Chimay

Qui Me Comitat Vincebit

CHIMAY

6th & 7th July 2002

The good news about Chimay '02 is that it only rained on practice day -Sunday was for sunburn. The bad news is that the circuit has developed a bad attack of bus stop chicanery (total now four), and the facilities and organisation remain as marginal as ever (mud/dust, grotty loos, no food or drink, endemic late running).

Two of the chicanes are seriously overdone, with their exits so tight that any 'flow' is destroyed, breaking up a lap into the equivalent of three rolling-start sprints. There are two chicanes on the first straight after the start (one each side of the road); one immediately after the blind right-hander at the top of that straight; and a fourth after the double-apex fast righthand sweeper through the trees on the back of the circuit, prior to the drop down towards the paddock entrance.

Having hoped that Chimay would be kinder on the White E's Moss 'box and my double-declutching technique than Angoulême was last summer, it follows that the reverse proved to be true. With the Pom and a couple of French circuits under its belt since last year, with only basic maintenance along the way, it was perhaps not wholly a surprise when clutch problems intervened. The paddock's E-Type advisory consortium, led by the improbably-named but extremely helpful Justin Rocket, rightly advised an early bath, as Team Cook's strategy director did not wish to return to Suffolk on the back of a truck. We thus cannot report on the racing; but practice alone culled the field considerably, with cars returning to the paddock by truck with monotonous regularity, mostly due to mechanical failure rather than driver error. One Belgian sports-racer managed to have a significant accident against the Armco on the start/finish line with no assistance, charitably we assume due to something falling off; a Corvette and an MGA both lost wheels; a Lotus Cortina went straight on at the blind righthander and nearly demolished itself in the barriers (driver shaken but intact); a Lotus single-seater's suspension collapsed; and various MGBs - there was at least a flotilla present - had a workshop manual's-worth of problems. It did make you wonder whether the standard of preparation was up to scratch - but who am I, the gearless one, to talk?

C.C.

Chimay July 7^th & 8^th, 2001

An impression

(Photographs by Alan Cox and TOPS)

For those who don't know, and there seem to be many, Chimay is about 140 miles from Calais just over the French border in Belgium hence the Grand Prix des Frontiéres which was run on a 6.75 mile road circuit from about 1926 until the early '70s. The circuit used now is nearly 3 miles round and still very much an old style continental road circuit with adverse cambers, pot holes and thick white lines on the braking points as it passes by farms and houses on the outskirts of Chimay. There are a few 'bus stop' chicanes that seemed unnecessarily savage but without something, the circuit would be frighteningly fast.

The TOPS contingent arrived on Friday afternoon in very hot muggy weather. John was there with Robin Lodge's 4CM Maserati in the huge Merrick lorry and there was a move to put up the enormous awning which I thought looked like hard work and would be a waste of effort. I was wrong as it proved to be a Godsend but helping with such an erection did put me off any lingering thoughts I might have had about joining a circus. During the hot afternoon, the farmer in the 'in field' set out to spread slurry. This was not ordinary stuff but the 'Chateau Lafitte' of the shit world having been fermented for months - no doubt awaiting the day. I gather he was not a motor racing enthusiast. With a Bar B Q at the circuit, we left to find our 'hotel' which turned out to be a geriatrics' holiday centre so at least some members felt instantly at home. We had driven through the most spectacular thunder storm with all sorts of lightening and theatrical black clouds. Changed and bathed, we returned and although the circumstances appeared a little unprepossessing, the food organised was very good. Some moaned that there was no wine but Chimay is a famous beer centre and there was a considerable variety for us - basically three sorts - strong, very strong and rocket fuel.

Kirk's HWM, Bryn's Dino, Chris' Mclaren, Erika's Cisitalia

Sadly the weather was pretty dire on Saturday with almost endless rain but it had washed away the stink of slurry - every cloud etc! We set out to practice in heavy rain but actually quite enjoyed it. Speed differentials were huge and it was not a place for heroics. I settled down behind Martin Morris in his ERA and Robin Lodge and we weaved our way through the traffic with some circumspection. Locking a wheel on a white line in those conditions was not difficult even with my pathetic brakes. Erika Pilkington was obviously enjoying her drive in the pretty Cisitalia. The afternoon session was slightly drier but the paddock had become muddy and the cars filthy. Although the weather was awful, strangely it did not really spoil things. The charm of the whole event was that it was as things used to be. There were no flash transporters and motorhomes and the paddock was a mess but the enthusiasm of the organisers shone through and they used to run Grands Prix like this. The 'porta-loos' were clean and flushed and, for the first time, I didn't resent paying to go to the attended loos which were spotless in sharp contrast to Silverstone!

Erika and Cisitalia head for the circuit

On Saturday evening they had laid on another 'dinner' which turned out to be very good after an inauspicious start although some of our smarter members had departed to a posh restaurant to dine on frog's balls in aspic etc. Sunday morning was certainly drier and we had a good blast round for half an hour with the Maserati, ERA, HWM and Tony Bianchi's glorious Talbot Lago as a group which I hope looked more impressive than each of us alone.

Observations in the assembly area convinced me that a demo was the answer rather than a race. One particular red 'sit up and beg' Bugatti that had started life with four cylinders but now seemed content to use only three, had no mirrors at all. There was the remains of an opaque relic above the centre of the dash and the steering wheel looked as though an angry gorilla had almost succeeded in wrenching it off. Far from concentrating on the task before him while we were in 'hurry up and wait' mode, the aged driver spent his time making love to his dog. On the circuit he gently weaved from side to side along the straights with no malice at all but I half expected him to stop and pick wild flowers.

We sadly had to leave at lunchtime on Sunday just as the weather cleared and the sun came out for the last session when Pilk peddled Robin's Maserati with a smile spreading farther than the farmer's slurry smell.

Chimay to Cumbria - 12½ hours arriving home at 2 am. Those able to stay had had a total of two hours track time which is a big improvement on twenty minutes practice and a 10 lap race. The organisers are keen to make this a regular Historic meeting and with a little fine tuning, I reckon it could well be worth going again. It was light years away from Goodwood and Silverstone Historic Festival but none the less valid for that - not unlike going to your local agricultural show after Stoneleigh, both of which are fun.

Tania's Cooper

H.W.M. met with some success at Chimay soon after the war being first and second with Paul Frere winning in 1951 and beating a Ferrari 500. I was very pleased to be able to shake hands with the great man in the paddock.

Being a demonstration, there were no results but the well received TOPS TEAM comprised:

Peter Mann	Frazer Nash LM rep	Chris Wilson	McLaren M1
Robin Lodge	Maserati 4CM	Tania Pilkington	Cooper T43
Douglas Blain	Arnolt Bristol	Paul Grant	Amilcar
Martin Morris	ERA	Robert Heelis	Delahaye 135
Mary Grant	Bugatti T37	Richard Pilkington	Frazer Nash Sebring
Erika Pilkington	Cisitalia	Bryn Williams	Ferrari Dino
Michael Milligan	Jaguar XK140	Tony Bianchi	Talbot Lago
Barry Cannell	AC Bristol	David Alborough	AC Bristol
Kirk Rylands	H.W.M.

J.K.R.

Event_Reports

CONTACT TOPS:

Tops@topsclub.com