Well, we arrived at Castle Combe on the Friday afternoon expecting some changeable weather over the weekend and straight away it did not disappoint! Sunshine then a torrential downpour, followed by a bit more sunshine…this was clearly going to be a tricky weekend for getting the car setup right!

Following some graceful declines versus the initial entry list from Nick Whittaker, Phlip Connell and Tim Mogridge, Saturday morning came and our 20 Ferraris headed out for qualifying.

Earlier rainfall meant qualifying proved to be somewhat wet although further showers held off so some reasonable times could be achieved. Colin was going extremely well in his new Italian speedboat following some successful testing sessions, but the forecast had him concerned that a new bilge pump might need to be fitted!

Gary Culver achieved the best times putting him on pole for the first two races with Wayne Marrs and Colin a few seconds off the lead pace. There were a couple of spinners who shall remain nameless but they soon recovered and no harm done! Unfortunately not much could be gleaned from on track action due to the mist on my windscreen and the fog on my glasses causing a total lack of visibility!

But I did see that Robert Greaves was relieved when the marshals handed him back his windscreen wiper at the end of the session in the pit lane entrance which I guess meant he might see out of his windscreen in the forthcoming races.

Race 1

For race 1 things were looking considerably brighter, definitely not sunny but a dry line had emerged. And then as we sat on the grid awaiting the green flag lap the rain came down again. Not just a short shower and sufficient to make the start fairly wet and slippery and so it continued for the first few laps until Chris CG tried out the cushioning properties of the Recticel barrier at Tower bringing out some waved yellows until he got himself going again and headed back to the pits. Unfortunately, Myles Poulton also had to retire early due to some electrical gremlins in his 328.

Racing resumed briefly until Castle Combe decided that the barrier at Tower now needed proper attention and sent out the safety car to moderate proceedings for several laps. The subsequent bunching of the field brought a hard charging Tris Simpson up into the mid-pack from his original penalty position start and he made good use of this opportunity once the green flags came out ultimately finishing a solid 10 places higher than he started.

Up at the front though Gary, Colin and Wayne were setting an impressive pace despite the changeable conditions. Ultimately though it was the safety car and restart that came into play to determine the result with Gary out front in the clear and Wayne taking full advantage of the back markers to slip through into 2nd leaving Colin in 3rd. Needless to say, by the time we had returned to the paddock the sun was back out and the rain a distant memory – typical!

Race 2

On Sunday morning, the weather gods were out in full force and with fairly ominous wet conditions for race two we had 17 Ferraris out assembling on the grid with Ray Ferguson, Robert Greaves and Myles not making the assembly area.

With the rain still falling we assembled on the grid and during the green flag lap it was more than apparent that we would be navigating our way around a lot of standing water for the, now shortened, 15 minute race.

From Gary Culver’s clear view from pole position he took no quarter charging in the lead all the way to the chequered flag. Colin Sowter set-off in hot pursuit but an early spin put him too far back to challenge the lead and ended up taking a well deserved overall 2nd.

Chris Compton-Goddard inched his way through the field eventually passing Wayne on lap 6 to steal 3rd overall and improving 7 places from his start position.

Elsewhere, Jim Cartwright retired on lap 4 apparently suffering from a total lack of visibility and similarly Nicky Paul-Barron came into pits on lap 2. Your scribe struggled onwards to the finish with the car running on 6 cylinders for most of the race.

Race 3

By late Sunday afternoon in time for race 3 the conditions had improved slightly; the rain had subsided leaving a very damp track. Once again Gary Culver aka “the Rain Meister” dominated from pole leading all the way to the chequered flag with a fantastically controlled drive and leaving Colin Sowter hot on his heels and Wayne Marrs never too far behind. Safely navigating their way around the back markers they kept their starting positions all the way to the line giving Gary a hat-trick for the weekend.

This time it was Jim Cartwright who wowed the crowds with some lively drifting to get back to the front runners to finish 4th overall having gained an impressive 12 places from his rear of the grid start.

Overall, the Castle Combe Autumn Classic did not disappoint even with the inclement weather and I think we put on a good end-of-season display for the spectators. I also now have 6 months to dry out my Italian electrics and try to coax cylinders 6 & 7 back into life