BARC Wales - NEWSLETTERS etc.
Richard Singleton's 2008 Plans
Richard Singleton, the 2006 Barc Formula Renault Champion who received a timely boost at the end of last year by winning the Formula Renault Winter Series, has confirmed that his plans for 2008 will centre on a second season in the Formula Renault UK championship, but this time the RS Racing Team will race two cars with the help of Hillspeed Racing; one car for Richard and the other for Bridgend racer Alex Morgan, who was 9th in the 2007 Championship.
Richards father Paul said "We are happy to have Alex on board, it gives the team a real Welsh feel. We know we will be up against a lot of teams with a lot bigger budgets than we have, but Richard showed how well he can drive by taking the Winter Series with some excellent driving and we are sure we can spring a few suprises".
Run over twenty rounds at ten different circuits, the 2008 Formula Renault UK Championship starts at Brands Hatch on 29/30th March, and will run on the full Grand-Prix tracks at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, as well as make visits to the more familiar British Circuits.
The rounds of the 2008 Championship will take place as follows :
29th/30th March Brands Hatch (Indy) BTCC
12th/13th April Rockingham Motor Speedway BTCC
03rd/04th May Donington Park BTCC
17th/18th May Thruxton BTCC
31st May/01st June Croft BTCC
07th/08th June Silverstone (GP) World Series by Renault
12th/13th July Snetterton BTCC
26th/27th July Oulton Park BTCC
30th/31st August Silverstone (National) BTCC
20th/21st September Brands Hatch (GP)
Double Welsh win in the 2007 BARC Winter Series
Richard Singleton and Hwyel Lloyd rounded off the year in style by winning their classes in the Formula Renault UK Winter Championship, a mini-series of races at Donington and Croft near Darlington. For Singleton in the Formula Renault UK class, it is a timely boost after finishing 7th overall and 3rd in the Graduate Class in the main 2007 Formula Renault UK Championship, but he had to do it the hard way after winning the first race at Donington Park. He scored well in the second Donington race and the first at Croft before facing potential disaster in the final race. “I got caught up in a crash and dropped back to 16th so I had to battle to get back to 8th which gave me enough points to take the title. Overall it was quite good” Singleton said. “We have plans for next season and we may do the Formula Renault UK Championship again but nothing is set in concrete.
Meanwhile in the class for BARC championship cars, Hwyel Lloyd had a clean sweep at Donington taking Pole Position, winning his class and setting fastest lap in both races. However Croft proved a tough track but Hwyel backed up his wins with a 4th and 2nd place to take his class to add to the 2007 Formula Renault BARC title. “It wasn’t the best weekend as our car wasn’t as good at Croft as it had been at Donington. We are hoping to move to Formula 3 next year, and we’ve got 70% of the budget already, so hopefully we can do it” If so Hywel will be the first Welsh driver to race in the British Formula 3 Championship since 1989 and the first from North Wales since the legendary Tom Pryce.
Progress during our 2007 Season
The horrendous July weather cleared long enough to allow BARC Wales Centre to run the Llandow Sprint event, although some competitors had been on the road for 20 hours owing to the floods, and many could not make the event at all, as they were unable to get to us.
In the end 85 intrepid competitors from the Trident Welsh, the Midland Speed , the SDB Motorsport, Westfield and the Sevenoaks Championships made it safely. On the day there were showers which thankfully allowed most of timed runs to compete in reasonable conditions, and the track was dry for the Top 12 Run off.
Among the BARC Wales members competing, Brian Jones won Class 3D with his Westfield SEi and Henryk Kozlowski continued his recent fine form. He was again the fastest BARC Wales member, winning his class in his Jedi Mk1/6 and making it into Top
12 run off. His girlfriend Dianne got her first taste of sprinting, and Henryk again donated his splendid prize of a watch to the Marshals Raffle and the lucky winner was Kevin McMullin.
On the day it was the Bill & Matt road-show again with Bill Oliver setting the Fastest Time of the Day with a time of 74.33 seconds, but in the Top 12 competition, runoff times were even quicker as the track had dried, and Matt Oliver came out fastest with a time of 66.78 seconds. (Henryk was 10th)
In the Welsh Sports & Saloon Championship, Keith Butcher is the current points leader with 76 points, after another class win with his Audi V8star in the latest round at Mallory Park.
Defending Champion Andrew Williams is currently 2nd with 75 points, while Graham Cole has climbed into 3rd place with 71 points. The 2007 Championship reaches the halfway stage at Pembrey at the end of July
Hwyel Lloyd continues to lead the Formula Renault BARC championship after scoring his 3rd win of the season at Silverstone, whilst in the Formula Renault UK Championship Richard Singleton has found that a change of team has given him a boost with some good showings at Oulton Park and Donington, where he was 2nd in practice, and finishing 4th in a rain hit race.
Preparations for the 2007 Season
At the BARC Wales AGM early in 2007, it was pleasing to see some new faces taking up the challenge and the Centre Chairman Alun Morgan welcomed Tim & Ben Preece onto the committee to join their dad Ernie Preece, who along the current retiring members was re-elected for a further term.
Anita Williams (Vice Chair), Jenny Butler (Secretary), Ken Evans, Brian Parsons, Brian Jones, Allan Jones, and Robert Allender will make up the full committee.
The chairman remarked on a busy and successful year with capacity entries at the Centres sprints and with BARC Wales members Brain Jones and Henryk Kozlowski amongst those taking silverware in the Welsh Championships.
Not only that, but the centre itself was in the limelight and Alun Morgan was presented with prestigious Tyrell Motorsport Trophy by MSA Chairman Colin Hilton at the WAMC Awards in January. The Tyrell Trophy is awarded to the organisers of the best event in the Trident Engineering Welsh Sprint & Hillclimb Championship.
Anita Williams was awarded a silver salver by the Chairman of the Welsh Association of Motor Clubs, in recognition of the work she has done over many years for the WAMC and also as co-ordinator of the Engineering Welsh Sprint & Hillclimb Championship. Anita has now retired from that position, and the torch has passed to Alun Morgan who will take over the reins.
On track, the Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship is due to start at Pembrey on 15/16 April with defending Champion Andy Williams looking to become only the 2nd driver to win the title for three years in a row, but there will be plenty of opposition this season if the recent test day is anything to go by.
Welsh Racers on the right track at Winter Series
Welsh racers Hywel Lloyd from Corwen & Richard Singleton from Llanfairfechan, have been finding their feet in the intensive Formula Renault UK Winter Mini Series with four races in seven days. With two races at Brand Hatch and two at Croft near Darlington it has been an excellent grounding for next season with a grid full of experienced Continental drivers as well as the regular British drivers.
Both drivers had some drama as well as good results with Richard Singleton taking 4th place in race one at Brands Hatch but was unable to finish race two after gear selection problems halted his race. Hywel Lloyd however missed practice after his car was damaged by a spinning car during pre-race testing.
With damage to both the car and engine, Hywel and his team faced a frantic race to repair the race, helped by Richard Singleton and his dad Paul and only just made it onto the grid making up to 18th place in race one and 20th in race two. Hywel said “It was one of those things, I thought the guy was going to miss me but he lost control on the grass and spun back across the track and hit me. Thanks to Richard and his dad we got the car back together sometime after midnight, but the new engine was very tight so we had to be careful and I was just running it in”
With only six days before the 2nd round of the mini series at Croft, time to do testing was at a premium and with one race in dry conditions and with the other in the pouring rain the where plenty of logistical problems for both teams to contend with. Singleton took 11th place in the first practice session and Lloyd was 22nd, but Lloyd made the gamble on running slicks tyres in the wet second practice session. “It was a gamble and if the practice session has lasted another five minutes it might have paid off” However despite starting low down, Lloyd made up it up 12th place in both races having overtaken almost a dozen cars in both races.
Singleton meanwhile made it up to 5th in race one before storming off the grid in the wet final race making up to 2nd in the first few corners and shaping for a challenge for the lead, before a moment on the grass at the flat out Sunny Curve dropped him to 8th Clearly with the bit between his teeth Singleton carved his way up to challenge for 2nd place before a last corner touch dropped him to 4th place at the end.
Richards dad Paul summed up“ We really enjoyed the weekend and we are looking forward to next season. We may do some testing but bascially we are going to take some time to relax before the season restarts in March next year. However there are a few offers to consider before the season restarts in March next year”
As far as Lloyd is concerned he confirmed “I am looking forward to next season. We may do some testing but hope to continue with the same basic set up with some extra help when the season restarts in March next year”
End of 2006 Season Newsletter
July was all action with the two big sprint events dominating proceedings, but in between times Ken Evans, one of our top marshals, won a top prize of a trip around the new McLaren Technical Centre! Ken, who was one of five marshals from across the UK to win this special prize, described the day out as "incredible". Amongst the highlights were seeing the new cars being set up for the German Grand Prix and the display of the old Prost & Senna cars and a McLaren F1 road car. At the end of the tour they were given an excellent goody bag with a Kimi model car.
There were big entries for the July sprints at Pembrey and Llandow. The weather for the Pembrey double header was mixed with sunshine for the 1+¾ lap run on Saturday. Sunday showed Pembreys' other side with some overnight rain which had burnt off by midday for the traditional ¾ lap runs but there was no stopping Roy Dawson who set FTD and won the Top 12 run-off on both days. Simon Rogers also set the fastest time in a giant 26 car Caterham 7 Class on both days.
Meanwhile at Llandow on 21st July, there was another full entry but Sprint Championship Leader Roy Dawson was eclipsed in the main event by Steve Broughton who took FTD in his OMS CF04 with a time of 69.01 seconds after Dawson missed his second timed run. However Dawson was back on song in the Top-12 run off to finish two seconds ahead of Broughton; In contrast just over a second covered the next four runners. Tony Wiltshire was the winner in a 12-car racing car class,and there was a large entry of Westfields.
It was nice to see BARC Wales members Peter Hills, Brian Carter & Henryk Kozlowski amongst the drivers representing the club, with Henryk getting inside the Top-20 with his Jedi Mk6.
The planning for next years events has already started!
In The Welsh Sports & Saloon Championship, Peter Williams has narrowed the gap to the points leader Andrew Williams after he took a win double at Pembrey on August 20th. With Peter continuing in this form we are in for another last gasp thriller, as Andy tries to defend his championship with only 14 points to spare. There was also some record breaking action with Chris 'Lofty Everill' and his pretty Ginetta G20 coupe setting a new Class C lap record for Pembrey with a time of 64.401 seconds.
It was also nice to see young Welsh drivers making an impact in single-seater racing, with Richard Singleton from Llanfairfechan in North Wales, going on from his recent win at Pembrey to take the BARC Formula Renault Championship title in dominant fashion. Richard has not been alone, with Hywel Lloyd from Corwen for company, with Hywel scoring well to take 5th in the championship. Both Richard and Hywel are looking to build on their progress this season and move up to the Renault UK Championship and will have a run at the final races at the TOCA finals at Silverstone. The Renault UK Championship is a major step along the way to the top and we will watch their progress with interest, to see if they can follow the much missed Tom Pryce into Formula One. Tom was from North Wales too, so maybe there is something in the water!
Singleton clinches championship at Brands Hatch
Richard Singleton from Llanfairfechan clinched the 2006 BARC Renault Championship with a sparkling display of driving on the tight and twisty Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.
Singleton started the weekend with a handy points lead over Jordan Oakes, the only driver who could overtake him, but immediately stamped his authority by clinching pole position for the first of the weekends two races, with a time of 46.257 seconds, almost ½ a second quicker than Oakes could manage! In the second of the two practice sessions Oakes was closer, but Singleton was still fastest taking Pole Position again, no mean feat considering the nature of the track and the massive 28 car entry.
With the final races of the season as part of the prestigious British Touring Car Championship with a big crowd of spectators and Britains top team bosses looking on, and the two championship rivals 1st and 2nd on the grid the pressure was on both drivers to make a good start. However at the start of the first race on Saturday, when the lights changed, Singleton timed his start to perfection and went straight into a lead which he held throughout the 20 lap race, extending his lead to finish over 7 seconds ahead of the 2nd place man. In contrast Oakes got bogged down and failed to mount a challenge to the disappearing Singleton, eventually finishing out of the points in 16th place, almost 30 seconds behind Singleton and in some danger of being lapped!
Having already scored enough points to win the title in race one, Singletons’ dominance was so total that he also won the second race in the same manner even taking the extra points on offer for fastest lap, wrapping up the title in style and becoming the youngest ever Welshman to win a major single-seater title (and only the 4th in 40 years). With the title in his pocket the team launched into celebrations with his father Paul describing his feeling as “Ecstatic. We couldn’t have asked for more. To have taken two poles and two race wins to wrap up the championship, it doesn’t get any better.”
The next item on the agenda for Singleton will be a move up to the more powerful and faster cars in the Renault UK Championship, which has been the launch pad to Formula 1 for several rising stars, and Singleton hopes to feel his way in with a few warm up races in the Winter Series, which starts in October, having already attracted the attentions of one of the top teams in the series.