Morris, Gadd and Simms win Snetterton Formula Ford crackers

Formula Fords spanning two golden eras from 1967-81 delivered sensational sport at Snetterton – birthplace of the Festival in 1972 – for last weekend’s Historic Sports Car Club season opener. Watched by Royale’s Alan Cornock and Van Diemen’s Ralph and Angie Firman, 78-year-old veteran racer Rick Morris won Saturday’s Classic championship round in a Royale RP29 liveried as his period machine.

“I saw cars going everywhere in my mirrors,” said Morris, who escaped when Adriano Medeiros and debutant Tom Gadd clashed at Chapman, the pinch point onto the Bentley Straight, sending the Brazilian’s Van Diemen RF80 flying. Locost and F1000 champion Gadd, debuting his Numanair/Mike Mackonochie tribute RF81, recovered from midfield to second, ahead of Simon Toyne (Winkelmann). When a suspension radius rod pulled out of his Lola T540E’s chassis, second-fastest qualifier Jordan Harrison shot Hadfield Motorsport’s Hawke DL2B from the back to fourth. 

Harrison was then clear in Sunday’s sequel when the water system pressurized, blowing coolant over his tyres. As he pitted, Gadd duelled with Morris and pulled away to an unexpected victory. “After a day’s testing at Mallory we came hoping for a top-10 finish,” he said. Morris, Medeiros and Philip Senior (Royale RP24), up from 14th, chased Gadd home.

The Historic set featured defending Classic champion Benn Simms (Jomo JMR7) blitzing a near capacity field. Simms’ car control was awesome through the Coram sweeper as he outpaced Ben Powney in Peter Alexander’s Scalextric Jamun T3 and 2013 Historic FF1600 champion Sam Mitchell, up from 19th following electrical gremlins in qualifying, on Saturday. A track-limits penalty dropped Mitchell to fifth, behind Neil Hose (Titan Mk6) and Christian Goller (Lola T202). Mitchell bustled past Goller and Hose for second on Sunday, while Danny Stanzl (Elden Mk8) repelled Powney for fifth.     

Formula Ford 2000’s 50th anniversary celebrations kicked off with Ben Glasswell delivering two Suffolk punch victories in a field of Reynards bar two. Father Steve learned engine building skills from maestro Colin Holt, but nobody expected Ben to be so much quicker than the rest. “I won last year when rivals fell off, but these were my first proper ones,” he said, 45 years to the day after Richard Trott won a British championship round here.

Double champion Graham Fennymore chased, then returned home to change engines overnight, but carb problems restricted him to third. Michael Moyers, racing on slicks for the first time since 2007 in Formula BMW, was third on Saturday, but later retired with a holed radiator. Adrian Reynard, 1979 Snetterton winner and Euroseries champ, was fifth on day one, behind Clubmans racer Jonty Hair. His best Pinto result rewarded mentor and Beagle builder Jim Yardley, present on his 86th birthday!      

GTO Engineering’s Kevin Jones made history in Saturday’s Historic Modsports and Special Saloons race when, as an invitee, he took the chequered flag – a first for the ADA Janspeed Triumph TR8 turbo that went to Le Mans in 1980 but had not previously finished a race! Alas oil pressure issues forced retirement on Sunday when Andy Willis scored a first victory in his Ford V8-engined Austin ‘A302’. Myles Castaldini (Davrian-Ford Mk8) passed Willis repeatedly mid-Coram, but matched Saturday’s second, ahead of Martin Reynolds (Escort Mk1).

Jason Timms (Brabham BT21) won both 1000cc F3 races. A collision with Scot Ross Drybrough (ex-Patrick Champin Merlyn Mk14A) while retaking Saturday’s lead at Riches cracked the latter’s steering rack, but he salvaged third behind Peter de la Roche (Alexis Mk17). Timms and de la Roche traded the lead in Sunday’s slipstreamer. Drybrough was third after Mirage’s Joseph Pomfret found and fitted a replacement rack. Fourth, with Francis Falconer’s Chevron B15 in tow, was Mark Carter in Speedsport’s Brabham BT21 that Peter Westbury drove for Ian Walker in the 1968 British GP race – the first meeting Carter attended!   

Sunday’s Griffiths Haig Trophy races showcased a catchweight array of 1950s sportscars, with Persian-German ex-F1 engineer Robin Tuluie’s Kellison-Chrysler, US-based Irishman Paddins Dowling (HWM-Jaguar), Canadian Avery Baker (Cooper T39 Bobtail) and Norwegian Arne Soedal (Lola Mk1) bringing international flavour. Tony Bianchi (Allard-Cadillac Farrellac) romped the first, beating Dowling, Tuluie’s drum-braked monster and Christopher Mann’s Alfa Romeo PR3000. Bianchi started race two from the back, but could not catch Dowling in the ex-Phil Scragg hillclimb car – prepared by ex-Team Lotus F1 mechanic and fellow ERA ace David Morris.

The Guards Trophy was split. Peter Thompson and Charlie Allison explored their Ford V8-powered TVR Griffith and Shelby Cobra, swapping seats for a 1-2 in Saturday’s GT set. Swede Mia Flewitt (ex-Dick Crosfield Lotus Elan 26R Shapecraft coupe) and husband Mike, sharing his Elan with Michael O’Brien, were next, ahead of Nick and Chris Thompson’s MGB.

Dan Balfour (Chevron B8) led Sunday’s sports-racer contest until a new rocker failed in its BMW engine, leaving Ted Pearson (ex-David Purley B8) to pass Rob Tusting (Lenham). Graham Moss’ Lola T70 Spyder growled ahead, then repassed Callum Grant in Pearson’s car. But polesetter Ben Tusting, relayed by his father, hounded them down to keep the defending champions on top. Moss and Grant completed the top three, clear of Dan Pickett’s Chevron-BMW B16.                  

Gibney’s Elan was the car to beat in the combined Road Sports contests

Photo by: Richard Styles

Frazer Gibney (Elan S1) dominated Sunday’s Historic and 70s Road Sports races. Mark Godfrey (Lotus 7) shook off debutant Andrew Long (Morgan +8), the 70s winner, and Robert Rowe (Elan S3) in the opener, while 70s champion Howard Payne charged his Europa from the back to finish as 70s runner-up having missed second gear off the line.

Antony Ross’ TVR 3000M, raced by son Adam initially, wailed to second and 70s gold in race two. Long shot between Gibney and Godfrey to lead into Riches, but finished third, ahead of Rowe and Payne. Class D battles embroiled Porsche 924 trio Peter Hore, Simon Baines and Gavin Johnson, which Hore twice topped. Gearbox failure trailered Neil Wood’s Ford Anglia, leaving Mark Watts’ Mustang the only quick Historic Saloon after David Lloyd’s grunty Jensen CV8’s smoky demise at Brundle.       

New to the fold, the Alfa Romeo and Italian Intermarque races brought muscular machinery out. Detuned to around 530bhp, poleman Barry McMahon’s twin-turbocharged Giulia outpaced allcomers on Saturday. A broken driveshaft holed Jamie Thwaites’ Giulietta turbo’s sump, leaving only Jack Berry’s Alfa 4C on the lead lap. Toby Broome’s 147 GTA and the Giuliettas of Andy Page and Stacey Dennis chased.

Without McMahon or Thwaites, Broome led well on Sunday, before Berry’s aero-festooned sportscar whooshed past. Only Dennis also stayed on the lead lap. Stars of the show were brothers Chris and Simon McFie whose Fiat Puntos were driven on the limit, inches apart. After several changes, honours were shared with fourth and fifth places on Sunday.

McFie brothers enjoyed some close Punto scraps

Photo by: Richard Styles