Archive - 2010 Season
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Mallory Park Round 8
Short and Sweet!
Photo courtesy of Mark "Wally" Walters
This weekend saw the Bell Racing Team travel to Mallory Park in Leicestershire for the annual Sidecar Festival and the last weekend of the Eastern Airways Sidecar Championship. Sitting in seventh in the championship Phil and Ash knew they couldn’t lose that position but had a chance of catching Roger Lovelock for sixth.
Following the ongoing issues with understanding our Maxton Suspension, Phil and Ash used the five practice sessions (yes, five!) on Friday to work with Richard from Maxton to help develop the units. This is part of the team’s ongoing aim to continually develop the bike and is in preparation for next year. The first Eastern Airways action of the weekend was on Saturday morning when Team Bell headed out for the only qualifying session of the weekend. The twenty minute session saw a close battle with fifth to ninth position being separated by only three tenths of a second. Unfortunately though, Bell Racing were the owners of ninth!
Just before the break for lunch the first of two races of the weekend started with Phil and Ash maintaining ninth position off the line after Alan Schofield didn’t start. They then had a tremendous race passing Ben Holland, Barry James, Craig Chaplow and Andy Peach over the next ten laps to take fourth place. They then gradually caught up to the back of Brian Pedder and passed him about six laps from the end into Gerrards. Phil and Ash then pulled out approximately a two second gap over Brian before they started suffering with rear tyre degredation. Bell Racing crossed the line a second ahead of Brian to take a fantastic third position – their best result of the season. This earned the boys a spot on the podium and an interview for Eurosport – the second of the year!
This third position pulled Bell Racing even closer to Roger Lovelock in sixth position of the championship and meant they were still mathematically capable of passing him. Everyone was in high spirits when the bikes moved straight from parc ferme to running ‘taxi rides’. These are run a number of times throughout the season and are an opportunity for non-racers (normally family, friends and sponsors) to have three laps on the sidecar while making a donation to charity. Phil had three people lined up for taxi rides – me, F2 passenger Geoff Knight and our ‘team’ journalist Zoe Burn. The order of the taxi rides were set that way so Zoe and I who were sharing boots (thanks Ash!) would be able to swap while Phil was out on Taxi Ride Number Two. What is it they say about best laid plans?! Dressed in his brothers old leathers, Ash’s boots and my own helmet I hopped on the back of the bike for my fourth ever taxi ride and we set off round the incredibly bumpy Mallory Park Circuit. Unfortunately coming out of Gerrard’s on the second lap disaster struck with a nut being ‘rattled’ off the front upright. Whilst doing about 80 mph the front end of the bike collapsed, ripped the front wheel off and sent it up into the faring whilst ripping out the brake pipe. This sent us flying down the road towards a straw bale barrier at the chicane where the bike stopped, the barrier went one way and I went the other! One ruined pair of leathers, one heavily damaged helmet and one bruised girlfriend and devastatingly, sixth in the championship was ripped out of Phil’s hands. With only an hour until the last championship race the bike was impossible to repair in time so the championship was over for the season for Team Bell Racing.
This wasn’t the end to the season the team had in mind but getting their first podium of the season on their last race of the year is a good consolation. All in all the year has had a number of ups (seventh position in the Championship, being one of the the closest to beating British and former world champion Tim Reeves in an individual race at the Jock Taylor and a podium finish in the Eastern airways championship) and downs (difficulty with suspension set ups, brake failures and crashes) but it has been an enjoyable year for all. The winter will now be spent (initially repairing!) servicing the bike, adapting the engines to fit the new rules and renewing parts whilst looking for some much needed sponsorship to enable the team to come back stronger next year. 2011 and sixth or above here we come!
Summary - Qualifying 9th, Race 1 – 3rd, Race 2 DNS (Due to damage during the taxi rides)
Race report by Lynn Sharp
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Donington Park Round 7
Photo courtesy of Mark "Wally" Walters
Two weeks after Phil and Ash’s accident at East Fortune Bell Racing travelled to the newly re-opened Donington Park Circuit in the Midlands for the penultimate round of the Eastern Airways Championship. Happy with the set up of the bike and the new brakes Phil and Ash took part in the single practice session of the Friday afternoon. With neither of them having been there before it was a steep learning curve in chilly conditions to learn the circuit quickly before the qualifying session later that day. Throughout the session they managed to improve their lap times by six seconds, a significant improvement on a new circuit. Phil, Ash and the team then waited patiently for the first of the two scheduled qualifying sessions of the weekend which was on Friday afternoon. Eventually, with the sun setting rapidly, temperatures dropping and the lights of the planes taking off from East Midlands in the drivers’ eyes, they took to the track for the twenty minute qualifying session and banked themselves a strong ninth position.
Saturday morning and the second qualifying session saw heavy rain leaving qualifying times as they were the night before. The wet session however allowed Team Bell an excellent opportunity to develop some wet running knowledge as the forecast for the first race of the weekend later that day was for continued rain. Initially they went out on inters but felt the track was too slippery. However the team received a ‘lucky’ break when the session was red flagged allowing the opportunity for an F1 style pit stop to change to wet tyres! After the session the ‘will it, won’t it’ debate began where numerous members of the team were sent to check parts of the track and others were watching the clouds for signs of dry lines and impending rain! A last minute decision to go for inters was made but unfortunately between the bike leaving the tent and the ‘pit crew’ (Phil’s dad and girlfriend!) made it to the pit wall the heavens had opened and the boys were out on completely the wrong tyres. After the warm up lap Phil and Ash decided there would be no point in running around on the wrong tyres and risk another accident, lose their confidence in the bike and waste the tyres so pulled in at the end of the first lap. There had been an accident on the first lap so there had been a small possibility that the race would be red flagged again allowing another quick change of tyres but unfortunately the luck from the morning didn’t hold and the race continued meaning Phil and Ash got the chance to watch the race from the pit wall.
Sunday saw everyone waking up to a beautiful, crisp, sunny autumn day – complete turnaround from the day before but a welcome sight for Phil and Ash. The first race of the day saw Phil and Ash enter the first corner in 8th position. Craig Chaplow retired on the first lap allowing Team Bell through to 7th. Phil and Ash then had a good scrap with Barry James with Team Bell eventually coming out on top leaving them to protect a strong sixth position until the end of the race. The second race on Sunday afternoon again saw dry conditions for what turned out to be a very enjoyable race for Team Bell. Phil and Ash were sitting in 8th position off the start line when again Craig Chaplow spun in the 1st corner allowing them to move up to 7th. On the third lap Barry James also had a spin providing the boys with another 6th position. Phil and Ash then pulled up on the back of John Clarke (old friend and racing competition for Phil) and managed to pass him on the 5th lap. John and Phil then traded blows for the remaining laps of the race but Phil defended to the last minute crossing the line less than a second in front of John to take an excellent 5th position whilst setting Team Bell’s fastest lap of the weekend on the final lap. A very happy John even made his way over to Geoff (Phil’s dad) in parc ferme to tell him how much he’d enjoyed the race!
Summary - Qualifying 9th, Race 1 – DNF (Wrong Tyre Choice), Race 2 – 6th, Race 3 – 5th
Race report by Lynn Sharp
Express Tyres Sidecar Challenge – East Fortune
October found Bell Racing heading over a different border, this time to Scotland and the East Fortune circuit for the NEMCRC meeting. The club was running the Express Tyres Challenge sponsored by Sam and Ian Hamilton from Lockerbie who have been one of Phil’s sponsors and tyre supplier for a number of years now. The challenge ran over three legs; one on Saturday and two on Sunday alongside a club race each day as well. Qualifying positions for all the races were set during a single qualifying session on Saturday morning. As Ashley had never been to the circuit before he needed as much of the available practice time as possible to get up to speed (especially with it being one of Phil’s best circuits) so the team were looking forward to the twenty minute practice session on Saturday morning. Unfortunately the session was limited to only about eight laps for the team after they developed problems with their brakes.
After an inspection of the bike and a few alterations the boys headed out for the qualifying session later that morning. After three laps of the qualifying session Phil and Ashley were sitting in third position not realising they were not going to be given the opportunity to continue. During their fourth lap they were heading down the back straight at speeds of approximately 120 mph when they suffered a catastrophic and total brake failure. For the spectators standing at the Esses the first sign of a problem was when the bike appeared at the corner sideways with the back wheel locked. The bike then spun round onto the grass where it continued sideways for quite some distance, thankfully scrubbing off some speed before eventually digging in and flipping upside down. Ash was thrown off the sidecar chair as the bike flipped and managed to go back to help Phil from underneath the bike. Phil was then taken to the medical centre where he was declared unfit to race due to a back injury and was helped back to the tent where he discovered the bike had considerably less damage than he did!
On medical advice the decision was made not to travel back to Newcastle that day but to stay where there was medical assistance and see how his back settled down before making the journey back. Later that afternoon however (riding on a sea of painkillers it should be said!) Phil made the decision that despite not being in the running for the Express Tyres Championship after missing the first race, it would be beneficial for him and Ashley if they could get straight back out on the bike the next day and banish any demons before their next British championship meeting. As a result it was a late night for Phil (being force fed painkillers throughout), Ash and Geoff in the tent replacing the master cylinder.
Sunday morning saw quite a considerable amount of pain for Phil but the determination not to let his British Championship season be ruined saw him hobble to the medical centre when it opened to get clearance to race which they gave him. The warm up session that morning saw Phil being almost hoisted into the bike but it gave him a good opportunity to run in the brakes and check there were no further problems. After everything went ok him and Ashley decided to try the bike out under race conditions and entered the club race. They started in their qualifying position of third and after a steady start to build everyone’s confidence again found themselves finishing in a solid fifth position behind Bryan Pedder. Buoyed by this good result they decided to continue building their confidence by competing in the final two challenge races. These two races were run as a reverse grid for the first one and a ‘names out of the hat’ for the second so they figured they had very little to lose!
The reverse grid race saw Phil and Ash make a reasonable start to be running in fourth place again after the first few laps. They spent the remaining laps of the race closing in on third place man, Bryan Pedder, who was only 0.3 second ahead of them at the end.
The final race of the weekend saw Phil and Ash being given a position on the third row of the grid. Expectations were high that despite Phil’s injuries, Ash’s lack of experience at the circuit and the third row start position, Phil and Ash may well pull off something quite impressive after their earlier results. The race saw them make a fantastic start where they made their way up to second by the end of the first lap. They then managed to pass Gary Knight and held off the challenge of Gordon Shand to take a fantastic win. Despite missing the first race of the Challenge they still managed to finish in fifth place overall and just leaves us all to wonder what they would have achieved if it hadn’t been for the accident!
Summary
Qualifying 3rd (Crashed with Brake Failure) - Missed the Races 1 & 2 through injury, Race 3 – 5th, Race 4 – 4th, Race 5 - Won
Report by Lynn Sharp
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Anglesey Round 6
During the last weekend in September Bell Racing travelled to the remote and windswept Island of Anglesey for the next meeting of the Eastern Airways F1 Sidecar Challenge. The team arrived on Friday for some practice sessions where Phil and Ashley familiarised themselves with the track they had visited earlier in the year for the Derby Phoenix Club meeting (see previous report). Friday saw dry conditions for all the track action as did Saturday morning when the boys managed an excellent qualifying position of sixth.
After being interviewed by Thundersport for the Eurosport coverage (and looking very professional throughout!) they headed out for the first of the three races of the weekend. Unfortunately by this stage of the day the weather had turned quite dramatically and the race was now being run under very wet conditions. Phil managed to make a good start off the line despite the lying water and was up to 4th position heading into the first corner. Unfortunately Andy Peach spun in front of them leaving them to get caught up behind him and ended up with a net 10th position by the end of the first lap. From this point onwards the boys struggled with a lack of grip caused by the wet conditions but held on well and benefiting from a retirement from Roger Lovelock and a spin from Barry James they were running in 8th position. On the penultimate lap they managed to pass John Clark but unfortunately lost the place back to him on the final lap of the race. Phil and Ash were both quite dejected after the race as their qualifying position (their best of the year) had not translated into a better result.
Following post race discussions it was highlighted that the Yokohama tyres Bell Racing are using were struggling in the very cold and wet conditions in comparison to the Avon wets. Former world champion Tim Reeves was having similar problems with his and suggested using tyre warmers (normally reserved for slicks and inters). Overnight the weather conditions worsened and by race time on early Sunday afternoon the conditions on track were dreadful with large amounts of standing and running water. Phil and Ashley made a reasonable start with the tyre warmers working well allowing them to run with the Avon shod teams. Unfortunately the tyres started to lose temperature after about four laps leaving Bell Racing to dice with the only other Yokohama runner, Barry James. Phil and Ashley eventually secured a strong 7th position finishing in front of Barry.
The third race of the weekend was running later on Sunday afternoon and involved a last minute decision on tyre choice! For approximately an hour prior to the start of the race there had been no actual rainfall despite large, black, threatening clouds rolling past! Due to the amount of standing water which had been around it took all this time for a hint of a dry line to begin appearing. Despite this the team decided to go out on intermediate tyres as they felt, if it continued to dry they may benefit over those going out on wets and had nothing to lose given the issues with the Yokohama wets. The team again made a good start running in third position behind Tim Reeves and the Birchalls. The bike then started struggling due to a lack of grip from the well used back tyre leaving Bell Racing to drop back to fifth place. This equalled the seasons best result for the team which given the weather conditions and tyre issues was a very satisfying result.
Summary - Qualifying 6th, Race 1 – 8th, Race 2 – 7th (First Yokohama Tyred oufit), Race 3 – 5th
Report by Lynn Sharp
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Brands Hatch Round 5
Photo courtesy of Mark "Wally" Walters
August bank holiday weekend found Bell Racing travelling to passenger Ashley’s local circuit, Brands Hatch, for the fifth round of the Battle of Britain championship. The three day meeting took place in a mixture of British weather ranging from beautiful sunshine to heavy rain although all of the races were dry.
After arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning (and sleeping in the car park after being denied access by security!) Phil and Ashley headed out for the first practice session. They were expecting to spend the time simply getting used to the circuit which they both enjoy but unfortunately, in a throw back to Knockhill, developed a vibration through the back of the bike and deteriorating handling so only completed four laps losing valuable track time. On closer examination they discovered that both engines had developed cracks in their crank cases, threatening to finish not only the weekend but the season for the team. They quickly changed engine to the one with the lesser amount of damage and managed to continue through the next practice session and the first of two qualifying sessions. At the end of the first qualifying Phil and Ashley were sitting in a slightly disappointing tenth position but still had the potential to improve their time the next morning.
The day was finished off with Phil taking three passengers out (one twice!) for taxi rides of the circuit to help raise money for Help the Heroes. As can be seen by the pictures on the news page of the website, two of the three passengers managed to stay on!
Overnight the weather took a turn for the worse and heavy rain washed all of the rubber from the Saturday away making the track quite slippery. As a result not many people managed to improve their times in the second qualifying session and Phil and Ashley stayed in tenth position overall despite being ranked fourth fastest in the second session.
The first race of the weekend took place on the Sunday afternoon and saw Team Bell lining up in tenth position. Poised and ready to start the sixteen lap race disaster struck as Phil hit a false neutral on the start line and pulled away in twenty-second position – last! Phil and Ashley spent the first four laps pulling themselves up through the slower bikes at the back of the grid, passing ten outfits to finish the fourth lap in twelfth position. On lap five they managed to pass Ken Knapton and Tony Belsey into eleventh position. By this stage the next group of outfits had opened up too much of a gap for Team Bell to make an impression on them in the laps left so they held eleventh position until the final lap where they managed to pass Ben Bygrave to snatch tenth place.
After setting the fifth fastest lap time in the race the team were raring to go on Monday morning in the first of the two races that day. Lining up in tenth position again Phil had a better start to the race, gaining a position to enter the first corner in ninth. The next four laps saw Phil and Ash involved in a four-way scrap with the Pottingers, Gilbert and John Clarke, eventually making his way past all of them into seventh position. Whilst slowly gaining on the next pack Phil and Ash held seventh position until lap fifteen when they passed a struggling Andy Peach. This secured them a solid sixth place finish, adding yet more points to their championship total.
The third and final race of the weekend ended up being a very eventful one. On reaching the first corner of the race Phil and Ashley had held their position of tenth off the start line but in the duration of the first lap they managed to pass four other outfits into sixth position. They maintained this position until, in lap six, the Birchalls had an engine failure and left an oil trail from the entrance to Clearways to the end of the pit straight causing the race to be red flagged. After a forty five minute stoppage the race was restarted in amongst billowing clouds of cement dust with Team Bell lining up in their red flag position of fifth. The remaining laps of the race were action packed with Phil and Ashley dropping to sixth place into the first corner after being hit by Gary Smith. During the first lap Phil passed Lovelock and Schofield to cross the start/finish in fourth. Phil and Ashley then drove a fantastic race, fighting with Gilbert all the way, passing him out of Clearways on the sixth lap and fought off his attempts to retake the place until the very end of the race. Phil and Ashley took third place with three quarters of a second to Gilbert. As the race was run as an aggregate however Phil and Ashley finished in fifth position overall but they still managed to get a spot on the podium to be presented with the award for Performance of the Weekend. This combined with setting their fastest ever lap around Brands Hatch made for a satisfying end to a difficult weekend.
Summary - Qualifying 10th, Race 1 – 10th (Last away after missing a gear on the line), Race 2 – 6th, Race 3 – 5th
Report by Lynn Sharp
Jock Taylor Memorial Trophy - Knockhill
Photo courtesy of Mark "Wally" Walters
The weekend after the fourth round of the British Championship saw Bell Racing travel to Scotland for the Jock Taylor Memorial Race at Knockhill, Phil’s favourite circuit. In stark contrast to last year’s October running of the event, everyone involved enjoyed three days of glorious sunshine. In total there were three events taking place over the weekend: the Jock Taylor races over three legs, the Scottish championship races and the KDMC Club races (Phil and Ash did not enter these to allow the club runners the opportunity to race at the front).
On the Saturday Phil and Ash had three timed practice sessions to take part in, one for the Scottish Championship grid and two sessions to decide the grid for the Jock Taylor. In all sessions Phil and Ash managed to secure pole position. In the dying laps of the second session last year’s Scottish Championship runner up, Scott Lawrie, managed to get in Phil’s tow and pulled himself up into second place, marginally in front of three times world champion, Tim Reeves in third.
Saturday afternoon saw Team Bell take part in one Scottish Championship race and the first of the three Jock Taylors. In the Scottish Championship race Phil and Ash lost one place off the line to Scott Lawrie but soon managed to pass him between Clark’s and the hairpin. Scott tried to take the place back again straight away under braking into the hairpin but spun off leaving Phil and Ash to pull out a four second lead and comfortably win the race from Brian Pedder.
The Jock Taylor saw Scott once again take the lead off the line, holding it into the second lap where Phil and Ash passed him into McIntyre’s. As Team Bell took the lead the bike started having massive vibrations which felt like it was coming from the back of the outfit. Two laps later Reeves managed to pass Phil into the same corner but didn’t pull away allowing Phil to take the lead back into the hairpin. Unfortunately the lead wasn’t long lived as Reeves pulled back on the straight and passed Phil into the first corner. Despite the constant vibrations through the bike Phil held on to second position finishing one second behind Reeves. Confident that the vibration would be eliminated in time for the races the next day Phil and Ash still felt as though they were in the hunt for the trophy as they had a definite speed advantage over the Reeves racing outfit.
After changing the back tyre overnight thinking the vibrations were due to the weights moving, on Sunday morning Team Bell took to the circuit in the second Scottish Championship race of the weekend as preparation for the upcoming Jock Taylors. In a repeat of the day before Phil managed to pass Scott on the first lap, pulling out a five second lead before easing off due to the vibrations to take the win and set the fastest lap of the weekend. This was all done however with a recurrence of the vibrations which the team had experienced on the Saturday causing some consternation for all involved. On return to the paddock the team decided the best option was to change the engine (in the hour and a half between races) watched by a growing crowd including the teams northern travelling support! When this engine was stripped during the following week it was discovered that the clutch had actually exploded at the end of the race, shattering the outer basket.
Heading into the second of the Jock Taylor races with their engine which was down on power and needing a refresh (having done 1500 racing miles) Phil and Ash were glad to have qualified on pole but were hopeful of still being competitive. Phil pulled away in the lead for the first time during the weekend, defending his line well into the first corner. Unfortunately in the rush to change engines the quick shifter had not been tightened leaving the door open for Tim Reeves to take the lead back on the first lap. He then pulled out a three second lead to win the race with Phil and Ash in a secure second place.
Unfortunately as the outfits lined up again, mathematically Tim would have to have a DNF in the third and final race of the weekend in order for Phil and Ash to take the overall trophy. The start of the race saw Phil drop back into third position behind Tim and Scott. Phil managed to outbreak Scott into the hairpin at the end of the first lap taking second position. Tim had already pulled out a decent lead on the opening lap so the remainder of the race saw Phil and Ash trying to pull back up to him. In the end Phil finished three tenths of a second behind Reeves securing Team Bell a solid second place in the last ever running of the Jock Taylor with the KDMC. In the last 5 yrs Phil had never finished any lower than 2nd place in the race. All in all, with the full grid and excellent racing (and the weather!) the weekend was a very fitting tribute to Scotland’s only sidecar world champion.
Summary
Scottish Championship- Qualifying Pole, Race 1 – 1st, Race 2 – 1st
Jock Taylor Races - Qualifying Pole, Race 1 – 2nd (Fastest lap), Race 2– 2nd, Race 3 – 2nd
Report by Lynn Sharp
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Cadwell Park Round 4
The first weekend in August saw Phil Bell, Team Bell’s driver, fresh back from holiday, at Cadwell Park for round four of the Thundersport F1 Championship. After a good meeting at Oulton Park the team were reasonably happy with the set up of the bike and were all hoping for some good results. The team also had a new Ged Canfield designed faring to use for the first time thanks to new team sponsor Charlie Johnston (Charlie Johnston Joiners). Practice on Friday afternoon provided an opportunity to adjust the set up of the outfit to run with the new bodywork and run in the teams new Geoff Bell tuned engine.
Saturday morning saw a mixed day weather-wise with much debate over race times and tyre choices but all the sessions ended up being mostly dry and the outfits all went out with slicks. Team Bell went out for a morning qualifying session which left them in twelve place after problems with ‘road kill’ on Phil’s visor leaving the team to spend more time in the pits than on the circuit. With the up-coming superpole race twelfth left them in an excellent position for getting themselves further up the grid for the two main races on the Sunday.
That afternoon saw a very exciting race for Team Bell with a disappointing outcome. Phil and Ashley made a fantastic start off the line passing four other outfits. They managed to pass Brian Pedder on the second lap taking them up to seventh position where they started to gain on Alan Schoffield and Andy Peach. They held this position well throughout the race holding off stiff competition from Brian Pedder until Phil and Ashley started tiring. A mistake on the last lap meant they lost the place on the last lap and finished in eighth. Under the superpole rules this put Phil and Ashley in a competitive eighth place for the two main races on the Sunday. Unfortunately it was announced shortly afterwards that a decision had been taken about thirty minutes before the race started that the superpole was going to be removed from the format of the weekend. This was obviously a massive setback to everyone in the team however Phil and Ashley picked themselves up well to continue fighting for places the next day.
The first race of the day saw Phil and Ashley make another impressive start off the grid moving from twelfth up to ninth. Phil and Ashley struggled throughout the race with grip and eventually lost a place on the last lap to Carl Parkinson (who won drive of the weekend) to finish back in tenth. Phil was finding that the suspension was working well on new rubber but when trying to use the tyre for second race they always struggled for grip. A new tyre for each race was not an option so it was back to the drawing board on the suspension!
For the final race of the weekend the team made the necessary suspension changes and Phil and Ashley made it a hat-trick of tremendous starts, once again making up four places. They then made another place in the first lap to be lying in seventh. Then on lap four, after an incident between Greg Lambert and John Clark, the race was red flagged. Whilst being held on the grid Phil inadvertently wiped the inside of his visor (with his long-suffering girlfriends hoody sleeve no less!) and once the race restarted suffered badly with the visor misting up, severely restricting his vision from lap two of the race. On the restart Team Bell pulled themselves up to ninth position and looked set to hold it and finish there where an incident involving some of the runners and a break down from championship leader Tim Reeves saw them catapulted into fifth place.
Overall the weekend produced some good points moving the boys up to seventh place in the championship. As we all know racing drivers do not particularly like to ‘luck into’ points paying positions however after the disappointment of the last minute rule changes the points were a nice change in fortune!
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Oulton Park Round 3
Last weekend saw Bell Racing make their way to Oulton Park, the closest (for the driver at least!) circuit of the season, but with the temperature climbing into the thirties it could easily have been the setting for a world championship instead of a British one! Phil and Ashley both felt quietly confident going into the weekend after a successful test weekend at Anglesey and finished the first (untimed) practice session in sixth place. However, despite maintaining similar times the rest of the field appeared to progress time-wise in the only timed qualifying session of the weekend leaving them in twelfth place on the grid for the two races the next day.
After the qualifying Phil and Ashley reported back that a lot of the changes which had been made for the previous Battle of Britain meeting at Snetterton had made the handling difficult on the sweeping corners of Oulton Park circuit. The evening was therefore spent changing the front suspension and the sidecar wheel toe in.
The next morning saw Phil and Ashley move back up into sixth in the warm up with 1 sec lap time improvement which boosted their confidence for the upcoming races. As there was only one day of racing at the meeting there was no super pole race, just two normal format races, both of which would see Bell Racing start in twelfth place.
The first race was just before lunchtime, once again in very high temperatures and bright sunshine (not the best conditions for black leathers!) and saw Phil making a fantastic start, passing four bikes before reaching the first corner where he managed to pass Gordon Shand taking them up into seventh place. On the second lap Phil and Ashley caught and passed Scott Lawrie and Roger Lovelock, two of his main competitors last year, pulling themselves up into an excellent fifth place. Unfortunately on the third lap Lovelock managed to regain his place leaving Phil to have a ‘scrap’ with Lawrie. Lawrie took his place back on the way into the hairpin so Phil challenged back at Hislop’s chicane only for Lawrie to straight line the chicane, gain a few seconds and save his place. Phil and Ashley held their seventh place well against a challenge from John Clark, despite trying to protect their overheating back tyre for the last three laps, and finished in an excellent sixth after Lawrie lost the back end of the bike and crashed out into Druids.
Happy with the performance of the bike nothing was changed by the team between the two races – except for increasing their fluid intake to cope with the temperatures! Unfortunately the team only had one rear tyre to last the weekend so the same one which was well past its best after the heat of the first race had to remain! The second race saw another fantastic start by Phil which took the Bell Racing outfit into sixth place. On the third lap Phil and Ashley were outbraked into a corner by Andy Peach to drop back to seventh. A missed a gear coming out of the final corner and lost momentum from the leading pack on to the start/finish straight on the fourth lap leaving the door open for Brian Pedder to pass them. However with the rear tyre spinning up constantly and the engine struggling to pull top gear Phil and Ashley looked set to finish in a strong eighth place when they benefited from a break down by Tim Reeves in the second last lap and John Clark crashing out on the final lap finishing sixth.
Overall Phil and Ashley were pleased with the weekend despite the disappointing qualifying: their first lap once racing was three seconds faster than their qualifying time, they’re getting happier and more confident with the bike set up for the next race at Cadwell and have moved up to ninth place in the championship. They will also have the benefit of a refreshed engine and the new bodywork from Ged Canfield for Cadwell.
Report by Lynn Sharp
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Snetterton Round 2
Finally last weekend Phil and Ashley got the weekend they wanted – good bike underneath them, a decent haul of points and an excellent platform for going forward! The May Bank Holiday weekend saw the Bell Racing Team make their way to Snetterton in Norfolk for the second round of the Thundersport sidecar championship. After the mixed results and suspension problems at Pembrey, Phil and Ashley were looking forward to trying out the suspension changes made at the test weekend in East Fortune at a top level event. The weekend started with the first of what would be two qualifying sessions over the weekend with a twenty minute practice on Saturday afternoon. The weather forecasts for the Sunday morning session were all for rain so the riders all knew the Saturday afternoon times would probably be the ones that stood for the races. The bike was being run with development brake pads during Saturdays’ session which ended up binding during the session causing a lot of frustration and slow times for Phil. Unfortunately as a result of the brake issues and the steering being heavy Phil and Ashley qualified in twelfth position.
Unfortunately for once the BBC managed to get their forecasts correct and after listening to heavy rain all night we all woke on Sunday morning to the wet practice we had been promised. Overnight the team had changed all the brake pads on the outfit to Mintex and made some adjustments to the steering. Phil and Ashley used the entire practice session to build up some wet running experience and bed in the new brakes which seemed to be far superior after taking a couple of laps to bed in. The entire practice session was wet so as predicted the qualifying times from Saturday afternoon stood but as a standalone session Phil and Ashley managed to record the sixth fastest lap time even although Phil was now claiming the steering had gone light and was suffering with a lack rear grip.
The first race of the weekend was the Sunday afternoon superpole race where the aim was to finish in the top eight as those places would become the start positions for the two Monday races. Unfortunately Phil lost a few places off the start line and finished the first lap in fifteenth place. Phil and Ashley then drove fantastically to claw their way up to eighth position (passing the likes of Barry James, Ben Bygraves and Ben Holland) on lap eight. On lap eleven the team lost two places to Ben Bygraves and Gordon Pottinger after the three outfits came across a back marker as they raced into the chicane. On the very next lap Phil pulled back a place by retaking Gordon Pottinger down the back straight. After a late breaking manoeuvre by Phil into the left at the end of the straight, Phil and Ashley were hit from behind by an even later breaking Gordon! Phil held his position despite the impact and a heavily steamed up visor and finished ninth. Despite an excellent race, some great passing and a shunt unfortunately they finished just outside the superpole eight and after the reshuffle of places, had a qualifying position of thirteenth for the two Monday races. After the race Phil reported that the bike was ‘pushing on’ so the overnight changes included and addition of a front wing (very F1!) and a check of the geometry which was found to be out by a few millimetres following the impact with Gordon. Phil also added some additional sidecar toe-in to help the understeer.
After yet more torrential rain overnight on the Sunday, Monday demonstrated British ‘changeable’ weather at its best with heavy downpours but a quickly drying track due to the high winds. The first race of the day was called a wet race due to a shower about five minutes before the green flag but all twenty three outfits went out on slick tyres due to the speed the track was drying. Starting in thirteenth place Phil made a good start moving up to eleventh on the first lap. During the next five laps Phil and Ashley drove fantastically passing Craig Chaplow, Barry James, Brian Pedder, Ben Bygraves and Mark Edwards to reach fifth position. During lap six however a rain storm blew in very suddenly causing lying water and even a small tornado in the field next to the circuit! Quite sensibly, despite it having been called wet, the race was then red flagged for safety reasons. This led to a split race situation where, when the race was restarted thirty minutes later, the outfits lined up in their positions from the last full lap. This saw Phil and Ashley lining up in fifth position for the restart. After another strong start they were about to finish the seventh lap in third position when Phil ran wide coming out of the chicane and was passed by the two outfits following him. Another two outfits passed them on the straight as a result of the loss of power after running wide and Phil and Ashley held seventh place for the next two laps. On lap ten however Phil re-passed Ben Bygraves and Mark Edwards retaking fifth place which was the final result one lap later. For the first time during this and last season Phil and Ashley were happy with the set up of the bike and changed nothing giving them plenty of time for lunch!
The final race of the weekend once again saw Bell Racing line up thirteenth again. After the second good start of the weekend Phil and Ashley progressed up through the field over the next four laps passing Craig Chaplow, Greg Lambert and Ben Holland again. The weather was again playing a major part in the race with a tremendous head wind down the back straight. During the first few laps the field had split into two groups with the first eight outfits in a pack slightly ahead of the rest. When Phil and Ashley passed the head of the chasing group of bikes into ninth place on lap four they found the head wind had made the gap up to the lead group insurmountable. Without the slipstream and shelter of a bike in front Phil led the chasing group for the remainder of the race as the lead group began to spread out, but took 8th on the last lap after Ben Birchall crashed out at the final chicane.
Phil and Ashley were still very happy with the set up of the bike and felt overall, despite the weather conditions, it was a very successful weekend. Phil said “ Monday’s races felt like we were on a different outfit! The handling was superb. The new settings from Maxton meant we could use the full 185bhp to its full potential for the first time at Snetterton; its just a pity things didn’t work out for us in qualifying”
Phil and Ashley are next out at the Derby Phoenix club weekend at Anglesey in June; getting in some valuable practice for the championship round in September. The team then hope to continue where they left at Snetterton with an improved performance at the next Battle of Britain meeting at Oulton Park in June 25/26th.
Report by Lynn Sharp
Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship – Pembrey Round 1
This weekend saw the opening round of the Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship take place in Pembrey, South Wales a new circuit for the Bell Racing pairing of Phil Bell and Ashley Hawes. The weekend was a learning curve for all involved with new race formats, qualifying rules and race set-ups.
The weekend started late on Friday afternoon with a twenty minute practice session, Phil and Ashley’s opportunity to learn what was a new circuit for both of them. Despite a very early morning start, the nine hour drive and M5 at its best meant Phil arriving at the circuit forty minutes before practice was due to start and Ashley making it with about ten minutes to spare and a few bruises after getting changed into his leathers in the back of the van whilst negotiating the welsh back roads into the circuit! The twenty minute practice highlighted a few suspension issues as a result of the two big left hand corners on the circuit but they still managed to get the seventh fastest time.
Saturday morning saw another twenty minute session, this time to set qualifying positions for the grid. Apart from a ten minute red flag stoppage midway through the session after an accident on track, Phil and Ashley stayed out for the entire session clocking up the laps and working on lines into the corners as they continued to learn the circuit. At the end of the session Phil and Ashley qualified in fourteenth position with a spread of approximately a second and a half over the twenty or so outfits. Unfortunately the session also emphasised the problems Phil had had with the suspension during Friday’s practice session and how unhappy he was with the set up of the bike so a few things were ‘tweaked’ and everything prepared for the first race of the championship.
In the afternoon the new pre-race rules were experienced for the first time with the outfits lining up in the paddock in grid order before being led round to the grid by the circuit safety car. This was a fantastic way of introducing the crowd to sidecars if they were new to the sport and introducing the regulars to any new team colours. After the standard warm up lap the racing for the championship started with a dash down to the very tight (and potentially appropriately named!) Hatchett’s Hairpin. Phil and Ashley came out of the first corner in fifteenth place after being beaten off the line by Ken Knapton. On the second lap Phil managed to get passed two outfits (one of which was John Clark one of his main competitors last year) and was running in thirteenth behind another last year rival and british championship winner, Roger Lovelock. Over the next few laps Clark, Lovelock and Phil exchanged places a number of times culminating on lap eight with Phil coming out in thirteenth. Unfortunately also on lap eight Phil and Ashley had a 180 degree spin on one corner and then almost lost control coming onto the start/finish straight forced them to retire.
On their return to the paddock after the race Phil and Ashley both identified a loss of control of the back end of the bike and initially suspected oil was being leaked onto the back tyre. On inspection however there was no sign of any oil so a fine tooth combed search of the bike for anything which was broken ensued. After a fruitless half an hour looking at the bike there were a lot of heads being scratched when someone spotted a tiny drop of petrol on the floor underneath the engine. This led to discovering a burst seal on one of the fuel injectors which had been throwing fuel onto the back tyre causing the bike to spin but evaporating by the time anyone got near it to check it. As Geoff said looking for a silver lining, could’ve been worse than a retirement, bike could have gone on fire...
After the disappointment of the Saturday everyone was looking for a better result during one of the Sunday races. The Thundersport format sees the grid staying the same for every race with the exception of the first four positions which go with the finishing positions of the previous race. Phil and Ashley had a steady start maintaining their fourteenth place for the first lap. On laps two and three they lost a place moving back to sixteenth. On lap four they moved up to fifteenth place by passing Ben Bygrave. On lap six a front runner had a spin and dropped back down the field allowing Phil and Ashley to move up to fourteenth. Unfortunately on lap eight Ben took fourteenth place back leaving Bell Racing to finish in fifteenth. On return to the paddock Phil and Ashley both described terrible suspension and handling problems causing the bike to understeer into the right hand corners and making the sidecar wheel lift erratically around all the left hand corners. There was even some debate about putting sponsor stickers on the underneath of the sidecar floor or the bottom of Ashley’s leathers as those were the parts of the outfit seen most by the people standing on the inside of the left hand turns! With three and a half hours to go until the final race of the weekend Phil and Michael proceeded to dismantle the front end of the bike and the suspension unit to try and achieve a simple base setting which would allow the bike to handle and for them to start working from to make improvements.
With an hour to go until the third and final race was scheduled to begin there was a visitor to the garage who informed us that they were bringing the race forward and they had a mere twenty minutes to be on track! With a lot of shouting, a little (!) bit of swearing and some very fast reassembly, somehow Phil and Ashley were at the gate onto the circuit when requested.
Race three started much more positively with Phil getting a fantastic start off the line passing four outfits and coming into the first corner in tenth place. On the second lap they managed to pass Ben Bygraves and Brian Pedder to pull themselves up into an excellent (given the way things had been going until that point!) eighth place. Despite still obviously fighting the bike through the two big left hand corners Phil and Ashley held their position perfectly until the twelfth and final lap when after running slightly wide on the exit of the second left Brian Pedder managed to sneak back past.
Phil and Ashley both seemed to enjoy the third race much better but Phil still has huge concerns over the suspension and handling. To try and resolve some of the issues he is taking the bike and his ex-passenger Tony Belsay to East Fortune near Edinburgh to a Scottish club weekend for a test session with some new parts arriving from Maxton Engineering. Hopefully this will provide him with a better set up for him and Ashley to work with at the next Thundersport meeting which is in Snetterton on the first bank holiday weekend in May. Let’s hope the weather is as nice as it was in Wales!
Race Report by Lynn Sharp
Croft March 27th/28th – Test Weekend
This weekend saw the start of the racing season for Phil and his new passenger Ashley Hawes. Phil and Ashley had a number of races together last year but following a few changes to the bike over the winter they decided to take part in the Derby Phoenix Motorcycle Club weekend at Croft Circuit near Darlington. Some reasons for this were to run in the bike, get used to their new racing partnership and iron out any potential issues before the Eastern Airways Championship begins in a fortnight.
The weekend started on Saturday morning with a twenty minute practice session where there were no big problems identified. The starting positions for race one were nominated as there was no qualifying session so Phil and Ashley lined up on the fourth row of the grid in seventh position. Off the line they managed to pass three other outfits and came into the first corner in fourth position. During the first lap they managed to pass two more outfits down the back straight and settled into second position, a number of seconds behind Barry James and his passenger. On lap two of the race Barry spun halfway through the first corner and ran into the gravel trap. He managed well not to beach the bike and got back on track but this allowed Phil and Ashley to close the gap considerably. This order was held until lap four when Barry again spun in the first corner, this time having to go across the grass, missing corner two altogether and allowing Phil and Ashley to take the lead and Scott Lawrie and his passenger to move into second. For the remainder of the race Scott closed up on the back of Phil and Ashley but could not find a way past despite Phil driving the last lap with his visor misted up. Race one of the 2010 season and a win for the new Bell Racing combination!
Race two started in the afternoon with no changes to the set up of the bike and with Phil and Ashley in pole position (DP rules start each grid in the finishing position of the previous race). They lost one place off the line to Barry James and then spent the next seven laps battling with Scott Lawrie allowing Barry to build up a considerable lead over them. On lap eight however Scott finally managed to get passed Phil and Ashley so they dropped to third position. On the ninth lap Scott also managed to pass Barry who Phil quickly managed to close up on. Phil and Barry had a ‘driving incident’ in the hairpin of the last lap which resulted in Phil and Ashley finishing in third with a tire-shaped scrape in the new faring paintwork! On post race analysis Phil and Ashley described major issues with the suspension settings on the back end of the bike which had been experimental for the weekend. The rest of the evening was spent adjusting the suspension and hoping for better handling the next day although the new pairing of driver and passenger seemed to be working very well.
Sunday morning brought a windy but dry day with a revised suspension setting for the bike. During the warm-up lap the bike felt like it still wasn’t handling well and unsure whether it was still the suspension or the cold tyres, Phil decided on a cautious start so reached the first corner in fifth position after started third. Coming down the start/finish straight Phil’s F1 bike easily passed Ian Bell and Carl Bell’s F2 and started lap two in fourth position. During that lap however at Sunny In Corner Ian lost control of his bike and ran into the side of Phil and Ashley, the front of his bike making contact with Ashley’s arm as he was out for the right corner. Ian crashed out at this point (thankfully with no injuries) and despite the impact causing Phil and Ashley to have a half spin onto the grass, they rescued it and kept running in fourth. Despite the bike having major issues with under steer causing Phil and Ashley to slow down they managed to hold fourth position for the next five laps and finished in fifth. To try and cure the under steer problem, between races three and four the team decided to move the sidecar wheel back to put more weight onto the front wheel.
The fourth race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon found Phil and Ashley starting in fourth position. Off the line they managed to pass Greg Lambert and entered the first corner in third place but in very close racing with Barry James and Scott Lawrie. In the middle of the first corner Barry spun his bike again-Scott got caught behind him and Phil managed to navigate his way around them both to take first place by corner two. Over the next six laps Barry closed slowly up on the back of Phil and Ashley but was unable to find a way past. Unfortunately coming into corner one of the last lap Phil and Barry both came across a backmarker at the same time and Barry took the lead back from Phil leaving him and Ashley to finish in second. The handling of the bike was considerably better during the final race of the weekend however following discussions with Maxton Engineering after the weekend Phil is going to make some further adjustments to the rear suspension before the next race weekend in a fortnight.
All in all Phil, Ashley were very happy with the results of the weekend. It was a fantastic opportunity to pick up the handling problems before the start of the Eastern Airways Championship which starts in a fortnight at Pembrey, Wales.
Race Report by Lynn Sharp