Moderator's Report
So the Historic roadshow rolls into Silverstone. A track we all know with no terrors whatsoever. Not much to add? Well maybe.
Not as incident packed as Monsanto perhaps but lots of spins and spills where drivers just pushed that bit too far for that extra tenth and lost tens...
Qualifying saw a dominant performance from...Tim! H could only manage third with Fulvio hooking it up to pip him to the front row by just three thousandths of a second. Less than two seconds covered first to sixth and then some bigger gaps towards the back.
The race is the story of three nose to tail battles, one big midfield battle, with the rest of the field having their own somewhat quieter adventures, albeit that there were some exciting moments all the way down the grid.
The start: Fulvio is quickly reminded of the pecking order by H as he can only hold off the Championship leader to Maggots. Fulvio quickly has his mirrors full of Evil. Two battles joined. Further back Blito has made a blistering start and got between Goran and Ronnie, having easily outdragged Fabio. Unfortunately for Jason he can only hold that lead until Club when he goes wide and spins after a trip on the slippy green. He is the first to spin there. He won’t be the last.
End of lap 1. Tim leads from H. So will Fulvio be nose to tail with Evil – NO! Fulvio has clipped a kerb at Chapel and lost traction on the exit. Evil makes the pass but generously gives the place back, and more, when he too clips a kerb at Abbey. Again, he won’t be the last. Evil spins wickedly and Fulvio is relieved not to be collected but gets his place back. Goran, Ronnie and Fabio all take advantage with Sky sneaking through as well.
So battle is joined at the front. Goran and Ronnie’s battle is underway and Fulvio’s and Evil’s has not yet sparked to life. The early laps see the leading five in close proximity matching times lap for lap. Fulvio just has the oomph to catch Ronnie and then Goran but up front, you cannot separate Tim and H.
So what of the midfield. Sky has already merited a mention - he starts last on the grid. [Dozy Badblood has taken to the pits, where to judge from the lap times, somebody has put sugar in his fuel!]. Sky makes a place at the start and then loses it immediately when he takes to the grass, but then he goes into an overtaking frenzy and passes Ivan, Nigel and Phil at Stowe, Jason on the run to Abbey and Evil on the Farm Straight. Wow. Sadly he then overcooks it at Beckets and crashes out.
As hinted above Nigel has a big coming together with Phil at Stowe as Mr Thornton’s red machine delivers too much too early and he spins. Nigel drives on, seemingly unaffected but clips a kerb at Chapel and collects Ivan but sportingly allows Mr D to recover and keep the place. Jason takes advantage and makes back a few places after his own spin. Previously, Phil has also done well to avoid the spinning green car and gets his place back.
Busy Lap. Everyone passes the start/finish within a few seconds of each other. Except for Badblood who is busy making a mess of Abbey.
For the next three laps, H and Tim are at it hammer and tongs and Gorran and Ronnie are never separated by more than a couple of seconds. As mentioned Fulvio manages to catch and pass, first Ronnie, on lap 4 and then Goran on the next lap. Evil continues his recovery behind those three having quickly put Phil back in his place, so to speak. He then passes Fabio on Lap 4.
Fabio has had a steady start but he spins agin on lap 6 at Club which allows Phil and Jason through and Ivan to close up. Several laps of close racing follow and Ivan gets very close. They follow the treacle slow Badblood into Copse. BB goes wide to let them through and ends up dangling on the ‘R’ of the Silverstone sign. Ahead, Phil, loses it at Club and has an argument with the tree there but manages to continue. Ivan gets very close to Fabio on Lap 12 but it takes until Lap 14 to get his man when he gets a better exit out of Abbey. Now Fabio chases and next lap he gets a good run onto the Farm Straight. He tries a pass at Woodcote but as he cuts back in front he loses the car and crashes out. Lap 17 and Phil gets it wong at Beckets and this time the tree wins. Ivan and Jason continue in splendid isolation. On Lap 23 Jason drops it at Club and Ivan picks up the pieces. They continue until Lap 27 when Jason has trouble at Club again and this time his engine decides to give up. So from four closely matched racers only one continues.
How about the leaders? Lap 5 and H manages a pass into Copse. He gets sideways but so does Tim and H gets a better exit. They are side by side into Maggots but H has the inside line and Tim backs off fractionally. He then has a big moment as he touches the grass but gets it back under control in time for Beckets. Impressive stuff from both of them.
Tim closes up at Stowe and their follows several laps of nose to tail driving which is extremely impressive to watch. Finally Tim manages to time a pass at Stowe and although H comes back, Tim outdrags him to Club. Lap 10 and H moves inside at Copse but Tim is faster to Maggots – too fast – he takes to the grass and H drives round him at Beckets, making it stick at Chapel with the inside line. Fair but hard driving. No quarter asked or given.
It takes Tim six more laps to get close enough to have another go at Stowe and there appears to be slight contact between the cars (although thnis is a limitation of GPL as there is obviously a gap). H drops back a little and the two settle down to some hotlapping. On Lap 20 there is another brave attempt into Stowe and H gets his nose in front but Tim has made the better exit and gets to Club first, he misjudges Abbey fractionally and takes to the Farm straight grass letting H through again. H leads into Lap 21. Tim comes storming back and gets a good inside line at Maggots. H leaves room but DISASTER. GPL decides that the collision boxes have overlapped and spins Hristo off despite the visible gap. He would have recovered except for an ill placed ‘plane that takes his wheel off. End of a fantastic battle. The race is there for Tim to take. 12 laps to go.
It seems an anticlimax but there are other battles going on and we must see how they turn out too.
A little bit further back Goran and Ronnie are to finish in that order after a nose to tail battle of some thirty laps! Goran had led the early laps but touches the kerb at Abbey on lap 7 and Ronnie takes advantage. By lap 13 he is back to play and pressurises Ronnie, who is faultless until on Lap 22, he too, ironically, clips the kerb at Abbey. They will continue the close racing to the end.
Clive has made it back into third place having driven faultlessly since his lap 1 spin. He disposes of Ronnie and Goran with neat passes. His pass on Ronnie at Woodcote was very nice. Fabio has earlier spun at Beckets to let Clive past. Cliev settles down to some hot laps of his own and claims the fastest lap of the race. By lap 30 he is full size in Fulvio’s mirrors. Fulvio is on the ragged edge and goes wide at Stowe, possibly distracted by Ivan ahead, Clive gets alongside to Club but backs off. Ivan pulls aside and lets them through. For the next three laps it is nip and tuck and if Clive had not touched the grass on the last time down the Farm Straight, who knows, but it is the Italian who claims second. Not before Clive gets his front wheels overlapping at Woodcote though. Tim has indeed claimed his win.
It was perhaps to be expected that there would be less to write about with Silverstone being such a well known ‘simple’ track, but the report ended up taking six sides of A4!. Fantastic racing, especially from Tim, H and Clive with Fulvio making agreat second. My driver of the day though? Ivan. Not the quickest, but no mistakes for a really hard earned seventh.
Paul "Badblood" Whitfield
No incidents reported