The Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup kicked off in fine style on a dry but VERY windy snetterton circuit, hold on to your hats people, 2024 is about to get awsome!!!
Round 1/2 2024
Qualifying:-
With Carey Lewis being quick straight out of the box putting in a quick few laps in his immaculately prepared wide body golf 5, Adam Marshall was on the chase just behind getting to grips with his awsome looking freshly wrapped car and the fact all 4 wheels are now pointing the way they should do for the 2024 season!!
Only to have his drivers window pop out on lap 3 and end his qualifying early!!
Another driver suffering problems was Karl Greenfield in his TT cup car, who’s boost pipe decided to exit stage left on lap one, stopping his qually before he’d even completed one lap!!
Meanwhile behind was Steve Watson in his freshly built Audi A3 tfsi, which had decided to let go on their pre season shakedown a week before the race and necessitating an engine change,decided this would be his test and qualifying all rolled into one, and his team mates, Chris Garnham and Paul Dunningham also in the sister team of A3’s ,this was going to be their first ever saloon car race, so the pressure was on to deliver!!
Donald Dewar was also using the qually as a test/ qualifying, as his engine had not even ran up to the point he had left his workshop in Scotland due to going back to his trusty 8 valve engine and needing a new map loaded up on a midway stop at the rolling road on his way to snetterton !!
Neil Oakley was flying in his old beetle until running into carburettor problems ( carbs,remember those things!!)
Ken Lark also had braking issues in his ‘borrowed’ seat Leon , which led to some slower lap times than he usually punches out!
Luckily ,there were no more dramas and all drivers and cars finished safe and sound!!
Pole position was taken by Carey in the ABS motorsport kitted golf 5, with a blistering 2.14:4 second lap, followed by Adam just a smidge behind,then by Paul Hoggins in the beautiful mk2 Audi tt cup car!!
Race 1.
If qualifying wasn’t exciting enough for you , race one certainly wouldn’t disappoint!!
Lights out, and Carey got the jump on Adam and blasted off into turn one , followed by an entourage of angry V.A.G group monsters!!
There was battles all throughout the field, the beetle of Neil Oakley was going really well until fuelling issues raised their head again and he started dropping back, leaving Gary Fletcher an open door to pass for class B honours, further up both new drivers Chris and Paul were having a great battle in their first ever run top race!
Class A was being fought out between Paul Hoggins, Dawn butcher and Donald Dewar, unfortunately donald suffered terminal gearlinkage failure and pulled off, this left Paul and dawn to battle it out and also let Steve Watson close up in his new A3!
Kevin O’Brien started getting boost issues in his ex Dave Hickton golf mk3 1.8t, with boost dropping from an expected 1.8bar to a lowly 0.5 bar, which saw him sadly drop down the field
However,Phillip O’halloran was having a great battle midfield in his TT cup car with kev and some of the Renault boys from the Renault cup!!
Last lap woes had to go to Paul Hoggins in the mk2 tt, as he managed to spin on the last lap on some very tired tyres, losing him a P3 overall position
Race 1 results:/
P1. Carey Lewis
P2. Adam Marshall
P3. Dawn Butcher
Race 2.
Lights out, and Adam was having none of it this time and passed Carey on the outside into turn one, a ballsy move on cold tyres!! Â
The rest of the pack settling down within a lap or so with battles all thro the field, first casualty was going to be Dawn Butcher who was desperately trying to get past one of the clios when one of her bonnet pins decided to snap leaving half the bonnet flapping in the wind and blocking her vision, a quick trip to the pits and the crew from ‘theshop’ soon used the Elastoplast method and re secured the loose bonnet with a boat load of tank tape,at this point I must say how impressed I am at the strength of the ABS motorsport fibreglass bonnet as it didn’t break or snap through any of this drama!!
So, dawn re enters dead last, and after trying desperately to chase down the back of the pack, done her best EVER time around snetterton
This allowed a great battle with the team pinnacle motorsport team members Steve,Paul and Chris in a trio of 8P Audi A3’s to battle it out with Phillip O’halloran for what looked like a right laugh on track!!
Just behind this pack was Gary Fletcher in his lovely little 2.0 16v class b golf mk2 also having a great battle with Neil Oakley in the ‘cool as hell’ black Porsche engined beetle and Karl greenfield in the TT cup car, unfortunately the beetle would again suffer fuelling issues and have to retire to the pits.
Midway through the race, saw the leaders closing up and Adam starting to slide around a bit, this gave Carey a bit of a chance to close the gap and eventually make a pass on Adam and regain P1.
Unfortunately donald succumbed to gear selection issues again which eventually led to the gearbox exiting its internals onto the floor and an early bath for the super enthusiastic Scotsman, bad luck mate
Nearing the end of the race, Yorkshire man Paul Hoggins, was having a proper race with one of the Renault cup guys and managing to keep it pointing forward this time and finishing in a podium position!!
Race 2. Results
P1. Carey Lewis
P2. Adam Marshall
P3. Paul Hoggins
The ‘VW doctor’ driver of the day award went to Steve Watson in his new A3 , for great driving and fantastic results in both races in what was , to him, a totally untested car until this weekend, well done fella
That wraps up another fantastic weekend of racing had by all,with great driving from everyone involved!!
The smiles in the podium pics says it all!!
Next up, Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup goes north to Croft on May 5th, for round 3 and 4 of this super popular series
Written by Chris of the Classic VW cup