Mallory Park 9th August 2009 -
Race Progress Report from Andy Shepherd

We last visited the Leicestershire circuit in 2004, so Paul Tooms was a newcomer to it. While in the scrutineering queue Paul announced that he hoped I'd teach him my lines around Mallory in qualifying, to which I carefully declined to respond... But when he cleverly entered the collection area right on my tail I realised I'd have to shake him off early in the session if I was to stand a chance of out-qualifying him on this fast track - which should suit his aerodynamic and powerful Elan more than my little Lotus Seven S2. So I eschewed my normal warm-up procedure on the first lap, only to discover I'd pushed too hard too soon, and with cold tyres and brakes couldn't seem to slow down enough for Shaw's Hairpin. I ran a little wide onto the grass, but three quarters of my way around this tight right-hander the tyre wall came out and hit me full square, at perhaps 15 or 20 miles an hour... There was a crunching of fibreglass, and I could see my mudguard brackets had bent, but there was no sign yet of steam from the radiator.

Reversing out of the barrier, then pulling back onto the track, instruments were scrutinised as damage limitation became the order of the day. Three laps would get me qualified, so that was the first objective. Mightily relieved that, if anything, my water temperature was falling rather than rising as the next cautionary laps unfolded, I started to press on a bit more - though now treating the bumpy approach of the braking area for Shaws with appropriate respect. A flap of fibreglass was visible, still attached to the rest of the nosecone, but the right front tyre was smoking rather a lot under braking, as the mudguard bracket rubbed against it. Nevertheless, I thought I was posting some reasonable laps and beginning to get the hang of the track again when a couple of marshals seemed to be waving a white flag at me. As far as I knew, a white flag meant there was a service vehicle on the track somewhere - a tow-truck or an ambulance, for example - but none was to be seen. Since it felt as if my lap times had plateaued, I pulled into the pits and on to the paddock. No officials wanted to see me, so I thought no more of it and set to repairing the damage ready for the race...

All the nosecone fibreglass was still attached, so some heavy duty transparent tape I'd carried with me for a couple of years made good the damage, and a rubber bungee on the bottom of the nose held it down. A precautionary swap of my right-hand tyres, front to back, revealed that I had virtually no tread left on either! [Note to self:
definitely time to change rubber before Oulton at the end of August.] Quite coincidentally, the groove cut in the remaining tread by the front mudguard bracket was now effectively hidden from view by the rather larger rear mudguard!

As expected, Andrew Marler's Elan was on on pole, clocking a 54.5, but just three tenths behind him and sharing the front row was a very effective Martin Halliday in his Seven S3, out-qualifying me yet again! A couple of tenths further back was jim Gathercole's very quick Elan Plus 2 on 55.0, followed by Paul tooms and me, separated by just six hundredths and a second off pole. Seven tenths behind us was a verh happy Justin Murphy in his first outing in his immaculate Ginetta G4, his Black Milano now sold.

I was only a tenth slower than in 2004, when I'd had a 1600cc crossflow engine in the Seven for '70s roadsports', but now i was on the third row instead of the first - such is progress, even among historic cars!

Our race was delayed by some freak accidents in the formula Ford race just before ours; a couple of cars had tangled at thefinal Gerards apex and speared off into the barrier, but it was several seconds before the race was red-flagged. Unfortunately, during those seconds the pack had made its way to the entry to Gerards again, and when the lead cars saw the flag and suddenly lifted off the throttle the field concertinad up and one car took off, launched by the front wheel to rear wheel contact. Somersaulting several times in the air before crashing down the wrong way up, Amanda Whittaker was able to crawl out of her written off car and walk away, albeit badly bruised. Westie Mitchell was released from hospital a couple of days later, too, so despite the vehicular carnage - four wreckes were delivered to the scrutineering bay while we waited for news of our racestart - no serious dame was done, (other than to pockets).

When the lights went out I was happy to hold station in fifth into Gerards, with Mike Eagles' Milano appearing briefly on my left, but the Seven was quicker through Gerards and later - and lighter - on the brakes for the Esses, so he was not to be a threat. Paul Tooms had pulled ahead of Jim Gathercole's heavier car, so it was the Plus 2 against which I now needed to launch an attack. Jim is a very experienced driver - and it showed! His widened Elan was making the track look narrow, but it made for an exciting dice. I felt I could trust him enough to stay close under braking, but I confess on a couple of occasions I thought we might touch - but we didn't. My weak spot was getting into second gear for Shaw's, but on lap 5 a clean enough job allowed me to get back on the power almost at the same time as Jim, so we crossed the line only two tenths apart, my Seven firmly in the airpocket behind him. Then it was simply a case of darting out to his right just before the braking point for Gerards and braking a tenth or two later than him. Ensuring a clean quick exit without any dramas at the brow which can so easily provoke a spin as the exit kerb approaches was crucial to staying ahead into the braking zone for the Esses - Jim feinted an inside pass, but he couldn't possibly make it stick as well as get around the fast right-left flick, so he sensibly backed off as I knew he would, in the absence of an error from me. Now taking my own braking point and line through Shaw's i was away and in pursuit of Paul's red Elan.

At the end of lap six I was only three seconds behind him, but then I had a shock - my oil pressure gauge was reading 'zero'... The car sounded fine and was pulling as well as ever - curious... The water temperature was also normal, and I noticed that the low pressure warning light - a big yellow lamp - was not on, even though I'd seen it working pulling onto the track from the collection area just before the start. So taking a calculated risk, I carried on. The race had been shortened to ten minutes in order to recover some time following earlier delays, so that's how the race ended - Andrew Marler 1st, but kept honest throughout by Martin in his best ever result, with Paul Tooms and then me some way behind. My dice with Jim was an enjoyable highlight, and one I hadn't really deserved after being such a plonker in qualifying!

So there are a few Seven repair jobs to do before its next outing, (the dynamo wiring had failed too, but the battery was up to the job in this short event), while the 23 should also be back with a refreshed engine in time for Oulton, thanks to Protune. I'll have to be exceptionally tidy to outqualify Martin there!

Andy Shepherd