A tew y€arr ato a qulct, rnodort Welrhrnan won a lTcrtgrn natt GOrtl

W E S T E R NM A I L , M O N D A Y ,
MtsER19 1983
A tew y€arr ato a qulct, rnodort
Welrhrnan won a lTcrtgrn natt GOrtl.
p,ctltlon whlch cnablod hln to hcvo a
tllot drlve ln a rochg car at Brondr
Ilatch. On Sunday Tln Davler
(rllht),
tronr Leinpotor, hopcr to
rccuro thc Ford trlOOO chenplonrhlp
ln thc John Playor Grand Prtx ol
Euroln - wlth anothcr llolthnant
Ksrl Joncr, hlr lormor nochanlc, hot
on hlr heolr lor tho Erandr Hatch
Gharnplonrhlp.
A rpoclal toaturc
nodnle,'lhr
ses.o..es
\
sp4t5
sas
uwv-gulE
Ford Cortina engine. FF 2000- as lt ls known
- started as an invention of John Webb of
Brands Hatch and, like hls other successtul
enterprise with the origlnal Formula Ford, lt
has becomean essentialpart of British raclng.
Nigel Mansell, the Lotus Grand Prix drlver,
drove in it; Eouttr African Rad Dougall used it
as a stepplng stone to Formula 2 racing and
Irishman Tommy Byme and Brazlllan Da Sllva
saw lt as a vltal step lnto Formula One reclng.
On Sunday Tlm Davies of Lampeter has
the chance to cllnch this year's tltle. If he does
he wlll be the first Brtton to wln the Brltish
championship slnce its inceptlon ln 1981. Ite
will also be ttle first Wel8hman to win a Brttlsh
title in a modem car wtttr slick tyres and
sophlstlcated aerodynamlcs.
The son of farmtng parents, alter he left
school to become ttte village mechanlc, Tim
Davies was started on his raclng career when he
won a competltion ln the WestefiiMoll to tind a
successorto the late Tom Pryce,of Ruthln, who
raced F1 for Shadow tn the 'Seventles.
First prlze was a set of lessons at the
Brands Hatch Racing $chool and a test drive in
the Davlna Gallca Formula I car. Ttre bug bit
him end Davles stayed at Brands Hatch to
become an lnstructor and wittr money from the
WesternMoil took in the 1978Dunlop Star ol
Tomorrow serles wlth hls lrlend Karl Jones as
mechanic.
Jones later loUowedDavles to Brands and
cunently leads the John Player Champion of
Brands series.
But the l9?8 season failed, when, with
Davies leading the series, the money ran out.
Undeterred Davies then picked up with the
Formula Ford 2000seriesbuilding a solid reputation a6 a test driver and a man who could
conjure a wln out ot an unlikely car.
In 19?9he drove the Crickhowell Caravans
TDC Crossley without maklng much impression. "19?9 was Reynards year and aU I could
manage was a lourth place but it helped me get
Autowindscreens sponsorship lor 1980."Driv'
TfAGE
ofa
champ
ing a Royale R,P 2? Qavies was second in the
Motocraft seriesafter changlng lrom his inltial
cholee of the Reynard SF 80.
Wlthout a drlve for most of 1981 Davies
took over the PenistoneRoyale RP 30with half
of the 24 rounds gone and stormed to five wins
finally taklng 4ttt place in ttte championship
wlth a fine win in the tolevlsedCanon Calculators race at Thruxton on November ?. His
perlormancesearnedhlin one ol the prestiglous
Glrovewoodawards plus a t1,000 prize.
In 1982 havfungsecured sponsorship lrom
Profile Products and The Clover Consultancy,
Davles moved over to the ll,ogerCowmanteam
and spent most of 1982ln Derby preparing the
teams' Floyale RP 31M.However, 1982was the
year Van Dieman calne good with their new car.
For 1983Tim tried to convinceGlriff, as the
boss of Penistone is alfectionately known' to
back hlm ln Formula 3 but the gheffleld-based
Hardmetal Facing flrm struck up a deal with
Reynardsto run the works FF 2000team and in
the absenceof any money for F3 Davles stayed
with the professlonal Pentstone team.
Davies's skill as a tester had soon confirmed that the superb Hl-tech Fleynard was
going to be the car of the year and alter tluee
wins in the first three raoes had highlighted
Davies and the PenlstoneReynard as the com-
A rlslng star
rcmoining he is olmort
LAMPETERrocing driver
ccrtoin to rorn himtolf o
Korl Joncr olso compltes
ot the John Ployer Grond
onr-off Formulo I drivc.
Prix of Europc on SeP"l om toking coch roco
tcmber 25 ot Etonds
onc ot o timr but I rcolly
Hotch.
wont thot Formulo I
Jones, o 24-yeor-old
tcst," he soid.
mcchonic,ho3dominotad
the Chompion of Bronds
The tcst is the prize
chomgionship since the
going to the chompionbeginning of the seolon rhip winnrr. Add to it thc
in o KS GrouP Roy.
usuolf,I,0(Xl ond you :on
And with six rounds rcc Korl rtonds on the
Korl hos becn offerad o
workr Royoledrive which
could givc him on
outright win but thot
meons hs will hove to
enter for the notionol
roce ond choncedropping
points in the locol chompionshig to his clorcrt
rivolr.
threshold of eorning the
richest prize currently on
offer ot FFl600 level.
" l t i r o d i f f i c u l tc h o i c e
ond I hoven't mode o
decisionyet. I would like
to roce the Royole but I
don't think I con Efford
to," he stoted.
bination to beat there was a large queue at the
Reynard works for replica models.
At Cadwell Park one of the less experienced drivers had trted to force his way past
Davies and Gugelmin when really there walr no
room there. All three cars ended up as junk and
all Davies got out of the day was a spralned
back and a broken wrlst. Three weeks later,
with a new car and a wrlst ln plaster, Davies
bounced back at Donlngton to take pole posttion but this tlme wlth not enoughwlng added
durlng some"on the gdd" panic changeshe slld
hopelessly down the order to 10th place.
"I have never won at Donlngton and I'm
beginning to wonder lf I ever wlll." Brands
Hatch brought another pole posltlon and
another early exlt.
From belng runsway leader Davles was
now 20 points down to Maurlco Ougelmin and
his Van Dleman.
Then Davies stopped the rot with a superb
victory. "Gugelmin caught me wlth a pertect
start and I was consclousof my posltlon ln the
championshlp so I trted to make sure I dldn't
go off at tbe first corner and someoneelsewent
past me!"
By maklng two declsive out-braktng
manoeuvresin front of the grandstand Davies
had the lead by lap three and walked away with
the race.
"The secret of that day was that I was the
better driver. I had the wing on a very low angle
and I was able to control the car, while keeping
the speeds up in and through the corner
although it was slidlng about. That meent that
I was faster out of the comer and therefore
quieker down the straight."
At Silverstone on the following Sunday
Davles's luck was ln, for although Gugelmln
was fastest ln practice and led in to the lirst
corner, Davies grabbed the lead at Woodcote
on the end of the first clrcuit. "It wasn't easyto
get past, in lact it was quite a struggle and until
he pulled off on the fourth lap wlth gearbox
trouble, he was presslng me."
So at the start of Beptember,having scored
another win wlth hls main rival out of the
polnts he again had a 60 polnt lead. Naturally
1984 and Formula 3 started to figure tn hls
thoughts.
"I've had one-off drlves ln Forniula 3 before
but really by the time the important events
come up the regulars have sorted out the best
equipment and you haven't a chanceol making
an impression.8o this year, although there was
a possibility of a drive at the British GlrandPrix
meeting I decidedto give it a miss and concentrate on the 2000series.However Formula 3 is
my target for next year and I have two prospectlve sponsorswho have Europe in mind so if it
all works out that's where I'll be headlng."