LCR Race Reports - SVRA Mid-Ohio

	On the podium again: Pete & Hamish - this time with Alex Quattlebaum in the center spot (Photo by Bob Harrington - click to enlarge)
SVRA Mid-Ohio Sprint Vintage Grand Prix Mansfield, Ohio — June 18-20, 2004

Some of you will remember that last year, Mr. Chapman's annual pilgrimage to Mid-Ohio was aborted by a nasty kidney-stone attack (all the knee-slapping details here). This year, he did accompany his crew to Mid-Ohio, but in a heavily medicated state, at least during the 8-hour journey there. A loading accident on the previous day had sent him on another annual pilgrimage — to the Emergency Room — this year to have his right knee and hand x-rayed.
He emerged with an ace bandage wrapped around his very battered, bruised and swollen knee, a splint on his hand to ensure the repair of a couple of broken bones, and a few stitches for good measure. The splint gave a rather interesting expression to Lee's hand — a perfect physical reiteration of the utterance he'd made when the accident happened.	You get the picture...

	The weekend in Mid-Ohio started off with howling gales and torrential rain. The winds were so strong that trying to secure the tent sides was more like trying to reef the sails on a ship in the middle of a squall.

Alongside the crew, Hamish was in his element lashing the tent to the trailer and the race cars — the sailor in him (pirate, more likely…) clearly on display.	Aaaarrrgg.....
Thankfully, the rest of the weekend settled down to some really lovely weather — not the usual heat of Ohio-in-summer that we normally have to endure, but ideal racing weather.
Now that we've dispensed with our injury and weather reports...... here's the Race Report! Participating this year at Mid-Ohio were Ian Baas and Lowell Blossom, as well as Pete Gulick, Hamish Somerville, Gordon Medenica and Tom Yeager. This was Hamish and Gordon's first time out in their F2 cars. Hamish had not even seen his new car in person yet. Considering that LCR started off primarily focused on sports racers, we had quite a presence on the Formula 70 grid, to wit:
Pete in his F/2 ex-Giacomo Agostini Voxson Marlboro Chevron B42,	(photos by Matt Benedict) and Ian in the Blossom March 79B Atlantic,
Hamish in his F2 March 782 ex-Jarrier Team Univac Semi-Works car (below), - Photo by Bob Harrington
and Gordon in his BMW-powered F2 "ex-Marc Surer Team car," shown at right being driven back to the paddock by Bill Pedersen right after Marc Surer's spectacular "demonstration" race in the car against Hans Stuck at Lime Rock Park last year. (Read all about it here.)


We had our usual entry of 2-litre sports racers — Pete in his BMW-powered Chevron B23 and Hamish in the BDG-powered B23. The smaller bore sports racers of Tom Yeager in his Merlyn Mk6 and Lowell in his Elva Mk7 gave the team a strong presence in Group 5.

Merlyn Mk6 of Tom Yeager - Photo by Bob Harrington (click to enlarge)		Elva Mk7S of Lowell Blossom - Photo by Matt Benedict (click to enlarge)
Early going was spent trying to sort out the handling of Lowell's Elva and Tom's Merlyn. We still cannot quite get to grips with the 7S. However, change of springs and roll-bar settings seemed to improve the car bit by bit — that is, until the Enduro, when young Ian spun out on the first lap and could not restart! Maybe the rear was stiffened up just a little too much, even for Ian to gather up.
Tom's Merlyn came in bit by bit as the weekend proceeded. We tried to get him more comfortable in the car and tune the chassis more to his liking. Times improved, and the car certainly had the legs on every other Merlyn attending this reunion weekend. Chapman gets Yeager's feedback. (no small feat, this position, with his bum knee.) - Photo by Sharon Blossom
The crew between pitstops.... - Photo by Sharon Blossom	Hamish tried his hand in the Enduro for historic cars, lying third overall for much of the race, and even taking over second, albeit briefly, before his battery let him down. With the car misfiring, he called it quits and pulled into the pits to retire with only a few minutes left to run. Time to make some changes! From here on in, the car will be prepared to do endurance races, with a bigger, stronger battery, quick-fill fuel system, and pitstop charging. We made Pete's car a winner by doing these things and we can give Hamish the same advantage in his Chevron B23.

Driving solo in the Enduro, Tom came in a competitive 3rd, having challenged Travis in his Lotus 23 throughout the race. Pretty good for only the car's second outing. Lots more to come, apparently, as Tom was very enthusiastic about his new ride.	Nicely done Tom! - Photo by John Heard
- Photo by Bob Harrington
	Pete's B42 had succumbed to cooling problems, losing water (thought to be a head gasket at the time). Hamish was still getting comfortable in the March after we had blown a seat for him and cut the screen down so that he could actually see out of the car. He just got quicker and quicker as the laps went down, gamely fighting off the much more experienced Phil Harris to the flag. A really cool drive. Scottie, Lee & Lowell follow the action trackside - Photo by Sharon Blossom

The sprint races got off to a good start. Ian decimated the field in his 79B Atlantic. Bobby Brown gave chase, but could not match Ian's pace. So a popular victory came our way, with Ian taking the top step on the podium! - Photo by Matt Benedict
This time around, Ian Baas snatches victory from Bobby Brown.	Well done Ian!!! (and he gets the girl too! -- lovely Emily) - Photos by Sharon Blossom

It was Gordon's first time out in his stunning white BMW-powered March, and he was steadily getting to know the car and track, lap by lap, moving up the field as his confidence in the car (still an unknown quantity) and track grew. A fine effort in his most recent acquisition. And while he doesn't yet believe it, in no time at all he will be just as comfortable in the March as he was in his trusty Chevron B6.
The Brabham BT29 of Lowell Blossom (Ian sitting on the wheel - above) was running mid-field most of the weekend. Power or grip, try as we might, the car just didn't quite have it. Almost, but not quite. Although Mid-Ohio is not an absolute power circuit, we are certainly lacking some horses even here. - Photos by Sharon Blossom	Lowell gamely brought the car home a disappointing 4th for him, after making a strong challenge for 3rd. Above, Ian brings a smile to his grandfather's face, as always.

The last race of the day gave us our final podium finishes of the weekend.
Alex Q in his 2-litre CanAm car (actually 2.3) was the fastest in a field that included only two true 2-litre cars.	Why is this????
	Close and hot on Alex Q's heels were Pete, Hamish and John Higgins. In fact, Hamish got the jump at the start and was in second place out of Turn One. - Photos by Bob Harrington
Next time around, experience became a factor, and Pete took second. Hamish gave chase for the rest of the race, but try as he might, he could do nothing to force Pete into an error.	Great to see them both back on the podium, just as they were with Brian Redman at VIR the weekend before. Well done!

Thanks to Wayne, Bill, Thatcher, Tom and Rodney for a huge effort and top-notch teamwork. CHEERS!


We also got to celebrate a birthday this weekend — Tom Fox's 36th! Happy Birthday Tom! (Oh go on, have some cake ....)