There is no disguising the fact that we would like to have had more than 9 Alfas lined up on the grid at Cadwell Park but those who did make the trip up to the rolling hills of Lincolnshire enjoyed glorious sunny weather, superb track conditions and an excellent day’s racing.
Because of our low numbers our race was opened out to Allcomers and we were joined by a Tim Gray Motorsport Spire GT-3, an Ariel Atom, an Audi TT TDi, a Seat Cupra TCR, 2 BMW Compacts, a Caterham 7 420R, a Ferrari 360 Challenge car, a Renault Clio 182, a Lotus Elise and a Ford Fiesta. I shall not comment on the Allcomers race other than in passing in this report.
Our drivers and cars were as follows: Jamie Thwaites (TCR Giulietta), Toby Broome (147 GTA), Mike Hilton (4C), Paul Plant (Giulietta), Andy Page (Giulietta 116 Turbo), Richard Ford (GT), Garry Jackson (156 TS), Nathan Bignell (33), and we welcomed new driver Peter Bell in a 146 Twin Spark making his debut in the Championship.
QUALIFYING
Our qualifying session was the first track action of the day at 9.00 AM. All our drivers took the first couple of laps fairly steady to settle in to the track conditions (always a wise thing to do at Cadwell) and the first to post a competitive time was Toby Broome in the Power Trophy class Revs Italia 147 GTA with a time of 1:41.872 on his 3rd lap. He then worked progressively down to a best time of 1:39.249 on his penultimate lap, a fine performance and a record-breaking one if he could repeat in the races. Not unexpectedly it wasn’t quite good enough for the overall Alfa pole as Jamie Thwaites recorded a 1:37.066 in the rapid TCR Giulietta on his 5th tour, although it was the only lap where he exceeded Toby’s best time and Jamie felt that he hadn’t quite been ‘on it’ in the session for some reason. He would rectify that later in the day!
Mike Hilton was 3rd quickest in the 4C, just 0.6s behind Toby, Mike having 4 seconds in hand over Paul Plant’s Giulietta (1:43.468), Paul having a further 2 seconds in hand over Andy Page’s Giulietta 116 (1:45.753).
Richard Ford was struggling with tyres in his GT, the car electing to go sideways for no obvious reason in some of the corners but he worked his way down to a time of 1:47.849 on his final lap to go 6th quickest. Closely matched behind Richard were Garry Jackson (1:51.244), Nathan Bignell (1:51.776) and Peter Bell (1:52.124). Garry and Nathan were both participating in only their second ever race meeting and Pete had bought an Alfa 146 that had been languishing in the proverbial barn for many years, cleaned it, fired it up, and brought it to the track, so it was a great effort by all 3.
So Jamie would line up 3rd overall on the grid behind the ultra rapid Spire and the Atom but notably ahead of the Audi TT and the Seat Cupra TCR. Toby and Mike were 6th and 7th overall respectively with the rest scattered through the field among Allcomers. There were no significant mechanical gremlins to be sorted out among the Alfas, just the usual routine checks, as we awaited our first race scheduled for 12.40 PM.
RACE 1
It might have been scheduled for 12.40 but it didn’t actually start until 1.40 – an F1000 car had crashed around the back of the circuit necessitating repairs to the barrier so an early lunch break was called while these repairs were carried out. When we did get under way the Spire and the Atom disappeared into the distance while Jamie lost a place initially to the Audi TT. A close battle ensued with Jamie getting closer and closer till he made a superb pass at the end of the start/finish straight on lap 10 and drew away and took the overall Alfa victory, breaking Adie Hawkins’s long standing outright Alfa lap record in the process.
At the start Mike Hilton got a rocket start in the 4C, passing 4 cars and might have passed a couple more if he had kept his foot in approaching Coppice but wisely he backed off to avoid an incident with cars he wasn’t actually competing with. He held 4th overall behind Jamie for the first couple of laps before the Seat TCR got past him. Things were going well until lap 7 when he lost gears and finally got stuck in 6th while his clutch incinerated itself sadly forcing him into retirement. Toby Broome had an early grassy ‘moment’ at Charlie’s which lost him some time but no places. After that he got his head down and lapped impressively and consistently, establishing the new lap record for the Power Trophy class at 1:40.051 on lap 8 and inheriting 2nd place when Mike Hilton retired. (Interestingly too, this was only a couple of 10ths outside Tom Hill’s V6 class lap record.)
Paul Plant was running 3rd of the Alfas behind Toby once Mike Hilton retired. He had several seconds in hand over Andy Page from lap 1 onwards till lap 10 when a sound of thrashing rubber from the nearside front end signalled a delaminating tyre. He backed off to try and make the finish – which he did – but Andy Page caught and passed him to take 3rd overall, while Paul held on to finish ahead of Richard Ford to take the second place in class. Richard lapped throughout in the 1:47s and his car was clearly not performing at its best. He pulled out a gap to Nathan Bignell’s 33 early on but Nathan got quicker and quicker as the race went on as he gathered more circuit knowledge and more confidence. In the closing stages he was pressing Richard hard and looking for a way through but Richard held on to take the place by half a second.
In the Twin Spark Cup, Garry Jackson was slow off the line at the start and Peter Bell got ahead of him. They were nose to tail during the early laps as Garry tried to recover the place but on their 5th tour Garry’s car broke a drive shaft putting him off the circuit at the base of the Mountain. Pete was close up behind Nathan Bignell’s 33 early on but Nathan pulled away leaving him in the final place and the sole remaining Twin Spark, taking the class win with a solid debut performance.
Race 1 Results
| Class | Winners |
|---|---|
| Modified | Jamie Thwaites |
| V6 | No starters |
| Power Trophy | Toby Broome |
| Twin Spark Cup | Peter Bell |
RACE 2
Sadly Mike Hilton was a non starter for our second race – the final one of the day – with no clutch left, but Garry Jackson was able to fit a new drive shaft to his 156 and take the start. A few of the Allcomers elected not to stay on for the race so there was a grid of 15 – 8 Alfas and 7 Allcomers. The start was a repeat of Race 1 at the head of the field with the Atom grabbing the lead and holding off the Spire for a couple of laps before having to concede to the quicker car.
With no pesky Audi TT to contend with this time Jamie Thwaites held a lonely 3rd place and top Alfa place all for himself, but did he get bored and drop his pace? Not a bit of it! He worked his way from the 1:37s to the 1:36s to 1:35.184 and then spectacularly to breaking his own lap record set in Race 1 on lap 6 with a scintillating time of 1:33.555. He then put in one more quick one before easing his pace for the remainder of the race, finishing with still 34 seconds in hand over the Seat TCR car behind him. Yes he does have a very quick car but he is also a bloody quick driver – superb to watch!
Toby Broome was again second overall and leading Power Trophy class runner. Mid race he was being held up by a Caterham and finally elected to back off on lap 7 to create a gap to enable him to go for the Power Trophy lap record again. This he successfully achieved on lap 10 with a superb time of 1:39.610; not only that but he even surpassed Tom Hill’s V6 class lap record and we all know how quick Tom was! Behind him Paul Plant was generally lapping a couple of seconds slower in the Giulietta 1.4T but it has to be said that Paul was driving superbly and with no tyre gremlins to contend with this time took an excellent 3rd overall and 2nd in class. Behind him the irrepressible Andy Page enjoyed a close battle with a Clio 182 and his overall race time was several seconds quicker than in race 1 as he took 4th place overall.
Behind Andy there were mixed fortunes. As in Race 1 Richard Ford got ahead of class rival Nathan Bignell at the start but couldn’t shake him off. Lap after lap they circulated nose to tail, their lap times closely matched with Nathan applying more and more pressure as the race progressed. Finally he got through on lap 10 and took the place and Richard, in his determination to get the place back, tried to step up his pace only for a tyre to burst with such force that it almost split in two, eliminating him from the race and Nathan duly finished to take 3rd place in class.
In the Twin Spark battle it was Peter Bell’s turn to suffer a mechanical failure this time. Everything seemed to happen on lap 10 in this race! After getting a warning flag for the exhaust hanging off his 146 it finally fell off and forced him into retirement leaving Garry Jackson to take the class win having passed Pete on lap 6.
Race 2 Results
| Class | Winners |
|---|---|
| Modified | Jamie Thwaites |
| V6 | No starters |
| Power Trophy | Toby Broome |
| Twin Spark Cup | Garry Jackson |
Despite the disappointing numbers it had been a very enjoyable day’s racing with much to admire and enjoy and we now move on to Brands Hatch for the Festival Italia meeting where a big grid is in prospect to entertain the many thousands of spectators who flock to this popular annual event.
Andy Robinson
Race Photos: Mark Cullen
Trophies: Victoria Page
