WHITSUN WARRIORS RACEDAY
NANKANG TYRES HOT HATCH CHAMPIONSHIP:
Webber and Jensen land Whitsun doubles
Neither Corey Webber nor Erling Jensen are strangers to Castle Combe’s podium, indeed the Dane won the Special GT championship in 1993 – the year in which the Nankang Tyres Hot Hatch title race leader was born! Both scored double class victories at May 25’s Whitsun Warriors meeting, Webber’s extending his unbeaten outright win record to six from six this term in the Hyland Motorsport Honda Civic EP3.
Following dramatic second races on Howard’s Day (Easter Monday) and at the Spring Speedsters event in early May, Corey’s third Bank Holiday Monday of the season marked his first untroubled runs. Jensen’s first outing in his ‘Flying Zebra” MINI Cooper S R53 since he landed a second in class at last October’s finals was the turnaround in fortunes he’d craved. Fifth and third place finishes overall deservedly saw Erling named Driver of the Day by the commentary team.
A bumper entry of 30 competitors set out to qualify ‘Nankang Style,’ the variety of cars a major talking point of the day. For the third successive meeting Webber topped TSL’s timesheets, his 1m13.528s (90.57mph) best lap 0.134 of Easter’s pace in the preliminaries. As last time out, Saloon convert Mark Wyatt (Interceptor Racing Vauxhall Astra) ran Corey closest on 1;14.353, with Class B pacesetter Lee Waterman (Willand Service Centre (Civic EP3) within half a second.
Tim Fooks-Bale (Renault Clio 172) bagged fourth – third of the A cars – ahead of the Ford Fiesta of John McMillan and Julian Fisher. Adam Wilks (Peugeot 106 GTi) and Wayne Rushworth (MG ZR), leaders of Class D and C respectively, lapped within 0.265s of Fisher, with Justin Holloway (Clio) also in the 16s.
Geoff Ryall (Peugeot 106 GTi, destined not to start when its engine’s oil pressure faded) was not quite a second adrift of Wilks, with Jensen’s supercharged MINI, Ian Knight’s Honda Civic Type R EP3 and Jamie Fowler (Fiesta ST150) on his tail. MG ZR stalwarts James Blake , James Keepin and Oliver Sprague were in the next group, interspersed with the MINI R53s of Josh Carter and Alex Wellings and Joe Hathaway’s blue Clio, recovered from its surprisingly light altercation with the tyre wall at Camp at Easter, spat off on oil leaking from its gearbox.
The distinctive pistachio-hued AT Motorsport Honda Civics of invitees Chris Aram (Mugen body kitted FN2) and Adam Kirkland (EP3) had Ben Pemberton for company in the Hyland race hire FN2 saddled by Mark Ridout on its recent debut. Adam Wilsher (MG ZR), Ollie Coles (Civic Type R) and Stephen Bracegirdle (MINI R53) were next, pursued by Devon Till with a 1600cc engine upgrade in his previously 1400cc Wiltshire College Civic EF. Team mate and reigning champ Sam Williams would have to start his sister car from the back, behind the Peugeot 106 of Steve Andrews and Peter Wilks and Ethan Burleigh (Drive It Ohm MINI).
Webber made the best getaway as the bank of red lights on the gantry went out to start race one. Pursuers Wyatt and McMillan were locked in combat on lap 2 when McMillan dived inside Wyatt at Quarry, a tap flicking the yellow Astra into the barrier. Mark returned to the pits dragging half his rear bumper, but gamely continued. McMillan’s Fiesta was out on the spot.
This left Adam Wilks, Fooks-Bale, Waterman and Holloway batting behind Webber, powering clear in his “mobile sauna,” with Jensen homing in on the quartet. Waterman usurped Wilks, who got back ahead seven tours later. Unbeknown to onlookers, Waterman was in difficulty with overheating. As he slowed and pitted on the last lap, the Renaults of Hathaway – flying once past Fisher into Gooch’s – and Holloway charged past for third and fourth, taking Julian with them.
Had he known he was so close to home, Waterman would have risked it for the class B win. Instead, with Knight already out, Pemberton was chuffed to claim it in the Hyland FN2. Jensen climbed to a splendid C-winning sixth, 0.274s ahead of Blake, with Keepin’s similar steed eighth, also on the lead lap.
Sam Williams scorched from the back to second in D and ninth overall. The green Hondas of Kirkland and Aram sandwiched the MINIs of Wellings and Carter at the finish, a distance ahead of Pemberton. Willsher, Coles, Bracegirdle, Peter Wilks and Burleigh completed the classified finishers as nine rivals fell by the wayside, including Fooks-Bale a lap from the finish.
There was no respite from the heat as 21 cars reappeared for the sequel, flagged three laps early with Kirkland’s Honda in the Recticel cushioning at Gooch’s. Again Webber had the measure of allcomers, but despite winning by almost 30 seconds was struggling. “I was just trying to hang on to it,” he said after a sixth straight win took him to the season’s half-way point as the man to beat.
Fisher was second, ahead of Jensen after a remarkable day at his old stamping ground. Erling placed his MINIcannily to keep Hathaway, Blake and Aram behind him. “I was only going to pick one line and stick to it,” he grinned with a class-winning third to add to his illustrious CV. Carter, class winners Williams and Pemberton – an unexpected double for the Doris Archer Motorsport driver – all covered the winner’s distance.
Wellings, Willsher, Coles, the rear bumperless Rushworth, Peter Wilks and Burleigh all took the chequer. Holloway’s Gulf-esque Clio crawled back to the pits under its own steam after 12 laps, joining Bracegirdle, McMillan’s leaky Fiesta and early dropouts Adam Wilks and Wyatt – who parked at the Esses – in retirement.
CCRC FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP:
Double winner Nippers ends Cooper’s run
Welshman Tom Nippers had form at Castle Combe, where he won a United Championship round on the National contest’s last visit in August 2024. The Newport man’s pace has not deserted him in the interim, for he stemmed triple champion Luke Cooper’s run of 10 successive CCRC round victories at May 25’s Whitsun Warriors event, then doubled-up on a memorable day. Nippers’ success in his black Wedge Group Galvanizing Van Diemen RF01 was the Norfolk marque’s first in the resident series since Alex Walker’s pair – two years previously, to the weekend! Clear in the title race, Cooper chased Michael home, with seven-time class B champion Nathan Ward close behind in his Swift SC92.
Disappointing at just nine, the entry was further depleted when news came of quadruple champion Bob Higgins having undergone emergency surgery in the days leading to our third race meeting of the season. That took son Adam out of the list too, but we are happy to report that ‘Hurricane’ was soon out of hospital, convalescing at home and raring to return to the tracks. Everybody wishes Bob well.
There were sad tiding from the USA too, where Tom Hunter Jr lost his fight with illness in California. Tom raced with us regularly, occasionally flew over the Atlantic to keep an eye on things and supported Nathan Ward from afar. Our sincere condolences go out to his family and many friends.
Cooper claimed first blood on Whit Monday, the factory Swift Cooper SC20 driver crafting a fine 1m10.511s (94.45mph) – the best lap of the season to date – to snare pole. On what was clearly a quick day, Nippers’s final shot in the SLN Racing Newport Galvanisers Van Diemen was a scant 0.073s slower.
Cooper’s team mate Sam Skellett recorded a stout 1:11.751 – his quickest to date – at the wheel of his sister SC20. Nathan Ward, a five time outright winner at Combe between May 2012 and October 2017 in Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum chassis, to share row two with 1:13.058. Alicia Hamlen was delighted to be back in the 13s for fifth in her Ray GR09. The indefatigable Ben Barry (Lanan 1604) and Peter Lavender in his splendid Historic Merlyn Mk11/17 completed the grid.
The Formula Fordsters opened proceedings, with Nippers and Cooper haring down towards Quarry abreast, neither prepared to cede the advantage. Nippers held on, but Cooper forged past on lap 3 and held sway under relentless pressure for seven laps in sweltering heat. Third placed Skellett went mowing at the Esses on lap 4, filling his radiator ducts with grass. Wisely Sam retired four circuits later, rather than risk cooking his engine.
Having slipstreamed Cooper and essayed boldly to pass on the outside of Folly three laps earlier, Nippers dug deeper to regain the lead up Avon Rise on lap 10. With one eye on his water temperature gauge – reading 115C by the end – Tom staved off Luke to the chequer. Cooper’s engine “started to fluff” on the last tour but he crossed the line 0.544s behind his rival, proving it only takes two to make a race. Nippers also bagged the fastest lap point with 1:11.073 (93.70mph) on his slate.
Ward and Hamlen were next in, fourth and fifth, a lap ahead of Lavender. Barry pitted after two laps with a misfire, a plug lead having snagged on the Lanan’s engine cover. Dad Tony removed the offending panel, reattached the cap and Ben went back out. Annoyed, he duly lapped in a personal best 1:15.610!
With its grid determined by second best Q times – Cooper’s 0.015 shy of Nippers’ this time – race two was very straightforward. Tom made the best start and remained beyond Luke’s reach, emerging victorious by towards 10 seconds. Cooper’s lightning reflexes caught a huge slide through Camp but was safe from attack.
Chasers Ward and Skellett weren’t far apart in third and fourth, lapping in the 12s. Hamlen was fifth again, ahead of Barry, who passed Lavender on the second lap. Nippers again set fastest lap, his 1:10.766 (94.11mph) a smidgeon slower than the season’s race best, Cooper’s 1:10.739 from Easter Monday.
AVON TUNING GT CHAMPIONSHIP:
Scaramanga stretches lead, Kakad sets pace
Another pair of class wins extended Dave Scaramanga’s perfect record at the top of the Avon Tuning GT Championship table as the competition reached its half-way point at May 25’s Whitsun Warriors event. In an action replay of Easter Monday, the Ferrari 488 driver outran Keith Butcher’s Lamborghini Huracan Evo GT3 in the opener, then played second fiddle to Sacha Kakad, who took over the black and purple Lambo for the sequel. Despite scorching heat, the talented Kakad – who sportingly does not run for points – lapped within three-tenths of his record, set in last October’s finale, but for five thrilling laps Scaramanga held him at bay brilliantly.
Scaramanga set the qualifying pace, his 1m05.316s (101.96mph) best 1.270s swifter than reigning champion Dylan Popovic’s 1:06.586 in the big seven-litre Ginetta-Chevrolet G50. Butcher gridded third in the mid-sevens in the 5.7 Lambo, alongside Chris Everill whose 6.2-litre Ginetta-Chevrolet G55 was back in fine fettle following its whoopsie at Camp on Howard’s Day. Fortunately its Yorkshire-based manufacturer maintains a comprehensive stock of spares for recent models.
On their tails with a tremendous 1:07.847 – a second inside his race best three weeks previously – was Will Self in his remarkable K24-engined Honda Civic, benefiting from slick tyres all round having shown pace on a mish-mash of old rubber, some retrieved from a skip at the Spring Speedsters rounds. Class E rival Wayne Spiller (SEAT Leon) was two seconds behind, separated by Richard Guy’s gruff 7.0 Mosler MT900, a bespoke GT contender using Chevrolet Corvette corners and an LS7 engine mated to a transaxle in the opposite end. Guy recorded 1:08.690, a personal best.
Jordan Billinton was Guy’s row-mate in the 5.2 ME7 Lamborgini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo. Doubling-up with a Dave Allan Trophy entry, Jordan set conservative 10s in both Q session, netting eighth in the GT line-up and pole in the busy memorial race.
The ever smiling Philip “Mr Cheese” Young was next in his Vauxhall red-top powered tube frame Mitsubishi Colt. He out qualified the Ferrari 355 Challenge cars of Tim Mogridge and Vance Kearney – set to contest the Superformance Club Classic races at September’s eagerly-awaited Nova Aluminium Autumn Classic event.
Popovic was out within seconds of the first race’s start. As he tried to match the sleek black Ferrari’s acceleration to his right the silver and bronze Ginetta slowed suddenly. Dylan’s initial thought was that a half-shaft had failed, but the diff had grenaded and he pulled off, unfortunately sidelined for the day. The safety car was deployed to cover marshals clearing the stricken car.
At the green Scaramanga let rip again, with Butcher’s Lambo and Self’s bewinged Honda in tow. Everill, Guy and Billinton’s low radar-cheating machines filled Will’s mirrors. Spiller and Young headed the Ferraris of Mogridge, Kearney and Peter Fisk, who had sought approval to join the fray in his matt black Mondial QV, entered for the DAT with son Robin. Mogridge and Fisk both pitted in the caution period, the former rejoining and able to catch the snake.
As the race went on, Scaramanga plumped a 6.7 second cushion over Butcher inside three full speed laps, Dave’s best of 1:06.606s (99.99mph) beyond his rivals’ reach. Butcher and Self joined him on the podium, Keith reporting a welcome breeze ducted into his cockpit. Will’s 1:08.648s standard pared 0.202s from his previous PB in the self-developed Honda.
Everill retired after seven laps. “The car and driver were melting. As heat soak started to set in and oil temperature was 120 degrees [C] I couldn’t risk the engine,” he said. Guy thus inherited fourth but the Mosler started to smoke, which attracted attention. He pitted on the final lap and crossed the line before Billinton and Spiller, but wasn’t classified on the opposite side of the fence.
Young and Mogridge, who spun at the Esses, finished a lap down, ahead of Kearney. Philip may have flashbacks over an extraordinary occurrence after Folly. “Never in all the years I’ve been racing have I had a deer run towards me. I saw the whites of its eyes and its tongue hanging out” he reported. Fortunately the wild animal, thought to have been grazing within the solar farm in the centre of the circuit, disappeared to the safety of cover.
Just five cars emerged for the second stanza as ambient temperatures soared past 30C, uncomfortably hot for engines and drivers clad in multi-layer racesuits. Kakad hadn’t driven the Lamborghini in the morning, but qualified on recent familiarity and lined up with Scaramanga, Billinton, Young and Kearney. The last pair quickly decided it wasn’t for them and pitted.
That left the Ferrari and two Huracans on track, but Scaramanga did his level best to keep Kakad honest and sweltering onlookers entertained. For four laps Dave kept Sacha behind, but at the end of the fifth Kakad pulled off a breathtaking pass down the inside into Camp, having feinted the other way initially.
Thereafter Sacha was sensational. Despite the heat, which meant reducing last October’s 1:02.956s record was too tall an order, nine laps in the threes underlined how hard he was trying in as he authored a runaway victory. “Dave was driving very well from the start, defending hard. He soaked up a lot of pressure. The track was very hot and the rear tyres went away. I got very, very sideways once. That was exciting,” he smiled.
Scaramanga was stoked by the early battle. “I was thrilled to keep Sacha behind for five laps. He’s very quick through Camp with all that aero, but it was great running so close. Billington, the only other finisher, was relieved to see the chequered flag. “That was horrible, like being in a sauna,” he said afterwards.
SOUTH CERNEY ENGINEERING SALOON CHAMPIONSHIP:
Badger Bill is last Whitsun Warrior standing
Bill Brockbank has won races at Castle Combe before, but never one as strange as Bank Holiday Monday’s second saloon car round, in which he was the only finisher. As the hottest May since meteorological records wreaked havoc on machinery, the Wiltshire race car builder’s Badger5 SEAT Leon remained fit as his three remaining rivals posted retirements. “It was bizarre,” said Bill, “I was constantly checking my mirrors, but no one was there. It was 31C ambient and unbearably hot in the car, so I was concentrating on not making mistakes and staying consistent. It was a relief when the chequered flag was thrown at 75% distance, but also a hollow feeling,” said the last Whitsun Warrior standing.
Morning qualifying had brought only six competitors out, four in forced induction Class A cars following the mass defection to the Hot Hatch pack, particularly among drivers of smaller capacity naturally-aspirated machines. Only Jon Lannon (Citroen Saxo VTS) remained in Class C.
Having restored his Poplar Insulation VW Golf GTi turbo’s brakes – which alarmingly had gone AWOL at the Spring Speedsters meeting when he put it on the front row of a mixed Saloon and GT grid – 2024 champion Harrison Chamberlain laid down a 1m10.631s (94.29mph) pole lap, four tenths outside Easter Monday’s race best. Jack Boulton ran him closest on 1:11.851 in his rasping K24 engined Honda CRX.
Gearbox fixed, Adam Prebble’s We Wheel Fix It Vauxhall Astra turbo was fractionally slower on 1:11.960. Bill Brockbank’s SEAT time was only 0.105s down on the former champion’s, with Todd Carter (VW Golf GTi turbo) on his heels with a personal best 1:12.445. Just 0.594s spanned second to fifth on the grid, giving rise to optimism for a competitive racing. Alas it was not to be.
Chamberlain non-started, having decided to contest the Dave Allan Trophy with Tom Hanks, leaving Brockbank to make hay, pursued by Carter who whooshed past Boulton on the opening lap. “I expected the other Golf to push me along,” said Bill after the race in which Carter set fastest lap at 1:12.797 (91.48mph) on the first flyer, before his car wilted and Boulton claimed the runner-up spot. Lannon completed the finishers, Prebble having pitted with a misfire, returned for an exploratory lap after some under bonnet fettling, then retired.
Four survivors formed the second grid, but Boulton’s Honda was out inside a lap when its gearbox’ speed sensors popped out of the casing, enabling oil to spray onto the exhaust manifold. That left Prebble, Brockbank and Carter. Bill went ahead on lap three, before Adam’s misfire returned, forcing another maddening DNF. And any thoughts of a duel were scotched seconds later when Carter peeled slowly into the paddock with a punctured front tyre. “It had probably been like that for a couple of laps,” he shrugged, as with 14 minutes remaining Brockbank soldiered on…
“I really hope the numbers pick up and folks return to this championship before the next round,” said Bill afterwards. “There’s a two month gap until the next outing [within the HSCC’s 60th Anniversary historic racing spectacular on August 8/9]. We should have our full aero package by then and can chase those elusive, to me, 1m10s laps.”
DAVE ALLAN TROPHY:
Ferrari duo tops bumper Dave Allan Trophy crop
Wayne Marrs and James Parker’s Dave Allan Trophy race victory on Bank Holiday Monday, May 25, marked the day’s second Ferrari 488 Challenge gold. More than that though, competitor support for the 13th running of the 40-minute closed-wheel pitstop event remembering the Honda test driver and Synchro Motorsport racer who died in 2012 was magnificent – only beaten by 2017’s field of 34.
Inexpensive entry fees and a crusade by CCRC manager Cat saw the field treble in size in the days preceding the Whitsun Warriors event. And what a spectacle 30 GT and saloon cars representing 11 marques made as they took the rolling start just before 1700, with the extreme heat of the day having ebbed away towards an altogether more comfortable balmy evening.
Last year’s winner Dylan Popovic did not get out, thus it was a delighted Jordan Billinton who qualified his 5.2-litre V10-engined Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo on pole with a 1m10.114s shot when he found space. Chris Everill (6.2 Ginetta-Chevrolet G55) circulated 0.101s slower for P2, with the white and orange Marrs/Parker Ferrari third on 1:10.647.
Best saloon was the Harrison Chamberlain/Tom Hanks 2.0 VW Golf GTi turbo, fourth on 1:11.679, with Jas Sapra’s twin-turbocharged 3.0 BMW F80 M3 also in the 11s. The earlier FINA-liveried BMW E36 of Gavin Dunn, shared with Thruxton engine tuning legend Ray West, was next in the mid-13s, ahead of a super-competitive swarm of Hot Hatches.
Joe Hathaway (Renault Clio) was quickest of them, but Julian Fisher (Ford Fiesta ST150), welcome returnee Tony Cooper – with Kyle Bradley sharing his Honda Civic EG – and Justin Holloway (Clio) within 0.456s of his 1:16.029 Class 3 pole time.
The top 12 was rounded out by the black Civic Type R EP3 of Ian Knight and double Castle Combe GT champion Jamie Sturges, Stewart Cheesman and Corey Webber debuting the former’s 2.4 Civic EG. They shaded another K24-powered Castrol-liveries Civic, with Allan’s old buddy Phil Wright and John Hemming up, and the quickest MG ZRs of Stephen McDermid and Chris Emmett/Dan Ludlow.
Elsewhere in the field were returnee Sam Daffin (Fiesta), the little Ginetta G40s of Leo Meakin and Daniel Gibson, MINI Cooper Ss of brothers Josh and Todd Carter, and stalwart Stephen Bracegirdle, Matt Brennan’s high-winged Ford Escort Mk2 and a lone Hyundai Coupe ahead of August 31’s BARC series outing.
Billinton led the first 10 laps, initially with Marrs in the Venari Ferrari, Sapra’s meaty blue BMW and Chamberlain chasing. Behind West, Fisher led the Hot Hatch brigade from Hathaway and Holloway’s Renaults, with Cooper, Cheesman and Steve McDermid in pursuit.
McDermid and Cooper fell early, as did Chamberlain whose Golf’s engine bay erupted into flames in the pits 10 laps in. Marrs, who assumed the lead when Billinton made his mandatory stop, enjoyed three laps in front before relaying car owner Parker.
Cheesman and Fisher went top in the transitional phase, before Parker, Sapra – first of the leaders to stop after nine laps – and Billinton went back ahead and stayed in that order. The trio were separated by 34 seconds at the chequer, flown seven minutes early with the Honda Civic of Adam Kirkland/Chris Aram in the barrier. Parker set fastest lap at 1:09.970 (95.18mph).
West/Dunn finished fourth, a lap down but one ahead of the massed Class 3 ranks. Hathaway, fifth, earned top honours by 11 seconds from Cheesman/Webber, Fisher and Holloway, all on 24 laps. The next nine finishers in the category covered 23 tours, led by Michael Parsons’ VW Golf GTi and the MG ZR of James Harvey/Chas Ryles which crossed the line together, ninth and 10th.
The Carters in the surviving MINI – Bracegirdle’s was retired with a fuel leak – and Daffin were next, with Blake/Gaffney’s Clio 13th, chased by the Wright/Hemming Honda which had Jake McDermid/Andy Heitman’s ZR and Meakin’s grey Ginetta shadowing it. Brennan’s Escort, Gibson’s Ginetta, Chris and Harrison Compton-Goddard’s Ferrari 308 and the Hyundai of Terry Gallagher/Bradley Trevett completed the 20 finishers.
ENDS