REID’S TOUGHEST CHALLENGE
There was little doubt that Anthony Reid would take his Cadwell Park weekend guesting in the 750 Motor Club’s RGB Sports 1000 championship seriously. He knows no other way. Nevertheless, he provided early confirmation.
“I could see my two team-mates putting new tyres on during Friday testing,” Reid reports, “and I thought ‘wait, hang on a minute…’”
The former British Touring Car Championship star and Le Mans podium finisher therefore paid for his own new rubber.
“I don’t just come here to make up the numbers,” he says. “I wanted to give myself the best chance.”
And Reid needed every advantage he could get in order to tackle one of his toughest club racing assignments yet.
This was his latest 750MC guest appearance after last year racing in Classic Stock Hatch at Brands Hatch and Historic 750 Formula at Anglesey, taking a win and second place in each.
But he knew that RGB (Road Going Bikes) would be different. The series features sportsprototypes with Btcc-rivalling lap times, built by small manufacturers or even individuals, and it attracts some of the top drivers in club racing. These include reigning champion and perennial series frontrunner Billy Albone, Paul Smith – a multiple champion in Formula Vee – and Danny Andrew, who has enjoyed success in Locost.
“It’s not like the other races I’ve done recently where I come in and win, it’s a bit more challenging,” Reid admits. “In club-level racing this must be the pinnacle.”
Reid knew what he was letting himself in for, having sampled a number of different cars during a pre-season track test for Autosport at Donington Park.
“I expected it to be about as tough as it is, because I did the five-car test and was able to look at lap times and talk to people,” he says. “This is the toughest challenge yet I’ve had at club level. It was like being thrown in at the deep end.”
And it wasn’t just with the tyres that Reid sought alterations, he also wanted refinements to his Spire GT3-S car – which team-mate Albone took to last year’s championship.
“It’s a new experience for us,” says Spire’s Paul Nightingale. “To work with somebody who’s a bit more professional is very, very interesting. He is very methodical.”
But getting used to the car wasn’t Reid’s only challenge. “I haven’t been at this circuit for 34 years!” he adds. “The last time I raced here was in 1984 in Formula Ford 2000.”
That race included Mauricio Gugelmin, Martin Donnelly and Julian Bailey among others.
It wasn’t long before Reid was up to speed and was enraptured by the RGB concept. “They are very quick little cars with a superb motorcycle engine,” he says. “They rev through until about 13,000 revs.
“They’re cheap to run compared to the sort of stuff I would test and race [annual running costs are in the region of £10,000]. But it gives you just as much satisfaction to go quickly in one of these as anything else.”
Reid qualified third for the opening 15-minute sprint race, 1.2 seconds off Albone’s pace. He thought the front row was possible but for his tyres, arriving minutes beforehand, not being scrubbed in.
He was also concerned about the standing start, with the car’s long first gear and narrow rev range. Yet Reid had the best launch of the frontrunners, “but then for some reason it wouldn’t come out of gear from first to second and I lost the momentum”.
Running third, Reid’s Spire developed understeer and his other team-mate for the weekend, John Cutmore, got by on Park Straight though Reid counterattacked late on.
“I had two big shots of trying to pass him; I was right on his tail crossing the line,” Reid says. “Again the gear change, the critical one from third to fourth, seemed to hang up and I had to lift a couple of times to get it. Otherwise I think I would have been alongside him at the end.”
He eventually finished fourth, 13s off victor Albone whose more up-to-date Spire had revised front suspension allowing a more stable aero platform under acceleration.
Reid’s guest appearance in the series was certainly welcomed by some of the other drivers on the grid. “The formula needs some exposure,” says Christopher Wesemael from Spire’s rival constructor Mittell. He made his debut in the series this year and briefly passed Reid in the opening race. “We’re driving really fast cars with loads of grip that cost really not very much. These cars are amazing and he’s coming in and seeing what they’re like.
“It’s just nice to have a dice with someone you know is a very accomplished driver – he looks so smooth around the track.
“John Cutmore and Anthony had some definite aggressive dancing with each other! I was told by my mechanics Anthony was flashing him!”
The weather was very different for the 25-minute feature race, with damp and changeable conditions, which contributed to an early excursion for Reid.
“I’d set the brake balance according to the conditions, but mainly in the wetter part of the track,” he explains. “It seemed to dry out quite quickly, and I came up to Park and braked late and it’s handbraked the rear, so I had a half spin onto the grass. I couldn’t find reverse so I had to wait for the marshals.
“But at that point it started raining again and the car started to feel really good.”
He was able to climb back to sixth when the race was red-flagged and the results declared at twothirds’ distance after Cutmore left the track at Park. “I was praying there was enough time left to restart the race,” Reid adds. “But there were just too many cars off…frustrating because I think I could have had a really good finish.
“It’s just a measure of how competitive this championship is,” Reid concludes of his weekend. “If they could have more quality drivers – the frontrunners are really fast – and more cars it could be a fantastic championship.” ■