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Race Roundup ...
Oldtimer Grand Prix 2010 – Nurburgring
13 – 15 August 2010
The Marcos, back in one piece and looking very smart after
its accident at Castle Coombe, was entered in the Historic
Marathon which took place on the Nordschliffe Circuit on Friday
13!! Lucky for some, unlucky for others – but definitely
lucky for me!
Qualifying and the race takes place all
on the one day, so it was an early start on Friday. Fortunately,
the early morning mist experienced the previous morning stayed
away to allow qualifying to start on time at 0810 and with
only half the number of usual entrants for this particular
three and a half hour race, the 25km circuit was certainly
not crowded. This worked in our favour and gave Allen plenty
of space to regain any lost confidence from his excursion
at Castle Coombe. Allen’s times were coming down every
lap towards the sub eleven minute mark and as track conditions
improved further, Chris posted a stunning (for the Marcos)
time of 10.58.505, qualifying them nineteenth overall.
Brian Lambert was sharing his MGB with Alan
Bailie this time as son Mark was on holiday. Unfortunately,
an excursion by Alan in his opening stint re-arranged the
near side front wing a little, but a speedy wheel change and
a crow bar enabled Brian to fulfil his qualification requirement
posting a time of 11.20.143 and thirty fifth overall.
Although the entry was down on numbers,
the quality of the competition was nevertheless tough with
some very fast, well prepared cars and good drivers battling
it out. The race started on time and conditions were near
perfect, although not shorts and t-shirt weather for those
on the pit wall!! Allen Tice opened for our team and was grouped
on the second grid for the rolling start. We are still not
really sure what happened to some of the quicker cars but
after recording a remarkable time of 10.55.39 on lap two,
Allen handed over to Chris on lap nine in ninth place overall.
The re-fuelling and driver change over presented
a little controversy and increased blood pressure .... At
the Driver’s Briefing the night before they had been
instructed that the second driver could not get into the car
until re-fuelling had finished.
We could understand why, although this ruling
had not applied before at this meeting. It would add around
20 – 30 seconds to the pit stop time, but at least it
would be the same for everyone who needed to re-fuel –
or so we thought. However, as we were one of the first cars
to come in we had no chance to observe what the other teams
were doing and so we did as we had been instructed. A quick
splash and, as it happened a totally unnecessary 30 litres
of fuel into the Marcos, Chris was on his way. The increase
in blood pressure was due to the fact that we then observed
all of the other teams totally ignoring the ‘new rule’
and what is more, without incurring any penalties!!
Well, what was done and all that –
so there was nothing left but to monitor Chris’s progress.
At the end of lap twelve (his third lap) the Marcos was up
to fifth overall followed by third the following lap. A quick
look at the computer revealed that the Lotus Elan S1 of Wulf
Goetze and Wolfgang Kirsten was catching Chris at an alarming
rate. I knew it would be no use giving Chris a ‘hurry
up’ signal (even if I had one) as he would be going
just as fast as he could – although he did admit to
having gone off the boil at some point in the race! So, we
just had to watch as the Elan closed in on the Marcos.
Now, if you remember I said Friday 13 was
a lucky day for me? Well, I couldn’t believe it when
at the precise moment the Elan was about to overtake Chris
right in front of us on the pit straight, the owner of the
Elan, Wulf, appeared on the pit wall and announced that his
Elan had been given a ‘drive through’ penalty,
but the driver had either not seen or was ignoring the board
with his number on it and he didn’t know what he should
be doing about it.
The next time Chris came around ten minutes
later, the Elan had not appeared and in fact did not appear
again until the end of the race. Chris told us later that
half way around that lap the Elan seemed to slow allowing
Chris to catch up with it and then it just pulled over onto
the side of the circuit.
Apparently we learned later, it had suffered
a fuel pump problem which somehow the driver managed to clear/repair
so that he eventually pulled into the pit lane after the end
of the race nearly two laps down. Spooky or what?! Justice
had been done, we had played by the book and the boys took
third place on the podium .... behind a Ford Fairlane on the
top step and the Gotcha Historic Racing Team’s Jaguar
E-Type in second. The Marcos had run without missing a beat
and with spirit – a real credit to a very proud team.
Unfortunately, Brian Lambert/Alan Bailie
in the MGB valiantly completed 17 of the 20 possible laps
in an eventful race for them, which included an incident where
Brian was forced off the circuit and Alan was eventually forced
to retire with mechanical gremlins.
Overall the racing was a success and at
least for the first time in a few years the Marathon ran the
full three and a half hours! However, the timings are never
very friendly at this meeting – a very early start on
Thursday morning from UK with a drivers briefing late on the
Thursday evening, followed by an early start on Friday morning,
a late finish and early start again Saturday for a mad dash
back to UK to recover over the remainder of the weekend!!
Will we do it again – why not?! We
did manage a little socialising with our friends.
No sure where to next ......
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Castle Combe –
Saturday 31 July 2010
A very early start to the day and the Marcos
was on its way to race in the West Country. Owner Allen Tice
and co-driver Chris Conoley were to share a 45 minute race
and after scrutineering duly qualified on poll position. As
we all know, British circuits are amongst the best and most
challenging in Europe with their idiosyncrasies and on this
particular day, Castle Combe ‘bit back’ on lap
two of their race. Allen had started and was still at the
wheel when the Marcos went heavily off circuit in at Quarry
and although they tried to continue a ‘black flag’
signalled the end of their racing for that day! The whole
front nearside quarter was missing, most of it being bonnet
and there was just too much flapping around. Allen was devastated,
thinking it was his own error, until a short time after the
race had finished a fellow competitor bravely admitted to
maybe having ‘nudged’ him at that point on the
circuit – easily done under heavy breaking!! By this
time, Chris had already loaded the car onto the trailer and
was heading back home to a large glass of wine and hot bath.
It is now all hands on to repair and rebuild
the Marcos ready for the Marathon at the Nurburgring Nordschliffe
on Friday 13 (!!) August. Just as well Friday 13 is a lucky
day for me – and lucky for Allen and Chris that I will
be there on duty with the watches on the pit wall.
We didn’t think it prudent to post
pictures of the re-arranged Marcos, but would like to extend
our thanks to all those who have helped with the cosmetics
and particularly to Mike Wroe who has provided a much needed
bonnet on loan/sale basis. Watch for full Marathon report
soon ....
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Cholmondeley
Pageant of Power – 17 & 18 July 2010
 Joe
Ward was invited for the second year running to attend the
Pageant of Power held in the beautifully impressive grounds
of Cholmondeley Castle, to contest the ‘Hill Climb’
with his Vauxhall Firenza ‘Baby Bertha’. For those
of you who don’t know, ‘Baby Bertha’ was
campaigned very successfully by the late Gerry Marshall in
the 1970’s and she is still able to turn heads with
her impressive performances today!
The weekend is full of action and has been
likened to the ‘northern’ version of the Goodwood
Festival of Speed – but much more ‘relaxed’
and informal fun. The ‘entrants’, which comprise
motorcycles and cars from all eras to present day, are housed
in long open sided marquees and fully accessible to the enthusiastic
public. The ‘hill climb’ is in fact fairly flat
but nonetheless exciting to watch with bridges and fairly
challenging bends under trees. The format over the  weekend
is for three runs on Saturday, followed by three timed runs
on Sunday - the best of which decides class places. Baby Bertha
finished a very satisfying second in class particularly as
she was competing against much more modern machinery and alongside
two of her original competitors in period.
The overall atmosphere and better weather
(this year) together with the Saturday night live music and
fireworks all contributed to a fun and satisfying weekend
– well worth as visit!
Enjoy the ‘Firenza’ action pictures ….
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Spa Francorchamps
– Summer Classic 2 – 4 July 2010
The cool air at 0430 on Thursday morning
(1st July) together with the inclement weather en route to
Dover did little to prepare us for the record temperatures
that lay ahead ……
Once the other side of the Channel the temperature
began to soar and with only an open window for air conditioning
we were melting by the time we reached the queue waiting to
gain entry to Spa circuit paddocks. With over an hour to wait
until we could gain entry, we ‘about turned’ and
moseyed down to Stevelot in search of something cold! When
we returned, the sense of humour was severely tested when
a further delay, singling out those destined for the F1 pits,
sidelined us for a further hour!! Barbara Lambert then ‘took
charge’ and our group of five ‘rigs’ finally
assumed position behind our allotted pits garage. Cars were
unloaded in record time and the serious business of socialising
– meeting, greeting and catching up with friends –
began ….. and at last it started to cool down!
Over the weekend an astonishing 37 deg C
was recorded at the circuit with track temperatures soaring
high into the 40’s. Surprisingly, none of our group
of cars suffered overheating problems. However, shade was
definitely the order of the day, and thank goodness, the garage
stayed beautifully cool throughout the weekend. We had seven
cars resident in our garage comprising; Marcos and BMW Batmobile
belonging to Allen Tice; Corvette and Chevron B8 owned by
Joe Ward; matching pair of MGB roadsters belonging to Barbara
and Brian Lambert and finally Jim Baynam’s MGB roadster.
Pete Foster’s ex-Cambridge Motorsport’s Triumph
TR4 was a frequent visitor to the garage as Chris Conoley
was sharing the Swinging 60’s Series race with Pete.
It was lined up to be a very busy weekend with multiple drives
for some of the drivers and multiple races for most of the
cars.
First to go was Allen Tice in his new purchase
– the BMW ‘Batmobile’ – sensibly electing
to take advantage of a test session on Friday morning. All
seemed well and during qualifying Allen duly handed over to
Chris who alarmingly, failed to appear on his first lap. An
agonizing wait – Chris had left his mobile phone in
the garage – and nearly forty minutes later, car and
driver were delivered back to the garage on a recovery vehicle
– the latter unscathed I’m pleased to say. With
broken near side front suspension, the weekend for this car
was finished and it was duly loaded onto its trailer ready
for the journey home. Allen now had a free day, Saturday,
to enjoy the weather and contemplate the Spa Long-Distance
Cup – a 4 hour race in the Marcos on Sunday afternoon.
 Brian
and Barbara Lambert enjoyed a trouble free race together and
Joe Ward started proceedings with his lovely Chevron B8. Pete
Foster’s TR4 had a very busy schedule and a team effort
brought the car to the end of the weekend on Sunday lunchtime
unscathed together with a creditable seventh overall and class
win in the Swinging 60’s race with Chris Conoley on
the Saturday. Chris’s comment of ‘slipping on
a pair of old slippers’ signaled the car felt just as
good as it did when campaigned by him in the Cambridge Motorsport
days some eight years ago.
Jim Baynam spent much of his qualifying
session getting to grips with the nuances of the circuit and
a little ‘fettling’ afterwards was rewarded with
a trouble free race on Saturday, albeit a little lonely for
him.
With the feature race still to come on Sunday
afternoon three cars had been patiently awaiting their debut
on circuit – the Tice/Conoley Marcos; Joe Ward’s
Corvette, this time being shared by ‘Morgan Ace’
Keith Ahlers and the second Lambert MGB shared by father and
son, Brian and Mark.
 Now
it had been so hot throughout Friday and Saturday, that we
were beginning to worry about how to get enough fluids in
to replace those being lost just walking around! Let alone
racing for four hours! However, Sunday yawned into life at
least 10 deg cooler than the previous two – relief –
and with it persistent drizzle which initiated the familiar
debate – what tyres?? Anyway, with a relatively short
qualifying session for a four hour race, the circuit never
got wet enough to provoke a tyre change, but I’m sure
they just love something to worry about – gets the adrenalin
going nicely!! All three cars qualified without incident and
with a pre-race check over and fuel up they were ready and
waiting for a 2pm start – that’s the cars not
the drivers by the way …
Standing on the pit wall for four hours
in the drizzle was not a prospect that delighted and thankfully,
as it happened, shorts had once again become order of the
day some time before lunch, although a light breeze and occasional
cloud provided welcome relief on the exposed pit wall during
the race….. albeit ideal conditions for the racing.
The grid was by no means a full one for
the race, which was a shame, but the competition was nonetheless
hot. During his opening stint, Allen in the Marcos was enjoying
some close racing within a group and with a Lotus Elan in
particular and the Marcos was running like clockwork coming
around each lap with very consistent times. We left our driver
change a little later than most to try and avoid too much
delay at the fuel pumps – but it still added over 3
minutes to the out lap time. However, it still worked to our
advantage and with a few well placed laps under the pace car,
Chris assumed second place overall. He soon got into his groove
but with about 40 minutes to go the third placed man was closing
in by almost ten seconds a lap! It was inevitable Chris was
going to be caught and overtaken, even though the Marcos can
become very wide, unless he could improve his lap times by
at least 4 seconds a lap and consistently. With no way of
relaying this bit of information to him and knowing he would
actually be going as fast as he could, we just had to wait
and with a few laps of the race remaining the AC Cobra of
Ingram/Chiles/Chiles powered past. With the excitement and
drama over (it got pretty intense on the pit wall!), we were
however guaranteed a podium finish (assuming no incidents
or breakdowns), as the fourth placed Dutch Porsche 911 was
over a lap behind. In fact the Dutch Lola which took the chequered
flag was in a race of its own and not part of the Long-Distance
Cup classification, so the Cobra technically won, the Marcos
was second and the Porsche 911 was third. Unfortunately, the
Lambert MGB being driven by son Mark at the time, broke the
diff on lap 21 and so disappointingly retired – thank
goodness Brian had enjoyed some racing earlier in the weekend.
Keith Ahlers showed his race fitness by competing in his Morgan
SLR alongside co-driver James Bellinger (11th overall) and
bringing the Joe Ward Corvette home in a very respectable
seventeenth place. Respectable, considering the amount of
fuel needed and time lost during their driver changeover!
MASS engines, of which there were too many
competing to worry about were a credit throughout and as another
one of those memorable Spa race weekends drew to a close a
lovely evening with ‘our friends’ beckoned …..
It is worth mentioning here that without their delightful
partners and wives present – Gay, Sue, Annabel, Barbara
and Jane – together with Neil Howe and friend ‘Commander
Bond’, the weekend may not have been half as colourful
or as successful!! Not to mention some great ‘retail’
therapy!
Hope you enjoy the fun pictures……
Courtesy of Sue Foster.
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Is that beer in that bottle? |
Contemplation |
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Contemplation |
Drivers do it in the garage |
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The Spoils |
The Spoils |
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Silverstone
GP Circuit – MG Owners Club 5 June 2010
 Allen
Tice and Chris Conoley were invited to contest the MGCC Historic
British Sportscars race and were in amongst the likes of,
Big Healeys, MGB’s, Aston Martins, MG Midgets, a Jaguar,
AC Cobra and AC Ace.
With nothing taken for granted and as professional
as ever the pair in the Allen Tice Marcos romped home some
48 seconds ahead of the second and third placed Healey 3000’s
of Bruce Montgomery and David Smithies. They both agreed what
a thrill it was to drive the GP Circuit – indeed it
was the first time Allen had done so – scooping fastest
lap in the process!
The whole weekend saw a myriad of successes
for our friends and MASS engines. Jim Baynam second overall
in Race 1 (MGB); Alan Kyson fourth overall in Race 4 (MGA
Twin Cam); Brian Lambert with an outright win in Race 6 (MGB),
followed by Pete Foster sixth (TR4), Dominic Spicer twelfth
(TR4) and Roy Chamberlain twenty fourth (TR3).
 Brian
Lambert enjoyed a second overall win in Race 12 again chased
by Pete Foster fifth and Roy Chamberlain twenty sixth. William
Smallridge took an overall win in Race 9 (MG Midget) in a
very close fought race with the second placed man and he also
took overall honours in Race 15 – again just a few hundredths
of a second ahead of the second placed car. In Race 10 the
Aero Morgan Challenge, Simon Orebi Gann (Morgan Roadster –
Ford V6) finished a very impressive seventh overall and first
in class ahead of many Morgan +8’s.
Although Chris did not attend on the Sunday,
his mobile phone was ‘red’ hot as results were
relayed. If I remember, we adjourned to our local pub for
a celebratory lunch time ‘pat on the back’ –
well done everyone.
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Brands Hatch
(GP Circuit) – 29, 30 & 31 May 2010
 Brands
Hatch combined a full day’s testing on the Friday with
this meeting which proved very useful for Joe Ward’s
Mass prepared Corvette.
The Mass cars comprising Allen Tice’s
BMW 2002 and Marcos GT together with Joe Ward’s Corvette
and Chevron B8 were racing with Masters ‘Stars of the
Seventies’ (BMW 2002), ‘Gentlemen Drivers’
(Marcos and Corvette but in different races) and ‘World
Sports Car Masters’ (Chevron B8).
First to go was the BMW 2002 which was out
for the first time in nearly 12 months and the boys, Allen
Tice and Chris Conoley really had fun in the wet!! And to
boot - a surprise to all - finished ahead of the field on
Brand’s Indy Circuit.
The rest of proceedings was to take place
on the full GP Circuit – definitely worth coming to
play on! For the feature 2 hour race on Sunday the rain held
off throughout, although the strong wind kept the air temperature
down.
 Nearly
a quarter of the field failed to finish and remarkably the
Tice/Conoley Marcos finished third overall behind two Lotus
Elan 26R’s. It is worth mentioning that seven MASS engines
were out in this race and all seven finished!
A very successful weekend for this team,
but not so fortunate for Joe Ward and Richard Bull. In their
race on Monday, although damage free, the Corvette lost brakes
and ended their race parked in the gravel at Druids. However
the weekend was redeemed as Joe Ward did enjoy a trouble free
race in his very lovely Chevron B8.
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Brands Hatch
(Indy Circuit) – Classic Sports Car Club 8 May 2010
Well what a difference a few weeks make
– a very wet weekend racing!! I was away in not so sunny
France so the boys were alone. Allen Tice/Chris Conoley were
out for the second rounds of the Classic K Series and the
Swinging Sixties in the Marcos GT.
Chris forgot to take his race helmet to
the pits prior to qualifying, so had to ‘run’
back to the paddock in his race boots injuring both Achilles
tendons in the process. However, they still managed to qualify
at the head of proceedings in Race 1 the Classic K ahead of
Tom Smith in the MGB. In the race, due to a 30 second success
penalty (handicap) awarded because of the race win from the
first round at Snetterton, Tom finished ahead of them.
Their second race, the Swinging Sixties
Class D,E,F,G,H (the ‘big boys’ classes) saw them
qualify in second place behind the John Muirhead Lotus Seven.
Unable to overhaul him in the race they had to settle for
a very respectable second – destined to be the Bridesmaids
this weekend.
I think they may have missed me –
if nothing else I could have run to get the race helmet!!
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Snetterton –
Classic Sports Car Club 10 April 2010
A sunny and successful meeting for most
of our Engines – a mixture of TVR Grantura’s and
Morgan TR’s!
The Allen Tice Mass prepared Marcos driven
by Allen and Chris Conoley triumphed with an outright win
after the Jaguar E-Type of Radcliffe failed during a hard
battle for the lead, in the Classic Sports Car Club Classic
K race. They went on to enjoy a second overall win, 46 seconds
ahead of their nearest rival, in the Swinging Sixties Classes
A,B & C.
Also Mass prepared was the Corvette of Joe
Ward, driven by Joe and Richard Bull in the Swinging Sixties
Classes D,E,F,G,H. They qualified tenth overall and eventually
finished a satisfying fifth overall and first in class F.
A promising start to the season after a
very long winter!!
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Racers Scrub
up Well!
 The
Classic Trophy Championship prize giving dinner was a very
interesting event and if I say it was held in Phantasialand,
Bruhl, Germany it may not mean a lot to most of you, but might
just conjure an image ... not unlike our own Alton Towers
but with an Oriental theme. Our hotel the Ling Bao could have
come straight from China and after registering we almost expected
a Rickshaw to take us to our rooms. The curved bridge over
the indoor babbling brook leading to the lounge bar was truly
atmospheric along with the beautifully carved solid wood furniture
and wall panelling throughout. The style of the rooms carried
the theme with a sumptuous super king size bed and a bunk
bed, the top one of which had a delicate lattice work sided
canopy over it – I presume to prevent spillage!!
Phantasialand, the venue for the presentation
evening was a short walk from our hotel – but a long
walk if you were wearing high heels! We almost failed the
sense of humour test when we emerged after the prize giving
to find several inches of snow on the ground.
The interior of the building was spectacular,
although a little cool for those in ‘little black numbers’
and easily housed the buffet, bar and guests. It was well
supported from both Youngtimer and Oldtimer and we were treated
to live entertainment, very good food and plenty to look at!
 Apart
from our support of the championship, our main reason for
attending was to support our friends, the team of Joe Ward/Piers
Ward/Richard Bull who, campaigning Joe’s Corvette throughout
the season collected overall honours for the Pre 1966 category.
You will see from the photograph how delighted they were!!
Not to mention we all had to take separate cars in order to
have enough room to transport the trophies.
So, with 2009 concluded, we look forward
eagerly to the start of the Classic Trophy 2010 which will
be Hockenheim 16 & 17 April. Meanwhile, our race cars
will be out for the Classic Sports Car Club test day at Snetterton
on Thursday 25 March prior to our first race there on Saturday
10 April. It would be nice to see anyone who can come along.
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Classic Trophy
Nurburgring – Sunday 25 October 2009
This was a particularly late end to the
season, especially for the Nurburgring as the weather is fairly
unpredictable at the best of times in the Eifel Mountains.
However, qualifying and race were both on one day, Sunday,
and the long range forecast predicted a dry day. Nevertheless
we packed wet weather gear as well as hats, gloves and scarfs!
With everything happening on one day it all seemed a bit rushed
instead of our normal leisurely pace, but it could also have
been that Allen Tice and his partner Gay were off on a short
(for them!) holiday and so Chris was driving ‘solo’.
We had joined forces with Joe Ward (Corvette),
Brian Lambert (MGB) and Keith Ahlers (Morgan) to take a pit
garage, so at least we could keep out of the elements if necessary
during qualifying and the race – when not standing on
the pit wall. Essential, considering a lap time of at least
10 minutes. At all other times we were very fortunate in that
Joe Ward and Brian Lambert both had heated living space in
vehicles parked just behind the garage, to take refuge in.
On Sunday morning for qualifying, although
it was not actually raining, it had been heavily overnight
and as first session on circuit that day it was still very
wet, but at least drying, providing there was no more rain.
The organisers had made sure we were all there in plenty of
time as they had fixed a ‘driver’s briefing’
for 7.30 a.m. Sunday morning – a little bit unfair as
Saturday was the penultimate night we would all spend together
this season! Following the briefing there was still enough
time for much pacing and deliberating tyre choice.
Chris had one luxury in that he only had
himself to qualify, so he could afford to wait until the session
was well underway before he had to make his tyre choice. The
first drivers out had a pretty grim time, but after half an
hour or so it was clear by the improving lap times –
from 15 mins to 13’s and 14’s – that the
circuit was drying steadily. Once out on circuit the Marcos
was flying, considering it was running with the same engine
that has campaigned all season and completed the Spa 6 hours!
Chris was suitably impressed and pleased with his finishing
lap time of 12:07.929 and thirteenth overall – lucky
for some? – from a field of 105 cars. The damp track
however, still favoured the nimble, smaller engine cars as
Brian and Mark Lambert were twenty fifth (12:35.193) and Joe
Ward and Richard Bull in the big Chevrolet Corvette were back
in forty seventh (13:03.284)! Still not bad though considering
the number of cars taking part.
As all ‘racers’ know, wet/damp
track conditions don’t put too much stress on the cars
– providing they stay on the black stuff of course –
and so there was not much to do to the cars in between qualifying
and race. However, the Nordschliffe, by virtue of its shear
distance (25km lap) and two carousels, which are very bumpy,
does eventually take its toll – but more of that later.
Meanwhile, time for refuelling and a light lunch ...
The build up to the race started in good
time. The weather looked settled and although cold, was dry
and sunny. It would take 15 minutes from when they all left
the paddock in their grid positions before we would see the
pole position man take the lights for the rolling start. The
race was made up of three complete grids, each grid separated
by approximately a one minute interval and comprising an amalgamation
of the Youngtimer Trophy and the Classic Trophy cars. Time
for another cup of tea then!
The first grid came through, then the second
and finally the third grid with our cars. We are still not
entirely sure how the grids were decided, but there were 25
cars on ours. Conoley was second row (third), Lambert/Lambert
third row (sixth) and Ward/Bull seventh row (thirteenth!).
We knew that the Marcos of Conoley and the MGB of Lambert/Lambert
would not have to refuel during the race, whereas the Ward/Bull
Corvette would need a top up, but with a mandatory pit stop
of one minute, whether making a driver change or not, it looked
doubtful that any advantage could be gained by not having
to refuel.
Realistically the race for our cars, at
two hours, was only ever going to be 10 laps at the most,
but with at least ten minutes in between laps it seemed an
eternity before we saw the cars come round each lap. For 6
laps they all duly appeared on time and Conoley in the Marcos
was making good time – the fasted lap being 11:23.999
on lap 5. Our main objective for the race had been for a clean
finish, no heroics, to end a very good year, but when the
Marcos failed to appear on schedule hopes were dashed. A very
slow, anxious few minutes elapsed before Mark Lambert in the
MGB came into the pits with a broken rear axle and reported
that the Marcos was making its way slowly round the circuit
– we could breathe again! Finally the Marcos appeared
in the pit lane looking unscathed. When safely parked up in
the pit garage it was evident that the rear axle was no longer
secured in position and the rear of the car was completely
unstable. Chris had heard the ‘bang’ when it happened
and revealed later that had it happened about twenty seconds
earlier there would probably have been no car or driver to
bring home!
With only three laps to go, Chris and Lambert/Lambert
were out which left Ward/Bull to concentrate on. Both drivers
and car had been ‘on song’ from the start and
they had steadily threaded their way through the field eventually
taking the chequered flag in sixteenth place overall and first
in class. Their fastest lap, 11:12.314 was also their tenth
and last lap.
Remarkably, the Marcos and MGB had completed
75% of the race and so were classified finishers and duly
awarded championship points. However, with three non finishes
a disqualification and a non start between them, they were
never going to challenge for the overall Championship Title
– which they have both won previously, 2008 the Marcos
of Tice/Conoley and 2007 MGB Lambert/Lambert. Which leaves
the Ward/Bull Corvette ... they were absent at one race this
year due to other commitments, so missed the overall Title
by just over nine points but clinched an overall Class Win
together with the Pre 1966 Championship Title.
Back to the Pistenklaus then for dinner
and talk about next season .........
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Against
all the odds the Spa 6 Hours – 25 & 26 September
2009 turned into an unmitigated success!
The Race Meeting, run by the organization
Redwater, was under threat from early that week. Local residents
were protesting the fact that too many race meetings had been
run throughout the year and they were not happy with the situation
that yet another large meeting was taking place, especially
with the 6 hours running into the night. Accordingly, the
track licence was being withheld by court order and until
early Thursday morning the whole weekend was pending. By their
own admission the organizers had gained a few years and grey
hairs, but the track licence was granted early Thursday morning
and the gates were finally open to competitors.
Our build up to the race had not gone entirely
to plan. The ‘fresh’ engine for the Marcos was
refusing to play and failed to pass the dyno test. After the
third time of trying, the decision was taken to run with the
engine that had already done more than its fair share of racing
and with no time left to refresh it, it was duly put back
into the car! With everything else having had a thorough check
the car was as ready as it was going to be and we would be
spending a weekend with everything crossed …
By the time we arrived on Thursday, the
paddock was packed and the atmosphere was buzzing! Once the
race car and parts were installed into the pit garage we could
get on with signing on and scrutineering. With all of the
formalities completed an early beer was in order along with
a wander around the paddocks to check up on our customer cars
and engines.
There were many of our engines running over
the weekend but only three others in the 6 Hours which comprised:
Morgan +4 – Rob Wells/Malcolm Paul/Rick
Bourne (19th overall)
Alfa Romeo Guilia T1 – Kremer/Kremer/Brett Syndercombe
(39th overall)
Triumph TR4 – Pete Foster/Tim Mogridge (62nd overall)
The long range forecast for Spa Francorchamps
had looked good from Friday onwards and it turned out to be
spot on. Friday dawned, dry and sunny. Allen Tice and Chris
Conoley did the minimum qualifying in the Marcos and Chris
set the qualifying time to give Allen a grid starting position
of 29 for the race. All seemed to be good with the car. The
strategy was that Allen would start and do two and a half
hours, followed by Chris to do the same with Allen finishing
the remainder of the race. Re-fuelling strategies were a little
less clear cut and would be assessed as the race progressed.
However, there was no need to worry. The race was fifteen
minutes late starting and after an early pace car it was clear
that after re-fuelling at the first driver changeover they
would make it to the end with what they had.
After one hour of racing Allen had moved
up to 22 and after two hours to 11. The changeover dropped
them to 14 but Chris soon got on the pace and moved ahead
to 8 overall after four hours. Then, the lap times started
to slow. The car sounded OK as it came by lap after lap and
no signals from the driver. Chris then came in and handed
over to Allen to finish the race. His explanation for the
lap times was that there was a distinct lack of power –
Oh well we thought, the engine was very tired, but lets hope
it makes it to the end. The leader – GT40 -finished
the race on 106 laps and our car, the Marcos GT crossed the
line in 10th place overall with 101 laps to their credit.
We were first home of the smaller cars, first in class and
did in actual fact, achieve the highest position we could
possibly have amongst the competition.
Time to celebrate a truly remarkable achievement
for man and machine – what a feeling of euphoria and
pride within our team, fit to burst!
The best news was that upon rolling road
inspection back at MASS the loss of power was found to be
due to ‘closing up’ points and not engine failure
at all - even more impressive. Perhaps the last hour of the
race was not as much fun as it could have been but the drivers
maximized every drop of power that was available to them and
have some great tales to tell.
Chris had worked out that if they had brought
the car in for inspection during the race, diagnosed the problem
and then fixed it, it would have given the same result at
best, but been more fun to drive. Although, in all probability
Keith Ahlers/Billy Bellinger in the Morgan +8 would have sneaked
through closely followed we suspect by the Cottingham MGB.
All in all a good call!
The other runners with our engines over
the weekend were:
Morgan +4 – Keith Ahlers
Triumph TR4 – Allan Ross-Jones
TVR Grantura – Rod Begbie
Morgan SLR – Simon Orebi-Gann
Morgan +4 – Gabriel Kremer
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Classic Trophy,
Assen, 5 September '09
A little gem of a ‘bike’ circuit
tucked away in northern Holland that we knew very little about
was the venue for the next round of our championship. All
of our team and friends were ‘first timers’, which
always adds to the fun in anticipation.
We were warned that it was fairly remote
and although it was a little challenging to find, it has a
wonderful charm, plenty of space and a very exciting, drivable
circuit. All of this coupled with a great ‘find’
of a hotel made a memorable weekend although not quite going
according to plan!
Qualifying was very wet and remarkably few
incidents punctuated some very sensible driving. The rain
seemed set in for the day and with no hills to hide behind
we seemed to be at the mercy of the very worst Holland could
offer. So, after lunch all were amazed to be changing back
to dry tyres and removing wet weather clothing for the start
of the race.
Then more drama unfolded and with less than
forty five minutes before the start of the race, the scrutineer
summoned Tice and Conoley to the steward’s office! Yes,
another protest against the Marcos, this time after qualifying.
However, the protest had been lodged outside
of the required time constraints (well over half and hour
after qualifying had finished) and was therefore rejected.
We did realize though that this was not going to go away and
were fully prepared to be protested should the Marcos finish
the race and in a good position. Maybe fete intervened …
the Marcos gearbox failed on lap three heralding the end of
our race.
Instead of just sitting out the remainder
of the race the team decided to put the time to good use and
volunteered to strip the engine for the scrutineer’s
inspection. Chris duly presented the engine for inspection
and all was found to be as it should be. The scrutineer was
delighted with his findings and hopefully the rumblings with
cease. Team Marcos is just plain quick!
The team had already decided not to defend
their 2008 Classic Trophy Championship title this year, so
have been able to take a more relaxed and philosophical view
of events. Its still and shame, but it looks like the Mass
prepared Corvette of Joe Ward and Richard Bull may yet cause
a stir within the championship!
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Historic
Marathon 300km Race, Nurburgring, 7 August '09
As part of the prestigious Oldtimer Grand
Prix our race was all over in one day – on the Friday
– so a real whistle stop visit! Again, miraculously
for the Eifel mountain circuit, the weather was sublime and
the Marcos ran without a hitch - which was just as well with
no time to affect any major repairs in between qualifying
and race.
As always seems to befall this particular
race, even though the distance dictates a time of about three
to three and a half hours, it always seems to be cut short
to fit in with the circuit curfew and it eventually ran for
just over two hours and forty minutes. The result, third overall
and first in class was wonderful and just re-iterated what
a well matched team Tice and Conoley are.
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Classic Trophy,
Zolder, 11 & 12 July '09
Probably a round best forgotten –
apart from the fact that it was a feat of car prep genius,
grit and determination to attempt a four hour race at Spa
followed less than a week later by a three hour one on the
very testing circuit of Zolder in Belgium. With all our ‘friends’
present it was always going to be a fun weekend and indeed
the Marcos of Tice/Conoley and the Corvette of Ward/Bull both
took podium places.
Unfortunately, the celebrations were curtailed
as the Marcos of Tice/Conoley was summons to the scrutineering
bay being the subject of a ‘protest’ and a request
to strip the engine. It was clear that certain competitors
could not come to terms with the speed and reliability of
the Marcos over these endurance distances.
Tice and Conoley refused to comply to this
request as timescales were restrictive and agreed to abide
by whatever action the organizers felt duty bound to impose.
Accordingly, although they had already been presented with
their trophies, they were later disqualified from the results.
It was a sad reflection on the level of competitiveness that
this happened in a championship that is for amateurs for fun
and no reward. We moved on…
The Mass prepared Marcos owned by Allen
Tice and co-driven by Chris Conoley is proving too much for
the Germans.
Following a series of protests suggesting
that it must be running an engine in excess of its legal 1800
cc, the engine was unequivocally found to be legal. Surely
the success of a well prepared car, driven by equally matched
drivers must be celebrated not protested!
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Summer Classic,
Spa Francorchamps, 4 & 5 July '09
What a great weekend for a 4 hour race!
For the second visit this year the sun shone throughout the
weekend, with only a short smattering of rain before the start
of the race. Unfortunately it fizzled out after the race start
– too late to change back to ‘dry’ tyres!
And although the wet tyres stood up well to the action they
were decidedly ‘second hand’ at the end.
The race car can carry enough fuel for three
and a half hours, maybe four – but not yet put to the
test, so we needed a splash and dash at the driver change.
The strategy worked well and we finished third overall and
first car home in the pre ’66 race. This new race meeting
was run for the first time last year (2008) when it attracted
a fairly modest entry, however, this year all paddocks and
grids were full – testament to the incredible organization
at the helm.
‘
This has to be my favourite one so far!’
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Le Mans as
ever, was a great party, 13 & 14 June '09
The Legends paddock was not in its usual
place in the centre of activity, but tucked away much to the
annoyance of some and those who did stumble across this awesome
array of magnificent cars as they were denied access as the
paddock which remained closed to public for the duration.
Chris and Allen (Le Mans first timer) were
driving the HRG belonging to David Laing and all seemed to
be going to plan – qualifying well in class, but one
of the slowest cars overall. An interesting evening was spent
watching some of the 24 hour cars night qualifying and then
sleep was interrupted with party goers music and fireworks
until the early hours!
Allen started the race and we enjoyed the
spectacle of a Le Mans style line up instead of the usual
block grid – the drivers were not asked to run across
the circuit for the ‘dash’ start but stayed in
their cars and moved off in order but with as much spectacle
as they could muster. Disaster struck for the HRG a couple
of laps into the race and a broken rocker heralded the end
of their race. Still, the car got back to the pits under its
own steam, undamaged and ready for another go next time?
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Classic Trophy,
Spa, 30/31 May '09
The second round of the Classic Trophy took
place at Spa 30/31 May. Uncharacteristically for Spa brilliant
sunshine throughout made for a very relaxed weekend.
Joe Ward was unable to attend, but deputised
his son Piers to drive with regular co-driver Richard Bull
in the beautiful Corvette Stingray. With having to make two
fuel stops during the 3 hour race, strategy was crucial and
for most of the weekend they could be seen huddled somewhere
in the paddock discussing same.
The Marcos crew of Allen Tice and Chris
Conoley were a little more relaxed after posting an acceptable
qualifying time – but after the organizers had generously
extended the race by half and hour, they too were faced with
a ‘splash and dash’ pit stop.
The race went very much according to plan
– Allen and Chris headed the Pre ’65 race with
Brian and Mark Lambert in second and Richard and Piers in
third.
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3 Hour
Endurance (Pit stop/2 Driver), Hockenheim, 17 & 18 April
'09
Well, the long range forecast could have
looked a little better! But ever the optimist, it was surely
bound to change … last year was a wet race but the two
previous years had been real scorchers – so we were
keeping our fingers crossed.
The French fishermen didn’t help our
efforts to cross the Channel on the Wednesday, but P&O
came up trumps and transferred us to the Tunnel, at no extra
cost, for the outward journey. We were a convoy comprising
Chris towing the Marcos, Joe Ward towing his Corvette and
Stuart Delf, of Mass Racing, driving the support van. After
a very enjoyable evening ‘somewhere in France’
on Wednesday evening, we set off on the 400 mile journey to
Hockenheim. On arrival the weather was windy but dry and we
duly made camp, met up with our friends - family Lambert -
signed on and scrutineered the cars.
Next day, first qualifying was about noon
(Friday) and sure enough the rain came, fortunately in time
for the right tyre choice to be made. Conditions were not
pleasant but we all got on with it, driver and pit crew alike,
although some were quite disappointed with their performances
– oh well another chance in second qualifying! Right
up until the last moment we were hoping to have to change
to dry tyres, but alas the rain continued and conditions were
if anything worse than in the morning. However, the cars were
still intact and drivers more confident and of course it was
bound to be dry the next day!
To our dismay, race day dawned and it obviously
had not stopped raining all night. We twiddled our thumbs
and tried to keep dry and warm all morning, still hoping that
the sun would prevail but just like the weather forecast had
said, it just rained harder. The race started with two laps
under the pace car and an already very wet pit crew were not
relishing 3 hours on the pit wall. Within the first few laps
Joe had to come in with visibility problems, the inside of
the car was misting really badly and after two attempts to
clear the screen it kept clear for the rest of the race thank
goodness. Allen Tice set off well in the Marcos and it was
only when Brian Lambert came in to the pits about 10 minutes
or so into the race after having had an incident with the
back of another car, we realized that it was half of the Marcos
rear end that was still in the front grille of the MGB! Fortunately,
the rear rain light on the Marcos was still intact, so he
was not ‘black flagged’ and continued until his
allotted driver change time. Brian unfortunately, had been
a passenger when his car failed to slow down enough under
braking and the Marcos was there to provide his brakes! Chris
was on hand in the pit lane to check that the front of the
MGB was OK and with a bit of brute force applied to the bonnet,
he was able to carry on.
After 90 minutes we started our driver changes.
Brian was the first to come in and handed over to his son
Mark who set off at a cracking pace. Next in was Joe and after
refueling Richard Bull screamed up the pit lane and proceeded
to put in some blistering times, obviously very confident
and enjoying himself. We kept Allen out until last and Chris
eventually got behind the wheel with about 80 minutes to go.
It was, of course, the first time Allen had seen the back
of his car and he was pleasantly surprised that the damage
was not as bad as he had been visualizing. With about 5 minutes
to go Chris had managed to close the gap to and overtake the
Porsche that was leading their class – which gave him
and Allen a very well deserved first in class and a podium
win for the Pre1965 Race. Joe and Richard collected a very
pleasing first in class and the MGB of Brian and Mark lambert
finishing still sporting bits of Marcos in the front grille,
which caused a great deal of amusement all round!
A very wet, cold and tired ensemble packed
up much in need of a HOT shower and something good to eat
– both of which were achieved.
Now, guess what, the next day was flawless
blue sky!
Thank goodness a little breathing space
until the next race.
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Snetterton,
Sunday 5 April '09
At last, the first race of the season for
us arrived and the main objective was as a shakedown for both
the MASS prepared race cars. A Marcos GT owned by Allen Tice
and driven by him and co-driver Chris Conoley and a Corvette
Stingray owned by Joe Ward and driven by him and co-driver
Richard Bull. Unusually for Snetterton the day dawned sunny
and stayed so until close of play, which helped make the day
more enjoyable. The race was a 40 minute pit stop/driver change
race and Joe had elected to do the race on his own. Both cars
finished their respective races in tact, with Allen and Chris
in the Marcos collecting a very nice award for first in their
class and Joe collected an equally stylish award for second
in his class. However, several issues came to light, so full
steam ahead now to do the final prep work for the real season
start – 3 Hour endurance race at Hockenheim!
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Le Mans Classic,
11–13 July '08
 Chris
was invited to co-drive with Adrian van der Kroft in his stunning
Morgan +4 XOV 555.
The event has a unique format – 3
races over a 24 hour period starting on the Saturday afternoon.
Cars form a grid according to their period and are then divided
into classes within the grid. The grids race in order until
each have completed 3 races.
Each grid has a separate paddock area where
spectators can get close to the teams and each car has its
own space under cover.
There are two Qualifying sessions for each
grid which determine the start position and the first race
for each grid is a Le Mans style start!
 You
will see from this picture that someone forgot to shut the
door properly!
The format allows the teams some rest, providing
they have a support/service crew and have a bed on the camp
site close by. The most popular drivers are those who keep
their car in tact and the mechanicals sweet!
Official Team hospitality is outstanding
and is virtually 24 hour non stop breakfast, lunch and dinner
with high tea in between. The atmosphere is invigorating,
although it can all become too much for some and nodding off
on the pit wall is not an uncommon sight!
 The
outside camp sites are full of enthusiasts partying the days
and nights away and the banking and grandstands are well populated
throughout.
The format was exciting and exhausting
– a real test of stamina and Adrian and Chris completed
all three races. An unfortunate intermittent fault in their
first race meant that they could not take overall honours
in their grid, but enjoyed a fun weekend!
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