Driving through the gates at Brands Festival Italia is always special.  All the stands are built and the FOC gang are in great spirits, looking forward to over 120 cars. Weather looks like it’s going to be good so expectations are high.  I’m claiming that by acquiring a set of tyres for a wet race, it is I who has assured a sunny event.

Unfortunately, Vance isn’t in his 355 this weekend, and Wayne hasn’t made it either, but Chris Compton-Goddard is feeling confident he’s going to give us a good run for our money. It great to see a new car on the entry list, or should I say the return of Tim Walker’s old car, now being prepared and entered by Stuart Bitmead of SBR.  I was surprised to see a yellow and black X on the back of the car, but Stuart clarifies, although he’s prepared race cars for years, this is his first race.  So, a grid of 22 cars is great to see, even with some familiar faces missing.  It won’t be long before we see over 30 on the grid, I’m sure. That is a milestone I’m looking forward to reaching!

Tim Shearman and Evers are setting up close to me, with Tony Claringbould and Jago Keen all looking ready for action.  It’s also fantastic to see Robert Pulleyn coming out in Swifty’s No 11 308GTB.  Pete ‘the professional’ Fisk has rocked up with the full-on Race Team kit with Myles Poulton and Robin Biesbroek ready for action.  Jago has pulled out the stops with full team kit also, very much the envy of the Class 2 drivers.

Once setup in the paddock it’s off to the curry house to meet the gang.  Looks like everybody is there tonight and great to see Mick Dwayne join our table.   Plenty of banter on the plan for the race.  Mogridge is confident his car is setup ‘just right’ as it’s been sat in the trailer since Oulton.   There is confidence, however what’s the saying ‘fail to prepare and prepare to fail’. Anyway, he’s confident non the less.

Unfortunately, after the starters had just arrived Chris C-G received the news from Rich (RNR) that his 355 cam idle gear had lost its teeth so will be unable to join the party tomorrow.  He’s gutted but better to find out now ahead of it failing on the track.  However, the good news is he can at least race his Alfa in the Jack Sears cup with Harrison against a lads and dads battle with Myles Poulton and Lex.

Practice

I take it easy in practice with my old tyres, and can see that Tim Mogridge is looking quick. So is Gary Culver and Chris Butler as always. I’m surprised Jim Cartwright isn’t with us, but he’s probably still asleep at this time.   Robin Biesbroek is also looking on form.  Unfortunately, I see Pete Fisk is utilising his smoke screen again, which he should only really use when needed in the race, but apparently it wasn’t intentional as I peer into his boot full of oil….  Damn.  Tim Sherman has an additional catch-tank in his boot to stop such an issue, but Pete is confident there isn’t a big enough tank he could attach to his car to capture all the oil.  Maybe he should consider an accusump as per the GT4s.  Colin Sowter was noticeably absent from practice in his 355 spider, but confirmed this was always the plan, due to competing enough testing the previous day and also racing in the Bell series today.  James Parker had also been testing and building his confidence with his 355.

Qualifying

Due to Pete Fisk’s oil issue, Jim Cartwright gave Pete his Class 3 car, and jumped into Nick’s Class 4 car for the remainder of the meeting.  Pete was loving Jim’s car in qualifying however coming up behind Pulleyn into Clearways he experienced another car’s smokescreen usage and hit the oil left by the latter car and ended in the gravel.  Oops.  ‘Sorry Jim’.  Unfortunately, this was the end to Pulleyn’s weekend.

Your scribe snatched pole for both races, followed very closely by Colin Sowter, Gary Culver and Jim Cartwright.  Very close times, it’s going to be an interesting race.  Butler, Biesbroek and Parker followed. Unfortunately, Tim Morgridge had lost some power from his car compared to Practice, and was 9th, with a pack of very closely matched 328s in the 57s.  That’s going to be good to watch.  Hopefully Tim’s car can be fixed before the race, but nothing could be found on inspection.  One bank appeared to be down on power so it was possibly due to the belt jumping a tooth (it later transpired that some gravel from his off at Oulton had done exactly that) and he could not start the race.

Sadly, for Tim that now means that I have taken the Tim v Tris challenge points for 2024 already, even if he beats me at Castle Combe’s final 3 races, he can only score 5 versus my 6 from the first 3 rounds.  Better luck next year Moggy.

Tim Sherman is delighted to be in the pack of 328s in the 57’s taking 13th and feeling back on the pace.  It’s going to be a busy track for us all I can tell.

Race 1

After the fancy grid walk which was really busy, we lined up for the start of the race.  This will be a busy race I can tell, with so many cars so keeping P1 is going to be tough.  Thankfully I get a clean start and maintain a marginal lead ahead of Culver and Cartwright, with Colin dropping back behind the two 328s. I see Culver looking for a move, but manage to park at the apex of Clarke before getting good drive.  This only releases Jim around the outside of Culver, so now I have Jim on my tail.  I repeat the move and they switch a few times, before finally pulling a bit of a gap before the lapping commenced.    I wish we had more colour in the field as coming through the fantastic battling of the 328s I can’t tell which red 328 is behind me, is it the one I’ve just passed, Culver or Jim?  Anyway, keep it calm and plod on, I think.

I can see the lapped cars are having a great time and enjoy watching their battles whilst hoping for a clean pass.

Coming into the final lap I spot it is Jim gaining fast, but thankfully no trouble before the line.  He didn’t even get chance to rub my bumper stickers off this year.  So, feel pretty pleased with myself.

Rob Greaves and Charlie Ugo failed to finish, alongside Mogridge, with mechanical issues.

James Parker had a good race with Robin Biesbroek, finally taking Robin and also a class 5 third place trophy.

Pete Fisk was flying from the back, setting the fastest class 3 lap time of the race, whilst gaining 10 places from the grid. ‘I’m delighted I have beaten Chris Butler for fastest time for Class 3, but it’s clearly not me it’s the CAR!’ he sniggered with a typical smirk. He’s too modest, is something I’ve never heard said about Pete, so not really too sure how to take that.

Unfortunately for Chris Butler, he had a very quiet race, with little challenge from behind, other than the charging Fisk. Poulton was next, followed by Evers getting the better of Keen and Shearman and Sayles all close together. MacFarlane only just kept the lead from Claringbould with a gap of 0.333 seconds on the line.

Race 2

Another clean start allowed me to maintain my lead, whilst the cars battled behind.  The 328s jumped Sowter again, but the 355 spider is looking very racy, so one to watch in coming races as Colin builds experience in the car.  Unfortunately, the race was cut short due to Greaves losing his coolant out of Clearways, catching out the flying Tim Sherman, unfortunately sending him off the track and into the barrier.

Biesbroek and Poulton crossed the line ahead of Butler who dropped 2 places, with Evers on his tail. Jago had a fantastic race, gaining 4 places and successfully held off both Sayles and Clarinbould in a very close finish, with a recovering Parker finishing ahead of a delighted Bitmead to complete his first weekend in his 355.

Another great event.  Oh, and for those interested the Poulton’s took the Lads and Dads Alpha challenge it’s the Jack Sears Cup from Compton-Goddard’s. Soon to be repeated at the Silverstone Festival over the Bank Holiday weekend, with a cheeky Studebaker in the mix from Vance and your scribe.  Wish us luck. Editors note – Tris thanks for the report, only slightly late, and yes, the Studebaker looks amazing and ran well at Silverstone.