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BARC "Big Night Out" - 4th February 2006
The BARC very kindly invited my two older sisters (Tina and Justine) and
I to their end of season/Chritmas bash, which was held at the Copthorne Hotel in Effingham Park on the 4th February 2006.
I was very proud to present the "Gerry Marshall Trophy" (along
with Gary Woodcock of the Formula Saloons club) to Chris Hart, who was a worthy winner for the all his time, dedication
and success that he has had within the British Club racing scene.
It was also great to see a fantastic saloon/touring car driver in the
making being presented with the BARC Gold Medal, which went to Andy Priaulx "In recognition of his 2005 World Touring
Car success".
I'm sure that Dad would've been proud that it went to someone
who drives a rear wheel drive car, as Dad was the last person to be presented with the Gold Medal in 2002 "In recognition
of his outstanding contribution to British Motorsport", which was one of Dad's proudest moments.
N.B. A big thank you to Jeff Bloxham for the pictures below.
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| Myself, Chris & Gary. |
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| Chris with the trophy |
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| Tina, Chris, myself & Jus |
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| Dad with Gold Medal in '02 |
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VBOA National Rally - 8th & 9th July 2006
I
went to Billing Aquadrome for the VBOA Rally and I thought it would be full of Vauxhall, Bedford
and Opel anoraks, but I was pleasantly surprised and very much proved wrong.
Vauxhall and the VBOA asked if Old Nail could put in a guest performance on their main stand, as this year the theme was prototypes and there were
many (pics below).
The
whole weekend was brilliant and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone, especially families and fans of GM cars,
even if it's just to see Old Nail in the flesh or to have a nice camping weekend. You can go, any day and/or camp
for the weekend......if the cars don't keep your kids interested, then the crazy golf, jet skis (and if that fails), the bar
will keep them occupied.
My
Dad’s brother (John Marshall), my sister Tina, her husband (and three little nephews/car fanatics) and Denis "Bex" Bissell
(of the Capital Motors Magnum with Brian "Slim" Atthews) came too and they all thoroughly enjoyed it.
I
must admit it was the best day out I've had in a while and that includes the British GP, BTCC, A1 GP at Brands Hatch and
the Festival of Speed at Goodwood.
Unfortunately
I didn't take as many pictures as I'd have liked (see below), as most of my day was taken up with talking to fans about
Old Nail, being interviewed by Ian Coomber (the chairman of the VBOA) and driving Dave Wheatley's Old Nail Replica (in Thames Television flat front guise), which was fantastic, as no doubt
the pictures show.
I
don't know what adjectives to use to describe Dave’s road legal Firenza and for Uncle John (who came
for the ride), I'm sure it brought back memories of the early 1970s when Dad used to take Old Nail home (to
run her in!!) and race (and beat) the E-Types and Cobras of the time that were on the road!!
Anyway,
I hope the pictures (click to enlarge) interest you and if you have any questions or want to know more details on
the prototypes then just shout.
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| Vauxhall VXR |
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| A pretty Opel GT |
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| How did I squeeze in!! |
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| Ian Coomber asking the questions |
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| "Silver Bullett" |
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| Opel Eco |
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| "Where's the air-con Dave?" |
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| Off for another lap of the arena |
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| "Silver Aero" |
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| Ventora |
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| Dave & "Bex" Bissell looking on |
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| Top gear now maybe?? |
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| "Black Magic" |
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| Only RHD Manta 400 |
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| Not quite getting into top! |
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| John and I after our ride |
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| Dave, John and I |
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| The "real" Old Nail |
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| Ready for the off |
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| THE driving seat, literally!! |
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| I squeezed in |
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| Opel RAK 2 |
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| Dave's 2.3 engine |
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| Rear of RAK 2 |
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What a night and what a light (lightning) show!!
This was my first visit to Classics on the Common and boy was it worth it.
Dad went in his Tudor-bodied Ford Model A (SV7994) in 2004 and raved about it, not my cup of tea I thought.
Last year I toyed with the idea of going but I couldn't, as it was too soon after Dad's passing but this year was
a definite, Bex and his good friend Tony, Sarah Brown (of Bull fame) and even my Mum came along, a family affair so to speak.
There were some great and unusual cars and many more than I expected, I've
certainly never seen ten Deloreans together before and I doubt Maggie Thatcher of John DeLorean ever did either!!
There were a couple of lovely little Vauxhall Vivas, various Mustangs
(including a brand new Saleen and Shelby 500), assorted Capris, Porsches and even the odd pretty little Austin Healey 100S
and Jaguar XK SS hiding by the odd Ventora. There were also some familiar faces, Silver Aero and Silver
Bullet and Gordon's lovely HSR2300 Chevette.
If you get a chance then make sure you visit this show next year, everything
was very well organised and even the weather was good, but then we left just before 8pm (I left work early to get in some
extra hours viewing!!) and went for dinner in a local pub and watched the heavens open!! I didn't envy my friend David
in his 6.5litre Chevrolet engined open Ultima getting home!!
I hope you enjoy the below pictures (as usual, click to enlarge).
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| Renault Alpine A310 |
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| Pretty Blue Viva |
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| Monster Camaro SS |
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| Very pretty little 100S |
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| Modified Chevette |
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| Gordon's HSR 2300 |
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| "Silver Bullett" again! |
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| "Silver Aero" again! |
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| Porsche 356 - One of my all time favourites |
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| A convertible Viva!! |
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| How many?! |
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| Nice Jaguar XK SS |
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| Mustang GT500 |
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| Spotless GT500 interior |
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| Original Viva Firenza Coupe |
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| Tidy Viva Firenza interior |
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National Championship Raceday - Oulton Park 5th August 2006
Ah, the memories……firstly I’m going to apologise for the length
of this report. This meeting brought back so many memories and links that I had to keep going, so I hope you enjoy
reading it.
At the start of the race season I looked at the calendar for the Classic Touring
Car Racing Club (this is the Championship I want to enter) and I took special note of the 5th August event at Oulton
Park. There were several reasons for this, firstly, I’m fairly sure that
this is the only circuit and race that Dad did in a CTCRC championship (when he raced Stacy Vickers lovely orange Mazda RX7
and still holds the lap record for Class C of the Classic Group 1 Touring Cars with a 1:41.418), secondly, I hadn’t
been to Oulton Park since Dad had been unceremoniously knocked off the track on the run down to Cascades at about 130mph in
the TVR Tuscan Championship by a lazy eyed eejit (who I’m not going to name and I think he got a more of a lazy eye
at the racing car show later on that year, but that’s another story!) in the early ‘90s and, thirdly, the Yates
family live just round the corner from the track and it's always nice to catch up with old friends.
The day started at 7:00am, as I wanted to leave home by 8am, so that I would
be there in time to see some of practice and have a look around the paddock before too many cars got damaged. I didn’t quite leave at 8am (which definitely reminded me of going racing with Dad!!), but near enough
and off I went. Up the M1 I sped (not exceeding 70mph your honour), got off at
junction 19, onto the M6, but the toll road wasn’t around in the past, so I thought I don’t need it now, stay
on the old M6 and you’ll be fine, but boy was I wrong!!
There were roadworks all through Birmingham (which did mean I got to see Villa Park for 20
minutes whilst stuck, hello Martin!!). I had been reliably informed that it was
best to come off the M6 at junction 16, onto the A500 and it would be easy from there.
I wasn’t so sure, but I was hoping that there would be signposts to the legendary Oulton Park (how wrong was
I?!) and my memory would reboot at some point. I was wrong and got pretty lost
and realised that I’d left my map on the kitchen table!! I managed to sort
myself out once I was in Nantwich and headed in the right direction and finally came across some signs for Oulton and arrived
just after midday, which wasn’t too bad all things considered, I’m sure Dad would have been laughing!
I drove into the circuit and memories of numerous Production Saloon races from
the ‘80s came flooding back. I parked up and took a stroll through the
paddock, taking pictures (see below) of several cars that interested me (not the Legends or Formula Renaults then!!) and best
of all I found a 2.3 Firenza!! I had a good poke round it and thought I’ll
watch that in the race and come back later for more information.
The second best car that I came across was Les Lyons’ Ford Escort 1800. This might not sound special but it was to me.
The reason being is that the Sevenoaks and District Motor Club held a Sprint at Crystal Palace in 1999 (I think it
might be an annual event, can anyone confirm??) and Dad was invited to take part and Les Lyons very kindly let Dad compete
in this Escort. It was a special occasion, as Dad had not only won a very well
televised and famous British Saloon Car race (featuring in the BBCs Hundred Greatest Sporting Moments, with commentary by
a certain Muddly Talker) but he’d also won the last ever race at “The Palace” in a Lister Jaguar in September
1972. Anyway, for now, I’ll continue to regress back to this sprint, as
it was a lovely meeting and as soon as people found out that Dad was there we were mobbed by drivers and spectators. I was impressed by it, even if Dad was a little embarrassed!!
Dad managed to hustle the Escort around and thoroughly enjoyed driving and doing
some commentary (which I seem to remember offended some female spectators next to me, but I won’t repeat it as this
is a family website!). My highlight of the day was at the end of the meeting,
when everyone had gone home and Dad decided to show me the old circuit (the sprint track used one and half of the old
corners), which was ninety per cent intact, as it still ran as a service road around the old Palace and the outside of the
Athletics stadium. All I’ll say is that I’m as big a fan as
Dad’s driving as anyone else and it was brilliant, but the metal fencing round the outside of the circuit seemed too
close for comfort, as one of the wing mirrors proved, but it made me appreciated the Viva GT beating Chevrolet Camaros with
great big railway sleepers acting as barriers!!
Right, anyway, I’ve digressed enough now, back to Oulton……....I
managed to find Stacy (not difficult when your car and awning are the brightest in the paddock!!) and I introduced myself,
as we had only spoken over the phone and e-mail and I hadn’t been able to make Dad’s outing in 2003. It was good to see Stacy relaxing whilst everyone else ran around, that definitely reminded me of Dad!! Stacy had entered two races for the day and his main aim really seemed to be beating
Dad’s lap record and he had got down to a 1:40.8 in testing the previous day, so it looked possible. I bade Stacy good luck and went off to find a suitable vantage point.
I watched the Post Historic Touring Car race first, as this was the event that
the Firenza was in and after qualifying 10th overall and 7th in class (out of 12), with the pole man
being a Jaguar XJ12 and the 5th fastest a Chevrolet Z28 Camaro, both driven by experienced and good drivers, so
I thought this could be interesting but unfortunately it was a bit of a tame affair out front (the Jag beat the Chevy by just
under 8 seconds) but the Firenza did have a good battle with a Mk1 Capri and finished 10th overall and 7th
in class.
I now had four races to kill before Stacy’s first race and seeing as two
of those were Legends races (I’d rather gnaw my leg off!!) I thought now would be a good time to get a burger and a
pint, which I must admit that even for racetrack standards were not too bad (the pint being better than the burger obviously!!)
and they were fairly well priced (well done Dr JP and MSV, now you can get that bronze bust of Dad that you promised me last
year!!). So after my refreshment I went back to my viewing point (on the exit
of Cascades) and settled down for the Classic Group 1 Touring Car race in which Stacy had qualified 2nd overall
to the Chevrolet Z28 Camaro, with a 1:40.6.
The green lights came on and straight away Stacy went into the lead and stayed
there comfortably until the fourth lap, when he came round Cascades and seemed to miss a gear but he kept the lead and stayed
out in front until the chequered flag fell, a comfortable 5 second margin. As
there was only one more race until Stacy’s second outing of the day I thought I’d hold position for now and as
I listened to the commentators interviewing Stacy I realised I best get back to the paddock sharpish, as it transpired Stacy
had lost 2nd and 4th gears on the fourth lap and it looked like he wouldn't be back out!
Upon returning to the bright Orange “Florida-World” awnings, I found
the RX7 up on stands and about 6 people running around and shouting, it really was a Dad’s Army moment, but to
be fair, the guys changed the gearbox in less than twenty minutes (I did help a little but I probably only helped by 10 seconds!!)
and Stacy was back out on the grid for his second race, the Pre ’93 Touring Car Series.
In practice for this race Stacy had set a pole time of 1:40.495 and when the
green light came on he headed from start to finish, a lovely clean win. Crucially
for me though, still not beating Dad’s lap record (practice/qualifying times don’t count), as he could only set
a fastest lap of 1:42.101, but he did have two well deserved victories, especially after seeing his team (and their wives/girlfriends)
getting their knees dirty helping change the gearbox!!
I must admit, other than the classic saloon cars there wasn’t much else that
tickled my fancy, I saw a nasty accident in the Legends, the single-seater Renaults didn’t interest me (mainly due to
my height, but also their expense) and the Classic Thunder & Sports/Saloon race was one of the most ridiculous things
I’ve ever seen. There were some nice Classic Thunder cars and some Special
Saloons, but when you have an ex-DTM Vauxhall Astra on poll, that stalled, was 15th into the first corner
and by the end of the 4th lap was leading, no-one was gonna get near him (if he was a proper driver) I just can’t
see the fun in that, but that's just my opinion.
So, the day drew to a close, I left the circuit and pitched up at the Yates family,
for food and drink and a strange experience in their swimming pond (yes, that is the right spelling, you need to see
it to believe it!!). I had a very good evening with them reminiscing about old times and I left the following morning
to do battle with the M6, this time using the toll road.
Special thanks to Stacy Vickers, firstly for sending me a ticket and pit
pass for the meeting and secondly for not beating Dad’s lap record, he made a young man happy!!
As
an aside, I’m going to put this in black and white so neither of us can back out; I promised Stacy that I’d be
out in my Droop Snoot for this meeting next year, and if not I have to pay his double race entry fee and if I am he has to
pay my double race entry fee, easy I say!!
N.B. Another link between Crystal
Palace and Oulton Park; Jochen Rindt was widely considered as the king of the “Palace” and the “Park”
and Dad was always regarded as the Jochen Rindt of British club racing in the ‘70s.
To be honest I’m not sure what the link is, but it seemed worth mentioning!!
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| Rover SD1/3500 |
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| Triumph Dolomite 2000 |
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| Jaguar XJ12/5343 |
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| Ford Capri 3.0 |
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| Chevrolet Camaro 5.7 |
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| Rear of Firenza |
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| Vauxhall Firenza 2.3 |
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| Inside the Firenza |
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| Les Lyon's 1.8 Ford Escort |
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| Stacy's winning RX7 |
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| Inside the Escort |
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| On the rear off side of Stacy's car |
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Goodwood Revival Meeting - 1st/2nd/3rd September 2006
Tina, Justine and I received letters on from Lord March inviting
us to Goodwood this year ('06) and it is very much appreciated and the invitation will be accepted!!
I've been looking forward to this meeting since last year, when Lord
March asked us to present the St.Marys Trophy and he very kindly presented us with a trophy in memory of Dad.
This is a meeting I've always enjoyed and Dad loved it. The only bad experience
was in '04 when Dad was harshly done by in several mainstream publications regarding an incident he had when
driving the Ferrari LMB 330 with Peter Hardman (something he was greatly looking forward to) and the winning ISO. I
think a certain motoring journalist (bearded!!) used the wrong forum on his reporting and very much left out one
side of the story.
Being as non-bias as possible, I think that if anyone looks at the in-car
and outside footage, you will see the ISO should have given Dad more space (who was in the lead?!), especially when you consider
the cars involved.
Anyway, I think the best way to describe it was a racing
incident and and lets look forward to the '06 event, it's just a shame the wonderful Alvis Grey Lady won't be racing
this year.
3rd September
Another early start, leaving home at 8:00 but we got to Goodwood just
before 10:00, so good work. The weather was a bit drizzly but as the day went on it did brighten up and seeing the girls
in their '50s dresses soon brightened me up!!
The racing was a good and close as ever (unfortunately there two nasty accidents
on the Saturday, with both Adrian Newey and Dario Franchitti being hurt, luckily no lasting damage).
The highlights of the day for me were the Barry Sheene Memorial trophy, seeing
the bikes squirm out of a damp chicane was brilliant and the Ray Hanna tribute, where his Sptifire was taxied up the main
start/finish straight, a fantastic site and a great tribute.
Roll on 2007.
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| Crowd in period dress |
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| Microcars |
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| Wayne Gardener |
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| Coming up the straight |
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VBOA - Heritage Centre Open Day 9th October 2006
This is only the second day each year that the Vauxhall Heritage Centre
is open and only VBOA clubs are allowed, no memebers of the public.
The Centre is a very nicely set-up "garage" with many cars in there, one
of them being my very own (or Dad's depending on how you look at it!!) "Old Nail". It was great to see her and I even
had a look under the bonnet to get some ideas for my race car.
There were many familiar faces and front there and I also had time to do
some networking and pick people's brains on several bits for my car, so all in all it was a good day.
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| Wide variety of GM cars |
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| Vauxhall Light Six FHC |
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| Nice Pink Cresta |
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| Lovely example of a Hurlingham |
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| Several Lotus Carltons |
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| Immaculate Carlton engine |
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| "Old Nail" |
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| The engine of "Old Nail" |
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Dunlop Motorsport Festival, Donington - October 21st &
22nd
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What a cracking bill for a race meeting, old Minis, new MINIs, Ginettas, Classic
Touring Cars, they were all there, even Radicals!!
I wanted to attend to watch the last rounds of the CTCRC championships, plus
it would be my first opportunity in ages to go along and support (well, laugh at) Barney Rubble in the Mini Miglia championship.
We
set off at 8:30 (Vincenzo and Arc-eye Geoff and I) to get to the 'Park for 10am, bit of a tall order but we did it (yes thank
you officer). Tickets were very kindly provided by Richard Langeveld of the CTCRC (supplied on foot by his lovely partner
Helen) and were very much appreciated.
We rolled into the paddock and the first "BIG" motor home and trailer/space-box
we saw was very familiar, young Barney with the trailer he has very kindly lent me several times to move the Firenza
around in.
We
had a quick chat about his death wish...sorry, plans for the race, basically, win at all costs or don't (this was recently
highlighted at Croix en Ternois after being forcibly knocked off by another driver and then chucking his toys out, or more
to the point chucking his helmet at said accuser next time around...very expensive!!).
Anyway, it was good to see the Mini in its CarMedic colours and with no dents and to see the "Hack" family all smiling and warm, as it
still hasn't got any warmer at Donington since my last appearance there with Dad in '04.
Vincenzo,
"Arc-Eye" and I wandered around the paddock, with Vincenzo seeing a few old Mini adversaries (notably Peter Baldwin), me seeing
some of the Ford Escort 2000 competitors for next season and old Arc-eye just noticing how cold the women were!!
We
decided to watch the Post-Historic race from the warmth of the CTCRC suite (Stacy, you definitely missed out on this!!), but
we were slightly disappointed that "Round Table" David Hall wasn't out in his (Thruxton Race car) Firenza but, as Vincenzo
said, we learnt a valuable lesson, avoid spinning Camaros next season, as there was a nasty accident between a Camaro and
Escort that stopped the race for twenty minutes. Once the race restarted it was fairly static but I think other than
the Escorts next season I may have to watch out for a very well driven little Mazda RX3 (at least Jock Robertson doesn't
seem to be around any more!!).
After
the Post Historic race we had the chance to watch, support and laugh at Barney in the Mini Miglia race and I think to be fair
it's probably best if I don't write what actually happened, all I'll say is that he was the fastest by an extremely long way
when he was on the grey stuff but that didn't last....at least there was lap record to wrap around that sore back!! |
We
watched the Classic Group 1 (which I am also eligible for) and a blast from the past came up racing a Droop Snoot.
He was doing very well, 4th/5th overall, before he was mugged from behind by a too enthusiastic BMW 2002. The gentleman
in question was current (maybe former) TVR dealer Giles Cooper of the TVR Centre in Barnet and I must admit I was very surprised
to see him in a Droop Snoot (Giles raced against Dad in the TVR Tuscan championship and Dad also drove Giles’ Tuscan
for a season).
Giles
drove very well and was unfortunate to be taken out, completely not his fault. It
was great to see him do so well and to talk to him (whilst also checking out the car/opposition for next season) and hearing
how positive he was about the handling and speed of the Firenza, especially when this guy is used to Blackpool "Rock"!!
Anyway,
after speaking to Giles and Barney about so many things in common (other than Dad, damage and ladies!!), I decided to treat
Barney and Geoff to a visit to the Donington Collection (well I have got to keep them onside for next season when it's even
wetter and colder, but I don't think that's possible after Donington).
The
Collection was great and that's covered further down.
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| The beast!! |
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| Where the action happens! |
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| Before the damage!! |
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| Post Historic Start |
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Donington Collection 22nd October
I’ve
only been to the collection once before and that was with Dad in about 1990, so it was quite a while ago and there’s
quite a few new cars there now.
The
outside/garden of the Collection looks great and I would’ve loved to have taken a closer look at the statues but it
was tipping it down at this stage, so we just ran straight in. When you enter
the main foyer you are greeted by three fairly current F1 cars, the best in my opinion being a Jordan 191, the 7Up
green livered model that Jordan entered
F1 with in 1991 and I think it’s a great looking car and I have experienced one in ’91 (click here).
I
won’t go into great detail about the Collection, as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else but there is a great
deal to see and it is all fantastic. The McLaren and Williams halls are absolutely
breath-taking (literally when you try and put a value on them!), as is the Vanwall and BRM collections.
From
a picky point of view it’s a shame that they aren’t any Bentleys, Aston Martins, more Tyrells and a few others,
plus it would be handy if there was a list of what cars are in the collection and if they’re not in the museum then
where are they and also you walk through the displays, get to the end and then you have to walk back the way you came. To be honest though, that is just me being picky and wanting everything, it is definitely
worth a visit.
See
below for the pictures.
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| Various '60s F1 cars |
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| Engine - no info though |
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| Selection of Graham Hill's trophys |
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| Senna's F1 Toleman |
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| First view of the McLarens |
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| Second view of the McLarens |
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| What a great view |
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| Mansell's brief McLaren MP4-10B |
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| McLaren MP4-13a test car |
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| Williams Hall - Great sight |
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| James Hunt's Hesketh |
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| Vanwall Collection |
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| Williams FW18 |
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| Dave Purley's car, with wreck behind |
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| McLaren M19-C |
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| BRM Collection |
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| Formula Classic - Tested by Dad |
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| Dad's hero; Froilan Gonzalez |
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| Inside the Formula Classic |
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| Brabham BT37 |
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