KUTUKA MOTORSPORT
1.952 miles
Class G or E laptime c 1min 25
Class D laptime c 1min 27
SNETTERTON
Testing
We all know what to expect from Snett by now, turn 1’s test of nerve, Revett’s endless straight, and the longest drift of the year at Coram. It’s fast and ballsy but the time gaps recently have been narrowing between modified and roadgoing machines, at the end of ’08 it was Lyddall and Pearce still setting the pace, but the class E front runners were being held by D cars, and not all the V12s were having an easy time of it either.
Changes to the regulations have increased tyre widths for the modified boys, though they also helped the D cars shed weight, the gap ought to have increased again, the front of the grid should be dominated by G and E.
Lyddall returns as defending class G champion, with 9 wins in ’08 he’s clear favourite to take first win of the year. G entries are down, Darth sold his car to Lock, Russell’s not out, having lost his car down the back of the sofa and having to knock around in an old E type for a bit, Coppock has dusted his G off but that’ll be your lot for this race.
Chris Palmer’s sporting a new 4.09 diff though, and should accelerate like a 4-bob rocket, whether class E has anyone to play with him is unclear, but Merrett is back despite suggestions of a class G debut, and Alex Harrison in the red Kutuka car is suddenly looking much faster with a sneaky power boost. Ray Hill is said to have installed cams in his E car so could also find himself in the thick of it, and the Bearded Wonder, Roger Webster, has assembled an E car so green that it was caught sticking it to Miss Piggy. Only Loz Ball is exactly as he was last year, no changes.
Andrew Harrison sports an all-new class D car built from the wreckage of the ’08 class winner, but with Drage clearly having spent some money on his car, Comer on a mission, Crossley having painted his wheels white and returnees including Simon Seath for ’09 there’s no guarantee it’ll all go one way in that class this year.
Class F has simply gone. Not one entry. Oh well.
News that qualifying would be a combined XJS and saloon affair meant however that finding clean air to set a lap would be crucial.
For some though just getting to quali would be tough, Harrison’s rebuilt D car ate its engine in 4 test laps and took the Kutuka crew a hard day to replace, he’ll take the track with an untried car with an engine assembled in the paddock, no way to start a season.
Minor paddock issues, the CSCC not interested in its competitors’ struggles or indeed a grip on reality, they enforced a paddock parking plan with an iron fist and the threat of exclusion. Nice.
QUALIFYING
Busy track, back markers galore, and the saloons and XJS trying their best to understand each other.
Clear track was either by luck or judgement, Drage led the pack out for the year, but to make their intentions clear the Kutuka trio would steam past by turn 2, setting three hot ones out of the box is risky, but with traffic issues might be the only way to get a time in.
Lyddall, not keen on getting held up, was taking saloons on the grass at Coram late in the session, with a slightly unfamiliar set of cars to play with everyone else resorted to merely swearing at “that f* ing saloon/XJS,” and indeed most times were set early in the session.
XJS grid lines up as left. This isn’t a saloon report, dur.
RACE
Hard race, but with damage. 4 retirements, though three with mechanical failure, meant a very depleted grid at race end.
Lyddall’s poor start took him from 1st to 4th, Merrett into 1st, Coppock scraping Alex Harrison as he powered through to 2nd, Palmer climbs to 5rd. Lyddall’s error sent his 2 team-mates scattering and the Harrison brothers would drag-race to turn 1, the E car winning the contest and the D falling back to defend the onslaught from Ball.
That defence is over by the end of Revett as Ball out-drags and then out-stops
Merrett appears to have the pace though, Lyddall’s 12 not having the power to outdrag the legendarily-potent 4 litre in the front of the leader’s car, and for once the thing holding together long enough to make its pace known.
Andrew Harrison out of the race on lap 2 with a spin onto the infield and a car that refuses to restart.
The midfield pack has Roger Webster’s new and untested class E make the first move, passing Comer to give the harassed Drage some breathing space, though a Webster up your boot is no more pleasant than a Comer he is at least in a different class of beard.
Crossley is the meat in a Seath/Beecham sandwich as class D squabble over the tail end, Seath quickly dropping the latter pair to chase the Drage/Webster/Comer fight.
Lap 3 and it all goes haywire. Merrett runs wide onto Revett, far too wide onto the grass, and is launched skywards by a severe bump that has him airborne. As he lands and skews sideways the car meets tarmac and slews across into Lyddall, who is still on the black bit. The resulting collision demolishes Merrett’s car into retirement and caves in the V12’s front wing, putting both on the grass at over 80mph.
Lyddall catches the slide and rejoins behind Chris Palmer, the new leader, with Alex Harrison now in third close behind.
The crash leaves Merrett’s car stranded and deploys the safety car, dragging him clear and recovering
2 laps of this and the rolling restart, Palmer leads Lyddall for only seconds, the V12 passes him before turn 1 on sheer torque. The car is sporting serious damage including a now-fractured oil line and a worsening misfire.
Alex Harrison retires moments later from 3rd place with his own worsening misfire.
The midfield has become the Phillip Comer show, put the guy within range of another class D and he will always get past it, no matter how it’s achieved he will outbrake them somewhere, and so it is today. He will end the race with a headlight missing, but he will take his first class win.
Webster passes Drage on lap 7, he’s hanging a tenth of a second off his boot as they cross the start/finish line and makes a clean pass, leaving the charging Comer on Drage’s tail. Lap 8 sees Comer make his move and slam through a vaguely open door to pass Drage and take the class lead, but nudges the Webster green machine into a spin, dropping Webster 4 places to he recover behind Crossley.
Seath has been unable to hold Comer, not surprising as Comer set fastest D class lap, and is lying a comfortable 3rd in class in a 13 second patch of tarmac all by himself.
Webster hunts and kills Crossley, but cannot make up any more ground before he runs out of laps.
At the front end it’s Lyddall’s misfire providing the fun, Palmer closing again and just a tenth in it at the flag, but Lyddall holds on for the first win of the season and the class G win, Palmer for E class.
Loz Ball takes a surprised 3rd after a clean run, with Ray Hill an anonymous 4th, having dropped some 26 seconds behind the leader in only 4 laps, 2nd and 3rd in E respectively.
Comer comes home 5th and class D winner from Drage, 6th and 2nd, Seath 7th and 3rd in class.
Webster from Crossley from a distant Beecham, who really needs to find the orange paint tin.
A chaotic, violent race, 3 collisions, 4 retirements, all of them front-running cars, only 10 finishers.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
Winners
Stewert Lyddall – that start was so God-awful he should never have seen the front end again, to go from 1st to 4th to 2nd to 1st to 2nd to 1st and win with a misfiring damaged car, that’s gravy.
Filipe Comer – first class win.
Chris Palmer – qualified 3rd in class, but still won the class and briefly led the race.
Loz Ball – might have benefited from retirements, but he dispatched Andrew Harrison’s D class roadblock to get his podium, and 3rd place is a red hat, not a bad day’s work.
Losers
Paul Merrett – had the race in the bag until he binned it, hard work was already done by then.
Andrew Harrison – blown engine lost the test day, cost setup time, which led to a spin and retirement, 15 laps in 2 days is no way to spend £365 of entry fees.
Alex Harrison – fast but hit by Coppock off the line, and lying third when gremlins struck.
CSCC – at least 5 Jaguar drivers were within seconds of abandoning the series altogether as a result of the high-handed approach of their troubleshooting representative, who was nearly knocked flat on his backside by an aggrieved competitor from another series who’d simply had enough.
FIRST RACE OF THE YEAR, 3 CLASS FAVOURITES FOR THE OVERALL CHAMPIONSHIP, THE OPENING ROUND TENDS TO GIVE AN INDICATION OF THE YEAR AHEAD...
KUTUKA MOTORSPORT AWARDS – These are the trophies the JEC and CSCC don’t give out, and are purely a reflection of the opinions and views we’ve formed from paddock debate. The only rule is, a Kutuka driver cannot win any of the good ones:
Driver of the day – Philip Comer. Some thought he was a bit aggressive, but with a 3.6 that’s had as much development as my shoes, a class win was a good display and we don’t care who he had to hit to get it, don’t leave the door open for him next time. Fastest class lap as well, just needed a better qualifying.
The “Wendy I can fly” memorial trophy – Paul Merrett.
Duel of the Day – Lyddall/Merrett.
Beard of the Week – stiff competition from the neatly-trimmed Comer, but Webster carries the day on sheer bush volume. Drage not really even in the contest, we’re not sure if it’s a beard or not.
The Lewis Hamilton “what are the safety car regs again?” trophy – Chris Palmer.
The shameless self promotion trophy – Stewert Lyddall’s “I’m a rally instructor at Brands Hatch you know” interview.
Unluckiest driver – Alex Harrison – lying third when the car died.
The “Spirit of Club Racing” Trophy. – the dozen drivers helping Paul Merrett push his mangled wreck into the truck, for doing so whilst only offering constructive comment.
The Gordon Ramsey trophy for foulest language – Andrew Harrison when his car restarted first time back in the paddock.