Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1999 Index > Meeting 99/39 - Firecracker VIII

Firecracker VIII - The PRI Unlimited Open Classic

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With the start of September, it was obvious that bookings would be quickly snapped up and places were filled long before the deadline, with 226 cars booked, over 180 of whom turned up on the day, and another 100 or more turned away. This was the clamour to get into the eighth PRI Unlimited Banger Open meeting, Firecracker VIII, staged on November 7 at Arena Essex.

This years' event had been slightly altered so that the cars were streamed into similar types for each heat, the first race being for London Taxi Cabs, something which it was believed was something of a first, with races following for Limousines and Hearses, Jaguars, Rovers and Mercedes and one heat for everyone else. There was some doubt as to whether this would actually work, even on the day, but as the day unfolded it seemed to have a positive effect on the overall day that would see one of the best finals and Destruction Derbies at a Firecracker since the first Firecracker 500 years before. But then it was a day for firsts all over.

The day started with the usual smart car awards, and this year's biggest, or at least longest, car easily impressed the crowd, especially as Roy Rawlins himself appeared as the Sultan of Charlton on the roof during the parade atop his Lincoln which had been used as the winners' car up until a month ago. Colin Lambert also picked up a winners' prize for his immaculate P4B Rover while Colin "Sonic" Dicken took a runner up prize for his usual perfect turnout on an unusual Austin 16 hearse from the thirties (or maybe even earlier!) with Justin Woolner getting a runner up prize for a well decorated Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, the only one of three that were booked in to show up. With the pretty car awards sorted, the serious matter of reducing them all to the usual pile of scrap iron began.

Last years' Firecracker was won by Ken Knight in a Taxi. Although this year a recurrent injury kept Ken from defending his title, the feat was marked by the arrival of eighteen cabs, all of which were raced in the first heat, specially sponsored by M & J Motors. With a pile up on turn four, which included some head on action for Steven Ricketts of Dorset, first for local Alan Greenfield, then from Chris Coveney, John Randall hit the front before half way and held on to the end while Jan Verhoeven, one of a number of Belgian visitors, gave of himself to the extent that he got the special award to add to his seventh place.

The next race had to be stopped short. Not surprising really, when you consider the size of the cars involved all trying to struggle through the first turn pile up. The Rawlins monster actually didn't do too badly in this, nor did the Woolner Roller but as is normal for these events, such material is a target and it wasn't too long before both were caught in the pile up with sizeable hits coming in from all angles, indeed Sonic put his veteran hearse to good use right up Rawlins' diff end. However with all stuck in the wreckage, it was all down to who had got the furthest, which meant that the trophy went to Non-Ford nearly-man Howard Martin in a Granada Limo with Ted Cook in his Welsh River Rat livery Austin Princess hearse from 1948 getting the special award despite being crushed at the front of the pile up.

It was the Jags' turn for the next couple of races, with the first one providing the first stoppage of the day as the cars went in hard on the pit bend. Pete Winter had been wrecking on the pit bend when he suddenly found himself on the front of a railroading, with Dave King and Lee Hughes piling in hard which left Winter in need of some untangling. Ian Smith had been an early leader, but having lost this before the stoppage, he decided to go the other way and started scrapping anyone that got near him including a big head on for Brighton's Steve Ovett who had been leading up to that point, Dale Hughes picking up the lead and neatly avoiding Smith to grab the first Jaguar win with Smith getting the special award in a five car finish.

Ian Horton is a known entity at Arena Essex in that he is steadfastly white grade and likes his wrecking. In the fourth race he showed exactly how much as he went after a number of cars including Paul Preston who was likewise trying for a wrecking award. Horton finally caught up with Preston on turn four toward the end, then didn't let go. Ray Sharrod also felt the crush as he was destroyed by the pit gate by a combination hit from Ian Holland and Ricky Williams. This race, however, left more running than the previous, with Jason Tagg making the journey from Oxfordshire worth it in first place, while Horton got the special this time.

With the "jagfest" out of the way, we now had a variety of Rovers, Mercedes and other assorted large wreckers on the go. The start literally broke upon the pit bend like waves on a wall, leaving the junkyard behind it. While Carl Overy chased Doom, or Neil Peters to you, the wrong way down the back straight, the unusual Australian import of Chris Reed, up from Hampshire, was striding away with the race. Overy's race was over before the end when Danny Hunt, then Matt Millen stopped the TSR champion while Reed ran away with the race, while the special award went to Shane Davies and his extremely hard Humber Hawk.

Event seven, the sixth race, was a race of unknowns in many ways, since a fair number of the entrants in this race left their choice of car pretty much unknown to the last minute, though Volvos and Toyotas of various shapes and sizes were the mainstay of this heat. The start of the race was fairly much tap and spin with Chris Whiteman putting his Nissan President to good use, then Paul Dolman and John Harris let fly, Harris first target being former Firecracker winner Steve Macklin, while Dolman ended up being temporarily pinned to eventual race winner Shane Brown. Brown inherited the lead after Graham Heywood took a wrong turn through the scrap and was trapped while Mark Welland kept Lee Hayward off Brown as he pushed his way through the carnage toward the finish line. Karl Slade picked the special award up for this race, and so ended the heats.

With goodness knows what on the track surface and a fair mixture of non-qualifiers on that, the mayhem really started in the consolations including a four car shunt by the gate and some good wrecking action from Rob Chiddle who took Martin Scully's hearse from behind before scratching Ian Hatt's bonnet. Scully had been doing some wrecking of his own up to then, including being one of the cars in that four way shunt I mentioned. Paul Jones took the first consolation win. The second consolation turned quickly into a pit turn scrapheap with Allan Trickett taking the lead before getting stuck in the pile up. It was all down to who could scrape through the wrecking and Trickett almost didn't make it but finally got through to win after a final push from Edwin Basters who took second place, the best finish for a continental visitor at Arena Essex.

Forty-three cars started the final, something of a record and a vindication of the change to the race format which produced some of the best action of the day, starting with an awesome jacking for Mick Bradbury by Verhoeven one the bridge turn while Dan Reid, John Randall and Stuart Adcock were scrapping on the home straight. The big performance of the race, however, came from the biggest car, with Roy Rawlins and that Lincoln shrugging off a head on from Terry Ratcliffe, mashing Sonny Sherwood then giving Randall a nutting before his steering gave out. Even with that, he took up position on the home straight and simply used forward and reverse gears to take out anyone unwary enough to get near him, including Steve Macklin. There was a last minute Cowboy rush as Mark Deacon and Graham Lindfield started taking a few, Lindfield pinning one on Chris Reed on the back straight while Deacon gave Rawlins a last jacking before joining the attack on Reed. However there was no stopping the Holden from Hampshire and Reed survived to take the 1999 Firecracker title, with Macklin and Reid the only other finishers, the special award going to Rawlins for an outstanding wrecking show.

That just left the final Destruction Derby of the year, and the talking point of the meeting as Turbo Tom Reynolds put his hearse on the home straight, wrong way around, before the start. As the other 46 cars came trundling around the Tavern turn, so he stuck his lump into gear and promptly wrecked the front runners, bouncing off one to the next before wrecking himself into oblivion under the lights on the pit bend! For that, he guaranteed himself the Best wrecker award. Chiddle took a strike off Turbo but was not to survive, while Steve Ward took on Mark Ruskin before jacking Andy Graham into Jones. The wrecking took the whole allotted ten minutes and was left with three cars by the end; Paul Dolman who was declared the winner having completed the furthest distance, Jon Butt who was given the last car award and Lee Saunders who conked out just before the end.

With the fireworks came the end of the meeting and of the 1999 season at Arena Essex. The new season starts on March 12, 2000 with the Plastengrave Non-Ford opener, with a reported 150 drivers already interested.

1  Smart Car Parade   Winners 656 Colin Lambert (P4B Rover) / 555 Roy Rawlins (Lincoln)
                      R/up    651 Justin Woolner (RR Silver Shadow) / 745 Colin Dicken (Austin 16 Hearse)
2  Taxi Cabs          207 John Randall   /102/101/308/434/669/790/521 Award:790
3  Limo/Hearse         94 Howard Martin  /104/775/688/217/727/745/700 Award:918
4  Jaguars 1          927 Dale Hughes    /155/401/907/890 NOCR        Award:336
5  Jaguars 2          838 Jason Tagg     /646/682/883/448/221/874/991 Award:202
6  Rovers etc.        633 Chris Reed     /621/914/919/430 NOCR        Award:958
7  Other entries      720 Shane Brown    /63/72/96/348/55/61/795      Award:900
8  Cons 1             588 Paul Jones     /420/278/137
9  Cons 2             146 Allan Trickett /765/635/826
10 Firecracker Final  633 Chris Reed     /72/61 NOCR                  Award:555
11 DD                 164 Paul Dolman    LCR=919 Jon Butt/Best Wrecker=812 Tom Reynolds

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