Qualifying took place on Friday 11th July in hot sunny weather and the times proved very close up at the front of the grid as the top three drivers were covered by 0.253 sec.s!
Ian Giles laid claim to Pole position with his 7th lap of qualifying, setting a time of 1:20.195sec. in his F5000 Eagle FA 74 Chevrolet. Ian was by no means leaving the others behind as Peter Wuensch having only his second race in the Brabham BT 37 DFV went around on his 15th lap in a time of 1:20.359 sec. (only 0.164 sec. slower than the Eagle driver) to set 2nd quickest time, and only 0.089sec. slower came Nico Bindels in his JPS Lotus 77 DFV in 3rd place with a time of 1:20.448 sec. set on his 11th lap.
FORCE regular and Zolder 2002 winner Terry Sayles qualified in 4th place in his Surtees TS 20 DFV with a time of 1:21.461 sec.
FORCE debutant Klaus Fiedler qualified his Tyrrell 007 DFV 5th fastest on 1:23.189sec. ahead of Peter Austin's Surtees TS 9B DFV in 6th with a time of 1:27.899sec.
Rob Harvey took 7th fastest time and "F2 Pole" with a time of 1:29.313sec. in his Chevron B17C BDA ahead of Ean Pugh with his ex. David Prophet McLaren M10B Chevrolet F5000 car in 8th on 1:32.405sec.
Ron Maydon's Cooper T86C Alfa Romeo and John Moulds F2 Brabham BT 23 BDA rounded out the grid on 1:34.043sec. and 1:42.848sec. respectively.


Race 1 (14 Laps) Saturday 12th July 

All cars assembled on the 2 by 2 staggered grid and waited for the off. 
As the lights changed, Ian Giles stormed away in his Eagle into the lead ahead of Peter Wuensch, Terry Sayles, Nico Bindels, Klaus Fiedler, Peter Austin and the rest.
 As the cars diced for position around the first lap, Nico Bindels deposed both Terry Sayles and Peter Wuensch to move into 2nd place as the cars crossed the line at the end of the first lap, whilst further back Rob Harvey dropped back from 7th place to 9th.
The pattern of the race had been set as Ian and Nico were tied together dicing for 1st place whilst Terry chased Peter hard for 3rd place.
On lap 3 Terry Sayles was caught out by Klaus Fiedler in his Tyrrell 007 who rested 4th place from the Surtees driver and set about chasing Peter Wuensch himself. Also on lap 3 Ean Pugh was called into the pits for a stop / go penalty to the surprise of all concerned, dropping him to the back of the field as he returned to the race.
Lap 4 saw John Moulds slipstream past Ron Maydon's Cooper for 8th place (as Rob Harvey had moved back into 7th place). Peter Austin appeared to be dropping back from the other F1 cars and was falling into the clutches of Rob Harvey as the car seemed to be loosing power, but he managed to stay ahead of the F2 Chevron to the flag.
Up at the front the pace was becoming fraught as Nico Bindels pulled alongside Ian Giles' Eagle time and again along the pits straight (after slipstreaming the Eagle through the sweeping "Courbe de Pouas") but did not seem able to pass as he got onto the "marbles" off the racing line (which Ian remained on) and had to tuck back in behind the Eagle on the entry to the sweeping right hand bend after the pits straight.
On lap 10 Ean Pugh retired to the pits, his car suffering with overheating problems.
As the race neared it's end, Klaus Fiedler (who had to fight off the attentions of Terry Sayles since taking 4th place on lap 3),  was suffering from fuel pick up problems and retired to the pits on lap 13, allowing Terry to retake 4th place.
On the penultimate lap (13), Nico Bindels made a last ditch attempt to take the lead from Ian Giles' Eagle F5000 car but as before he pulled back in behind Ian and crossed the line after 14 very hot, fast laps in second place, only 0.102sec. behind Ian in a photo finish!
Someway back in 3rd place came Peter Wuensch ahead of Terry Sayles in 4th, Klaus Fiedler took 5th place despite being in the pits as the flag fell, with Peter Austin taking 6th place in his down on power Surtees TS 9B DFV.
Rob Harvey took the F2 class win in 7th ahead of John Moulds 8th, with Ron Maydon taking 9th. Ean Pugh was classified as 10th having completed 9 of the 14 laps.

Fastest race lap was set by 2nd placed driver Nico Bindels who set a time of 1:21.058sec. (168.768km/h) on his 11th lap as he chased down the winner Ian Giles.


 

Race 2 (14 Laps) Sunday 13th July 

The grid assembled in the finishing order of race 1 but sadly only 8 cars would take the start as Peter Austin scratched from Race 2 when the Hall and Hall mechanics carried out a compression test on Peter's DFV and discovered a down on compression engine. As the cars set off on their green flag lap, Klaus Fiedler's Tyrrell failed to get away due to fuel vaporisation (as the temperature on Sunday was even hotter than Saturday!).
As the lights changed, Ian Giles made a fast getaway to lead the field down the long straight into the fast right hand bend followed by Peter Wuensch, Nico Bindels (who seemed to be slow away), Terry Sayles, John Moulds, Rob Harvey, Ron Maydon and Ean Pugh.
As the cars crossed the line at the end of lap 1, Ian Giles led from Peter Wuensch but Nico Bindels had other ideas and he pulled out from Peter's slipstream and out-dragged the Brabham past the pits to take second place as they started lap 2. Once past, Nico set about making up for his slow get away to get back on terms with Ian Giles.
Also at the end of lap 1 Ean Pugh wrested 7th place from Ron Maydon, but Ron was not to be beaten and having slipstreamed Ean for 2 laps, he retook the place on lap 4.
On lap 6, Ean Pugh retired his McLaren M10B Chevrolet to the pits with overheating difficulties.
Lap 6 also saw Nico Bindels' Lotus 77 back on terms with leader Ian Giles' Eagle FA 74A Chevrolet and he shadowed the F5000 car's wheel tracks for the next 2 laps.
On lap 7, Terry Sayles moved up alongside Peter Wuensch on the pit straight and tried to out drag Peter Wuensch in the Brabham, Peter however resisted Terry's advances and once into the braking area for the right hander, he held his line and Terry backed off to once again follow Peter through the bend.
Nico Bindels' persistence was rewarded on lap 8 as he managed to wrest the lead from Ian Giles at the left hander at "Courbes des Gorgeolles" but Ian was not going to take that lying down and faught back to try to retake the lead from then until the end of the race, but Nico held him off and as the flag fell after 14 hot laps Nico crossed the line 0.600sec. ahead of Ian Giles in second place.
Peter Wuensch finished 3rd with Terry Sayles 4th in his Surtees ahead of John Moulds in his Brabham BT 23 BDA in 5th taking the F2 class win. Rob Harvey finished someway behind John in 6th as his tyres began to loose grip as the race progressed, causing increasingly worse understeer. Ron Maydon completed the finishers in his Cooper T86C Alfa Romeo in 7th place.
As in Race 1 Nico Bindels recorded the fastest race lap in his Lotus 77 DFV with a time of 1:20.596sec. (169.735km/h) on his 7th lap as he chased down Ian Giles before he took the lead.
The grid may have been small but the racing was very close, fast and exciting!
   

Don't miss it, be there!

Index of Pictures

1. Ian Giles took Pole Position in Qualifying and the Race 1 Win in his ex. Elliot Forbes-Robinson / James Hunt Eagle FA 74A Chevrolet (and finished 2nd in Race 2 behind Nico Bindels Lotus 77 DFV).

2. Nico Bindels Won Race 2 in his ex. Gunnar Nilssen Lotus 77 DFV after finishing 2nd to Ian Giles in Race 1. Nico also recorded the fastest race lap in both races.

Pictures Courtesy of PAJ Photography

Ian Woodhouse on behalf of The FORCE.