Legends: TWF1 Zandvoort Report

For the first time this year the F1 field was split into it's divisions as the field numbers continue to grow.

In Division one 17 drivers lined up for their race with Lotus's continuing to prove to be the best cars in the field as the front 3 rows of the grid were locked out by the Chapman creations. 

Turn 1 saw a bit of jossling as Bento squeezed Berti as the lead pair headed into the famous Tarzan turn.  Jef and Dave Hawt also rubbed wheels a bit but all 17 cars made it through the first few corners in one piece.

Further round the lap Ronny Nunez was the first, of many drivers to clip the chicanes curbs and lost his rear wing against the armco barriers. Towards the end of the lap a little more jossling, including some contact between Rouke and Rick Stratton finished off an action packed start to the race.

Stratton was struggling a little in the T4 Ferrari and down the main straight Rouke was able to pass him. Into Tarzan Dave Hawt had a small spin but up front the three Lotus 80's were battling hard.

Lap 2 and Timo made a lovely move on Berti to move into second and the lead 3 already looked to be clear of the battle for 4th. Mike Perray, having recently taken delivery of a BT48, had made an excellent start and was running fourth ahead of two more Lotus's.

Perray's race fell apart two laps later, however, with a hefty off that removed his rear wing. He would run near the tail of the field for the next 10 or so laps before retiring. Langford was the next driver to lose his wing, having taken fourth from Perray he spun in Tarzan.

Fourth place would appear to be a 'bogey' position in this race, Ronny had been running fourth when he went off, Ales was next in the position and he retired on lap 14. 

Ales was very vocal about his retirement. He had been fully alongside Berti approaching Tarzan but for some reason decided to back out of the pass. Roberto turned in early, catching Ales unawares, who spun. Contact wasn't made by Ales made it clear he felt the crash was Berti's fault.

Meanwhile up front Timo had caught Bento and on lap 9 he went past after the latter lost it in the chicane. 

The front 8 drivers were fairly stable by now but behind drivers were in all sorts of trouble. the pits becoming a busy place with several drivers making multiple pit visits.  Lap 33 and things started to hot up with the leaders again. Peltola was clear but increasing pressure on Miguel caused him to go off.

Berti tried to take advantage but unfortunately contact was made and her dropped to the dreaded fourth position. Bret Metcalf had been running there and benefited moving up to 3rd. At the end of the next race Miguel spun in Tarzan and in doing so upset Rik Walker with what was probably a poorly judged recovery.

Nigel took the place but once again was another 4th placed 'victim' binning it at the chicane. 

The rest of the event was fairly uneventfull and Timo came home winner by an impressive 25.4s.

Zandvoort was clearly proving a challenge and thirteen Division 2 drivers faced the same challenges. How would they cope?

Ligier's locked out the front row and a 3rd lined up in 4th on the grid with the Brabham of Corrado adding a splash of red to the front two rows.

Simon Baggett made a terrible start dropping several places and allowing Don to take the lead ahead of the Brabham. Baggett clung onto third. Behind the places were a little strange as a pre-race restart caused by technical issue had muddled the grid. 

Phillipe Marot, who had qualified last, was thus 6th with the Pink Pig of Martin Cooper just behind. Don made it '2 from 2' as both front grid drivers had a bad start by spinning in Turn 3 and thus Corrado led as the field headed into the countryside.

Cooper was all over the back of Marot as the three drivers, starting from the pitlane serving a qualifying penalty, joined the race. Marot made a small mistake approaching the chicane and Cooper went for the pass. The two made contact and Cooper was forced to pit for repairs to his car due to damage caused when he hit the armco.

The opening lap was less dramatic than for the Div 1 drivers, although one last bit of drama saw David Pym having to take avoiding action as a driver rejoined.

At the start of Lap 2, Sal Tallini went for a pass on Kat into T1. From a long way back he went for a gap which Kat fortunately let open as she saw him coming. Tallini spun narrowly avoiding hitting the Ferrari.

Baggett went for a pass to take the lead in the same position at the start of lap 2, ran wide and rejoined in fourth after a light kiss off the barriers. Corrado thus continued to lead ahead of Eric and Gigi. David K in 6th was ahead of David Pym.

Eric became the next victim of the chicane, sliding along the barriers and dropping to 4th.  Corrado continued to lead while the Ligiers battled hard behind. Their battle became one for the lead on lap five when the leader became the latest chicane victim. He was a bit robust in his defence after squeezing Don very hard two corners later and continuing in sixth.

Eric was looking mighty impressive keeping more or less out of trouble and holding third ahead of Don who was putting a lot of pressure on the Tyrell.

Simon took the lead on Lap seven into Tarzan and wouldn't look back but behind Gigi was under pressure from Eric. He would absorb the pressure lap after lap as 2nd thru 4th battled hard. DK was holding well onto 6th with David Pym unable to keep up at this stage.

Two drivers had retired by now with Ivor and Tallini retiring well before half distance. Cooper was starting to close on Scott as she closed in on Marot in 8th. Marot was lapping mainly in the 1m22's while Scott was in the 1m19's and on lap 15 the two were nose to tail.

Marot was very slow in the chicane and thus the Ferrari was all over him, into the penultimate term Scott went for the pass, the two touched, spun and Cooper was through. 

On Lap 19 Don became the next victim of the chicane, this strange corner seeming to serve little purpose. Normally chicanes are there to slow drivers but this one is a flat in 4th corner and as such cars approach it at around 150mph. Get it wrong and the accident WILL be big. 

David K, Corrago, Scott and Gigi all got caught out by this tricky corner and most of the pitstops were caused by this one section of the circuit. 

Don provided the last of the drama losing a wheel.. yep you've guessed it in the chicane.. on the last lap and limping round to finish 7th. 

Simon Bagget won impressively by over 30s from Eric and David Pym. His Time would have been enough to finish on the lead lap of the Div 1 race in around 6th place.

Racer of the day would probably be Martin Cooper who showed how to drive with minimal mistakes and a great recovery drive.