Qualifying took place on Friday 20th June on a hot sunny afternoon and from the start Mike Littlewood set out to lay claim to the Pole position for the Saturday race in John Fenning's Wolf. Mike set a blistering pace and made Pole position his own by posting 1:34.003sec.s.
Frank Lyons was next fastest in his McLaren M26 DFV with a time of 1:36.368sec.with his regular sparring partner Terry Sayles posting 3rd fastest time of 1:37.324sec. with his Surtees TS 20 DFV.

Fastest of the F2 cars came 4th quickest in qualifying as Andy Middlehurst made his 2003 FORCE Classic Grand Prix debut with his Tecno T69 BDA, (Andy won his class at the 2002 FORCE Oulton Park Gold Cup last August) with a time of 1:39.986sec.  For 2003 Andy had wings on his Tecno and the quick and nimble F2 car was humbling a number of more powerful cars in the hands of the 1990's Touring Car expert (now enjoying racing without a roof).

Another debutant was 5th fastest in qualifying only this time it was a new driver / car combination. Peter Wuensch who to date has raced a 2 litre BRM P261 V8 has moved up from a 1967 car to a 1972 car having acquired the Brabham BT37 DFV originally raced by Carlos Reutemann. Although being new to the car Peter posted a time of 1:40.724sec. to place himself in front of the F2 cars of Mike Scott who took 6th fastest with a time of 1:40.682sec. in his March 702 and Rob Harvey 7th fastest on 1:44.176sec. in his Chevron B17C.  
Ean Pugh made his 2003 FORCE debut in his ex. David Prophet McLaren M10B F5000 car and took 8th fastest time with 1:45.203sec. ahead of fellow F5000 runner Nick Rini who posted 1:45.531sec. in his Lola T300 to take 9th place on Saturday's grid.
Graham Willcox took 10th fastest but was struggling with fuel pressure problems but managed to post 1:47.999sec.

Richard Spelberg qualified 11th fastest with his ex. Hill Lotus 59B with a time of 1:52.00sec.with Richard Kendle having his first FORCE race of the year in David Brown's Brabham BT21B twin cam to post 12th fastest on 1:53.565sec.
Ron Maydon posted 2:00.325sec. with his Cooper to take 13 th on the grid ahead of David Brown in his Brabham BT 23C BDA with 2:00.573sec.
David had a torrid time even getting to Zolder as whilst travelling through the night on Wednesday through France a lorry pulled out and hit his tow car causing David to fight to control the car and trailor carrying his 2 cars. The result of the accident was a very badly damaged tow car but fortunately no one was injured and the race cars were undamaged. David arranged for the Dastle trailor containing the cars to be transported to Zolder so that he could race as planned.
Judy Lyons was 15th fastest in her Surtees TS 9 DFV with a time of 2:01.294sec. with Ronnie Haines completing the grid after posting a time of 2:07.409sec. within the 3 laps he managed to complete before engine problems intervened. Ronnie and his team set about changing the twin cam engine before the race on Saturday.


Race 1 (12 Laps) Saturday 21st June 

All cars assembled on the 1 by 1 staggered grid and waited for the off. 
As the lights changed, Mike Littlewood set off into the lead which he held throughout, but behind him there was a frantic dice between Frank Lyons in his McLaren M26 and Terry Sayles in his Surtees TS 20, (Terry was determined to score well in the race which he won in 2002).

Nick Rini also made a good start in his Lola T300 F5000 car moving up from 9th on the grid to challenge Rob Harvey for 6th place.
If Frank and Terry had thought they could battle for 2nd place between themselves they were wrong as Andy Middlehurst joined the battle in his Tecno, loosing out on the straights but making up for his relative lack of power through the Zolder Chicanes and the twisty sections where the nimbleness of his F2 car paid dividends.
Peter Wuensch was really getting to grips with his Brabham and soon it was a 4 car train dicing and changing positions as he battled with Andy, Terry and Frank.

Further back in 6th place we had a fight going on between the might of the V8 American Chevrolet of Nick Rini's Lola T300 and the 4 Cylinder BDA power of Rob Harvey's Chevron B17C as Nick and Rob changed places throughout the race as benefits the F5000 car's power and the nimbleness of the F2 car resulted in each having advantage over the other on different parts of the circuit.

On lap 5 Graham Willcox retired his McLaren M14A DFV to the pits as the fuel pressure problems became worse and further back another F2 dice raged on between Richard's Spelberg and Kendle in their Lotus 59B and Brabham BT21B respectively.

As the laps counted down, Mike Littlewood took the chequered flag to win race 1 in the Wolf DFV having led from start to finish, setting fastest lap of the race on his way with a time of 1:35.774sec.(149.489km/h).

Frank Lyons and Terry Sayles crossed the line side by side and neither was sure until the timekeepers separated them into second and third respectively as to who had beaten who, Frank being awarded the verdict by 0.352sec.!
Peter Wuensch took 4th place in his Brabham BT 37 DFV ahead of Andy Middlehurst who took 5th and the F2 class (B2) win.

The battle between Nick Rini and Rob Harvey for 6th place was settled in Nick's favour at the flag with the F5000 car beating the F2 car, Nick taking the F5000 class win.

Mike Scott finished  8th in his F2 March 702 ahead of Ean Pugh's McLaren F5000 car in 9th, Richard Spelberg 10th with Richard Kendle 11th. Ronnie Haines finished 12th running his spare twin cam engine in his Cooper T82 F2 car which was rather smoky throughout but Ronnie took the flag 2 laps down. David Brown  finished 13th ahead of Judy Lyons 14th and Ron Maydon 15th.


 

Race 2 (12 Laps) Sunday 22nd June 

The grid assembled in the finishing order of race 1 and all would start the race as Tom Denyer's team hoped that they had cured the fuel pressure problems in Graham Willcox's McLaren, but he would start from the back row.
As the field set off on their "formation lap", threatening clouds started to gather but everyone hoped the hot sun would prevail for the duration of the race but as the cars began to form on the grid, the Pole man (Mike Littlewood) was missing, he was heading down the pit lane with overheating worries. Tom and the team attended the car and Mike would take the start from the end of the pit lane. Also taking the start from the pit lane was Ean Pugh whose McLaren had developed a water leak and his team worked as late as they could to fix it before Ean joined the race.

So it was that as the lights changed, Frank Lyons surged into the lead ahead of Terry Sayles, Peter Wuensch and Andy Middlehurst. Terry and Peter swapped places throughout but the F2 Tecno was ever present, (particularly through the chicanes).
Further back Graham Willcox was picking his way through the field and was quickly up with Nick Rini and was disputing 7th place with the F5000 driver.
Having started from the pit lane and not had a green flag lap on which to warm his tyres, Mike Littlewood spent the first couple of laps warming the tyres and checking out the water temperature before launching his attack on lap 3. Mike began to steadily pick off the other runners, taking a cautious path through the back markers but upping his pace as he came onto terms with the leaders.

Sadly on lap 4 Rob Harvey's race weekend came to an end when a drive shaft snapped on his Chevron B17C. One lap later (lap 5) we lost both Ronnie Haines and Ean Pugh. Ronnie's spare engine had been burning oil in race 1 and in race 2 this became worse so on lap 5 Ronnie retired to the pits. Ean Pugh's water leak which had caused him to start from the pits, recurred and Ean retired.

Up at the front, Mike Littlewood had worked his way up to fourth place with 4 laps to go with Frank, Terry and Peter all chasing each other hard and dicing for the lead, (Peter looking a likely winner at one point in his first meeting with the Brabham) with Andy Middlehurst keeping a watching brief hoping to use the Wolf as cover for a late surge in his Tecno.
On the penultimate lap, Mike Littlewood surged past into the lead in the Wolf WR 1 DFV to take his second victory of the weekend. Frank Lyons held onto 2nd place with Andy Middlehurst taking 3rd place after a late charge on Terry Sayles and Peter Wuensch who finished 4th and 5th respectively only 0.627sec. apart as they crossed the line!
Graham Willcox made up for the disappointment of not finishing race 1 by taking 6th place in his McLaren M14A DFV.

Mike Scott took 7th overall with Nick Rini 8th, Richard Kendle 9th (having reversed the result of race 1 in his F2 dice with Richard Spelberg), David Brown 11th, Judy Lyons 12th and Ron Maydon 13th.
As the race finished the first spots of rain began to fall. Mike Littlewood again set the fastest race lap with a time of 1:37.108sec. (147.436km/h).

Don't miss it, be there!

Index of Pictures

1. Mike Littlewood driving John Fenning's ex Jody Scheckter Wolf WR 1 DFV dominated qualifying and took both race wins, (although in Race 2 he was forced to work his way through the field after starting from the pit lane after overheating worries.

2. Nick Rini (Lola T300 Chevrolet F5000) leads Rob Harvey (Chevron B17C BDA F2) during their dice for 6th place in Race 1.

3. Frank Lyons (McLaren M26 DFV) leads Terry Sayles (Surtees TS 20 DFV) through one of Zolder's chicanes during their battle for 2nd place in Race 1, a dice which went all the way to the finishing line!

4. Andy Middlehurst's spirited driving of his beautiful Tecno T69 BDA F2 car netted him 5th overall in Race 1 and 3rd overall in Race 2 and two F2 Class (B2) Wins. The ex. touring car driver proved he is as quick and competitive in a single seater as he is in "tin tops".

Pictures Courtesy of PAJ Photography

Ian Woodhouse on behalf of The FORCE.