EASTERN AIRWAYS F1 BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP RD 5 - CADWELL PARK REVIEW  -  AUGUST

   
                                     

After a few weeks of soul-searching regarding his racing future Phil decided not to let this good start to the season go to waste and put in a concerted effort to prepare the bike and find a suitable passenger for Cadwell.  The weekend saw the old partnership of Bell and Belsey reunited as old friend Tony Belsey passengered for Phil.  Phil and Tony raced together over a number of years and have won the Scottish Championship and the Jock Taylor Trophy in the past.  Both Phil and Tony know the Cadwell circuit well but it is a very difficult circuit for both driver and passenger.  The first qualifying session saw Phil and Tony getting used to each other again and bedding in the new brakes which was meant to have been done at Knockhill.   During the second session the bike developed some handling problems so overall Phil and Tony were happy to qualify in twelfth position.  The first race saw Phil and Tony pass John Clark and Steven Kershaw off the start line to reach tenth position.  A couple of retirements saw Phil and Tony move up into eighth and whilst dicing with Craig Chaplow a misunderstanding (‘Tony tapped me’, ‘no I didn’t’) saw Phil back off to hold eighth for the remainder of the race.

The second race of the weekend saw the team hold eighth position off the grid and then go on to pass Craig Chaplow, Andy Peach (after being held up by him for a few laps as he struggled for grip) and Roger Lovelock to finish in a strong fifth position whilst setting Phil’s fastest ever lap time around Cadwell. The whole team were delighted and after bad month it certainly made the effort to get to Cadwell worthwhile! Phil said “The team was very relaxed this weekend, getting Tony back on to help me out for weekend has more or less convinced me to continue for the remainder of the season”.

The final race saw the team put on their third rear tyre of the weekend which was well beyond their budget but a necessary evil given the success of the rest of the weekend.  Phil dropped to sixth place off the line after a bold move by John Clark and then lost places to Andy Peach and Barry James.  By this time both Phil and Tony were beginning to fatigue from the highly physical circuit but Phil and Tony went on finish in a strong sixth position.  This sees the team drop to sixth in the championship but there are only thirteen points separating Phil and Roger Lovelock in fourth position so there is still lots to play for as the team travels to Donington Park with new passenger Phil Hyde. Phil had some very promising results last year at Donington with a 5^th and 6^th on his first visit to the circuit last year so we have high hopes of some good results.

Report by Lynn Sharp

SNETTERTON REVIEW- JULY

 
 
             

The next meeting was Phil and Ash’s first time out on the new format Snetterton and after a practice day on the Friday they were all fired up for qualifying on the Saturday.  The qualifying session didn’t go according to plan however with Phil and Ash only completing one lap after developing brake complications again leaving them to start the first race in eleventh position.  Despite bleeding the brakes after the qualifying session the outfit continued to suffer from brake issues (sticking on) during all three races.  The brakes gradually deteriorated throughout the three races leaving Phil and Ash being passed in a straight line by almost everyone (not normally a problem given they’re powered by Bell tuned engines!) and culminating in them losing places in the third race after a close call at the end of the back straight where Phil had to fight to keep the outfit on the circuit. The best of a bad bunch of races was the first race on Sunday when the team ran in 6^th for most of race only to be passed up the straight by Ben Bygrave starting the last lap so they ended up 7^th.  The results for the three races were tenth, seventh and ninth causing Team Bell to drop from third to fourth overall in the championship not a disaster but still disappointing!

The following fortnight saw Phil preparing the bike for the Jock Taylor Trophy race at Knockhill by having the calipers on the front brakes overhauled by Alyn at A. S. Performance and replacing the seals which had deteriorated badly after only two races.  As the Jock Taylor is not a championship race (but still one of the most sought after F1 sidecar trophies) Phil also changed his standard engine for a tuned one in preparation for a competitive weekend.  Unfortunately a mere three days before the meeting Ash had issues which meant he would not attend Knockhill leaving Phil without a passenger for the meeting.  As this is the first time since 2004 that Phil has not been able to compete in the Jock Taylor this was obviously a disappointment for him and as a result he felt the partnership could not go any further.

Report by Lynn Sharp

- KNOCKHILL REVIEW - JUNE

 
                                    

The second BSB meeting of the season saw us travel to ‘bonnie’ but very wet Scotland’s Knockhill circuit, one of Phil’s favourites.  The entire team (and their extensive travelling support at this meeting) was confident of having a successful weekend to raise the team’s position in the championship.  The qualifying session on Friday saw Phil and Ash qualifying fifth after their tyres went off.  Everyone else seemed happy with this result but it was actually Phil’s worst qualifying session at Knockhill for years so he was slightly disappointed!  Saturday involved one very wet race where Phil and Ash dropped to sixth off the start before working their way passed competitive traffic to fourth place.  The race was then red flagged after an accident and on the restart Phil again lost one place.  The Team then had some good wheel to wheel racing passing first Ben Bygrave and then Andy Peach before finishing in an excellent third place, getting their first BSB podium.  By the time Phil and Ash had passed Bygrave and Peach the two front running teams had pulled out too big a gap to overcome so the aim for the second race on the Sunday was to get a good start and stay with them. Never the less this result was a massive boost to Phil’s wet weather confidence having suffered issues over the past couple of years.

Sunday morning amazingly saw sun!! However damp (intermediate tyres) conditions were the order of the day for the warm up but the track had dried for the race late in the morning.  Phil and Ash held their position off the start this time and maintained a comfortable third place.  After a few laps they were lapping in the same times as the two front running teams so they were in an excellent position to take advantage when Scott Lawrie, running in second position, made a mistake at the hairpin.  There was much jubilation amongst the team when Phil and Ash finished in a strong second place securing their best result as a team in the British championship.  After the race the only slight cloud on the horizon was Phil’s disappointment with the overall speed of the bike but the problem was diagnosed after the next meeting in Snetterton. The much appreciated prize money would also help us continue onto Snetterton.

Report by Lynn Sharp

Disappointment was definitely the catch-word for Bell Racing this weekend at Brands Hatch at the second round of this year’s British Championship. The team made their way to the circuit with high hopes after a good round there four weeks ago and looking forward to running on the longer GP circuit. Saturday started well with Phil and Ashley running with the third fastest time for the first part of the qualifying session alongside Tim Reeves and Andy Peach. By the end of the twenty minute session they had dropped back to seventh which was a vast improvement on last year’s twelfth. The second qualifying session saw the team go out on a new back tyre to try and work their way up the grid and within the first two laps Phil and Ashley had pulled themselves up to sixth position having taken 0.5 sec off their lap time. Unfortunately on the next lap the session was to be red flagged as another outfit dropped oil on a large proportion of the racing line. The knock on effect was that nobody was capable of improving their lap times when the session was restarted leaving the team happy that they had clawed one place back but frustrated at the potential that had been lost.

Later in the afternoon the outfits all lined up for their first race of the weekend. Unfortunately when the race started an outfit didn’t manage to pull away and in the confusion and lack of space caused by other drivers trying to avoid it three outfits ended up colliding leaving two riders trapped against the pit wall. Thankfully everyone was ok after some checks at the local hospital but racing was cancelled for the rest of the day. The decision was made to re-run the race the next morning as well as the two already planned for Sunday.

Sunday morning saw Team Bell using the short practice session to scrub in new tyres in preparation for the upcoming meeting at Knockhill and then taking to the grid for the re-run of Saturdays race. Phil and Ashley struggled for grip off the line due to running the harder of the two Avon compounds and lost a place to John Clarke and then later during the first lap, another place to Roger Lovelock. After a good fight with John, Phil and Ashley managed to regain the place after a few laps and then could not maintain enough pace to challenge the front runners due to a lack of grip leaving them to finish in a distant seventh position. The second race of the day saw Team Bell start a relatively uneventful race in seventh position (their finishing position from race one). Once again the team had a poor start and was overtaken by Clarke. By the time Phil had taken seventh position back again from Clarke (on the second lap) the front runners had pulled out too big a gap for Phil and Ashley to close on them despite improving their lap times by a second and a half.

Seven seemed to be the number of the day for Team Bell as they lined up in seventh for the third and final race of the day. After another poor start which saw Phil and Ashley drop to ninth position the bike immediately developed handling problems as it became clear the back tyre had reached the end of its lifespan. Luckily for Team Bell (if not the passengers involved, who thankfully weren’t seriously injured) two of the outfits in front of them lost their passengers during separate incidents leaving Phil and Ashley to finish in seventh albeit, again, out on their own.

Overall the weekend saw the team salvage a decent haul of points from what was a very disappointing set of results. Both Phil and Ashley are finding the situation frustrating as they know they are good enough to be challenging the top four positions. The team’s suspicions over costs were confirmed by others in that the level of the championship now and the costs involved means it is becoming increasingly difficult for privateers to compete at the front without sponsorship. In comparison to last year the number of tyres required to compete has increased by approximately fifty percent which has proportionately increased the costs involved. Phil’s family has been involved in sidecar racing for three generations now and nobody is more passionate about the sport than he is. He has supported the sport through the years when the infrastructure and organisation just wasn’t there and now when the sport is once again taking off and becoming professional it is devastating for him to face the prospect of not being able to finish the season. The situation now is to take one race meeting at a time and re-evaluate the teams financial position and with that in mind, everyone is really looking forward to Knockhill, Phil’s favourite and most successful circuit, to give everyone an opportunity to do what they love – race!

Report by Lynn Sharp

EASTERN AIRWAYS F1 BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP RD1 - BRANDS HATCH REVIEW  - APRIL

Photo courtesy of Mark "Wally" Walters

After the team spent the winter rebuilding the outfit and changing our engines to the new rules for the championship Bell Racing were eagerly anticipating the first round of the British Sidecar Championship. After   finishing seventh last year, aims for the season were to climb into the top six of the championship. Bell Racing was one of the last teams to arrive at Brands Hatch due to work commitments the previous day. After negotiating the Good Friday M25 traffic we were pleased the RKBF1 organisers still managed to squeeze us in the paddock at 1900, leaving us with plenty of time to set up. The outfit was all ready for its eleventh season of competitive racing at the top level.

Free practice was Phil and Ash’s first time using a full set of Avon tyres and given the concerns with the rear tyre at Croft the team were anxious to get things underway to find out how they would settle in. The first part of the session was slow as the team spent early laps bedding in the tyres. Towards the end of the session Phil began to get frustrated sitting in the pits whilst other teams ran numerous laps so he decided to go back out on track. Without spinning or sliding the new tyres they set the seventh quickest time. Overall the team were happy and ready for qualifying.

Qualifying took place late in the afternoon after an oil spillage by one of the solo riders – the sidecars aren’t scared by a little oil! With thunder storms on the horizon Phil was eager to get some decent laps in but because of a few incidents around the circuit they couldn’t get a decent lap until right at the end of the session. They finished in eighth and Phil was happy (even if some others in the team were not!) given it was the first time the team had used Avon tyres in anger.

Easter Sunday saw the teams wake up to beautiful, hot, sunny weather which was ideal for all the spectators but possibly not the best time to be wearing full racing leathers. As the first race got underway the team did not make the best of starts slipping to ninth place however within two laps Phil and Ash were up to seventh (albeit with a nice tyre rubber mark on the wheel arch) and chased down the LW Racing outfit of Peach/Richardson. Phil managed to pass the struggling outfit of Peach to get up into sixth place. However not long after passing Peach the outfit started to struggle with fuel starvation. It was not long before Peach made a hard move at Clearways which also allowed Holland/Watson on the JH Racing outfit to sneak through. Despite trying to keep with two outfits our outfit gradually got slower and the team were lucky to finish seventh. Checks after the race found a blocked fuel pipe was the problem so over the next few hours the team got the outfit prepared for the morning warm up after Roger Body loaned the team a fuel pump.

The next morning saw a repeat of the weather conditions of the previous two days as Phil and Ash headed out for the five minute warm up. The team again encountered issues in the warm up as an electrical fault created an unknown problem. What had originally looked on paper like a very long break between warm up (1030) and the race (1700) provided a vital opportunity to strip the outfit in pursuit of the electrical fault. Phil found a couple of faulty wires in the fuel injection system and hoped changing these would resolve the issue as the team got ready for the Live TV race.

The second race of the weekend was immediately after the BSB race and saw the team line up on the grid, amongst the live TV cameras, representing the sport professionally in their immaculate livery. The second race turned out to be a very entertaining race long battle with Ben Holland. Starting in seventh place (finishing position from Sunday’s race) Phil and Ash gained an immediate place after Peach’s engine gave up off the start leaving Peach to peel onto the grass out of the way of the twenty four strong grid streaming past. About five laps in and with Phil right on his tail, Holland hit a false neutral coming down Paddock Hill allowing Bell Racing to take fifth place. Holland however stayed right with Phil and Ash for the remainder of the race fighting hard to try and take fifth back. On lap fifteen Roger Lovelock spun out from third place allowing Phil through to fourth but unfortunately for all involved, on the same lap, Gordon Shand and Ian Drowne crashed causing the race to be red flagged. Thankfully all involved in the accident were not seriously hurt although Gordon has had to have surgery on a fractured wrist. As the race was more than two thirds completed the results from the last full lap completed stood as the final positions leaving Bell Racing with a well deserved and hard fought fifth place. The rear tyre had begun to give up six laps from the end but given the amount of running they had done the Avon tyres worked really well in all races helping the team to keep within our tyre budget. The new engine with standard head following the championship rules also consistently achieved times within the top three on the start/finish speed trap. This all left Phil and Ash in an overall joint fifth place in the championship, well within their target, and looking forward to returning to Brands for the GP Circuit in a month.

If you missed the live race then the highlights program will be shown on eurosport on Saturday at 10.30 and Sunday 19.00  – riveting watch!


Report by Lynn Sharp