Lincolnshire’s very own ‘Nurburgring’ again played host to the Club’s celebrated Shuttleworth and Nuffield Trophies Race Meeting, boasting the full eclectic mix of Pre- and Post-war racing machinery. The stakes are high, the circuit is undulating and the racing is sure to be breathtaking……………………..
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The Words:
CADWELL PARK – MORGAN THREE WHEELER CUB CHALLENGE ROUND 4
It was an unusual Cadwell. Firstly the sun shone all day, secondly the VSCC meeting was running ahead of time and finally we had two 5 speeders taking part in their first circuit race, both cars and drivers. Graham Sherwood and Austin Smith were nervous and had walked the course on Saturday evening asking numerous questions. In true MTWC tradition they turned up at different times and the Competition Secretary had to do 2 laps of the circuit as a result of which he almost missed the free bar although his wife made up for this!!
The other 10 entries were the Methanol eating JAPs of Hamish and Greg Bibby, Chas Reynolds and Nigel Challis, the Racing F-Types of Dave Hodgson and Pete Clews and the 4 TM cars, Danny Hodgson, Tom Cowley, Chas Pilbeam and Tony Pearson.
Qualifying arrived at a grid we could have predicted with Hamish on Pole followed by the order above with the 5 Speeders near the back although Danny Hodgson had put himself alongside Pete Clews while Dave in the Racing F-Type was near the back.
Everything looked perfect as after a short lunch the grid lined up in the sunshine. Lesley Reaney lowered the Union Jack and with a roar the race began. Nigel Challis was pleased to be able to make a good start as his car was running on both barrels and the leading pack pulled away towards Charlies at the top of the hill but by the time they reached the Mountain the Red flags came out and the race was stopped. Tony Pearson had attempted to overtake Tom Cowley on the outside of Park and overturned. Fortunately both Tony and passenger Verity escaped lightly although Tony went to Hospital for a checkup. He returned later to collect the damaged car and after inspection on Monday suggested the three word statement “Lots of Spannerwork!”
Back at the start the grid reassembled and were flagged away for the second time. The front of the grid got away fine followed by Pete Clews with passenger Becky Washington taking part in her first circuit race with Graham Sherwood in close attendance. Austin Smith and Julia Perry were overwhelmed by the F-types and quipped after the race, “I thought you said you all respected each other and would be slower than me off the start, then I was massacred!” He did fight his way back to have a close race with Danny Hodgson. Danny won this one after a spin on the last lap left Austin in his wake. The only other F-type still running was Chas Pilbeam who took second place in TM class after Tom Cowley lost braking and had to pull off at the bottom of the Goose Neck on the first lap and Dave Hodgson’s Racing F-Type also succumbed to gremlins and retired on lap 3. Pete Clews pulled ahead of Graham Sherwood in the TM 5 Speeder to finish 5th. At the front there was a titanic battle going on. Hamish was leading followed by Greg with Chas Reynolds very close behind. Greg and Chas went into the “Old Hairpin”very close together and Chas pulled off a cheeky run down the inside and took second place to finish just 5 seconds behind Hamish and 2 seconds ahead of Greg. Despite the small grid it was an exciting race.
The Circuit:
The Photos and Video:
Great photos from Dennis Rushton and Jonathan Garside:
More photos on Facebook from Neil Kirby: Click here
Here’s a video of Tony Pearson’s “inversion” – better viewed in Full Screen:
Graham Sherwood used a camera to record his first practice laps (Looks good viewed in Full Screen):
The Race Results:
