First Event Of The Year – Hampton Downs 2017
What a great first race meeting of the year at Hampton Downs, we had the beautiful Lotus 22 racing in the Formula Junior races also the Lola T192 2 seater was there which Greg was doing VIP tours around the circuit in, however Greg was invited to race the Lola in the Libre Historic Single Seater Atlantic which we believe is the first time a two seater has raced in a single seater race, it is certainly a first for Hampton Downs.
Firstly the Lotus 22 had a brilliant weekend with taking pole in qualifying on the first day with a time of 1:53.546, 1 seconds ahead of Martin Bullock in 2nd place. When you get pole on the first day of the weekend you always get the feeling the weekend will be special, little did we know how special it was going to be. The first race was pretty straight forward with Greg leading from lights to flag and also posting the fastest lap on the race with a lap time of 01:56.057. Race 2 came around towards the end of the day and it was much of the same story Greg lead from the first lap until the end of the race finishing 12.579 seconds ahead Martin Bullock in 2nd place and also setting a new fastest lap with a lap time of 1.51.642. Sunday saw the last of the 3 Formula Junior races with 2 wins out of 2 Greg was feeling very confident and for good reason as he once again lead for the whole race taking the 3rd win of the weekend out of 3 races and also getting the 3rd fastest lap of the weekend with a lap time of 1.58.101. So Greg finished the weekend in the Formula Junior qualifying in pole, getting 3 wins out of 3, getting 3 fastest laps and also setting a new track record for the formula junior class with a record time of 1.51.642.
Greg was planning on using the Lola T192 2 seater just for giving VIP a track ride around Hampton Downs including the local MP but to his surprise he was invited to race in the Libre Historic Single Seater Race which we believe is the first time a 2 seater car has raced in a single seater race. Greg had to start from the back (34th) as he wasn’t involved in qualifying that didn’t stop him though, Greg spent the whole race moving his way through the pack making up 23 places in 4 laps finishing the race in 11th! Race two saw Greg climb up another 4 places in 2 laps finishing in 7th place. Greg was determined in race 3 to join the front runners of the pack and try and take the win having starting from the back of the grid in race 1. Greg started strong making up 2 position in 2 laps taking him into 5th place. In the 4th lap Greg moved up to 2nd place and started to push on Ken Smith who was leading from the first lap, unfortunately time was not on our side as the race came to an end with Greg only 0.504 seconds behind Ken Smith.
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