2005 Race Reports

	Donington, England, 2 - 4 September 2005
	Click here to see more photos from the event
	We may have been robbed of a super battle at the front between, Agg, Mercer and Pearson but everyone commented on both the spectacle and the clean, competitive, nature of the racing for spectators, which went right through the varied field. Great to see Paul Whight and Alvin Powell back on the scene after their various overseas sorties. Although Henry Pearman ran into engine maladies in practice in the ex Richard Lloyd Porsche 962, he posted a time faster than in the Jaguar XJR11 in which he won at Donington last year!! So Henry should be a real threat in 2006.
	Race 1
	Gary Pearson, in J D Classic's Jaguar XJR11 set the initial pace with a 3 second lead at the end of lap 1 on Justin Law in Nick Rini's Jaguar XJR-12D. Just one second separated Justin, David Mercer (Spice) and Chris Randall who was showing the true potential of the Nissan, at last. Alas, the diff cried enough on lap 17 but with all the testing to prove the reliability of the new engine, perhaps this was 'inevitable'. Never-the-less, some good signs for 2006. Jim Mullen (Spice GTP), 'old' newcomer Paul Whight in his fabulous Aston Martin AMR1 and Peter McLaughlin (Spice SE90) were chasing hard. Also working his socks off was Simon Pullan, who had started from the back (due to qualifying problems) in Kevin Pullan's Porsche 962 and was already running in eighth by the end of lap 3! Regrettably, we had lost Martyn Eyre with suspension problems by that time. In the meantime, David Mercer, who was starting to catch Pearson, had passed Law who was being hounded by Randall but Gary Pearson was soon in trouble with a scavenge pump failure and he parked up on lap 10, 'cheating' the crowd of a great fight. Meanwhile Pullan was up to 6th! Nigel James, who had parked his Porsche 962 with engine problems in practice, had 'rescued' his very fast Spice from Phil Stott's works and was determined to have an interesting race. This he managed! - bad tyre vibrations on the warm up lap meant he had to start the race from the pit lane but he was 12th by lap 2, moving up to 8th and then pitting for loose bodywork on lap 11 (!) He still managed 6th at the end! Great stuff. Jim Graham (Porsche 962), progressed up the field and fought his way past McLaughlin into 7th, which left Richard Oddie (Argo) chasing hard, followed by Andrew Smith (Ecosse-Ford), Alvin Powell (Tiga) and Alasdair McCaig (Ecosse-Rover), who was starting to struggle with a misfire and the loss of 4th gear. Having their own regular battle were Duncan McKay in the Bardon and Richard Bateman in the Tiga-Rover, trading similar lap times throughout the race.
	Race 2
	David Mercer was the class of the field and was able to dictate his lead at will but the chasing pack of Paul Whight, Jim Mullen, Nigel James, Nick Rini and Peter McLaughlin were sharing 3 seconds by the end of lap 1. Simon Pullan, who had again had to start from the back was 7th by lap 2 and 5th by lap 5 and was now taking a second a lap out off the 2nd, 3rd and 4th runners. On lap 8 Jim Mullen and Nigel James squeezed by Paul Whight and Pullan was now just 7 seconds adrift. On lap 14 he passed the Aston and 4 laps later he got past Mullen and James to slip into 2nd place. This first group held station until Goddards on the final lap when James tried to get past Mullen, but the latter was too wily for that move and Mullen held onto 3rd place, but a great dice. Jim Graham had chased Nick Rini hard but, despite similar lap times, could never close the 5 second gap, created earlier in 'traffic', to challenge him and was followed home by Richard Oddie. Andrew Smith again led the class 4 boys home but Alasdair McCaig had a good run in Gary Pearson's 'Postman Pat' Ecosse, despite being 'nervous' of driving someone else's car. These two should be great competitors in 2006 when they both have the DFLs installed in their own cars and Postman Pat's new owner will also be challenging for honours! Super to see Hugh McCaig, who ran the Ecosse Team in period, enjoying his role as team manager again. Duncan McKay and Richard Chester completed the field and it was good to see a first finish for the latter in just his third race in the newly rebuilt car. All bodes well for Estoril on October 8/9 2005 and the 2006 season.
	Qualifying No Class Driver Car Laps Time on Lap Behind Mph 4 1 Gary Pearson Jaguar XJR11 19 1:02.49 16   112.45 60 1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR-12D 1 1:03.64 1 1.15 110.42 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C Cosworth 19 1:03.70 16 1.21 110.32 88 1 Chris Randall Nissan NPT-90 GTP 20 1:03.82 18 1.33 110.11 12 1 Jim Mullen Spice-Chevrolet GTP 24 1:04.48 20 1.99 108.98 70 1 Nigel James Spice SE86 Pontiac Fierro 11 1:06.89 10 4.40 105.06 18 1 Paul Whight Aston Martin AMR-1 12 1:08.08 11 5.59 103.22 8 1 Peter McLaughlin Spice SE90C Cosworth 16 1:08.70 14 6.21 102.29 32 1 Nick Rini Jaguar XJR-12D 11 1:09.15 9 6.66 101.62 29 1 Martyn Eyre Gebhardt Cosworth 16 1:09.20 16 6.71 101.55 133 1 Jim Graham Porsche 962C 15 1:09.60 14 7.11 100.97 78 4 Andrew Smith Ecosse-Ford 285 18 1:10.14 15 7.65 100.19 28 1 Richard Oddie Argo-Chevrolet 19 1:10.91 17 8.42 99.10 79 4 Alasdair McCaig Ecosse-Rover 19 1:13.08 11 10.59 96.16 103 4 Duncan McKay Bardon-Ford DB2 12 1:20.25 9 17.76 87.57 37 4 Richard Bateman Tiga-Rover GC287 8 1:21.39 7 18.90 86.34 81 4 Richard Chester Tiga 287 Buick GTP 6 1:22.31 5 19.82 85.37 26 3 Alvin Powell Tiga 288 1 1:22.37 1 19.88 85.31 27 1 Charlie Agg Nissan R90CK 1 1:54.96 1 52.47 61.13 101 1 Simon Pullan Porsche 962C --
	Race 1 No Class Driver Car Laps Time Behind Race Mph Best Lap on Lap Mph 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C Cosworth 28 30:25.05   107.81 1:03.70 20 110.32 60 1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR-12D 28 30:40.62 15.57 106.90 1:03.67 18 110.37 101 1 Simon Pullan Porsche 962C 28 31:30.32 1:05.27 104.09 1:05.30 10 107.61 12 1 Jim Mullen Spice-Chevrolet GTP 27 30:39.12 1 Lap 103.17 1:06.52 17 105.64 18 1 Paul Whight Aston Martin AMR-1 27 31:00.02 1 Lap 102.01 1:06.79 10 105.21 70 1 Nigel James Spice SE86 Pontiac Fierro 27 31:20.41 1 Lap 100.90 1:06.28 9 106.02 133 1 Jim Graham Porsche 962C 26 30:31.96 2 Laps 99.73 1:07.85 26 103.57 8 1 Peter McLaughlin Spice SE90C Cosworth 26 30:32.31 2 Laps 99.71 1:07.04 26 104.82 28 1 Richard Oddie Argo-Chevrolet 26 30:55.70 2 Laps 98.46 1:09.00 18 101.84 78 4 Andrew Smith Ecosse-Ford 285 25 30:45.76 3 Laps 95.18 1:10.20 15 100.10 26 3 Alvin Powell Tiga 288 25 31:02.84 3 Laps 94.31 1:10.64 20 99.48 79 4 Alasdair McCaig Ecosse-Rover 23 29:08.11 5 Laps 92.46 1:12.55 10 96.86 103 4 Duncan McKay Bardon-Ford DB2 23 31:30.18 5 Laps 85.51 1:20.38 7 87.42 37 4 Richard Bateman Tiga-Rover GC287 22 30:29.92 6 Laps 84.48 1:20.57 22 87.22 Not Classified 88 1 Chris Randall Nissan NPT-90 GTP 17 18:44.03 DNF 106.28 1:03.93 15 109.92 4 1 Gary Pearson Jaguar XJR11 15 28:30.22 DNF 61.63 1:04.28 12 109.32 81 4 Richard Chester Tiga 287 Buick GTP 6 8:18.16 DNF 84.64 1:21.13 6 86.62 29 1 Martyn Eyre Gebhardt Cosworth 1 1:16.27 DNF 92.14 1:13.94 1 95.04 Fastest Lap 60 1 Justin Law Jaguar XJR-12D         1:03.67 18 110.37 26 3 Alvin Powell Tiga 288         1:10.64 20 99.48 78 4 Andrew Smith Ecosse-Ford 285         1:10.20 15 100.10
	Race 2 No Class Driver Car Laps Time Behind Race Mph Best Lap on Lap Mph 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C Cosworth 27 29:44.41   106.33 1:02.97 20 111.60 101 1 Simon Pullan Porsche 962C 27 30:12.42 28.01 104.69 1:05.58 27 107.15 12 1 Jim Mullen Spice-Chevrolet GTP 27 30:16.25 31.84 104.46 1:05.60 24 107.12 70 1 Nigel James Spice SE86 Pontiac Fierro 27 30:17.52 33.11 104.39 1:06.30 24 105.99 18 1 Paul Whight Aston Martin AMR-1 27 30:42.35 57.94 102.98 1:06.41 3 105.82 32 1 Nick Rini Jaguar XJR-12D 26 30:06.76 1 Lap 101.12 1:07.31 3 104.40 133 1 Jim Graham Porsche 962C 26 30:15.69 1 Lap 100.63 1:08.27 10 102.93 28 1 Richard Oddie Argo-Chevrolet 26 30:51.42 1 Lap 98.68 1:08.75 13 102.21 78 4 Andrew Smith Ecosse-Ford 285 25 29:57.84 2 Laps 97.72 1:10.26 13 100.02 102 4 Alasdair McCaig Ecosse-Ford 25 30:11.02 2 Laps 97.01 1:09.68 15 100.85 103 4 Duncan McKay Bardon-Ford DB2 22 29:55.38 5 Laps 86.11 1:19.38 12 88.53 81 4 Richard Chester Tiga 287 Buick GTP 21 30:11.24 6 Laps 81.48 1:20.78 2 86.99 Not Classified 8 1 Peter McLaughlin Spice SE90C Cosworth 19 22:35.31 DNF 98.51 1:09.62 4 100.94 37 4 Richard Bateman Tiga-Rover GC287 7 9:53.29 DNF 82.91 1:19.33 2 88.58 Fastest Lap 21 1 David Mercer Spice SE90C Cosworth         1:02.97 20 111.60 102 4 Alasdair McCaig Ecosse-Ford         1:09.68 15 100.85