Practise and Timed Qualifying took place on Friday 8th August in hot sunny weather on a perfectly dry track. When the cars took to the track the ambient temperature was a blistering 38°C causing some of the drivers to soak their race wear in cold water before venturing out in an effort to remain comfortable.
In the "unofficial" morning session it was Mauro Pane with his superb P34 Tyrrell 6 wheeler which posted the fastest time of 1:43.119sec. to narrowly beat Peter Williams into 2nd with a time of 1:44.736sec. with his March 761 DFV. Various drivers experienced problems during the morning session including; Terry Sayles who had a CV joint fail, Mauro Pane himself was loosing oil, Chris Perkins lost all fuel pressure which prevented him from completing one lap, Frank Lyons had a radiator mounting bracket break and David Brown stopped with fuel pump problems.

When it mattered in the Timed afternoon session, Peter Williams turned the tables on Mauro, the two playing a cat and mouse game as first one would go out and lower the fastest time and then return to the pits to be followed by the other repeating the routine. Peter played a waiting game and eventually claimed pole position on the grid with a time of 1:42.620sec. with Mauro setting 2nd quickest time with 1:42.933sec., only 0.313sec. slower!
Nico Bindels, fresh from his win at Dijon set 3rd fastest time on 1:44.130sec. in his Lotus 77 DFV with Klaus Fiedler setting a time of 1:45.464sec. in his Tyrrell 007 to share the second row with Nico.
Row 3 of the grid was to be shared by Frank Lyons' McLaren M26 (1:45.992sec.) and his arch rival Terry Sayles' Surtees TS 20 (1:46.647sec.). Malcolm Carter (March 711 DFV) and Peter Wuensch (Brabham BT37 DFV) would share row 4 after setting times of 1:48.354sec. and 1:49.012sec. respectively.
The two World Championship winning McLaren M23 DFV's of Lorina McLaughlin (ex. Hunt ' 76) and Aba Cogan (ex. Fittipaldi ' 74) would line up side by side on row 5 with times of 1:50.615sec. and 1:51.611sec. respectively.

Local drivers Joos Tollenaar (March 721X DFV) and Rolf Lamberty (Hesketh 308E) would line up 11th and 12th with times of 1:51.617sec. and 1:52.046sec.. Row 7 was to be occupied by  Class A2 runners, Ean Pugh having his 1st race in the rebuilt Brabham BT34 since it was damaged at Silverstone in 2001, setting a time of 1:53.061sec. and Graham Willcox in his McLaren M14A DFV on 1:53.193sec..Nick Rini recorded a best time of 1:54.672sec. in his Surtees which was suffering fluctuating fuel pressure before electrical problems manifested themselves causing him to stop out on the circuit after 5 laps making him 15th fastest just ahead of Ron Maydon's Class A1 Cooper with a time of 1:59.334sec. in 16th.
The grid was completed by David Brown in his BRM P126 (2:07.567sec.), 17th  and Judy Lyons' Surtees TS 9 DFV (2:10.678sec.), 18th.

Chris Perkins' fuel pressure problems returned and he managed 1 slow lap back to the pits causing him to set no time. He was allowed to start from the back of the grid for the Saturday race following agreement with the organisers and the other drivers.

Saturday dawned as sunny and hot as Friday but the temperatures had dropped slightly to 35°C by the time the cars left the pit road to run around to the grid at 13:45 hrs with the exception of Peter Wuensch who sadly was a non-starter due to engine problems. Nick Rini switched to his ex. Peter Gethin  BRM P160 following problems with the electrics of his Surtees TS 19. All cars assembled on the 2 by 2 staggered grid and waited for the off with the exception of Ean Pugh who went straight into the pits and did not take up his grid position. Ean had problems with his brakes so pitted for adjustment. The field set off on their green flag lap but at the end of it, Chris Perkins weekend continued it's downward spiral as he retired to the pits.

As the lights changed, Peter Williams surged ahead to lead from Mauro Pane in the Tyrrell P34 but as they raced down the straight, Mauro moved the Tyrrell's 6 wheels ahead of the 4 wheeled March to lead into the "Castrol S", with Klaus Fiedler 3rd, Frank Lyons 4th, Nico Bindels 5th and the rest. Ean Pugh set off from the pit lane after the pack.
As the cars returned from the 1st lap, Peter Williams had re-asserted himself as the leader ahead of a closely following Mauro Pane 2nd, Klaus Fiedler 3rd, Nico Bindels (who had moved the Lotus 77 ahead of Frank Lyons' McLaren) to take 4th, Frank now 5th, Terry Sayles 6th, Aba Cogan 7th, Lorina McLaughlin 8th, Joos Tollenaar 9th, Malcolm Carter down in 10th place and the rest.
Out front the dice for the lead was very definitely on as on lap 2 Mauro Pane moved the 6 wheeled Tyrrell back into the lead ahead of Peter's March again with Klaus, Nico and Frank staying in touch and beginning to open a gap to the group containing 7th to 11th placed drivers with Aba Cogan holding a hard charging Lorina McLaughlin at bay who in turn had Joos Tollenaar, Malcolm Carter and Rolf Lamberty chasing her hard. Another gap was then opening up before the group led by 12th placed Graham Willcox appeared. Graham was ahead of Nick Rini 13th, Ron Maydon 14th, David Brown 15th , Judy Lyons 16th  with Ean Pugh bringing up the rear with badly binding brakes hampering his progress.
On lap 3 David Brown retired to the pits with fuel vaporisation problems due to the heat, and Lorina McLaughlin's McLaren began to cut out at the "NGK -Schikane" and then "stutter" back into life on the uphill run to the "Coca-Cola Curve" causing her to drop 3 places to 10th. Joos Tollenaar was another who began to suffer with fuel pick up problems and he also fell back into 11th place behind Lorina.
Two laps later on lap 5, Mauro Pane retired his Tyrrell when the water temperature went off the gauge, he switched off and pulled over on the run down to the "Ford Kurve", thus allowing Peter Williams back into the lead, (Peter had dogged the Tyrrell driver's every move for the previous 2 laps and had begun to open a gap to Klaus Fiedler), also on lap 5 we lost Ean Pugh as he retired to the pits, his binding brakes hampering his car's performance.

As the cars completed lap 5, Peter Williams led from Klaus Fiedler in 2nd, Nico Bindels 3rd, Frank Lyons 4th, Terry Sayles 5th then a gap to Malcolm Carter who was now in 6th place and leading Class A2, Rolf Lamberty 7th, Aba Cogan now 8th (having dropped back behind Malcolm and Rolf ), Joos Tollenaar 9th (who had deposed Lorina for the place), Lorina 10th, Graham Willcox 11th, Nick Rini 12th then a gap to Ron Maydon and Judy.
On lap 6 Nick Rini deposed Graham Willcox for 11th place and out front Peter Williams began to open up a gap to Klaus Fiedler in 2nd place.
By lap 10 Peter Williams had a comfortable lead over Klaus Fiedler's Tyrrell 007 in 2nd place who was himself beginning to break free of the attentions of Nico Bindels in 3rd. Further back in the order, Joos Tollenaar had gone missing down at the "Dunlop Curve", his fuel pick up problems had finally got the better of him.
As Peter Williams passed the pits to complete lap 11 he had a slightly reduced gap over 2nd placed Klaus Fiedler and Aba Cogan retired from 8th place as his fuel pump failed. On the next lap (lap 12), Peter was much slower and Klaus Fiedler was right with him and challenging for the lead! Peter was suffering from oil being sprayed over his rear wheels and brakes from a cracked weld in the oil tank outlet pipe. As Klaus Fiedler made his move to take the lead from Peter on the 13th & last lap, Peter was unable to counter the attack in fear of spinning off on his own oil! 

So it was that as the flag came out at the end of 13 laps, Klaus Fiedler was first across the line to win in his ex. Depailler Tyrrell 007 DFV, with Peter Williams' oil covered March 761 DFV in 2nd place and Nico Bindels' Lotus 77 DFV in 3rd place. Frank Lyons finished 4th in his McLaren M26 DFV ahead of Malcolm Carter's March 711 DFV taking 5th place and the Class A2 win, with Rolf Lamberty's Hesketh 308E DFV 6th (Rolf having moved slowly through the field from 11th on lap 1, taking 6th from Terry Sayles on the last lap). Terry Sayles finished 7th and pulled straight into the pit lane, Lorina McLaughlin finished 8th and Nick Rini was 9th in his BRM P160 (with no 2nd gear), the last un-lapped runner. Graham Willcox finished 10th after he spun on Peter Williams' oil as he was lapped by Peter.

The race had taken a toll on the cars as the temperatures caused various problems with fuel pressure and vapour locks, Lorina suffered from water loss which would preclude her taking part in Sunday's race and Malcolm Carter's 5th place became even more impressive when he revealed that he had lost all but 4th gear by the end of the race! 

Mauro Pane's team had the consolation of Mauro scoring the fastest race lap with a time of: 1:44.201sec. (160.236 km/h) set on lap 4.

 

The grid assembled in the finishing order of race 1 but we were lacking the Tyrrell P34 of Mauro Pane who cooked his 2nd engine of the weekend during the Saturday race, Malcolm Carter whose gearbox was damaged in his heroic run to 5th in Saturday's race and Lorina McLaughlin who had lost a lot of water out of her engine in Saturday's race. Nick Rini had switched back from Hall and Hall run BRM to Lenham run Surtees TS 19 after loosing 2nd gear in the BRM during Saturday's race. Nick Foy and his crew worked late into the evening to ready Peter Williams' March 761 for Sundays race following the oil leak from the tank in Saturday's race. A last minute non starter was Joos Tollenaar whose starter motor failed on his March 721X whilst trying to start the car to warm the engine through before the race.
As the field set off on their "formation lap", the temperatures had dropped slightly to 32°C and a light breeze was making life at the circuit more comfortable for all of those who were not sat in a racing car! 
As the lights changed it was Peter Williams (from the outside of the front row) who once again led the field into the "Castrol S" followed by Klaus Fiedler's Tyrrell, Nico Bindels' Lotus, Frank Lyons' McLaren, Terry Sayles Surtees TS 20, Rolf Lamberty and the rest.
Nico would not be denied a run at the lead and took 2nd place from Klaus Fiedler at the "Dunlop Curve" to set off after Peter Williams.
As the field crossed the line to complete lap 1 it was Peter Williams who led from Nico Bindels, Klaus Feidler, Frank Lyons, Terry Sayles, Rolf Lamberty, Chris Perkins then a gap to Graham Willcox in 8th place ahead of Aba Cogan, Ean Pugh, Ron Maydon, David Brown, Nick Rini and Judy Lyons.
As Rolf Lamberty and Chris Perkins arrived at the "Castrol S" for the 2nd time, Chris deposed the Hesketh and moved his Fittipaldi into 6th place.

Nico Bindels was now the man to watch as he chased Peter Williams' March hard for the lead, closing the gap throughout lap 2 and for the next 2 laps the March and Lotus drivers circulated as though tied together (with a very short string!), but as they raced through the "Castrol S" at the beginning of lap 5, Peter suddenly slowed, Nico was through into the lead but Peter pulled off to retire as a misfire started, he switched off to minimise damage to his engine! The previous lap (lap 4) Nick Rini's weekend took a turn for the worse as the electrical problems that dogged the Surtees throughout Friday's qualifying session reappeared and he was left stranded out at the back of the circuit with a dead engine.

On lap 6 Chris Perkins moved his Fittipaldi ahead of Terry Sayles' Surtees to take 4th place behind Frank Lyons. 
By lap 8 the race for the lead was on again as Klaus Fiedler steadily reeled in Nico's Lotus until the two were lapping nose to tail. On lap 10 Klaus got the nose of the Tyrrell ahead of Nico through the "Castrol S" but Nico held the place. Further back in the field there was another dice going on for the lead in Class A1 as David Brown in his ex. Piers Courage BRM chased Ron Maydon in his Cooper Alfa getting sideways through the "Castrol S" on lap 11 in an effort to wrest the Class lead from the Cooper driver, but try hard as he may he was unsuccessful in his cause.
As the cars crossed the line to complete lap 10, Nico held a slender lead from a very determined Klaus Fiedler then a short gap to Frank Lyons, Chris Perkins, Terry Sayles then a gap to Rolf Lamberty in 6th place but seconds later, Chris Perkins pulled into the end of the pit lane and out of the race as his Fittipaldi suffered a recurrence of fuel pick up problems.  
On lap 12, Klaus Fiedler's persistence paid off as he overtook Nico's Lotus 77 through the "Michelin Curve" but Nico was not giving up that easily but as Klaus arrived at the  "NGK Schikane" he braked late and spun, forcing Nico to take avoiding action but in a second the two cars touched and Nico was sent spinning into the gravel with badly damaged right rear suspension and the wheel off!  Klaus gathered up the Tyrrell in time to stay ahead of Frank Lyons to retain the lead but Nico's race was over.
So it was that as the flag came out at the end of 13 laps, Klaus Fielder took his second win of the weekend with Frank Lyons in 2nd place, Terry Sayles was 3rd, Rolf Lamberty 4th, Graham Willcox was 5th (taking the Class A2 honours), Ean Pugh was 6th, Aba Cogan 7th and Ron Maydon 8th (taking the Class A1 win).

Klaus Fiedler was un-happy about his second win of the weekend in view of his coming together with Nico Bindels ending Nico's race, but all agreed it was a racing accident and Nico was quick to congratulate Klaus on his win. Nico was classified as finishing in 9th place and was also credited with the fastest race lap with a time of 1:44.351sec. (160.006 km/h) which he set on lap 3.

Don't miss it, be there!

Index of Pictures

1. Mauro Pane in his Tyrrell P34 DFV pictured during Friday Qualifying during his battle with Peter Williams for Pole position (which Peter won).

2. Peter Williams (March 761 DFV) leads Mauro Pane (Tyrrell P34 DFV) during their dice for the lead in the early stages of Saturday's race. Peter went on to finish 2nd after oil leak problems, Mauro retired due to soaring water temperatures.

3. Klaus Fiedler (Tyrrell 007 DFV) takes the chequered flag in Saturday's race to lead home Peter Williams (March 761 DFV) in 2nd place and Nico Bindels' Lotus 77 DFV in 3rd place. Klaus took the lead in the closing stages as Peter struggled with oil covered brakes and rear tyres!

4. Nico Bindels leads Sunday's race in his Lotus 77 DFV from Klaus Fiedler in his Tyrrell 007 DFV during their dice for the lead which ended when the two touched on the penultimate lap when Klaus spun. The result was that Nico was eliminated from the race but Klaus was able to restart and take the race win.

5. Klaus Fiedler in his ex. Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 007 DFV won both FORCE Races at the "Old Timer" event.

Pictures Courtesy of PAJ Photography

Ian Woodhouse on behalf of The FORCE.