[caption id="attachment_7457" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Mark Brown 'three-wheeling' through Turn 9 on September 23rd - Mike Stanway photo[/caption] Thanks to some clever camera work by Mike Stanway, we now finally know why Mark Brown is so fast in that dang Lotus Seven of his - he only...
[caption id="attachment_7494" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Race 1 - 'Which way did he go?' - Mark Brown photo[/caption] The other stories described Dennis Repel's very 'interesting' day at Mission during the Volunteer Memorial Weekend. In Race 1, he made lots of smoke (as in tire) while dealing with a sticking throttle...
Dennis Repel (Chevy Camaro) lays down a smoke screen in Mission's Turn 2 in an (unsuccessful) attempt to confuse second place Mark Brown (Lotus Seven S3) - Michael Stanway photo[/caption]
Dennis Repel was leading the first race on September 23rd when his throttle stuck open entering Turn 2. Mike Stanway captured the moment as Dennis laid on the anchors big time while a startled Mark Brown, who was right behind, tried to figure out what to do. Mark said later: "My instincts told me to steer towards the air without tire smoke and it seemed to work."
With judicious use of the kill switch through the rest of the race, Dennis was able to recover back to second place. In the subsequent laps, it was Phil Roney who got to watch the display. (See the other photos below.) Great photos Mike; thanks.
Ralph Zbarsky and his former BMC Works Team MGB GT - Brent Martin photo[/caption]
Updated again: October 9, 2012
Sunday, September 23rd saw some of the VRCBC's finest hit the track at Mission Raceway Park for two Vintage races during the SCCBC's 'Volunteer Memorial' Weekend. In addition to some excellent racing, this event saw the Mission debut of Ralph Zbarsky's former BMC Works Team 1967 MGB GT, now beautifully restored. Ralph raced this car at Sebring in March of this year - see our earlier story here. (Don't miss the link to the You Tube video showing the car's roll over at Sebring in 1970. Hint: It wasn't Ralph!)
The first race got off to a great start. Dennis Repel was leading until about half distance when the throttle stuck open going into Turn 2. Major streaks of rubber were required to get the 'Heavy Chevy' (with its dyno-proven 406 hp) Camaro stopped in time. Judicious use of the kill switch enabled him to get back to second place behind Mark Brown before the finish. They were followed by Phil Roney, Ian Thomas, and Roger Flescher. The next three places featured a close fight between Ian Wood, Al Harvey and Paul Haym. Then Peter Valkenburg and 'the Zbarsky Train' of Mike and Ralph. Al Reid had to retire his MGB after only nine laps.
At the start of the second race, Mark and Phil tried desperately to outbrake Dennis into Turn 1 but couldn't manage it and Dennis took the lead, only for his engine to let go in a (very) terminal way, entering Turn 1 on the fifth lap. Mark managed to see through the spray of oil well enough to take charge, particularly since Phil had already broken an axle shaft after only two laps. Roger took second, followed by Ian Thomas and then the scrapping trio of Ian Wood, Al Harvey and Paul Haym. (Just to show how close these three were: on the fourth lap, each of them turned a lap time of 1:24.1!). The Zbarskys were next. Peter Valkenburg and Al Reid had issues and were several laps down.
The full results are available here.
Update - October 9th: Gerry Frechette has added his 148 photos of the Vintage action on September 23rd to his web site. ( http://gerryfrechette.zenfolio.com/ ) or just click here to go directly to that album.
A big thank you to Brent Martin for providing the photos below. You can see the rest of his photos on his web site: www.martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com or just click here to go directly to his September 23rd Vintage album of 136 photos.
[caption id="attachment_7353" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Jim Robinson's Bugatti T51 was a BCHMR favourite with everyone. - Brent Martin photo[/caption] For the last while, the members of the VRCBC have been focused on the 25th running of the British Columbia Historic Motor Races (BCHMR), which were held at Mission...