Gallery 2025 04 April Snetterton Paddock
Gallery 2025 04 April Snetterton Qualifying
Gallery 2025 04 April Snetterton Race
26th-27th April 2025 - Snetterton
HSCC Season Opener UK Championship R1 + R2 200 Circuit - two wins for Jason Timms
Snetterton
Snetterton – 2025 Season Opener. A return to this period circuit after a three-year absence. The 200 Circuit is well-suited to our cars, and as expected there was close racing and a fun Saturday Soiree.
Historic Formula 3 Round 1 Snetterton 200 26th & 27thApril.
Report by Alan Jones
Entry and Qualifying
The early morning mists had cleared from the Snetterton 200 circuit to create ideal conditions for the qualifying of the Historic Formula 3 cars on Saturday 26th April. It was a depleted but high quality field that assembled for the opening rounds.
No matter when the season starts there will always be problems with cars being ready to race on time. Gil Duffy having bought a race ready Mallock to contest the A class with this year found that he had a lot of work to complete before it was ready for competition. All little jobs in isolation but put together they became one rather large job. Gil is confident the car will be good and fun to drive but for Snetterton he brought along his Brabham BT21B to shake out the cobwebs.
Other competitors were facing similar problems along with one whose hospital treatment coincided with his racing commitments.
As everyone settled into the new season it was Mark Carter in the ex Peter Westbury Brabham BT21 who was trading times with Peter de La Roche in the Alexis Mk17.
Keith Messer was an early retirement from Qualifying after 3 laps. He had a broken rocker in the engine a repeat of a problem he had experienced in testing. Keith had also been experiencing discomfort with the gear selection following some experimentation. It was going to be a busy afternoon for Keith and the team to have the car ready for their first race.
At the head of the timing sheets Ross Drybrough had risen to the top in his Merlyn Mk14A setting a new target time on lap 6 for Jason Timms in his Brabham BT21 and Peter De La Roche to better. It looked like Ross had claimed the first pole of the season but unfortunately his throttle cable released at the end of lap 7 and Ross coasted to a safe place, left to watch the remainder of the event from the side of the track at Riches.
Lap 10 was the critical lap for establishing the final grid. Jason Timms, finally came out on top, with Peter second, JonathanSharp brought his Chevron B17 home for third slot, leaving the stranded Ross to occupy the fourth slot on the grid. Mark Carter would be fifth. The top 5 covered by less than a second. A great race was in prospect. Steve Seaman would line up alongside Mark. Steve almost a second slower than Mark in qualifying had a big cushion in terms of time to Francis Falconer in his Chevron B15C. Although Francis’s fastest time was deleted when he was captured by one of the MSV track limit cameras. Francis will hopefully be contesting a full season having enjoyed his taster outing at Castle Combe last year. Whilst Francis owns the car, his car is being run and prepared by the Mike O’ Brien Speedsport team.
Post qualifying a number of drivers would be found in the paddock changing gear ratios putting in a longer top gear as they were running out of speed on the two long straights. Andrew Tart was working on tracking down a misfire that had appeared at Dijon last year. The components he had changed over the winter not rectifying the problem in qualifying. So it would be either Plan B or Plan C that would be the next on the agenda prior to Race 1.
Race 1
From lights out Jason Timms led the field away followed by a fast-starting Jonathan Sharp, but with the long straights at Snetterton slipstreaming would make getting away difficult.Peter De la Roche, anxious not to let Jason Timms get away, bravely pulled a move on Jonathan Sharp at the aptly named Bombhole. At the end of lap 1, Jason would lead from Peter De la Roche with Jonathan Sharp slipping back from the hotshoes up front by just over a second and he had Ross Drybrough tight in his wheel tracks looking for a way past. Shadowing Ross was Mark Carter, who coming into Murray’s had Steve Seaman on his tail.
Steve had a spin on the exit of Murray, possibly caused by fuel escaping onto his tyres. Luckily everyone avoided Steve who re-started at the back of the field behind Andrew Tart and Simon Etherington who were engaged in a dice for the rear gunner position. Sadly, Keith Messer did not get to complete a race lap. Leaving the assembly area quite late he retired to the pit lane with a very sad sounding Vesey.
Lap 2 and the duo at the front had become a trio, an inspired Ross Drybrough having slipped past Jonathan Sharp to reduce the gap to the lead to under a second. Jonathan now had Mark Carter closing onto his tail. Francis Falconer got into his race rhythm passing Tony Wallen in the Lotus 59a to gain 6th place. Simon Etherington had been passed by Andrew Tart who was hunting down Gil Duffy.
At the front of the field the top three slipstreamed clear of the pursuing pack, Jason Timms was placed on permanent defence. Positioning his car well and utilizing the cars torque and straight line speed to keep ahead, most of the time. On lap 5 Peter De La Roche got into the lead but the Jason’s fasterBrabham outgunned him into Riches. On Lap 6 Jason was back in the lead and rather than attacking Peter was now having to defend from Ross, who took over second position on lap 7. The top 3 staying rivetted together.
Further down the order Mark Carter had passed Jonathan Sharp, who closed up on the brakes but lost out on the straights. Their dice was now over 11 seconds behind the leaders with a much larger gap back to Francis in a very comfortable 6th place. Steve Seaman had retired to the pits on lap 3 his fuel filler cap had not been replaced and he had been leaking fuel onto the circuit.
Simon Etherington had obviously been having a little chat with himself in the cockpit and started to turn in some really rapid lap times. On individual laps he was recording times equivalent to Tony Wallen ahead of him in 7th place. More importantly for friends and work colleagues watching from the Grandstand at Murrays, Simon was now catching Gil Duffy and Andrew Tart ahead of him.
On lap 12 Ross Drybrough made his move to lead over the line from Jason and Peter. On the following lap Jason made a pass on Ross at Riches, which resulted in Ross dropping almost two and a half seconds behind the lead pair of Jason and Peter De La Roche which would be the finishing order at the chequered flag.
On lap 14 Jonathan Sharp passed Mark Carter round the outside of the quick left hander at Brundle. Mark Carter then had a spin leaving him some way behind in 5th. Francis Falconer completed the top 6 as the remaining unlapped car. Tony Wallen finished 7th with Simon Etherington in front of his home crowd finished 8th completing his overtaking manouevres in front of them. Andrew Tart chased Simon hard when his car would allow, forcing Andrew into recording his best lap of the race on the final lap.
The racing at the head of the field was exemplary and race 2 was eagerly anticipated.
Race 2
The starting positions for Race 2 are determined by the competitors fastest lap in race 1. It would be Peter De La Roche who would start from Pole Position from Jason Timms Ross Drybrough and Mark Carter. 5th on the grid would have been Jonathan Sharp but his oil cooler sprung a leak in the assembly area. Despite the best efforts of Richard De La Roche, Peter’s dad, Jonathan did not take part in Race 2. This left an empty slot alongside Francis Falconer who had qualified 6th. Steve Seaman with a clear row in front of him would start 7th, Andrew Tart 8th and Simon Etherington 9thlining up with Tony Wallen in 10th. Gil Duffy completed the grid with Keith Messer retiring from the event.
Jason Timms and Peter De La Roche dominated race 2. The pair were in a class of their own. Peter leading at the end of lap 1 after which Jason got ahead just keeping Peter at bay the largest margin being 6 tenths on lap 11 but for the majority of the race Jason held only a tenth advantage. The Alexis being quicker through the corners just lacking the straight line edge to complete a pass. A brilliant race from the pair.
Mark Carter held 3rd place at the end of lap 1 dropping back to 6th on lap 2. Leaving Ross Drybrough in a distant but unchallenged 3rd place Steve Seaman following in 4th place. Simon Etherington flushed with success from Race 1 fluffed the first lap to come round a distant last after his brilliant starting position.
Francis Falconer was following Steve on lap 3 made an error on track that dropped him back and closer to his SpeedSportteam mate Mark Carter. Simon Etherington after another in helmet chat caught and passed Gil Duffy with Andrew Tart as his next target up the road.
On lap 5 Mark Carter passed Francis Falconer to chase after Steve Seaman. The Brabham pair of Seaman and Carter getting closer to together as Francis followed in his Chevron holding a waiting brief. On lap 12 Steve succumbed to the pressure from behind with the Speedsport pair both gaining a place. Francis continued to close onto Mark finishing just under half a second behind at the end and showing impressive speed. Simon Etherington after his first lap delay came through to finish 8th having overtaken both Gil Duffy and Andrew Tart.
The season continues at Cadwell Park, on the late May Bank Holiday when the Formula 3 cars will be racing for Justin Haler Trophy before the Championship moves onto Zandvoort in June for the Historic Grand Prix.
Snetterton-Qualifying1.pdf [PDF]
