News and Reports

Reports:

Round 5 – Lydden Hill 25th July 2009

For the first time this Season the BOSS cars had two races of their own without being mixed in with the guys from Classic Thunder and they managed a very respectable grid of 18 cars.

The first race carried series points and the second was just for fun and included some additional Ford drivers who wanted to come out and see what the new BOSS Series was all about. As no Series points were being awarded for this race the new competitors were allowed to compete on slicks.

Qualifying in the morning in dry conditions Craig put himself on Pole for the first race with a respectable time of 47.1s, but for Race 2 he had to settle for 2nd place behind Lydden stalwart Steve Weatherly who was out on slicks in his Sierra Sapphire.

Race one and Craig made a good start and lead the race from the off. There was much shuffling going on behind him but his nearest rival for the race in Class 1 – new guy Craig Jamieson – never quite found the pace to pose any serious threat. Craig drove a faultless race to take the chequered flag ahead of the field. He also put in the fastest lap of the race.

For Race 2 Craig lined up second on the grid behind Weatherly. As the red lights went out Craig shot off into the lead for the second time that day as Weatherly got bogged down off the start and had to slot in behind the Ford Ka of Simon Gent. However it did not take Weatherly long to dispatch Gent and then he was chasing hard to catch Craig.

But despite the advantage of his slick tyres and being on his home circuit Weatherly was no match for Craig and never really got close. Craig finished the race over 5 seconds ahead.

It was a great weekend as Craig again took away maximum points and is now leading the Series by 25 points.

The Series was also well received by the new comers who all enjoyed their racing and hopefully will be back out again with BOSS soon.

Next up is local circuit Brands Hatch on the 23rd August. The Team would love for as many people as possible to come and support!

 

Round 4 – Snetterton June 27th & 28th 2009

With the weather looking to be a vast improvement over the wet and windy last double header at Silverstone, the team were off to this Norfolk circuit for rounds 5 and 6 of the Blue Oval Saloon Series.

Qualifying on Saturday and it was hot and humid. Out on a new set of tyres (trying Toyo’s for the first time) Craig took it easy for the first few laps and took the chance to come into the pits and check the tyres temperatures and pressures. With all looking well he went back out for the final few minutes of qualifying and put in a lap of 1.18 – placing him 5th on the grid, first in BOSS.

Race one on the Saturday afternoon and Craig made a cracking start and was 2nd overall into the first corner behind Ronchetti in his lightening fast Lotus Sunbeam. With the Classic Thunder cars of Philpots (Mits Starion), Grange (Sierra XR8) and Davies (BMW M3) all baring down on him and making the most of their slick tyres in the hot conditions, Craig did well to hold them off throughout the first few laps.

Lap 3 saw Craig drop back to fourth behind Race leader Ronchetti, Grange and Philots.

Craig kept close behind the leaders and challenged Grange hard to try and retake 3rd place but on lap 10 he had to take to the grass at the run up to the Bomb Hole to avoid the Fiesta of Steve Horner who has had a bit of a ‘moment. Craig managed to get back on the track but minus most of the front splitter which had imbedded itself in the grass.

Luckily the grass-tracking did not cost Craig any places and managed to keep the car lapping in the mid 1.20’s to come home 4th overall, 1st in BOSS – 18 seconds ahead of 2nd Place BOSS driver Windsor in his RS Sierra Cosworth.

Race two and Craig again made a blinding start and once again followed Ronchetti in to the first corner in 2nd place. Keeping this position until early in the 2nd lap when the Starion of Philpots knocked him back into 3rd.

With Grange close on his tail through the next few laps Craig eventually had to yield to the XR8 but kept close on his tail until gear box problems caused Grange to pull off on lap 6. The demise of the Starion of Philpots on lap 9 promoted Craig to 2nd overall – where he finished the race, this time 26 seconds ahead of BOSS 2nd place man Windsor.

The weekend gained Craig another set of maximum points taking his total to 147 points so far – leading the BOSS Series by 25 points.

The next race is at Lydden Hill on 25th July.

Many thanks again to everyone for their support.

 

Round 3 – Silverstone 16/17th May 2009

The first double header meeting of the year was at the Northamptonshire circuit of Silverstone.

The weather was not looking kind with high winds and rain forecast and it did not disappoint!

Qualifying was on Saturday and the rain stayed away for the 15 minute session. Craig struggled to find a grove as the car was set up too stiff at the rear but he did manage to put a quick lap early on to place him 4th on the grid, 1st overall of the BOSS cars, out of 32.

Both races were scheduled for Sunday and the weather had deteriorated further with heavy rain blowing in with the strong winds.

Luckily rain is no problem for Craig and only served to level the playing field against the Classic Thunder competitors who normally have the advantage of racing on slick tyres.

Craig made a great start as the lights went out and was 2nd into the 1st corner behind the Lotus Sundbeam of Joss Ronchetti. The two cars were nose to tail round the first lap until they came into the complex at Luffield when Craig drove round the outside of the Sunbeam and out powered Ronchetti down the start finish straight. After that Craig began to pull away and left the Classic Thunder guys to battle between themselves for the remaining podium places.

At one point Craig was nearly 4 seconds a lap quicker than any other car on the circuit and after putting in lap after perfect lap Craig finally took the chequered flag nearly 29 seconds ahead of 2nd place Classic Thunder driver Andy Williams and 42 seconds ahead of the nearest BOSS competitor Steve Matthias.

A fantastic result and once again full points for Craig.

Craig started from Pole for the second race, but this time on dry tyres with less chance of keeping up with the Classic Thunder competitors on their slicks.

Craig kept the lead for the first two corners before being overtaken by Ronchetti, but he did not let him too far out of his sight and kept pushing. But he could not keep up with the Sunbeam and came in 2nd overall, first in BOSS.

With maximum points again for the weekend Craig is now leading the BOSS Championship.

The next race is on 27th/28th June at Snetterton.

Many thanks again to everyone for their support.

 

Round 2 – Thruxton April 12th 2009

The Teams first ever visit to this fast circuit was a great success!

Qualifying and Racing on Easter Sunday the weather was kind enough to grant them a dry race for a change, even if the sun didn’t shine. Fifteen minutes of qualifying was enough to show Craig that all he had heard about this circuit was true – it was fast, very fast and it was a tyre killer!

Cautious in the first few laps of qualifying to learn to track Craig took his time and then put in some fast laps to place him 3rd on this grid, 1st of the BOSS cars, out of 25 entrants.

With an average speed of close to 98mph and a top speed of around 160mph this is easily the fastest circuit on the calendar. It also managed to chew one of the new rear tyres as it reached temperatures of over 100 degrees!

Lining up on the 2nd row of the grid Craig was surrounded by the big boys from the Classic Thunder Series who were all on slick tyres.

Red lights off and a cracking start from Craig saw him leading the pack through the first lap but an incident on the first corner further down the grid had the safety car deployed and as they came over the start finish line to restart the race the second place man in his 650bhp Mitsubishi Starion shot past Craig to take the lead.

Craig held onto 2nd place for a further lap before falling into the clutches of BMW M3 of Andy Davies (who narrowly beat him in the past outing at Oulton Park).

Craig chased hard for several laps, not letting Davies get too far ahead but also being chased hard himself by three other Classic Thunder competitors, until his break came on lap six when he managed to pass Davies coming out of the chicane to regain 2nd place.

This was to be short lived however as, with treaded tyres rapidly going off and losing him much needed grip, Craig made an error going into the esses at Cobb and let two other Thunder guys past, the 5.7ltr V8Ford XR8 of old Ford Saloon rival Piers Grange and the Peugeot 205 GTi (ex touring car!) of Gareth Porter – slipping him down into 4th.

With his tyres only getting worse Craig had no reply and had to settle for 4th place overall – but still 1st in the BOSS series.

The next race is on 16th/17th May at Silverstone.

Many thanks again to everyone for their support.

 

Round 1 – Oulton Park 28th March 2009

First race of the year and Wealden Racing are out in a brand new Series!

At the end of 2008 the Team decided that having raced in the Ford Saloon Car Championship for 11 years it was time for a change.

Craig has been instrumental in setting up this new race series for all Ford Machinery – The Blue Oval Saloons (BOSS) – under the umbrella of The Classic Touring Car Racing Club (CTCRC), and has been very pleased with the interest this new series has created with all his old competitors in the Ford Saloons and some new faces.

For this first race the BOSS series the competitors were mixed in with an existing CTCRC Championship – The Impressions Classic Thunder Championship – which would see the Fords racing up against a variety of other makes including BMW’s, Hondas, Peugeots and Mitsubishi’s.

With a total of 28 cars entered and half of them in BOSS the competition was fierce.

Although the Wealden Racing MKII Escort Cosworth had not undergone any major work over the closed season, Craig did have new tyres and brakes to bed in during the qualifying session. Despite this he put in a respectable time, in very cold and damp weather, and put himself 9th on the grid, 4th in BOSS.

The damp weather then turned into very wet weather and it looked like the afternoon race was definitely going to be declared wet.

With wet tyres in place Craig lined up for the first ever BOSS race but unfortunately the prior race was red flagged and the rain cleared up – the track was drying!

With no chance to change the tyres it was looking like Craig was not going to stand much of a chance in the race but hopefully with it being so cold the Team hoped that the tyres would still be able to do their job.

Red lights out and Craig made good headway slotting himself into 6th position off the start line and despatching the quickest qualifying BOSS car of Wait by the third corner.

Surrounded by a mixture of BOSS and Classic Thunder cars he had it all to do but the car was behaving perfectly and the tyres were doing their job and by the end of the 2nd lap he was up into 3rd – first in BOSS with only two Classic Thunder Cars in front, the 5.5 ltr Sierra of Piers Grange and the BMW M3 of Allan Davis.

Chasing Grange hard it took Craig only a further 3 laps to despatch Grange and slot into 2nd place.

With a 4 second gap between him and race leader Davis in his M3 Craig put in lap after lap of faultless driving and gradually began to reign him in, but he could not quite catch the M3 and finally ended the race 2nd overall by 1.9sec but 1st in BOSS.

Craig also put in the fastest overall lap of the race – a very respectable 1:38 (average speed 82mph).

A fantastic achievement for Craig and the Team and all were thoroughly delighted to be the first winner of the new BOSS Series.

The next race is on Easter Sunday at Thruxton, a new circuit for the Team.

Many thanks again to everyone for their support.

February 2009

Well its only 7 weeks now till the start of a new season for Wealden Racing. The 2009 Season will see Craig, Steve and Wealden Racing join a newly formed Race Series Called Blue Oval Saloon Series, which is run by Classic Touring Car club and the organising club is BARC. The Series will start on the 29th March at Oulton Park, and Wealden Racing are looking forward to a new challenge.

A Spokesman for the team said “we have raced in The Ford Saloons for ten years now and it’s a good time to join this new and exciting championship that has come to the racing scene. It will give Craig and Steve a good chance to test the Escorts against other race cars. We are looking forward to Joining BOSS and meet some new faces as well as some old ones that have followed to BOSS”.