Letter from VaLetter from Valetta - The final final Part - Five is the Loneliest Number.
Sunday came round and this is what I discovered from the practice runs
The good news was that the Minis had been moved into the group with Dorothy the Chevron, the Lotus and the two Alan Mann Racing Escrots. That left me with the Dallara, the hot Imp and the Fisher Fury. Tough competition but I had a PLAN. This was the most cunning plan since plans were invented. Basically it needed the other three cars in the group to BREAK DOWN. It was foolproof if it worked.
While we waited for our first run I had a walk round the pits for interesting sights. But first a little step back to the Concours as photos from kind people are still coming in.
The attraction of a uniform
Nice car but what are they drinking?
Question solved
The girls
Back at the pits. Neil Revington (Revvo) setting off and ably assisted by his punkawallah
Bale bashing Alfa
Bale bashed Elan
Claire, the 'fast' lady of Malta
She won her class in her yellow TR6
These are driving shoes in Malta
Team Frankenhealey upholding the British reputation for sartorial elegance
Macau GP TR2
Ivan's Benz Battle Barge. If there was ever a car not suitable for the windy bits this was it. He drifted the little jinky bit by the railway station so close to the bales he was dragging straw out of them. Every time he returned to the pits people rushed over to check the bent panels but nada, nothing. A consummate driver of big Benz's.
In terms of entertainment and smiles per miles the pair of 500s were great
Them pesky Minis but not in my group
The Dallara being fed some 109 octane go-juice. Where's the idiot with the cigar walking round the pits.
Joe Duca, the owner/driver gets 170bhp out of the single cam 1600 in the engine bay
Fuel gets squirted in here
'Dorothy' the B16
Difficult to refuel?
The 'Z' with all four wheels
The Alan Mann Escrots
The Alfa had been out and as prophesied hit some bales. Seems he does it every year.
How do I hit bales you may ask yourself. Here's a short self instruction non-video
Try to take corners like this
and not like this
This is how the pros do it
Then my group was called. No video because I was trying something clever with an in-car recording that really didn't work. So we lined up on the grid for our 5 laps with the Fisher Fury on pole, the Dallara next, me (?) next and the Imp at number four. The chequered flag dropped and immediately we were down to three cars as the Imp blew its engine on launch. The FF led into the first corner followed by the Dallara with me up his tail. First set of chicanes nearly over and the Dallara slows with his hand up. Stuck in third gear. The PLAN was working. Where was the FF??? Nowhere in sight. Finished my laps and he was back in the pits. Ah well we had another run and if the PLAN was working he would break down next time.
With plenty of time in hand I went up on the walls to watch the Premier League first run.
The paddock is in the moat (dry) or as the Maltese call it, the ditch
This is the start
Here you can see the Train station and the pavillion at the first corner.
Here you can just see the long straight with the three chicanes
You can't see the compression on the other side of the course but this is the effect of hooning it up the hill
Every lap I had to hunch down in the seat or the helmet would hit the roof with a bang. Gurney Bubble anyone?
So back to the big race part one. Anybody looking at the entrant list could tell that it always going to be between the Lotus and the Chevron and so it was. Five laps of dicing goodness with the Escorts snapping at the Lotus/Chevron and the Minis snapping at the Escorts. The Chevron was on pole BUT pursued closely by the Lotus managed to nudge a chicane bale out of its chalked 'box' on one of the laps and therefore for the final had to run from the back of the grid.
My 'race' came round and I discovered why five is the loneliest number. That's five laps of not seeing the Fisher Fury after the start
. Mick Hay, the driver, was a real gent and didn't lap me but he didn't break down so not that much of a gent. See the video below
A couple of pictures of me 'at work'
So after the anticlimax of being both last and second in my group a moment of mature reflection led me to the conclusion that it didn't matter because I'd just had ten concurrent minutes of most challenging open road driving that I ever had ;D
So back to the main event. I probably have never seen such an exciting and desperately fought race. Formula 1 doesn't compare with narrow lanes, bad surfaces, broken tarmac, dogs on the course, no run-offs, hay bales and concrete barriers. Giovanni Rosi in the Chevron started from the back of the grid and passed the two Minis and the started on the Escorts. It wasn't easy with few good places to overtake and nobody was giving and inch. This picture shows how close it was
and this is out of the first corner on the last lap. It rather sums up the whole thing.
However Robert Farneti in the Lotus held him off until the end. Everybody poured off the the walls to see the heroes.
The deserved winner
What a great long weekend. Malta was a blast.
. Small tool box
. Mick Hay, the driver, was a real gent and didn't lap me but he didn't break down so not that much of a gent. See the video below
