Routec Racing’s BMW Compacts won a dramatic Birkett Six Hour Relay, taking the lead from sister team the BMW Triers in the final 30 minutes at an unseasonably warm Silverstone.
The Handicap trophy, as ever, was the premier prize at the endurance classic and the Routec Compact squad was the seventh different leader to appear on the half-hourly bulletins. Not among them, however, were previous double winners The Three Amigos, which also fielded Compacts, as the crew had for their 2019 and 2020 successes. Paul Hinson had a heavy off at Copse, causing one of six safety car periods, while multiple Hot Hatch champion David Drinkwater’s version regularly overheated, leaving Adam Read to do much of the driving.
The Routec squad had better fortune, however, with its plan to complete the race with just two pitstops proving flexible. “They’ve binned me off because I am a bit too slow and put a quick guy out there now, Martin Gadsby,” admitted Martin Roche in the final hour of the race. That change may have proved vital, as the Compacts – with Colin Whitehouse also part of the line-up – finished only 24 seconds clear.
A squad of MR2 Roadsters – Lock Stops & Two Smoking Tyres – headed by championship race winner Adam Lockwood and also featuring Jim Mew and Danny Bryant, took the runner-up spot, having been leading at three-quarters distance. The best of several teams comprised of CALM All Porsche Trophy regulars – Dads and Their Lads (Daniel Crego with the McHugh and Walker families) completed the podium, and also took a class win. Last year’s winner, now known as RAF Team Flywheel, was classified only 48th after a number of issues for the team’s cars. They lost out on the intra-service battle to fellow RAF Team Per Ardua, which placed sixth overall.
The early leaders, MX-5-based outfit Red Rascal (which won when entering M3s in 2018) lost a number of laps when one of its number was disqualified for a flag infringement, while Triple A’s Racing ran strongly mid-race only to be re-handicapped for using slicks. Another MX-5 team, Mazda Misfits, topped three of the 12 interim standings, but was classified fifth.
The battle for scratch honours was equally as intriguing, although only four Radical-based squads were in with a realistic chance of victory in a race defined by reliability and penalties.
The quickest of the teams – as evidenced by 2020 winner Shane Stoney’s fastest lap – was the Doris NWH outfit that also featured Roger Bromiley, Mark Williams and Ryan Harper-Ellam. This crew led for the first four hours, whereupon a gearbox issue on one car and a coil issue on another temporarily left the outfit with only one functioning SR3.
Nevertheless, Stoney was able to get home with second position for the team, benefiting when RJ Motorsport 1 was forced to serve a stop/go penalty for a yellow-flag contravention, minutes after Wade Eastwood had taken the lead and minutes before the scheduled end of the race. That crew – also featuring Alastair Smart and Charles Graham – had been only sixth after the first damp half-hour, but moved towards the front as others had issues. The trio eventually finished third, continuing a run of seven podiums for Graham.
The winner, though, was RAW Motorsports – Rob’s Wronguns, with Chris Preen taking the chequered flag in his Radical SR3 XX. In spite of two separate penalties, the team – also including John Macleod and Ben Stone in SR3 RSXs – emerged 20s clear.
Cadwell Park CSCC: Webb/Watson and Nuttall share Seven victories
In challenging conditions at Cadwell Park, Rich Webb chased down Stephen Nuttall to snatch a Magnificent Sevens victory for himself and Dave Watson before Nuttall hit back in the sprint race. Watson led away on a greasy track but polesitter Nuttall pounced in the Hall Bends. Watson’s Spire RB7 then shadowed the leading Caterham Supersport until a spin cost him around 15 seconds.
Pitstops complete, Nuttall now held a lead of 13s over Webb with less than half of the 40-minute race remaining. A series of quick laps from Webb on the drying track slashed the deficit and, as Nuttall tried in vain to respond on worn wet tyres, Webb swept ahead at Coppice on the final tour. “I didn’t have a lot left to give,” said Webb. Behind the leaders, Tim Davis seized on a couple of spins for the second Spire of John Cutmore to claim third.
The sun was poking through for the 20-minute sequel and, having switched to dry tyres, Nuttall was “on a mission”. After tracking Watson while his rubber got up to temperature, last year’s Caterham Seven UK champion passed on the Park Straight, then pulled away to a 30s victory. Watson was struggling on wets, a nosecone-damaging excursion on oil at the Gooseneck not helping. Cutmore also suffered on the oil, losing third to Davis again.
Returning to Tin Tops after recent Modern Classics outings, Tom Mensley claimed his first win of the year. His Renault Clio duked with Adam Brown’s Ford Fiesta ST through the opening corners before Brown got the upper hand. With a 30s success penalty to overcome, Brown built a 7s lead in as many laps before Mensley pitted.
Both crews managed super-fast turnarounds but Brown emerged nearly 20s down. He was 12s in arrears when the chequered flag flew five minutes early after a big blow-up for John Ridgeon’s Clio. John Hammersley and Nigel Tongue (VW Scirocco) saw off the Clio 197s of Tom Oatley and James Joannou in the
concurrent Turbo Tin Tops.
On his first visit to the circuit, Connor Kay overcame a success penalty to win in Swinging Sixties Group 1. In the frantic early stages, Mini-mounted trio Ralph Budd (due to relay son Charlie), Matthew Howell and Chris Watkinson were all forced out after skirmishes. That left Kay’s MG Midget in front from James Hughes’s Austin-Healey Frogeye Sprite. The pair traded the lead, but a delay as the Spite refused to restart cost penalty-free Hughes much of his theoretical pitstop advantage. Kay closed him down and pounced for victory in traffic.
In the fading light, Stephen Pickering (Sunbeam Tiger) led Group 2’s early stages but his 30s success penalty dropped him behind Dean Halsey’s Datsun 240Z. Halsey had been hounded by Group 1 guest Watkinson in the opening stint before a slow pitstop and traffic cost the Mini driver. Likely contenders – albeit facing success penalties – Jamie Keevill (Lotus Elan S2) and Jon Wolfe (TVR Tuscan V8) were forced out by driveshaft and differential failures respectively.
The advantage swung back and forth in a combined Modern Classics and Future Classics race. But, once released from traffic, the Triumph TR7 V8 of Martyn and Rob Adams ultimately had the legs on Shaun Ely’s nippy Peugeot 205 GTI. Clinton Ewen (BMW M3 E36) took Modern Classics honours.
Cambrian Rally: Bell rings the changes with first BRC win
With six rounds down of the British Rally Championship, only two drivers had taken wins during the 2022 season. But, with both victors – champion Osian Pryce and runner-up Keith Cronin – electing to skip the series finale, there would be a chance for a new generation of BRC stars to shine at the Cambrian Rally last weekend.
Whoever took a maximum score in the world-class North Wales forests would be a first-time BRC winner and, while the champions had been decided in Yorkshire in September, there was plenty at stake for the BRC1 hopefuls. Axed Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Oliver Solberg would also contest the event in a Volkswagen Polo R5, giving the series contenders the perfect benchmark.
Two closed-road asphalt tests in the darkness of Friday night added a twist to the event and, while Solberg secured the lead, it was Skoda Fabia pilot Garry Pearson who headed the BRC crews after the opening leg.
But, by the time the clocks had stopped on the first gravel test on Saturday morning, it was fellow Skoda driver Ruairi Bell who had charged to the front after Pearson struggled in the rain-soaked conditions.
Like the other crews, Bell and co-driver Max Freeman battled with the waterlogged stages but kept largely out of trouble to enjoy an 11-second lead over Pearson heading into the final stage of the morning loop. However, Pearson failed to emerge from the Penmachno test after damaging his steering.
Solberg was almost two minutes up the road at the finish and, with a rather sparse National entry, Bell was able to cruise to his maiden BRC victory. “It’s been such a difficult weekend out on the stages, and we have had three podiums on the trot now, so to end our year with a win is just fantastic,” said a delighted Bell.
“It’s been a phenomenal season for us [in the BRC] and we have progressed with every single rally. I’m very excited to continue to grow and improve and see what next season holds.”
Second place went to Junior BRC champion Eamonn Kelly, who was making his R5 gravel debut in BRC1 machinery in a Polo R5. A trouble-free run was rounded off with the fastest overall stage time on the final test to secure a confidence-boosting result for the Irishman.
It was a rollercoaster of a rally for James Williams in his Hyundai i20 R5. Boost pipe issues on Friday night lost him almost two minutes, before fighting back on Saturday morning with three fastest BRC times on the bounce once the event turned to the gravel. But an impact with a bale and more turbo issues hampered any further chargeback, and he was lucky to cross the finish ramp in Llandudno with a BRC podium in third.
The Junior BRC would also have a new winner thanks to Kelly stepping into R5 machinery, but it was a rally of attrition for the youngsters. Early leader Fraser Anderson was forced to retire with engine issues on his Fiesta Rally4 before Saturday’s opener and Ioan Lloyd failed to emerge from the second running of Brenig, with driveshaft failure on his Peugeot 208 Rally4. That left Johnnie Mulholland to land his maiden Junior BRC win in his Fiesta and secure the runner-up position in the standings.
Reports by Ian Sowman, Mark Paulson and Matt Cotton. Photography by Steve Jones, Mick Walker and Jakob Ebrey Photography. Want more reports from the world of national motorsport? Subscribe today and never miss your weekly fix of motorsport with Autosport magazine
