I said (regarding sports racers being gridded with open wheelers):
> > It was mostly ok, except for the one that decided to
> > contend with the Mallock U2 a little too hotly.
> > I think both of them were a little excessive.
Malcom said:
> Simon, I was spectating at the Wine Country event. I watched that race
> as a spectator and found it very thrilling. Pardon my being less than
> fully informed (especially about the relative performance of the 1100cc
> Mallock U2 and the (probably twin cam?) Lotus 23), but I was very
> surprised (and delighted) to see that the Mallock could hold the Lotus.
The year before, Ken Tyrrell was reported to have said "Mallock
who???!!" as the ugly duckling Mallock passed a Cooper F1 car. The car
is incredibly fast, and superbly driven. It is always a contender for
the lead among all 58-63 formula cars. The car has several things going
for it: a motor that seems to rev forever, a very skilled driver, and
an original design that's probably more aerodynamic than the slender,
pretty Loti it often contends with. I always point the car by when it
appears.
>I think that I saw them get VERY close around turn 2 toward the end of
>the race, perhaps you were alluding to an incident of that character, or
>do you think that generally they were just trying too hard?
Both.
According to other witnesses, there was contact. The thing that
bothered me is that the sports racers are normally a faster group, and
that the Mallock driver "rose to the challenge" with what appeared to me
to be insufficient regard for the safety of other drivers on the track.
They passed me on either side with no regard for which way I was
pointing. They were so locked into their own battle, they could not
have had full attention on making safe passes. I think we were lucky.
It could have been worse. For an HMSA event, I think they were being
too aggressive. What's thrilling from the stands can be pretty
frightening on the track. The whole weekend was marred by numerous
incidents that were simply unnecessary. We had already received the
"Cool it you idiots" speech on Friday after John Sutton rolled his Jag
XK120 in practice, and by Sunday these two were at it tooth and nail.
This was the first time I saw open wheelers gridded with sports racers
at this event. I think a little extra prudence was called for.
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