Snetterton 2025

The period between the conclusion of the 2024 season and the start of the 2025 season has seen a number of changes take place.

Andy Robinson has stepped down as co-ordinator after a period of seven years during which he made a successful contribution in dealing with a number of issues that impacted upon motorsport generally, thereby enabling the Alfa Romeo championship to continue through this difficult period maintaining its status as a viable championship into the future. Andy’s contribution has been gratefully acknowledged and his place has been taken by Andy Hancock, himself a former Alfa racer and having vast experience in the motorsport industry through his business interests.

Over the close season the status of the championship and its links with organising clubs have been thoroughly reviewed with a view to enhancing the appeal to Italian race car owners generally and to raise the profile in order to hopefully increase participation in this difficult economic climate. The result has been a renaming of the championship, opening it up to a full range of Italian production derived race cars, and a revision of the class structure in a bid to make it attractive and fair in terms of relative competitiveness. The championship has also entered a transition period in relation to organising clubs, moving from 750 Motor Club to the Historic Sports Car Club in terms of race programme for this year with a view to making a permanent move to the HSCC next year.

Against this backdrop we commence a 12 race season across six race weekends at the Snetterton 200 circuit, revisiting it for the first time since the championship raced there in 2020 when racing commenced following the Covid lockdown.

The entry list reads as follows:

Modified class: Jamie Thwaites (TCR Giulietta), Scott Austin (156), Jack Berry (4C), Barry McMahon (Giulia Quadrifoglio), and Andy Page (Giulietta 116 Turbo).

Power Trophy class: Toby Broome (147 GTA), Simon McFie and Chris McFie (Fiat Punto Abarths), Stacey Dennis (Giulietta), Mark Skeggs (GTV), Paul Webster (156 GTA) and debutant Steve Godfrey (GT 3.2)

Turismo class: Nathan Bignell (33)

Twin Spark Cup: James Ford, Richard Ford, Edward Robinson and debutants Marcus Robinson and George Warren (156s). Dave Pickup, James Powell and debutant Ian Fenwick (147s)

We were also joined by the Ford V8 engined Ferrari Dino of Charlie McCarthy running as an Invitation entry.

QUALIFYING

The 22 car entry was reduced to 20 before qualifying got under way, with Scott Austin’s 156 unable to make the start and Marcus Robinson having blown the engine in his 156 whilst testing on Friday. Nevertheless, an excellent entry of 20 cars were out on to the circuiit as qualifying got under way shortly after its allocated time of 10:30.

Jamie Thwaites was setting the early pace with a 1:22.736 which he improved by a couple of seconds on lap 4 by which time Barry McMahon had increased his pace and set a time of 1:19.167. Both drivers improved their times throughout the 15 minute session, Barry taking pole with a 1:17.083 on lap 11 with Jamie second with a 1:18.123 on lap 7. Jack Berry was enjoying his first competitive drive in the Alfa Workshop 4C, finishing the session 3^rd and setting a best time of 1.20.499 on lap 9, whilst Andy Page in the Giulitta 116 turbo finished the session strongly with his three fastest laps culminating in a 1.27.405 on his final lap to put him 6^th on the grid.

Meanwhile, the Power Trophy car of Toby Broome was setting his usual blistering pace putting him amongst the Modified class cars with a best time of 1:26.087 on lap 7 out of 7 to put him 4^th on the grid, eclipsing the V6 class lap record and suggesting he would be setting the new Power Trophy lap record over the course of the weekend. Also putting her car in amongst the Modifieds was Stacey Dennis in the Giulietta, 5th place being the reward for steadily improving lap times resulting in a best of 1:26.354 on lap 8. Simon and Chris McFie are never far apart in their Punto Abarths, Chris setting the pace in the early laps but Simon edging it by almost a second with a 1:29.320 on lap 5 to put them on row 4 of the grid in positions 7 and 8.

Next up were the leading Twin Spark cars, the early pace in this class being set first by Richard Ford in his 156 and being immediately bettered by Dave Pickup in his 147, with James Ford in the 156 fastest on lap 4 and consolidating the class pole with a 1:30.942 on lap 10. George Warren is new to Alfa racing and was putting in some quick laps in the Bianco Motorsports spare 156 car, brought to the circuit after an engine failure in his intended car in Friday testing. He finished the session in 11^th overall and 3^rd in class with a 1:32.624.

The Invitation car of Charlie McCarthy was next up in the Ford V8 engined Dino recording his best time of 1:32.762 on lap 8. The 147 cars of James Powell and Dave Pickup made up row 7 of the grid, James setting a time of 1:32.788 to edge out Dave by just over a tenth of a second. Newcomer Steve Godfrey was next in the ex Tom Hill GT, having set a best time of 1:33.002 on lap 3 and pulling into the pits after lap 4. Nathan Bignell in the only Turismo class car, an Alfa 33, set his personal best time of 1:33.067 to put him 16^th. Paul Webster was making a welcome return to Alfa racing in the ex Andy Inman Revs Italia 156 GTA, his time of 1:33.654 putting him 17^th alongside newcomer Ian Fenwick’s 147 recording a time of 1:34.040 in his first qualifying session. Mark Skeggs was 19^th in the GTV with a 1:36.669 whilst Edward Robinson failed to record a time due to ignition problems meaning he would start at the back of the grid.

RACE 1

The lights went out just after 2:30 to signal the start of race 1 of a new season. The leading cars made a clean start but Andy Page was slow to get going causing the Puntos and the leading Twin Spark cars to take avoiding action, enabling Richard Ford to get past James and into the Twin Spark lead as the cars negotiated Riches for the first time. Jamie Thwaites then spun the Giulietta around at the next corner, Wilson, causing following cars to take avoiding action and allowing others to take advantage of the situation to gain places going into the Bentley Straight. By the time the cars had sorted themselves out at the end of lap 1, Jack Berry was leading from Toby Broome in second with Barry McMahon third, Andy Page fourth, Stacey Dennis fifth, with Chris and Simon McFie sixth and seventh respectively. George Warren had an excelent first lap and found himself leading the Twin Spark class from James Powell with Nathan Bignell’s sole Turismo car sandwiched between. Richard Ford was half a second clear of James with Charlie McCarthy’s Invitation Ferrari a further second and a half adrift. Then came Mark Skegg’s Power Trophy class GTV in fourteenth place, followed by Ian Fenwick’s 147 TS, Paul Webster’s Power Trophy 156 and Steve Godfrey’s GT. Edward Robinson had started from the back of the field and was up to eighteenth place whilst Dave Pickup’s 147 had lost 5 places on the opening lap. Jamie Thwaites had recovered from his spin and was 18 seconds adrift going into lap 2. By the end of the lap he had caught up and would now set about working his way through the field.

Also on lap 2, Barry McMahon was sussessful in getting past Toby Broome and was within half a second of the 4C of Jack Berry going into lap 4 where he duly put his Giulia at the front by the midpoint of the lap. Andy Page and Stacey Dennis had consolidated their positions in fourth and fifth and found themselves circulating in free air apart from having to negotiate some backmarkers over the last couple of laps. Meanwhile, at the front, Barry McMahon extended his lead over Jack Berry’s 4C who in turn extended his lead over Toby Broome. Jamie Thwaites had fought his way up to thirteenth by the start of lap 4 and up to eighth at the start of lap 5. Having passed the battling McFie brothers on lap 5, he ran wide at Murrays at the end of the lap, and had to retire with a damaged sump and driveshaft that unfortunately proved to be unfixable.

What of the McFie brothers. As is often the case, they played out a close fought battle all race long separated only by fractions of a second and exchanging the lead on more than one occasion. It was a great crowd pleasing display and they duly brought the cars home in third and fourth in class, Chris picking up the podium honours and the gap crossing the finish line was just 0.13 seconds.

Mark Skeggs had to retire his GTV with a misfire so the remaining Power Trophy finishers were Steve Godfrey in fifth and Paul Webster in sixth.

The Twin Spark class was competitive as ever and was fought out with the Turismo class 33 car contesting the same area of tarmac as the leading trio. At the end of lap 2,James Powell attempted an overtake on the entry to Murrays on Richard Ford with James Ford in close attendance and as the cars exited the corner they were three abreast with the former champion having the momentum to pick up two places as they completed the lap and Richard holding on to third. Nathan Bignell now stood between George Warren in the leading 156 and the Ford brothers giving chase. On lap 4, both Nathan and James got past George with James then easing past Nathan to put the Turismo runner into the midst of the Twin Sparks once again. Richard passed George on the next lap and the running order settled down like this over the next few laps until Nathan passed James on lap 12. Nathan’s 33 had started, however, to leak oil in the latter stages but he was still able to take an overall eighth place.

James Ford was the first twin spark car to cross the line with Richard less than half a second adrift in second and picking up the point for fastest lap in the process. Charlie McCarthy had an enjoyable first outing with the ARIIC cars and brought the Dino home in 11^th place ahead of the podium placed George Warren who had an excellent first drive in the Bianco 156. The Revs Italia supported 156 of Edward Robinson finished fourth in class with James Powell fifth, Ian Fenwick sixth and Dave Pickup seventh. Fastest lap overall went to Barry McMahon with a new lap record of 1:16.887 and Toby Broome established the Power Trophy lap record with a 1:24.205.

Unfortunately for Jamie Thwaites his Giulietta couldn’t be repaired in time for race 2 so had to be retired. Nathan Bignell had a gearbox oil seal issue and trailered the car home to effect an overnight repair. Dave Pickup’s problems were caused by clutch failure and he worked late into Saturday night to get it fixed.

Race 1 Results

RACE 2

Barry McMahon had prior commitments on the Sunday so would not be able to participarte so Jack Berry assumed pole position with Toby Broome alongside on the front row. A field of 18 cars took the start slightly earlier than the scheduled time at 11:18 am.

Toby Broome got a tremendous start and pulled clear from the rest of the field with Jack Berry’s 4C losing ground to the Power Trophy 147 over the first few laps. It was not until lap 7 that the deficit had been caught up and Jack took the lead that he would hold throughout the rest of the race. Stacey Dennis’s Giulietta and Andy Page in his Giulietta 116 would once again circulate in clear air in third and fourth places until Andy had to retire the Giulietta on lap 10 with a misfire. Next up were the McFie brothers, again with fractions of a second separation most of the time and the lead being exchanged six times, Chris initially leading but Simon this time taking the third podium slot behing Toby and Stacey. Toby set his fastest lap on lap 6 striving to stay ahead of Jack’s advancing 4C, such was his pace that he was inside his earlier lap record with a new time of 1:23.340. Fifth place in the Power Trophy was this time taken by Paul Webster who was twelfth overall and Steve Godfrey brought the GT home in sixth, fourteenth overall in his first race meeting. Mark Skeggs continued to have his misfire woes and he had to retire the GTV on lap 10.

Behind the Puntos, another close battle was played out between the Twin Spark 156s of James and Richard Ford in front of appreciative spectators and separated by fractions of a second for almost the entire race. Richard had seized the initiative at the first corner, emerging with the lead and holding onto it under constant pressure from James. The order was maintained throughout until Richard ran slightly wide at Wilson on lap 14 and it was enough for James to get alongside and emerge from Chapman in the lead. Dave Pickup had worked hard to overcome his clutch problems only for the car to have a leaking engine oil pipe forcing its retirement after the opening lap, bringing out double waved yellows at Riches for a couple of laps.

Nathan Bignell had repaired the oil leak on the 33 Turismo class car and finished eighth behing the leading twin sparks with George Warren once again taking the third place podium spot, another fine result. Charlie McCarthy had another very enjoyable outing amongst the ARIIC cars to finish tenth, James Powell was eleventh and fourth Twin Spark, with Paul Webster twelfth. Edward Robinson finished fifth in Twin Sparks and Ian Fenwick sixth, completing an enjoyable first weekend’s racing in the process. James Ford took fastest lap in the Twin Spark class just fractions of a second shy of setting a new lap record.

Race 2 Results

The Hitek Electronic Materials Driver of the Day award was a shared award to the McFie brothers for the close and entertaining racing across the weekend. The consensus in the paddock was that this had been a very enjoyable weekend’s racing played out under blue skies and sunshine and that the HSCC had been very welcoming and supportive. The next meeting is at Cadwell Park on Sunday, 25 May and it is hoped that the weather and the turnout matches this opening weekend.