The Classic Touring Car season edged closer to conclusion as the penultimate weekend played out under sunny skies at Snetterton.
At the hieght of summer, entries were down but those that were in action provided plenty of entertainment as double wins went the way of Alex Sidwell (Classic Thunder), Jonathan Corker (Pre-’83) and Ian Bower (Pre-’93). It was a weekend to remember for Bower in particular, who added a pair of Classic Thunder class wins, as he closes in on a double title success.
Pre-’93 Touring Cars
In the latest instalment of their season-long duel for Pre-’93 honours, Ian Bower gained the upper hand on Will Davison by bagging a brace of victories. With Davison hitting misfortune on Saturday and watching from afar on Sunday, Bower gained a crucial advantage in the championship chase.
Bower’s BMW M3 E36 was quickest of the Pre-’93 cars in qualifying around the three-mile former airfield venue, almost exactly a second ahead of Oliver Owen’s similar mount.
Davison arrived in Norfolk with a more powerful engine under the bonnet of his own M3 and a healthy weight saving achieved by fitting lighter doors. But the changes affected the handling of his car and left him third fastest, some 1.4s slower than Bower.
As the field got their formation lap under way, Davison was made aware of a loose bonnet pin. He broke ranks and dived for the pits to fix the issue but was forced to join the rear of the field via a pitlane start.
Bower could therefore afford to focus on overall success on track, with only Piers Grange from the concurrent BOSS category ahead of him on the road. When Grange hit trouble late on, Bower’s path was open to take a clear victory.
Owen was an equally comfortable second, some 5s back. Shaun Morris jumped Kevin Willis and held him off for the rest of the race to take third. They were being closed down inexorably by Davison who charged through from the back of the field, setting fastest lap en route, but fell just 0.58s short of Willis and had to settle for fifth.
As Davison jetted off to Turkey, Bower took full advantage with another victory in Sunday’s sequel. In a restarted race, Bower was never really challenged as he waltzed to an eighth Pre-’93 triumph of the season.
The Southampton-based racer did, however, have a scare when he went off on fluid that had been dropped at Hamilton on the penultimate lap. Initially fearing his tyres had wilted, Bower backed off. But when he saw the slippery surface flag a lap later he was able to pick up pace again, ultimately recording a margin of victory almost identical to the previous afternoon.
Owen got the start wrong and dropped behind Willis and Morris. Keeping up the pressure, he was soon back ahead of Morris and then passed the tail-happy Willis into the Esses on the third lap of seven.
Like Bower, Owen and Willis also took to the grass at Hamilton in the closing stages. Owen held on to second, but Willis lost third to Morris.
After blowing his clutch the previous day, Daniel Gandesha switched to a back-up machine – the ex-Jon Olliff-Cooper car – for Sunday’s action and brought it home fifth in Pre-’93.
Pre-’03 Touring Cars
On the same grid as the Pre-’93 machinery, Pre-’03 laurels were split between Don Hughes (Peugeot 306 XSi) and first-time winner Kam Tunio (Honda Civic EP3).
A welcome addition to the field came in the form of Essex driver Lewis Judd at the wheel of Anton Martin’s BMW 330i E46. But the entry was reduced before the competitive action got under way when Brands Hatch winner John Hillyer was forced to withdraw. His BMW E36 Touring hit engine trouble in Saturday morning’s open practice session.
Hughes’s Peugeot was fastest in qualifying, 3s clear of Tunio, while the Class A runners were headed by regular pacesetter Dave Cave aboard his BMW 328 E36.
It was a similar story in the race, as the OCS Automotive Engineering-backed Peugeot raced to a comfortable win, Hughes’s third of the season, 13s clear of Tunio’s Honda.
Cave took the honours in Class A, with a similar margin back to Judd. Title contender Simon Mann was forced to retire after being called in because his Cadbury’s-liveried E46 was dragging part of its exhaust.
Sadly, Hughes’s chances of scoring a double were immediately extinguished in the second race on Sunday. Immediately behind him on the grid, BOSS runner Michael Kenneally made a quicker start but did not manage to avoid the 306 as he tried to go round it. A heavy impact spun the Peugeot and left both cars damaged. The race was red-flagged.
It was restarted over the full 15-minute duration and Tunio kept clear of provisional champion-elect Cave to record a maiden victory. Hughes’s demise allowed Judd into the top three in Pre-’03, while Mann’s title hopes were dashed by retirement. His E46’s radiator hose let go at Hamilton and the car spun on its own fluid at high speed, Mann grateful that it didn’t dig in and remained on all four wheels.
Blue Oval Saloon Series
Pace-wise, Piers Grange was in a class of his own all weekend, but his recurrent gearbox gremlins struck once more. That allowed Joey Binks to record a maiden BOSS win in the second race.
Grange’s Smith & Jones-powered Mk2 Escort qualified nearly 6s faster than the next BOSS entry, which was Binks’s Karl Jones-tribute Sierra RS500. Provisional champion-elect Tim Mizen was third quickest, his Class D Fiesta Mk3.5 bettering the fast-improving slick-shod Mk7 version of Michael Kenneally.
Three-time champion Grange disappeared into the distance in Saturday’s race. He looked set to record a dominant victory until the gear selection issues that have blighted his season returned. Stuck in gear for the final few laps, Grange lost over half a minute.
The leading five Pre-’93 cars all passed the hobbled Escort but Grange had built such an advantage that he held on to BOSS victory. He was still almost 10s clear of Binks, who was delighted to at last have a trouble-free run in his RS500.
After a huge moment at Coram on the first lap, which pitched him sideways onto the grass at high speed, Kenneally manhandled the Scoop’s Detailing Fiesta back on track and brought it home third in BOSS, just ahead of class winner Mizen.
Grange made a flying start in the first attempt to run Sunday’s race, jumping most of the Pre-’93 BMWs. However, with Kenneally involved in a heavy startline shunt, the race was stopped and he’d have to do it all over again. But he never got the chance. The gear-selection woes returned on the green-flag lap and Grange toured in to retire before the race had even begun in earnest.
With Grange gone, Binks’s cautious getaway at the second attempt allowed Class C man Cliff Pellin (Mk7 Fiesta) and Mizen to dispute the BOSS lead. Each were sniffing their first victory in BOSS but Mizen’s chances ended when he spun exiting Hamilton on the second lap.
Meantime, Binks was getting his RS500 up to speed and he then powered past Pellin on the Bentley Straight. The Colchester driver pulled away to take his first category win by some 14s, much to his delight.
Pellin still managed a class-winning second, just ahead of Craig Owen’s Sierra Cosworth. Mizen meanwhile recovered to take his 12th consecutive Class D win in fourth. Robert Taylor’s Mk6 Fiesta and Brook Rouse’s bewinged Mk7 completed the finishers.
Pre-’83 Group 1 Touring Cars
Jonathan Corker kept up his Snetterton winning streak by record his fifth and sixth consecutive victories at the track, but he didn’t have things easy.
Making a first appearance since the Donington Park season opener – where he was a race winner – Mini Challenge regular Harry Hickton qualified on pole position aboard dad Dave’s Opel Kadett GT/E.
Second fastest, nearly half a second back, was the V8-powered Rover SD1 of Nick Williamson. He edged Corker’s Datsun 510 – now featuring a Safari-spec heated front windscreen after his previous screen had been smashed at Brands Hatch – by less than a tenth.
Nic Grindrod’s Ford Escort Mk1 was next, ahead of Carl Shreeve (Triumph Dolomite Sprint) and Mark Fowler, whose Equipe Esso-liveried Ford Capri was making a very welcome return to the championship.
Unfortunately, Shreeve would not start the first race after discovering a cracked subframe on the Dolomite, possibly a legacy of his accident at Thruxton last year. Shreeve and his Tony Crudgington-chiefed crew worked wonders to get it welded back together in time for Sunday’s race.
Corker made a lightning start to the opener and squeezed between the front-row men to take the lead of the opener, with Grindrod also slotting into second. Williamson ran third and Hickton slipped to fourth.
The top four opened a significant margin to the chasing pack, headed by Fowler, and then began to pair off. As Grindrod put pressure on Corker, so did Hickton to Williamson, each finding their cars had strengths in different areas.
Ultimately, their positions did not change, Corker taking victory by more than 2s. Grindrod’s pace dropped when his clutch failed, which brought Williamson onto his tail, but he held onto second. Williamson took a class-winning third, with polesitter Hickton only managing fourth after finding a revised weight distribution made the Opel a handful.
Fowler brought the Capri home fifth, second in class, ahead of Jared Knight’s Mk2 Escort.
Grindrod’s hopes of challenging Corker in Sunday’s rematch evaporated on the startline when his Escort stalled. Thankfully the rest of the busy field were able to avoid the stricken machine and the West Midlander got going again at the back of the pack.
So Saturday’s lead quartet became a lead trio on Sunday. Corker looked a safe bet to record his eighth victory of the season until he lost fourth gear with a lap remaining. Williamson thundered past on the Senna Straight, only to make a mistake on the infield and let Grindrod back in for victory.
Williamson still finished second overall to win Class B. With Fowler a non-starter, it was Stuart Caie’s Capri that took second in class.
After Grindrod’s troubled getaway dropped him to the back, he joined Shreeve in putting on a show as they scythed through the field. The two actually made contact when Grindrod dived inside at Agostini on lap three of seven. It looked like both would continue but, in fact, when Grindrod banged the Escort into first gear for the hairpin the gearknob came away in his hands. It brought an end to a tough weekend for the Viking Auto Garage man, who reckoned he’d had the gearbox in and out of his Escort six or seven times across the three days.
Shreeve did continue and produced one of the drives of the weekend to climb to third overall, second in class. It was by far his best result of a season blighted by a recurring misfire.
Shreeve may not have caught Hickton were it not for the Opel having a wild 720-degree spin after hitting oil at Murray’s. The young gun did well not to hit anything and recovered to fourth, ahead of Knight and Caie.
The oil had been dropped by Phil Waller’s Chrysler Sunbeam when its engine seized. The Class D man was left with nothing but an expensive bill for his weekend’s efforts, having suffered timing problems in the previous day’s race. Instead, Suffolk racer Robyn Slater twice won the class, giving his 1600cc Mk1 Escort its second outing.
Pre-’66 Touring Cars
The largest entry of the weekend came in Pre-’66 Touring Cars, which shared a grid with the Pre-’83 machinery. Wins were split between Piers Grange’s Ford Mustang and the Lotus Cortina of Simon Gusterson.
Grange set the pace in qualifying, lapping 1.1s quicker than East Anglian local Gusterson. Third fastest was Tim Scott-Andrews, making a welcome return in his Ford Falcon Sprint, albeit in a non-scoring guest capacity.
The leading cars from the hotly contested Class C were next, headed by Jake Swann’s Ford Anglia. Mike Davies was delighted to outqualify the similar Mini of Barry Sime for the first time, second in class. One-time champion Billy Kenneally was simply pleased to have his Anglia running cleanly after yet another major engine re-build.
Grange continued to lead the way in Saturday’s first race, managing to keep at least one Pre-’83 car between himself and the chasing Gusterson most of the time. After running strongly at Brands Hatch last time out, only to come up against former BTCC star Sam Tordoff, the reigning Class A champion was pleased to take his first Pre-’66 victory of the season.
Gusterson finished nearly 13s adrift, but took Class F honours and was a similar margin ahead of Scott-Andrews’ big Falcon which climbed back through the field after a slow start.
After qualifying behind the leading Class C cars, Grant Williams (Jaguar Mk2) enjoyed tussling with the Anglias in the race, eventually getting the better of them to place fourth in Pre-’66.
Swann was next, winning Class C. Crucially, he also had Kenneally between himself and Sime, third in class, and therefore made inroads into his points deficit to the Scotsman.
Class-mates Davies, Kevin Swann (Anglia) and Martyn Armstrong (Mini) completed the top 10. Adrian Oliver (Hillman Imp) benefited from last-lap gearbox failure for Brendan Rooney’s similar car – which ended the Surrey man’s weekend – to take the laurels in Class E. But he himself did not manage to make the finish of Sunday’s race.
Grange looked to be heading for a double in Sunday’s sequel until track conditions threw another variable into the mix in the latter stages. Oil at Murrays, the tight left-hander leading onto the Senna Straight, caught several drivers out, with Grange among the worst affected.
The big Mustang was sent bouncing across the grass on more than one occasion. Gusterson shot past and, though Grange charged back onto his tail as they approached the chequered flag, Gusterson held on for a maiden victory by just 0.017s.
Second overall was still enough for Grange to win Class A ahead of Williams who improved to third overall.
The battle for Class C honours was, once again, frenetic. Behind Jake Swann, Kenneally lost out to Sime after getting caught out by the oil. But the trio closed up again and could have been covered by a blanket as they came through Coram on the final lap.
Deciding that attack was the best form of defence, Sime dived inside Swann into Murrays. But, on the slippery surface, he could not get the Mini stopped in time. Both Anglias cut back inside, Swann holding on to take another class win from Kenneally and Sime.
Classic Thunder & Historic Thunder
A field of Classic and Historic Thunder machinery is never less than spectacular and so it proved again at Snetterton. Alex Sidwell swept to a double success in his glorious Holden Commodore VF, kept on his toes by Historic pacesetter Colin Voyce.
Sidwell’s Garry Rogers Motorsport-built Australian V8 Supercar had a 2s margin over Voyce’s Mountune turbo-powered Ford Escort Mk1 in qualifying. The second Voycetune car of Kevin Denwood (BMW Compact E36) was a quarter of second further back, fractionally ahead of Norfolk local James Janicki in his Nissan Skyline GTR R32.
The top two pulled clear in the first race as Ian Bower, quickest of the quartet of BMW M3s doubling up from Pre-’93 Touring Cars, jumped into third.
While Voyce kept Sidwell on his toes, especially in the early laps, there was no stopping the Holden powering to victory. Voyce was hampered by a massive vibration, the sheer power of his motor having twisted the Escort’s propshaft, but brought the car home safely in second overall to win Historic Thunder.
Once up to speed in the two-wheel-drive Skyline, Janicki powered past Bower to finish third, winner of Class B. Bower then came under pressure from Denwood, who in turn had Rikki Cann’s Historic Aston Martin V8 Vantage in its mirrors.
The trip bunched up before Bower was ambushed on the Bentley Straight on lap five of eight. Cann’s V8 took him past both BMWs in one move as he secured fourth overall.
Provisional champion-elect Bower finished a class-winning sixth overall, as two of his Class C rivals hit trouble. Oliver Owen spun exiting Williams and clouted the barriers, ending his race, while Shaun Morris was stopped by falling fuel pressure.
Morris had been involved in an entertaining scrap among the minor places involving Neil Wade’s Honda turbo-powered Mini and Ross Craig’s Class D Honda Civic. Craig prevailed to take seventh overall as Wade faded.
With spare propshaft fitted, Voyce was determined to give Sidwell a run for his money in Sunday’s rematch. The Essex racer’s nippy Escort shot into the lead and held it for a couple of laps while Sidwell got the Holden and its tyres up to temperature.
Sidwell retook the lead into Riches on lap three and eventually powered clear to take his fourth win in the past five Classic Thunder races. Voyce again took Historic Thunder honours in second overall.
Behind the lead pair, Janicki looked set for another podium finish until mechanical failure left him parked up at the Bombhole.
A fast-starting Bower had again jumped Cann and Denwood and held them off for a few laps before Cann thundered past on the Bentley Straight mid-race. Denwood made his move at Agostini on the next lap.
The steroidal Compact then put Cann’s increasingly ragged Aston under immense pressure for the remaining laps but fell short of the overall podium by 0.6s. But with Janicki’s demise, Denwood still took the honours in Class B.
Bower was a class-winning fifth overall, well clear of Morris, who just held off Owen for sixth. The pair also had Craig in tow after all three had battled with Wade’s Mini in the early stages.
Full results are available via the TSL website.
All images courtesy of CTCRC official photographer Steve Jackman/Eat My Pixels
