Brands Hatch Festival Italia was bathed in typical southern Italian weather. Crew teams started their preparation early in the cool (relative) morning air before the heat of the day took hold. The Ferraris, the Hitek Alfa Romeo Championship and HRDC Classic Alfa Challenge making it an all Italian race meet.

This year’s event saw sixteen runners in the Pirelli Ferrari Formula Classic with a growth spurt in Class 2; Richard Atkinson-Willes and Nick Whitaker made a welcome return in their near matching pair of 308 GT4s (they say colour makes a car and that pale metallic blue certainly shows off the GT4 lines).

A late, but welcome, addition to the entries was Jim Cartwright who travelled overnight so he didn’t miss out on the action. A busy lad, with a fair bit going on at home, we all sent him home with our regards for Nick who is working his way back to race fitness after his knee operation.

Thanks go to everyone who braved the extreme weather to help us racers. Marshals, fire service, medical teams, maintenance (but not so much the safety car driver in the air-conditioned luxury of the new Ferrari Roma – one day they will race in the Formula Classic) all endured the conditions to put on a great festival of racing, Italian style.

Practice

In case we were still a bit chilly we had an early warm up with a practice session.

Tim Walker set the benchmark time of 55.365. Whether it was the cooler climate or eagerness to get going that lap time was only bettered by three tenths all day (Tris Simpson in qualifying).

A little over a tenth separated Peter Fisk and Jim Cartwright in Class 3 and a little over a second separating the top three in Class 2.

Close weather, and even closer racing, looked to be the order of the day.

Qualifying

First or second, the battle between Walker and Simpson in Class 5 continued in to qualifying with Simpson beating Walker’s practice pace, setting fastest time at 54.937. Always in contention, Walker was half a second behind.

Class 4 saw Colin Sowter set a stonking qualifying lap of 56.387 two seconds ahead of next closest class mate, Robert MacFarlane.

Class 3 had Chris Butler in first followed by Jim Cartwright and Peter Fisk. Classmate Andy Riddoch, struggling on fresh tyres (described as woolly) some 3 seconds off the pace.

Class 2 saw returning racer, Richard Atkinson-Willes, set fastest time with a 1:00.207. Third fastest, another returnee, Nick Whitaker, on 1:00.355. The meat in the sandwich was Jago Keen on 1:00.302; 1.5 tenths looked set to provide some entertainment come the races. William Moorwood seemed off his renewed vigor of Anglesey but perhaps the rain and wind suits him better.

Qualifying saw a discrete (very few witnesses have come forward) off for Darren Mills that led to some barrier work and a long delay. Bad luck for Mills who reported, in his Anglesey race report, a year of mechanical gremlins. Marshals kindly directed the waiting cars to the shady side of the garages until action resumed.

Race 1

A good start by all but an apparent lack of room saw Riddoch and MacFarlane rub before they got away from the pit wall. This led to some interesting action at the back of the pack as some sought to avoid any outfall and others made hay on the clear side of track.

 Despite qualifying pace (or maybe because of it) Sowter was out in lap 15 with throttle pedal troubles.

Nicky Paul-Barron sadly retired on lap 20 of 22 with a gremlin. He had been running well in his freshly repaired car following the incident at Anglesey. Well done the team for getting that back together, and straight in to race pace, so quick.

Simpson won, overall and Class 5, with a best lap of 55.109; Walker three tenths behind. Great to see these two closely matched racers swapping times and places throughout the day.

Myles Poulton took the honors in Class 4, inheriting the lead after Sowter’s retirement. MacFarlane took second in Class.

1-2-3 in Class 3 was Butler, Cartwright and Fisk.

Whitaker led on lap one with Keen in second, Atkinson-Willes in third and Moorwood in fourth. Lap 2 saw Keen slide up the inside of Whitaker at Druids to take the lead, holding it for a Class 2 win. Whitaker held off Atkinson-Willes to take second, but only by seven tenths; a close battle throughout.

Race 2

Simpson needed another 50p for the meter as he ran out of electric on lap 19; now we know how long a battery lasts without a working alternator. That gave Walker the overall and Class 5 win Sowter having been in second place until he retired due to throttle pedal woes (can’t get the parts these days!)). Second in Class was the much-missed Tim Mogridge, returning to Ferrari racing now work to the 355 is completed. Mogridge took Driver of the Meeting honors and his return looks set to keep the Class 5 battle as interesting as ever.

Third overall, and top of Class 3 was Chris Butler, he likes this circuit where his car always runs well, also earning his team Best Prepared Car of the Meeting followed by Jim Cartwright and Peter Fisk. Riddoch found the grip in his new boots to finish 4^th in class and 6^th overall.

Class 4 was a repeat of Race 1 with Poulton leading in MacFarlane.

Class 2 saw another win for Keen and a reverse of second and third with Atkinson-Willes taking the second position on lap 20 of 22. Moorwood pulled out on lap 10 with clutch issues. With four well-matched cars in the Class the racing should prove interesting in future events.