Click to go the page you require: 1 2 4 Result Images

July 22/23 CROFT (Page 3)

The team stripped the gearbox and replaced the faulty mechanism that afternoon in readiness
for tomorrow's race. A problem had also been detected with the rear anti-roll mechanism on
Dave Allan's Civic and this was also fixed.

Race day was a continuation of yesterday with the weather cloudy and dull. After all the
normal razzmatazz prior to the race, it set off, on time, at 12.30. Dave made a poor start,
being balked by the Alfa Romeo of Tom Ferrier. Kevin was fast away and had squeezed ahead of Dave by the first corner. It was here that the trouble started for Dave as he clipped the rear of Kermit's Proton sending it sliding onto the grass. It was an incident that saw Dave having to report to the Clerk of the Course after the race but, fortunately, he was only warned. However, the incident effectively finished Dave's race. His front wheel was damaged and was also badly out of alignment. At the time, this was unknown to Dave and he drove the race with a car that gave lots of handling problems.

For the third race in a row, the black and yellow flag was waived after the sump in Gavin Pyper's Alfa Romeo was damaged and had poured oil onto the track for a long way round the circuit. The car's lapped at a mere 50mph, whilst the marshalls cleared the oil as best they could. Over twelve minutes of the race was lost, which meant just eight minutes of racing. In the previous meeting at Donington, ten minutes were lost and, in the round before that at Brands Hatch, almost a further ten had been lost, allowing for the shortening of the race to fifteen minutes. There are no winners in this situation. The drivers do not get their full quota of racing and the teams that prepare the cars, spending much time and money in the process, are also given a bad deal. The same is true for the spectators who have paid a lot of money to see racing and are left to watch cars being driven round the track at 50mph, with not an overtaking manoeuvre in sight!