24th April VSCC

Race 4:

David Fletcher-Jones was due to compete in this race, it is believed that David’s car had a mechanical problem and unfortunately was unable to run.

I made my way down to the holding area waiting with anticipation for the race to start, the car was still leaking water slightly, but I felt it would be okay if I kept an eye on it and if she got too hot, I could always pull off the track.

I positioned the car on the second from last row on the grid awaiting the flag to be dropped, watching the cars pull away ahead of you, you wonder how you could ever catch them up…. The flag dropped and to my surprise the engine fluttered and died. Paul Nickalls was at trackside with the battery and immediately came to my aid, saving precious seconds. As soon as the battery was plugged in, the car started, again the engine fluttered. I pumped as hard as I could to get the fuel through, as the fuel pressure gauge was showing a negligible pressure (half a pound). The car moved away from the line slowly, I knew if I could get some speed up, all would be okay as the supercharger would pressurise the fuel tank. Thankfully that’s exactly what happened, I kept hand pumping for the first lap and then the pressure stabilised. The car simply flew around the track recording a 1.15.56 but all I could manage with my additional handicap was 12th place, but AEL got fastest lap which is a great improvement on my 1:18 of last year.

Race 7:
Tim Metcalfe represented the Rapier drivers in the Patrick Lindsey Memorial race. Tim appeared to have a great time brushing shoulders with some of the fastest vintage cars racing today. Tim's report follows....

It was good to be back at Silverstone and driving the Eccles Rapier after a
six-month break (but, not from quick Rapiers having gained a First Class
award in the VSCC Pomeroy Trophy held at Silverstone in February).
Following work over the winter the Eccles Rapier was enjoying a few changes
to bring it closer to the specification raced pre-war. Included in the
changes was the fitting of 19 inch wheels (shod with excellent Blockley
tyres), as it had run at Brooklands, rather than the 16 inch wheels used for
road racing pre-war. This proved an interesting experience in practice with
the increased gearing allowing the whole circuit to be lapped in third gear!
Second too low for the slow corners, top not even reached. Practice times
were understandably nearly three seconds slower than expected. However,
given that the majority of the field in the Patrick Lindsay Memorial race
consisted of ERAs and Maseratis together with a sublime P3 Alfa Romeo, the
grid position was only a couple of places lower than my best hopes.

A change to 16 inch rear tyres for the race was expected to restore things
to normal and so it proved. Lined up on the grid directly behind two ERAs I
did not expect to challenge them off the start. However, both ERA drivers
applied too much power, snapping sideways and allowing me to accelerate
between them. Glory was short lived and they were soon blasting past on the
run up to Copse - so started a lonely race. A fair way ahead of those
behind and the rest of the field too fast to catch I soon settled into a
rhythm, enjoying sliding the car under power and entertaining myself
particularly through the complex. After having run very warm I was happy to
bring the car home with no serious problems and in good shape for Jane to
race later in the day.

Race 10:
This race was to see Jane Metcalfe (Tim's wife), Peter Fletcher-Janes and Len Thompson. Unfortunatley Peter was unable to compete due to the mechanical problems that hit David earlier.

Janes race report:

Having not raced the Eccles Rapier since 2002 (last year was spent racing
MGs) I was looking forward to getting back behind the wheel. Practice
passed without incident, although mostly in third gear given the 19 inch
rear wheels! However, the real action happed at the start of the race.
When the flag fell the Dixon Riley at the front of the grid failed to move
and by the time I reached it from a few rows back chaos was ensuing. The
car in front took to the grass I snuck through the gap between the stranded
car and the grass. Having reached Copse in one piece I was pleased to make
up a few places around the outside and on the run down to Becketts. The
rest of the race, whilst not quite so intense was still incident filled.
After just saving the car from a spin on the oil that caught out Len
Thompson a close dice with John Seber ensued. Unfortunately, John just
managed to gain the upper hand and led across the line by less than half a
second. Fourth in class was a pleasing result and the Eccles Rapier ended a
hard days work with everything working well.

Len Thompson has written a report on his part in this 5 lap scratch race:

Race 10:
After the first race I was prepared for the car to a have a faltering start, I was on the second row of grid behind ERA R7B, Wolseley Hornet Special, with the 8 litre Bentley of Stanley Mann behind. Off the line I had no repeat of the fuel starvation problems of the first race and I felt the overheating problem would probably be okay, instead I had excessive wheel spin arriving at Copse Corner with the Wolseley, Bentley and ERA in front. The Bentley had gone passed me like a dragster but I managed to move into second place behind R7B in the first lap, when we arrived at Becketts for the third time I hit an oil patch sending the Rapier into the gravel trap. I asked the Marshals to push me off and rejoined the race and managed to work my way through the field to 7th place. The engine did get very hot and I will now have to deal with this problem.