HINDLEY TAKES A HIT AND A WIN

After an excellent season in 2008, the Classic 2CV Racing Club looked forward to an even better 2009. With big grids and close racing, there was no reason why this year could not be even better. However, as the credit squeeze began to develop more crunch than a Crunchie Bar filled with extra crunchy bits, it became a worry that perhaps the grid sizes would not be quite as big as last year.

Thankfully, when the teams arrived for the first races at Silverstone it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Nineteen cars were entered, with several new faces amongst the line-ups. 2008 champion Phil Myatt returned, although he was now sharing Sammie Fritchley’s car, the winning car from last year having been sold to Anthony Robinson.

Wayne Cowling and Steve Panas (who finished 3rd and 4th respectively last year) had also teamed up for this meeting, although whether or not Steve will manage to run his own car this year remains to be seen (after the front of it was crafted into a shape that did not resemble a 2CV, more a guardrail, at Mallory Park).

2008 runner-up, Andy Smith, was to be found up in the commentators box with Ainslie Bousfield, whilst Christian Callander (5th last year) was to be found absolutely nowhere near Silverstone. Indeed, you had to go down to 6th in the 2008 championship before you found an unchanged entry, in this instance Martin Hindley. It was good to see forum regular Simon Crook finally make it to the track, with a car that was so well put together and smart looking it would clearly be impossible for it to get through the race without sustaining some sort of damage.

Another couple of smart cars (as in well presented, not the tiny vehicles) were those of Lien Davies and Sandro Proietti, the latter clearly having caught the 2CV racing bug after his impressive performances at Mallory last year. Mike and Martin Fox had brought along the ex-Bill Murray motor, complete with aerodynamic tail fins, which were hastily removed when they discovered they were a little bit illegal (although they did make handy drink stands). Graham Harper wasn’t personally racing, but he was looking after two Scottish cars, those of returning 2001 champion John-Paul Wilkinson and Alec Graham. When these two set some scintillating times in testing the day before the meeting, it was clear that Myatt would have his hands full retaining the title (which is what was predicted for 2008 and he still managed it!).

Weather forecasts prior to the weekend had suggested rain at some point over the two days, but despite some considerable droplets overnight, the track was dry for first qualifying. It was here where the drivers would now be able to see whether or not their close season work had paid off, assuming they had done some. Matthew Hollis found that his car was struggling to go in a straight line following his crash at Mallory the year before (clearly his close season work had not amounted to much), but given the width of the track it wasn’t such a problem as it might have been at somewhere like Cadwell. Up at the front, it was Hindley who took pole position from Cowling, Wilkinson and Myatt. Alec Graham was 5th, which was extremely impressive given that he only managed to complete one flying lap. Helen Deeley also lost time in this session, but she fared less well in 16th. Proietti and 24hr teammate Aubrey Brocklebank were 6th and 7th, followed by Hollis, Frank Barnard (hiring Richard Hollis’ car) and Anthony Robinson rounding out the top 10.

Clearly the startline marshals were feeling a little rusty as the cars came round to line up on the grid that afternoon for the first race of the 2009 2CVParts.com Championship. With no-one to direct him, Hindley promptly lined up in the first grid slot, with everyone else behind, only to eventually be instructed to reverse back one row. Hence a lot of shuffling of cars as everyone tried to reverse without hitting the car behind them (perhaps it was just a clever ploy by the scrutineer to check everybody’s reverse gear worked).

You would think that after 20 years of 2CV racing that the majority of drivers would be able to use the gearbox correctly, but at the start it was pole-sitter Hindley who struggled away, immediately passed by Cowling, Graham, Wilkinson and Myatt. Hollis took advantage of the squabbling leaders to drive around the outside at Copse into 3rd place, but was passed down the back straight and demoted to 5th. Cowling led across the line as Hindley passed Hollis for 5th. Behind them it was Proietti leading the charge, followed by Brocklebank, Robinson and Darren Baker, up from 12th on the grid. Next time around Cowling was down to 3rd behind Graham and a fast-recovering Hindley, but still very much in touch. These three, along with Myatt and Wilkinson, were already starting to pull away from Hollis and Proietti. Outside of the top 10, Matt Riley was 11th, followed by Barnard, Trevor Williams, Geoff Turral, Christine Thompson and Helen Deeley. Mike Fox was clinging on, whilst behind him Lein Davies and Simon Crook were having their own battle over 18th.

Hindley assumed the lead on lap 3 but before long it was Cowling back in front, still with the other 4 right on his tail. Occasionally Wilkinson would appear to lose touch with this group only to immediately re-catch them and move towards the front. On lap 7 Alec Graham was at the front and although it wasn’t able to pull away, he held the position across the line for lap after lap whilst the cars behind him jostled for position. Just a few seconds behind, but gradually starting to lose touch, Hollis and Proietti were battling for 6th, before a significant gap back to Robinson, Brocklebank and Riley. Baker had been in this group but was now dropping back. Barnard had also fallen down the field, whilst Williams seemed to be really be struggling to get the same sort of pace out of his car that took him to victory here in 2007.

On lap 14 Wilkinson went off through the gravel at Brooklands, and despite rejoining ahead of Hollis and Proietti, this time he was not going to be able to re-catch the leaders. Myatt had also slightly lost touch but he was still in a good position should anything happen between Graham, Cowling and Hindley, who entered the last lap with just 0.7 seconds between them. And lo and behold, something did happen, although not in the way that Phil would have liked. As the cars approached Brooklands for the last time, Graham took the defensive inside line, with Cowling, who had benefited from the tow, trying to slingshot around the outside.

As Wayne turned in, Alec was still disputing the apex, and the resulting collision left Cowling broadside across the track as Graham went on to cross the finish line and take the first victory of 2009. With Cowling in the way, Hindley went to the outside and Myatt to the inside, but on the exit of the corner the two came together heavily. Cowling managed to recover and cross the line in 2nd, just ahead of Wilkinson, whilst Hindley managed to crawl across in 4th with one side of his car in the shape of a banana. Myatt was not so lucky and had the unwanted accolade of being the first retirement of 2009. Proietti and Hollis claimed 5th and 6th having battled all race, ahead of an impressive Robinson, Brocklebank and Riley. Christine Thompson headed the next group in 10th, followed in close company by Baker, Deeley, Barnard and Turral. Mike Fox had begun to catch Trevor Williams but ultimately was too far behind to bridge the gap, whilst Davies had managed to pull away from Crook, who had developed a braking issue during the race.

Report by the Hollis family.