TOYO TYRES XJS CHAMPIONSHIP.

Despite the weather forecast, Brands on Saturday was mostly dull and freezing! However it was a great days racing, with cars from all 4 JEC series competing.

Gary Davis made a rare appearance driving the Ex Sam Clark Class E car, now owned by Gail Hill's partner Simon. The decision was made to run in Class I (invitation Class). "Sideways" Steve Avery also made a surprise appearance in Chris Palmer's Class E XJS with plenty of sideways action as expected!

SCRUTINEERING

I know it must be difficult to organise a race meeting to suit the needs of all drivers, with some of them entering multiple races, some having to fit in mandatory drivers briefings, sorting out authorisation for cameras etc. It does however sometimes seem a near impossibilty to do all of them as directed, i.e. not arriving for sign in and scrutineering until your allotted time.

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A worrying time for all drivers is the trip through the scrutineering bay!

Even Gail Hill, who is now and old hand at it all came rushing past me with the onboard camera and strap in hand, as she had forgotten to fit it before scrutineering!

Whils't wandering around looking for something interesting to photograph I spotted Richard Crossley looking somewhat concerned in the queue for scrutineering with about 15 minutes to go to practice. Having persuaded the Scrutineer to look at Richards car straight away, the next task was to try and convince him that an external cut out switch was not mandatory in D & F. The best we could manage was a Qualifying only ticket. Followed later by a race one after showing him a copy of the XJS Regs!

Mike Sharman was another driver to have problems, and had to go in search of some welding gear. Eventualy Mike found an engineering company that welded up the seat fixing and £20 lighter headed back to Scrutineering for a ticket. After a word with the Clerk of the Course, Mike was allowed to do his 3 mandatory practice laps in another session. This of course meant starting from the back of the grid!

Mike Jobson was not so lucky, his car failed on the instalation of the roll cage, and the MSA Scrutineer's decision was final! I will soon be adding some more information on the Scrutineering page based on recent failures.

QUALIFYING

The practice/qualifying session was fairly non eventful, although several drivers complained of a lack of grip including Steve Davis as can be seen in the pictures below. He did however manage to secure Pole position!

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Steve Davis was complaining of a lack of grip, therefore he had to make do with pole position & winning both races! Its tough at the top!

Simon Seath ended the session early (3rd lap) after a trip into the kitty litter at the beginning of Paddock due to fuel spillage probably from Andrew Harrison's car. Andrew also finished the session early due to being black flagged for losing fuel.

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Pic1 Simon Seath is dragged from the Kitty Litter for the first time this weekend. Pic2 Andrew Harrison before the black flag!

Gordan Bobic also had a short session due to ongoing problems engine problems that manifest themselves when the engine is hot! Gordan is hoping to replace it soon with a 6 litre lump! Matt Skelton had a brilliant session qualifying 10th for his first outing of the year!

RACE 1 part 1

They all got off to a good start, with no great surprises at the front end, whilst at the other end Simon Seath had made up about 7 places by Clearways and had David Ball next on his list!

Steve Davis is just out of the picture as he leads the pack with Derek Pearce 2nd (pic Mathew Jeffery)

The battle for Class D, John Lock just ahead of Gary Hastings on the exit of the first corner. (pic Mathew Jeffery)

Simon Seath was on the move during the first lap!

Stewart Lyddall made it past Steve Avery on lap two, and Robert MacVicar had a coming together with Philip Comer. Philip ended up in the Gravel at Paddock whilst Robert managed to carried on! By Lap3 Simon was past Paul Merrett & hunting down Mark Russell.

By lap 4 James Quirke was in front of Matt Skelton, whilst in his first race Andrew Harrison was hanging on to the back of David Balls new car, in David's old car!

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Pic1 Jim Quirke making his way up the grid. Pic2 Paul Merrett, David ball, & Andrew Harrison.

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Pic1 Matt Joins the others at Paddock Pic2 Not to be mistaken for the XJS Forums annual outing to Black Rock Sands! pics Mathew Jeffery.

Lap 5 saw Steven Bantleman, Matt Skelton & Simon Seath all ending up in the Kitty Litter at Padock! Simon & Matts cars were beached in a dangerous position and the race was red flagged.

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Pic1 John Lock & Pic2 Gary Hastings traded the lead of Class D several times during part 1 & 2 of race 1

RACE 1 Part 2

After dragging several XJS's out of the gravel trap at Padock Hill Bend, the race was back on. The cars started from the position they had been in prior to the red flag. As far as the results are concerned, cars that did not restart the race were deemed to be non starters and scored no points at all.

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Pic1 Guess which one is "sideways Steve" Pic2 On the restart John Lock, Stewart Lyddall & Lawrence Ball all got away well!

Steve Davis retained the lead on the restart, and had already pulled away from 2nd place Derek Pearce by Hailwood Hill. Steve Avery briefly lost a couple of places to Stewart Lyddall and John Lock.

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Pic1 Stewart Lyddall tries out Steve's unusual approach to negotiating Paddock! Pic2 Mike Sharman & Roger Webster had a good battle in Saturday & Sundays races.

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Pic 1, 2, 3 there was a lot of close racing throughout the grid, unfortunately Paul Merrett & Bruce Cologne Brookes battle ended at the dip between Paddock & Hailwood Pic4.

Andrew Harrison was soon giving David Ball some grief again. However whilst attempting to make it past David at Graham Hill and Cooper straight luck ran out at Surtees with a trip onto the infield and returning to the track in last place! with only a few laps to go the best he could achieve was 17th, finishing just over a second behind Roger Webster.

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Pic1 Paul Merrett hunts down Bruce Cologne -Brookes Pic2 The battle is over!

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Derek Pearce 58 finishes 2nd whils't Steve Davis 15 wins again! Many thanks to Mathew Jeffery for several of the pictures on this page including 2,3,& 4 above!

Steve Davis predictably won the race, but Derek Pearce was only 1.8 seconds behind, and Gary Davis was third in a Class E ish car he had never raced before. It was an action packed race with maybe a tad more contact than desirable, but it was good to see Bruce's good humoured attitude to the "racing incident" between himself and Paul Merrett when Paul lost it at the dip and took Bruce with him.

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Pic1 Stephen Bantleman and friends carry out the difficult task of removing stones that are trapped between the tyre bead and rim. Pic2 Various attempts were made to improve the shape of Bruce's rear wing.

On a double header weekend it is always nice to relax after your first race and recharge your batteries for the race the next day. In reality however, a number of us often spend several hours franticly attempting to repair the car, and sometimes goes late into the night!

RACE SATURDAY 5th MAY

POSS	NAME	CLASS	BRANDS HATCH	PICTURE / LINK	CAR No.	CC	QUAL
CLASS D.
.1	Steve Davis	G	And another win!.		15	6L	1
2	Derek Pearce	G	.		58	6L	2
.3	Gary Davis	I	Gary was out in an XJS for the first time since the Classic Spares car was sold.		45	4L	3
4	Gail Hill	G	Click on picture for more details >>>>		52	5.3L	4
5	Steve Avery	E	..		9	4L	5
6	Stewert Lyddall	G	Click on Pic for more details>>>>>>		23	5.3L	6
7	John Lock	D	.		67	4L	8
8	Gary Hastings	D	.		2	4L	7
9	Lawrence Coppock	D	Engine failure stopped play!		27	4L	9
10	Jim Quirke	D	Good to see Jim and the car back after the serious tangle with the Armco at Snetterton		28	4L	13
11	Mark Russell	G	.		7	5.8L	12
12	Lawrence Ball	D	.		63	4L	14
13	David Ball	D	.		4	4.0L	15
14	Robert MacVicar	D	.		66	4L	19
15	Mike Sharman	F	.		20	5.3L	15
16	Roger Webster	D	Click on Pic>>>>		42	4L	20
17	Andrew Harrison	D	Andrew went home on Saturday following an engine failure!		5	4L	18
18	Paul Reynolds	F	.		47	5.3L	20
19	Richard Crossley	D	.		10	3.6L	22
DNF	Paul Merrett	E	..		73	4L	17
DNF	Bruce Cologne-Brookes	D	.Another two laps and the hose let go again. Off with the cylinder head!!!..		41	3.6L	11
DNF	Simon Seath	D	..		17	3.6L	23
DNF	Matt Skelton	D	..		25	3.6L	10
DNF	Stephen Bantleman	D	..		65	4L	25
DNF	Philip Comer	D	.Click on Pic for more info>>>>		71	3.6L	16
DNS	Gordan Bobic	F	Not a good weekend for gordan!		24	5.3L	24

SUNDAYS RACE

Sundays race was only 6 laps due to yet another red flag premature finish! Steve Davis led the pack from start to finish, but Derek Pearce was on much better form and finished 1.2 seconds behind.

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The start of Sundays race at both ends of the grid

At the other end of the grid Philip Comer, Matt Skelton, Simon Seath, Bruce Cologne Brookes, and paul Merrett were all franticly trying to make thier way past the back markers following their non finishes on Saturday.

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Pic1 Stephen Bantleman visits the kitty litter again. Pic2 Gary Davis ahead of Steve Avery (until lap 5)

Starting from the back of the pack Philip Comer lines up Paul Reynolds on his way up the grid! All of the above Sunday pictures were kindly supplied by Andrew & Mathew Jeffery

The most successful of these was Paul Merrett who shot from 18 to 12 on the first lap, however it all went wrong on lap 6.

Mike Sharman had another good race following a nerve racking time watching Gordan Bobic franticly trying to get both or even one of their cars going after swapping sensors and things! Mike and Andrew Harrison were less than a second apart for several laps, when Mike had a coming together with the tyre wall at Graham Hill bend. Fortunately for Mike the Red flag was already out which meant that the race had already finished and Andrew was classified as finishing 14th and Mike 13th!

Roger Webster briefly leads Andrew Harrison in Sundays race, followed by Paul Reynolds and Richard Crossley. Picture kindly supplied by Andrew Harrison.

John Lock had his 4th Class D win of the season, with Gary Hastings close on his tail till the red flag. Steve Davis won the race with Derek Pearce a fag papers width behind! Steve Avery was the sole Class E driver to finish, just ahead of former Champion Gary Davis in I. Last years Championship winner Gail Hill put in another fine drive, but is not yet quite on the pace of Steve & Derek. Having said that there is very little between any of the top 6 modified front runners including Stewart Lydall, any of which could easily win the next round!

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PicPic1 Steve Avery, Gary Davis, & Gail Hill 3rd, 4th, & 5th. Pic2 2nd placed Derek Pearce

RACE SUNDAY 6th MAY

POSS	NAME	CLASS	BRANDS HATCH	PICTURE / LINK	CAR No.	CC	STRT
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.1	Steve Davis	G	.And another one!		15	6L	1
2	Derek Pearce	G	Could have won the race if it had not been red flagged!		58	6L	2
3	Steve Avery	E	Good improvement on Saturdays result! ..		9	4L	5
4	Gary Davis	I	..		45	4L	3
5	Gail Hill	G	Click on picture for more details >>>>		52	5.3L	4
6	Stewert Lyddall	G	Click on Pic for more details>>>>>>		23	5.3L	6
7	John Lock	D	.Another Class D win!		67	4L	7
8	Gary Hastings	D	.		2	4L	8
9	Lawrence Coppock	D	Engine failure stopped play!		27	4L	9
10	Lawrence Ball	D	.		63	4L	12
11	Jim Quirke	D	.		28	4L	10
12	David Ball	D	.		4	4.0L	13
13	Mike Sharman	F	Mike again showing good pace in Class F!.		20	5.3L	15
14	Andrew Harrison	D	Good result for 2nd ever race!		5	4L	17
15	Robert MacVicar	D	.		66	4L	14
16	Simon Seath	D	This was not one of Simon's better weekends of racing, but made up several places from the back of the grid!		17	3.6L	23
17	Matt Skelton	D	An excellant qualifying position, but it all went downhill after a trip into the gravell in race one!..		25	3.6L	22
18	Philip Comer	D	.Click on Pic for more info>>>>		71	3.6L	25
19	Bruce Cologne-Brookes	D	.Another two laps and the hose let go again. Off with the cylinder head!!!..		41	3.6L	21
20	Roger Webster	D	Click on Pic>>>>		42	4L	16
21	Paul Reynolds	F	.		47	5.3L	18
22	Richard Crossley	D	.		10	3.6L	19
DNF	Paul Merrett	E	..		73	4L	20
DNF	Stephen Bantleman	D	..		65	4L	24
DNS	Mark Russell	G	.		7	5.8L	11
DNS	Gordan Bobic	F	Not a good weekend for gordan!		24	5.3L	DNF

A few pictures from Brands Hatch 2006 courtesy of Gordon Bobic. Plus a few notes of new rules for the 2007 season!!!!!!!!

This year they are planning to introduce a one way system on the indy circuit!

This area will be designated a no parking zone (wheel clamping in progress)

Eligibility Scrutineers are planning to get tough on vehicles not entirely conforming to the regs!

Smoking ban will be introduced early at the Kent circuit!

 

 

Any pictures & stories relevent to this meeting would be most welcome.