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Brands Hatch Report - Round 4, 2010

Images from the event.

Images by Jon Bunston and Dave Smith of the Historic Formula One cars and drivers at their Round 4 Championship at the Brands Hatch HSCC race meeting in July 2010. Sound Track is Go Out and Get It by John and Beverley Martin and Golden Boy by Natalie Merchant

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Download the complete HFO results and analysis from Brands Hatch

Race Report

Compiled by Duke McRavis

Qualifying

The 19 entries for the fourth round of this year’s FIA Historic Formula One Championship featured the core runners plus new-comer Rob Austin in his Surtees TS20 and returnee Ian Simmonds in his Benetton Tyrrell 012. Phil Hall had entered Arrows A3 but had gearbox problems in Friday testing which could in fact not be overcome during Saturday and he chose not to run this time. Simmonds appeared to suffer his own problems; seemingly fine in Saturday’s qualifying, come Sunday morning and there was no sign of the Accurate Racing transporter or the car, the team having packed up and returned to base to re-prep cars for future events.

Luciano Quaggia missed the first qualifying session with a failed scavenge pump that required to combined talents of his own mechanics and Nicholson McLaren’s engine guru to effect a repair in time for qualifying 2.

Katsu Kubota carried on where he left victory lane at Monza and put in a superb 1 minute 20.236 seconds lap to head the sheets with 12 minutes to run. The Colin Bennett run Williams looking superb on the Brands GP circuit. Steve Hartley used new rubber to take second fastest but then ran through the gravel at Paddock a couple of minutes before the end. Bobby Verdon-Roe was not happy with his ex-Lauda McLaren MP4 but gradually tuned the elegant machine to set third fastest ahead of Rowland Kinch with a brand new Nicholson motor in his Arrows. Joaquin Folch in the Brabham BT49 was fifth fastest.

In the battle for class honours, Peter Meyrick’s March 761 was quickest in Class B but the threat from newcomer Austin and seasoned veteran Frank Sytner was there. Class A saw John Delane’s Tyrrell 002 as the sole runner and Simmonds’ withdrawal left Terry Sayles on his own in Class D.

Second qualifying was hotter than the first and times were likewise at the front end. The CGA Engineering Williams of Kubota was the pick of the bunch, posting a lap time just over half a second quicker than the McLaren which in turn was nearly half a second ahead of Kinch’s Arrows. Richard Eyre’s Williams, Folch and Meyrick closed out the top 6.

Raceday

Another hot and sunny day posed its problems for some HFO runners but it all started well. Warm-up ran smoothly for most; Kubota suffered with fuel line issues which prompted the team to make changes before the race and Hartley’s Arrows A4 was experiencing gearbox issues which saw it jumping out of gear repeatedly. Unfortunately, he later admitted that he’d forgotten to mention it to the team and when the gremlins returned in the race he was forced to retire from fourth on the road.

The grid lined up full of intent and as the lights changed, all got away smoothly, running in position for the first couple of laps. Eyre seemed to be suffering and was passed by Folch having held off the Spanish ace for a couple of laps.

Behind them, Meyrick was leading the Class B charge with Austin and Sytner hot on his heels. Abbott spinning at Clearways gave them pause for thought, the Arrows A4 continuing down the pack with no damage fortunately. The same couldn’t be said for Wünsch though. On lap 4 he span in to the gravel at the same place and with the car in a dangerous position, race director Fred Myerscough red flagged the race.

The cars returned to the grid whilst the Wolf was recovered and there further drama unfolded. With engine temperatures soaring, Sytner’s Hesketh lost fuel pressure. As the countdown restarted, the car was pushed from the grid for work to be carried out in the pitlane. It was joined by Austin, his Surtees having dropped an amount of oil on the grid. Later analysis showed that a small bolt at the bottom of the engine block had split and was leaking; a small detail but it put him out of the race, effectively ending the challenge to Meyrick who was to seal Class B honours.

Eyre was struck by similar fuel pressure problems; unable to start the car when the 1 minute board went out, the team tried frantically to get the engine running. As the other cars sat there getting hotter and drivers began to stress the race director aborted the start. The teams returned to the grid as Eyre was pushed to the pits. 5 minutes later the green flag waved and shortly afterwards the cars finally restarted the race – with three joining from the pit lane, including Wünsch. David Abbot made a seemingly lightning start, moving up from way down on the grid to be behind Mirage teammate Hartley at the first corner. It was later revealed he had jumped the start fairly comprehensively. Sadly for him and fortunately for the stewards, he couldn’t capitalise on the advantage, suspected differential issues having put him off into the barriers.

At the restart, Kubota was clean away but Verdon-Roe kept him in sight. Running behind the Williams, the McLaren was handling beautifully. For several laps they ran line astern but with back markers approaching, Verdon-Roe sensed an opportunity. With two cars in front of them, the leaders split to get past but Kubota was momentarily baulked and Verdon-Roe benefitted, streaking past into a lead that he was not to relinquish, finishing just over 2 seconds ahead of the Japanese driver. Kinch, in third, could only hope that one of the front two was to make a mistake but it wasn’t to be. He came in 6 seconds behind Kubota. Folch was fourth with Eyre 6th ahead of Meyrick.

The result puts reigning champion, Verdon-Roe, on top in the Championship by one point from Meyrick on 31 and 30 points respectively.

The next round of the Championship is on the first weekend of September at Nogaro in the Gers region of France, the first time HFO has visited the circuit.

Race Results

Not Classified

Fastest Laps

Overall Points after Round 4

Compiled by Oli McCrudden

Class Points after Round 4

Compiled by Oli McCrudden