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Dedicated to the memory of the late Brian Archer who fulfilled his dream to re-create John Sprinzel's Sebring Sprite Coupé

 

Goodwood LabelGoodwood ~ Weslake Cup 2017

First race, at 9 a.m. on Sunday 19th March, 2017 was a 20 minute race for BMC 'A' Series engined sports and GT cars of a type that raced between 1958 and 1966.

The grid was made up of 24 Sprites, 2 MG Midgets, 2 Turners, a Rochdale Olympic and an Ogle SX1000. There were no less than 4 fathers and sons taking part: Chris and Charles Clegg, Shaun and Charlie Rainford, Graham and Asher Robson, and Paul and Richard Woolmer.

Saturday Practice Times: can be viewed here.

Around the paddock ~ before the START:

It was a cool crisp March morning as I waited before 7.30 with many others to get into the circuit where already the scent of the log fires which spectators huddle around was apparent in the air. Once inside the tension was soon beginning to build in the 'A' Series camp with last minute preparations for the Weslake Cup due to start at 9 o'clock. Engines were silent until 8.30 leaving little time for last adjustments. I found it hard to divide the short time available to me between meeting and chatting with familiar faces and taking photos of the cars which were soon moving off to the assembly area. The GRRC had, just days before the race, decided to penalise anyone running with either split Webers or roller rockers, so these cars were placed in a separate class to start at the back of the grid.

Weslake 1
Weslake 2
Weslake 3
Weslake 4
Speedwell GTs of Guenter Lainer and David Wylie
Lenhams of Mike Haigh, SHaun Rainford, Charles Rainford and David Stubbings
Ashley GTs of Brian Small and Larry Tucker
Darryl Davis's newly built Sebring Coupe
Weslake 5
Weslake 6
Weslake 7
Weslake 8
Tom Grindall's W & P
WSMs of Ian Hulett, Clive Cocks, Graham Robson .....
..and Tony Wilson-Spratt
James Dean's Ecurie Ecosse replica
Weslake 9
Weslake 10
Weslake 11
Weslake 12
Chris Clegg (S221) and Charlie Clegg (184 FGJ)
Guenter's engine bay
James Willis' ex-Milne Midget GT and Charlie Settrington's 138 DMO
Ian Burford's 'Lumbertubs' Sprite (with apology for blurring)
Wes
Wes
Wes
Wes
James Colburn's Lenham GT
Richard Woolmer BXN
The assembly area
Charlie and Shaun Rainford
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Clegg steps in
Off to the grid
Corry sets off
and S221

 

Click here: for the full ENTRY LIST and here: for the starting grid .

In practice the previous day Richard Woolmer in BXN had been fastest by almost 2 secondWoolmers from Thomas Grindall in his W & P with James Colburn (Lenham GT) making up the front row. Richard's early laps in the wet are a treat to watch:

The Race: (Watch it on YouTube) or (the highlights):
At the fall of the flag it was Colburn who got away best leading Grindall and Woolmer into Madgwick, but it wasn't long before Richard pulled into second spot and set about snatching the lead from Colburn which he achieved before the end of lap 1. The yellow WSM prototype was incredibly twitchy compared with Colburn's much more stable Lenham though the latter did appear to have the benefit of much wider rubber. All eyes were on this dice at the front with the lead changing several times a lap during their first few circuits with Woolmer's car sliding The diceand drifting through every corner completely on the ragged edge. (Watch that early dice on YouTube) Then there was an unfortunate coming together at St Mary's causing the safety car to come out and the field to bunch up and trail around behind it for several laps. Apparently Will Corry and Gordon Elwell, who had started at the back of the grid, had been gaining fast on Paul Woolmer in the Turner. Corry dived through on the inside and Elwell, who had already made up some 12 places, went to follow through but Paul may not have realised a second car was there, getting the Turner sideways and ramming MEG amidships. Both cars were quite badly damaged and unable to continue. At this point the lead pack was Colburn, Woolmer, Rainford jnr, Tony Wilson-Spratt, Brian Small, Tom Grindall, James Dean, Shaun Rainford, et al. Tom Grindall had lost ground after a spin in the W&P, and Mike Haigh was lying about 12th. With 8 minutes of the race still to go, the pack was again unleashed and that fantastic contest between Colburn and Woolmer began all over again until Woolmer lost it coming out of Madgwick (perhaps on some oil as several cars were smoking quite a bit). He very capably got the car pointing in the right direction and trickled along on the grass, gradually inching back on to the tarmac. Unfortunately, in the heat of a battle between four following cars Jim Dean, perhaps unsighted as he entered the corner, allowed his car to run out towards the edge of the tarmac and clipped the slow-moving BXN quite hard, spinning the Ecosse Sprite car around and demolishing its bonnet. (See the collision on YouTube) Sadly both cars these were also badly damaged and the Ecosse was stranded mid-track after Dean bailed out. Consequently out came the red flag to stop the race.

On the restart Charles Clegg was missing, reason unknown, and Charlie Rainford was pulled off due to a leaking rocker box gasket. Colburn led away this time from Grindall, Rainford, Davis and Small. A lap or so on and Corry's engine let go, and Haigh was hanging on to the tail of Hulett's WSM behind a close battle between Davis and Small. Having got by Hulett, Haigh began to chase his next target with lights blazing. Tony Wilson-Spratt pulled off at Woodcote, his second engine of the weekend having let him down. With Colburn extending his lead there were lots of little scraps going on including Wylie's attempts to get by Burford in the Lumbertubs. Haigh now got in front of Small and was chasing Davis. With 2 minutes left he pulled past him and accelerated quickly away to begin hauling in Shaun Rainford's Lenham, this now being the final lap of the race. Colburn was now way off in front of Grindall with a further quite large gap to Rainford. Battles between Davis/Small (which Davis won) and Burford/Wylie continued and Mike Haigh finally squeezed past Shaun to take 3rd before the chicane and the chequered flag.

On Youtube, you can also watch from the cockpit with Charles Rainford, whose engine unfortunately suffered a leaking rocker box gasket resulting in him being pulled off the second grid line-up and missing the final bash to the finish.

Haigh
Haigh
Haigh

Mike Haigh was justifiably pleased with his 3rd place finish after "a great battle with Shaun Rainford in SS 1800!"

SOME PHOTOS FROM GRRC
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Chris Clegg in S221 is closely followed by Ian Hulett (WSM), Daryl Davis (Sebring), Paul Woolmer (Turner) and David Stubbings (Lenham GT)...
and here Gordon Elwell (MEG) is tailed by Darren Turner and Will Corry.
In this shot of Ian Burford (Lumbertubs) Paul Woolmer appears a little crossed up in front of Ian Hulett
Ian, again ahead of Daryl Davis

..and some supplied by Graham Robson

Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Lapped by the winner
Asher leads Guenther
Graham heading out
Tip-toeing through the daffs

 

WINNERS ROSTRUM

1

2

3

YAD
Weslake 5
Haigh
The Winner, James Colburn, Lenham GT
2nd place went to Tom Grindall in his W & P
and 3rd was Mike Haigh in his Lenham Le Mans Coupe


You can do no better than watch the entire race coverage of the race on YouTube or the highlights .

Full Race Results are available here

DAN PAUL'S GALLERY

DP
DP
DP
DP
The 'Lumbertubs' Sprite
Tony's second engine in
Hulett prepares
Skipworth's Ecosse Sprite
DP
DP
DP
DP
Clegg's S221
Elwell's MEG
The Speedwells
Woolmer leads to the grid
DP
DP
DP
DP
Richard Woolmer, BXN
James Dean
DMO
Charlie Clegg
DP
DP
DP
DP
Chris gets ready
They line up..
....ready to go
Lap 1 dice
DP17
DP18
DP19
DP20
Davis
Dean
Turner
Wylie
DP21
DP22
DP23
DP 25
The lead scrap
Rainford Jnr
Clegg Jnr
Burford/Corry
DP26
DP27
DP28
DP 29
The wait
Charlie side-lined
and the other Charlie
Guenther readies
DP30
DP31
DP32
DP33
Rainford Snr
Wylie again
Clegg Snr
Corry in front
DP34
DP35
DP36
DP37
Back to the paddock
DP38
DP39


and finally a few more of my own

Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
WSMs get ready
Smokey Joe
Chris and Charlie confer with (?) David Stubbings
Gordon surveys the damage
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
Weslake
More than it looks
Hulett looks pleased
Charlie and Ian review
The winning Lenham

 

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