterwards when he lost the crucial tow from the top 4. Along the back straight Rory slipstreamed Stuart and was past him by the bridge, leaving a clear line for the Esses. When he arrived at Russell he had a 50 yard lead to Stuart who was now starting to feel Simon’s breath down his exhaust with Ollie Robinson in close proximity. These first few laps explain why this is such a popular form of racing. Rory was simply phenomenal on his first lap and his entry into Russell for the first 4 or so laps was brilliant to watch. He seemed to arrive at the corner faster than anyone else, leave his braking impossibly late, lock up the inside front wheel just slightly and then power though this quite tight corner at what seemed a very unlikely speed. Rory eventually won the race by 8 seconds despite having some exciting moments passing backmarkers with one such moment at Russell looking particularly terrifying. There seemed to be an absence of blue flags which may be a point for the drivers who suffer the ignominy of being lapped to consider. Following him was the duel between Davey and Kestenbaum which was fought hard but seemingly fairly. These two wily, old (in experience not years of course) racers were more than putting on a side show. The determination to hold second and catch Rory was absolutely apparent but Rory was still actually getting away. Ollie spun his car at the Esses and lost a discomfiting number of places but his drive back through the field to an eventual 9th was fun for spectators and driver alike. The Simon –v- Stuart battle really came to an end when Stuart, in second place at the time decided to see how fast you could get through Sear when one was really trying. Simon and Stuart agreed that neither had ever seen a FF enter the corner that fast. Unfortunately for Stuart completing the manoeuvre did not consist of completing the corner. His spin allowed Simon the chance to get after Rory but his muscular efforts, wrenching the Van Diemen through every corner, saw the gap shrink a little but possibly partly because Rory was, in his terms taking it easier. This is all relative of course because Rory got his fastest lap, and the fastest lap of the race on Lap 11, his 1.18.3 some 0.3 of a second faster than Simon managed. Stuart came in 3rd and gave the distinct impression that this would not be enough in the future. The glint in his eye seemed to indicate more testing and other cunning tricks will be seen before the season is out. The next three up were Steve Pearce, Andrew Smith and Alan Williamson. These three had a race long dice with only limited overtaking although Andrew overtaking Alan into Russell was a notable moment. Steve is continuing to get his RF80 going better and he rued his missed gear as one of the truths of Snetterton is that a lost tow is very difficult to remedy. Andrew Smith won Class B again and looked very quick through Russell in his purposeful Van Diemen FA73. In wondering whether this is a change to the old order it was interesting to note that Dave Lowe (3rd here in Class B and 8th overall) got the fastest lap by 0.1 of a second. In the race Dave Lowe had forgotten to return his brake balance to dry settings and a large application of right foot coming into Russell led to the inevitable rear being in front of the front. The competition between Andrew and Dave will be interesting as the season progresses. Alan Williamson had another “dark horse” type of day, quietly and effectively holding on to Steve and Andrew to finish a well-deserved 6th. Matt Taylerson came in 7th (2nd in Class B) and drove what can only be described as a fine race. Lacking much experience since semi-retiring 5 years ago he had to keep the Lotus 69 of Dave Lowe behind him and whilst they swapped places a few time around the back Matt came out on top. This sensible mature and successful effort got Matt the award of Cobra Beer driver of the day. Peter St Barbe followed these two home some way adrift hampered by the ghastly noise of a broken manifold which must have taken the edge of his performance. Phil Norris got his RP26 travelling much better in the dry and enjoyed his racing. He finished 4 places higher than qualifying which saw him smiling broadly. Matt Johnson, the leading novice, made up 6 places from his starting position and achieved his pre-race forecast. And he added 2 race spins to his qualifying making him the leading spinner with 7 for the day. Of the others David Owen had his car looking quite slidy (is this a word?) with Rod Stead, Alan Fincham (a steady finish in his first race), Albert Clements, John Hesp and Tony Folkes (2 laps down) bringing up the rear. After the race a cheerful Rory Farrell said “that was a good craic” and had clearly cemented his position of title favourite. It is up to the others to catch him and one hopes they are already plotting how to get a little closer to the current leader. Mention must now be made of the only non-finisher. Jeff Palmer was seen to pull off before the run down into Russell and the cynical assumed that his mechanics had failed to tighten something. If only this had been the case. Apparently when going through the Bombhole he had been dicing with another competitor and kerbed his RP26 with massive force. This had ripped the undertray from the front of the car to about halfway back along the chassis, exposing Jeff’s feet and pedals to the open air. The damage was quite bad and the potential was really unpleasant and it was good to see Jeff walking around the paddock – literally. The next 2 races are at Silverstone, on the 16th and 17th June. I suggest you come.
Cobra Driver of the Day - Matt Taylerson | |
