Snetterton returns to its American roots
SNETTERTON MSVR USA SNETTERTON 300 7-8 SEPTEMBER
Originally built as an RAF airfield that was designated to the United States Air Force from 1943 to 1945, Snetterton returned to its American roots for last weekend’s
USA Snetterton 300 event. A variety of American-made cars, including NASCAR and Ford Mustangs, put on demonstrations, while there was also a stars-and-stripes theme to the racing action.
Chris Needham wiped the floor in the Legends Cars Championship on Saturday, winning all three of that day’s races. He started 17th in the final, and made a last-gasp pass for the lead moments before Daniel Pooley rolled his car on the penultimate lap, which brought out a red flag. The decision to not restart the race handed Needham his Saturday grand slam.
“I started at the back because we’d had a good day [due to the reversed-grid format] and I got to the front pretty quickly, and then I watched the laps just count down every time I crossed the line,” smiled Needham. “As it got towards the end, I wanted a bit of air into the engine so I decided to get to the front and that’s when, luckily, the red flag came out. You’ve just got to play it clever and be in the right place.”
The tide turned on Needham on Sunday. He was given a 20-second penalty for starting out of position in heat one, which gave Robert Barrable the win after the Irishman’s own sanction was rescinded. Barrable then also won heat two and a red-flagged final, halted after Tyler Read and Jack Parker went off into the gravel at Riches when rain sporadically fell during the race, to complete a hat-trick of his own.
While there was a variety of American machinery among the entry, it was British cars that took the Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws honours. Polesitter Johnny Hyde in his TVR Tuscan instantly lost the lead in race one and fell down to fourth on the first lap. Matthew Ellis in his Talbot Sunbeam Lotus squeezed by to lead the pack, but he quickly came under threat from Samuel Wilson, whose Aston Martin V8 Vantage had started at the back of the grid.
After making up eight places on lap one alone, Wilson weaved between the cars that
separated him from Ellis and found himself behind the Talbot on lap three. With 12 minutes to go, Wilson took the lead and looked set to secure the win before he suffered throttle issues. Hyde, who had jumped Ellis for second, therefore snatched the lead from Wilson and went on to triumph.
“I’ve got about 10% of it [the throttle] – you can see the cable hanging off,” groaned Wilson. “It was going really well and, as soon as I felt the throttle start to go deeper, I thought, ‘Oh, this is bad.’”
Wilson fought from the back of the grid once again in race two, only to face more mechanical problems and retired, while this time it was Dan Birch’s Tuscan that was victorious from the Ford Escort of Martin Reynolds.
Alf Skeels took the opening All-comers win in his Radical PR6, but an early mistake in race two dropped him to third. Barry Liversidge made the most of Skeels’s error, and powered on in his SR3 to eventually prevail by 23s.