damage to the potential future of what
was the top powerboat club in the UK.
The only way the club could afford to
pay the damages was to sell the
Commodore, which was bought by
Hazel, who became Mrs Derek
Thompson and renamed it The Old
Rangoon. If you wish to read the full
court proceedings go to:
(http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/E
WCA/Civ/1980/1.html)
The club had member’s who went on
to become multiple world champions.
John Hill, the Cheltenham based sign
writer, was two-times F3 European
and World Champion, two-times
Formula Grand Prix World Champion,
winner of Paris 6 hour race and F1
World Champion. Roger Jenkins was
two-times F3 World Sprint Champion
and F1 World Champion in the days of
the OMC V8.
Other drivers who were members
included Nick Cripps (see article
following this), Bella and Tony Covill,
Graham and Andy Bateman, Peter
Thorneywork, Tony Williams, John
Pearce and Wil Taylor.
Those who had brought the club on
and played a major role in its success
both at Fairford and Bristol definitely
deserve a mention. Derek Thompson
who raced in the early days and was
Officer of the Day for thirteen years at
Bristol, Charlie Sheppard, instigator of
the Bristol races and Paul Moxey. All
of whom had been Commodore,
Officer of the Day and Assistant OOD.
And all of whom had a very
welcoming and supportive attitude to
those who were new to the sport or
wanted to get involved.
Roger Jenkins said of Paul Moxey, ‘he
gave me plenty of good advice. I owe a
lot to him.’
Racing ceased at Fairford in the midnineties and the course is now a waterski club. If you’re ever that way and
you remember Fairford in its heyday,
drop by. Just standing on the side of
the circuit the memories come flooding
back. If you were unlucky not to have
seen any racing there, just go and take
a look at what was a great race venue.
Memories of the C.M.B.R.C.
by Nick Cripps.
‘Way back in 1967 I joined the Club
after getting married and my ‘new’
Mother in Law refused to let me
continue racing my MGB GT sports
car. I bought a small outboard ski boat
and started to learn how to race at the
club, along with my wife. Fairford is
just up the road from where I lived,
and I was amazed to find that most of
the members were from far away, and
it was their weekend getaway place for
fun as well as die hard racing. I soon
found out that since I was by far the
slowest boat I had the best handicap
times to play with, but it took a couple
of races to find out how the timers
worked out the 10 lap handicapping.
This was helped by listening to the
‘big boys’ such as Peter Thorneywork,
Roger Jenkins, Fred Oram, John Hill
and others whilst swilling Hoffmeister
beer into the early hours!
Well I did my homework better than
they did, since being much faster boats
they all had to get around me over so
many laps, whereas I was always
hugging the buoys with no one to
overtake.
After a couple of improved races I
came up with a brilliant idea, which
was to have my beautiful wife, who sat
alongside me, turn the seat around
looking backward. She then distracted
all the drivers by waving at them as
they passed me, meaning they mostly