For the 4th season running the CSCC enjoyed the UKs fastest race circuit at Thruxton for what was the series` finale . Once again we were treated to beautiful weather though not so good for those racing on the sunday but the change to a 2-race format for the series meant just a single but action packed day this time.

ENTRY

For those of a V8 persuation we had TEN such engined cars on the entry so plenty of aural delight was on hand. There were 16 CSCC cars and joined by 5 Bernie`s V8s + GTs through invitation. The consensus at the end was that the mix had work well and it was a shame more cars from Bernie`s had joined the fun.

The best supported class was again Class A with 4 turbo cars for the Morris Brothers ( Peugeot ) , Brands race-winner Clive Anderson ( BMW ) , John Cockerton ( Porsche 935 ) and in his 3rd race Ben Gough in the Scimitar-Nissan.  The rest were big bangers over 6-litres for David Beatty ( Aston Martin ) and James Plant in the John Plant-built Healey-Chevy that was wisely withdrawn at Brands and now sorted for its full race debut.

The Peugeot would set class pole in 3rd and survived a scare when Danny Morris rotated the car coming out of the chicane whilst pushing perhaps a bit too hard.

Class B for cars 2000 to 5000 had both pre-race favourites with 75-year old Ian Hall ( Darrian V8 ) and Andy Southcott in the nimble Midget-Vauxhall 2.3 that both diced so well the previous year here. Also both drivers were on 11 series wins apiece at the top of the listings. They were joined by Martin Reynolds who had raced his Escort at Brands but switched to his Sebring Healey replica V8 for this one making 2 of the iconic sports car shapes present plus Ian Wilson was back from his Brands off in his wedge TVR . Also as a one-off was the Datsun 240z of Dean Halsey who usually races in the swinging 60s but was running in his new engine in this shorter race event. Sure enough Hall and Southcott placed 1 and 2 on the timesheets in that order both over 2 seconds ahead of 3rd.

Class C had Paul Sibley ( himself with 9 series wins ) in the Elan and Jim Steward in a smart but fairly standard TR7 V8. Sibley had further starter motor problems and didnt record a lap so would hope to start bck in 21st. Thomas Carey missing this round. 

Class D had 3 series stalwarts in Neil Duke ( Anglia ) ,Tim Cairns ( Midget ) and Jeremy Burgoyne ( Escort ). The Sonny Howard-built Anglia set an excellent 5th and the Cairns car 6th which was suprising for such a 'power' circuit.

The 5 Bernie`s cars were effectivley in their own class and should be pointed out were all on road tyres though Marcus Bicknell set 4th fastest in the 2001 ASCAR Ford Fusion tuned to 548 bhp. Simoen Chodosh in the family Corvette C1 ,Kenneth Angell ( BMW E36 ) ,Andy Lambert + Cheng Lim ( RAM Cobra ) and the wonderful Plymouth 'Cuda Dan Gurney tribute car of Matt Snowball which raced with the CSCC at Brands.

The cars were the first out of the weekend at 9 on saturday morning and whilst some cars didnt miss a beat others were in trouble already. Sibley as mentioned failed to get out. Clive Anderson brought the BMW in very hot which turned out to be a cylinder problem so despite setting 7th the team missed race 1 whilst the problem was fully assessed. The Porsche 935 of John Cockerton has been described a few times as 'flame spitting' but also had got so hot it pitted and twice sent up a flash of flame from presumably unburnt fuel on hot exhausts. The Wilson TVR wasnt happy either and came in after 3 laps with only 5 of 6 cylinders firing. The BMW of Ken Angell ,the Datsun and the Gough Scimitar all had terminal problems and were withdrawn ,the latter with a blown head gasket . David Beatty was another struggling ,a repeat of low fuel pessure .