Practise took place on Friday but Timed Qualifying took place on Saturday morning 20th September in hot sunny weather on a perfectly dry track. When the cars took to the track the ambient temperature was an un-seasonal 28°C continuing the trend which we have maintained all season in that all FORCE races have been dry throughout the whole season.

John Delane driving the Tyrrell 001 was first to head the timesheets but as the drivers settled into their respective rhythms around the circuit, qualifying became was a battle between 3 drivers; Nico Bindels (Lotus 77), Peter Williams (March 761) and Andrew Wareing (Williams FW06).
Nico set a blistering time of 1:39.657sec. on only his second lap and topped the timesheets until lap 11 of the 12 lap session when first Peter Williams went fastest with a time of 1:39.634sec. but his reign as pole sitter was short lived as on the same lap Andrew Wareing lowered the pole position lap time to 1:39.168sec. to ensure he could start the race from the inside of the front row.

Ian Giles placed his Eagle FA74 F5000 car on 4th place of the grid with a time of 1:40.978sec. whilst row 3 of the grid would be occupied by Klaus Fiedler (Tyrrell 007) on 1:41.371sec. and Ed Jowsey (Lola T400 F5000) on 1:41.475sec. Ed had a fraught qualifying session as after he set his time on lap 3 an oil leak onto his rear tyres from his oil tank hampered his progress. Row 4 was to be occupied by Peter Wuensch (Brabham BT37) with a time of 1:42.124sec. and Terry Sayles (Surtees TS20) on 1:42.950sec.
Frank Lyons was back out in Dave Finnigan's Lola T332 F5000 car in a FORCE race for the first time in 2003 and he posted 9th fastest time with 1:43.142sec., he would share row 5 with John Delane who set a time of 1:43.627sec. on his second lap before a gearbox shaft snapped rendering him a spectator out at "Garage Vert" corner until qualifying was over! 
Abba Kogan (McLaren M23) set 11th fastest time with 1:44.460sec. and Ryan Delane (John's son) made his FORCE and European race debut in his father's Lotus 69 F2 car to set a 12th fastest time of 1:47.209sec.
Mike Scott (Lola T300 F5000) set 13th fastest time with 1:49.136sec. and Graham Willcox (McLaren M14A) 14th fastest with 1:50.081sec.
Nick Rini (BRM P160 V12) and Ron Maydon (Cooper T86C) set 15th and 16th fastest times to line up on row 8 with 1:53.274sec. and 1:58.703sec. respectively.
The grid would be completed by Judy Lyons (Surtees TS 9) on 2:00.414sec. and Richard Spelberg (Lotus 59B F2) who set a time of 2:02.600sec.
As qualifying came to an end the teams set about checks and (where required) repairs to get their respective drivers on to the grid for the 17:25 hrs. race start time. John Delane's mechanics from Hall & Hall set about "borrowing" gearbox parts from John's ex. Cevert Tyrrell 002 in the back of the truck to ready 001 for the race.

All difficulties which had manifested themselves during qualifying were addressed by the teams (including a rebuild of the gearbox in John Delane's Tyrrell 001 DFV) so all cars took up their positions on the starting grid ready for the start of "Race 1".
When the grid was cleared of team personnel ready for the green flag lap, pole sitter Andrew Wareing could not re-start the engine on his Williams FW06 DFV despite frantic efforts by mechanics and marshalls to push start it! So it was that the car was pushed into the pits to enable the mechanics chance to replace the failed battery. As the rest of the field set off on their green flag lap, Andrew was positioned at the exit from the pitlane, he would have to start last thus undoing all his hard work in qualifying. Andrew however was not the only one to have problems as Aba Kogan's McLaren needed a push start but fired up but Ed. Jowsey's Lola T400 would not start and he joined Andrew in the pitlane whilst the mechanics worked to get him out into the race.

As the lights changed, Peter Williams (March 761) made the best of his front row position and led the field away with Ian Giles' Eagle, Peter Wuensch's Brabham, Klaus Fiedler's Tyrrell in close attendance followed by a slow away Nico Bindels (who was suffering from overheating on the grid) and the rest towards "La Chapelle" corner for the first time. After everyone had passed the pit lane exit, Andrew Wareing set off after the pack and all eyes were on Andrew to see how far he would work his way through by the end of the race.

As the cars returned to complete lap 1, Peter Williams led from Ian Giles 2nd, Klaus Fiedler up to 3rd, Nico Bindels up to 4th, Peter Wuensch now 5th, Terry Sayles 6th, John Delane up to 7th, Frank Lyons 8th, Aba Kogan 9th, Mike Scott 10th, Ron Maydon 11th, Ryan Delane 12th, Graham Willcox 13th, Andrew Wareing already up to 14th from last away!, Nick Rini 15th, Richard Spelberg 16th and Judy Lyons 17th.

Out front the dice was all about 2nd place as Klaus Fiedler dogged Ian Giles every move and as the cars returned to complete lap 2 Klaus had moved his Tyrrell ahead of the Eagle. Further back Frank Lyons had displaced John Delane for 7th place and Andrew Wareing was up to 9th place overall! 
Lap 2 also saw a change in Aba Kogan's fortunes in the race as he went deep into a corner and spun down from 9th place to 17th.
Out front Peter Williams continued to lead with Klaus Fiedler 2nd but on lap 3 Nico Bindels took 3rd place from Ian Giles, Frank Lyons moved his Lola T332 F5000 car ahead of Terry Sayles for 6th and Ed. Jowsey finally left the pits to join the race in 18th place, 2 laps down.

As the leaders raced out of "Garage Vert" on lap 4, Peter Williams seemed to slow and first Klaus Fiedler, then Nico Bindels passed the slowing March. Peter's mechanical fuel pump had failed and his car began to misfire,  he lost the lead & second place as he quickly switched on the electric fuel pump to once again feed his DFV, fortunately quick enough to stave off the challenge of Ian Giles. Lap 4 also saw John Delane move his Tyrrell into 7th place ahead of Terry Sayles whilst further back Andrew Wareing was opening out a gap to Mike Scott and Aba Kogan had recovered back to 15th place.
Lap 5, and Klaus Fiedler held a slender lead from a hard charging Nico Bindels in 2nd and Peter Williams 3rd who had now regained his pace after the fuel pump problems of the previous lap and wanted his lead back! The leading trio had opened a gap to Ian Giles in 4th place who had Peter Wuensch in close attendance in 5th and Frank Lyons was really trying hard to get on terms with Peter, even running over the gravel trap on the outside of the last corner onto the start straight to take a fast wide line! Further back in the pack, Mike Scott had pulled away from Graham Willcox in 11th place and was having a lonely race, also Aba Kogan was continuing his fight back from his spin and moved into 13th place ahead of Ron Maydon.

Peter Williams fought back past Nico Bindels to take 2nd place on lap 6 and set off after Klaus Fiedler whilst further back Andrew Wareing began "phase 2" of his fight back and displaced Terry Sayles for 8th place. Ryan Delane had been stalking Graham Willcox for 11th place for some 3 laps but each time he made a move, the power of the DFV in Graham's car rendered the F2 car's BDA power ineffective but on lap 6 Ryan made his move at "Musee" corner, pulled off the passing manouver and held the place through "Garage Vert" corner and was away into 11th. Aba Kogan also overtook Nick Rini's BRM P160 for 13th place on lap 6. Ed. Jowsey retired from the race to the pits at the end of lap 6 having struggled for 4 laps with low fuel pressure which was later diagnosed as being caused by the foam in the fuel tanks breaking down and blocking the filters.

On lap 7, Frank Lyons retired his Lola out at "Idemo" when a radiator cap came loose and hot water started to leak down the neck of his race suit!
Lap 8 saw Aba Kogan tangle with Graham Willcox in his efforts to wrest 10th place from Graham, he left his braking too late into "Musee" corner and struck the rear of the M14A pitching Graham into a spin. Graham  restarted and wisely called at the pits at the end of the lap to check for damage but returned to the race after Tom Denyer gave Graham the all clear, now down in 16th place. Judy Lyons retired her Surtees TS 9 DFV to the pits at the end of lap 8 with difficulties with down shifting her gears.

By the end of lap 9, Peter Williams was in the wheel tracks of Klaus Fiedler and as the two diced for the lead they had opened a gap to Nico Bindles in 3rd who had once again been caught by Ian Giles in 4th and Peter Wuensch in 5th. After Peter, there was a gap to John Delane in 6th who now had Andrew Wareing chasing him down in a close 7th, Terry Sayles was 8th, then a gap to Mike Scott in 9th ahead of Aba Kogan who displaced Ryan Delane (who had a trip across the gravel at "Musee") for 10th during the lap, Nick Rini in 12th place, then a gap to Ron Maydon 13th, Richard Spelberg 14th and Graham Willcox 15th.
On Lap 11 Aba Kogan overtook Mike Scott's Lola T300 for 9th place and one lap later, Andrew Wareing displaced John Delane for 6th place.

As the cars crossed the line at the end of lap 13 we looked set for a grandstand finish between leader Klaus Fiedler (Tyrrell 007) and Peter Williams (March 761), but it was not to be. As the leaders raced under the "Dunlop" bridge for the 14th time, Peter Williams overtook a suddenly slowing Tyrrell which pulled off at "Chapelle" corner - out of fuel!, Klaus was out and Peter was back in the lead. Lap 14 also saw the demise of Aba Kogan who ended his race in the gravel trap, poor reward for his fight back after his early spin.

As Peter Williams crossed the line at the end of lap 14 to be given the "one lap to go signal", he had a commanding lead over Nico Bindels in 2nd place, Ian Giles was 3rd with Andrew Wareing now 4th who had moved ahead of Peter Wuensch who had also fallen prey to John Delane now 5th with Peter now 6th ahead of Terry Sayles 7th, then a gap to Mike Scott 8th, Ryan Delane 9th and Nick Rini 10th.
So it was that after 15 laps of hard racing, Peter Williams took the chequered flag from Nico Bindels (who appeared to have caught up to Peter on the last lap), Ian Giles, Andrew Wareing (17th place to 4th in 15 laps), John Delane, Peter Wuensch and Terry Sayles.

Klaus Fiedler had the consolation of scoring the fastest race lap with a time of: 1:40.117sec. (150.304 km/h) set on lap 5.

 

Sunday dawned as hot and sunny as Saturday so we would once again have a dry race.
The Ed Jowsey team had put a great deal of work into getting the car onto the grid for race 2 after Saturday's problems, and Peter Williams' team had also been busy as Peter complained of the car suddenly loosing power during the last lap of Saturday's race so despite his win he had concerns for race 2.
Aba Kogan with drew from the Sunday race so we were left with a 17 car grid for the race start. As the cars set off on their formation lap ready for the 15:20 start all seemed well but as Peter Williams led them around to the grid, he himself drove straight into the pits and climbed out of the car, as the engine would not rev. above 8,000 rpm, so pole position would be vacant.

At the start, Ian Giles took the lead from Nico Bindels, Peter Wuensch, Andrew Wareing, John Delane, Klaus Fiedler and the rest as they raced towards "La Chapelle" corner for the first time, but as they appeared out of "Garage Vert" corner Peter Wuensch was up into 2nd place ahead of Nico and was chasing Ian Giles hard, without doubt Peter was a man on a mission!

As the cars crossed the line to complete lap 1 it was Ian Giles in the Eagle F5000 car ahead of Peter Wuensch in 2nd, Nico Bindels 3rd, Andrew Wareing 4th, John Delane 5th, Klaus Fiedler 6th, Ed. Jowsey up to 7th (from 18th on the grid!), Terry Sayles 8th, Frank Lyons up to  9th  (from 17th on the grid), Mike Scott 10th, Nick Rini 11th, Ron Maydon 12th, Ryan Delane 13th, Graham Willcox 14th, Richard Spelberg 15th and Judy Lyons 16th.

On lap 2 Klaus Fiedler moved up into 5th place ahead of John Delane at " La Chapelle" and Ryan Delane and Graham Willcox passed Ron Maydon for 12th and 13th, but then Graham displaced Ryan to take 12th place from the F2 driver.

Lap 3 saw Frank Lyons move his Lola T332 ahead of Terry Sayles Surtees TS 20 for 8th place and Ryan Dealane re-took 12th place from Graham Willcox when he spun at "Garage Vert", also Richard Spelberg retired his Lotus 59B at the end of lap 3.

Out at the front, Ian Giles led from Peter Wuensch who was tracing his every move with a view to taking the lead as they set off on lap 4 but as the leaders arrived at "Garage Vert" for the 4th time the throttle stuck open on the Eagle and Ian had to spin the car into the gravel trap to stop it!  With Ian out, Peter Wuensch now held the lead from Nico Bindels now 2nd but behind him Klaus Fiedler had over taken Andrew Wareing's Williams and now in 3rd place and further back Ed. Jowsey had moved his Lola T400 ahead of John Delane's Tyrrell 001 for 5th place. 
So as the cars crossed the line to complete lap 4, Peter Wuensch held a stong lead from Nico Bindels, Klaus Fiedler, Andrew Wareing, Ed. Jowsey, John Delane, Frank Lyons, Terry Sayles then a gap had opened up before Mike Scott led the rest of the field through.
On lap 5 Klaus Fiedler overtook Nico Bindels to move into 2nd place and Ed. Jowsey moved another place up the order when he displaced Andrew Wareing for 4th place, he was certainly a man on the move having started from last place on the grid!
On lap 6 John Delane pulled off at "Garage Vert" with no the oil pressure in the Tyrrell's DFV thus elevating every one else lower than 6th by one place.

From lap 6 onwards the race settled down with gaps opening and closing up between various drivers as they diced for position but suddenly on lap 9, Peter Wuensch who had held the race lead for the previous 5 laps had dropped back to 5th place!  Peter was suffering from clutch problems which was making it difficult to get gears, but he continued on at reduced pace, sadly his strong run in the lead of the race was over and it was Klaus Fiedler who led the field across the line to start lap 10.
Also during lap 9, Nico Bindels dropped back to 4th place in the order as both Ed Jowsey and Andrew Wareing moved ahead of Nico who was suffering from over heating problems.

On lap 10 Andrew Wareing retook Ed. Jowsey to move into 2nd place behind Klaus Fiedler and he duly set off after the Tyrrell driver gradually pulling away from Ed.'s Lola T400.
On lap 11 we lost three drivers from the race as Peter Wuensch pulled into the pits as his clutch finally packed up altogether, he could no longer get any gears, then Nick Rini retired back to the pits with a rear wheel "wobble" caused by the bottom wishbone locating lug breaking on his BRM P160 and then Judy Lyons retired her Surtees TS 9 out at "Garage Vert" when the differential broke.

As the last 4 laps counted down, Andrew Wareing gradually closed on race leader Klaus Fiedler until they crossed the line in 1st and 2nd places separated by 0.411sec.s after 15 laps of hard racing. Ed. Jowsey finished in 3rd place in his Lola T400 to take the F5000 C2 class with Nico Bindels in 4th place in his Lotus 77, Frank Lyons was 5th in his Lola T332 with Terry Sayles 6th in his Surtees TS 20. Mike Scott and Ryan Delane finished in 7th and 8th places taking F5000 C1 and F2 class wins respectively.
Graham Willcox finished 9th to take the F1 A2 class in his McLaren M14A and Ron Maydon was 10th in his Cooper T86C Alfa, thus taking the A1 class.

So it was that Klaus Fiedler in his Tyrrell 007 DFV became the worthy winner of race 2 (the last race of the 2003 FORCE Season), making up for his retirement from Saturdays race when leading.

Despite not winning either race, Andrew Wareing was awarded the "Jo Siffert Award" for his stirring drives on both days (4th from last away on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday).

Andrew Wareing also set the fastest race lap on Sunday with a time of: 1:39.651secs. (151.007kph) set on lap 12.

Don't miss it, be there!

Index of Pictures

1. Andrew Wareing took pole position in qualifying in his Williams FW06 DFV, but a failed battery resulted in him starting last away, from the pit lane in Saturday's race. His fight back through the field to 4th at the flag and his second place in Sunday's race resulted in him being awarded the "Jo Siffert Award".

2. Peter Williams (March 761 DFV) leads away the field at the start of Saturday's race. Ian Giles (Eagle FA74 Chev.) No. 99, Klaus Fiedler (Tyrrell 007 DFV) No. 25 and Peter Wuensch (Brabham BT37 DFV) No. 37 are to the fore of the chasing pack.

3. Peter Williams (March 761 DFV) on his way to victory in Saturday's race. Peter non started the Sunday race after his DFV engine was reluctant to rev. above 8,000 RPM.

4. Ryan Delane made his FORCE and European racing debut driving his father's Lotus 69 BDA at Le Mans and scored F2 class wins in both races with 9th & 8th places overall.
 
5. Klaus Fiedler in his ex. Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 007 DFV takes the flag to win Sunday's race ahead of 2nd placed Andrew Wareing's ex. Alan Jones Williams FW06 DFV, thus bringing the 2003 FORCE racing season to a close.

Pictures Courtesy of PAJ Photography

Ian Woodhouse on behalf of The FORCE.