HSR Historic Fall Classic at Sebring |
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 Hamish Somerville, as usual, drives the wheels off his '72 Chevron B23 at Sebring, gremlins or not.... (click to enlarge) |
 Rick Carlino comes to grips with Sebring's twists and turns in no time in his stunning '71 Chevron Gropa (click to enlarge) |
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- All racing photos by Gordon Jolley - Other photos by Wayne LeBlanc -  |
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This year, for a change, our last event of the season was HSR’s new "Historic Fall Classic at Sebring" in November. Our lineup was to be Pete Gulick and Rick Carlino, fresh from the VIR SVRA Finale, and Hamish Somerville — fresh from frolicking around the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, Pete had to cancel at the last moment and Hamish’s F/2 engine was not completed in time to bring his March to Florida. |
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Nothing we could do about Pete’s absence, but as for Hamish, we wheeled out the Elva Mk7 for a quick prep and to make sure it would last the four-hour Enduro if called upon. |
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Rick brought along young hot-shoe friend, Derrick Jones, to share Enduro duties.
Derrick had never seen this circuit nor driven a car of this kind;
but after a fitting to the car to make him comfortable, he was immediately on the pace, even lapping quicker than his mentor Rick. |
 Sebring Int'l Raceway from the sky |
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Hamish, having been here in the spring, needed no introduction and quickly got into the groove. Whilst the Chevron B23 had a fresh engine and tranny, its tires had been fitted halfway through the Watkins Glen weekend in September. He immediately started lapping in the 2.9s, pretty consistently getting down to 2.9:22 — quite remarkable. No other two-liter car got within 4 seconds of him that day. The track may have been especially good, and the weather perfect, but this trend continued all weekend and the yellow B23 maintained its superiority. Times grew over the weekend, but there was still at least a 3-second advantage to Hamish. Avon tires, worn or not, are still the superior sneaks — whatever anybody may think. |
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In the Elva Mk7, Hamish was the star of the field. He then very kindly invited our crewman Thatcher Goddard to share the ride in the Mk7 for the one-hour Enduro on Saturday. To get seat time to familiarize himself with a track he had never seen and a car he had never driven (being an open-wheel kinda guy), Thatcher was all set to qualify the Elva for the Sprint race. Unfortunately, on the first lap a throttle cable retainer detached itself..... so the car was not able to qualify well. Bad luck Thatcher! |
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 (click to enlarge) |
Hamish started the qualifying race proper around 70th on the grid, give or take a place or two, as it was all pretty confusing with such a huge grid. However, six laps after the green flag dropped, Hamish took the checker in 7th place. This was to be his starting place for both of the feature races that followed, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. But, and a big 'but' it was, there was the one-hour Enduro to endure first.
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Hamish was up at the front of the grid. This would be cake — Hamish
would pull out a good lead, hand over to “Thatch” at 35 minutes and we would romp home to an easy win.... no problem.... |
 (click to enlarge) |
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Whilst we were fixing the Elva, Rick & Derrick
were still enduring the one-hour Enduro |
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This would be a warm-up for the following day's four-hour Enduro. All went pretty well for |
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After we had successfully salvaged the Elva from the ashes of the one-hour Enduro, Hamish started his Sprint race from 7th on the grid and came in an easy 1st overall, albeit with a slightly singed odor.... He repeated this result again on Sunday morning, demolishing the opposition with another easy victory.
Well done Hamish!! You da man! |
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And then, it was the classic 4-Hour Enduro on Sunday…. Rick and Derrick teamed up again for this 4-hour race and set off with a really good, even pace — staying out of trouble, but steadily picking off cars. Their pit stops went like clockwork; everything going without a hitch.
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The team of Somerville/Chapman and last-minute recruit, Peter Argetsinger, fared less well. Whilst the Chevron B23 was prepared as well as we thought possible, all manner of stuff happened. Hamish drove the first stint, pulling out a substantial lead on the other Chevron (a B21) with ease. Hamish keeps his cool before the race
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Everything appeared to be fine when Hamish came in to hand over to Chapman. Chapman buckled in with plenty of time in hand (our new quick-fill working well). He fired her up on the 30-second mark to put it into gear at the 5-second mark to go, when the shift-lever promptly became detached and was loose in his hand. Jumping out of the car, pulling the door off, as well as his helmet, gloves and balaclava, he soon found the missing bits in the footwell. |
 (click to enlarge) As quickly as possible (not having time to effect an absolutely perfect repair), the shift lever assembly was reassembled.
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Having lost over a lap to our nearest rival, Chapman rejoined the
race just as the other Chevron was coming up the front straight. The session ended up with contact with the other Chevron whilst lapping a slower Alfa. |
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The car was brought in and handed over to Peter for the last stint before the 20-minute enforced pit stop. This time, the starter would not work. It had vibrated into a million pieces. After a push-start, Peter drove splendidly, bringing us back up through the field, only to run out of gas just before the start of the two enforced pace laps preceding the 20-minute pit stop. This, however, did allow the car to be towed back to the pits, although some 4-5 laps down now. |
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Meanwhile, the Gropa team of Rick and Derrick
was still running like clockwork, with absolutely no problems. They were refueled/serviced and sent back on their way at the restart, having moved well up the field. |
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The Chevron's woes had not ceased. Peter had been driving the B23 with no shifter by the end of his stint. This was repaired yet again. The necessary push-start slowed us at the restart. In fact, we were the last car to start; but Hamish took up the challenge and started plowing through the field….. only for the shifter to come off in his hand now! (click to enlarge)
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The penultimate pit stops came around. The Gropa was running well and sounding even better than when it started, with both of our relative newcomers, Rick and Derrick, really getting in the groove. |
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The shifter on the B23 was fixed once more and we sent Peter
out for the final stint. He was moving back through the field more easily now with the shifter having finally been properly repaired. Although he brought the car in a lowly 20th place, this was in no way indicative of the tremendous
effort put into bringing the car home, lapping at times over 4 seconds quicker than the leading Chevron! |
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Rick and Derrick came in 11th overall, second in class,
a wonderful performance and result. The car could have easily run another 4 hours or more with the same tires and brake pads. Well done both!
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It was a sensational effort by everyone,
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 With pit lane partying following the finish, it was soon dark and time to load up and head for home. |
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Special recognition must be given to ace crewmember Thatcher Goddard for an exceptional effort under extraordinary circumstances. During our prep for the Enduro, the B23 fell off its jack onto poor Thatcher's foot. After brief medical attention by the Sebring emergency crew, Thatch continued to work away, giving little thought to his swelling foot. He finished the prep and attended to Rick in his Sprint race and then ran the pits/pit-strategy, as well as personally overseeing the maintenance of the Gropa. He was hurting by the end of the day, and understandably so — when he finally got home to New York and had a proper x-ray taken, he learned that two or three small bones in his foot had been broken. He was instructed to stay off it for three weeks! (We're pleased to report that said foot has since made a complete recovery.)
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Last but not least....
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 The Official LCR Major Award - yep, it's both vintage and racy!!! (Sorry Pete, your year is up — time to hand it over!!)
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