Sandown – Peter Lee Memorial Meeting

12th – 13th May

Report by “The Mobile Chicane”

A handful of e30 racers (David Levy , Michael Stillwell, The Spin Doctor Lubicz, Neil Anderson and Oliver Lindsaar) turned up for the Improved Production non-championship round at Sandown on the weekend of 12th – 13th May.

Phil Showers also brought his 3-litre M3-engined e30 rocketship along to try to sort out a few niggling problems that will no doubt help him to destroy the Improved Production Class later in the year.

The weather was absolutely perfect on both days – blue skies with occasional clouds, and temperatures in the low 20s. Track conditions were also perfect.  The weather brought the drivers out in droves, with some 260 cars attending, and 34 starters in Improved Production alone.

Qualifying on Saturday morning had its usual interesting moments, with the fastest Improved Production cars steaming past the e30s on the straights at a good 30-40kph faster, but no-one seemed to get too upset. And, again as usual, the e30’s were severely held up in corners by the most of the field. It was like the worst dancing class you ever went to as a pre-pubescent teenager; slow-slow-quick-quick-slow. We e30ers were slowed to almost stalling (or so it seemed) as we came up to the corners behind the Improved Production boys, but then ( the quick-quick bit ) didn’t have quite the grunt we needed to catch them on the following straights. I’m sure, if we could have got our collective noses in front, we would have left most of them in our dust.

Qualifying was very close, with Oliver on 1:30.0471 just holding out Neil on 1:30.0525 followed by Dr Spin on 1:30.6076, Michael on 1:30.8401 and David on 1:32.5109. (David checked his tyre pressures, then his tyre pressure guage – it was reading a touch low – about 10psi low, in fact, which probably hadn’t been doing his handling a world of good.)  Phil ran a 1:28.0376 with a car that just wasn’t quite right but showed the benefit of an extra 100+ neddies. The front runners in Improved Production, as usual, left the e30s for dead, with Kelvin Twist in his flying RX7 on 1:22.3074, followed by Tony Skinner’s hot Datsun 1600 on 1:22.4071, Gary McKay’s Torana on 1:22.4636, and Steven Lloyd in his beautifully presented 5.8 litre Commodore on 1:22.8842.

In Race One, Oliver managed to actually not miss a gear getting off the line, but was still left for dead by Neil and Dr Spin – and everyone else in the field who were watching the starting lights !! (maybe next time he’ll manage to do two things at once – cog-swap with panache AND watch the start signal). However Neil and Dr Spin were blocked by a couple of IP’s in the first few turns, allowing Oliver to get through on the inside. Oliver then managed to just  hold off Neil by 0.45 seconds to take 21st place overall, with Dr Spin a further 0.94 seconds back and Michael and David following up a few seconds later. Phil didn’t make the start line, due to some unspecified gremlins, which a couple of unkind fellow racers suggested may have been something to do with an empty fuel tank (not having a fuel gauge that works is not an excuse, Phil).

Race 2 was also close, with Dr Spin doing his usual fast start to pass Oliver within metres of the grid, and holding him off until lap 5 when he was again held up by a couple of IPs, again enabling Oliver to squeeze through on the inside. A lap or two later, our favourite Gemini managed to go off at turn 2, come back on between turns 3 and 4, and hold Neil, Oliver and Dr Spin up yet again.  Oliver got so caught up in the excitement of the moment that he forgot to change down to 3rd into turn 2, and didn’t realise until Dr Spin surged past him at the beginning of the back straight that he was short a couple of thousand rpm and a gear. However, a bit of luck, a couple of laps later and a slight lock up by Dr Spin allowed him through again. Oliver then set out to catch Neil, and thanks yet again to slower IP cars, gradually hauled him in until he just got his nose in front at turn 10 on the last lap (unfortunately on the outside), before dropping back in turn 11.  Neil then went wide going into the main straight, had to take a bit of evasive action to miss a fish-tailing Gemini, and unfortunately came back into the middle of the track, just nudging Oliver who had come out of turn 11 on the inside but wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way (something to do with those 62-year-old reflexes, Oliver – may need a bit of tuning). Both cars spun, allowing Dr Spin (who was only a few metres behind) to come through and finish in 15th place overall, followed 3.03 seconds later by Michael with David a further 0.39 seconds back. Muttering a few  words about a certain other driver being present at his parents’ wedding, Oliver managing to get himself sorted out crossed the line 6 seconds back, with Neil following on. Phil in his 3 litre cruised across the line around 20 seconds in front of Dr Spin, in 12th place overall, after starting from the rear of the grid (amazing what fuel can do hey Phil).

In Race 3 Oliver reverted to form, finding 5th instead of 3rd off the line, with Phil taking a leaf out of Olivers book (Guys – 1st is followed by 2nd, is followed by 3rd, then 4th,  THEN 5th – have to learn to count – one hand is enough for e30s…). Dr Spin again made a great start and shot off into the distance, to be in 13th position after lap one, Michael following in 17th, David in 18th and Oliver in 24th.  (Neil was suffering from a bad stomach wog and didn’t start). Phil had a reasonable start despite forgetting how to change gears and stayed just in front of Dr Spin for the first lap before disappearing into the distance as other IP cars forced their way through (Gawd – it would be SO nice to have a few more neddies in our e30’s !!). Still smarting from his ham-fistedness at the start, Oliver had the red mist descend and set out on the chase, passing David on lap 4, setting the fastest e30 race lap time for the day with a 1:29.9245 on lap 5 while chasing Michael (whom he caught on lap 7) and just failing to catch Dr Spin on the line (after Dr Spin got held up by that Gemini again in the last few corners). Dr Spin finished in 17th overall 0.15 seconds ahead of Oliver in 18th, with David another 7.6 seconds back in 20th and Michael (who had a bit of difficulty on lap 8) in 21st, a further 6.6 seconds behind.  Phil had another good race, again finishing a fraction under 20 seconds in front of Dr Spin in 11th place overall.

In Race 4 a rare bout of co-ordination resulted in Oliver actually seeing the starting lights, finding all the right gears in the correct sequence, and managing to get to the end of lap one in 18th overall, just ahead of Dr Spin, with Michael two positions back and David following closely behind. Oliver found some of those missing neddies and gradually widened the lead on Dr Spin, finishing in 16th overall, 9.8 seconds ahead of Dr Spin, with Michael in 19th overall and David another 0.25 seconds back in 20th.. Phil finally started getting his car sorted, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Oliver in 10th place overall with a best lap of 1:28.3400.

As usual, the e30 showed their superior cornering and brakes, but couldn’t quite get close enough to the other cars with similar lap-times on the straights to have a chance to take them under brakes. Ah, well….

Last years e30 champion Nathan Geier again showed us his talent as he shone in the Formula Fords, qualifying second in 1:19.3179, just 0.044 seconds behind the leader, then leading the first few laps of Race 1 and finishing second.  He repeated the second place in Race 2, and was just in the lead on lap 5 of Race3 before being shunted off by a drafting car who thought going three wide through the back straight kink would be a great idea.  Its not…. and Nathan’s broken wrist will put him out for a meeting or two.  Well done Nathan – our sympathies regarding the shunt…

All in all, everyone had a great time, and we’re all looking forward to Mallala on the 19th and 20th.  It’ll be a great season !!