Q: WHEN IS 10 LAPS NOT 10 LAPS?

A: WHEN YOU RACE AT CROFT
(reporter: Matt Hollis)

The 2CV Racing Club hadn’t been to Croft for some years. Croft is up North for anyone living South of it and so the promise of pie and peas from the crazy SAS boys proved the crucial lure for the field who attended. However, the bonus was the track, and subsequently the racing, which was excellent and a return will be more than necessary for next year.

To many it was a new track. Those who had raced there before were giving out such advice as “it’s all flat”, “no need to brake” etc. Matt Hollis later took some of this advice in the race, but it didn’t do him or the Armco barrier any favours. A certain Mr. Sparrow took pole from Myatt, and rookie sensation Shaun McLaughlin. The rest of the field took the remaining places funnily enough. Richard Hollis appeared to crash badly on the slowest corner on the track. He would like to categorically state that he was only pulling off the track after his engine blew up and that he wasn’t expecting to crash into the barrier. Still, at 5 miles an hour he managed to cause enough damage. Keith Shoebridge and Bob Rice made a welcome return and Graham Harper and Scott Brennan drove the 2500ish miles from the distant land of Scots to line up on the grid in the podium finishing 24hr Ramageddon car.

At the start of the Sprint race the field was close and lap 1 was frantic to say the least. Into the 2nd to last corner the 5 abreast cars thinned out as M Hollis departed left. The damp track in qualifying had dried but there was still no grip and Matt hit the barrier hard enough to dent it. Others including Simon Pearson skated wide but survived, although Neil Thompson spun in sympathy on the inside, regaining last. Up at the front, Sparrow and Myatt pulled away from a gaggle of cars including McLaughlin, Gary Adnitt (in the Tete Rouge car), Wayne Cowling, Pete Cardell-Williams, Mick Storey and Andy Smith. Neil Thompson was fighting his way back through the field when he developed a misfire. Despite jamming the throttle open in an heroic attempt to fix the problem, Neil finally joined Hollis and Graham Harper in retirement (Graham stopping after he realised he’d left the gas on at home). Richard Hollis retired twice with a faulty spark plug, but eventually made it to the finish in 10th place. Throughout the race the battles continued, until on the last lap Myatt dived for the inside at the final hairpin. Sparrow turned in, and the ensuing ‘racing accident’ meant both cars took potentially crippling damage. In fact, such was the time it took for them both to get going, it was starting to look as though the rest of the field would finish before them. Eventually Sparrow, followed by Myatt, took the flag, except they didn’t. An inability to count by the officials meant the race continued after the proposed 10 laps. Adnitt was 3rd at this stage, ahead of McLaughlin, whilst behind them Mad Pete, Storey and Smith drove into each other (Cowling already having retired with a broken steering arm after contact). The team-mates managed to copy the Myatt/Sparrow incident, but went one better with Pete buzzing his engine as the front wheels lifted off the ground. Andy Smith was struggling to find a gear, so much so that the order remained the same as it had been before the collision.

At this stage, the race became a bit confusing. Myatt had already pulled off at the exit of the pitlane, but later rejoined as the race was apparently still happening. Sparrow spent most of the lap waving to his adoring fans (or something like that) before realising that the cars behind were catching him extremely quickly. In the end, he crossed the line for a second time, just ahead of Adnitt and McLaughlin, as the chequered flag was finally waved. However, the results stood from the previous 10th lap, leaving the top 3 as Sparrow, Myatt and Adnitt.

Four 2CV champions lined up on the grid for the Enduro. Coupled with many other race and 24hr winners, was it one of the all time greatest fields? The ultimate dream team (depending on your type of dream) of Sparrow and Adnitt took pole from single driver Myatt and the returning pairing of Pearson and Graham Wallace. Christine and Neil left baby worries behind and paired up to take a good 8th on the grid. The all-female pairing of Sam Fritchley and Jackie Lockyer stuck the Tete Rouge machine into 11th ahead of a welcome return of Roger Lott/Mark Evans, Stuart Dean and John Parker/Tom Woollard (in Andy Smith’s car). Ben Allan also appeared for the Endurance and qualified 14th.

The Endurance brought out some classic racing with over 8 cars battling for 3rd right from the start. Myatt and Adnitt headed off to contest the lead, leaving Pearson, Cardell-Williams, Lott, Richard Hollis, Neil Thompson, Brennan and Fritchley locked in a battle for 3rd! Unluckily, Sammie lost it sideways after her throttle snapped round the back of the circuit, and was collected heavily by Scott. Both were pulled off the track but after much effort they got going with some temporary trackside (and paddock) repairs, albeit half a year behind. Although neither would be classified at least their team mates got to experience the might of Croft. Wayne Cowling had a slow start and spent much time working up through the field. By mid distance he had caught the pack of Lott, Hollis, Pearson and Cardell-Williams with Myatt and Adnitt still out front. The pack battling for 3rd were pulling entertaining manoeuvres every lap and at one point included a four a breast battle with Richard Hollis overtaking on the old concrete airfield strip only for a yellow flag to be shown! In this scenario it was unclear who was overtaking who, so a rather gentlemanly merge into one line followed. A little further back a good battle ensued between John Parker, Ben Allan, Keith Shoebridge and Christine Thompson, joined momentarily by Paul Robertson/50th birthday boy Colin Whiteley, who had pitted on the first lap, along with Stuart Dean and Andy Smith after a tangle in the midfield. John later fell foul of overtaking under a yellow flag and, despite giving back the place, he was still called in to be tested on flag colours by the stewards.

At the pitstops the groups were broken up with Myatt now leading from Sparrow. The PTS car had had a slow pit stop but it set up a great recovery drive from Pete reeling in Phil lap after lap and making it a great spectacle to watch. A fast change over from Pearson to Wallace rocketed them to 3rd. Car 2 now carried Bousfield in 4th battling with Storey in car 8. Evans (car 42) led Matt Hollis and despite closing the gap form 30 seconds to under 10 by the flag those two finished in that order. Elsewhere Keith and Bob had problems with a car that wouldn’t re-start. Despite half the people in the pits giving car 99 a push it refused to co-operate so a light service was required and eventually it returned to the track. Slightly more terminal was Ben Allan’s 2CV which decided it had had enough when the clutch gave up after its pit stop. Stuart Dean suffered an unusual incident by being called in for a suddenly increased noisy exhaust. Several adjustments were made losing precious time and resulting in non-classification. The battle for first went down to the wire with Sparrow pulling a move on Phil with just minutes remaining. Wallace took a good 3rd from Bousfield, Storey, Evans and Hollis. 2CV Racing legend Colin Whiteley in the Tete Rouge car deliberately numbered 50, and co-driven with Paul Robertson, came home next. Neil and Christine Thompson raced hard to 9th followed by Tom Woollard and the unlucky pairing of McLaughlin and Smith, who had been badly delayed changing the fan on the first lap. Still running but missing out on classification were Harper and Lockyer, whilst Stuart Dean capped off his brilliant weekend by buzzing the engine down the pit straight with a few laps to go.

(reporter: Matt Hollis)