Seasonal Review 2003
From the Europa Engineering Sports / Saloon Championship
Championship
(prepared by Peter Scherer)
With an average grid of 23 cars per race and only two rounds
starting with less than 20, 2003 proved to be another successful year. With
neither Michael Blomfield nor Tony Sugden contesting a full season, the way was
left open for new overall race winners to emerge. Iain Gorrie proved to be the
man to beat from the start, after his Darrian picked up victories in the opening
two rounds at Mallory Park and Oulton Park. Two further mid-season wins at
Oulton Park and victory in class in all but one round, not only made Gorrie a
dominant class champion, but gave him the overall title too.
In only his second season of racing, former rallyman Mark
Butler was determined to be a pacesetter from the start. Having taken his ex
Gorrie Darrian to a class win last year, he changed to an ex Spanish GT Porsche
Carrera RSR and proved to be unbeatable in class DII during the early rounds.
His only slip came after a clash with Richard Hollebon's Ginetta at the Croft
Complex, when Hollebon's ambitious last lap maneouvre settled the class in his
favour. After eight rounds Butler had an eleven point lead over Gorrie for the
overall championship, but two things then turned against him. Ric Wood's
appearance in the Holden Commodore to take two valuable wins at Oulton, and a
lack of numbers in the class restricting the number of points on offer. Despite
changing to an ex Adrian Slater GT3 Porsche Cup car for the last three rounds,
the title was lost.
Third overall and the class DI Champion was Mark Primett,
after a terrific second half to the season in his Banks Lotus Europa. Although
Primett won his class at Mallory Park in the opening round, retirements followed
and on occasions he failed to get beyond qualifying. But six class wins out of
the remaining eight rounds, gave him the class by six points over Duncan Aukland,
despite limping to the end of the final round with a collapsed wheel bearing.
Although they were not in the same class, Mark seemed to spend most of his year
with former hillclimber Dennis Crompton, whose BMW 2002 finished second in class
B to Champion Gorrie.
Aukland's efforts to improve on his runner-up spot from the
last two years, were plagued with brake problems. Basically his Rover didn't
have any during the second half of the races. Eventually he discovered the
problem and cured it, but not before a number of overshoot's. He also lost
ground at Anglesey, when after shedding a wheel in the first race, he was unable
to start the second.
Class E title chases Garry Wilson, Chris Griffiths and Phil
Hall collected fifth, sixth and seventh overall, highlighting the closeness of
their class. Although Griffiths started the defence of his title with a rare win
at Mallory, gearbox problems struck in the second round at Oulton, but worse was
to come when his Davrian destroyed the engine at Oulton in race five. Having
missed round six at Oulton, Chris was back at Anglesey, but retired from the
second race with his engine steaming. Wilson had taken the opportunity to close
on his rival despite missing a couple of rounds himself, while Hall's
consistency kept him in line for the title too. Wilson played his joker to
double up his class win at Cadwell, taking him to the final Oulton Park
doubleheader in front. But ignition problems left him sidelined in the first
race, leaving him to crawl through race two misfiring, but taking enough points
to pip Griffiths to the class title. A rare retirement ended Hall's hopes to
doing any better than third.
Tony Sugden only started six of the 12 rounds, but had wins at
Mallory and Oulton in rounds four and nine. He led round five until a rear end
breakage sent his Skoda spinning into Knickerbrook and had a couple of terrific
duels with Michael Blomfield's Sierra, which were settled as one win apiece. His
results were enough to take Class A, three points ahead of Blomfield. But the
Sierra driver became the dominant force with victories in the last three rounds
to finish 10th overall. His seasonal debut had to be delayed however, when after
converting his Sierra to rear engined, the exhaust melted and set the car
alight.
Colin Vickers Capri split Sugden and Blomfield in the overall
standings, his highlights coming with fourth overall at Mallory in the opening
round and a class win at Anglesey.
Three other drivers tasted the overall victors champagne. Mark
Campbell's Lotus Elan mastered the wet track at Croft in round, two as Sugden
and Jean-Francois Bihl's Ultima fought for traction, after everyone had started
the race on slicks. With Gorrie feeling unwell at Anglesey, Northern Saloon &
Sports Champion Robert Pritchard was the victor, his Caterham edging out Ian
Hall's Darrian on the last lap, after a number of exchanges. Hall got his
revenge in the second race, while Pritchard was classified fourth after a jump
start.
Hall also featured in what was probably the best race of the
year, with Blomfield at Cadwell. Blomfield kept his nose ahead throughout, but
Hall gave him constant reminders at almost every corner, pulling alongside at
any opportunity. After the race both drivers emerged from their cars with the
widest grins, congratulating each other on their performance.
Jean Francois Bihl's Ultima ended the year winless after five
starts, but was always a podium finisher. Nick Pakes' Banks Lotus Europa usually
found someone to dice with, often one of his Europa team mates, but reliability
often let him down. James Aukland drove his Capri with his usual verve, which
was always entertaining but rarely successful. After early season problems
Patrick Smyth started to get to grips with his ex Richard Ward Elan, pipping
Campbell to third in class. Graham Taylor's Westfield put in some good results
early season, until his gearstick came off. Kevin Cryer's Caterham was an
occasional visitor, but pace wasn't always matched with handling and there were
a couple of Armco visits.
Shane Crumpler went much quicker than his ageing Alfa Arna
should allow him. But mechanical problems mid season spoiled his chances. Ralph
Underwood continued to find more pace from his TR7 V8, enough to scare him on a
few occasions. Jeremy Coates also found pace in the final round at Oulton Park,
qualifying his Rover half way up the grid, turning his worries more to the cars
behind him. Adrian Vickers had a problem with almost everything on his car, he
shed wheels, had fires, gased his rivals and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
The season finale also brought an end to the association with
Richard Winter's Europa Engineering. As both a competitor, entrant and sponsor
Richard been extremely supportive, even though health problems have made him a
less frequent visitor this season. Hopefully his successor will prove to be
equally successful in 2004.
