BRITISH SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP - REPORT ARCHIVE

Down to the Wire at Castle Combe

Event 21 at Castle Combe on 14/10/2023
Steve Miles reports from the final British Sprint Championship round

At the end of four consecutive weekends of competition, the championship still wasn’t decided as the field travelled to Castle Combe, the fastest and longest circuit on the calendar. Bristol Motor Club were live streaming the event on YouTube and anticipation of a good day ahead was high.

Pete Goulding on 444 points had a single-point lead over Graham Blackwell after 40 rounds, both driving 1.6 turbo EcoBoosts. 3 points were on the table with two wins and a class record as both drivers were dropping second place scores. A tie would mean Goulding would win on countback rules.

Before track action had commenced, the blue SBD DJ Firehawk disappeared in a spectacular cloud of steam when a hose burst after it got too hot warming up, but luckily no damage was done. Practice saw no incidents other than that Steve Broughton learned that the fuel tank was not large enough for a double drive with Zoe Kingham, and this curtailed his practice run early!

Timed run 1 at the meeting served as qualification for the 13 drivers for the 12 scoring places, and this nearly caught out the latter runners, as a heavy shower came down and added significantly to the times as everyone played safe and tried not to spin in the wet whilst shod on slicks. This led to a strange qualification order with the bike-engined cars dominating the top half for a change, and Zoe was elated to be just two seconds slower than Steve who went last. In the end, Robert Tonge — a late entry as he enjoyed the Anglesey event so much — snapped a chain link on the start line, repaired it but then snapped the spare and so didn’t qualify. Simon Bainbridge in the ‘Green Monster’ as the paddock marshal renamed his Crono 4.2 V8, was concerned about a propshaft vibration and hoping it would last the day. Simon Wallis in his Force was pleased with his PB and that was before he put his best tyres on! Another driver with a PB was OMS driver Carole Torkington, perhaps relaxed as her best Championship finish of 9^th overall was already secure and in the bag!

Crunch time…. Timed run 2 became the penultimate scoring round of the 2023 championship and would decide the winner. This time it was dry for everyone.

Nick Houston didn’t manage a top 12 placing in the Championship and so won’t get a hallowed permanent number for next season, but enjoyed his day immensely and will be back for more. Returnee to the fold Graham Porrett, now driving a Mygale EcoBoost is improving with each outing, but did suffer this run as a blanking plug was lost — as was all his boost pressure! Kingham, sharing the DJ Firestorm grew in confidence and chipped off another 7 seconds over qualifying to come 10^th.

Torkington slipped a little over her qualifying time and came an apt 9^th. Four-tenths ahead was Simon Wallis, who also went slightly slower despite putting better tyres on. Grahame Harden in the Radical was very pleased to be within ½ second of the newly-named ‘Green Monster’ of Bainbridge, and reported himself chuffed with coming 7^th overall this year. Simon’s propshaft lasted the day and he had no other ‘mechanicals’ to record his highest ever finishing place in the Championship of 5^th.

Steve Miles pushed the 27-year-old Van Diemen hard, but suffered from bump-steer related handling, which was troublesome enough to cause him to back off and was some eight seconds off his PB. He retired the car playing safe after that run, satisfied to be finishing 3^rd overall in the Championship, a position secured a few events back.

Leading onto the top four scorers, John Loudon was positively ecstatic with a PB, 4^th place in the run-off and 4^th in the Championship aboard his Laser Tools sponsored 1,100cc Force after a close battle with Bainbridge for this spot.

Graham Blackwell, now with fully automatic upchanges to 5^th gear, posted a strong run for Championship points, but was 0.18 secs slower than Pete Goulding’s time, this despite Goulding not putting in sufficient fuel for a complete run and doing some coasting towards the finish!

However, the Championship was not in the bag yet as Steve Broughton, a Combe specialist, was last to run due to the shared drive and all eyes were on the timing apps as he flashed past the pit wall and disappeared up over Avon Rise, flat and committed into Quarry. Despite breaking the class record he recorded an excellent 3^rd, leaving Blackwell 2^nd and his highest Championship finish an excellent 2^nd overall. But this meant that Pete Goulding had won a run-off when it counted most and more importantly, the 2023 SBD British Sprint Championship to many congratulations in the paddock.

Top 12 Run-off: Castle Combe Rd 41
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 116.93 (+0.00)
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 117.11 (+0.18)
3. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 121.41* (+4.48)
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 124.20 (+7.27)
5. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 124.41 (+7.48)
6. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 124.46 (+7.53)
7. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 124.95 (+8.02)
8. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 129.36 (+12.43)
9. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 129.75 (+12.82)
10. Zoe Kingham (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 136.72 (+19.79)
11. Graham Porrett (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 138.05 (+21.12)
12. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) 141.02 (+24.09)

The final run of the day saw just ten runners heading to the holding area; Tonge had retired after his chain incidents, Blackwell had decided to play it safe and withdrew as had Miles who was suffering with handling issues. Drivers were held for a while a circuit timing issue got addressed, during which time a short but heavy shower had soaked the track. First away, Kingham repeated her Pembrey spin, but full marks as she learnt from it and held the clutch down as she went backwards and saved the starter motor from damage. The next spinner was Bainbridge, who after trying to touch the throttle and apply the 650bhp, spun at only 45mph. At this point, with all Championship positions decided, a steady withdrawal from the holding area started and one by one, most returned to the paddock to call it a day.  This left four slick-shod runners brave and bold enough to give it a go!

Torkington kept it on the track and secured her highest ever run off finish of 4^th. 20 or so seconds quicker was Nick Houston and a further 20 secs faster was Wallis, pleased with bagging 24 points. The onlookers were stunned however when Steve Broughton went around over a minute faster and was flat past the pitwall and into Avon rise in 6^th, sending rooster tails high into the Wiltshire countryside to take the win!

Top 12 Run-off: Castle Combe Rd 42
1. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 160.98 (+0.00)
2. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 224.99 (+64.01)
3. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) 244.48 (+83.50)
4. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 286.37 (+125.39)

Back in the paddock, to a background of party music from the moleracing trailer sound system, Pete and wife Debbie were handing out bottles of Stella and Krispy Kreme doughnuts to all to make a convivial and enjoyable end to a fantastic, close and friendly British Sprint season.


Final BSC Positions 2023
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 445 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 443 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 432 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 414 points
5. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 404 points
6. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 398 points
7. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 371 points
8. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 365 points
9. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 339 points
10. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 328 points
11. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 227 points
12. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 195 points



 

Run-off 42 winner Steve Broughton (Steve Miles)


2023 British Sprint Champion Pete Goulding (Steve Miles)


The Champion winning Run-off 41 (Jake Osborne www.osbornephoto.co.uk)


Graham Porrett's Mygale Ecoboost (Jake Osborne www.osbornephoto.co.uk)

Bainbridge and Robb come out top in tricky Knockhill conditions

Event 20 at Knockhill on 08/10/2023
Steve Miles writes

With the BBC national news reporting on the of a month’s worth of rainfall in the previous day and reports of locals being rescued by helicopter after flooding, the assembled drivers were dubious about getting any running at all around the Dunfermline circuit — due to be running clockwise for the day.  It was also 9°C, and colleagues in the south of the UK delighted in pointing out that it was at least 24°C where they were!

The meeting was shared with several Scottish championship races and practice/qualifying/racing slots had been allocated to all the series including BSC. The early practice session for BSC was cancelled however, as conditions were deemed too dangerous for single-seaters after many tin tops were aquaplaning off the circuit, one even barrel rolled. The photos show what they were dealing with, and an industrial pump was brought in to clear a small lake at the bottom of Chicane! By 11:00, we were allowed out for a back-to-back practice run followed by Timed run one to set qualifying for Timed run two that would be the points-scoring morning run-off.

Championship wise, Pete Goulding in his Mygale EcoBoost is one point ahead of Graham Blackwell in his similar engined car. They are both dropping 2^nd place positions. Blackwell needs two points to win the Championship; if they tie, Goulding wins on countback. No records were likely in the wet in Scotland, but that still left two points to be had, and three more at Castle Combe the following Saturday.

The first casualty of T1 was Stewart Robb, with his mighty 800bhp Pilbeam Judd V10.  He hadn’t driven the car since last year, and it refused to start when hot following practice. This meant he didn’t post a T1 time and so was not eligible for scoring points in the run-off 1.  Blackwell pulled off a miraculous turnaround after the previous Sunday in Anglesey, managing to take the engine out, have it fully rebuilt by Area 6 in 48 hours, then reinstalled before driving the seven hours to Scotland. The car ran faultlessly after some minor bolts on the coil packs were found to be loose after T1. Simon Bainbridge gently pushed the big 4.2 Audi Crono around the 1.75 laps, hoping not to break the output flange like the previous weekend and turned the boost right down to ‘just’ give around 600bhp. He’d also purchased three more diffs in the intervening week! Goulding reported some power-on oversteer moments at McIntyre and the exit of the Chicane and was grateful for Miles’s special ‘glasses antifog’ treatment after loosing visibility mid run! John Loudon said he felt intimidated by the wet, especially as he hadn’t driven here more that twice and that was two years ago, but otherwise had no issues. Steve Miles nearly didn’t start when the engine refused to fire up, but that was easily explained when earlier, a battery had come off the onboard camera and nestled in the throttle bodies, thus preventing the SBD safety system from reporting a safe sweep on start up. When the offending battery was found and removed after the rapid removal of the bodywork, all was good and apart from the usual sideways power oversteer moments, a safe run was had. Graham Porrett had the longest journey of all — a 980 mile round trip. His evening was spent fixing a puncture in his 10-year-old circuit racing wets, and a terrible vibration due to the sealant he’d pumped in was the result in practice. A loan of Goulding’s spare ‘trailer transit wheel’ sorted him out!

For the run-off, everyone was still on full wets as the track was still soaked, but the rain had eased and the mist had descended.

Porrett in the third Mygale EcoBoost was getting used to the car, but inappropriate tyres would stop anything more than 6^th place. John Loudon went some 15 seconds faster than his qualifying pace and had all gear upshifts working OK and ‘came home’ in 5^th. Telsonic and Roundworks IT sponsored Miles has secured 3^rd overall in the ’23 championship and cannot make 2^nd place, so was more in ‘don’t bin it’ mode than all out for the win and placed 4^th. Demon Tweaks backed Goulding however was needing to push to defend his lead and improved by 11 seconds over qualifying, but still couldn’t get on top of Blackwell’s time by a few tenths and had to settle for 3^rd. Blackwell was running a low boost mode, but still getting 140mph on the main straight and went 7 secs faster for 2^nd place — unfortunately another dropped score. But topping the time sheet was Simon — with all diffs intact, who made a committed run with the back stepping on at Chicane; rapid steering wheel action from the Stokesley farmer kept it all on the track and he secured his 5^th win of the season.

2023 SBD British Sprint Championship
Top 12 Run-off: Knockhill Clock Rd 39
1. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 107.47 (+0.00)
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 109.33 (+1.86)
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 109.93 (+2.46)
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 110.72 (+3.25)
5. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 115.49 (+8.02)
6. Graham Porrett (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 127.53 (+20.06)

Over the lunch break there were five previous British Sprint Champions in the garage at one point — Stewart Robb snr, Heather Calder, Colin Calder (racing a Ginetta very successfully all day), Nick Algar and Steve Miles, along with the current British Hillclimb Champion Wallace Menzies!

The SMRC organising club made way for two more runs in the program by reducing the number of laps in the afternoon races. This would have meant a T3 run for qualifying and a T4 run off. But five minutes before the end of the final race, the heavens opened again with monsoon like conditions, and forced the last race to be stopped short and the meeting to be declared unsafe to continue. This meant that the afternoon’s T3 stood for points.

In 7^th place, Porrett found 4 seconds over his time in the morning run. For 6^th place,  Loudon — in the Laser Racing sponsored Force — also went some 3 seconds faster. Miles recorded a time just 6^th hundredths slower than the first run-off and would have liked to have a 4^th run as SBD had been fine-tuning the traction control settings during the day and the last set up didn’t get to be tried. In 4^th place was Blackwell, with boost turned up to the max for the first time he recorded an identical time to the morning run. Rainmeister Bainbridge had now moved ahead of Steve Broughton in the Championship battle, and perhaps with keeping an eye on the drive chain was a couple of seconds faster to take 3^rd place. Benefitting from a timing error, Goulding was given a rerun and went quickly back to the line after a refuel, this helped a 4 second improvement over the first run off to put him in 2^nd place, but this would be a dropped score. Finally, Stewart Robb snr showed he hadn’t lost his magic touch and car control skills and put all ten of his Judd cylinders to good use to set FTD and take a run-off win.

Top 12 Run-off: Knockhill Clock Rd 40
1. Stewart Robb (5.0 Pilbeam MP88-1 GV5) 103.21 (+0.00)
2. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 105.15 (+1.94)
3. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 105.33 (+2.12)
4. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 109.33 (+6.12)
5. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 110.78 (+7.57)
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 112.52 (+9.31)
7. Graham Porrett (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 123.32 (+20.11)

So just like 2022, the British Sprint Championship goes down to the wire at the last event of the season at Castle Combe, organised by Bristol Motor Club on Saturday 14^th October. three points available for the top two drivers to chase. Graham Blackwell currently one point behind Pete Goulding and only a clear win will do.

Follow live timing updates by clicking on this link  - http://bit.ly/BSC23-R42
and a live YouTube commentary and video stream by clicking here https://youtube.com/live/GWmrlkoHefU?feature=share



 

Bainbridge deployed his rainmeister skills to take the first run-off win (John Stewart)


Having overcome his engine problems, Stewart Robb took run-off two in the mighty Pilbeam Judd V10 (John Stewart)


The circuit team had a battle to clear the flooding at Chicane (John Stewart)

Summers reigns again

Event 19 at Anglesey on 01/10/2023
Day two of the Longton and District Motor Club sprint weekend at Anglesey encountered continued overnight rain from the previous day now accompanied by high winds, which left a track which was wet for practice despite the precipitation having stopped just before the day’s competition began.

Practice didn’t start well for Championship leader Pete Goulding whose car inexplicably cut out at the first corner. Lengthy investigation and plenty of activity in the garage eventually found a broken wire to the fuel pump which was repaired in time for the next run. Steve Miles was still pushing the limit of his traction control setting and span yet again. All others trundled round and stayed out of trouble, confident that their various mobile phone weather apps would later reward them with a dry track.
Qualifying saw moderate improvements for most as the Tarmac was indeed starting to dry out, with Alex Summers yet again showing the rest of the field how it is done by heading the timing charts. Two casualties of note were Championship second placed man Graham Blackwell who came back to the paddock losing coolant. Lengthy further investigation revealed a leaking core plug on his Mygale EcoBoost’s cylinder head. Aided by a willing volunteer in the form of Ian Metcalfe, temporary repairs were attempted involving a coin and epoxy resin. Unfortunately for Graham, the lengthy repair resulted in him missing the first run-off of the day. The other casualty was Simon Bainbridge whose SBR Crono had had another tantrum, this time breaking an normally considered unbreakable differential output flange, possibly related to the previous day’s episode of diff failure.
With the track almost dry before the first run-off was due to begin, competitors were changing their tyres for slicks. The weather then played mind games with them by introducing a fine wet mizzle to the air which caused uncertainty and saw most swapping back to wets in fear of the worst. As it turned out, those on wets were regretting not having persisted with slicks as it was just about dry enough for them. With the side-lined Blackwell still making repairs, the run-off commenced and completed, also minus Simon Bainbridge who didn’t qualify. Alex Summers was still leading the field home in first, with Robert Tonge having his best result of the weekend, coming home in second, followed by Steve Miles in third who was one of the brave who remained on slicks. Pete Goulding came home in fourth, which was not enough to widen his Championship lead, with Graham Blackwell unable to take part. John Loudon came home in 5^th just behind Pete Goulding. Grahame Harden was in sixth, complaining of understeer and Graham Porrett came home in seventh admitting that he ‘must try harder’.  Nick Scott came home in eight, still with the distraction of a low battery warning light on his dash.

1. Alex Summers (2.5 AFS P4t) 82.51
2. Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 86.26
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 86.45
4. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 87.69
5. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 87.95
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 89.31
7. Graham Porrett (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 100.77
8. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 104.72

Graham Blackwell now had his car running again and joined the end of the second timed runs to prove his car repair. Alas, it was now misfiring and further investigations revealed that the spark plug wells were full of water, which were dried for the next run. Simon Bainbridge’s SBR Crono had also had repairs made, but with a part that the SBR Racing team had no confidence in being able to withstand the traumas that the 4.2 twin turbo V8 Audi power plant could throw at it, so a cautious run was the instruction from the team chief mechanic John Hansell. Steve Miles had lowered his rear ride height in order to try to get more rear end stability which seemed to work. All competitors were now on slicks and setting their fastest times of the day, and acclimatising themselves to conditions for the last run-off of the day which was to come. Unfortunately, this was not to be as there were too many incidents during the day which resulted in the event finishing before another run could take place, meaning that qualifying times were to be used for the finishing run-off results. Alex Summers had dominated the weekend by winning every run that he took part in. He admitted several times over the weekend that he had loved the BSC experience, had been made to feel welcome and would be back for more. Steve Miles eventually avoided spinning and bagged himself second, with Pete Goulding coming home in third. John Loudon came home in fourth, leading home the three Force TAs involved in the weekend, just ahead of Robert Tonge in his. Graham Blackwell limped home in sixth, still misfiring with lots of investigation and work to do before committing to travel to Knockhill the following weekend. Graham Porrett came home in seventh, complete with a snagging list to take home for his new Mygale EcoBoost steed from the weekend. Nick Scott found an eight second improvement to come eighth and Grahame Harden brought his Radical home in ninth, whilst preserving tyres for the run-off which didn’t materialise. Simon Bainbridge nursed the SBR Crono home in tenth as instructed by his team.

1. Alex Summers (2.5 AFS P4t) 76.42s
2. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 79.83s
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 80.37s
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 81.10s
5. Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 82.80s
6. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 94.49s
7. Graham Porrett (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 95.57s
8. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 96.29s
9. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 97.02s
10. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 97.93s

FTD went to Alex Summers with a time of 76.42 seconds.

Championship positions at the end of the weekend leave it all still to play for in the remaining rounds at Knockhill and Castle Combe.

1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 444 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 443 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 432 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 413 points

5=  Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 386 points
5=  Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 386 points
      7.   Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 371 points
      8.   Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 360 points

9. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 333 points
10. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 328 points

On a drying track, Robert Tonge finished second to Summers in the first run-off (Neil Lambert)


Grahame Harden brought his Radical home in ninth, preserving tyres for a run-off which didn’t materialise (Neil Lambert)


Nick Scott found an eight second improvement over the day (Neil Lambert)

A wet Summers’ British Sprint debut

Event 18 at Anglesey on 30/09/2023
The British Sprint Championship visited Anglesey circuit for a double-header sprint weekend organised by slick event operators Longton and District Motor Club.

Entering the weekend’s rounds, just two points separate the leading contenders Pete Goulding and Graham Blackwell as they battle for the title. A welcome guest appearance from hillclimbing superstar Alex Summers driving his impressive self built and designed AJS P4T race car added additional excitement to the mix. Also joining the party for the first time this year was BSC regular Graham Porrett in his evolving Mygale EcoBoost which is still mid development and as yet undriven, accompanied by his familiar accomplice Terry Holmes as helping hand for the weekend. Non-competing Mark Anson also made a spectator visit for the second weekend running.
Practice was dry, but as it turned out, it was to be the only dry run of the day as the weather changed for the worse, delivering varying degrees of wetness throughout the day. Being the first cars out, most thought the start line was slippery; little did they know that it was only going to get worse when the rain came. Steve Miles sheepishly confessed to having forgotten to put fuel in and had to pootle round, but declared that the previous evening’s attentions to his brakes and clutch had paid dividends. Robert Tongue was bedding in new brakes and Graham Porret was wishing he was back in his V8 Lola. Not unsurprisingly, Alex Summers was fastest which set the tone of the day. The best snippet received from initial interviews of the day came from a competitor who had recently washed his race suit only to put it on at the start of the day and find a pair of frilly lady’s knickers attached to the velcro!

The first qualifying round of the day was in wet conditions. Robert Tonge was the only contender on Michelin wets — the rest were on a scattering of either Avons and Pirellis. Pete Goulding was resorting to a ‘granny’ start without too much success. Simon Bainbridge surprisingly managed to find enough grip in the wet to break the diff and propshaft flange on his SBR Crono, which is usually renowned for loving wet conditions, on the approach to the final hairpin and limped over the line. Frantic work from Team SBR commenced to fit a replacement for later in the day.
Run-off 1 saw Alex Summers confessing to being nervous of crossing the ‘river’ which had slowly been forming across the track on the exit of School on the approach to Rocket, as were plenty of others, yet still came home fastest securing his first ever run-off win and BSC points for his AJS P4T racing car. John Loudon came home second in his Force TA having found some grip in areas of the track not normally encountered. Graham Backwell set a new PB for a wet Anglesey and came home in third, which unfortunately for him did not gain any additional points to aid his quest to catch Championship leader Pete Goulding. The later repaired SBR Crono brought Simon Bainbridge home in 4th. Pete Goulding and Steve Miles both span at Rocket, but remained on track and able to trail home.  Graham Porrett was regretting the absence of working wheel speed sensors to enable traction control. The weekend was to produce a snagging list for the car as it was the first time it had been used by Graham since he purchased it. Robert Tonge’s car had developed a cracked exhaust header which caused initial alarm, but he managed to remedy the issue with help from fellow garage buddy Terry Holmes which seemed to hold for the rest of the weekend. Grahame Harden and Nick Scott had no drama to report, only than that Grahame was looking forward to a cup of coffee having brought his Radical home in 5th.

Run-off one results.
1.            Alex Summers (2.5 AFS P4t) 55.54
2.            John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 57.19
3.            Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 57.58
4.            Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 59.89
5.            Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 60.53
6.            Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 65.50
7.            . Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 68.77
8.            Graham Porrett (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 72.46
9.            Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 73.39
10.         Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 77.54

Qualifying for run-off 2 saw little drama but the damp had affected a few competitors’ judgements, with one reporting having seen ducks! Pete Goulding nearly outbraked himself into the final hairpin and had to pump the pedal ABS style. Steve Miles had Championship sponsor SBD remotely connected to his car trying to improve his traction settings, given his new-found talent for pirouetting on track. Nick Scott was complaining that he could not see, but somehow managed to spot a low battery warning on his dash.

Run-off 2 again saw Alex Summers fastest despite being nervous of the rivers running across the track on the approach Rocket and braking too soon. Graham Blackwell’s launch and traction settings were proving to be good and he came home in second, closing the gap to Championship leader Pete Goulding to now just one point. Simon Bainbridge’s repaired SBR Crono was holding out and gradually regaining its prowess in the wet to come home third. Robert Tonge came home in fourth and Pete Goulding made an improvement after discovering that his traction control settings were set for slicks instead of wets to come home in 5th. John Loudon was unable to find the areas of track where he previously found grip on the first run off again and came home in 6th. Grahame Harden described the run as wet and horrible despite a 7th place and went into detail about how Radicals let water into the cockpit to soak the driver’s feet and seating area. Steve Miles was pushing his newly input traction settings courtesy of SBD to the limit and spun again at Rocket but again managed to stay on track and make it home in 8th. Nick Scott just looked relieved to have survived the day in 9th. Graham Porrett was still learning his new car and came home in 10th.

1.            Alex Summers (2.5 AFS P4t) 54.41
2.            Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 57.62
3.            Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 58.18
4.            Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 59.47
5.            Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 59.68
6.            John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 60.15
7.            Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 63.78
8.            Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 66.61
9.            Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 74.29
10.         Graham Porrett (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 83.47

FTD went to Alex Summers with a time of 54.41 seconds.

Championship positions at the end of the day
1.            Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 444 points
2.            Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 443 points
3.            Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 431 points
4.            John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 411 points
5.            Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 386 points
6.            Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 383 points
7.            Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 370 points
8.            Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 360 points
9.            Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 333 points
10.         Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 324 points



 

Alex Summers made a real splash to top the run-off tables (Neil Lambert)


Team SBR did well to get Bainbridge back on track after a break the diff and propshaft flange failure (Neil Lambert)


Steve Miles suffered a number of spins in the wet conditions (Neil Lambert)

It's tight at the top after Blackwell's run-off wins

Event 17 at Blyton Park on 24/09/2023
Steve Miles reports

Overnight rain had left the track damp and very slippery and many runners chose to practice on wet tyres. It was interesting to note that the three runners on slicks all used series sponsor SBD’s traction control system and had faith in it!

By the time came for timed run 1, everyone was on slicks — again varying makes and sizes of wheels as everyone put the worst tyre combinations on to post a qualifying time and not over use the better ones. There were no incidents, despite the track being damp in places and everyone got through.

Nick Scott had a steady run, perhaps cautious of yesterday’s chain incident for 8^th position. Carole Torkington was remonstrating with herself afterwards about ‘not enough throttle’ going in to the ‘Wiggler’ after being so close to Simon Wallis ahead in 6^th. Wallis’s time, despite a few mistakes and nearly entering the field at ‘Bishops’ after taking the wrong line and selecting a few wrong gears. Steve Miles had a return of the clutch creep issues which slightly affected the start to take 4^th.

John Loudon improved over his Q time but lacked confidence in the grip available going into ‘Wiggler’ and ‘Jochen’. Pete Goulding also reported “More grip there than I thought” and understeered over the finish bend.

The driver who had the right philosophy was the winner, Graham Blackwell. He said “I assumed the grip was there and went for it like a hot dry track”. An impressive win in tricky conditions.

Top 12 Run-off: Blyton Outer Rd 33
1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 57.28 (+0.00)
2. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 58.76 (+1.48)
3. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 60.40 (+3.12)
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 61.15 (+3.87)
5. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 62.94 (+5.66)
6. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 66.36 (+9.08)
7. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 67.03 (+9.75)
8. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 70.91 (+13.63)

For Timed run 3 for qualifying the big drama was the championship leader Goulding, now under pressure from the charging Blackwell, he pushed too hard and didn’t make the finish after spinning on the final corner, this meant he wasn’t in the mix for points scoring in Timed run 4.

Scott in the Force TA had a stronger run to 7^th after taking some rear wing off the car and was happy with his final run of the day. Torkington was pushing hard enough to have an oversteer moment in Lancaster. Wallis was very pleased after some technical points on the gear linkage were highlighted by the withdrawn Martin Pickles and a sterling effort driving the OMS resulted in a time 4 secs faster than the morning.

Equally happy was Harden, who went sub 60 for the first time and his highest finishing place in a run-off. Loudon was 3^rd despite a nearly 2 second improvement compared to earlier in the day. Just ahead was Miles, his time initially being disallowed due to observer reporting ‘wheels off over the finishing line’, but after a frame-by-frame video review by Clerk of Course and Judge of Fact, this was overturned as the evidence was clear.

This just left Blackwell using all 400bhp of maximum boost and describing the car as “planted” for another run-off win, his 3^rd of a successful weekend, leaving him only 2 points behind in the title race.

Top 12 Run-off: Blyton Outer Rd 34
1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 56.48 (+0.00)
2. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 58.01 (+1.53)
3. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 58.63 (+2.15)
4. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 59.78 (+3.30)
5. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 61.60 (+5.12)
6. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 66.75 (+10.27)
7. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 68.04 (+11.56)

BSC Positions after Blyton Outer Rd 34 24-Sep
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 444 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 442 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 431 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 407 points
5. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 386 points
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 368 points
7. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 364 points
8. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 360 points
9. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 333 points
10. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 321 points
11. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 227 points
12. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 195 points

Graham Blackwell topped Sunday's run-offs to close the Championship gap to 2 points

Run-off success for Loudon at a busy Blyton

Event 16 at Blyton Park on 23/09/2023
Steve Miles reports

The Nottingham Sports Car Club Roger Carrington Memorial Sprint weekend always draws a regular full entry and a diverse mix of cars and championships. The ten BSC entries became nine as Martin Pickles had to withdraw his Jedi at last minute due to gear change issues the previous weekend. This left a small field, but still with intense competition from top to bottom as no championship positions are decided yet with the best 18 scores from 41 rounds to count and still 12 rounds remaining.

The start was dry, if chilly and this gradually warmed during the day with everyone staying on slicks. Qualifying in timed run 1 saw the usual suspects at the top, with the interloper of the 1,100cc John Loudon, his times putting him ahead of the 2 litres and the EcoBoosts in the classes above. A sad sight was the demise of Steve Brown, when the newly rebuilt engine that delivered FTD at a shakedown event the week earlier said ‘enough’ and Steve took an early bath. Whenever the car hangs together, Brown can set run-off winning times.

The usual swap of tyres for each driver’s dwindling stocks of Pirelli or fresher Avon rubber took place and then the all important Timed run 2 for points for the Championship.

Although Nick Scott pipped Carole Torkington in qualifying, Carole found a few tenths to secure 7^th, leaving local Nick in 8^th. Simon Wallis was pleased to find two seconds over his qualifying time for 6^th and had no issues just under a second behind another local, Grahame Harden in his Radical in 5^th and pleased with a PB time. Steve Miles was hoping for a higher finishing position despite improving his time over qualifying due to choosing this weekend to deploy new Pirelli rear tyres purchased in the spring. When changing to the run-off rubber, it was noticed that a brake pad had delaminated and half the friction material was missing. This necessitated a quick swap of pads from front to rear, and all was (temporarily) well. Current championship leader, Pete Goulding had smoke coming from the dash as he crossed the line which turned out to be a burnt fuel sensor but no damage was done. John Loudon had a great run, especially after leaving Pembrey two weeks earlier with a blown up engine to fit a spare in time and this effort was rewarded with a fine 2^nd place, and a bonus record breaking point, just 12 hundredths behind winner Graham Blackwell who closed the Championship gap to the leader by a point.

Top 12 Morning Run-off: Blyton E Rd 31
1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 61.12 (+0.00)
2. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 61.24* (+0.12)
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 61.56 (+0.44)
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 62.81 (+1.69)
5. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 64.79 (+3.67)
6. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 65.61 (+4.49)
7. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 69.34 (+8.22)
8. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 69.62 (+8.50)

The only non qualifier (Timed run 3) for the run off was Nick Scott whose chain let go as he left the line and didn’t post a time. Thanks to sterling work from Colin Torkington, Loudon and a non competing visitor Mark Anson, he was out for a run to check all was well for tomorrow.

It was a surprise last place for the electrician Goulding as the car stopped after leaving the line, then started again to complete the lap. This turned out to be air pressure issues that were rectified from the cockpit to give the Essex driver gears again. Pete is now dropping 2^nd place finishes, so only run-off wins will improve his score which is currently 5 points ahead of title challenger Blackwell. SBD employee Carole again tripped the circuit noise meters but posted a good time after leaving her braking what she initially thought was too late at the first corner and had a ‘moment’. The Cambridge-based software compiler Wallis was pushing hard despite a leaking head gasket and secured a solid 5^th place just a few tenths behind Harden who locked up into Bishops — the fast corner at the end of the back straight. Miles posted his best time of the day on this run off but only good enough for 3^rd with Blackwell 12 hundredths ‘up the road’. Blackwell also tripped the noise meter and had some technical issues that were not prepared to be declared to the event report writer when pushed further!

As John Loudon returned to the paddock, he was surprised to see everyone around his car in celebration mode as he wasn’t sure what he done especially after excessive down-changing in Curva Grande, but this was his first ever run-off win and was celebrated with a paddock photo.

Top 12 afternoon Run-off: Blyton E Rd 32
1. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 61.89 (+0.00)
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 62.04 (+0.15)
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 62.16 (+0.27)
4. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 66.64 (+4.75)
5. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 66.98 (+5.09)
6. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 72.36 (+10.47)
7. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 76.18 (+14.29)

The well-run meeting had a 5^th timed run for the field and finished by 4pm and cars were fettled in preparation for the following day’s run on the conventional outer circuit.




 

Loudon scored a maiden run-off win in the 1.1 Force TA


Paddock celebration

Bainbridge revels in the conditions at a wet Pembrey

Event 15 at Pembrey on 10/09/2023
Martin Pickles reports:

In contrast to the sun of the previous 24hrs, Sunday was enveloped in grey cloud with glimpses of the blue sky of Saturday and the threat of rain to all quarters. BARC Wales swiftly progressed through the early practice ready for qualifying but the warm moisture however was not from the inside of the helmets but now a slow drizzle from the unavoidable grey. The choice between slicks and wets was marginal, the rain stopping to allow the warm track and breeze to disperse the majority of the damp before further rain dampened the surface. The circuit had now been switched to the new Clubman layout for Pembrey which dissects the Esses and instead introduces a short straight, left/right complex.

Of the early runners, Kingham misjudged the grip and spun out at Hatchets Hairpin, taking with her the starter motor. As a shared drive, this instantly removed Saturday's star, Broughton.

Due to attrition, the first run-off was depleted to just eight runners headed by Goulding who had opted for slicks but adapted to the conditions by turning the power down to 300hp(!) and increasing the traction control. In contrast, Blackwell had opted for wets to test the conditions and brought the Mygale home for an incident-free outing. Conditions now were heading into Bainbridge and Miles territory, both of whom excel in the wet.

Qualifying
1. Peter Goulding – 1.6t Mygale FF200:                  122.80
2. Graham Blackwell – 1.6t Mygale EcoBoost:         126.11
3. Simon Bainbridge – 4.2t SBR Crono:                   126.12
4. Stephen Miles – 2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm:         139.02
5. Carole Torkington: 1.5 OMS CF08:                      141.79
6. Simon Wallis – 1.1 OMS 3000M:                         142.97
7. Martin Pickles – Jedi Mk1:                                  143.36
8. Nicholas Scott: Force TA 1.6:                              150.95
    Zoe Kingham – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:             DNF
    Steve Broughton – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:        DNF

The run-off got underway with damp conditions remaining, but probably favouring slicks. Headcount was again to suffer as Bainbridge changed down into the new section past through the Esses for the differential to create a 3D jigsaw of a drive flange. Scott meanwhile gained enough confidence to carve a huge chunk from his qualifying time, only for the trio above him to do likewise. Wallis was still dealing with an intermittent dashboard and mental counting for gear position, but improved significantly on his qualifying time to return his highest place finish for the season. Of the leading trio in the Championship, Blackwell was the only runner to use wets, and although he reported good grip throughout the lap, he was perhaps losing some adhesion compared with the slick-shod cars. Goulding took an opposing view to rubber and opted for his primary Avon slicks to improve his time significantly and  nudge ahead of Blackwell. Neither however could catch the storming Miles who revelled in the variable grip on slicks to take top spot.

British Sprint Championship Round 29 - Pembrey, Wales.

1. Stephen Miles – 2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm:         116.07
2. Peter Goulding – 1.6t Mygale FF200:                  116.88
3. Graham Blackwell – 1.6t Mygale EcoBoost:         117.59
4. Simon Wallis – 1.1 OMS 3000M:                         122.82
5. Martin Pickles – Jedi Mk1:                                  127.67
6. Carole Torkington: 1.5 OMS CF08:                      129.03
7. Nicholas Scott: Force TA 1.6:                              135.72
    Simon Bainbridge – 4.2t SBR Chrono:                 DNF

The ever creative and resourceful Broughton had been busy and contacted a number of SBD suppliers in the area to source a starter motor. Simon Rogers from Raceshocks UK was the saviour and drove the 1hr to the circuit to pass the motor over the perimeter fence to a marshal, who in turn relayed it across the track during a slight pause to hand to the waiting Broughton — installed and operational inside 10mins. Also busy before the next qualification run were the Bainbridge camp, principally John Hansell who removed the differential, sifted through the bucket of spares and rebuilt and installed the unit ready for Bainbridge to qualify.
There were no further breakages, misdemeanours or catastrophes to report during qualifying although Blackwell was on a mission to put right earlier tyre misjudgement and promptly set the FTD for the meeting. It was also the last chance for a quick time as the rain became more persistent to the point of damp patches and rooster tails on the track.
Torkington half-spun at Hatchets Hairpin which had been the frustration of many throughout the weekend and in trying to recover the time lost. Scott completed a secure run to ensure the Force TA was put back in one piece and Pickles now the only competitor on slicks added to his jeopardy with a jammed throttle to add to the cockpit intensity. Kingham neatly redressed the balance from the morning excursion whilst Blackwell slipped to a lowly 6^th, unable to repeat his dry weather form. Although cautious, Wallis’ run was good enough for 5^th and the returning Broughton — just off the leading pack through being over-cautious and restricted by a 128mph top speed, netted 4^th to close the gap on the Championship table to Loudon. Further SBD development is in the pipeline, which is a worry for the rest of the paddock!
As each competitor finished, the time to beat was gnawed away to tempt the brave that followed. Miles, with confidence-inspiring traction control was able to set the target to beat, despite overshooting the left after the Esses but ultimately was only good enough for 3rd. A points-laden weekend which closes the gap to Blackwell in 2^nd. Goulding responded after a poor start and despite a scruffy second lap, was neat enough to open a sizeable gap to Miles and increase his Championship lead over Blackwell. Bainbridge had been returned to the start line for a re-run, so the smart money was now on the Crono. Followed home by the ubiquitous rooster tail of the rumbling V8, Bainbridge duly delivered a faultless performance to take the win by over 1.4secs.
Competitors may nod appreciation when mention of marshals is offered at events, but on behalf of the paddock we would like to submit a standing ovation for their steadfastness and a professionalism in the steaming heat and streaming rain; thank you.
British Sprint Championship Round 30 - Pembrey, Wales.

1. Simon Bainbridge – 4.2t SBR Crono:                   115.96
2. Peter Goulding – 1.6t Mygale FF200:                  117.41
3. Stephen Miles – 2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm:         118.84
4. Steve Broughton – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:        119.19
5. Simon Wallis – 1.1 OMS 3000M:                         125.50
6. Graham Blackwell – 1.6t Mygale EcoBoost:         127.34
7. Zoe Kingham – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:              135.93
8. Martin Pickles – Jedi Mk1:                                  147.42
9. Nicholas Scott: Force TA 1.6:                              151.36
10. Carole Torkington: 1.5 OMS CF08:                    153.78

BSC Positions after Pembrey

1. Peter Goulding – 1.6t Mygale FF200:                  443
2. Graham Blackwell – 1.6t Mygale EcoNoost:         435           
3. Stephen Miles – 2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm:         429
4. John Loudon – 1.1 Force TA:                     390
5. Steve Broughton – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:        386
6. Simon Bainbridge – 4.2t SBR Crono           364
7. Grahame Harden – 1.6 Radical PR6                     355
8. Simon Wallis – 1.1 OMS 3000M                          352
9. Carole Torkington – 1.5 OMS CF08                      319
10. Nicholas Scott – 1.6 Force TA                            296

 

Despite smashing his diff earlier, Simon Bainbridge qualified and won the run off

Broughton leads the pack at Pembrey

Event 14 at Pembrey on 09/09/2023
Martin Pickles reports:

Formerly an RAF Supermarine Spitfire base, the 2.33km circuit of Pembrey has evolved from the runway layout to today's combination of sweeping bends and fast straights, favouring the BHP laden cars over the agility of smaller engines. The greats have all visited this south Welsh circuit including Senna who set the unofficial lap record in testing of 44.43secs. 
Saturday was met with a glorious dawn, the rolling Welsh hills surrounding the circuit cloaked in mist and the sun rising to produce a sticky 20°C for breakfast. Noticeable absentees from the event were current champion Matt Hillam and recent round winner Chris Jones, creating the opportunity for those at the top and lower down the rankings to bag a few points.
Practice was duly completed, the only notable incident being that of a continuing oil leak for John Loudon  in the Force TA. The chain had also snapped the side plates of a link, but close enough to the finish to be able to coast home. The situation became terminal during the qualifying run however, when the engine punched two holes through the block, resulting in a DNF for the weekend. Stephen Miles in the 2.0l Van Diemen RF96mm was suffering from the clutch issues that have been a badge for the season but the problem this time was quickly traced to the master cylinder contents in the cockpit and the cap in the side-pod. At least the wheels were all in the correct place!
Championship challenger Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) led the qualifying times, shod with Avon rubber that was providing confidence-inspiring handling. A further second back and managing brake fade was SBD boss Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk). The car was also shared by Zoe Kingham who normally pedals the SBD Westfield, but as Steve had broken that car’s differential at the Brighton Speed Trials the week before, was offered the opportunity. She posted a tidy introductory time without drama to round out the top ten. Current Championship leader Peter Goulding in the sister Mygale FF200 to Blackwell was third qualifier, believing that lack of practice accounted for the two secend gap to Blackwell. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) had a steady run to 4^th with an operational clutch but a complaint voiced by many was of particular concern for Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) who reported suffering a persistent lack of rear end grip despite having made adjustments. Simon Wallis (OMS 3000M) led home the remaining 1,100cc drivers, followed by a rusty Martin Pickles (Jedi Mk1) who was returning to the BSC after a three year break and who needed to resolve engine issues. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) had a 'safe and steady' run joined by Nicholas Scott (Force TA 1.6), rebuilding confidence after his unnerving Cadwell Park incident into the barriers.
Qualifying

1. Graham Blackwell – 1.6t Mygale EcoBoost:    96.37
2. Steve Broughton – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:   97.38
3. Peter Goulding – 1.6t Mygale FF200:             98.07
4. Stephen Miles – 2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm:   101.21
5. Simon Bainbridge – 4.2t SBR Chrono:           103.77
6. Simon Wallis – 1.1 OMS 3000M:          106.03
7. Martin Pickles – Jedi Mk1:                   107.82
8. Carole Torkington: 1.5 OMS CF08:                111.39
9. Nicholas Scott: Force TA 1.6:                        116.00
10. Zoe Kingham – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004 117.02
11. John Loudon – 1.1 Force TA:                         DNF

The first points-scoring run-off of the day produced an adjustment to the qualifying order with a few surprises!
Kingham, building confidence in the SBD creation improved by a significant chunk, but not enough to catch Scott who had closed the gap to Torkington. In the 1,100cc battle, Wallis locked up into the hairpin and in his excitement missed a lower gear, bogging the exit and allowing Pickles to sneak ahead for his highest ever BSC finish. Bainbridge managed the rear end grip to thunder his way around, the ground and air reverberating to the rumble of that glorious V8 for 4^th. Goulding gained a little more practice with a re-run, but slowed during the run due to a concerning engine knock, then decided to ignore it and continue to claim 3^rd.  His closest rival Blackwell spun at Hatchets Hairpin and took a trip across the grass. Play was stopped during the recovery process allowing those in the start line queue to poach a little further. Miles — now revelling in a working clutch claimed 2^nd whilst the top spot was left to Broughton who was now 'flat through the complex' which comprises of all the bends from Hatchets Hairpin to Brooklands Hairpin, whilst still managing progressively deteriorating brake fade. It was a dramatic finish to round one of the day and thoroughly deserved, from the now broadly-grinning SBD guru.

British Sprint Championship Round 27 - Pembrey, Wales.

1. Steve Broughton – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:         97.62
2. Stephen Miles – 2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm:         98.07
3. Peter Goulding – 1.6t Mygale FF200:                  99.01
4. Simon Bainbridge – 4.2t SBR Crono:                   103.96
5. Martin Pickles – Jedi Mk1:                                  105.13
6. Simon Wallis – 1.1 OMS 3000M:                         105.81
7. Carole Torkington: 1.5 OMS CF08:                      109.03
8. Nicholas Scott: Force TA 1.6:                              111.59
9. Zoe Kingham – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:              112.71
    John Loudon – 1.1 Force TA:                               DNF
    Graham Blackwell – 1.6t Mygale EcoBoost:         DNF

With the field reduced to only points scoring positions, the second round of qualifying was dispatched without further competitor loss, individuals using the opportunity to practice their lines and braking points.
The run-off focused attention, but Scott was unable to match his morning’s times with the increasing track temperature. Pickles, Torkington and Kingham all improved their times but finished in that order above Scott. Wallis, aided by a functioning dashboard and gear indicator (removing the need to count gears on fingers!) completed a clean lap, the real gain being on clean tyres through the latter stages of the complex from Dibeni to Brooklands. Bainbridge also improved with the rear now sticking a little better in the demanding bends. Goulding expressed 'disappointment' which was perhaps an understatement for his time, frustrated by the sweat dripping onto his steamed up glasses that made for a foggy view at 140mph. Miles improved his morning time but was nudged by 2 hundredths from 2^nd by a recovering Blackwell; having adjusted his traction control settings, he was now able to push through the see-saw bends of the complex without traction loss. Top of the pile with an improvement of over 1.4secs over his morning time was Broughton. A change of brake pads had restored the stopping potential of the Firehawk and widened the grin of the already jubilant SBD boss.

British Sprint Championship Round 28 - Pembrey, Wales.
1. Steve Broughton – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:         96.23
2. Graham Blackwell – 1.6t Mygale EcoBoost:         97.82
3. Stephen Miles – 2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm:         97.84
4. Peter Goulding – 1.6t Mygale FF200:                  98.24
5. Simon Bainbridge – 4.2t SBR Crono:                   102.13
6. Simon Wallis – 1.1 OMS 3000M:                         103.15
7. Martin Pickles – Jedi Mk1:                                  104.38
8. Carole Torkington: 1.5 OMS CF08:                      107.94
9. Zoe Kingham – 1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004:              111.89
10. Nicholas Scott: Force TA 1.6:                            113.36



 

Broughton sends up sparks (Jane Loudon)


Steve Miles came out top dog in the morning run-off (BSC)


Zoe Kingham was dual-driving the DJ Firehawk (Jane Loudon)

Goulding regains form

Event 13 at Snetterton on 27/08/2023
With no casualties from the previous day, the same runners and riders were to do battle again on Sunday, albeit a little blurry due to the lack of sleep from a swarm of Citroen 2CVs racing through the night in a 24 hour race. The weather was a little unusually chilly and misty for an August bank holiday early on but soon cleared as the sun started to come out later on.

Practice saw no dramas except for Steve Miles who was still suffering from clutch issues despite several attempts to resolve it overnight and John Loudon was frustratingly again suffering from oil breathing issues which were marginally improved from the day before. More attention during the period between practice and timed run discovered the root cause of his season long issue thanks to Pete Goulding’s future son-in-law who happened to spot the elusive leak whilst the engine was revved.
Qualifying went better for Simon Wallis had taken to a sprocket change between runs to increase gearing which reduced his times by a margin but at least he wasn’t bouncing off the rev limiter for the length of the straight. Carole Torkington was gradually regaining confidence after the previous days spin and reducing her times with each run. Graham Blackwell was now taking Hamiltons in 5^th gear and pulling a reported 96mph. Simon Bainbridge promoted himself above the clutchless stricken Miles and was edging closer towards his class record. John Loudon was now smoke free for the first time all weekend with a freshly sealed timing chain tensioner which was the cause of his long standing oil loss issue to the congratulations of the frequently visiting scrutineer to his paddock spot. Graham Blackwell was still leading the field and faster overall qualifier.
Run off one saw Pete Goulding (16.t Mygale EcoBoost) finally regain his form to record his fastest time of the weekend and win the opening runoff and in the process break his class record to also score a bonus point. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA), now with the weight off his mind of his persistent oil issue, was flying and ran to within 0.04 of Pete Goulding for second place and break the 1100 racing car class record in the process to score a bonus point. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) despite posting his best time of the weekend came in 3^rd and despite also beating his class record, unfortunately for him losing out on taking a bonus point to the victorious Goulding. Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) managed to wrestle round for 4th, just ahead of the still improving Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) who was progressing ever closer to his class record. Grahame Harden was out to enjoy himself as usual and brought his Radical PR6 home in 6^th. Simon Wallis (1.1OMS 3000M) took advantage of his newly improved finish line speed to finish 7^th and Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) was still improving as she regained confidence from the previous days spin to come home in 8^th. Nick Scott (1.6 Force TA) was overjoyed to dip below 90 seconds for the first time over the weekend in 9^th whilst Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) had a major ‘moment’ at Palmers to come home in 10^th.

1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 78.88* (+0.00)
2. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 78.92* (+0.04)
3. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 79.10 (+0.22
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 81.04 (+2.16
5. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 82.65 (+3.77)
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 84.98 (+10)
7. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 802 (+8.14)
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 89.45 (+10.57)
9. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 874 (+10.86)
10. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) 94.29 (+15.41)

The third and final run of the day was to be both the qualifying and run off in one. However, the weather put paid to that as the storm clouds arrived five minutes before the start and gave everyone a soaking. A quick change to wets for those that had them, saw the contenders line up at the start in pouring rain. Graham Blackwell went first but found the conditions too tricky and left the circuit at Hamiltons and failed to finish. Steve Miles was next and did exactly the same thing, then went on to spin for a second time after Oggies. Thankfully no damage to either. Pete Goulding also failed to complete the full course but got to within spitting distance of the finish line before doing a full 360 degree spin as he attempted a power squirt towards the finish line. Despite remaining on track, unfortunately for him the car stalled and his battery refused to restart his engine, not to the joy of the marshals who had to venture into the now monsoon like conditions to rescue him. In the intervening delay, the clerk of the course decided to abandon the proceedings which were now considered too dangerous due to the track conditions, much to the relief of most but to the disappointment of Simon Bainbridge who rather enjoys the wet in his mighty SBR Crono which works rather well in such conditions. As a result, no scores were recorded for the second runoff.
As a result of the abandonment, the number of scoring rounds for the overall championship has been reduced from to 18 from 41 possible rounds instead of 20 from 42.
FTD went to Pete Goulding in his 1.6t Mygale EcoBoost with his run off 1 winning time of 78.88.


BSC Positions after Snetterton Rd 25 27-Aug
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 441 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 434 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 422 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 390 points
5. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 355 points
6. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 339 points
7. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 331 points
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 293 points
9. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 283 points
10. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 227 points
11. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 226 points
12. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 195 points
 

Carole Torkington's OMS CF08 on the start line (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)


Grahame Harden - Radical PR6 (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)


Nick Houston chilling out between runs (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)


Pete Goulding pushing hard (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)

Blackwell bags a double to keep title hopes alive

Event 12 at Snetterton on 26/08/2023

August bank holiday weekend saw the British Sprint Championship travel east for two days’ sprinting at Snetterton, organised by BARC Midlands. There were a few unexpected absentees due to other interests on a bank holiday weekend and an unfortunate illness.
The paddock was extremely busy with the main circuit being used for a Citroen 2CV 24-hour race BARC Club Car Championship race events. Paddock space was at a premium, but British Sprint contenders found a suitable berth amongst the interlopers.
During practice, Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) found himself with an engine that didn’t run, but after switching traction control off it settled down and TC was later reintroduced successfully with support from Steve Broughton of title sponsor SBD. However, his clutch slave bearing wouldn’t deploy sufficiently all weekend, making starts somewhat problematic. Championship leader Pete Goulding (1.6T Mygale EcoBoost) reported suffering from understeer. Graham Blackwell (1.6T Mygale EcoBoost) was using brand new Avon tyres and found grip levels less than ideal on the green as yet, un rubbered up track. Several others also reported the same conclusion. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)  was again suffering from an oil leak which has plagued him for much of the season, despite having made several plumbing modifications in an attempt to find a remedy.
Run off one saw Graham Blackwell take the win from Pete Goulding (both 1.6t Mygale EcoBoosts). Blackwell’s new tyres played dividends for him whilst the rest of the field had to make do with the best of what they could muster. Both Blackwell and Goulding were inside the 1600T racing car class record but the runoff winner took the bonus point. John Loudon came in 3^rd  and in the process also set a new 1100cc racing car class record in his Force TA to score a bonus point to cheer him up for still not having found the solution to his oil loss issues. Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) was still suffering with launch issues but now complicated further by having a malfunctioning clutch despite having spent much of the previous week replacing his slave cylinder. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) and Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) came in 5^th and 6^th and both victims of not having the best of rubber but still both enjoying themselves. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) came in 8^th and complaining of having made the wrong choice of gearing as he was spending much of the finish straight on the rev limiter. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) finished 8^th and not far behind and improving with each run. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) came home in 9^th, narrowly ahead of Nick Scott (1.6 Force TA) who was on his first visit to the venue.

1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 79.50
2. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 79.83 (+0.33)
3. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 80.90* (+1.40)
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 81.30 (+1.80)
5. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 84.82 (+5.32)
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 85.04 (+5.54)
7. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 830 (+7.80)
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 805 (+8.55)
9. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) 92.49 (+12.99)
10. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 92.62 (+13.12)

Run off two again saw Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) take the win with a class record breaking time, but this time a little short of his previous runoff winning time. Pete Goulding (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) again came in second and admitting to having pinpointed the reason for his ‘poor’ performance by not having set his turbo boost level back to a dry setting from the previous event at Kirkistown which was wet. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) again came in 3^rd, again with the 1100cc racing car class record but a touch slower than his previous attempt. His oil issue was now causing the unwanted attentions of the scrutineers as smoke was reported by marshals and a resolution had to be found by the morning. Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) was again in 4^th still struggling with clutch and launch issues. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) was steadily lowering his times as he attempted to make inroads on his class record but was still some way off and also having to fend off Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) who was keeping with close range of him. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) came home in 7^th and Nick Scott (1.6 Force TA) promoting himself to 8^th ahead of Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) in 9^th and the unfortunate Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) who pushed too hard, span and failed to score.

1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 79.66
2. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 80.25s (+0.59)
3. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 81.18s (+1.52)
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 82.02s (+2.36)
5. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 83.94s (+4.28)
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 85.22s (+5.56)
7. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 88.52s (+8.86)
8. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 90.97s (+11.31)
9. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) 92.08s (+12.42)

Pete Goulding’s lead at the top of the championship was now down to 5 points ahead of the closing Graham Blackwell.  FTD for the day was taken by Graham Blackwell in his 1.6T Mygale EcoBoost with at time of 79.19 seconds.



 

John Loudon on the start line (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)


Nick Scott's Force TA exits the hairpin (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)


Simon Bainbridge's SBR Crono entering Palmers (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)


Graham Blackwell with the FTD trophy (Peter Scherer - Scherer Race & Rally News)

Challenging conditions and a party atmosphere on day 2 of the Kirkistown weekend

Event 11 at Kirkistown on 06/08/2023
Steve Miles reports:

After the full entry and dry meeting on the Saturday, a much smaller field started the Sunday event at midday, to observe the noise requirements of this County Down circuit. This fast turnaround meant that engines were often still at 80°C when called for the next run. The paddock was alive with leaf blowers!

A dry practice was without major incident for most; John Loudon chose not to run to avoid risking any incidents but Simon Bainbridge saw a wastegate signal failure which meant the boost jumped from 1.3 to 2 bar on one side of the engine, instantly delivering well over 1,000 bhp. “I’ve never felt such ridiculous acceleration” said Simon excitedly describing the incident, and now wondering if this could be something he could call on in the future if needed, as nothing in the transmission blew up!

Slicks were still the order of the day for qualifying and no issues for anyone after Loudon found a way to eliminate the hub bearing movement issues with fabricated spacer washers over the drive pegs, courtesy of the ‘Two Petes Repair Service’ – Goulding and Championship coordinator Howgate!

A huge deluge just before the run-off forced a quick change to wets, then the blazing sun came out, heating the Tarmac and rapidly burning the puddles off. The paddock was transformed into an ethereal mist as the cars went to the line.

Graham Blackwell was first away on Avon wets. A steady run, the only reported difficulty was seeing the apexes amongst the rising steam off the track posting a time good enough to finish 3^rd.

The EcoBoost of Pete Goulding was running wets, but on dry settings in the launch and traction menu as well as mechanical. This didn’t seem to slow him down as he posted the fastest time to take maximum points in the run-off! In a ‘do or die’ effort, Steve Miles carried too much speed into the chicane after Fishermans and with all four wheels off, didn’t get a time.

The 4.2l Audi Crono, now restricted to 750bhp had a trouble free run. The weight of the car and the Avon wets helped Simon to a 2^nd place, just 2.33 secs behind Goulding.

Grahame Harden in the radical had his best ever run-off finishing position with 4^th and reported a well balanced car!
The first time visitor to Kirkistown, Nick Scott also scored a best run off position of 5^th despite running on slicks and spinning at the last chicane, but vowed to be back. The final placing was taken by Loudon, who with a few mechanical, gear changing and niggling oil issues had to take it easy to get round.

Run-off 21 Sunday Kirkistown 2023
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 126.43 (+0.00)
2. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 128.76 (+2.33)
3. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 133.60 (+7.17)
4. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 150.31 (+23.88)
5. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 158.46 (+32.03)
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 162.47 (+36.04)

Ten minutes later, the field were out again putting steady qualifying runs in in, still on wets. Nick Scott decided to call it a day after some electrical issues caused signal and misfire concerns.

Loudon’s issues continued, now with flat shifter not working and revs severely restricted, finished 6th. Harden had no issues and was pleased with the Radical’s performance for 5^th place. Miles took 4^th , perhaps cautious after the previous run off DNF.

The 2^nd and 3^rd spots were occupied by the two EcoBoost drivers. In 3^rd by less than a tenth of a second was Goulding who had turned the boost down to 300bhp and now ran with damp settings. “In hindsight, leaving it 330 would have been better”. Blackwell posted 2^nd fastest, despite a cloth gradually emerging from under the dash, then moving to the steering wheel, and before it potentially covered the visor, Blackwell grabbed and tucked it away as he entered the famous Debtors!

But six seconds ahead of these two, Simon Bainbridge took his 3^rd win of the season. No lock ups were reported and smooth application of power in the bends. Maximum power however on the straights could be deployed and the sight of the magnificent Crono at 138 mph, throwing up plumes of water was a sight to see.

A leisurely pack up due to finishing at 15:30 meant the party atmosphere continued on the 19:30 ferry out of Belfast. Most elected to stop over a short drive from Cairnryan, but winner Bainbridge drove though the night — ready to take delivery of 1,000 piglets at 08:00 Monday morning at his farm.

Run-off 22 Sunday Kirkistown 2023
1. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 123.14 (+0.00)
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 129.78 (+6.64)
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 129.84 (+6.70)
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 133.49 (+10.35)
5. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 157.32 (+34.18)
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 164.23 (+41.09)

2023 British Sprint Championship Positions after Rnd 22
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 477 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 469 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 455 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 407 points
5. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 379 points
6. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 331 points
7. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 326 points
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 257 points
9. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 227 points
10. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 220 points
11. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 195 points
12. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 175 points

Simon Bainbridge's SBR Crono kicks up the spray (Jimmy Graham)


With a run-off win and a third place, Goulding retained his position at the head of the points table (Jimmy Graham)


Sophie Mullins took FTD in her Gould GR55b (Jimmy Graham)


Ben O'Brien in the wet with the Gould GR37 (Jimmy Graham)

Blackwell draws level

Event 10 at Kirkistown on 05/08/2023
Graham Blackwell reports:
Nick Scott made his first ever trip overseas with the Force, and he was hoping, after a quick holiday, to have a reset and restart his attack on the Championship. Blackwell and Bainbridge had both mistakenly booked the Belfast to Cairnryan crossing on Friday, Bainbridge realising his mistake the night before, so making the trip to catch the earlier and less busy 07:30 crossing to get over. However, Blackwell didn’t know until he presented his ticket at Cairnryan for the 11:30 crossing and had a very anxious wait while the Stena staff tried find him a place on the fully-booked crossing. It was his lucky day however — they squeezed him on at the very back of the ferry, so he was able to join the convoy to the circuit with the other competitors.
Saturday
Overall, it would turn out to be a surprisingly trouble free day for most of the seven drivers who crossed the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland for the weekend.
However, with the Met Office’s forecast that Storm Antoni would cause disruption, there was heavy overnight rain and yet more heavy rain forecast for Saturday, so some drivers initially opted for a full wet setup for first practice while others braved it on slicks.
On to the first practice, and the organisers had delayed the start of the meeting by 45 minutes to allow the track to continue to dry.  With the surface still wet with lots of deep puddles — typically on the apexes and kerbs — the organisers had asked the first batch of saloons to try to disperse the water as best they could. Some drivers misheard the request and dispersed oil instead, which led to many long delays later in the afternoon, with several big offs, depleting the circuit owners’ stocks of bags of cement quite considerately.
On a damp track, some drivers opted for slicks whilst others went for wets. Afterwards, Goulding had no time as there were two cars carrying the number 5 as local Allan Cassells was sharing the same permanent number; this would be resolved during the day. And Blackwell’s run on full wets was red flagged with no reruns given, so he only managed one full lap.
On to the first qualifier of the day, and by now the circuit was dry, the sun was out, and everyone had changed to slicks; Stephen Miles said he was surprised how bumpy it was, and that his clutch was dragging again; meanwhile, Goulding had battery problems all day, and needed the auxiliary battery to start his engine.  The power had gone off in his garage overnight, so nothing was charged.
Qualification: Kirkistown Rd 19
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 113.89s (+0.00)
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 116.00s (+2.11)
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 118.41s (+4.52)
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 120.84s (+6.95)
5. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 121.43s (+7.54)
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 130.53s (+16.64)
7. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 139.11s (+25.22)

Further delays for oil spills meant that the first run-off of the weekend, which was the third timed run, eventually took place at 13:45. In 7^th place, Nicholas Scott said he was enjoying himself on his first ever visit. In 6^th, Graham Harden has no issues and was pleased not to finish in last place. In 5^th was John Loudon, a few seconds away from his PB. In 4^th was Simon Bainbridge, with Pete Goulding in 3^rd, finding a time penalty had been added because he’d hit a cone on one of the two chicanes. Stephen Miles was in 2^nd, saying the car was very twitchy under power. And in first place, over two seconds ahead, was Graham Blackwell with a new PB of 112.22s, his win moving him in to equal first place in the Championship with Goulding. The time was set on Graham’s only set of Pirelli Ultrasofts, which were celebrating their first birthday this weekend.
Top 12 Run-off: Kirkistown Rd 19
1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 112.22 (+0.00)
2. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 114.36 (+2.14)
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 115.33 (+3.11)
4. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 116.45 (+4.23)
5. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 117.49 (+5.27)
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 122.29 (+10.07)
7. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 133.83 (+21.61)

BSC Positions after Rd 19
1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 435 points
1=. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 435 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 423 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 345 points
5. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 331 points
6. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 326 points
7. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 315 points
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 257 points
9. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 227 points
10. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 195 points
11. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 152 points
12. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 134 points

The second qualifier
With the sun still out, and further delays from the oil spills and offs, the track was really warming up nicely, and drivers improved where they could; it was an adventure discovering where the latest fresh trails of cement were, the final chicane receiving what looked like several bags, following a very big crash by one of the local single seater drivers, who thankfully was unharmed. For this run, Goulding bolted on a stickered up set of brand new Avon HC3s, and set a reasonable pace ready for the next and final run off.
Qualification: Kirkistown Rd 20
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 112.38s (+0.00)
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 113.91s (+1.53)
3. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 116.42s (+4.04)
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 117.19s (+4.81)
5. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 118.84s (+6.46)
6. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 130.63s (+18.25)
7. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 132.95s (+20.57)

Before the final run of the day, held at 17:45 and with a strong wind blowing across the track, arriving drivers discovered that the tyre warming area and start line were almost completely obliterated by cement dust, following a Ford Escort losing its oil filter and the contents of its sump before the run-off. Picking a line to avoid driving over the dust was quite tricky, and launching the cars also proved difficult on the oil-covered track.
On the run-off, finishing in an uncharacteristic 7^th place was Simon Bainbridge, his car suffering a mysterious lack of power which when he returned to the garage, was traced to a loose boost pipe from one of his two turbos. In 6^th was Nick Scott, 5^th was Graham Harden, 4^th was John Loudon, mysteriously getting slower on every run. The top three comprised again of Stephen Miles in third, in second place was the main title challenger Graham Blackwell with another strong 112.79 second run, and just seven tenths ahead were run off winner Pete Goulding exploiting the extra grip from his new tyres, with a time of 112.06s, which was just under a second slower than his 2022 class record of 111.08s.
Top 12 Run-off: Kirkistown Rd 20
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 112.06 (+0.00)
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 112.79 (+0.73)
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 115.35 (+3.29)
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 119.30 (+7.24)
5. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 122.94 (+10.88)
6. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 135.00 (+22.94)
7. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 169.84 (+57.78)

BSC positions after round 20
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 460 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 459 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 446 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 367 points
5. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6) 336 points
6. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 331 points
7. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 326 points
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 257 points
9. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 227 points
10. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 195 points
11. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 171 points
12. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 154 points
 

Graham Blackwell took the first run-off win to draw level in the Championship table (Jimmy Graham)


Pete Goulding had a successful weekend and leads the BSC table after 20 rounds


Rob Dwane took FTD in the OMS25 (Jimmy Graham)


Alan Cassells was in fine form with the ex Will Hall Force (Jimmy Graham)

Blackwell and Jones top the tables at a blustery Lydden

Event 9 at Lydden Hill on 15/07/2023
Blackwell and Jones top the tables at a blustery Lydden

British Sprint Championship – 15/7/23 Lydden Hill, Kent
Steve Miles reports:

Despite the Goodwood Festival of Speed just a few miles down the road being cancelled for the day due to high winds, Borough 19 Motor Club didn’t let the conditions phase them and a great day was had at this undulating Kent circuit.

John Loudon managed to arrive with three out of four wheels working on his trailer and a freshly rebuilt race engine and proceeded set a storming fastest time in a damp practice. Qualifying for the British runners was never going to be difficult as there were only ten in the class. Nick Houston had an accident driving to the circuit, there were some last-minute withdrawals and subsequent places that then became available the day before were too short notice for Simon Bainbridge and team to travel from north Yorkshire.

Graham Blackwell deployed all 375bhp from his 1.6 EcoBoost and qualified fastest on an Avon front/Pirelli 12” rear mix, before swapping to conventional 10” and 8” Pirellis for the run-off. Since Pembrey six weeks ago, he had repaired a damaged section of loom that caused the variable valve timing error and run-off shutdown, as well as hoped for improvements to launch control. This obviously worked as he won the first run-off with an impressive 66.85s that was to become the FTD time as well.

Chris Jones, in the 998cc Force, nearly didn’t make the run-off after a spin, but stayed on the track and did record a time. Not wanting to repeat this perhaps held him back a fraction come the run-off, but he posted a superb mid 67s time to come second.

The Laser Tools sponsored Loudon team had some significant oil clearing up after qualifying, but a re-plumbed system worked better and John was flying to take the last podium spot ahead of Steve Miles. The moleracing garage had seen another engine out strip down to replace a head gasket and leaking radiator after Pembrey. The car ran well all day this time, but Miles was strangely struggling to find the pace he had two months earlier at this event all day.

Carole Torkington in the SBD OMS had her best result in the BSC with a 5^th place, despite turning in early for Paddock Bend and almost exploring the gravel trap! 0.9 seconds down the road was the ‘for sale’ Radical of Grahame Harden who was pleased with his PB run.

Fresh from a recent FTD at Abingdon, there was early concern in the Wallis paddock when the car wouldn’t start at first, but Simon came in 0.8secs behind Harden for 7^th. In an uncustomary position of 8^th was Essex electrician and current leader Pete Goulding. Since the last outing, he had repaired and replaced the throttle pot and re-set the tracking so thought all was good, but a reoccurrence of the electrical issue that shut the car down at Pembrey meant that he was well off the pace. This wiring issue was detected with some remote diagnostics from Northampton Motorsport and a bypass wire was rigged which worked for the rest of the day.

Championship sponsor Steve Broughton had taken the calendar gap to rebuild the engine and repair the oil sump, but couldn’t enter the DJ Firestorm as the radiator was not back from the repairers in time, so arrived in the SBD Westfield, shared with daughter-in-law Zoe Kingham. A full 360° spin in qualifying added to the excitement, perhaps due to the additional 150bhp Broughton had given the EcoBoost since its last outing at this venue. He took 9^th with Zoe the final placing.


Morning run-off      
Pos       Driver                                                              Time
1          Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost)     66.85
2          Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA)                               67.54 (+0.69)
3          John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)                            68.28 (+1.43)
4          Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm)    68.93 (+2.08)
5          Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08)                 70.84 (+3.99)
6          Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6)                71.71 (+4.86)
7          Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M)                      72.46 (+5.61)
8          Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200)              3.54 (+6.69)
9          Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)     78.53 (+11.68)
10        Zoe Kingham (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)           84.94 (+18.09)

 
Any showers had long since gone and the only issues facing everyone were the gale force gusts that most drivers felt made the cars nervous, at times in an unpredictable way.

Qualification for the afternoon run-off was a relaxed affair and all got through apart from Torkington, who spectacularly lost a chain on the launch and the second chain at Devil’s Elbow. There didn’t appear to be any major damage done apart from a clutch actuator spindle, but it was a promising points-scoring opportunity lost.

Kingham wrestled the powerful Westfield around to record a PB, chopping three seconds off the previous run off time and Broughton also improved on the final run of the day into the 71s, after adding a new anti-lag upgrade.

Harden dropped a few 10ths — as did most of the drivers compared to the morning — blaming a few opposite lock moments at North Bend at the top of Hairy Hill. Wallis was very pleased with his 6^th place and newly-purchased Avon front tyres — one of the last available HC1 soft compound, and this was his best time of the day.

Despite improving the handling by softening the rear antiroll bar to counteract oversteer, Miles knew exactly where he was losing time according to the datalogger and overlays but couldn’t overcome the ½ second loss at both Pilgrims and Devil’s Elbow. As these are repeated, that accounts for the two seconds he was down and took 5^th place.

The 1,098cc methanol-powered Force driven by Loudon stormed to 4^th place, 3/10^th ahead of Miles, and as a bonus, his three-wheeled trailer made it all the way home as well!

The EcoBoost battle continued with Goulding’s 330bhp outperforming Blackwell’s more highly tuned version and just 0.08 separated them in the end. Blackwell thought this time loss was due to a big gust at Chesson’s Drift upsetting the rear end.

Star performance of the day was the winning run and new class record from Chris Jones in the Force TA. When quizzed, he modestly put it down to the best tyres delivering the grip he was looking for.



Afternoon run-off      
Pos       Driver                                                                          Time
1          Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA)                                           67.05*
2          Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200)                          67.56 (+0.51)
3          Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost)                 67.64 (+0.59)
4          John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)                                        68.49 (+1.44)
5          Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm)                68.85 (+1.80)
6          Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M)                                  71.09 (+4.04)
7          Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6)                            71.97 (+4.92)
8          Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)                 77.32 (+10.27)
9          Zoe Kingham (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)                       81.31 (+14.26)

Still everything to play for in the BSC as there are now 18 rounds completed, with the best 20 scores to count from 42 rounds in total.


BSC Positions after Lydden Hill Rd 18 15 July 2023
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200)                      412 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost)             410 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm)             399 points
4. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)             331 points
5. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M)                              326 points
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)                                    324 points
7. Grahame Harden (1.6 Radical PR6)                        295 points
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08)                         257 points
9. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)             227 points
10. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA)                                     195 points
11. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono)                      130 points
12. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA)                                115 points
 

Graham Blackwell took the morning's run-off win (Chris Bennett)


Chris Jones secured the afternoon run-off win in the Force TA (Chris Bennett)


John Loudon chases down Steve Miles (Chris Bennett)


Zoe Kingham and Steve Broughton shared the SBD Westfield (Chris Bennett)

Jones takes FTD and a Run Off at Pembrey

Event 8 at Pembrey on 04/06/2023
Day two of BARC Wales Pembrey Sprint week-end was held on the venue's Clubman layout which adds a tight and tricky left right after Dibeni.

Like the day before the weather was glorious and warm under a cloudless sky and the well organised BARC Wales team completed a practice run, followed by four timed runs by mid afternoon.

Practice was largely uneventful with the exception of John Loudon (Force TA) who coasted in after hearing some worrying noises coming from his engine. He was out for the day.

Chris Jones in the 998cc Force TA led the way early on and in qualifying for the first Run Off set a time of 105.24s, over a second ahead of Steve Broughton (DJ Firehawk) and Graham Blackwell (Mygale Ecoboost). This time was to remain unbeaten all day for the FTD.

In the first Run Off both Mygales of Blackwell and Pete Goulding were well up on the splits until Goulding somehow managed to knock the master switch off for a Fail. Blackwell completed his run with a 105.85s but was just pipped by Jones who had a strong second lap to to post a 105.71s. Broughton took third, still working on the handling of the Firehawk, ahead of Steve Miles (Van Diemen RF86) with the top four covered by 9 tenths. Then there was a gap to Grahame Harden, making the Radical PR6 work on the AVONs a few hundredths ahead of Simon Wallis (OMS 3000M). This left Carole Torkington (OMS FC08) and Nick Houston (OMS Hornet) to round out the finishing order with Houston trying to overcome the wrong gearing and old tyres!

Qualifying for Run Off two saw Jones ahead of Goulding, Blackwell (after a small problem getting the motor started), Miles and Broughton but times were slower as competitors were saving their tyres.

In the final Run Off of the week-end Miles put in a quick first lap and held on to take the win - the traction control upgrade and new clutch worked well and apart from some overheating issues had a largely trouble free week-end. Goulding took second from Jones (also managing overheating issues all day), Blackwell and Broughton. Again the top four were covered by less than a second. Wallis took sixth with a PB to complete a trouble free week-end.

Results:

Pembrey, Clubman Circuit June 4th 2023

BARC Wales

SBD Motorsport UK British Sprint Championship Rounds 16 & 17

Run Off 1 (Round 16)
1. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 105.71s
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 105.84s
3. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 106.02*s
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 106.61s
5. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 113.27s
6. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 113.32s
7. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 115.25s
8. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) 122.75s
9. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) FAIL

Run Off 2 (Round 17)
1. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 106.13s
2. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 106.31s
3. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 106.41s
4. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 107.07s
5. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 108.50s
6. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 111.49s
7. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 112.70s
8. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 113.99s
9. Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet) 122.66s

British Sprint Championship positions after round 17:
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 370 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 362 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 356 points
4. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 296 points
5. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 287 points
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 279 points
7. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 256 points
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 236 points
9. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 227 points
10. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 145 points
11. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 130 points
12. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 115 points
etc.

FTD and a Run Off win for Jones in the Force TA (Kim Broughton)


A Run Off win took Steve Miles to 3rd in the championship (Kim Broughton)


Grahame Harden took a fifth in the Radical (Kim Broughton)


Graham Blackwell, 2nd in the championship (Kim Broughton)

Goulding and Jones share the spoils at Pembrey

Event 7 at Pembrey on 03/06/2023
Goulding and Jones share the spoils at Pembrey.  Graham Blackwell reports

For most, the journey across Wales on Friday was one to forget, the M4 throwing up many challenges. Aside, that is, from Stephen Miles, who having avoided the M4, followed his way along the A40, finding himself at one point surrounded by villagers celebrating an eisteddfod.

In the evening, current Championship leader, Pete Goulding made tracking and camber adjustments to the Mygale, realising he had overlooked the car’s geometry since an accident at Blyton the year before. Grahame Harden was running fresh 195 Avon HC3s, which were smaller than the 210s that the PR6 was setup for, so his concern was the lack front ride height and the potential impact on handling. Chris Jones had relocated the oil catch tank on the Force TA, moving it away from the oil cooler, so allowing better airflow and cooling.

Saturday morning greeted everyone with blue skies and bright sunshine; the forecast was the same for both days, with temperatures reaching 22°C. The event was using the National circuit layout, one which last year was run on the Sunday due to a mix-up in track permits. The organisation this year was noticeably better however, and many drivers commented on the smooth running of the event. They even allowed use of the new garages, with electric hook-ups, which were most welcome.

The ten British Sprint drivers were lined up at 9am, for the first practice, which passed with no dramas. Barely 70 minutes later, the drivers were called again to the line, for the first timed runs, where we’d have the chance to see the pecking order for the weekend. Fastest was Chris Jones, with Graham Blackwell in second, 3/10^ths under the 1600T class record. After the run, Steve Miles was happy to report that the replacement clutch setup was working properly, following an incorrect installation over the winter. Pete Goulding complained that the car was too stiff, so had work to do to address that. Chris Jones was very pleased with his pace, pushing very hard, and reported that his hands were shaking after the run. Nick Houston said his gearing was too low, and he could do with a second engine to give him some more power.

Steve Broughton said his run was a bit hairy, the DJ was still smoking on tick over, keeping the local midge population at bay. Regular Matt Hillam was due to fly overseas for work on Friday, so had skipped the weekend. Unfortunately, the flight was postponed to the following Monday, so Matt was watching from home, probably wishing he could be at the venue.

Morning qualification
Pos         Driver                                                                                    Time
1             Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA)                                   95.33s (+0.00)
2             Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost)           96.06s (+0.73)
3             Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)           96.24s (+0.91)
4             John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)                                  96.77s (+1.44)
5             Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm)            97.83s (+2.50)
6             Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200)                     98.37s (+3.04)
7             Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M)                             104.79s (+9.46)
8             Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08)                        106.15s (+10.82)
9             Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6)                       106.44s (+11.11)
10           Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet)                              117.79s (+22.46)


For the first run-off, Goulding put in a strong run on his freshest rubber, finishing first with a 94.25s run. In second place, Chris Jones was just four tenths behind, followed by Broughton. The top three all setting new class records in the process. Closely followed by Loudon and Blackwell, the top five covered by less than a second. Blackwell said he was happy with knocking 4.2 seconds off his PB. Smiles said his confidence was growing, though he was still someway off his PB. Back in the paddock, a burning smell was traced to Carole’s OMS, and after rapidly removing the seat, the battery was found to have moved, the terminals shorting against the carbon bodywork. The problem was soon rectified for the third timed run.

Morning run-off
Pos         Driver                                                                                    Time
1             Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200)                        94.25*s
2             Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA)                                        94.64*s
3             Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)               94.73*s
4             John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)                                       94.96s
5             Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost)                95.11s
6             Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm)                95.41s
7             Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6)                          104.18s
8             Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M)                                 105.37s
9             Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08)                            108.83s

During the lunch break, the announcement was made that there would be at least two more runs in the afternoon, and around 2pm, it was time for the third timed run. Blackwell launched his Mygale off the line, to find the ECU had gone into ‘limp mode’ at the start of the second lap, and despite power cycling the ECU, this occurred a second time, leading to a very slow qualification time. Simon Wallis improved by over a second, as he gradually approached a new PB. Chris Jones said his run felt slower, and Goulding was complaining about understeer in the hot conditions. Stephen Miles, having been baulked by Blackwell, was allowed a rerun, and he took the opportunity to make changes to the rear anti-roll bar, which he said proved beneficial, although the overheating jelly tyres didn’t help.

Afternoon qualification
Pos         Driver                                                                                    Time
1             Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA)                                             96.49s (+0.00)
2             John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)                                           96.91s (+0.42)
3             Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200)                             98.24s (+1.75)
4             Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm)                    98.38s (+1.89)
5             Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)                    98.95s (+2.46)
6             Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M)                                     104.15s (+7.66)
7             Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08)                                107.65s (+11.16)
8             Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet)                                     118.91s (+22.42)
9             Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6)                               127.29s (+30.80)
10           Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost)                     145.45s (+48.96)

On to the second run-off, Blackwell — having made what he thought would be repairs to prevent a further limp mode — led the pack off the line. This time, his engine went into limp mode immediately as he launched the car, leading to the slowest lap of the day, and last place in the run-off. He clearly had work to do to ensure the car was fit for the following day’s competition. Next up was Nick Houston, who had been struggling with an under-geared car all day. Eighth place went to Torkington, with a new PB, reaching 137mph in the process. Simon Walls was in seventh, again with a new PB. Graham Harden put in his best run of the day, and another new PB. Pete Goulding was fifth, nearly three seconds slower than his first run-off, complaining about understeer having over-driven the car. Steve Broughton was in fourth. Inside the top three was John Loudon in the Force TA, well under the class record, however suffering from gear shift problems for most of the day. Stephen Miles in second was 4/10ths behind the winner, Chris Jones, who set an exemplary run of the National layout, showing the others how it should be done, with another new class record in his Force TA. Chris was ecstatic after the run, which is understood to be only the second time in BSC history that a 1,100cc has won a British Sprint run-off (the only other occasion being John Chacksfield at Three Sisters in 2004)


Afternoon run-off
Pos         Driver                                                                              Time
1             Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA)                                             94.99s
2             Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm)                    95.42s
3             John Loudon (1.1 Force TA)                                           95.70s
4             Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004)                    96.54s
5             Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200)                              97.04s
6             Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6)                               102.81s
7             Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M)                                      103.00s
8             Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08)                                 104.62s
9             Nick Houston (1.0 OMS Hornet)                                      117.34s
10           Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost)                     160.03s
 

Chris Jones celebrates his run-off success (Steve Miles)


Another win for Championship leader, Pete Goulding (Kim Broughton)


Nick Houston made a welcome re-appearance in the OMS (Kim Broughton)


Simon Wallis in his OMS 3000M (Kim Broughton)

Blackwell and Miles trade the top spots at Lydden

Event 6 at Lydden Hill on 20/05/2023
The British Sprint Championship contenders trekked to the south east corner of Kent for rounds 11 and 12 of the 2023 Championship at the tight and twisty undulating Lydden Hill circuit on Saturday 20^th May. Some notable faces were missing from the field having been casualties from the Blyton Park rounds only one week prior, notably Simon Bainbridge (SBR Crono) and Steve Brown (Empire Evo). Other regular competitors from previous years were also not yet out of the starting blocks for this year’s campaign but it was a welcome return for Chris Jones, driving a Force TA, having had a difficult few years curing reliability and development issues with the car’s new engine installation, and for Zoe Kingham, driving the immaculate highly-developed and powerful SBD works EcoBoost Westfield which was making a reappearance after a full two-year rebuild following an off-script scenery visit two years ago at Pembrey.
With such a short time between the previous event, competitors’ modifications were limited to minor adjustments which included a change of gearing, the replacement of a burnt out regulator pack and the procurement of additional wheel nuts for those who had lost some at Blyton.
A track walk on Friday evening revealed that the course was extremely dusty and the Lydden Hill ground staff were sweeping and jet washing areas of the track. Optimism for good grip from the off was diminished as a result. Practice on Saturday morning confirmed this, with no real dramas aside from Steve Miles who seemed to have inexplicably lost several litres of coolant and developed clutch issues.
Track conditions gradually improved and by the time that the morning run-off had materialised, there was enough grip for several notable performances, particularly Graham Blackwell (Mygale EcoBoost) who won the runoff with a new class record time, Steve Miles (Van Diemen RF96mm) who had overcome his car issues from practice to finish 2nd and Chris Jones (Force TA) who managed 3^rd place, also successfully breaking his class record and making up the podium positions. Championship leader Pete Goulding (Mygale EcoBoost) claimed 4^th despite a slipped rear anti-roll bar giving him understeer issues and Steve Broughton came home in 5^th in the ever-evolving and changing DJ Firehawk just ahead of John Loudon (Force TA) and co-driver and current champion Matt Hillam in 6^th and 7^th respectively. Simon Wallis brought his OMS 3000 home in 8^th place despite being unable to see his shift light in the bright sun, followed by Grahame Harden in 9th (Radical PR6) who was taking sizable bites from his times with each run and enjoying himself once more. Carole Torkington (OMS CF08) was happy enough in 10^th having improved with each run and gaining more confidence with each outing, as was Nick Scott (Force TA) in 11^th on his first visit to the venue. Zoe Kingham (Westfield SEiW EcoBoost) in her first outing for three years came home 12^th, getting faster with each run.

1. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 66.13s
2. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 66.68s
3. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 67.13*s
4. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 67.39s
5. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 68.16s
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 68.54s
7. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 68.56s
8. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 70.73s
9. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 72.10s
10. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 72.63s
11. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 81.89s
12. Zoe Kingham (1.6T Westfield EcoBoost) 83.41s

After lunch, the qualification runs for the last run-off the day saw little drama but several competitors were using older tyres to preserve their diminishing best ones for the run-off itself which resulted in marginally slower times for most.
Now back on their favoured sets of tyres for the last run-off of the day, the majority of the field saw little or no improvement over their first run-off times. A shuffling of the finishing order saw Graham Blackwell (Mygale EcoBoost) down to 2nd with 2021 champion Steve Miles (Van Diemen RF96mm)  promoting himself to 1^st for the run-off win with Matt Hillam (DJ Firehawk) gaining some time to promote himself to 3^rd to round off the podium positions. Chris Jones (Force TA) slipped to 4^th with a self-confessed ‘scrappy’ run ahead of Championship leader Pete Goulding (Mygale EcoBoost) in 5^th who was ruing his fluffing of the hairpin at the top of Hairy Hill. Steve Broughton (DJ Firehawk) again managed to stay a place ahead of John Loudon (Force TA), the pair finishing 6^th and 7^th respectively. In 8^th, Simon Wallis (OMS 3000) was celebrating his best time of the day followed by Grahame Harden (Radical PR6) whose smile had widened given that he had bettered his PB in coming home 9^th. Not to be outdone, Carole Torkington (OMS CF08) had also bettered her PB and was rather happy too. Nick Scott (Force TA) has gone slightly slower than the first run off but managed to hold onto 11^th place ahead of Zoe Kingham (Westfield EcoBoost) who was getting back into the swing of things and had made notable improvements in time with each run.
 

1. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 67.09s
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 67.24s
3. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 67.44s
4. Chris Jones (1.0 Force TA) 67.51s
5. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 68.05s
6. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 68.48s
7. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 68.80s
8. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 70.70s
9. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 72.27s
10. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 72.80s
11. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 82.03s
12. Zoe Kingham (1.6T Westfield EcoBoost) 82.36

Graham Blackwell’s (Mygale EcoBoost) run-off one  time of 66.13s was enough to earn him FTD.

 

Graham Blackwell took the first run-off with a new class record time (Kim Broughton)


Steve Miles secured the second run-off win aboard the Van Diemen RF96mm (Kim Broughton)


Chris Jones made a welcome return to the Championship, netting a 3rd place in the 998cc Force TA (Kim Broughton)


Zoe Kingham had her first outing for three years in the Westfield SEiW EcoBoost (Kim Broughton)

Hillam and Goulding share the honours on the second day of Blyton weekend

Event 5 at Blyton Park on 14/05/2023
Sunday 14^th May saw the British Sprint rounds 9 and 10 on the longer outer circuit layout of the Lincolnshire Blyton Park organised by the ever-efficient Longton and District Motor Club. The day’s field was a little reduced due to casualties from the previous day’s proceedings which included Simon Bainbridge in his mighty SBR Chrono (bodywork damage), Steve Brown in his supercharged Empire (engine failure) and Nick Houston in his OMS (electrical issues).

Several competitors had made overnight tweaks including team SBD who had made some spring changes to their DJ Firehawk in an attempt to find a better balance, Steve Miles who had adjusted his ride height to suit the smoother outer circuit and John Loudon, who was the busiest, by changing gearing and his engine oil system breather layout on top of his previous days exploits with gear position sensor replacements.

Most of the competitors were trying to preserve their tyres given the current lack of supply of suitable slicks and many of those on display looked to have seen better days. With the season having barely begun, the remainder of the season could be quite challenging as a result.

The first of the day’s run-offs saw reigning British Sprint champion Matt Hillam in his shared DJ Firehawk bag himself an early run-off win by just holding off current Championship leader Pete Goulding (Mygale EcoBoost) in 2nd followed by Graham Blackwell (Mygale EcoBoost) to complete the podium positions. Steve Broughton (DJ Firehawk) managed to hold off John Loudon (Force TA) for 4^th. The remaining places fell to Grahame Harden (Radical PR6), Simon Wallis (OMS 3000), Carole Torkington (OMS CF08) and Nick Scott (Force TA) all of whom were making steady improvements to their times.  The only non-finisher was former champion Steve Miles who saw one of his front wheels disappear into the distance whilst he ground to a halt awaiting rescue. Returning former Championship runner John Munroe was sadly unable to take to the start line whilst side-lined with drive chain and starter motor issues on his OMS.

Morning run-off results
1. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 55.85*s
2. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 56.00s
3. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 56.96s
4. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 58.13s
5. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 58.58s
6. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 62.38s
7. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 63.66s
8. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 64.70s
9. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 68.65s
10. N/A
11. N/A
12. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) FAIL

With all four wheels now attached, Steve Miles was able to re-join the game for the next qualifying run and make the final run-off of the day, unlike the unfortunate John Munro who was still side-lined and unable to qualify.
Pete Goulding (Mygale EcoBoost) took the run-off win to make it a first and second placing for the day and improving his Championship lead. Steve Miles (Van Diemen RF96) made up for his earlier misadventure to bag himself a fine second place whilst Graham Blackwell (Mygale EcoBoost) again rounded of the podium placings in third. Matt Hillam (DJ Firehawk slipped to 4^th after experiencing a mini spin on the one of the fastest bends of the circuit but still managing to hold it together. Steve Broughton (DJ Firehawk) again managed to stave off John Loudon (Force TA) by a small margin for 5^th and 6^th respectively. Grahame Harden (Radical PR6) was pleased with 7^th and admitted to enjoying himself throughout the day, Simon Wallis (OMS 3000) managed to again stay ahead of the improving Carole Torkington (OMS CF08) for 8^th despite Carole beating her previous PB by nearly a second. Nick Scott (Force TA) made up the final placing having inexplicably gone slower than his previous runs.

Afternoon run-off results
Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 55.91s
2. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 56.31s
3. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 56.48s
4. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 56.79s
5. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 58.24s
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 58.55s
7. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 60.77s
8. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 62.48s
9. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 63.26s
10. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 70.77s

The day was rounded off with a torrential downpour to give everyone a soaking whilst the remainder of the entry list were taking their final runs and others were packing away which seemed to be limited to within a five mile radius of the circuit.


 

John Munro was aiming to make a BSC comeback in his OMS but was sidelined with drive chain and starter motor issues (Anthony Mitchell)


Steve Miles - with all wheels attached! (Anthony Mitchell)


Matt Hillam was Sunday's run-off 1 winner (Anthony Mitchell)


Pete Goulding - Sunday's run-off 2 winner (Anthony Mitchell)

Blackwell and Goulding take the top spots as Bainbridge toils

Event 4 at Blyton Park on 13/05/2023
Blyton Park Eastern Circuit – British Sprint Championship report by Steve Miles
Saturday 13 May 2023

Excitement was clearly visible in the paddock on the Friday evening after a six-week gap since the last round. The ever-flexible Longton & District MC juggled the parking allocation to allow us to keep off the boggy grass and all worked well with no one left behind after the weekend!

14 drivers started the Saturday, the first retirement being Nick Houston who couldn’t manage any track time due to electrical issues. Another welcome return was John Munroe, back in the BSC after eight years following a spell of circuit racing. The OMS had a few shakedown events and was declared ‘good to go’! Nick Scott had his car back in one piece after the Cadwell crash while someone else having an expensive few weeks of preparation was Steve Brown with a complete new throttle body system and dyno time on his Empire EVO.

Qualifying saw the demise of Steve’s Empire, not sounding good and possibly running a bearing, and he was out for the weekend. Next not to make the cut was Simon Bainbridge, who blew a CV driveshaft joint. He did have a spare, but unfortunately forgot to load it into the bus. Championship coordinator Pete Howgate kindly loaned him his car to go back to the farm to fetch it!

Despite suffering from ‘ManFlu’ the run off was won by Graham Blackwell in his REIS-sponsored Mygale EcoBoost, who had designed and fitted a 3^rd spring and was very pleased with the new found compliance in the car. Just 8-hundredths behind was the similar car of Pete Goulding, fresh from FTD at Goodwood, who put this time loss down to a lock up at the first corner. 3^rd was Steve Miles in his 27-year-old heavily-modified Formula Ford.

The SBD DJ Firehawk had new developments of a rear antiroll bar now fitted — which was taking some fine tuning to find a sweet spot, but Steve Broughton managed 4^th and Matt Hillam 6^th. Splitting the pair was Munro in the OMS, which apart from high coolant temps was running well. Simon Wallis also locked up first corner but was a no drama run and the same applied for the rest of the placings further down, with Graham Harden, Nick Scott and Carole Torkington all running well and ‘dialling themselves in’. In uncharacteristic last place was Laser Tools sponsored John Loudon with gear related trouble again. “No Comment” was the reply when pushed further!

Top 12 Run-off: Blyton Park E Rd 7
1.         Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 62.55s
2.         Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 62.63s
3.         Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 63.39s
4.         Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 64.17s
5.         John Munro (1.4 OMS CF07) 64.72s
6.         Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 65.42s
7.         Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 69.73s
8.         Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 70.01s
9.         Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 73.82s
10.       Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 74.48s
11.       John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 82.11s

With the cloud cover starting to ease, the strong wind kept the temperatures down and everyone readied themselves for the final points scoring opportunity of the day.

Matt Hillam jumped up the field with a spring change and was just 3 hundredths behind Miles in top qualifying spot, joined for the afternoon by his sponsors from Roundworks IT. Blackwell qualified 3^rd, a few seconds slower as he qualifies on Avons and then swaps to Pirellis for the run off, generally finding a second or two as a result.

Electrician Goulding dominated the run-off however with a 60.55 to take 25 points, and this despite nearly not qualifying after a turbo pipe came loose and also not starting and having to solder the throttle pot loom connection minutes before heading out!

Miles improved to second this time with Blackwell just 3 hundredths behind and then Hillam — still with no electrical charging on the DJ and running a total loss system — another 3 hundredths behind, but with a class record to add the bonus point.

The remaining up to 1600 racing car class saw 0.13 separating Broughton from Munroe after some dampener softening. Loudon was struggling with oil leaks and missing gears for a  midfield placing.

Grahame Harden got the heavy circuit Radical around for 8^th and Torkington was happy with improvements all day and finishing 10^th.

The big drama was Bainbridge’s 850bhp 4.2 litre Crono. After the impressive rebuild and repair of the CV joint in rapid time, it made the start line and qualified 5^th, but come the run off the team believe a rear engine cover fixing failed and it ripped off on the start straight —this in turn affecting the rear aerodynamics and at the highest speed point on the circuit the rear end broke loose and the Stokesley farmer went ploughing, causing extensive damage and withdrawal from St Gueno and other upcoming events.

Top 12 run-off Blyton Park Eastern Rd 8
1.         Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 60.55s
2.         Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 61.66s
3.         Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 61.69s
4.         Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 61.82s
5.         Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 62.98s
6.         John Munro (1.4 OMS CF07) 63.11s
7.         John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 63.44s
8.         Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 66.93s
9.         Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 68.01s
10.       Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 71.85s
11.       Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 75.01s
12.       Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) FAIL
 

Graham Blackwell topped the first run-off of the Blyton weekend (Anthony Mitchell)


Steve Broughton in the DJ Firehawk secured fourth spot in run-off one (Anthony Mitchell)


Steve Miles send up sparks (Anthony Mitchell)


4 British Sprint Champions - Roger Kilty, John Graham, Steve Miles and Matt Hillam (Martin Pickles)

Goulding asserts his position after the second Anglesey round

Event 3 at Anglesey on 02/04/2023
British Sprint Championship, Anglesey International Circuit 2 April 2023.  Steve Miles reports:

The weather improved further overnight and by the end of the day, there were many faces sporting an Anglesey tan!

The big retirement was Steve Brown in his Empire Evo. Repairs to the plenum chamber had worked, but some pressure issues caused the butterfly valves to bend and some serious sorting was required before it would run again.  Early departure meant he was the only driver not to feature in the group photo.

Qualification with eleven runners took the pressure off, but everyone was pushing, with Steve Miles leading the way despite some clutch issues that were worked around before the run-off.

In timed run 2, which is when the scores for the run off are set, Pete Goulding improved by a few tenths on his best tyre set, despite two stalls on the line and a warning that ‘one more and you’re out’. The improvement he put down to using all the rumble strips on the exit of the first left hander and a ‘do or die’ attitude to late braking at both big stops. Sparks from the undertray certainly were flying.  Next up was John Loudon in the methanol-powered 1100 Force, a rerun due to a timing error helped offset the delayed upchange and leaking coolant issues he had to post his best ever finish in a BSC run off with an over three second improvement. Miles went slower by a second after running deep at the tricky 1^st left-hander for 3^rd place and just three-hundredths behind was current Champion Matt Hillam — a crash test dummy engineer during the week, despite some downshift issues, that he felt could be almost overcome with a change of driving style. Graham Blackwell, also a software engineer, let loose his 375bhp of the Mygale to come 5th, a few tenths further back and clocking 147mph compared to 145.3 mph of the similar EcoBoost of the winner.

Robert Tonge, in his Force TA also got a rerun due to timing and found his brand new Michelins were working well for 6th. The used Pirellis on Steve Broughton’s similar engined DJ Firehawk, plus down change issues that didn’t suit his ‘brake first, downchange rapidly after’ style meant he was 0.15secs back in equal 7^th with Dr Harden in his circuit car Radical matching times and posting a PB. Last place of the remaining runners was Simon Bainbridge hustling the nearly 1 tonne of Crono around. He did confess to a small moment when he put a wheel fully in the grass at 150mph coming into rocket!

Carole Torkington also had a scary moment at 130 braking into rocket but PB’d with an 85.07 for 10^th. Leaving Simon Wallis with a freshly repaired puncture – thanks to Pete Goulding, but overall progress slowed with a return of the engine intermittently cutting out again as it did last at Cadwell.


Top 12 Run-off: Anglesey Int Rd 5
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 79.15s
2. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 80.07s
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 80.55s
4. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 80.58s
5. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 80.90s
6. Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 81.85s
7. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 82.00s
7=. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 82.00s
9. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 82.37s
10. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 85.07s
11. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 88.99s
The last run of the weekend saw improvements for most, apart from Miles who went backwards, but at least was getting multiple reminders all day to put fuel in the tank after yesterday! The big improver was FTD man Pete Goulding who took yet another run off win to make 3 from 4 from the weekend to lead the championship. A leaking tyre valve just before the start caused some paddock stress however!

The next 3 places were very tight. Blackwell led the way in second place although he had a scare going to the line when the engine refused to start 4 times! Matt Hillam was just 4 hundredths down the road, setting another record for a bonus point and Miles another 4 hundredths back. Loudon said his run felt OK, but yet it was his worst time of the day for 5^th.

7 hundredths behind was the SBD boss Steve who is now planning on more work to fabricate a rear antiroll bar before Blyton on the new car. 1/3 second in arrears was the SBD powered 1.4  identical engine in Tonges Force, who couldn’t figure out why he was a second off his PB, but this was quite a common discussion point amongst the drivers. On a positive though everyone was pleased how just over 2 seconds covered the middle 6 drivers so everything is close and all to play for as they move into the season.

Harden had some sideways launch issues as his traction control (right foot and associated leg muscles) played up he declared! Torkington stayed ahead of Wallis again with a new PB despite Wallis putting his best time of the day.

No time recorded for Simon Bainbridge after he attempted to take Church flat in the big Crono and put in a double 360 degree spin on the outfield mud and grass. No points but great style marks from the judges. This incident damaged one side of the radiator and cooling intakes and will need some repairs over the coming break.

Another good Longton & DMC run event and the BSC and club will be reunited in 6 weeks time when they put on their Blyton Park sprint.

Top 12 Run-off: Anglesey Int Rd 6
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 78.00s
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 79.46s
3. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 79.50*s
4. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 79.54s
5. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 81.16s
6. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 81.23s
7. Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 81.59s
8. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 83.29s
9. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 84.38s
10. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 85.91s
BSC Positions after Anglesey Int Rd 6
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 145 points
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 135 points
3. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 132 points
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 120 points
5. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 117 points
6. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 100 points
7. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 94 points
8. Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 81 points
9. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 78 points
10. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 70 points
11. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 64 points
12. Steven Brown (1.3s Empire Evo2) 61 points
 

Pete Goulding left Anglesey leading the Championship (Kim Broughton)


John Loudon finished 2nd in the round 5 run-off


Paddock shot (Neil Lambert)

Goulding and Miles share the spoils on April Fool's Day

Event 2 at Anglesey on 01/04/2023
British Sprint Anglesey National Circuit 1 April 2023. Steve Miles reports:

After the soggy Cadwell the previous weekend, the threatened deluge that had been forecast to last all day gradually diminished during the week, and everyone was changing their wets first thing Saturday on the cold but dry day that greeted the twelve runners at the wonderful Welsh circuit on April Fool’s day.
First practice was a good awakener for several drivers, including Robert Tonge, Carole Torkington and current British Sprint Champion Matt Hillam who had all not driven a racing car since last season. Steve Miles laid down his intentions with a fastest time in practice, but everyone was very close. Come qualifying, Steve Brown posted his reply with an impressive 48.26s to lead the field, and the first four were covered by a mere 0.8 secs.
Steve Broughton and Hillam were debuting their new car, a 1,440cc engine, normally-aspirated DJ Firehawk and both were getting to grips and dialling the chassis in following midweek testing for Steve. The Championship sponsor was, how shall we say it, “tired” after the testing, sorting multiple rally cars out as well as significant mods to his own car following the test and driving up from Surbiton.
When the points were handed out in the run-off run, Miles’ early intentions were to come to nothing after he admitted to forgetting to put fuel in the car and coasted round to save the engine after a low pressure alert to post 12^th. Next up was Simon Wallis, who had his first clean run of the year without the engine cutting out on track (it did after the finish but that doesn’t count!) six-tenths quicker was Torkington who despite feeling rusty was pleased with the time. Graham Harden, the scientist from Lincolnshire wrestled the heavy 1.3 Radical around Anglesey’s National circuit bends for 9^th position. The gear selection upshift issue John Loudon experienced at Cadwell was solved after an intermediate mounting bracket for the potentiometer was changed. Now he could work on improving the speed.
With times for the last seven cars now under 50 seconds, Broughton was pleased to finish and keep the development going, but the gearbox ratios were all wrong after 3^rd and will need changing. Simon Bainbridge came to the event on a borrowed tow car and trailer after the bus engine went into terminal demise on the Cadwell journey home, and he was pleased with his 950kg car being a couple of tenths ahead of the Broughton/Hillam 350kg DJ Firehawk. Tonge was pleased with a clean run to leave him 5^th, until he came across the mud on track after the finish line left by Steve Brown who managed a full double 360° spin, after posting a 48.68 to secure 4^th.
A debut run for Hillam saw the 3^rd spot on the podium taken by 12 hundredths ahead of Brown and he was pleased with the car saying it had potential. The 1.6l turbo power for Graham Blackwell set a new PB to take runner up spot, after a traction control tweak, leaving the winner Pete Goulding driving a similar Ecoboost taking his first win of the season by less by than 4 tenths.

Top 12 Run-off: Anglesey Nat Rd 3
1. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 47.81s
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 48.20s
3. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 48.56s
4. Steven Brown (1.3s Empire Evo2) 48.68s
5. Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 49.10s
6. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 49.16s
7. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 49.34s
8. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 50.25s
9. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 50.46s
10. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 52.52s
11. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 53.14s
12. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 76.95

No incidents in the timed run 3, which meant everyone qualified for the run off scoring point in T4. The meeting was extremely well run by Longton and District MC and eventually gave nine timed runs!
Miles, enjoying his new retirement status made up for his errors in the first run off and with a new PB took the 25 points and FTD with a 46.53 even if the exit kerb after the finish gave the floor of the car a good beating! Matt Hillam demonstrated the ongoing potential being just 0.04 secs for second place and a new record with a bonus point. Goulding took the EcoBoost battle over Blackwell again, just 0.6secs in it. Tonge split the DJ drivers of Hillam and Broughton in the Up to 1,600cc class with a new PB on his Pirelli tyres, and was putting a new set of Michelin rubber on for Sunday, watch this space!

Behind Broughton in 7^th was the Laser Tools sponsored John Loudon who was making good progress now he could select gears. After setting an interim FTD at one point Brown was disappointed with 8^th but a cracked plenum chamber was diagnosed which resulted in loss of boost pressure. Overnight repairs with epoxy were made.
Bainbridge went 3 tenths slower than first run off for 9^th and Harden was pleased to break the 50 second barrier posting 10^th. Torkington kept her nose ahead of Wallis again with a 51.66 in 11^th, leaving the software engineer from Cambridge in 12^th, perhaps hindered by a rear puncture in qualifying and having to run on four front tyres as he had no spare rears available.

Top 12 Run-off: Anglesey Nat Rd 4
1. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 46.53s
2. Matthew Hillam (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 46.57s
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 47.20s
4. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 47.83s
5. Robert Tonge (1.4 Force TA) 48.47s
6. Steve Broughton (1.4 DJ Firehawk CT004) 48.54s
7. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 48.61s
8. Steven Brown (1.3s Empire Evo2) 49.32s
9. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 49.57s
10. Grahame Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 49.88s
11. Carole Torkington (1.5 OMS CF08) 51.66s
12. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 54.37

Steve Miles secured a close win in the Round 4 run-off (Neil Lambert)


Simon Bainbridge had a successful Saturday but his weekend was cut short by a spin on the Sunday (Neil Lambert)

Bainbridge masters the conditions to dominate the opening weekend

Event 1 at Cadwell Park on 25/03/2023
Steve Miles Reports from a wet first day in the British Sprint Championship

Cadwell Park 25.3.23 Rounds 1 & 2

The cackling crows in the trees above Cadwell Park, were rudely awakened with the full 750bhp of Simon Bainbridge’s 4.2 litre Crono, as he stormed to two run-off wins to lead the British Championship after the first two rounds.

BARC Midlands organised the opening sprint of the season and were tested and responded excellently with multiple driver ‘offs’ and even a paddock medical emergency.  This inevitably caused track delays, but they managed to get a practice and three timed runs in despite the ‘inclement’ conditions.

Competitors were greeted with heavy showers before the practice run, and all the BSC field were on either Pirelli or Avon wets, and these stayed on all day. After the withdrawal of Grahame Harden in the Radical, which was surprising after he had run well in testing at Blyton Park the week earlier, there were only eight runners, so as long as everyone posted a qualifying time, there were points to be had. The current British Champion Matt Hillam was still putting a new bike-engined car together with Championship sponsor Steve Broughton of SBD and they hope to be out for Anglesey next weekend

The tight opening section through Hall bends, The Hairpin and Barn were all extremely slippery in the rain and being under the trees, were slow to dry. The Force TA of Nick Scott was to fall victim to this on the final run-off; the rear end broke loose and he went off backwards at some speed into the Recticel barriers. Luckily, all was OK after a medical check over, but the car will need some attention and he is unlikely to be out in six days’ time for Anglesey.

Practice saw partial runs due to red flags for Steve Brown, who declared pre-event that the newly-loomed Empire Evo2 had too much power for the conditions! Both EcoBoosts of Pete Goulding and Graham Blackwell also got caught up in this red flag and due to delays all round, were not given reruns. Despite having successfully completed testing, Steve Miles encountered problems with the new clutch that had been fitted for 2023; it had ‘settled’ meaning that he found on the start line that it didn’t work and the car crawled forward. Advice from the SBD support line back in the paddock saw this adjusted out for the rest of the day to run OK.

When it came to qualification, Bainbridge showed his intent for the day posting a 94sec run, with the Mygale of Goulding 2.6 seconds back. Due to the conditions, Pete had detuned the engine to just 300bhp. Miles was a further two-tenths behind in his 27-year-old space-framed chassis that was once a 1996 Formula Ford, but after 20 years of development, only a few original elements remain. Graham Blackwell, also in an EcoBoost, hadn’t been to the track for twelve years and the new traction control system was working well. He kept a clean sheet all day and got progressively faster. Steve Brown headed the bike-engine racing cars twelve seconds behind Bainbridge, after which there was an even bigger gap to John Loudon who was having gearchange issues. Next up was local Lincoln property developer Nick Scott in his relatively new Force TA, followed by Simon Wallis who nearly didn’t make it as the 1,100cc engine in his OMS kept cutting our and needed restarting or bump-starting on track several times. The source could not be found all day, but high on the suspect list were some winter modifications to the intake.

More rain bursts, and then came the Timed run 2 from which the Championship scores are counted. Whilst most of the field went slower by several seconds, amazingly, the North Yorkshire pig farmer in the SBR Crono went four seconds faster to take the full 25 points. There is some great YouTube coverage of the top 4 cars doing circa 140mph in the wet if you search for “CF Photos, British Sprint Championship Round 1 Cadwell Park”

Miles seemed chuffed to come 2^nd, albeit ten seconds behind, having now got the clutch working and able to hold position on the start line. Goulding was a further 2.3 seconds back, although lucky to have an undamaged car after he went off after the finish and took to the grass, luckily without contacting anything solid! Blackwell, 2.2 behind Goulding was happy with 4^th and no drama, was clearly pleased with his traction control modifications made over the winter.

The last four places were taken by the bike-engined cars. The excessive power and no traction control — yet, watch this space we are told! — was a handful for Steven Brown who finished 1.4 seconds back. Then came Nicholas Scott, also running an RLM engine but 1.6l as opposed to Brown’s 1.4l supercharged, who finished some eight seconds further back. Simon Wallis was still having engine cut-out issues and came in 7^th another eight seconds down. And finally came John Loudon in his 1.1 Force Tam propelled by a new engine after last season’s seizure.  He was still suffering gear change issues and therefore wasn’t able to rely on any gear above 3^rd, but that was the least of his worries as he made a full 360 degree spin to post a time of 234 seconds — might this go down in BSC history as the longest ever point-scoring run?

With many other offs, time was short but BARC managed to squeeze in another timed run, which for BSC purposes was declared beforehand the points-scoring run, with no qualification needed. In case proceedings needed livening up, the heavens promptly opened with another heavy downpour, although the strong winds partially dried the Lincolnshire Wolds undulations and times were quicker.

Working from the tail end upwards, we had two non finishers. Nick Scott’s accident has already been mentioned; the car was manhandled back into the trailer at the end of the day but I am pleased to report that the driver is fine. Next was Steve Brown “I braked 2m too late for Mansfield (the final downhill left hander) and decided to go up the escape road rather than risk the grass”. Wallis found 13 seconds, despite the engine still cutting out, and took the class win.

Blackwell and Goulding got red flagged in the aforementioned Brown incident and got given reruns this time, making up for practice, Blackwell took 4^th but going 0.7 secs faster was Goulding who was pleased to secure 3^rd.

Some 1.4 secs up the road, the moleracing Van Diemen of Miles had another tidy run for 2^nd, but the almighty SBR Crono, designed, run and built by John Hansell and driven by Simon Bainbridge stormed to a win six seconds ahead. If only Simon’s famous big green double decker bus hadn’t blown a hole in its 40-year-old engine on the way home, it would have been a perfect weekend for him!

Results:

Cadwell Park Sprint March 23^rd 2023
BARC Midlands
SBD Motorsport UK British Sprint Championship Rounds 1 & 2

Run-off 1 (Round 1)
            
1. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 90.45s
2. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 100.47s
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 102.79s         
4. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 104.97s
5. Steven Brown (1.3s Empire Evo2) 106.39s 
6. Nicholas Scott (1.6 Force TA) 114.36s                    
7. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 122.77s    
8. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 234.61s


Run-off 2 (Round 2)

           
1. Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Crono) 87.38s            
2. Stephen Miles (2.0 Van Diemen RF96mm) 93.41s              
3. Peter Goulding (1.6t Mygale FF 200) 94.84s           
4. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale EcoBoost) 95.61s
5. Simon Wallis (1.1 OMS 3000M) 109.44s
6. John Loudon (1.1 Force TA) 115.90s












 

The Crono mastered Cadwell's wet conditions (Anthony Mitchell amm-photography.co.uk)