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Whittlesey 2006

The meeting is over and I am sitting in my camper on Sunday evening thinking about just relaxing but, having volunteered to put something in writing for the magazine, I think I had better get started.

Windy Whittlesey is, I think, an apt overall description of the weather conditions added to sunshine during the day and a bit of rain at night, the latter helping to keep down the dust.

For those that have not been to Whittlesey, I would think that the course is about two thirds of a mile round. From the start there is a long land straight at the end of which the course sweeps to the right down a ramp, edged with concrete, and over a good drop onto the water. It goes across a good sized lake to sweep round a buoy to the right and then, still on the water, turns left to go up a ramp onto the second land section. This land part of the course was downwind for most of the weekend so craft travelled at a good speed presenting the drivers with a very difficult drop back down onto the water. This caught out many who ploughed in, some going off into the reeds nearby. The course then swooped round a buoy to the right, kinked slightly to the left around another buoy before going back onto the land to sweep round to the right over the finish line.

I did not count the number of craft at the meeting but the paddock was a good size and I would think there were about 60. My own involvement with Whittlesey was giving rides and driver training when racing was not taking place. In theory, this should have given me time to watch all the racing but, this was not the case.

Formula 1 was won by Dan Turnbull (1), as might have been expected. However, he was not able to relax as Michael Metzner (352), getting some late pre-Worlds practice, provided some very close racing with him and Paul Hibbard (16), more usually seen racing abroad, was also not far behind. Michael finished second to Dan in the first three races but gained no points in the last race when his thrust engine gave out as the race started. Consistency proved the answer for Team Gill (5) as they finished in second place for the weekend.

Joe Milligan brought the craft from Ireland for Steve Milligan (10) to race but later commented that although the engine now goes well, the hull needs some attention. Perhaps this is why Steve gave several examples of high speed spins on the water.

Formula 2. I was a bit annoyed that I did not see all these races. Those I did see were very close between Brian White (98), Scott Tilley (39), Jamie Lewendon for Storm (36) and Dave Polfrey (32). They finished in this order for the weekend. In the races, first and second places were shared between Brian and Scott apart from in race three when Scott ploughed in very heavily on lap four, dropped out and only got seven points. Second place in this race was taken by Storm, right on the heels of Brian. Very close racing.

In Formula 3 just eight competed at this meeting. I think the best race of all was the third one. Tony Broad (152) seems to have got his new craft well sorted now. He set off in hot pursuit of John Bucknall for Storm (102) who, being pushed very hard, was struggling to not plough in coming off the far land section at speed. Tony on the other hand at this point really flew and made up a lot of ground. On lap four John spun at this point and Tony narrowly missed him to take the lead despite having a few skirt segments out. Next lap though, with even more segments missing, it was Tony's turn to plough in and this time very heavily, so that John retook the lead. Regrettably the plough in badly damaged the underside of the front of Tony's craft although he was still able to nurse it through to the end of the race in second spot. Barry Staples (103) had mixed fortunes. He seemed to be going well in fourth spot in the first race only to lose power just yards before the finishing line. A number of helpers rushed out and pushed him over the line although, being a lap ahead of Ian Richardson (144), whether he passed the line, or not, did not affect the result. Barry's craft continued to give problems so much so that he came out in "the Scrapper" - his second craft - for the last race. Nick Long (121) finished second in the two Saturday races. However, on Sunday morning Nick stopped abruptly in practice immediately in front of Michael Metzner who, having nowhere to go, smashed into the back of Nick Long's craft completely ripping off the duct. It looked a very sorry sight being trailered home at the end of the meeting. Nick tried to race Peter Symes-Thompson's craft in the last race but was unable to score any points.

Formula 503 was introduced to encourage close racing and certainly Whittlesey provided good examples of this. In the first race Mark Talbot set a cracking pace, as he did all weekend, to win. Second place could have been taken by Lee Willars (41), Richard Wiles (42), Rob Trussler (46) or Meteor 503 Racing (37) as they were in close company all through the race and constantly changing positions. They finished in the order mentioned with the meeting being won by Mark from Rob, second and Lee third. Richard Wiles had high hopes for this meeting. He had been leading the 503 Championship after two meetings this season when his hovercraft was stolen. He built a new one for this meeting and the Worlds and it looked at though he had a winner as he finished third in the first race from the middle of the start grid and second in the second race. However, overall success was not to be as he had to retire due to hull damage, which he is still hoping to overcome in time for France.

There were ten craft in Juniors, all of which were still running to start the last race. David Lovegrove (2) won three of the four races to win the weekend. Rickey Goosey (11) won the other race and came second overall. Rhian Black (20) was third. In fourth place was Joshua Daly (194) who had his best meeting so far. Although he did not get any points from his first race he went on to finish second in the other three. His best moments were in race three, which he lead from the start only to be overtaken by David Lovegrove on lap seven. Never having been in the lead before, Josh was smiling and waving to everyone although he told me afterwards that he expected it would not last as he could see that David, who had started very late, was rapidly overhauling him.

Rachael Gifford (203) won two of the Formula 35 races to take the win for the weekend. I expected the orange inflatable craft of Steve Walsh (205) to be very affected by the strong winds but, either it wasn't or Steve was able to control it well as he came second. Heather Black (209) was third.

In the Opens, Nick Long (121) in his F3 craft looked good in the first two races finishing second and first respectively. However, not being able to participate on the Sunday due to the damage to his craft during practice saw him finish overall down in ninth. Team Gill (5) came out on top with three wins from Mike King (8) in second and Storm (36) in third.

James Drew (87) won three of the Novice races to lift the F2 novice trophy. The fourth win went to new novice Tristan Rhodes (78) who came second in his other two races. He missed out on his second race after his craft was badly damaged in a Formula 503 race. In the Formula 3 novice section, there were two wins apiece for Nigel Hutchinson (147) and Phil Hall (143) giving them equal points for the meeting.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the organisers for putting on the event. The fish and chip van turning up on Friday was an excellent idea, and very good fare too. I am not so sure it did as good a trade on the Saturday though. And the burger man. Very reasonable prices and the size of the burgers and buns, whow!!!

So on to the next National at Blackditch, in September but, in the meantime, the best of luck to all those who are going to France.


Bob Beech.