BMWs Scoop the Pool at Winton!

Report by Bowlesy

December saw the highlight of the 2002 Improved Production season, the HQ 4-Hour Enduro meeting at Winton. And what a highlight it was!

It was always going to be a good weekend for the E30 BMWs – the weather was hot, the track was fast, and there weren’t a real lot of entries in IP.

Some typically impeccable coordination by the Winton organisers saw us with only one qualifying session scheduled on the Saturday and nothing else to do until the three races on the Sunday!! It’s a long drive for 20 minutes of track time and, as you would expect, we were less than impressed, especially when we were told that because of the tight schedule around the 4-hour race there was no chance of arranging an extra session! After some hasty negotiation, we got agreement that we could join in with the Austin Healy’s second qualifying session, and the combination of the two sessions saw Phil Showers and David (Sleepy) Knight set the pace ahead of Andrew (Rowdy) Gordon, David Mackrell and Geoff Bowles.

On Sunday, the first race saw an excellent battle between Phil & Sleepy at the front and between Rowdy and Bowlesy for third position. Phil managed to stay in front and took the chequered flag although Sleepy had the fastest lap of the day. The battle for third was intense and it looked like Andrew was going to get there until Bowlesy, in desperation to get past at the left-hander going on to the new back straight, gave him a nudge that saw Rowdy in the dirt and Bowlesy into third place.

The second race saw positions at the front reversed as Sleepy got ahead early and stayed there. With a pesky Porsche 944 providing more annoyance than competition, it was again an E30 procession.

The third race was an 8-lap reverse grid extravaganza! Quite possibly the most exciting race seen at Winton for years. Bowlesy slipped past David M and Rowdy on the first lap and pulled out a handy lead while Phil and Sleepy battled through traffic.

Spectators were enthralled as no more than a few car lengths separated first and last places, and there was lots of dicing for position and overtaking.

Sleepy was absolutely monstering Bowlesy on the second last lap and it seemed like only a matter of time before he got past. But coming into the esses at the start of the last lap, Bowlesy went in just a bit too hard and thrilled the crowd on the hill with a monstrous tank-slapper which seemed destined to deposit him against the concrete wall. Miraculously, he managed to stay on the track and not only did the sideways action make it a little hard for any one to pass, but it forced his pursuers to back off a little and lose momentum. Momentum was the one thing the leader had no shortage of, unlike control and composure, neither of which were especially evident! Eye-witnesses report that he was still sliding sideways across the old start/finish line. Sleepy managed to bridge the gap by the back straight, but it’s amazing how much track an E30 takes up when it is sideways and he wasn’t able to get past before the chequered flag. Andrew Gordon showed little respect by sneaking past Phil on the last lap and knocking him off the podium.

It was agreed by all in attendance that it was the most enjoyable meeting of the year!