Classic and Competition Car November 2012

& c i s s Cla Competition Car

Issue 26!! November 2012

FIA GT1 World Championship final

© Janet Wright

CONTENTS

News Page 4

British Rally Championship Open day Page 10

FIA GT1 World Championship Final, Donington Park Page 12

British Formula 3 Final Donington Park Page 16

British GT Final Donington Park Page 17

Autumn Classic and Cream Tea Run Heritage Centre, Gaydon Page 20

BTCC Silverstone Page 23

Masters Festival Donington Page 27

Kit Car Show Donington Page 30

BRM Celebration Bourne Page 33

Britcar 24 Hours Silverstone Page 36

Archive Photo of the Month Page 39

Stourbridge Bonded Warehouse Open Day Page 40

Tasman Revival Lady Wigram Trophy Page 42

GT Cup Donington Park Page 46

HSCC Silverstone Finals Page 48 © Mick Herring

© Pete Austin

LanD Rover journey of Discovery at Autumn Classic Heritage Motor Centre Gaydon

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© Pete Austin

EDITORIAL

PETE AUSTIN

Well another season of exciting races draws to a close and champions are crowned and preparations and rebuilds are started ready for next year.

We have had some great meetings this year, though some entries were down on previous years, no doubt due to the Simon Wright current economic climate. Vintage racing Editor and the British Touring car championship seem to be as strong as ever, but some GT grids have been a little thin, probably due to the wide range of races available for these popular and exciting cars. The other category that Pete is the man for Historic racing, with still draws in the crowds is hill climbing. Here you can get an extensive archive of black and white really close to the action and marvel at the speed these images covering the last few decades of incredible cars are driven up such narrow and testing motorsport in Britain. Also keen on BRM courses, then wander in to the paddock to chat to the drivers.

MICK HERRING We now start show season, where we can keep warm and still enjoy our passion for cars. The Classic Motor Show, Autosport International and Race Retro will keep us entertained during the cold dark winter and before you know it we will be back at the track side ready for another seasons fun.

Antonov AN124 takes off over the Donington Masters © Simon Wright © Simon Wright Damon Hill BRM P261 on the road at the Bourne BRM day Front Cover.

The All-Inkl Mercedes Benz SLS of Nicky Pastorelli and Thomas Jager on the grid for the FIA GT1 World Championship Finals from Donington Park © Simon Wright

Mick’s first love is GT racing, including Historics, especially the Lola T70 JANET WRIGHT

All content is copyright classicandcompetitioncar.com unless otherwise stated. All photographs are copyright the original photographer and cannot be used for commercial purposes unless by prior approval of the original copyright holder.

We try to ensure accurate and truthful reporting but if you spot an error, please contact us and will we verify and correct accordingly.

We do not organise any events which are mentioned and we are not responsible if the event does not take place or is cancelled. Please contact the event organiser before making a long trip.

To Subscribe for free and be notified when the next issue is published please click here. To check out our web site with additional photos please click here Classic and Competition Car is published by simonwrightphotos.com High View Drive, Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6 8HT E-mail simonwright57@hotmail.com Tel 07905 435973

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Janet has been taking photos for many years and is also skilled in video work. She likes Aston Martins.

© Simon Wright

News

Lola Cars International cease trading.

One of the last Lola racing cars built, the Gulf Racing Middle East Lola B12/80 Coupe - Nissan driven by Frederic Fatien, Keiko Ihara and Jean-Denis DeLetraz at the World Endurance Championship Silverstone 6 Hours race.

Lola Cars International was closed down on October 5th 2012 and the remaining 18 staff at Huntingdon were made redundant after the Receivers failed to find a suitable buyer for the operation. Lola Composites, also in administration, continues to trade but a further 23 people were made redundant.

Lola had started trading in 1958, building sports cars for motor racing. It built customer cars for almost every category of motor racing including the Le Mans 24 Hours, Grand Prix, Indianapolis, Formula 5000, Formula 3, Formula Ford, can Am sports cars, 2 litre Sports cars… this list goes on.

The Administrators statement said that a total of 114 people had been made redundant across both sides of the business since May 2012. The company had debts of more than £20 million. The trademarks to the Lola name and the intellectual property rights to its designs are owned by Lola Group Holdings.

Check out our new updated WEB site at www.classicandcompetitioncar.com regularly for additional photo galleries, wall papers and other additional content and join our Facebook Group Classic and Competition Car. Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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Matthew Brabham The third generation Brabham has arrived in Europe to continue the family tradition.

Matthew, an American/Australian racing driver, grandson of three times World Champion Sir Jack Brabham has already proved himself to be an accomplished single seater racer in America where he was born in Florida in 1994. His father Geoff Brabham is also a champion driver (see box right).

Matthew began racing Karts in 2001 at the age of 7 in Australia where he won the 2007 Queensland state Rookie title. In 2008 he won the New South Wales and Queensland State Junior National Light titles and finished 2nd in the Australian and Melbourne City Titles. In 2009 he won the Junior Rotax Young Guns title before graduating to Formula Ford towards the end of the year. He spent 2010 racing in the Australian Formula Ford Championship for the CAMS Rising Star Team, then for 2011 he switched to the Sonic Motor Racing Services team to compete in the Victorian State Formula Ford Championship and the Australian National Championship. In the state series he had a run of 7 consecutive victories and won 8 of the twelve races and won 2 races in the National series.

For 2012 he moved to compete in the US F2000 National Championship, taking the title and $350,000 Scholarship through the Road to Indy to race in the 2013 Star Mazda Championship, with four wins and 11 podium finishes.

He arrived in the UK to compete in the Formula Renault championship, supporting race at the British Touring car Championship at Silverstone at the beginning of October. Having not had time to test prior to the meeting, Matthew Š Janet Wright qualified 5th for the first race and 14th for the second race. In the first race he finished 6th overall only 7.75 seconds behind winner Seb Morris. In the second race, starting much further back, he still managed to finish 14th only 8.056 seconds behind the winner Seb Morris. With this kind of background, the future looks bright for the latest Brabham to continue the family tradition of success at the highest levels of World motorsport.

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Geoff Brabham Born in Australia, Geoff has had a successful motor racing career with several major titles to his name, though he never followed his father in to Grand Prix racing.

He started his career in Australia, racing Formula Ford single seaters in 1974 and finished 3rd in the championship. He moved up to Formula 2 winning the Australian Formula 2 championship in 1975 before coming to Europe where he raced in Formula 3 for several seasons in Britain and tried his hand in the British Formula 1 series in 1978 before moving to America.

He won the 1979 Formula Super Vee Championship in a Ralt RT1 then switched to the Can-Am Challenge Cup, taking that championship title in 1981. He progressed into the Indy Car World Series and the Indianapolis 500 where his best finish was 4th in 1983. He switched to sports cars in 1988, winning the IMSA GTP championship for Nissan four years in a row between 1988 and 1992. He won the Le Mans 24 hour race in 1993 for Peugeot in the 905 shared with Eric Helary and Christophe Bouchut. He teamed up with brother David to win the Bathurst 1000 in 1997 in a BMW and then raced in the Australian V8 Supercar series for several years, being one of the few drivers to win his first race in the series, at the Sandown 500 in 1993.

Š Simon Wright The IMSA Nissan as raced by Geoff Brabham

Britcar 24 Hour Pole Award

By Mick Herring.

© Mick Herring

Pole position winner Mike Simpson driving a Ginetta G55 shared with Lawrence Tomlinson, Richard Dean and Tom Kimber-Smith won a valuable watch presented by Britcar sponsor Joseph Kaspar Swiss watches. Judging by the lighthearted tussle between Lawrence and Richard Dean, they will both be buying one soon. © Mick Herring

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Pete Austin

Bev Bond presents cheque at Silverstone

At the recent HSCC Season Finals race meeting, at Silverstone, ex works Gold Leaf Team Lotus F3 driver Bev Bond presented a cheque for £1520 to Dorset Cancer Care Centre to Dr Maxine Flubacher. Bev had raised the money through his friends in motor racing, to help promote awareness of cancer in men. The name of the charity is Poole Hospital Charity. He is trying to get the message across to all men, that if you find something unusual on your body and it does not go away, check with your Doctor. If it is nothing, the Doctor will be pleased to inform you, but should it be cancer, then the earlier you seek treatment, the more chance there is of finding a cure or reducing the problem.

Bev was competing in the Classic Racing Cars © Simon Wright race at the meeting driving a March 703. He finished 25th “ I wish I could have finished higher up the field but it was doing funny things down the straight. The front end seemed to wander, and when we got back to the pits we found the right offside rear wheel was loose.

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Grand Am and ALMS Combine in 2014 A significant point in the history of Sports car racing in North America took place at Daytona This was the moment that Speedway recently with the announcement that decided this years British GT the Grand-Am road racing and American Le Championship. Coming up to Mans Series (ALMS) will merge in to one series Goddards hairpin from the Melbourne loop, Olly Bryant tried from 2014.

The ALMS series began in 1999 with Grand-Am to outbrake the Mercedes of Godfrey Jones, passed it on the making it’s debut the following year (2000). It is inside and nudged the back of hoped that this merger will strengthen sports car the Ferrari 458 Italia of Matt racing in both North America and across the Griffin (Left) causing him to spin World. © Mick Herring off. That ended the Ferrari This merger will incorporate eight Sports racing car series across North America. This will include the Rolex Sports Car series, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the Total Performance showcase, the Ferrari challenge, the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama series, the Cooper Tires prototype Lites powered by Mazda series and the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin.

The board of Directors to run the new organisation has Grand-Am Founder Jim France as chairman and Don Panoz, founder of the ALMS, as Vice chairman. Also on the board are Lesa France Kennedy (NASCAR Vice Chair/ Executive Vide President), Ed Bennett (GrandAm President and CEO), Scott Atherton (ALMS President/CEO) and Karen Leetzow (NASCAR Vice President/Deputy General Counsel).

The Class structure and Technical rules have still Car Facebook Group to be decided.

British GT deciding moment.

drivers challenge for the championship as they dropped to 10th place.

This would now have given the championship to Bryant's team mate Alasdair McCaig but Bryant then got a one minute Stop Go Penalty for the collision and had to come in to the pits (Right) which took them out of the running, for the title. This left the GT3 Drivers Championship title to go to Daniele Perfetti and Michael Caine in the Motorbase Porsche 997 GT3 R, a team with not a single race win to their name in 2012. © Mick Herring

Classic and Competition

We now have a Facebook Group Classic and Competition Car - where you can join and keep up to date with additional Photographs, postings, and extra event photo galleries. We also plan to add video clips where possible. Please feel free to add postings and photos and we look forward to hearing from you.

We have also updated our web site and are adding extra photo galleries, so please pop by and have a look on a regular basis to see what’s new www.classicandcompetitioncar.com Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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The first event will be the 52nd running of the Daytona 24 Hours race. © Janet Wright

Rick Parfitt Jnr Son of Status Quo Rocker Rick Parfitt Snr, Rick Jnr grew up in a music environment, so it was natural for him to develop a music career. In 1996 he began writing songs for various artists and began performing as a singer. He also began karting at an early age and competed against Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and David Coulthard, winning various championships and taking victories at Le Mans and Dubai karting 24 hour races.

In 2007 he decided to concentrate on his music career and formed the RPJ Band which has been the most successful events band in the UK.

© Janet Wright © Simon Wright

Rick has regularly taken part in the celebrity race at the Silverstone Classic, winning several times. He now races in the Ginetta championship driving a G40. He managed to finish 2nd overall in the last round of this years championship at Donington Park.

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

New British Formula 3 Champion Jack Harvey clinched the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 championship crown at Donington Park in the final meeting of the season.

Bentley return to GT racing.

Ten years after the Bentley Continental GT concept was launched at the Paris Motor Show, the Crewe company have launched the Continental GT3 race car developed by a dedicated motorsport team at the factory. This is a return to racing for the factory for the first time since their sixth Le Mans victory in 2003.

The new car remains faithful to the company’s founding motorsport philosophy of developing racing cars from a road car. Final specifications have not been decided but the engine will either be a race tuned version of the GT Speed 6 litre 616 HP W12 unit or the new 4 litre 500 HP V8 fitted to a sequential gearbox in a conventional rear wheel drive configuration. A large rear wing will produce extra downforce to complement the carbon fibre front splitter and rear diffuser.

Bentley plan to make the car available to customer teams as well as the factory run team and the car will be competing against the McLaren MP4-12C, Ferrari 458 Italia, Audi R8 LMS and the Porsche 911 GT3 R and Mercedes SLS AMG. It is expected to race in 2013 after an extensive test programme.

Photo courtesy of Bentley.

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Gordon Shedden British Touring Car Champion

© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden Honda Civics Frank Wrathall first BTCC win Toyota Avansis

Gordon Shedden BTCC Champion Gordon Shedden (right) 2012 and Matt Neal (Left) finished 1st and 2nd in the British Touring Car Championship driving for the Yuasa Honda Racing team . The title was not achieved until the final round of the championship at a rain soaked Brands Hatch. Neal won the first race from Andrew Jordan with Shedden finishing 5th, while title rival Plato could only manage 8th.

The second race saw a maiden victory for Aron Smith in the Ford Focus with Shedden 2nd to clinch the championship. Neal finished 3rd and Plato 5th.

The third race saw another BTCC maiden victory for Frank Wrathall in the © Janet Wright Toyota Avensis with Neal 2nd and Shedden 3rd. This gave the Yuasa Honda Racing duo a first and second place in the championship.

To complete the day for Honda, Andrew Jordan won the BTCC Independents Trophy with Pirtek Racing who also took the Independents Team Championship.

© Simon Wright Andrew Jordan Independent Drivers chanpion

Aron Smith Ford Focus first BTCC win

© Janet Wright

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

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British rally Championship Open Day, Curborough

DAD Returns By Mick Herring

Those of us of a certain age who read Car and Car Conversions magazine in its heyday will no doubt remember rallying Hillman Imp tuning guru, Andy Dawson and the name of DAD (Dawson A wet and grey day greeted teams as the British Rally Auto Developments).

Championship held an Open day at Curborough near Lichfield. But can you also remember that he became a Ford works rally driver, a Datsun works rally driver, The idea was for teams to show potential competitors which Datsun rally team manager and one of the few people to tame the iconic Lancia Stratos, winning cars are available to purchase/lease in the production based the 1976 Mintex Rally in a Stratos, amongst so many other victories. It would be impossible to say that Andy had been quiet in the intervening years, with magazine work, which is where I first © Simon Wright got to know him, and preparation/set up of so many different racing and rally cars.

The friendship of the legendary late Keith Duckworth of Cosworth fame and, yes, those stories of a mixture of paraffin combined with "Flash" (other cleaning products were available but Flash was chosen for its less gritty nature) being put down the intakes of the F1 Cosworth DFV due to the reluctance of the early engines to bed-in.

He built the Abarth Trofeo 500s that were used in the 2010 Silverstone Classic Celebrity race and it is those cars and a return to his first love of rallying that saw him at the BRC open day at Curborough Sprint Course.

To facilitate the sale of tuning components and the building of these diminutive cars he has recently set up the ideal vehicle in Abarth Assetto Corse.

Now with rear roll cage and development Avo suspension, the otherwise standard Trofeo Abarth, that was his © Simon Wright road car until very recently acquitted itself well against Citroen DS3 the Ford and classes. Various cars were available for drivers to test around the tight confines Citroen British Rally © Janet Wright Championship cars present, generating significant interest. Late in the day it was time for Andy to finally get to drive his own car, first with Sarah Franklin, whose championship winning racing Trofeo Abarth he engineers, in the passenger seat.

He came back happy with the car's previously untried handling but complained of not enough oversteer.

Then came my turn in the passenger seat and whilst I was being strapped in I was aware of something going on at the rear of the car.

Two clicks up on the rear dampers was the cursory adjustment and off we went for a ride the wrong way round Curborough as a truer test of a tarmac rally car.

The understeer in the wet conditions was certainly gone and aided the turn-in considerably and traction.Even the spin at the bottom of the hill, where the surface changed, as we returned towards the bottom of the course brought smiles all round at the raw speed of the untested car.

The old Dawson talent is still there despite not being used for three years and he is threatening Renault Twingo to build himself a car for single stage events. He won't go quietly.

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of the Curborough Sprint course, with the rally cars running in the reverse direction to normal events held at the venue. The Citroen DS3, Ford Fiesta, Abarth Trofeo 500, Peugeot 208 and Renault Twingo were all put through their paces on track while Prodrive also had a Mini Cooper on display in the paddock. © Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

Renault Twingo

Peugeot 208 © Janet Wright © Simon Wright

Abarth Trofeo 500

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Ford Fiesta

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Julian Taylor - Alvis 200 Miles

Double race winners Makowiecki/Dusseldorp in the McLaren MP4 12C

Š Simon Wright

FIA GT1 World Championship Finals Donington Park

By Simon & Janet Wright with additional photos by Mick Herring.

After a sudden last minute change of venue, from India to Donington park in Leicestershire, the 2012 FIA GT1 World championship came to an sudden end for the BMW team. Only a week after the Nurburgring race, where AF Corse Ferrari took their first win of the season with Toni Vilander and Filip Salaquarda, leaving a three way battle for the drivers championship. Š Simon Wright The qualifying one hour race on Saturday started under cloudy skies with the Audi R8 LMS of Carroll and Vanthoor on Pole Position with the McLaren GT MP4-12C of Dusseldorp and Makowiecki next to them, while championship leaders Winkelhock and Basseng in the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG were back on the fifth row in 10th place.

From the start it was close with the cars taking Redgate side by side but through the Craner curves Carroll put the Audi in front chased hard by the Lamborghini of Rosina and Kox who had squeezed up the inside of the McLaren at Redgate. Rosina took the lead in to Redgate on the second lap and pushed hard to open up a lead, running wide on to the grass exiting Goddards at the end of the second lap. The race settled in to a fast pace until the pits stops and BMW were first in to change drivers with Buurman handing over to Bartels having been behind the two Mercedes for the first part of the race. Mercedes bought Winkelhock in on the next lap to hand over to Basseng and managed to get him out before Bartels came through, so maintaining the order. Next lap and Jager brought the second Mercedes in to hand over to Pastorelli and they came out well in front of their team mates. Meanwhile Oliver Jarvis who had just taken over the second Audi in the pit stops, went off at the chicane all on his own and hit the Oliver Jarvis looses the Audi R8 through the chicane tyre wall sideways, beaching the Audi in the gravel while the Ferrari of Filip Salaquarda after the driver change over in the Qualifying race also ended up in a different gravel trap on the same lap at the start of the Dunlop straight, also going off on his own. The leading three all made their pits stops within a lap of each other with the Lamborghini in first to hand over to Peter Kox. The Audi and McLaren pitted together and Frederic Makowiecki came out first in the McLaren to lead the race with the 32 Audi of Vanthoor out in second place Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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© Mick Herring

and Kox was behind both but in hot pursuit. The Lamborghini had its tyres up to temperature and © Simon Wright Kox applied pressure on the Audi all the way round the circuit trying to get back in to second place.

This battle let the McLaren pull away in the lead. With the Ferrari and Audi stuck in different gravel traps but in dangerous positions, the Safety car was deployed while the marshalls cleared the cars out of the way. This closed up the field a little The Ford GT of Groppi/Lariche came 10th in the Qualifying race before the restart with just over 17 minutes remaining. At the restart, the second McLaren of Alvaro Parente moved up past Bartels BMW at Redgate and then took Pastorelli’s Mercedes at the Melbourne hairpin to move in to 5th place then took the other Mercedes of Basseng on the next lap to move in to 4th place. He then took Kox at the Melbourne hairpin to take 3rd. With just over 2 minutes to go, Bartels tried to put his BMW past the Mercedes of Pastorelli in to the Melbourne hairpin on the inside, the rest of the field, Kox in the Lamborghini is Pastorelli held his line running to the edge of the track on the exit, keeping in front of the BMW and Flying away fromchased

by Vanthoor in the Audi contact was made, giving Bartels a puncture and forcing him to pit with one lap to go. He managed to finish 9th. McLaren © Mick Herring took a 1-3 finish at the flag with Stef Dusseldorp and Fred Makowiecki winning the qualifying race and the Audi of Vanthoor and Carroll 2nd and Parente and Demoustier 3rd.

The Championship race was now a straight battle between the No Rounding Redgate, the start of the first major accident on Sunday. The green and black BMW (left) has just rejoined the track 38 All-Inkl.com Munnich and is making contact with the white Ford GT squeezing it in to the red Ferrari before the BMW and GT veer off left in to the wall.

Motorsport Mercedes Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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© Simon Wright

© Mick Herring

SLS of Marcus Winkelhock/Marc Basseng and the No 18 Vita4One Racing Team BMW Z4 of Bartels and Buurman. The grid lined up under grey skies in the finishing order from the Qualification race, so Makowiecki started from Pole Position in the McLaren with Vanthoor next to him in the Audi. The McLaren led the tightly bunched field through Redgate corner and all hell broke loose in the pack behind as the BMW Z4 of Mayr-Meinhof from the fourth row of the grid ran wide on to the grass out of Redgate, and as he rejoined the track the car snapped right in to the Ford GT of Laurent Groppi which had been clipped on the other side by a Ferrari and was already coming back to the outside of the corner when it collided with the BMW. Both cars spun off on to the damp grass at high speed. The BMW hit the concrete wall at Hollywood hard enough to move the wall, while the Ford GT hit the Tyre wall a bit further along Hollywood almost head on , throwing the tyre barrier high in the air and the car © Janet Wright disappeared in a cloud of steam.

Both cars were badly damaged from the heavy Bartels/Buurman BMW Z4 chased by the Ferrari 458 Italia of Salaquarda/Cioci round the impact. This Melbourne hairpin brought out the Red flag to stop the race.

After a long delay to clear the damaged cars and rebuilt the safety wall, the race was restarted from behind the safety car. Makowiecki held the lead from Kox in the Lamborghini and Vanthoor in the Audi while Parente in the second McLaren passed Pastorelli in the Mercedes for 4th place on the approach to the chicane. Basseng in the other Mercedes passed his team mate Pastorelli in to the Melbourne hairpin but Ide in the Ferrari out © Simon Wright braked them both to sneak up the inside in his Ferrari to pass both Mercedes in one move. Oliver Jarvis in the Audi also followed Ide through past Pastorelli. Next lap and Jarvis passed Basseng Parente drove a storming race in the second McLaren MP4-12C through Goddards. Parente was soon past Vanthoor in to 3rd place.

When the pit window opened Jarvis was first in followed by Bartels for their driver changes.

The two cars came out together with Buurman stuck to the rear of the Audi driven by Stippler all the way through the Craner Curves before passing the Audi out of the Old hairpin. At the front Kox in the Lamborghini was pressing the McLaren in the lead. Buurman soon caught Winkelhock in the Mercedes and the fight was on for the World Title. Buurman was all over the Mercedes in the corners but down the start straight the Mercedes was able to pull away slightly. Buurman dived for the inside line at Redgate and was all but past the Mercedes when they touched and then Winkelhock caught the nearside rear wing of the Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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A taste of things to come? The Winkelhock/Basseng Mercedes spins at Hollywood during qualifying

Š Janet Wright

BMW again causing it to spin to the left, across the front of the Mercedes. The BMW hit the wall at Hollywood in almost the same place that its sister car had gone off earlier, but Buurman had gone in backwards and destroyed the rear of the BMW. Winkelhock also spun off and was out of the race, but it was enough for the Mercedes pair to be crowned champions. The Safety car was deployed with 26 minutes of the race remaining while the safety crews worked on getting Buurman out of the car. The field followed the safety car round for about 15 minutes before the Red Flag was displayed and the race ended with another win for the McLaren of Frederic Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp with Peter Kox and Stefan Rosina 2nd in the Lamborghini and Alvaro Parente and Gregoire Demoustier 3rd in the second McLaren.

Buurman had been unconscious after the accident but was alright after he was extracted by the medical team and was taken away for further examination. The Stewards decided that Winkelhock was at fault for the accident and they were excluded from the results of the Championship race at Donington. They were still World Champions with Winkelhock and Basseng having 145 points, but their exclusion from the last race meant that Bartels and Buurman gained an extra point at Donington which put them on equal points with Makowiecki and Dusseldorp but the McLaren pair take runners up spot in the championship due to having 3 wins to the BMW pairs two victories.

Adam Carroll rounding Redgate on his way to 2nd in the Qualifying race

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

Š Simon Wright

The ferrari 458 Italia of Enzo Ide and Francesco Castellacci at speed

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© Mick Herring

British F3 Championship Finals Donington Park.

By Mick Herring with additional photos by Simon & Janet Wright.

The Cooper Tyres British F3 title was also safely concluded at Donington over the weekend.

Jack Harvey's 3.9sec win in Saturday afternoon's race 1 brought him within one point of the title ahead of previous leader Jazeman Jaafar, who finished 2nd.

Fastest lap went to 3rd placed Alex Lynn with Felix Serralles 4th.

A third in the National class was enough for Australian Richard "Spike" Goddard to secure his championship and a return next year.

In race 2, champion elect, Jack Harvey had to content himself with 6th position.

Harry Tincknell took the win from Pipo Derani by 1.7 secs with Pietro Fantin a further 1.6secs behind.

Felix Serralles was 4th.

Start of the second race © Janet Wright

2012 F3 Champion + Race 3 Winner Jack Harvey

Pedro Pablo Calbimonte

The race was interrupted by a first lap incident at the Old Hairpin which would see both Jazeman Jaafar and Alex Lynn retire on the spot.

© Simon Wright

In the final race and after a tense season Jack Harvey became Carlin's 5th successive F3 champion and the first English winner for six years with a pole position to flag win, his 7th of the season, 0.7sec ahead of Alex Lynn with Jazeman Jaafar and Harry Tincknell several seconds adrift in 3rd and 4th respectively.

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Australian Nick McBride

© Mick Herring

New Champion Michael Caine/Danielle Perfetti. Motorbase team Porsche 997 GT3 R on one wheel

British GT Final Donington Park

By Mick Herring with additional photos by Simon & Janet Wright.

With both the Avon Tyres British GT championship and the Cooper Tyres British F3 titles still to be decided, it was always going to be a tense and exciting conclusion for both series as they battled it out on Donington's 2.5 mile Grand Prix circuit, also sharing the bill with the FIA GT1 World Championship decider.

Before Donington, the M-Tech Ferrari 458 of Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin led by half a point from Alasdair McCaig's Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 in British GT. There were many mathematical scenarios on who could win and indeed, it would be an incident between the two championship leading cars that would change the © Simon Wright

Race winner United Autosports McLaren MP4-12C driiven by Zak Brown and Alvaro Parente © Simon Wright

shape of the race and the championship outcome entirely over the race's 2hr duration. The lead changed hands several times in the first few laps but it

Tomlinson/Simpson Ginetta G55 and Kox/Pronk Lamborghini LP560-4

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© Mick Herring

Left: Title decider. Championship contenders Mtech and Ecurie Ecosse clash at Goddards, deciding title. Olly Bryant Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 taps the back of the Ferrari 458 italia of Matt Griffin, causing it to spin at Goddards corner dropping it back to 10th overall and out of the championship hunt. Bryant was given a stop go penalty which dropped his team mate out of the championship hunt as well. © Janet Wright

© Mick Herring

Speedworks Corvette Z06R of Ron and Piers Johnson rounds the Melbourne loop

© Mick Herring

© Mick Herring

was7Alex Buncombe's Nissan that would hold a 9sec lead by lap 17, ahead of Charles Bateman's McLaren MP4-12C. After the handover, Jaan Mardenborough continued Buncombe's good work in the Nissan until a broken damper would see him pit for replacement and to finish an eventual 16th, their championship hopes finished. A short safety car period to rescue a car from the gravel at McLeans bunched the field up and the resumption was to prove the pivotal point for the outcome.

With Zak Brown's United Autosports McLaren MP4-12C in the hands of Alvaro Parente now holding a lead it would maintain to the flag, it was further down the field that a move by Olly Bryant's BMW Z4, that started with overtaking the Jones' Mercedes at the Melbourne Hairpin and finished with tapping Griffin's Ferrari into a spin at Goddards that would end the Ferrari duo's championship hopes and drop them to 10th.

Had the move gone unpunished, Bryant would have secured the championship for his team-mate McCaig but a one minute stop-go penalty would negate that.

So after an exciting, incident packed race the Brown/Parente McLaren won by 3.8secs from the pole position Lamborghini of Nico Pronk/Peter Kox with the Bateman/Bell McLaren 3rd. It was, however, a 4th position that would secure the title for the jubilant Motorbase team Porsche 997 GT3 R of Michael Caine and Danielle Perfetti. For the second year running the title had gone to the consistency of a team that took no outright wins.

The GT4 championship had already been secured by the WFR Ginetta G50 of Jody Fannin and Warren Hughes.

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British GT/F3 Supporting races.

There was a full support program of races at Donington Park, using the full circuit. Two races were held for the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford championship. Eric Lichtenstein, from Argentina, won the first race in his MI12-SJ and Jake Cook won the second race in another M12. In the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, Ryan Ratcliffe won the first race in his G40, while Brad Bailey in a G40 won the second from pop star turned racing drive Rick Parfitt Jnr. There were also two Volkswagen Racing Cup races won by Aaron Mason in a Golf Mk5 GTi. © Simon Wright © Janet Wright

Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Race 1 winner Eric Lichtenstein from Argentina driving a M12-SJ © Simon Wright

George Blundell Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Mygale SJ08 finished 5th in the second race and first in the Duratec class © Janet Wright

Graham Johnson leads a very tight pack in to the Melbourne hairpin © Janet Wright

Race 2 winner Brad Bailey Ginetta G40 leads Rick Parfitt Jnr round the Melbourne hairpin

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The mixed Ginetta field head away from the Melbourne hairpin

Heritage Motor Centre Autumn Classic & Cream Tea Run

By Pete Austin On 23rd September the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon in Warwickshire hosted its annual Autumn gathering for historic vehicles over 20 years old.

Gaydon itself was a former RAF base and to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the opening a collection of military vehicles was on display. On 13th June 1942 it opened as a satellite for the No. 12 Operational Training Unit, Chipping Camden – a night bomber training unit in No. 91 Group flying Vickers Wellingtons. After the war it was used as a conversion unit for training Victor and Valiant V bomber crews and from 1966 until 1977 No. 637 Gliding School used the site. In 1978 British Leyland purchased the land for a new car testing and development ground.

© Pete Austin

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

RAF Strike Command Rover P5B

A Land Rover display included one of the vehicles that took part in the Land Rover ‘Journey of Discovery’. The 50 Richard Withers

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day overland journey from Birmingham to Beijing celebrated the production of the One Millionth Land Rover Discovery and at the same time raised one

© Pete Austin Land Rover 109 Series 2A Royal Saluting Parade vehicle

RAF Long Wheelbase Land Rover Series 11A

million pounds for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. © Pete Austin

Volvo P1800

© Pete Austin © Pete Austin

Austin 10 Homeguard vehicle

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A number of the classic vehicles attending the event took part in the Cream Tea Run which took cars on a 63 mile route through some of the local areas most outstanding scenery, following County Council established leisure drive routes. The run finished at the Heritage Motor Centre with a cream tea!

© Pete Austin © Mick Herring

© Pete Austin Triumph Stag and TR3A

Ford Consul Classic Capri

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and Beetle

© Pete Austin Chevron GT3 about to

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Pete Austin Military Vehicle display

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AC Cobra parade on Sunday lunch time

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

BTCC Silverstone

By Simon & Janet Wright.

The British Touring Car Championship arrived at Silverstone poised for an explosive climax to the 2012 season. With just six races remaining, there were still three drivers in with a chance of taking the title.

Gordon Shedden held the advantage from his team mate Matt Neal and main rival Jason Plato. The penultimate meeting of the season was being held on the short National circuit at Silverstone where power was going to be an advantage on the long straights. As the cars lined up for the first race, Tom Onslow-Cole pulled into the pits after warm up lap. Jason Plato on pole in his MG with Shedden well down the grid in his Honda Civic. Plato led from Rob Collard off the start while Shedden made up five places on the first lap to fourteenth. At Copse on the second lap Chris James in the Vauxhall Vectra tried to dive inside the Honda Civic Mat Jackson gave the new Redstone NGTC Ford Focus a maiden win at its first meeting of Fuller and hit him on the outside, breaking the front suspesion on the Vectra. Andy Neate in the MG6 then hit the back of the Honda Civic of Andrew Jordan going into becketts and Jordan spun out in to the gravel. These incidents brought out the Safety car. Then Tony Gilham, driving the Vauxhall Insignia, spun off, nearly hitting Jordan who was standing on edge of track, waiting to gesture to Andy Neate who had managed to continue in the © Simon Wright race. After the cars were removed to safe positions, the race resumed on lap 7 with Plato still in the lead. Two laps later and Mat Jackson was through to second at Becketts driving the new Redstone NGTC Ford Focus, and passed Plato for the lead on lap 11 at Brooklands.

Matt Neal was suffering turbo problems on his Honda Civic and he headed for the pits, while his team mate Gordon Shedden was in the wars after being hit in the rear by Fuller, but both managed to keep going. Not so lucky the two Toyota Avensis of Adam Morgam and Frank Wrathall, who collided at Brooklands and both went off. Lap 22 proved disasterous for leader Mat Jackson, who pulled off and parked his Dave Newsham managed a 2nd and 3rd place finish in the Focus on the Vauxhall Vectra Wellingtion with Mechanical problems, leaving Jason Plato back in the lead in his MG6 Jason Plato managed two wins at Silversone in the MG6 to take the first race victory from Dave Newsham in the vauxhall Vectra and Aron Smith in the Ford Focus. Gordon Shedden had managed to climb back to finish 7th and gain a few extra points.

The second race saw Plato lead from Collard and Newsham. Morgan spun his Toyota in middle of Luffield but everyone managed to avoid hitting him. Then things really hotted up as the Honda Civic Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

of Matt Neal caught fire under the passenger door due to oil. Neal pulled off just after copse and the fire was extinguished before too much damage was done to the car. This brought out safety car and closed up the field behind Plato. Lap 15 racing again. When the race restarted, Matt Jackson started to move up and when Plato slowed and stopped on pit straight in middle of track, Jackson grabbed lead from Rob Collard. Having driven from 17th to 1st, Matt Jackson scored a maiden victory in the Motorbase team designed and built car which had only been completed on the 11th August. Collard, Newsham and Aron Smith were next over the line.

Shedden still maintained his The Audi A4 of Rob Austin managed a couple of 5th places, here followed by the sister Audi A4 of Will Bratt championship lead.

The draw for the third race reverse grid saw 10th placed Nick Foster in the third e-bay BMW have pole position for final race. Matt Neal started from the back of the grid behind Jason Plato.

Foster again showed the immpressive start performance of the BMW and had a big lead by Beckets. Rob Austin in the Audi had got in to 2nd place on lap 2 but was then pushed off by Welch in the Proton at copse which let Collard up to 2nd. Welch had dived up the inside on the entrace to copse and as Austin turned in to the corner, the two collided, sending both off. Andrew Jordan dived through the gap and ran very wide to come out best of the rest. Plato was cutting through the field and was up to 9th by lap 4 . The destruction derby contined a few laps later when © Janet Wright © Janet Wright Matt Neal’s repaired Honda was hit by the Vauxhall Vectra of Lea Wood at Brooklands corner and the Honda ended up hitting the crash barrier head on and was out of the race. Plato contined his climb through Lea Wood in the Vauxhall Vectra. He had an the field and unfortunate coming together with Matt Neal in race 3 was up to 5th Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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Gordon Shedden leading the championship in his Honda Civic

© Simon Wright

Rob Collard BMW 320si E90 leads team mate Nick Foster and the rapid Proton Persona of Daniel Welch through Brooklands

place by lap 9. He then made contact with Andrew Jordan going through Beckets and took 4th down the Wellington straight. Next lap he passed rival Shedden after making slight contact with Collard which forced Collard off track. At luffield on lap 11 Dave Newsham got pushed into a spin and Frank Wrathall went straight at Luffield and out of the race. By half distance Plato managed to © Simon Wright push Foster wide coming out of Luffield and grabbed the lead. Shedden was pushing on to try and make up places and received a warning for exceeding track limits. As the race drew to a close, Plato managed to pull out a big lead to win the final Touring car race of the day. Mat Jackson was 2nd, chased hard by the trio of BMWs of Collard, Foster and Tom Onslow-Cole.

Shedden managed to finish 6th and maintain his Championship lead as the teams head for the Final meeting of the year at Brands Hatch. © Janet Wright

Matt Neal had an eventful meeting with the car catching fire in race 2 and was knocked off in the last race.

In the supporting races Ben Barker took the race win in the first race of the Porsche Carrera Cup and Michael Meadows won the second race. The Ginetta GT Cup races were won by Andrew Richardson from Carl Breeze in the first race and in the second race Carl Breeze went one better to win from Tom Sharp.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge saw Justin Sherwood win the first race while James Birch took an easy victory in the second race. Young Seb Morris won the Formula Renault races on Saturday and Sunday in his bright Orange Ginetta backed single seater. Scott Malvern finished third and second and it was enough to confirm him as champion for 2012 after a very consistent season Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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Ollie Jackson Volkswagen Golf Mk5

© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

where he won three races but had many podiums during the season for Cullen Motorsport.

The Renault Clio UK Cup saw the usual close fought battles through the field.

Although Paul Rivett was on Pole position for the first race, it was Matthew Brabham finished 5th in the first Formula Renault race Adam Bonham who took the initial lead but was passed by Josh Cook round Luffield. Nic Hamilton ended up in the gravel trap at Luffield on the second lap. Josh Cook managed to win both races at Silverstone with Stefan Hodgetts second © Simon Wright

Josh Cook won both races in the Renault UK Clio Cup

in the first race and Paul Rivett second in the second race. Finally the Ginetta Junior races were won by Andrew Watson and Pepe Massot.

Seb Morris won both Formula Renault races at Silverstone

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© Janet Wright

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Tom Jackson Ginetta Junior

Š Pete Austin

Masters Festival Donington October 13th/14th

By Mick Herring with additional photos By Pete Austin and Simon & Janet Wright As the name suggests the Masters Festival at Donington was indeed a festival and Masters UK season closer.

With both Grand Prix Masters races being dominated, as expected, by the young and talented Michael Lyons' 1975 Hesketh 308E with, typically joined by his mother Judy and father Frank in the family fleet of F1 cars.

Saturday's 16 lap wet race contrasted with Sunday's dry 22 laps but made no difference to the margin by which he won, 35 seconds in both races.

From perhaps the best historical F1 period, the sound of the magnificent Cosworth DFV did not disappoint.

Similarly the two wet/dry CanAm Interserie races were won by David Mercer's Group C Spice SE90C from Andy Newall's, newly acquired, fearsome 8.8 litre 900 bhp McLaren M8F now GP Masters Race 1 - Gregory Thornton Lotus 92 in the hands of JCB. Attempting to put that much power through the tyres was always going to take considerable skill and the car led the second race convincingly until fuel starvation problems returned.

The other category enjoying two races over the weekend was the Masters 70's Celebration.

The same two cars would dominate, Alec Hammond the victor on wet Saturday in his Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Mark Bates' Porsche 911 RSR. Closing the meeting on dry, sunny Sunday, the 20 lap race went to the Porsche with the Camaro, driven this time by Nigel Greensall finishing 50 secs back.

The three single races run on dry, sunny Sunday comprised the 90 minute Gentleman Drivers for sportscars.

Two big 60's TVR Griffiths are always spectacular and was the solo driven car of Mike Whitaker who dominated the 66 lap race to win by 16.3 secs from the Michael/Sean McInerney example with the next three places taken by the diminutive Lotus Elan.

Keith Ahlers/Billy Bellinger took their customary class win and 6th in the pretty Morgan Plus 4 SLR. Hack-Wheeler Austin Mini Cooper S 14th

Š Mick Herring

The one hour World Sportscar Masters/ Sports Racing Masters was mostly populated by the fast, nimble 2 litre cars with victory going to the Charlie Kemp/Richard Sykes Lola T210 who finished 25.9 secs ahead, after 48 laps, of local preparation expert and versatile driver, Simon Hadfield in the rare 5.7 litre 1965 Huffaker Genie.

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© Pete Austin

Andrew Middleton's equally rare Taydec Mk3 was 3rd, one lap down.

Chevrons of various ages, models and open/closed configuration took six of the following seven places with a Chevrolet Corvette interloping in 8th.

The Pre-66 Touring Cars one hour race drew, as it did in period, the customary mix of fast American Ford Falcons and Mustangs doing battle with the nimble Lotus Cortinas and often giant killing Minis plus an Italian and a couple of German contenders. Donington's straights and fast sweep saw the Ford Falcon of Leo Voyazides win by 47.8 secs from the Mustangs of Henry Mann, 2nd and Neil Brown/Richard Dutton 3rd.

Mark Jones' Lotus Cortina upheld British honours in 4th ahead of two Mustangs, a Falcon and another Lotus Cortina.

The giant killing was reserved for Nick Swift's Morris Mini Cooper S in 9th. © Simon Wright

Masters 70’s Celebration Race 1 Mark Bates Porsche 911 RSR leads Alec Hammond Chevrolet Camaro © Janet Wright

Peter Schleifer McLaren M6B finished 6th in the second CanAm Interserie race

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March on - Mark Higson March 761 leads Mike Wrigley March 711

© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

Steve Hodges Chevron B8 spins coming out of the chicane

William Ward GSM Delta dailed to finish the Gentlemen Drivers race

Andy Newall McLaren M8F CanAm

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Mick Herring © Simon Wright

World Sports Car Masters winners Kemp/Sykes Lola T210 in a heavy hailstorm

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Kit Car Show Donington

By Simon and Janet Wright Held at the Donington Park Exhibition centre on the same weekend as the 750 Motor Club Summer festival meeting, the Kit Car Show offered an insight into a fascinating world of unusual and immaculate cars at homebuilt prices. Kit cars have © Janet Wright come a long way in their © Simon Wright short history, samples of which were displayed in the exhibition hall. The rest of the hall consisted of manufacturers displaying their latest products.

Outside the hall was a GD T70moda The moda features an all weather modular roof system large display which is added to the tubular spaceframe chassis and GRP composite area where body shell. The basic moda is factory built with a 440bhp 6.2 litre V8 examples of a engine, though more powerful options can be supplied by Gardner Lotus Seven S3 This is seen as the origin of the modern kit car large selection Douglas Sports Cars of kit cars were industry. Between 1968 and 1970 it is thought that around 340 were built. It inspired so many replicas all around the world. This 1969 on display, shown by their proud owners. The range and diversity was enormous. In the model is fitted with a Ford Cortina 1600GT crossflow engine and a early days, lots of kits were based on the Lotus 7 design, then the AC Cobra became a Ford Escort rear axle which are staple components of many kit © Simon Wright popular basis for models. kit car manufacturers. Now there are kits of Ferrari and Lamborghini models as well as unique designs not based on any existing vehicles.

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

Fairthorpe Zeta A total of 5 were built between 1959 and 1961. Fitted with a 2.6 litre Ford Zephyr engine, this car was raced by original builder Bob Linwood Cox GTM built between 1967 and 1971. Based on Mini running gear. This car was built in 1969 and raced in 1970

by Richard Hudson-Evans for Car and Car Conversions

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© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

Top Left: Marlin Sportsters lined up to display Top Right: Ginetta G32 Middle Left: Roy Kelly Ferrari 250 Replica Middle Right: Marlin 5EXI Honda powered sports car Bottom Left: Cyclone R Right: Burlington Arrow © Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

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© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

Top Left: Onyx Firefox Above: Magenta Kit car Right Top: Plenty of different AC Cobra replicas Middle: Dutton Legerra Bottom: Nova Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Simon Wright

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BRM Day Bourne

By Pete Austin BRM’s 1962 World Championship celebrated in Bourne Thousands of people lined the streets of Bourne on October 7th to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of BRM’s World Championship with Graham Hill. Held in glorious autumn weather the event followed a similar format to that held in 1999 when the 50th Anniversary of the founding of BRM took place.

Leading the parade of celebrities in a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost were Graham Hill’s widow Bette accompanied by son Damon (who himself won the World Championship in 1996 with Williams) and David Owen (son of Sir Alfred Owen). Members of the late Tony Rudd’s family were also in attendance together with former designers Tony Southgate and Mike Pilbeam (who still has a design premises in the town). Former drivers included Jackie Stewart (who drove for BRM in his early F1 career), Howden Ganley and Richard Attwood. Several former mechanics were also on hand throughout the day. Quite a unique gathering.

Damon Hill - BRM P261

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© Pete Austin

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Former BRM employee Rick Hall (who still operates his restoration and preparation business Hall & Hall in Bourne) played a major part in organising the superb gathering of BRM’s on display. The majority of the cars made runs on the closed roads during the day with the raucous sound of the two V16’s (a mark 1 and 2) resonating off the buildings to delight of the crowd. John Pearson had brought along the P25 which had

© Pete Austin

given BRM its first Grand Prix victory at Zandvoort in Holland in 1959 with Jo Bonnier driving.

Damon Hill drove both his father’s World Championship BRM P578 and a P261,

© Pete Austin

Jackie Stewart also drove a P261 in the morning followed by a run in his Tyrrell 006 in the afternoon. There were representative cars from the entire history of BRM right up to the V12 Yardley, Marlboro and Motul sponsored Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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© Pete Austin

© Pete Austin

Damon Hill - BRM P578

© Pete Austin

cars. Even the gas turbine Le Mans car was on display. One of the highlights was also a parade of transporters led by the iconic BRM Leyland Royal Tiger.

All in all the entire BRM Day committee must be congratulated on organising such a unique event which will never be forgotten. Well done.

Damon Hill - BRM P578

David Owen and Bettie Hill

Leyland Tiger Transporter

© Pete Austin

Doug Hill - BRM P15 Mk1 V16

© Pete Austin

© Pete Austin

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Britcar 24 Hours 22nd-23rd September 2012

By Mick Herring.

A smaller than hoped for grid assembled at Silverstone for the seventh (2009 run as a 6hr) Britcar 24 Hour race, poised for Saturday afternoon's start.

Britcar boss, James Tucker remarked as he stood on the start line, it was a quality rather than quantity grid. It would also mark the return of Le Mans class winning team members Lawrence Tomlinson, Richard Dean and Tom Kimber-Smith plus works driver Mike Simpson in the Ginetta G55 GT3. Š Mick Herring

Two notable human stories, amongst many that unfolded, started before anyone even got near Silverstone. Mission Motorsport entry was a milestone for the injured and serving combined armed forces personnel concerned. Their mission statement sums up the Š Mick Herring ethos perfectly:- "To aid in the recovery and rehabilitation of those affected by military operations by providing opportunities through motorsport".After a problem with their race car, a "civilian" Nissan 370z was "requisitioned", actually RJN boss Bob Neville's road car, provided the required parts to repair extensive bodywork damage and a broken suspension upright following heavy contact Rollcentre Toyota GT86 with wing chases the flying works Toyota GT86

with a spinning Marcos. Their ingenuity overcame many obstacles and they were there at the finish in 17th.

Inaugural winners, Martin Short's Rollcentre Racing team, nearly didn't even make night qualifying. From buying a Toyota GT86 from a main dealer, building/preparing it from scratch inside 6 weeks was always going to be a major undertaking but make it they did to finish 10th. Driven from the workshop to Silverstone it managed just 4 or 5 laps before the engine blew up.

With no engine available from Toyota and despite assurances that parts were non-interchangeable, Subaru with whom the car was jointly developed supplied a short engine overnight, which was built at a dealers by a Rollcentre mechanic with extra sump baffles. The engine was fitted, fired up, ran briefly, stopped and refused to go again. A frustrating day followed with no running and Friday's night qualifying was well advanced when the problem ECU plug was cured and it finally burst into life with just Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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Š Mick Herring

© Mick Herring

thirteen minutes remaining. Everything was re-assembled in record time and qualifying completed in the final three minutes.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon as the pace car pulled off and the field went over the line for the 15.30 start, the works Ginetta quickly established a lead from the Strata 21 Mosler. These two cars traded the lead up to the ten hour stage and both having experienced dramas, relinquished the lead to the Geoff Steel Racing run BMW E46 GTR of Richard Abra, Mark Poole, Clint Bardwell and Michael Symons that they would hold to the flag on Sunday afternoon.

Disciplined driving from all drivers saw the totally rebuilt/renewed car move from their long-held third place into the lead with only a pit lane speed limit penalty drive through, a small brake fire during a refuelling stop and an extra brake pad change affecting the clockwork routine of their class 2 car.

The winning car completed 564 laps, a total of 2064.5 miles

Mosler and Ginetta battled for the lead for the first ten hours

Of the smaller teams, Piranha Motorsport, under the guidance and driving of experienced boss Simon Mason with Rory Bryant, Ryan Ratcliffe and Chris Bialan in Bryant's class 4 Ginetta G40 were poised to repeat their previous class and overall results. A twice-recurring cut-out switch problem and a lengthy silencer repair/re-pack stop, after noise problems dropped them from a dominant class lead to 6th and 12th overall.

Sadly, noise issues would see the exclusion of two teams over the course of the race.

The class 3 Corum Sport Chevron GR8 GT4 suffered a high speed rear suspension failure at midnight with Bradley Ellis driving and the rear body section flying off midmorning, causing the car Final pitstop for the winning BMW © Mick Herring to spin, stall and become stranded on the track.

Three team mechanics running the length of the pitlane with the bodywork above their heads ensured the car would return and be in there at the end of 24hrs.

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Mick Herring

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© Mick Herring

Moving into second place before half way was Mike Brown's class1 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to finish 4 laps behind the winners.

The weather would provide the biggest sting in the tail though.

Light rain was predicted for Sunday but for a long while it looked as though we might even get away with it.

But no, the final three and a half hours were run under very heavy continuous rain and with the, mandatory, no car recovery in the final half hour the tension just escalated as 15.30 approached.

With twenty six classified finishers, it was an emotional James Tucker who closed proceedings on the podium with assurances that negotiations to ensure the Britcar Endurance classic continues were in hand, perhaps not as a 24 hour race but as a 6hr or 1,000km race.

The Britcar 24 Hr is a race too important to be lost to environmental noise restrictions, spiralling circuit and other costs.

It needs to continue.

Mike Brown Aston Martin Vantage GT3 finished 2nd chased by the Perfection Racing Aston Martin in 3rd © Mick Herring

Piranha Ginetta G40

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© Mick Herring

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Sunset over the circuit and the race goes on.

Archive Photo of the Month

Š Pete Austin

By Pete Austin Bev Bond made a welcome return to Silverstone last month driving a March 703 in the HSCC Classic Racing Cars race at the Finals meeting. Bev was perhaps best known as being one of the top drivers in the 1 litre Formula 3 'screamer' era racing for Gold Leaf Team Lotus. Less well known was that in 1974 he drove for the Harry Stiller team in the Formula Atlantic series achieving some good results before Alan Jones took over the drive later in the year. This shot shows Bev testing the March 74B at Brands Hatch prior to the seasons first race.

Beechdean Aston squeezes WFR Ginetta at Copse on lap 1

Triumph sports car line up TR4, TR3 and a couple of Stag

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© Simon Wright

Stourbridge Bonded Warehouse Open Weekend. October 20th-21st 2012.

By Simon and Janet Wright.

Located in the West Midlands, Stourbridge Bonded Warehouse, located on the canal network, was originally built in 1799. It is now a restored Grade II listed building, used by the community for various functions and regular group activities. Now in its 29th year, the annual Open Weekend regularly draws in over 100 Narrow boats and a selection of Classic cars and steam traction engines for the public to admire.

This years event was held in bright Ford Model A Truck along side the sunshine and canal outside the Bonded Warehouse surprisingly warm for an October day. The turn out of classic cars was less than previous years, maybe a sign of the current economic climate. There were a few locally built vintage cars on the cobbled street on the entrance, including a Bean and a Clyno, both originally manufactured in the Black Country. The other cars on display showed a nice cross section of the British motor industry from its heyday with the likes of Morris, Vauxhall, Hillman, Austin, MG, Triumph, Jaguar and Ford all on show. In fact there was not a single foreign car in the whole display when we looked around on the Sunday morning.

A nice local show, but hopefully more vehicles will attend next year.

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Clyno, built in Wolverhampton, used to be the third largest car manufacturer in the UK after Austin and Morris © Simon Wright

British cars in the sun - Morris, Wolsley, Hillman and Vauxhall

© Janet Wright

© Janet Wright

Hillman Super Minx convertible

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

Vauxhall Victor

Superb MG TA

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Austin Six

© Janet Wright

© Fast Company/Alex Mitchell

ROSS IS LATEST LADY WIGRAM TROPHY WINNER 2012/13 MSC New Zealand F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series Round 2 Wigram Revival meeting Powerbuilt Tools Raceway @ Ruapuna Park Christchurch Sat-Sun October 27 & 28 2012 Dunedin driver Steve Ross (McRae GM1) has added his name to the prestigious Lady Wigram Trophy after a near perfect weekend at the annual Wigram Revival meeting at Christchurch's Powerbuilt Tools Raceway at Ruapuna today. Competing in the 2012/13 MSC New Zealand F5000 Tasman Cup Revival series, Ross set the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday morning and went on to win all three F5000 category races, driving away from the field in each one while drama unfolded behind him. Series super-vet Ken Smith (Lola T430), who was hunting for his fifth Lady Wigram title, finished second in the 15-lap Lady Wigram Trophy feature, while the youngest driver in the field, Alan Dunkley, from Auckland driving the oldest car, a high-wing 1968 Lola T140, finished third.

Ross, the defending MSC NZ F5000 series champion and early © Fast Company/Alex Mitchell

Defending MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series champion Steve Ross (McRae GM1) completed a near perfect weekend at the Wigram Revival meeting in Christchurch on Sunday with a lghts-to-flag win in the Lady Wigram Trophy race 2012/13 season points leader, was thrilled to have won the Lady Wigram Trophy, one he had been chasing for several years. “It’s just brilliant. The car went beautifully all weekend and we got a bit of a buffer and just carried on.”

As he did in the first two MSC races of the weekend Ross got the jump on fellow front runner starter Clark Proctor (March 73A) at the start of the Lady Wigram Trophy race but Proctor spun on the second of 15 laps allowing Smith to move into second. Proctor dropped down to eleventh but then provided a crowd pleasing spectacle as he fought his way back through the field.

For much of the race Melbourne-based Kiwi expat Chris Lambden (McRae GM1) and Christchurch’s Ian Clements (Lola T332) provided a great battle for third until Clements spun coming onto the front straight when a suspension upright broke. This gave Lambden some breathing space until he was caught two laps later by the hard charging Proctor. Unfortunately

First Class A car home in each race was the 1968 Lola T140 of Alan Dunkley

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these two then tangled at the hairpin with four laps to go when it looked as though a podium was within Proctor’s grasp. Both retired allowing young gun Alan Dunkley through to third. “I’m absolutely stoked with it (the race)," said 22-year-old Dunkley. "Driving the oldest car on the grid and getting on the podium? You © Fast Company/Alex Mitchell

Behind Ross heading into the first corner in the Lady Wigram Trophy race is Clark Proctor and Ken Smith.

can’t ask for better than that. We set off with a medium pace not wanting to cook the tyres and just kept to that pace while others in front of us fell off.”

Although disappointed not to be have caught Ross, Smith was thrilled with his podium after earlier winning the Wigram Cup race driving one of his other cars, a 2litre Swift DB4 Formula Atlantic single-seater, in the John Hawkins Memorial Formula Libre Invitation class. “The weekend was mighty. I loved it," said the 71year-old. "At the end of the day we’ve had good fun in the little car (Swift DB4) and run second here today which is no mean feat.” “He (Ross) had too much horsepower and I was losing brakes so I had to back off for the last six laps or so. The pedal was going flat to the floor and I had to pump it.”

Ross's winning run began with a lights-to-flag victory in the weekend's first MSC series race on Saturday afternoon. Clark Proctor joined Ross on the front row of the grid after beating Ken Smith to the second quickest qualifying time, but like Smith - who started from P3 on the second row of the grid - he was no match for Ross who set the fastest race lap - a 1:18:533 - as he edged away to cross the finish line just over 10 seconds ahead of Proctor with Smith a further threequarters of a second back in third. Fourth was Brett Willis (Lola T330) from Rotorua, fifth, former MSC series champion Ian Clements from Christchurch and sixth Chris Lambden. Alan Dunkley showed signs on Saturday of what was to come with a qualifying lap which put him on the fourth row of the grid and early pace in Classic and Competition Car November 2012

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the opening race which saw him up to sixth place. A spin put him back down the field though and he crossed the line back where he started - in eighth place.

Ross also won the weekend's second MSC race on Sunday morning, this time by just over 17 seconds with Ken Smith this time pipping Clark Proctor for second. Smith didn't get the best of starts and after being swamped in the run to the first corner found himself with some work to do. “Steve (Ross) eased off at the line which was unfortunate," said Smith. " He should have kept it going as everybody had to back out and that’s when everyone jumped me.'

That dropped Smith from third to fifth after the first corner with Chris Lambden emerging in third place behind Ross - who was already pulling away - and Proctor. It wasn't long before Smith was making progress, however, the determined veteran catching and passing Brett Willis by the end of the first lap then Chris Lambden a lap later. By this time Ross had a six second gap on Proctor with Smith a further three seconds back and catching. Smith then caught Proctor after six laps, passing him coming out of turn one. This was the order they finished. © Fast Company/Alex Mitchell Joining Ross on the podium was runner-up Ken Smith (right) and Alan Dunkley

Prepared by FAST COMPANY of behalf of the New Zealand Formula 5000 Association www.F5000.co.nz

Race 1 (8 laps Sat) 012/13 MSC New Zealand F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series Rnd 2 1. Steve Ross (McRae GM1) 10:38:117 Wigram Revival meeting Powerbuilt Tools Raceway @ Ruapuna 2. Clark Proctor (March 73A) 10:49:188 Park Christchurch Sat-Sun October 27 & 28 2012 3. Ken Smith (Lola T430) 10:49:848 Qualifying © Fast Company/Alex Mitchell 4. Brett Willis (Lola T330) 11:00:442 1. Steve Ross (McRae GM1) 1.17.850 5. Ian Clements (Lola T332) 11:02:749 2. Clark Proctor (March 73A) 1.19.375 6. Chris Lambden (McRae GM1) 11:11:877 3. Ken Smith (Lola T430) 1.20.002 7. Russell Greer (Lola T332) 11:13:296 4. Brett Willis (Lola T330) 1.20.352 8. Alan Dunkley (Lola T140) 11:18:994 5. Chris Lambden (McRae GM1) 1.20.968 9. David Banks (Talon MR1A) 11:30:505 6. Aaron Burson (McRae GM1) 1.21.180 10. Aaron Burson (McRae GM1) 11:35:008 7. Ian Clements (Lola T332) 1.21.289 11. Lindsay O'Donnell (Begg FM5) 8. Alan Dunkley (Lola T140) 1.22.081 11:35:218 9. Russell Greer (Lola T332) 1.23.389 12. Phil Mauger (McLaren M23 F1) 10. David Abbott (Lola T430) 1.23.438 11:40:157 11. David Banks (Talon MR1A) 1.24.050 13. Peter Burson (McRae GM1) 11:42:493 12. Lindsay O'Donnell (Begg FM5) 1.24.451 14. David Abbott (Lola T430) 11:42:579 13. Stan Redmond (Lola T333CS) 1.26.278 15. Stan Redmond (Lola T333CS) 12:01.939 14. Phil Mauger (McLaren M23 F1) 1.27.235 Fastest lap: Steve Ross 1:18.533 15. Peter Burson (McRae GM1) no time First Class A car home was the 1968 Lola T140 of Al Dunkley which Classic and Competition Car November 2012

finished

eighth after running

as high as sixth before a spin

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Š Fast Company/Alex Mitchell

Race 3 Lady Wigram Trophy Race (Sun pm 15 laps) 1. Steve Ross 19:53.634 2. Ken Smith +20:24.787 3. Alan Dunkley +20:56.515 4. Aaron Burson +21:01.308 5. David Banks +21:06.773 6. Russell Greer +1 Lap 1:23.520 7. David Abbott + 1 Lap 8. Peter Burson + 1 Lap dnf Phil Mauger, Clark Proctor, Chris Lambden, Ian Clements, Stanley Redmond,g/box Brett Willis, g/box Lindsay O'Donnell wing support Fastest lap; Steve Ross 1:18.961 LEFT: Pole man and runaway winner of the first MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series race at the Wigram Revival meeting in Christchurch today was Dunedin driver Steve Ross in his McRae GM1.

.

Š Fast Company/Alex Mitchell

Race 2 (8 laps Sun am) 1. Steve Ross 10:32.175 2. Ken Smith +17.811 3. Clark Proctor +17.940 4. Brett Willis +25.331 5. Ian Clements 11 +32.078 6. Chris Lambden +33.846 7. Aaron Burson +34.199 8. Alan Dunkley +35.383 9. David Abbott +39.343 10. Russell Greer +41.900 11. David Banks +45.225 12. Stan Redmond +53.470 13. Phil Mauger +53.486 14. Lindsay O'Donnell +55.101 dnf: Peter Burson Fastest lap: Steve Ross 1.18.279

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Clark Proctor (March 73A) and Ken Smith (Lola T430) battled for second place.

Š Mick Herring

GT Cup Donington Park 6th-7th October 2012.

By Mick Herring.

Along with the GT Cup organisers, Jordan Witt and soon-to-be crowned champion Derek Johnston were all determined to end the season on a high note and Donington's 2.5 mile Grand Prix circuit would provide three close fought races with all three victories going to the works Chevron GT3 of Jordan Witt.

In Saturday's race 1, confident of the crown, Derek Johnston had resolved to take it (relatively) easy in his Ferrari 458 Challenge car, however, the former Radical racer and Sunoco Daytona Challenge winner (the prize for which was a fully-funded drive in the 2010 Rolex Daytona 24 Hr) raced hard with Witt for several early laps including leading the race.

At the flag he was 13.7 secs behind the Chevron but was briefly challenged by Lee Mowle's Ginetta G55 GT3 until a last lap spin for Mowle left him content with 3rd.

A distant Kevin Riley's Mosler completed the top four, class 1 result, with the class 2 BMWs of Peter Seldon and Don Grice in 5th and 6th.

Class 3 provided the usual battle between Colin Broster and Chris Bentley in 7th and 8th respectively.

Going into Sunday's race 2 Derek Johnston had the same resolve again but the racer's instinct saw him first into Redgate to lead Jordan Witt for three laps before the Chevron took what would become a 29.3 sec lead.

Derek Johnston's second place secured his championship and headed Kevin Riley by 27.5 secs. The Mosler had come under pressure from Mowle's Ginetta, until an engine stalling brake lock up dropped him well back but he would recover to 5.3 secs behind the Mosler, which had previously been fending off Matt Seldon's BMW until a power steering fault prompted his retirement.

Don Grice was 5th, first class 2 car, with Colin Broster made Chris Bentley wait until the final race to secure his class 3 championship as they finished 6th and 7th.

With the championship won Derek Johnston was looking for a win in Sunday's final race and led for a while until brake issues slowed him to finish 17.4 secs adrift of the Chevron GT3, Lee Mowle was a further 17.7 secs back in third. After starting from the pit lane, Kevin Riley hauled his recalcitrant Mosler up through the field to take 4th, 1 lap down.

Don Grice brought his class 2 BMW home 5th ahead of the final three, class 3, cars of David Barker (Ginetta G50) and the Porsche 996 pair of Colin Broster and Chris Bentley.

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Š Mick Herring

© Mick Herring

Anything Jordan can do Derek can do too

Champion in class 3, Bentley was fortunate to finish after a last lap clash with Barker at the Melbourne Hairpin broke a wheel rim.

An absent Peter Smallwood had already secured the class 2 title in his Porsche 997. © Mick Herring

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

A worthy three straight wins for Jordan Witt and the crowning of a worthy champion in Derek Johnston rounded off what has been an exciting year, at times, with close racing from the small grids.

A relaxation of the license requirement from National A to National B next year will hopefully restore the the grid sizes of the GT Cup to the levels experienced in previous years. © Mick Herring

Lee Mowle lonely

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© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright © Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

HSCC Season Finals, Silverstone 14th October 2012

By Simon & Janet Wright with additional photos by Pete Austin & Mick Herring.

The HSCC Season came to a spectacular and dramatic finish with a big accident in the Formula Junior race between Jon Milicevic driving a Cooper T59 and David Methley in a Brabham BT6.

Fighting for the lead, Methley was in the lead as they approached Brooklands and Milicevic tried to dive up the inside. Wheels touched and Methley was launched into a series of rolls, the car ending upside down on the run off area outside the BRDC centre. Methley managed to extract himself from the upside down car and was helped by the marshals to the medical car. Milicevic had spun off as a result of the contact with Methley and had to be extracted from his car by the Silverstone rescue team. This resulted in a Red Flag to stop the race and Sam Wilson being declared the winner in his Cooper

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Simon Wright

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T59.

After a misty start during the morning, the nine race program started with the Classic Formula 3 race which saw early leader David Shaw in a Ralt RT1 passed at about half distance by eventual winner Greg Caton in a March 803B who went on to win by just 1.828 seconds. Jamie Brashaw finished a distant 3rd. The Historic Road Sports always draws a large entry and this race was no exception. Paul Tooms led from start to finish in his Lotus Elan with Peter Shaw 2nd in a Lotus Elan S1 and Andy Shepherd 3rd in a Lotus Seven S2 making a clean sweep for the Lotus marque. John Spiers was 4th in the TVR Griffith to win his class followed © Mick Herring by 5th place Roddie Feilden in a Morgan Plus 8 also winning his class.

Tim Bishop 3 wheels his DKW F12 through Becketts

Other Class winners were Mike Eagles in a Milano GT Mk1 in 14th, Richard Owen in a Triumph TR2 in 17th overall, John Shaw at the wheel of a Porsche 911 in 18th, and finally Jim Gathercole in 19th in a MG Midget.

The Historic Formula Ford race proved to be a thriller with a race long battle between Stuart Baird in a Merlyn Mk11A and David Wild in a Lola T200. After 18 laps of swapping the lead finished just 0.146 seconds apart with Baird the winner.

After the clear up of the Formula Junior accident, the Historic Touring Cars took to the track. Again, the large and diverse entry made this a fascinating race to watch even though Mike Gardiner had an untroubled start to flag victory in his Ford Falcon. Dan Cox was as entertaining, and

© Mick Herring

Winner Nick Fleming Ralt RT1 inside 2nd place Neil Glover Lola T330/2 Derek Bell Trophy

sideways as ever in his Ford Lotus Cortina to win his class and finish 2nd overall, 23.919 seconds behind the Falcon. John Pugsley did well finishing 6th overall to win his class in his Ford Anglia 105E followed by Neil Brown taking his class in his Ford Lotus Cortina and Simon Benoy who got his little class winning Hillman Imp in to 8th place overall beating a lot of larger engined cars on what is really a power circuit.

Other class winners included Roger Phillips at the wheel of his Austin Mini Cooper S in 11th, Paul Hopkinson in an Alfa Romeo in 13th, David Lloyd in a Ford Mustang in 21st and finally Tim Bishop in the wildly entertaining DKW F12 which seems to 3 wheel through every corner, lifting a rear wheel one side, then the other as it tackled the Brooklands, Luffield complex.

The Classic Racing Cars also had a large entry and saw Mike Jones dominate in his Lotus 59. Sam Wilson, out again in his Formula Junior Cooper T59 added a class win to his earlier victory in the Formula Junior race. The other class winners were Tim Kary in a Brabham BT29 in 7th, Jonathan Baines in a Merlyn Mk20 in 16th, and David Brown in a Brabham BT23C in 19th. The Guards Trophy race for sports and Gt cars saw Charlie Allison hold the early lead in his Chevron B8 but by lap 7 James Dodd had worked his way through to the lead in the blue and orange Ginetta G16 and held the lead to the chequered flag to win from Allison by 8.923 seconds. Denis Welch won his class in his Lotus 23B in 6th, followed by Brian Casey in 7th, winning his class in

Ian Ashley Lotus 23B Guards Trophy

Classic and Competition Car November 2012

© Janet Wright

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the Lenham P69. Other class winners were Mike Whitaker TVR Griffith 10th, Mike Malone Elva MkV11S 11th, Nick Fleming Lotus Elan S1 13th, Paul Castaldini Jaguar E-Type 21st and Andrew Bentley in an MGB in 29th.

The big boys were out next for the Derek Bell Trophy race for single seaters.

Michael Lyons dominated practice and the race, leading all the way to the last lap, when he slowed and had to pit, giving the victory to Nick Fleming in the Formula 2 Ralt RT1. Neil Glover finished 2nd, winning his class in the F5000 Lola T330/2 while Michael Lyons took the flag in the pit lane to finish 3rd overall. John Harrison won his class in the clubmans Mallock Mk21 in 6th place and Jamie Brashaw took his class in his f3 March 793 in 9th followed by another class winner, Garry Diver in 10th in a March 79B. Allan Rennie bought home the unique F1 Lotus 35 to win his class in 12th and Adam Simmonds was the final class winner in a Lola T142 in 16th.

Final race of the day was for 70s Road Sports and saw Richard Plant take the final win of the day in his Morgan Plus 8. Julian Barter finished 3rd to win his class in a TVR 3000M, Ross Braithwaite was 5th in a Lotus Europa to take his class,. Other class winners were Paul Aslett Jaguar XJ S in 7th, John Thomason in a Triumph GT6 MkIII and Chris Alford in an MG Midget in 20th.

A great meeting to finish the season. Roll on 2013.

© Pete Austin

James Bucton Elden Mk8 after running in to the back of another car

We have a gallery of photos from this event on our web site www.classicandcompetitioncar.com © Janet Wright

Paul Aslett Jaguar XJ S class winner 70s Road Sports

© Pete Austin

James Dodd Ginetta G16 leads the Guards Trophy race

Classic and Competition Car is published by simonwrightphotos.com E-mail simonwright57@hotmail.com

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