JAGUAR CLASSIC PARTS JEC SALOON CHAMPIONSHIP

REPORT BY MATHEW JEFFERY

What a superb race it was at Brands! Expectations were again high as to who would win this round. It was a surprise to see Robert Drewery out again after his incident at Brands, this time in a car he has bought from Chris Boon, an XJ40 which he will be racing until his Daimler Sovereign is rebuilt.

QUALIFYING/PRACTICE

Qualifying was drenched, with much poorer visibility than the XJS's. Richard Dorlin somehow managed to get out ahead of any other cars, giving him many clear laps of without any other cars. He looked to be going very well (especially on his borrowed wet-weather tyres from Andrew Jeffery!)

Richard qualified on pole with his father, Peter in his superb MK11 in 2nd. Simon Lewis back on form qualified in 3rd place.

THE RACE

30 seconds to go for a race that would end on lap 3 for unlucky David Bye (57)! Hopefully back for Rockingham!

Over to the race and the rain had not eased much, although not as heavy as before.

22 cars lined up on the grid for the race. Richard made a fantastic start staying ahead of his father in his MK11. Peter managed to stay in 2nd place with pressure from Simon Lewis until he spun spectacularly going into the hairpin (luckily not colliding into anybody!)

Peter Dorlin was one of many spinners, as you would expect in these conditions!

Further down, Dave Bye with the XJ Coupe got slightly onto the grass at the end of Gerrard's throwing him into the tyre wall at great speed causing quite a lot of damage to his car. Luckily he was OK.

Richard drove fantastically around the short circuit combining the drive with some fantastic lap times. Richard is really on form this season and I tip him to take the 2008 Classic Jaguar Parts Saloon Championship.

Richard Dorlin leads the race with no one else in sight!

New driver, Guy Connew had a fantastic battle leading Neil Taylor in his S-Type throughout the race. No matter how hard Neil tried he could not make it past him!

Neil Taylor hunts down Guy Conew. Pic Mathew Jeffery

Simon Hollingsworth also was unlucky after spinning at the braking point for the hairpin causing slight damage to his Mk11. A superb race considering the rain. Role on Rockingham!

REPORT FROM COLIN McKAY

"I was hopeful of decent weather as B & W have built a fresh engine for me and I was looking forward to giving it a good caning.

Unfortunately in the wet that wasn’t going to happen, and with the added complication of very squidgy brakes I wasn’t going to try too hard! The engine had barely been run before qualifying so I was planning on taking it easy for a few laps – 14th on the grid showed that I at least achieved this if not much else!

I was luckier than Duncan Ross however – I’d had to leave him in the paddock trying to disable his steering lock, which had caught the attention of a scrutineer. If you drive the car to the circuit a steering lock is fine, but otherwise not apparently. Does that make any sense? Surely it’s either a safety issue or it’s not? In the end he missed qualifying and had to tag on the end of another session.

THE RACE

We were kept waiting for an eternity in the assembly area while the previous race had more red flags than Mayday in Moscow, and then switched to safety cars when the marshalls got too tired to wave any more!

And theyre off, and its very wet! Pic Mathew Jeffery

Eventually we were allowed out for the privilege of a single green flag lap before the start. A good start saw me steal a place or two before we entered Gerrards and most of the rest of the race was spent in the middle of the field defending against a small pack nipping at my ankles.

Colin McKay exits the hairpin. Pic Mark Stabler

Once I opened up a comfort zone I settled into a rhythm and began to enjoy myself (I don’t normally like the wet) which was obviously the wrong thing to do because on the last lap the back end shot away from me as I apexed Gerrards and I fishtailed across the asphalt onto the grass, eventually finding my way back onto the blacktop, via the motorbike chicane, dropping from 12th to 15th place in the process, and was grateful to see the chequered flag. No serious damage as far as I can tell, but I must sort those brakes before Rockingham!"

Thanks for the report Colin! More to follow from Mathew Jeffery in a couple of days!

Andrew Jeffery hotly pursued!

 

Chris Boon spent most of the race hunting down Nick Gwinnutt, but failed to make it past!

PLEASE NOTE! Unfortunately, results pictures and reports from Rockingham will be at least 2 weeks after the race!

RESULTS BELOW

POSS	NAME	CLASS	MALLORY PARK	PICTURE / LINK	CAR No.	TYPE	QUAL
.
1	Richard Dorlin	B	.		32	XJ6	1
2	Simon Lewis	B	.		65	XJ6	3
3	Phillip Woods	A	.		35	XJ6	4
4	Nick Gwinnuttt	E	.		78	XJ6 X300	5
5	Chris Boon	B	.		1	XJR	8
6	John Slater	B	.		79	XJ6	7
7	Peter Dorlin	D	.		10	MK2	2
8	Tim Morrant	B	.		62	XJ6	11
9	Rick Walker	B	.		54	XJ6	9
10	Dean Sewell	A	.		46	XJ6	12
11	Ken Angel	A	.		37	XJ6	10
12	Neil Taylor	E	.		26	S Type	19
13	Guy Connew	A	.		72	XJ6	16
14	Brian George	E	..		3	XJ6 X300	13
15	Colin McKay	A	.		36	MK2	14
16	Andrew Jeffery	D	Click on Pic for more info>>>>>>>		12	XJ6	18
17	Robert MacVicar	B	. .		66	XJC	22
18	Patrick Doyle	A	Click on Pic for more info>>>>>>>		91	XJ6	21
19	Simon Hollingworth	A	.		11	MK2	17
20	Duncan Ross	A	.		61	XJ6	24
21	Richard Hackett	B	.		6	XJ6	20
DNF	David Bye	B	. Click Pic for more info>>>>>>		57	XJ6C	6
DNS	Robert Drewery	A	...		30	Daim Sov.	15