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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship Bump n’ grind Round 11 & 12 Lydden Hill – 3rd & 4th October 2009
Round 11 Qualifying Due to local council issues, there was no testing at Lydden Hill prior to the meeting so all the Fiestas went out in qualifying without practice. With the 16 cars entered the Fiesta ST class would qualify and race in their own race. Nick was soon on the pace and regularly put in lap times that were quicker than the 2008 lap times and knew that he would be near the front of the grid. After just dipping into a 48 seconds lap, he ran into traffic and didn’t manage to improve his time. Ian Fletcher was getting to grips with Fiesta ST44 on his return to the championship but had ABS problems under braking and locked up his tyres into Pilgrims and slid into the tyre barriers. He rejoined the track with only minor damage to his front bumper and wing and continued to reduce his lap times. Alan Donnelly had never driven a Fiesta ST prior to this event so this was a steep learning curve for him however; he very quickly produced some fast laps with a best of 49.668 seconds. When the results from qualifying were issued, Nick found he was in 3rd position, Alan in 12th place and Ian in 16th place, with championship leader David Ellesley in 6th place. Qualifying Result Nick Sanderson – 48.979 – Position 3rd (0.126 seconds off pole) Alan Donnelly – 49.668 – Position 12th (0.815 seconds off pole) Ian Fletcher – 51.727 – Position 16th (2.874 seconds off pole) Round 11 Round 11 commenced on the Saturday afternoon in good conditions and as the red lights went out, David Abbott and Mark Tilbury were side by side into the first corner. Nick got a little bogged down and Rory Bryant went flying past into 3rd. Abbott took the lead and led by a few seconds with Tilbury 2nd, Bryant 3rd with Nick all over his tailgate and Richard Kemp stuck to the rear of Nick’s car. It is difficult to pass at Lydden Hill and the order remained the same for many laps although Nick missed 2nd gear at Devil’s Elbow and received a hefty nudge from an un-expecting Kemp. Nick then had some major problems as the ABS warning light came on and every time he touched the brakes, the tyres locked resulting in major slides and clouds of blue tyre smoke. Alan Donnelly made a poor start but then reeled in the cars ahead and had a great battle with Gordon Tomkins. Ian also got quicker as the race wore on, dicing with Graham Field and then he was not far behind Terry Upton. Nick continued to try to pressure Bryant but the ABS problem meant he had a very poor handling car with flat-spotted tyres and he also had work to do to keep Ben Roper behind, who was making his first appearance this season after winning the 2008 championship. At the chequered flag, which Nick was relieved to see given his problems; Nick was 4th with Alan 12th and Ian 16th position. David Ellesley didn’t manage to catch the leading pack and finished in 7th place. Round 11 Results Nick Sanderson – Position 4th – Fastest Lap 49.506 Alan Donnelly – Position 12th – Fastest Lap 49.424 Ian Fletcher – Position 16th – Fastest Lap 50.422
Round 12 The Fiestas were treated to a 20 minute ‘warm-up’ session at lunchtime which was used by the team to see if the ABS braking problem had been fixed on Nick’s car and there did seem to be an improvement although the ABS warning light was still lit. As the race got underway, Nick got a decent start as the pack charged around the first corner although David Ellesley got a cracker and went from 7th place on the grid and into 2nd place. As the cars were close together, Nick took a wide line around North Bend and had a hefty collision with an out of control Ben Roper who had been pushed on entry into the corner by Tilbury. Nick regained composure and move up to 4th place with chaos behind as Tilbury and Roper came together again at Paddock Bend with the latter retiring with suspension damage. Ellesley got away at the front after a lap long challenge for the lead on Lap 4, with the next six cars running nose to tail with Rory Bryant driving a very mature and defensive race in 2nd place. Tilbury got past Nick when he was compromised under braking, who in turn made a move past David Abbott. Nick got past Abbott on the outside at Devil’s Elbow and then set about making a move on Tilbury. Tilbury proved to be a problem for Nick when twice he moved across the track when Nick had drawn level and had to back out of the move so as not to be pushed onto the grass.
Ian Fletcher also had a great race, passing Fiesta regular Terry Upton and reeling in Nick Pope towards the end of the race but running out of time to make a move, coming home in 14th position. Round 12 Result Nick Sanderson – Position 5th – Fastest Lap 49.352 Alan Donnelly – Position 7th – Fastest Lap 49.633 Ian Fletcher – Position 14th – Fastest Lap 50.562
Nick wasn’t able to mount a challenge to David Ellesley during the weekend with the mechanical problems experienced and being on the receiving end of some poor driving standards by certain competitors. The final rounds of the championship are at Brands Hatch in Kent on 17th/18th October at the prestigious Formula Ford Festival. The team hope to run all three cars with Kempster Ford Director, Ian Fletcher already confirmed. Although the team has excellent backing from Kempster Ford and Orion Engineering, we still require further sponsors – we have marketing opportunities to suit all businesses / individuals – please contact via the website if you can help.
Round 9 & 10 Snetterton – 29th & 30th August 2009 Red flags and Restarts spell disaster for Sanderson
As the weekend was headlined by the ‘Britcar’ super-saloon series, there was no full test day on the Friday with only a restricted one hour slot being allocated to the Ford Fiestas. The Kempster Ford / Orion Engineering backed team opted to do the test and it proved to be an important decision as Nick had problems under braking with major juddering through the steering. After procuring two new front brake discs from ICR Motorsport, Nick hoped that the issue would be resolved in the Saturday morning qualifying session. Although John was booked in for the one-hour test, he was unable to make the test session at the last minute due to work commitments, resulting in John having to go straight out in qualifying with no practice. Round 9 Qualifying The 20 minute qualifying session saw 32 Ford Fiestas take to the 1.9520 mile track with both Nick and John opting to go out at the front of the pack. Nick set about producing some quick laps and found that the braking problems from testing seemed to have been cured. Nick knew that a 1.23 seconds lap would be around pole position and having put a 1.24.04 seconds lap in early, he tried to improve but consistently ran into traffic problems and couldn’t produce a ‘clean’ lap without catching a slower car at a crucial moment. John also had the same issues but improved his times to 1.25.08. The Snetterton circuit tends to be hard on the brakes and John found that he had problems with his ABS again, giving him problems under hard braking resulting in many clouds of blue tyre smoke! After the session, on review of the official grid sheet, Nick found he was on the second row in 4th place with David Ellesley on pole with a very impressive 1.23.363 seconds lap – the fastest anyone has produced in a Ford Fiesta ST at Snetterton. At post-qualifying scrutineering, seven Ford Fiestas were excluded due to failing the ‘ride-height’ checks (distance from the ground to lowest point of the car has to clear 90mm). None of the front-running cars or NSR cars were affected. Qualifying Result
Round 9 Round 9 commenced on the Saturday afternoon and as the red lights went out, David Ellesley took off into the lead with Mark Tilbury making a slow start. Nick tried to go around the outside of Tilbury at the first corner but was pushed wide onto the grass and was helpless in trying to get back onto the track as others went by on the inside line, dropping Nick down to 7th. As the cars approached Russell Bend, the red flags were out as there had been a major accident at the Esses where Phill Simpson spun and was collected by two Fiesta Zetec machines. John didn’t see the red flag as he was following Al Daly closely into Coram Curve / Russell Bends and Al braked hard when he saw the stoppage – John didn’t and he hit Al in the tailgate. Fortunately, both cars only suffered cosmetic damage. It took some time to clean up the track and as the Britcar series had a four hour race that ran to the circuit curfew, it was decided by the Clerk of the Course to cancel the Ford Fiesta race and hold both rounds on the Sunday so that the Fiestas didn’t have a reduced length race – a good decision by the officials. The re-start on the Sunday saw Nick get a good start and moved up to second place but was under pressure from the ICR Motorsport car of Rory Bryant. Nick and Rory had some good close dicing but Nick managed to eventually gain a few car lengths and tried to set about closing the gap to race leader David Ellesley. John got a blistering start and used the pit lane exit to blast up to 8th by the first corner. Just in front of him, Al Daly ran wide coming out of the Esses and when he came back on to the track he tried to take the racing line. fortunately for Al, John was already there and the cars made contact with Al being spun around. By Lap 4, David had a good lead but again the red flags came out due to Terence Clark being stranded on the circuit with a wheel pointing in the wrong direction to the rest of his Fiesta after some contact. At the second re-start, the front row was David and Nick but as the lights went out, it was a charging David Abbott who charged into the lead with Nick squeezing David Ellesley into 3rd place on the opening lap. John’s grid slot was on the outside of the grid and as the red lights went out he got a better start than Steve Papworth and was alongside him up to and through the first corner. Steve was pushing John wide and although John took to the grass Steve kept pushing John further wide until the almost inevitable heavy contact took place. Both John and Steve suffered punctures in the contact with the result being race over for both. Steve would later report that he was being pushed wide by Mark Tilbury however it seemed to John that he had been the victim of some dubious driving. On the next lap, David got past Nick on the Revett Straight but at the Esses, David had to brake hard halfway through the corner and a completely unsuspecting Nick ran straight into the back of David’s car – hard! Nick recovered but his car was heavily damaged at the front. After recovering from this initial drama, Nick then got squeezed at the Russell Bends and as Bryant was clipped into a half-spin, Nick gave him a nudge whilst trying to avoid contact. Nick then ran in 6th place for the next few laps before a rare error at the Esses resulting in a brief visit to the tyre barrier, although he re-gained positions and eventually finished in 9th place. Round 9 Results
Round 10 Any hopes of John achieving a good finish looked remote with John starting 28th out of the 31 runners with Pope, Clark & Durham behind him and Papworth in 27th all in STs. After the drama from the first race, Nick was focussed on making up places in Round 10 to limit the damage to his title chances. However, after getting a good start and making up two places before the first corner, his Ford FiestaST obviously had some serious mechanical problem as he had a huge lack of power on the straights and had to let some of the other competitors go through as there was no point in defending when so compromised.
Nick continued to circulate at a slow pace and finished in a distant 11th place to at least gain some championship points, but the race was a complete disaster in terms of the championship with both Richard Kemp and Mark Tilbury scoring a lot of points to close the gap to second and with David taking two wins. Round 10 Result
A nightmare weekend for Nick with two poor finishes due to accident damage and mechanical woes in the second race. To compound the issue, David drove two excellent races with two wins and has stretched his championship lead. Although the team has excellent backing from Kempster Ford and Orion Engineering, we still require further sponsors – we have marketing opportunities to suit all businesses / individuals – please contact via the website if you can help. Round 6 Oulton Park – 11th July 2009 The WON that got away!
The team opted to do a full day’s testing with Kempster Ford Director, Ian Fletcher making his 2009 season debut in Ford Fiesta ST44. Nick spent most of the test day helping Ian get on the pace before setting some quick laps himself. Ian was getting quicker as the day wore on before an error at the Knickerbrook chicane resulting in a frontal visit to the tyre wall although the damage to the car was minimal and the car would be fixed for the race day. Al Daly in Ford Fiesta ST5 had a nasty high-speed accident when a front balljoint sheared pitching him straight off the circuit at the fast Island Bend going into the hairpin. Al’s car sustained a lot of damage and unfortunately, it could not be fixed for race day but more importantly, Al was reported as being OK.
Qualifying 26 ford Fiestas took to the circuit for qualifying in good conditions. Nick and John opted to go out at the front of the field behind David Ellesley, Rory Bryant and Stewart Scott. After gaining some clear track, Nick set about putting in some quick laps and knew he was somewhere near the front with a 2 min 2 second lap and set about improving on it. Nick’s final lap would have been his quickest but he made a mistake at Knickerbrook and lost momentum. John and Ian were both improving their times with John faster than his test day times by some two seconds. Championship leader David Ellesley blitzed his car onto Pole Position by 0.492 seconds without testing on the Friday – and another valuable championship point.
Qualifying Result Nick Sanderson – 2:02.747 – Position 4th (0.674 seconds off pole) John Findlay – 2:06.225 – Position 11th (4.152 seconds off pole) Ian Fletcher – 2:07.770 – Position 16th (5.697 seconds off pole)
Round 6 Nick was disappointed to be in 4th position on the grid but knew he had a good chance of improving his position if he could get a good start so that David Ellesley didn’t get away from the pack. As the red lights went out, Nick got the start he needed and slotted into 3rd place into the first corner behind David. The front cars ran nose to tail on the first lap with David having a moment at Knickerbrook with all four wheels on the grass but didn’t actually lose much speed so Nick couldn’t squeeze though.
At the end of the first lap, Nick got a great run out of the double-apex Druids corner and got alongside David going into Lodge Corner. Nick stayed very late on the brakes and nipped through into 2nd place although David was applying pressure throughout. The pressure succeeded at Britton’s chicane where Nick missed a gear but David just managed to avoid running into the rear of Nick’s car since it was quite unexpected – great driving by David. Nick set about catching Terence Clarke who was leading well but Nick made a move through Cascades on Lap 7and got half a car length up the inside into Island Bend. This corner is just a lift off the throttle with no braking, but Nick was off-line so it was tricky to make the move stick but Nick managed to hold the car round the corner and into the lead. Lap after lap, Nick was comfortably in the lead when with around two laps to go, he made a mistake going into the Knickerbrook chicane, running too deep and in an instant both Clarke and Ellesley were though – nightmare! Nick fought back and on the last lap with both of the cars ahead dicing, Nick didn’t brake for Druids and got more momentum exiting the corner. Clarke was defending and David had to cover the inside line to stop Nick attempting a pass but Nick made a late, late move on the outside into Lodge. Revving the engine to the limit in 2nd gear, he kept the car on the tarmac (just) and then got good drive out of the corner with both cars side-by-side through Deer Leap. At the flag, Nick managed to pinch 2nd place by 0.024 seconds! Round 6 Result Nick Sanderson – Position 2nd (2nd Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 2:03.035 John Findlay – Position 10th (9th Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 2:06.593 Ian Fletcher - DNF
This was probably a round that Nick should probably have won but a cracking race with Terence and David. Congratulations to Terence on his first Fiesta ST win. Once again, excellent driving by all with virtually no contact throughout the race. John improved his lap times over the weekend consistently and finished in a respectable 9th place. An unfortunate weekend for Ian Fletcher but he had some valuable track time in the car and will be ready to return to the series at the Snetterton rounds. Steve Papworth who had raced well and finished 4th was excluded after scrutineering due to suspension mounting irregularities. The next rounds of the championship are at Castle Combe on 8th/9th August. Although the team has excellent backing from Kempster Ford and Orion Engineering, we still require further sponsors – we have marketing opportunities to suit all businesses / individuals – please contact via the website or Nick on 07725 446319 if you can help.
Rounds 4 & 5 Brands Hatch – 13th / 14th June 2009
The meeting saw a record number of Ford Fiesta entries with 44 cars on the programme. As the entries were over the maximum that the circuit can run in one race, the Class A ‘Si’ and Class B ‘Zetec’ Fiestas would run their own race with 18 Class C Fiesta ST models running separately. Testing went well in very hot conditions with Nick putting in low 57 second laps in the morning before suffering a power steering problem. The team tried some geometry changes to the front wheels but this caused Nick some serious handling problems with two near spins. Nick’s car was put back to the original settings and the handling issues were cured but a temporary fix would need to be done with the power steering problem. John used the first session to re-familiarise himself with the track and then put in many 57.7 second laps with a best being a 57.5 second lap at the end of the final session. There were no indications of any power steering problems with John’s car although the majority of the field were suffering from various issues. Round 4 Qualifying As the Class A & B cars were separated with their own race, this left more track space with 18 Fiesta STs however, the session was only 10 minutes long. Nick set out ensuring he got clear track space and then put in some hot laps. After putting a couple of 56 second laps in, he managed to hook everything up for a near perfect lap with a 56.457 second lap. Nick was confident that this would be on the front row and although trying hard, couldn’t improve on this time. John put in what he felt was a quick lap and had a 56.62 second lap on his timer and then spent the rest of the session getting space behind Daly & Abbot and then easily catching them back up again. John was disappointed to see a best time of 57.584 second lap as the official time and only 11th on the grid (the 56.62 second lap must have picked up on the wrong beacon which can sometimes happen with the in-car timers). At least John was on the inside of the track at the start for the charge into Paddock Hill Bend. Nick found himself on pole by 0.186 seconds from championship leader, David Ellesley – and another valuable championship point for gaining pole position. Qualifying Result Nick Sanderson – 56.457 – Position: POLE John Findlay – 57.584 – Position 11th (1.127 seconds off pole)
Round 4
As the red lights went out, Nick got a reasonable start but Ellesley got a cracker and led into the first corner, with Nick slotting into second place. Nick had to defend from Clarke in 3rd place which allowed Ellesley to open up a lead which was 9-10 car lengths after the second lap. John held off Abbot at the start, who got an absolute flyer from 14th and made up then made up a place through Paddock Hill Bend. John made up another place at Druids and then got past Papworth for 8th at Graham Hill Bend. John held 8th for the rest of the lap and was closing in on Kemp for 7th when a power steering pressure pipe blew off completely at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend. Unaware at the time, when John turned in for the tight Druids Hairpin, he couldn't get the car to turn around the corner and slid off into the gravel. He got going again right at the end of the field but the car was undriveable and he limped back to the pits and into retirement. Nick settled down in 2nd place and concentrated on getting his exits right from the three critical corners for lap times and began to reel Ellesley back in. After a few laps, Nick was on David’s bootlid who ran a little wide a Druids and Nick had to back off to avoid contact. Lap after lap, there was nothing between the leading two cars with the third place battle between Nye and Bryant a couple of seconds behind – a battle as fierce as the one for the lead. Nick was putting severe pressure on David and with five laps to go, David went very slightly wide at Clark Curve and Nick seized the opportunity to get up the inside. They were side-by-side all the way along the Brabham Straight but Nick was desperately late on the brakes at Paddock Hill Bend and slid through and into the lead. David wasn’t giving the lead away easily though and straight away he was all over Nick’s tailgate. Nick kept the lead when with around three laps to go; he touched the oil at the top of Paddock Hill Bend and had a huge slide through the top of the corner before the dip. He managed to hold the slide with some neat car control and didn’t actually lose that much speed but it allowed David to sneak up the inside line for Druids. Nick was kicking himself and put as much pressure as possible for the final laps but David drove a wide car and took the chequered flag by 0.435 seconds after 21 laps. A consolation for Nick was that he got the fastest race lap and another championship point. Richard Kemp who is third in the championship had some problems and finished the race in 7th place. It was not looking good for getting John’s car back out for race 2 as the team didn't have the spare parts, being an unusual failure. However, after scouring the paddock, fellow competitor David Ellesley came to the rescue and the team Kempster Ford technician worked through the night to get the car prepared for the next day. Round 4 Result Nick Sanderson – Position 2nd (2nd Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 56.845 John Findlay – Position DNF
Round 5
Nick was confident of challenging Ellesley for a race win but a fired up David Nye who had earlier won the Fiesta Si race was always going to be a danger. At the start, Nick and David both got similarly good start and were side-byside into the first corner with Nick having to yield with David having the inside line. As expected, Nye was all over Nick’s tailgate and the top three cars initially broke away from the rest of the field. John had to start stone last due to his DNF the previous day but he got a reasonable start and got past a couple of STs before a missed gear meant he lost the places through into Paddock Hill Bend. Still last at Druids but right on the tail of the pack, Tomkins had a few tank slappers on the exit and John had to back off until he knew where Tomkins was going. Gordon collected it but now Field and John had lost quite a few lengths on the pack. At the front, Nick had closed in on David and pulled a few car lengths on Nye and on lap 8, David ran wide at Clark Curve and Nick made sure he got the inside line and pulled off exactly the same move as the previous day, going through under braking on the entry into Paddock Hill Bend. David continued to apply pressure to Nick but he also had Nye on his tail with Clarke also joining in – the top 4 cars way ahead of the rest of the field. At this point, Nick knew form the pit lane counter that there were 16 laps left to go and was under serious pressure since David was never more than half a second behind. This time Nick was absolutely determined not to surrender the lead and had to drive defensively at Druids and the entry into Clarke Curve on most laps but he kept a clear head and eventually took the chequered flag for his first win in 2009, with David 0.497 seconds behind. John got stuck behind Field until the exit of Graham Hill Bend on lap 2, by which time the pack was three seconds down the road. He set about trying to reel them in but found it extremely hard work and eventually caught them with only a lap or two to go but could not get past so ended the race in 16th place although only 11 seconds behind 5th place. Nick was delighted to take his first win of the season, especially at the Brands Hatch circuit and in front of Sean MacGloin and family (NSR sponsor Orion Engineering Senior Management). Nick was also awarded the ‘driver of the day’ award for an excellent drive under serious pressure throughout.
Nick Sanderson – Position 1st (1st Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 56.785 John Findlay – Position 16th (16th Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 57.708 So another good weekend for NSR with a pole position, fastest race lap, 2nd place, race win and ‘driver of the day’ award! It could have been so much better for John had the failure not occurred or happened during testing but that’s racing and he will be back out fighting at Oulton Park. After the Brands Hatch results, David and Nick have begun to pull out a gap from the other competitors in the standings although there is a long way to go. The next round of the Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship is at Oulton Park on 11th July, where NSR will be running three Fiesta STs with Kempster Ford Director, Ian Fletcher returning to the series. A special thanks to David Ellesley and his team for supplying the spare power steering parts which enabled us to repair John’s car for the Sunday race. Although the team has excellent backing from Kempster Ford and Orion Engineering, we still require further sponsors – we have marketing opportunities to suit all businesses / individuals – please contact via the website or Nick on 07725 446319 if you can help.
Ford Fiesta Championship – Rounds 2 & 3 Snetterton – 2nd / 3rd May 2009
Snetterton was the venue for the second meeting of the Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship on the May Bank Holiday weekend, with a record grid entry of 38 Ford Fiestas – the maximum that can be run at the circuit. Nick Sanderson’s Kempster Ford / Orion Engineering backed Fiesta ST had a makeover with a new design to make it stand out in the huge field of cars. John Findlay meanwhile opted to do a full day’s testing with Nick only doing the afternoon sessions. John improved his times as the day wore on with 1:27 second laps with Nick managing some 1:25 second laps by the end of the day. With 38 Ford Fiestas entered for the race, the team knew that a good qualifying position was vital. Round 2 Qualifying The qualifying session commenced unusually on the Saturday with both races run on the Sunday. The track was very busy due to the high number of entries so getting clear laps was always going to be a problem. Nick put a 1:24.92 second lap in early in the session then dropped back for a couple of laps to gain track space allowing for another hot lap of 1:24.704 seconds. A time he knew would be close to pole. As the session wore on, each time Nick went for a fast lap, he caught slower cars which ruined the lap so he could not improve his time, John was also struggling with traffic but was consistently putting in 1:27 second laps with a best lap of 1:27.262 seconds. When the official qualifying times were published, Nick was delighted to find that his quickest lap was enough to take pole position and a valuable championship point. Qualifying Result Nick Sanderson – 1:24.704 – Position: POLE John Findlay – 1:27.262 – Position 13th (2.558 seconds off pole)
Although the skies threatened rain, the weather held out for the race. The Fiesta Championship looked very impressive on the green flag lap with 38 cars all weaving to warm the slick tyres. As the red lights went out, Nick got a good start from pole and kept the lead through Riches and into Sear corner. David Ellesley had already got past Kemp into 2nd place and made a good move at Sear to get a run on Nick. They were side-by-side all the way along the Revett Straight – the longest straight in British motorsport - but David had the inside line into the Esses complex. Nick slotted into second and together they were pulling away from 3rd placed Kemp when the safety car came out due to two Fiestas being stranded on the grass at Riches. At this point, Nick realised he had a problem with the car as the exhaust was blowing, resulting in a power loss – he was hoping that this would not cause major problems or end in retirement. After two laps behind the safety car whilst the cars were removed to a safe place, it pulled into the pits and David got the race back underway. He got a jump on Nick at the race start who also got a jump on Kemp. David and Nick pulled away from the rest of the field with a gap of around three seconds between them. Although Nick tried hard to apply some pressure, Ellesley drove a strong race and took the win from Nick in 2nd place,whose car was getting progressively louder! John was having an eventful race from 13th place with a lot of dicing with the Fiesta ST of Cliff Pellin. At the chequered flag, he made up places to finish in 10th position. A good result for Nick on his birthday weekend with a pole position and a 2nd place. The race was a milestone with it being his 100th ever race in his motor racing career. Round 2 Result Nick Sanderson – Position 2nd (2nd Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 1:24.693 John Findlay – Position 10th (9th Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 1.25.994 Round 3 The second race of weekend was again run in beautiful Norfolk sunshine. At the start, Nick and David both got decent starts but David held the lead through the opening corners. Nick stayed on his bootlid and the pair again pulled away from third placed Kemp. With the exhaust problem fixed (a blown gasket at the manifold), Nick was really pushing in the race and caught David and was applying some pressure.David drove defensively and kept Nick at bay although Nick seemed faster at some parts of the circuit with David being quicker at other parts, evening out the battle for the lead. Meanwhile, John was having a strong race, picking off the Fiesta STs ahead of him, moving up to 6th position after dices with Bryant, Pellin, Nye and Tilbury. As David and Nick were lapping the less-powerful Zetec and Si cars, David managed to get past better than Nick and pulled out a lead. Nick was desperately trying to catch him and made a move at the Esses past Donnelly and Field but had to short-cut the complex over the grass and lost a little more time. This is how they stayed with David taking another race win with Nick in second and Kemp in third.
Nick Sanderson – Position 2nd (2nd Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 1:24.066 John Findlay – Position 6th (6th Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 1.25.416
Another good weekend for NSR with good results for both cars and no damage, a bonus after John’s mishap at the Silverstone opener. The new Kempster Ford designed livery on Nick’s car really stood out in the field and received many complimentary comments. John’s car will also be revamped prior to the next meeting. Although the team has excellent backing from Kempster Ford and Orion Engineering, we still require further sponsors – we have marketing opportunities to suit all businesses / individuals – please contact via the website or Nick on 07725 446319 if you can help.
Ford Fiesta Championship - Round 1 Silverstone International – 11th April 2009
The NSR team arrived early for the Friday test sessions with Nick Sanderson in a brand new Fiesta ST (ST99), together with team mate John Findlay in a similarly prepared Fiesta ST (ST33). As the meeting had a large number of races, there were only two 45-minute test sessions for the Fiestas. In the first session, Nick and John learnt the circuit and were right on the pace in very wet conditions. Sadly the session was continually disrupted by four red flags while the marshals recovered various stricken cars that had spun off the track. There was more heavy rain for the second session and visibility was practically zero due to windows steaming up and the amount of spray from the other cars. Nick only completed four laps before deciding not to continue due to the risk of damage (i.e., running into the back of a fellow competitor! and there was no point trying to put in quick laps in those conditions. John meanwhile continued with the session to help build up his confidence up in the wet. Round 1 Qualifying
The track was again very slippery so all the cars were on the Dunlop Wet tyres. John and Nick decided to go out at the front of the group as there would not be much time to get clear laps with only a 15 minute session and a high potential of ‘yellow flag’ incidents. Nick made sure he gained some good track space and then set about putting in a hot qualifying lap. On Lap 4 he did a very fast lap, which included some impressive car control as he got sideways through Copse corner and the Maggotts / Becketts complex. After putting in two 1:51 second laps, he ran into traffic and decided he wouldn’t be able to improve on these times so he called it a day. John’s lap times kept coming down with several 1:53 second laps, the fastest a 1:53.462. Amazingly, there were only a couple of minor spins during the session with no red flags or anyone getting stuck in the gravel traps , pretty impressive for 31 Ford Fiestas on a very slippery track! When the spray had settled David Ellesley was on pole, with Nick second just 0.155 secs off the pace.. Qualifying Result Nick Sanderson – 1:51.672 – Position: 2nd (0.155 seconds off pole) John Findlay – 1:53.462 – Position 6th (1.945 seconds off pole) Round 1 Rain had been the order of the day, howeverit started to ease off prior to the race. Although the main straight appeared to be drying, the rest of the circuit was still very slippery so Nick and John opted to use a full wet set up. In the holding paddock prior to the race, a few of the front runners opted to put Dunlop Slicks on the front and Wets on the rear – an unusual gamble given the weather conditions. On the green flag installation lap, Nick realised that the track was actually a lot drier than he originally thought but when the Fiestas lined up on the grid, spots of rain started (with Nick and John trying to do a rain-dance in their seats!). As the red lights went out, Nick got a good start but so did David Ellesley and Nick slotted into 2nd place through Cops right on David’s bootlid. Coming out of Abbey Nick noticed that the leader seemed to be struggling for grip with his cold front slicks through Bridge and Priory so he promptly dived up the inside and took the lead. Meanwhile, John was trying to make up some places when he went into the tight Abbey hairpin, sadly he couldn’t stop the car and slid into an unfortunate Rory Bryant who was already halfway around the corner. There was a major impact with both cars forced to retire with John sustaining some heavy damage on his front corner – race over. Nick held the lead for two laps but then ran a little wide at Abbey. However, as it was under yellow flags at the time, he didn’t expect Ellesley to pass, unfortunately he did( and got away with it!, Ed) and went through into the lead. Elleseley’s front slick tyres then came into their element and he had a lot more speed down the straights, pulling away from Nick by around two seconds per lap. Nick was well ahead of Richard Kemp in 3rd who had his mirrors full of Stewart Scott. Nick backed off a little towards the end of the race as he wasn’t going to catch the leader and he was well clear of 3rd place so he took a comfortable 2nd place. Round 1 Result Nick Sanderson – Position 2nd (2nd Fiesta ST) – Fastest Lap 1:50.111 John Findlay – Position DNF – Fastest Lap N/A
Nick was happy with 2nd place and no damage to the car for the opening round, after leading the opening laps. The tyre choice didn’t quite work out with hindsight but it was probably the safer option – if it had rained, he would have taken the win. An unlucky start for John with the unfortunate accident at the Abbey Hairpin.He had been quick all weekend in the wet and was looking for a high points scoring result but at least it will only count as one ‘dropped score’ with the meeting being a single race. John’s car is already in the workshop being stripped for assessment and will be ready along with Nick’s Fiesta ST at the next championship rounds at Snetterton for Rounds 2 & 3. There are more Fiesta STs rumoured to be joining the championship there so we should have another bumper grid. The Snetterton race weekend is Nick’s birthday and the first race will also be his 100th ever race start where he’ll be looking to capitalise on his impressive start to the 2009 season.
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The
Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship visited the 1.0 mile
Lydden Hill circuit in Kent for Rounds 11 & 12. Regular team racer John
Findlay was on vacation and was replaced by Kempster Ford Director, Ian
Fletcher with the team also running a third Fiesta ST with guest driver
Alan Donnelly making his ST debut although he regularly competes in the
Fiesta Si Class.
Although
trying hard to pass which is not easy at the tight Lydden Hill circuit,
Nick had to settle for 5th place at the chequered flag. Alan Donnelly
who was getting quicker all weekend caught onto the tail of the train of
cars and finished in 7th place.
The
Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship returned to the
Snetterton circuit in Norfolk for Rounds 9 & 10. Nick needed to close
the gap on championship leader, David Ellesley who would be a firm
favourite for the weekend with Snetterton being his local circuit.
John
got another good start, ahead of Papworth and keeping the other STs
behind him. From 28th, John was up to 16th by the end of Lap 1. The race
to catch the front runners was now well and truly on however John’s
ABSproblems meant that whilst he was catching the cars which had started
further up the grid, the STs who started alongside him were marginally
quicker and he was fighting to keep them behind. Durham and Clark got
past, both at the Esses where John’s ABS problems impeded him the most.
For the next 10 laps or so John was then battling with Papworth and Pope
with places changing several times until the Esses were again John’s
undoing and both got past .
Oulton
Meanwhile,
Ian Fletcher had got a good start but gremlins struck on the first
corner and he couldn’t select any gears. The initial cause appears to be
a clutch failure which meant retirement on the first lap. Very unlucky
on his first outing in 2009 – the joys of motorsport!
The
latest rounds of the Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship
were at Brands Hatch circuit in Kent on the 1.2 mile ‘Indy’ circuit.
The
Class C Fiesta ST race was the last race on the programme for the
Saturday. The Ferrari Challenge was the previous race and one that would
have a bearing on the day’s outcome after a Ferrari dumped oil all the
way around the circuit. 
Round
5 was again contested in very hot conditions and although John’s car was
repaired in time for the race, Phill Simpson was a casualty and didn’t
make the race start.
Round
5 Result
Testing
Round
2
Round
3 Result
The
opening meeting of the Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta
Championship was held at the 2.249 mile Silverstone International
Circuit. The championship had not raced on this longer version of the
circuit Before, normally using the shorter National Circuit.
Many
race series are struggling for numbers in 2009 due to the current
economic climate, not so the Competition Car Insurance Ford Fiesta
Championship with a bumper 31 car grid lining up for the opening round,
including 12 Fiesta STs!