Combe Countdown

RE: COMBE COUNTDOWN, AUGUST 26

GULF RACE FUELS FORMULA FORD:

Rory the Racing Car strikes twice

An exciting August Bank Holiday Monday double at
the Castle Combe Racing Club’s Combe Countdown
event made B+M Medina star Rory Smith the
‘winningest’ driver in this year’s CCRC Gulf Race
Fuels championship. Four golds from eight starts leave
him outside the title race, however, as having missed
two double-headers with competitors able to tally
scores from 11 of the 14 rounds, began to bite after the
second round on August 26.
Only Felix Fisher, champion of the past two seasons,
and bold young challenger Alex Walker can now lift
the 2024 crown, and it’s so tight at the top that the
decider could conceivably be the point for fastest lap in
each of the two races at the Grand Finals meeting on
Saturday, October 5. The best twice Formula Ford
Festival winner Smith and Luke Cooper, like Fisher a
double Combe champ, can now do is race for third.
The jostling quartet were head and shoulders above the
rest in the opening stanza of the Combe Countdown
event Bank Holiday Monday, August 26, with returnee
Alex Kite doing a superb job to join the elite group in
the sequel aboard a KMR Sport Spectrum 011C.
Walker posted the quickest qualifying time in his
Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen RF01, his
1m10.818s (94.04mph) best a scant 0.083s quicker than
Smith (B+M Medina Sport JL18). Fisher (TM Racing
Ray GR05), Cooper (Swift Cooper SC20) and the on
form Tom Hawkins in a newer Springbridge Direct Ray
GR11 prepared by Tom Margetson’s equipe were
within 0.828s of the morning standard.
Kite’s 1:12.133 put him a solid sixth, joined in the 12s
by the next six: Chris Acton (Souley Motorsport Ray
GR08), Robert Hall (Swift Cooper SC24), Australian
Will Liston (Souley Van Diemen RF88), three-time
champion Kevin Mills (KMR Sport Spectrum) in his
swansong event, Nathan Ward (Swift SC92) and Tom
McArthur (WPR Van Diemen RF89). Liston’s
1:12.358 (92.04mph) and Ward’s 1:12.557 (91.79mph),
led chassis era classes C and B respectively, with
McArthur’s rival Liston marking the half-way point in
the strong 24-car pack.
Another Aussie, Formula Atlantic Ralt RT4 racer Peter
Lucas, sat 13th in a Souley RF88, half a second clear of
Ward’s pursuer Vincent Jay (RF90), with Bob Hawkins
(TM/Springbridge Ray GR10) and class D Historic
division standout Sam Mitchell (WPR/Richard
Hudson-Evans Merlyn Mk20) next up, tightly packed.
Richard Earl (RF88), Stephen Billett (Spectrum 011B)
and Shaun Macklin (Swift SC92) were split by 0.205s
in the 16s, clear of Dane Catanzaro (RF89) and D
chasers Alicia Hamlen (Royale RP36), Combe debutant
Ben Hadfield (RF79), Pete ‘Hobbit’ Hannam (Nike
Mk6) and Peter Lavender (Merlyn Mk11/17).
Smith made a superb start in the programme opener,
charging ahead of poleman Walker as they and Fisher
crested Avon Rise three wide. Felix usurped Alex into
Quarry on lap 3, and seconds later a moment at the
Esses dropped Alex behind Cooper and Kite, from who
he quickly wrested fourth back. The order remained
until a short safety car sent after Lucas had gone
straight-on at Camp, but stopped short of the barrier.
Initially unable to restart, Peter had been assisted by a
marshal and was underway before the Honda Civic –
driven by ex-Combe FF1600 stalwart Roly Hamblin –
completed a lap, having picked up fifth-placed Kite.
Thus it was withdrawn and headed back to its pitlane
station and green flags were shown from Folly.
This caused quite a commotion because Fisher, on
Smith’s tail, saw a green flag, but hung back until a
second green suggested that racing could resume. “I
wasn’t paying attention,” admitted Smith, who seized
the advantage back after a lap. “It’s normally pretty
difficult to overtake round here, so I’m pretty chuffed
to win,” he said. “The safety car thing was a bit weird,
but we’ll gloss over that…”
Cooper briefly nipped past Fisher too, but Felix beat
him to the chequer, breaking TSL’s beam 0.147s
behind Rory. Cooper was third, less than a tenth ahead
of Walker, with Kite not far adrift. Tenth at the end of
the opening circuit, Ward jostled up to a class-winning
sixth, nine seconds – albeit eight places, ahead of
Macklin, with Jay in tow – in the compressed field.
Hawkins Jr, Hall, Acton, C victor Liston, Mills,
runaway D winner Mitchell and Hawkins Sr were
between them at the chequer. The only retirement was
McArthur, after a grassy exit to Camp.
The second race, just a couple of hours later in a
schedule set to accommodate those wishing to enter the
visiting United Championship double-header – an
option which only Kite and Hall took up – saw Walker
led initially from Fisher, who shot past P2 starter Smith
on the opening lap. Rory settled in, repassing Felix on
lap three, then passing Alex for the lead before half
distance, taking Fisher’s Ray with him. Tom Hawkins
was soon out, pulling off at the Esses on lap 4.
Smith’s double completed a satisfying event’s work –
“the car’s been quick all day” – although Fisher was
surprised to be on his tail at the finish with his engine
buzzed. “I missed a gear really badly and thought the
linkage had snapped, but then realised is was just
operator error,” he said afterwards, relieved to be atop
the table with his title hat-trick chances still intact.
Walker and Cooper repassed the high-flying Kite for
third and fourth then were both shown as having picked
up five second track limit penalties [subsequently
expunged] thus the order remained. “I had a few hairy
moments, but kept it on the back stuff,” grinned Kite.
Acton collected a lonely sixth, ahead of class C winner
Liston. Mills, B champion Ward and Mcarthur.
Macklin, Mitchell, Earl, Catanzaro, Lavender and
Hamlen completed the finishers. Having seen his lad
parked, Bob Hawkins’s exit was scarier. Chasing down
Mitchell and Lucas in the battle for 11th place, the
Australian spun out of Tower on the penultimate lap.
With Hawkins committed to the outside the black Van
Diemen’s momentum took it backwards into the side of
the white Ray, hitting it amidships and savaging two
corners. Both drivers emerged shaken but unscathed.

SOUTH CERNEY ENGINEERING SALOONS:

Golfer on top as Peugeot star falters
Back to his winning ways with mid-season
transmission dramas resolved – two more victories for
Harrison Chamberlain in the Castle Combe Racing
Club’s Combe Countdown event on August 26 moved
him closer to the South Cerney Engineering Saloon Car
Championship. Having extended his seasonal tally to
seven wins from 10 starts, with six fastest laps, the
Bristolian VW Golf turbo charger is hot favourite to lift
his first circuit crown at the Grand Finals meeting on
October 5. Chamberlain’s cause was not hindered when
principal rival Jez Williams retired his Peugeot 106
from the second race with head gasket failure, the
talented Welsh teenager having bagged his fifth class
win in the opener.
Fifty years to the day since his father Brian won a
Special Saloon race at Combe in a hot Hillman Imp,
Adam Prebble’s roller-coaster season continued with a
very encouraging 1m09.969s (95.18mph) pole in the
Interceptor Racing Vauxhall Astra turbo, 0.698s
quicker than Chamberlain – running in a new gearbox –
and 1.881s better than Dave Spiller in the Grant
Motorsport Audi TT turbo which was a long way clear
of Jack Boulton’s Golf turbo. Prebble’s day would get
no better.
Williams posted a 1:15.661s (88.02mph) class C pole
in the 1650cc Rhino Goo Pug, good enough for P5
overall, with Bill Brockbank as row mate back in his
faithful zebra-striped Badger5 Seat Ibiza turbo pending
the refettling of his more modern Cupra. Williams was
chased by MG ZR trio Lee Waterman, Nathan Sutton
and James Blake, interspersed by reigning champion
and D leader Mike Good’s 1400cc Vauxhall Corsa on
1:18.530 (84.80mph) and Steve Walden’s BMW E36
M3.
Championship sponsor Jonathan Wills qualified his
MG Maestro turbo 12th, ahead of two-litre class B
pacesetters Darren Griffiths (Renault Clio) and Daniel
Roe (Ford Fiesta), four seconds apart. Oliver Sprague
and Wayne Rushworth (MG ZRs) and Roger Good
(1400cc Fiesta) rounded out the 17-car field.
Prebble led the first lap of the morning race, then
pulled off at Quarry with overheating, freeing
Chamberlain to run unopposed to the chequered flag.
Fifth at the end of the opening circuit, chaser Spiller set
fastest lap in 1:11.445 (93.21mph) but Harrison always
had plenty in reserve as he finished 3.519s clear with
his rival delayed by meeting traffic at inopportune
places. Boulton was more than 46s adrift in the VAG
podium lockout, with Brockbank and Williams fifth
and sixth on the lead lap.
In an unusually static order, Blake passed Walden at
half-distance for third in class behind Waterman’s
Willand Service Station car. Mike Good – who waved
to his dad on lap 11 – fellow class winner Griffiths and
Sutton, Roe, Sprague and Roger Good completed the
finishers. Wills was the other retirement, when its
engine’s turbo boost sensor blew out of the manifold.
Chamberlain led the sequel from start to finish, but
Brockbank led Spiller in the chase for the first six laps
before the Audi zapped the Seat. Boulton was fourth
throughout, but Prebble’s attempt to salvage something
from the day was over after a lap, the camouflaged
Astra slinking back to the paddock with a repeat of the
earlier problem and some serious investigation work
ahead. Also out of luck, gutted that his overall title
chances were effectively torpedoed, was Williams who
ran fifth until his Peugeot’s water temperature rose
alarmingly. Rather than risk an expensive blow-up, the
youngster wisely retired and resolved to wrap-up the
class crown at the Grand Finals event.
Jez’s demise sharpened Blake and Waterman’s duel,
now for class C victory and sixth place outright.
Following a battle with distilled from a five-car train
involving Mike Good, Walden and Sutton, James came
from behind to take it by 0.188s. In a catchweight bout
for seventh, Walden’s rorty BMW pipped Good’s zippy
Astra. Griffiths, Roe and Sprague finished a lap adrift,
ahead of Roger Good. Sutton’s late retirement put the
misfiring yellow and green MG on the sidelines with
Williams, Wills’ Maestro, Rushworth’s MG and the
luckless Prebble.

GULF RACE FUELS GT :

Watson shades Popovic in GT grippers

Two narrow victories by Doug Watson (Ferrari 488
Challenge) over Dylan Popovic (Ginetta-Chevrolet
G50) at the Castle Combe Racing Club’s Combe
Countdown event on August 26 had greater gravitas in
the big picture. Following the withdrawal of erstwhile
points leader Keith Butcher’s Lamborghini Huracan
Evo GT3 with transmission failure in qualifying, the
dynamic duo look set to slug it out for the Gulf Racing
Fuels GT Championship at October 5’s Grand Finals
double-header, which they enter a point apart, Doug on
38 and Dylan on 37. From thinner restricting their
scoring potential, Keith Johnston and defending
champion Jamie Sturges are on 35 and 33 respectively,
with none of the four dropping scores.
Watson aced pole with a 1m06.656s (99.91mph) shot,
pursued by Sturges on 1:07.090 in his Cupra
Competicion TCR. Popovic was third, just 0.107s
slower. The big surprise was Jordan Billinton’s return,
not with his familiar Lamborghini Gallardo Reiter GT3
but with a more potent Lambo from Sant Agata, a
steroidal Huracan Super Trofeo GT3 powered by a
similar 5.2-litre V10 engine. He clocked 1:08.358, a big
personal best, to bag P4.
Another returnee was Angus Fender – a winner last
October in a mighty eight-litre Dodge Viper V10 – now
in the ex-Steve Griffiths Ligier JS2P marque
championship car motivated by a 3.7 Ford V6 and new
to the Fender-Broad Classic Cars stable. Angus cut a
1:08.764 lap, half a second quicker than Nigel Mustill
in his Solution F Volvo caricature with a fresh 7.0
Chevvy V8 in its stern. Butcher managed three laps and
an unrepresentative 1:11.081 before a broken driveshaft
trailered his black and purple Lambo.
Also in the 11s were Tim Bishop (Caterham 7) and
Reuben Taylor’s Ginetta G40 silhouette with two-litre
Vauxhall power. Keith Johnston’s Zambezi Racing
Ginetta-Ford G50 and Time Attack man Haydn King’s
Seat Leon were well matched in the 12s. Welcome
newcomer James Harvey (Porsche Boxster S) and
Chris Everill’s electronically-troubled Ginetta
Chevrolet G55 made up the field, although Everill non
started.
Eleven competitors started the first race, red flagged on
lap five when Mustill’s Volvo lost its rear wing
climbing Avon Rise and, suddenly lacking significant
downforce, rolled into the infield and came to rest on
its side. Marshals were quickly in attendance but
damage to the stout French tubeframe chassis was
remarkably light and the intrepid west countryman –
who has saddled many hairy monsters at Combe, going
back decades – clambered out with bruising.
The restart over 11 laps featured an action replay, with
Watson’s turbocharged 3.9-litre V8 stallion staving off
Popovic’s hulking 7.0 Chevy-motivated machine by
0.362s. Dylan claimed the point for fastest lap in
1:07.069, 0.123s quicker than Doug’s, but pursuer
Billinton dipped down to 1:07.518 as he watched the
high-octane action unfold and fourth placed Sturges
recorded 1:07.941. Numbers may have been down, but
the competition between diverse cars remained fierce.
Fender finished fifth, ahead of Bishop, Taylor,
Johnston and King, but Harvey pitted when a wing
mount collapsed.
The sequel, down to 10 starters, featured another
compelling battle between Watson’s heavier tech-laden
Ferrari and the brute force of Popovic’s Ginetta. Dylan
squeezed past momentarily into the Esses, but Doug
prevailed again, by 0.847s. Chaser Popovic set fastest
lap in 1:07.461s (98.72mph). “Dylan was a better
driver than me,” said Doug magnanimously. “It was
slippery over the back and we had a few sideways
moments, but it was fun.”
Sturges weathered a challenge from Fender – who
improved the French Ligier’s best to 1:08.750 – in
keeping third, despite a couple of grassy moments at
Old Paddock. Billinton never made up for being passed
by Fender at the start, but came home fifth. Bishop,
Taylor, Johnston and King completed the finishers, but
Harvey parked on Avon Rise mid-race.

SAMCO SPORT HOT HATCH:

Goverd and Fleming top strong pack

Shaun Goverd (Citroen AX) and Craig Fleming (Honda
Civic EG) won the SamcoSport Hot Hatch
Championship rounds at the Castle Combe Racing
Club’s Combe Countdown event on August 26, but
Jake Alden (Citroen Saxo) remains favourite to lift the
inaugural crown at October 5’s Grand Finals. Beaten
only once in his class over 10 rounds to date – by Adam
Wilks (Peugeot 106) back in May – Alden sits eight
points ahead of class A leader Jason Stack (Renault
Clio) with other breakaway division toppers Shaun
Deacon (Peugeot 106 GTi) and young Crofton
Woodhatch (BMW Mini Cooper S) within striking
distance.
Bridgwater Audi specialist AFleming, out for the
second time this year, and Goverd set the qualifying
pace in the 34-strong pack, Craig’s 1m12.585s
(91.78mph) best over a second clear. Wet weather king
Ross Parker (Civic EF) and Geoff Ryall (106 GTi)
shared row two in the 13s, with Corey Webber (Civic),
Will di Claudio (Clio) and Shaun Deacon (106 GTi)
lining up before Stack, suppressed to third in class A by
Webber and W-A-S Racing boss di Claudio in the long
14s. Matthew Johnston’s vivid green Peugeot 205 GTi – destined non-start – and Woodhatch’s GMS Mini
completed the top 10, ahead of Lewis Harwood’s
unusual Alfa Romeo 33 Cloverleaf and Alden, whose
1:16.924s (86.57mph), headed C by over three seconds.
Woodhatch’s rival, Dane Erling Jensen, was 0.6s adrift
in 13th.
Driveshaft failure as the start lights went out ended
Fleming’s first outing as it began and di Claudio also
became a spectator on lap one. Thus Goverd was
leading Parker by a whisker, with Webber and Stack
squabbling mightily over third and the class A lead
behind them as the race evolved. Ryall, Deacon and
Woodhatch were next up when red flags stopped it,
James Macgregor’s emerald green Cardiosport Honda
Integra, running 10th, had hopped the kerb exiting
Camp, hit the cushioned barriers a glancing blow and
rolled languidly beneath the starter’s tower. Happily,
James alighted without injury.
Goverd won the eight lap restart from Parker, who set
fastest lap in 1:13.383 (90.75mph). An ecstatic Webber
was third, 0.284s ahead of Stack, beaten in class A for
only the second time this term. Ryall and Deacon
finished a similar distance apart in their B tussle, Geoff
completing a hat-trick in fifth overall. Woodhatched
topped the Minis in seventh, split from chaser Jensen
by Julian Fisher (Ford Fiesta ST150), Harwood’s Alfa
and dominant C victor Alden.
The second race was all about Fleming, the former
Juno sportscar racer streaking away from Parker and
finishing 13.196s before the Wiltshire College Honda.
Stack turned the tables on Webber to land third, while
Ryall again bested Deacon. Fleming’s sizzling 1:11.951
(92.58mph) best lap came closest to eclipsing Dan
Brown’s 1:11.798 back in May.
Di Claudio came through to seventh ahead of Jensen,
who having jumped Woodhatch at the start pipped him
to Mini honours. A lap down, Alden maintained his
class C superiority, finishing 10th ahead of A runners
Fisher, Tim Fooks-Bale (Clio 172) and Dean Clayton
(VW Golf Mk2 16v), with Nathan Nicholls third of the
class F Minis.

MARK SUTTON REMEMBRANCE RACE:

Popovic flies to land Sutton honours

Dylan Popovic’s confidence in his Ginetta-Chevrolet
G50 was brimming in qualifying for the second Mark
Sutton Memorial closed-wheel race on August 26, their
1m06.601s (99.99mph) pole time – a splendid personal
best – tantalisingly close to a coveted 100mph lap of the
1.85-mile circuit at which the Sarajevo-born IT guru
has entertained in GT cars since his Marlin 5EXi
adventures of the ‘noughties.’
Pursued initially by Harrison Chamberlain’s VW Golf
turbo, Dylan won the event-closing half-hour pitstop
feature too, beating Jordan Billinton (Lamborghini
Huracan Super Trofeo GT3) to the chequered flag by
almost half a minute after 24 laps, with the two-car
team of Chamberlain and Dave Spiller (Audi TT
Turbo) third as they didn’t reckon the Golf would go
the distance. Chamberlain relayed Spiller a lap before
Popovic stopped, whereupon Keith Johnston’s Ginetta
Ford G50 topped the lap chart as he handed it over to
local Hot Hatch racer Shaun Deacon.
Two laps down, the fight for fourth place favoured
Johnson/Deacon initially, but fifth qualifier Julian
Fisher (GAP Supplies Ford Fiesta ST150) and the
Renault Clio X85 of Robert and Ben Watson – Ferrari
ace Doug’s sons – jostled past to head the tin tops at the
finish. The Watsons repassed Mike Good’s Vauxhall
Corsa, teamed with Nathan Sutton’s lemon and lime
hued MG ZR, to claim fifth as the Ginetta slipped to
seventh. Rushworth’s Jamaican-badged ZR and the
Clio of Justin Holloway/Ben Heywood also completed
22 laps.
Tenth placed Iain Dowler (ZR), Daniel Roe (Fiesta)
and Stephen Bracegirdle (BMW Mini JCR) were next
home, a lap ahead of husband and wife Toby
Harris/Lisa Selby’s rejuvenated Ford Puma and the
Peugeot 106 GTi of lad and dad Adam and Peter Wilks.
ENDS