Lowe is 'A' clear leader

DAVE LOWE goes into the penultimate round of the Classic Formula Ford Championship this weekend as clear leader in the A-class. The Guernseyman described his mid-season as 'mixed', hampered as it was by a range of technical difficulties.

A long trip to Croft in the north-east saw the racer win his fifth Classic Formula Ford race but then things started to unravel as he headed for Thruxton, the quickest race in the championship.

The cars average 98mph a lap and engines are flat out in top gear for two thirds of the 2.3-mile circuit.

'The oil pump picked up a foreign body which caused it to fail, wrecking the bottom end of the engine,' said Lowe, who headed back to Guernsey and spent 10 days fixing the car but moved on to use a replacement, a Lotus 61.

The car caused him problems during the non-ranking event, the Silverstone Classic held on the Grand Prix circuit.

'The throttle stuck on the opening lap while in 10th place,' he said.

'A 180-degree spin at Copse corner did nothing to improve my results and I finished down in 14th. Luckily it wasn't a race for points.'

Back in the championship at Lydden Hill, Lowe was overtaken by closest A-class rival Jon Davis but earned valuable third-place points.

Getting behind the wheel in his original Lotus 69 at the next meeting at ever-popular Donington, Lowe's woes did not end.

Having claimed seventh on the grid with the nearest class rival in 12th, Lowe expected not to have to stress his car but again he suffered bad luck.

'While holding my seventh position, the two cars in front of me came together and I had to take to the rough off track and got a stone in the radiator and started to lose water,' he said.

With his temperature gauge out of order, the car overheated and Lowe finished down in 14th on the road and second in his class.

The following weekend saw Lowe take part in an excellent race back at Thruxton.

'I enjoyed a great slip-streaming battle to finish fourth and set second-fastest lap of the race,' he said. 'The first four of us were all covered by less than two seconds at the end.'