BRANDS HATCH – FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE ROUNDY-ROUNDYS STU MACMASTER
Brands Hatch, Kent, was the location for the next 2 rounds of our Classic Touring Cars Classic Thunder Championship. I set off mid-afternoon
Friday for the long 250 mile drive. 5 hours and a few traffic queues later we arrived to a glorious summer's evening which warranted shorts and tshirts
right up until bedtime at midnight!
Saturday once again brought fantastic weather; clear skies, hot sun, and temps in the high 20's - this was not going to be comfortable in the car!
Qualifying was at midday. I went out and tried to get on the pace pretty early to try and get a few laps in before the faster cars came back round trying to set a pole position time. The session was going pretty well and I was getting some decent times; getting more and more confident turning in to Paddock Hill Bend, until I turned in and not a lot happened - understeer, oversteer, understeer, oversteer…. "S**T!* There had been a trail of oil left on the entry of the corner, which wasn’t flagged until pretty much all the field had been through and had a "moment".
With Qualifying over, it turned out that Andy Davies had had more bad luck with his Focus, and he had only managed a few laps before pulling the car off the track with an issue which appeared terminal and would see him out of the 2 races on Sunday.
Neil Philpotts had made the most of the session for "Team Wallasey" and put the Starion 3rd on the grid, with less than 0.4 secs covering the first 4 cars! Allan Davies put his M3 5th, with Dave Hill in 12th, me in 14th and Steve Turner 16th.

Saturday night saw a huge thunder storm which went on for nearly 3 hours with some torrential rain - really fun whencamping…. Sunday morning saw another muggy day, cloudy, but dry and still very warm. We all went out to the grid, did the green flag lap and waited for the lights! Lights went red then…….. Out! I made a pretty good start, getting along side Dave Hill, only to see smoke and cars spinning ahead. Dave took evasive action, as did I, and took to the grass, and managed to drive around the incident. Turns out the pole sitter got really bogged down at the start, and got clipped
as another car passed. This then collected another car spraying other cars everywhere. Unfortunately Steve Turner was unable to avoid the incident and hit one of the spinning cars. The result meant he had to be taken to the medical centre and then hospital to ensure all was well. Thankfully, although the cars where a bit of a mess, the worst the drivers suffered was some pretty nasty bruising.
Another casualty of the start was Neil Philpotts. A turbo issue meant he pulled into the pits following the red flag and retired from the rest of the weekend's racing.After about a 30min delay, the race got going, and I again made a pretty good start, going up the outside of Dave towards the first
corner, before backing off and tucking in behind him. I then got involved with a fast little Duratec'd XR2, which I kept behind me for 75% of the race before my Toyos went off and he ducked under me at Paddock Hill - I had a go back at him up to Druid's and we had a slight rub, but nothing that got the cars out of shape. I finished 9th, 1st in class. Allan had the best result, with a 3rd, and Dave came home 7th.
Second race was a much smaller grid, following the start of the first race, and again I made a really good initial start but had to get out of the throttle as Dave Hill swerved to avoid Allan's BMW which had stalled on the line along with another E30 M3. I followed Dave round the lap, only to see him get it all crossed up at Surtees where I nipped under him. I managed to hold him back for 3 or 4 laps, before his slick tires took their advantage and he slid under me going in to Druids under braking. Next car catching fast was Allan. Recovering from his poor start, he drove straight past on the main straight. Next car to catch me was the other M3, this one however was running Toyos as well. They must also have been going off as he caught me, as he could only get along side down the straights, but had to back off for the corners and couldn’t make a decisive move! A few more laps and the leaders came round to lap us, they went past me and caught Dave who was having a battle with a nippy Mk1 Escort. As those two diced for the position, I managed to catch them both up and have a few half-hearted looks up the inside of Dave’s Civic. I managed to stay with him for a couple of laps before my tyres eventually threw their hand in and said that was enough!
Final results saw me 8th, Dave in 7th and Allan in 5th. I have to say the 2nd race was the best I have ever had; defending lines, but still trying to have a go at the car in front. In the holding area after the race I was all ready to refuel the car and go again!
YouTube clips…
Start Line Crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbXhpHK9_1A
Race 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doJys7j0B0E
Race 2 Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2-bDMxin-A
Race 2 Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHc1lyegQZo