Meeting report from Snetterton by Adam Grant
CMMCS Super Saloons / Tin Tops & Intermarque, Saturday 8th August 2020
In blisteringly hot weather the CMMC Southern series all combined to form an impressive grid at Snetterton on Saturday. For the 300 circuit it is possible to start up to 45 cars and with places at stake for the Brands GP meeting in 3 weeks time, it was no surprise to see most of our regular drivers heading to Norfolk.
Qualifying saw a close battle between Rod Birley (Escort WRC) and Gavin Dunn (BMW e36). Gavin had invested in a brand new set of slick tyres and certainly made good use of them ending up just 0.102 of a second behind Rod. Next up were the similarly closely matched
duo of modified Fords driven by Piers Grange and Paul Nevill separated by 0.039 of a second. Fifth quickest was the leading intermarque runner Richard Smith (Mercedes SLK), again closely followed by Colin Smith (Vauxhall Tigra). Marcus Bicknell hustled his rumbling V8 Ford Mustang into seventh, followed by Malcolm Wise (Escort Cosworth), Danny Smith (Vauxhall Tigra) and Ronan Bradley (BMW M3).
The fastest class C super saloon was Dave Cowan, who had successfully straightened his BMW after inverting it last year. Sean Fairweather (Sierra Cosworth) was quickest in class D. In the strong Amusetime Tin Tops brigade it was Kam Tunio in his little T3 Honda Civic who was quickest, followed by Dave Hutchins (T2 Honda Civic) and Perry Darling (T1 Seat Ibiza). Ian Seale has moved to a Renault Clio run by Colin Tester and headed the TP class.
Missing from the first race were Jonathan Bevan, Jamie Primett and Ken Hunt, but it was still a very impressive sight to see 38 cars coming around Coram to take the rolling start. Birley took the lead going into Riches with Dunn slotting into second. There was the usual first lap kerfuffle, which saw the demise of Colin Smith and a couple of cars (Malcolm Wise and Marcus Bicknell dead last) appear with bumps and scrapes. Meanwhile Birley continued to lead with Dunn glued to his tail. Suddenly the safety car appeared as Ronan Bradley had spun coming out of the Montreal hairpin and was facing the oncoming traffic. Also Mick Robertson had pulled off with a rather smokey VW Corrado. Then drama befell the leader as a wheel came of the Escort WRC on Bentley straight, the car stopping on the outside of Brundle. The clerk of the course decided to throw the red flag and halt proceedings whilst the various stranded cars were collected.
The re-start was only for five minutes, so it was a 3 lap sprint. Dunn was easily in control, whilst the three Mk.2 Ford Escorts squabbled over the runner spot. Grange managed to edge clear, as Nevill just held off Harding. Danny Smith was right in their wheel tracks taking fifth overall and winning the intermarque class. Bicknell was next up, followed by the class C winning BMW of Dave Cowan. Philip Young (Mitsubishi Colt) was slightly detached in 8th, clear of the class D winning Fairweather. Lee Maddox (alias tractor boy) completed the top ten in his V8 Pontiac. Todd Garner’s debut run in his new Renault Clio netted him second in class D, with the leading tin top next up in the shape of the T2 Honda Civic driven by Dave Hutchins. Dave had the legs over Kam Tunio who easily won the T3 class. Mark Cripps was a solid 14th followed by the T1 class winning BMW of Ken Angell. The rest of the finishers can be seen on the TSL results at https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2020/203231rc1sul.pdf
Race two was missing several people, including Birley (damaged hub), Angell (possibly loose flywheel), Colin Smith (damage). Dunn eased away from the rolling start and soon took control of the race, the BMW sounding glorious all around the circuit. The battling Escorts were at it again, until Bicknell powered his way through to take the runner spot. This was a good effort in a big heavy car. Grange triumphed again to head home Nevill and Harding, whilst Danny Smith pulled off with over heating issues. This allowed Young to take the intermarque honours. Cowan again won class C and took the super saloons driver of the day award. Fairweather had a race long battle with Wise, until the yellow Escort made 8th place his own. Fairweather again won class D. Ron Bradley drove well from the rear of the grid to take 10th followed by Garner and Daniel Smith (intermarque Ginetta). Tunio upped his pace to be the first tin top home. With Tony Paxman (Ford Escort Mk1) acting as a buffer back to Hutchins who won class T2. Perry Darling triumphed in the T1 class, as Lawrence Squires took the H&G driver of the day award for persevering with a number of issues. Martyn Scott, Warren Johnson, Mark Cripps and Lee Maddox completed the top 20. https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2020/203231rc2sul.pdf
Full results and lap charts, but excluding, regretably, the first part of race 1, at https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2020/203231sul.pdf
Our two races and a bunch of interviews were videoed by ContentLive.com led by Ian Waterhouse and you can view them on our Facebook page. The viewing figures are impressive … Overall, 7773 people tuned-in throughout the day to watch our live stream content of the CMMC & Modified Fords at Snetterton. The live content also reached 18433 Facebook account holders which means an additional 10660 people on top of those who watched were brought into contact with the CMMC & Modified Fords throughout the day. See the full viewing figure report at viewing_figure_report_snetterton_8aug2020