Round-Up: Robinson wins FUCHS BHRC counter in Kielder

FUCHS Lubricants Historic Rally Championship - Robinson wins BHRC counter in Kielder

Matthew Robinson and Dave Robson were the toast of Kielder when they won round two of the FUCHS Lubricants Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship on the Pirelli Historic Rally on Saturday (27 April).

While first round winners Nick Elliott and Dave Price crashed out on the long Forks stage, Robinson repeated his 2018 victory with a storming drive. Joe Price and Chris Brooks (Pictured) led the chase and took over at the head of the championship points as Adrian Hetherington/Ronan O’Neill completed the overall historic podium. Stanley Orr/Grahame Henderson (Ford Escort Mk1) netted another Category 2 victory while Category 1 went to Bob Bean and Malcolm Smithson (Lotus Cortina).

As well as being the second of seven BHRC rounds, the Pirelli was also the second round of BHRC2 supported by Sherwood Engines, which puts the emphasis on the Category 1 (pre-1968) and up to 1600cc cars in the championship, and the second round of the BHRC Forest Challenge, supported by Rally and Competition Equipment.

Running first on the road, Robinson had to clear some gravel and Elliott, running second, grabbed a six-second advantage in the opening stage in Whitesike. Out early after a fairly gentle roll went Alan Walker/Will Rogers while Simon Webster/Jez Rogers lost five minutes with a sticking throttle and later retired at service.

Into the 15-mile SS2 Elliott and Robinson both pushed hard, but Elliott never emerged after going off on a flowing section towards the finish. Initially the crew showed the OK board but then switched to SOS as Elliott realised he had broken his arm and the stage was stopped and then cancelled. Robinson’s lead was instantly over 30s as many crews were red-flagged or unable to start the 15-mile test. 

The concluding 15 miles were in Roughside and Pundershaw and to add to the challenge, torrential rain hit the leading crews in Pundershaw. Robinson continued to set the pace and ended the day a minute up on Price/Brooks. Despite a scare on the opening test, a strong second place put Price to the top of the BHRC points’ table after two of the seven rounds. 

FUCHS Lubricants-backed crew Stanley Orr / Graham Henderson (Ford Escort Mk 1) topped the time sheets in Category 2, whilst the redoubtable Bob Bean / Malcolm Smithson, also with FUCHS Lubricants support, finished first in class B4 in the immaculate Ford Lotus Cortina.

Among those to end the day in Kielder ditches were Rob Smith and Alun Cook, who damaged the front suspension of their Escort Mk2 when they hopped over a ditch in the second stage. Finally, Ben Friend and Cliffy Simmons (Ford Escort Mk2) were heading for the top six when a late puncture led to a visit to a ditch and front suspension damage.

Full results for the Pirelli Rally, which was organised by Cumberland Sporting Car Club, are at: http://results.djames.org.uk/results/?e=562

 

Twin podiums for CA1 Sport crews

FUCHS Lubricants-backed CA1 Sport celebrated twice at the weekend – once in Carlisle, then again in Clacton!

First to visit a podium on the British Rally Championship Pirelli rally were David Bogie and John Rowan (Skoda Fabia R5) who finished third after six rough, tough stages in Kielder forest. After a good opening stage the crew dropped time on the second stage when they thought they had a puncture, but could not make up the lost 30 seconds on the remaining three stages.  

Nevertheless, the crew are still third in the Championship standings; the next round is the Renties Ypres rally in Belgium on 28^th/29^thJune.

At the other end of England, Tom Preston (Skoda Fabia R5) celebrated his first asphalt rally win on the Clacton Stages Rally.  This enormously popular event (with both competitors and spectators) is held on closed public roads around the Essex town, and Preston drove faultlessly to record his maiden win.

 

Morgan recovers from huge crash

Adam Morgan recovered from a huge race one crash to pick up crucial BTCC points at Donington.

The Ciceley Motorsport driver smashed into Andrew Jordan’s spinning BMW on corner four, completely destroying the front end of the car.

But some incredible work by the team had Morgan ready on the start line for race two.

Morgan told us: “I composed myself for a minute and then managed to climb out of the passenger door. I had to crouch down on the grass for a bit just to check everything was OK. After half an hour or so I was released from the medical tent with just some stiffness and a couple of painkillers.

“What wasn’t OK was the car. In fact, every bit of the front end from the bulkhead forwards had to be replaced, including the frame, engine, cooling package and the suspension. It was a mammoth task, and the fact the team managed to do it in 51 minutes is amazing.”

Morgan raced excellently well to finish P12 and P8 in races two and three.

On Monday Morgan heads to China to race for the BAIC team in the China Touring Car Championship before flying back to Blighty in time for the next round of the BTCC at Thruxton.

 

Plenty of drama for Freddie in Italy

Freddie Housley has been back in action, this time in the IAME Nations Cup in Castelletto, Italy.

It was his first visit to the immense circuit, which will host the IAME Euro Series Round 2 in May.

His first practice session went very well, posting the fastest times, until the team realised they should have been running a different tyre to what Freddie normally uses - and this changed things dramatically.

Starting the day he was 1.5 seconds per lap off the quickest times, but got this time down to five-tenths off by the end of the day and was loving his latest ‘favourite circuit’.

On a very strong grid of 30 of some of Europe’s best drivers, he qualified in 17th for the heats.

Heat one he finished 17th and heat two 16th.

In heat three he managed to get up to 14th only for the clutch to disintegrate on the last lap causing a DNF which put him in 19th on the grid for the pre final.

Starting 19th was always going to be tough but after a good start again he got up to 14th on lap one to then start losing power and ended up 22nd, which was where he would have to start the main final.

His mechanics then had a couple of hours to find the problem and after changing a long list of parts he went to the grid not knowing if they resolved the issue.

After a dynamic start he made up 10 places on the first two bends on lap one and was going faster than he had all weekend - but then made a small mistake trying to overtake two more karts in one move which put him on the grass and now in 15th place.

After the drive of his life he crossed the line to finish 13th - and his lap times were only two-tenths of a second off the fastest time of the race.

The team heads to France for a Benelux series race.

 

Season sizzler

FUCHS-backed TWP Racing enjoyed a sizzling start to the 750 Motor Club Enduro season at Donington.

The winter months have seen hundreds of man-hours dedicated to the team's two cars: a Mazda Mk3 MX-5 as last year and a new Lotus S2 Elise, the prior developed heavily, the latter a completely new build for the 2019 season.

53 cars would commit to qualifying with 47 race starters, testament to the popularity of the series.

Mazda Mk3 MX-5 - Car 73:

Drivers Nick and John qualified the car in a respectable 31st place, third in class, with a 1:52.65 lap, a full three seconds faster than the next-placed MX-5. The team found 1.2 seconds per lap on the test day just by swapping the new rear wing.

At the 35 minute point a yellow flag saw Nick bring the car in for an early stop, just within the team's programmed pit window. The team turned the car around within the three-minute minimum stop window and John took the car to the flag, in the process earning the trophy for second in class (the highest finish for the car to date) with a remarkable 12th overall position.

Lotus Elise S2 - Car 72:

Having qualified in P22, Gavin started the race and kept it clean through the first corner wedged three-wide! Sadly, after just three laps, he reported a misfire and pitted the car. The team worked fastidiously to identify the fault - initially thought to be an ignition lead - and Gavin rejoined the race only to pit a few laps later with the same fault. 

Eventually the issue was identified: a broken alternator tensioner bolt that had snapped inside the block, no easy mid-race fix, so the alternator was tightened as much as possible and the car sent back out.

With the race effectively over it was decided to run the rest of the session as a test and, with the one remaining bolt holding more all-important laps ticked off before the clutch started slipping above 5000rpm. Given that the slipping clutch meant the car couldn't accelerate quickly the drivers and team collectively decided to pit the car on safety grounds. The car was stripped, inspected, cooled and sent back out (this time with Pip at the helm) for the final couple of laps.

Next up for the students is a trip to Croft on June 2.

 

An eventful weekend for Carl Vickers

CV Racing qualified in P7 but unfortunately Carl Vickers collided with Alex Platt in race one.

Race two was exceptionally wet but Carl made a good start but then almost parted company with his bike and dropped down to 17^th. On the last lap, the front locked and Carl lost the front and slid the bike into the gravel trap at over 100mph. That meant quite a lot of work to do on the bike overnight to be ready for race three on Sunday.

Carl managed P11 from P22 on the grid in race three for some valuable points before battling hard with Liam Vella and Kane Langston to bag fifth in class in race four.

 

Marchant marches on

Andy Marchant enjoyed a great weekend of racing at Culham MX Park for Round 1 of the BSMA National Championship Series, taking first overall.

Andy praised the BSMA for keeping the racing going over the weekend despite the weather conditions.

 

Students shine in Snetterton

The Myerscough College Motorsport motorcycle racing team headed home with three extremely dominant race wins at Snetterton.

Having qualified first in class and seventh overall, the team were taken out in race one and did not finish, before rattling off three consecutive first in class performances.

The students were kept busy all weekend with accident repair, scrutineering, preparation, maintenance, inspection, fault testing and diagnosis, taking it all in their stride without batting an eyelid.