Classic and Competition Car 47 August 2014

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Classic and Competition Car August 2014

Issue 47

Silverstone Classic

Bob Gerard Memorial Meeting

GT Cup Snetterton

Coventry Breakfast meeting

Classic Nostalgia


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

Contents Page 3

News.

Page 9

Coventry Breakfast Club.

Page 14

Archive Photo of the month.

Page 15

VSCC Vintage and Post Vintage Thoroughbred Hill Climb Shelsley Walsh.

Page 20

GT Cup, Snetterton.

Page 24

The Bob Gerard Memorial trophy race meeting VSCC, Donington Park.

Page 29

Sheffield & Hallamshire Sprint, Curborough.

Page 32

1000 Mile Trial.

Page 37

Silverstone Classic.

Page 47

Old Hill Festival .

Page 49

Classic Nostalgia, Shelsley Walsh.

Page 54

Closing Shot - Theodore TR1.

Front Cover. Katsuaki Kubota JPS Lotus 72 Silverstone Classic © Janet Wright. Bob Gerard meeting © Janet Wright. GT Cup Snatterton © Mick Herring, Classic Nostalgia © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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.

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.

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 Our Team. Simon Wright - Editor. Simon has been photographing and reporting on motor races for many years. Served an engineering apprenticeship many years ago. Big fan of the Porsche 917 Pete Austin. Pete is the man for Historic racing, with an extensive archive of black and white images covering the last few decades of motorsport in Britain. Very keen on BRM. Mick Herring Mick's first love is GT racing, including Historic, especially the Lola T70. Has an extensive knowledge of all things GT. Janet Wright. Janet has been taking photographs for many years, and is also very skilled in video. She likes Aston Martins

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Editorial.

News

Š Mick Herring

July has been a fantastic month for classic motorsport in the UK with both the Classic Nostalgia meeting at Shelsley Walsh and the Silverstone Classic showing how the public can enjoy the total classic experience at an event. However, the Silverstone Classic also showed that motorsport can still be dangerous, even with the best facilities and marshals available, and that the drivers are still risking their lives to enjoy their, and our passion. I know lessons will be learnt from these incidents and the sport will continue to grow and develop. David Brabham and Sir Stirling Moss lead the Grand Prix car parade on Sunday lunchtime Let us hope that the rest of the Silverstone Classic a big success. season will be incident free and Although overshadowed by the tragic accident that took the life of Denis Welch, the Silverstone we can all enjoy some close, Classic had put on a great event with over 90,000 people attending over the three days. With its mix safe racing. of on track action, static car displays and musical entertainment, the event continues to attract the classic car fans Aston Martin confirm Lagonda. It has been confirmed that a bespoke production programme for a new strictly limited super saloon will see the return of the name Lagonda. The stunning luxury super saloon will be the finest of fast cars. Classic and Competition car August 2014

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© Simon Wright

Bob’s former Cooper Bristol Mk II, now raced by Steve Russell

Bob Gerard remembered on centenary of his birth.

Audi win Spa 24 Hours. Audi took their third 24 Hour race victory in six weeks when the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Ultra driven by Rene Rast, Laurens Vanthoor and Markus Winkelhock took the flag first at the Spa 24 Hour race in Belgium. The win puts Laurens Vanthoor in to the lead of the Blancpain Endurance Series. In what is considered to the the toughest GT3 in the World, Audi beat ten other manufacturers and 60 contestants to win the Spa 24 Hours for the third time in the last four years with the Audi R8 LMS Ultra, on the 90th anniversary of the event. Their victory was a close fought thing with the BMW of Luhr, Werner and Palttala only 7.077 seconds behind in 2nd after 24 hours of racing. Third place went to another Audi R8 LMS Ultra driven by Mies, Nash and Stippler who were one lap behind the winners. Rast and Winklehock were also part of the winning driving team at the Nurburgring 24 Hours this year. Classic and Competition car August 2014

One of the greatest British racing drivers in the immediate pre and post war periods is remembered with the Bob Gerard Memorial Trophy race run by the VSCC at Donington Park. Several cars that had been raced by Bob were present along with members of his family, mechanics, several drivers and members of Bob’s racing team. © Janet Wright

ERA R4A previously raced by Bob and now raced by Nick Topliss

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First Carr home.

© Simon Wright

Maserati 250F honoured at Goodwood Revival. This years Goodwood Revival will mark 60 years of the Maserati 250F, one of the most iconic Formula 1 cars in history, with the largest ever on-track collections of the car. It is expected that as many as 16 examples will take part in the Richmond Trophy, a race for 2.5 litre, front engined Grand Prix cars of the type that raced between 1954 and 1960. Amoung them will be one of only two V12 engined versions of the car. The Maserati 250F took its first victory on its debut at the 1954 Argentinian Grand Prix in the hands of five times World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio. Roy Salvadori and Stirling Moss took wins at the 1956 and 1957 Glover Trophy races at Goodwood, while Fangio took the most famous victory in the 1957 German Grand Prix after he came back from a botched pit stop to catch the Ferraris of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins to win the race and clinch his 5th World Title. Classic and Competition car August 2014

© Janet Wright

Popular Vintage competitor Gillian Carr won her first race at the Bob Gerard Memorial Trophy race meeting at Donington Park when she finished first in the Dick Baddiley & Edwardian Racing Trophies Handicap race for Edwardian cars. She beat Mark Walker in his 1907 Darracq by just 0.96 of a second on a wet, but drying circuit. Gillian, the former Vintage Sports Car Club PR Manager, was driving Dr Alisdaire Lockharts’ 1914/18 3996cc Vauxhall A/D Type to win her first trophy. Gillian and Alisdaire are seen celebrating her victory with the Vauxhall after the race. © Simon Wright

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© Janet Wright

Jodie Kidd returns to racing. BBC Masterchef finalist joined the 90s GT Legends line up at the Silverstone Classic. Her return was short lived on the first demonstration when another Jaguar XJ 220 caught fire and the session was red flagged after a couple of laps.

© Janet Wright

BTCC former champion switches to Ford Gorden Shedden raced a Ford Lotus Cortina at the Silverstone Classic and was in great form, chasing the thundering pair of leading American Ford Falcons in the Mustang Celebration Trophy race. Unfortunately on the last lap of the race the Cortina, in third place, ground to a halt from what would have been a podium position. He also retired it from the Sir John Whitmore Trophy for under 2 litre Touring Cars © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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Motion and Emotion as rare Peugeots gather in the UK One of the biggest gatherings of 120 rare Peugeot models in the Uk took place near Southampton for the annual International Peugeot meeting. The cars all belonged to members of l’Aventure Peugeot, the brands heritage arm which has a museum in Sochaux, near Mulhouse in France. The owners came from Britain, France, Belgium,, Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Italy. After meeting up in Southampton, the cars were driven through the New Forest and displayed to the public in the grounds of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. There were several very rare models in the display including a 1922 Peugeot Type 173S, a unique model with roadster bodywork by a coach builder in Marseille, and a rare 1934 601 Roadster from Amsterdam of which only 109 were built and it is believed that there are only 5 left today.

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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Denis Welch 17th December 1944 - 27th July 2014 Extremely popular historic racer Denis Welch died as a result of injuries that occurred at the Silverstone Classic meeting. Denis, age 69, was competing in the Jack Brabham Memorial Trophy race for Pre 66 Grand Prix cars driving a 1960 Lotus 18. In their second race, on Sunday, he was involved in an accident at the Village, Loop complex on the opening lap and the Lotus rolled over. The race was immediately stopped and he was carefully extracted from the car by Marshals and medical team and was taken to the circuit medical centre where he succumbed to his injuries. Denis was a successful businessman from Dilhorne in Staffordshire and built up a car parts business empire Denis Welch Motorsport, now run by his son Jeremy, based at Yoxall, near Lichfield. He was a great engineer, who was happy sorting out mechanical problems and was always ready to help other competitors. He is best known for his exploits at the wheel of Austin Healeys, though he has driven many historic racing cars over the years. To his family and friends we offer our sincere condolences. Š Simon Wright

Š Simon Wright

Classic Classic and and Competition Competition car car August 2014

Page Page 88


© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

Breakfast Club at Coventry Transport Museum.

12th July 2014. By Simon Wright The first Breakfast club meeting to be held at Coventry Transport museum took place on Saturday 12th July 2014. The free event had been advertised on the Museum web site and stated that owners of classic cars that wished to attend needed to pre-register on the web site. Several days before the event, it stated that the pre-booked places were now filled. Upon arrival at the museum, it was slightly disappointing to see just 30 vehicles, Coventry’s finest line up outside the museum arranged in two rows in Millennium Place outside the front of the museum. There was plenty of space available for a lot more vehicles, so hopefully the next event in August will have more vehicles present, as Breakfast clubs at other venues are generally very popular and draw a large turnout of enthusiasts. The weather was hot and sunny and the line up of vehicles was very interesting with plenty of local Coventry vehicles on display, as well as a few motorcycles. Jaguar was the most popular with a couple of Jaguar E-Types showing the development of the model. The earlier model was a 1969 4.2 litre E Type Series 1 hardtop coupe, while the later model was a 1974 5.3 litre V12 Series III Convertible. The E-Types replacement was also present in the form of a 1992 convertible Jaguar

© Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Modern Jaguar line up

Classic E-Type Jaguar

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© Simon Wright

XJS. The XJS was built between 1975 and 1996 and was based on the Jaguar XJ saloon series. It was fitted with the 5.3 litre V12 engine and © Simon Wright initially offered with manual or automatic transmission, but the manual option was soon dropped, as the gearboxes were left over from the E-Type project and were soon used. In automatic Fine example of a Morris Minor convertible form it could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 7.6 seconds and had a top speed of 143 mph which compared well with Italian V12 models of the period from © Simon Wright Classic Coventry cars in millennium place Ferrari and Lamborghini. Whilst there were more Jaguar cars on display than any other make, if you include motorcycles, then Triumph was the most popular marque at the Breakfast club meeting. Triumph are probably best known for their sports cars, which were represented with a Spitfire and a TR6, plus the TR250, a version of the TR5 which was built for the American market. Just 8,480 were built between 1967 and 1968. The American TR250 differed from the TR5 in one main area. The TR5 was fitted with fuel injection, while the TR250 was fitted with twin Zenith-Stromberg carburettors. This was because of tighter emission regulations in America and to keep the cost down in the very competitive American sports car market. It also meant that the straight 6 engine in the TR250 produced Triumph also made 39 BHP less than the TR5. It is motorbikes Classic and Competition car August 2014

Triumph TR250

Page © Simon 10 Wright


© Simon Wright

thought that as many as 600 remain today. Triumph also made mid market luxury saloons and estate cars. There was a fine example of a blue 1973 Triumph 2500 Estate car right outside the museum entrance. During the 1970s Triumph also entered rallying with modified saloon cars, and there was a replica of the official works Rally entry on the 1970 World Cup Rally Triumph 2.5 PI driven by Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer which finished 2nd overall on the World Cup Rally from London to Mexico. To add to the Triumph interest, there were three classic Triumph motorcycles including a 1960 Triumph Tiger Cub t20SL, one of only 1,814 built between the middle of 1960 and the end of © Simon Wright 1961. There were a large Triumph 2500 Estate group of Sunbeam Tiger Club members wandering around the display, unfortunately they had not brought their cars with them. There was a solitary 1965 Series 1 Sunbeam Tiger 4.3 litre V8 on show which had just returned from the 2014 Le Mans Classic. The series 1 were built between 1964 and 1967 and fitted with a 260 cu in 4.3 litre Ford V8 engine. All the Tigers were assembled at Jensen in West Bromwich, with a royalty paid to American car designer © Simon Wright

Replica Triumph 2.5 PI Rally car

and racing driver Carroll Shelby who had been involved in the design of the Tiger model. There are very few original Sunbeam Tigers left in existence, as many have been modified, due to the availability of parts for modification. The meeting was open to any classic car owner, not just those with locally manufactured cars. One of the more unusual was a 1986 2.5 Classic and Competition car August 2014

Sunbeam Tiger

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© Simon Wright

litre Citroen CX25 GTi Turbo 2 estate car. The CX featured the unique Citroen hydropneumatic self levelling suspension, speed adjustable power steering and an interior design that removed the steering Citroen CX25 GTi Estate column stalks. A big advantage of this Breakfast club is the Coventry transport Museum, which still offers free admission and access to its World famous transport display. This includes both Thrust and Thrust SST World Land Speed record holders and also now houses part of the World famous Jaguar Heritage collection.

© Simon Wright

Impressive line up © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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Rolls Royce Phantom 1 Cabriolet.

© Simon Wright

The requirement wasn’t only for Coventry built vehicles though, and for many people, the star of the show was a splendid 1927 Red Rolls Royce Phantom 1 Cabriolet with white wall tyres. It was made by coachbuilders Murphy of Pasadena in the United States of America and the car was manufactured at the Rolls Royce factory in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. Following on from the Silver Ghost model, the Phantom 1 had an under square engine, cast in two blocks, each 3 cyclinders, with detachable cylinder heads and pushrod overhead valvetrain. The undersquare design meant that the car ran smoother at lower rpm and had a good torque curve and plenty of power to move the large car around quickly. It was © Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

fitted to a four speed gearbox through a rubber coupling to reduce vibration. The power went to the wheels via a Torque tube and a complex system of levers and suspension required constant oiling. Rolls Royce had acquired the factory in America in 1919 and began production there in 1920. Nearly 3000 Silver Ghosts and Phantoms were built there before

Classic and Competition car August 2014

the great depression, and to this day, Springfield is the only place outside England where Rolls Royce cars have been built. The Phantom was the flagship model for Rolls Royce of America until the Mk II was introduced in 1929 and due to the Great Depression and the costs of tooling, the Mk II was built entirely in England. Page 13


Š Pete Austin

Archive Photo of the month. By Pete Austin.

At the recent Silverstone Classic Gregor Fisken drove a Peter Revson McLaren M23 resplendent in Yardley colours in the FIA Masters Historic Formula One races. This months image shows Peter Revson in a McLaren M23 during the 1973 GKN/Daily Express International Trophy at Silverstone where he finished 4th. Page 14 Classic and Competition car August 2014


VSCC Vintage and Post Vintage Thoroughbred Hill climb, Shelsley Walsh

Š Janet Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Robert Cobden set the fastest time of the day in his 1937 Riley Falcon Special to win the Fray Challenge Trophy

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© Simon Wright

VSCC Shelsley Walsh 6th July 2014. By Simon & Janet Wright with additional photos by Pete Austin. Cars from another era raced through the heat in rural Worcestershire at the World famous Shelsley Walsh hill climb meeting at the beginning of July. Hosted by the Midland Automobile Club (MAC) for the Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC), this annual event over the steep 1,000 yard course always draws a large entry and an equally large crowd to enjoy vintage motor sport at its best. The sunny and hot weather also saw equally hot competition between over 150 cars ranging from a 1903 Mercedes 60 HP of Roger Collings to the 1953 Cooper Mk7 of Tom Willoughby. After morning practice, the drivers started the competitive runs after lunch and Robert Cobden set fastest time of the day on his first run in his 1937 Riley Falcon Special in the Pre 1941 Racing cars 1101 to 1500cc class. His time of 36.26 seconds was enough to win him the Fray Challenge Trophy. The event proved that ‘Living the life of Riley’ © Pete Austin was the best way to fast driving with 2nd overall going to another Riley, the 1936 Riley Super rat driven by Pete Candy, and Durward Lawson won the Special Sports Cars 1501 to 3000cc Terry Brewster 1937 Lagonda LG45 2nd on handicap in class

Classic and Competition car August 2014

David Rider 1937 Triumph Dolomite

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© Pete Austin

Chris Williams 1929 Napier Bentley smokes off the line. © Simon Wright

class in a 1937 Riley Special, while Julian Hart was another Riley victor winning his class with the 1938 Riley Big Four Special. The smaller Special Sports Car 1101 to 1500cc Unsupercharged and up to 1100cc Supercharged was also a Riley victory, well sort of. Dr David Pryke was fastest in his 1936 Morgan/Riley 4/4 from Greg Lerigo in a 1932/35 Riley Special. The other overall award, the MAC Challenge Trophy, was won by Charlie Martin in his 1930/28 Morgan Special with a time of 38.47 © Janet Wright seconds. Morgan is the local vehicle manufact urer to Shelsley Walsh, built in nearby Malvern. Morgan have Wayne Stansfield 1935 Lagonda Rapier Special always built fast sports cars and this was proved at this meeting. Their early models were 3 wheelers and Mike Sythes won the combined Standard and Modified Sports cars 751 to 1100cc unsupercharged and up to 750cc supercharged and standard and modified sports cars up to 750cc unsupercharged class in his 1930 1096cc Morgan Super Aero 3 wheeler. The other class winners included Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in a 1928 Frazer Nash Supersports and Mrs Jane Murray in a 1938

Geoff Smith 1918 Piccard-Pictet Sturtevant Aero Special 1st on Handicap in class

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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Frazer Nash BMW 328, John Warden in a 1937 Delage D6 Course and John Guyatt in a 1936 Darracq Talbot Largo T150c. The popular Edwardian class for automobile engined cars gave Mike Lemon in a 1913 Vauxhall 30-98 2 seater a win, while the nonautomobile engined class was won by Tony Lees in a 1913/18 Vauxhall Viper Special. Terry McGrath won his class with the 1928 Amilcar CGS while James Baxter was another usual class winner in the 1935 ERA R4A. The final class winners were Anthony Garner in a 1934 Lagonda Richmond Rapier, Robin Baker in a 1930 Hispano/Amilcar and Richard Ashford in a 1948 Cooper T9. © Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

Dr David Pryke 1936 Morgan/Riley 4/4 1st in class © Pete Austin

Mrs Jennifer Lees 1913/18 Vauxhall Viper Special © Simon Wright

James Baxter 1935 ERA R4A 1st in class

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Bob Towell 1924/26 Morgan 200 mile Aero

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© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

Malcolm Leyland 1921 GN Special S/S

Terry Crabb 1937 ERA R12C 2nd on handicap in class © Simon Wright

© Pete Austin

John Wiseman 1919/25 GNAT

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Classic and Competition car August 2014

Rachael Williams 1922-38 Hardy Special III

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© Mick Herring

GT Cup Snetterton 19th/20th July. By Mick Herring. Whilst the rest of the country was dodging torrential rain and thunder storms, rounds 10, 11, and 12 of the GT Cup championship enjoyed almost uninterrupted sunshine all weekend. That Shaun Balfe won all three races on Snetterton's full 300 circuit belied the dramas that unfolded, especially at the front. In Saturday's 45 minute race one, after a tight start, poleman Shaun Balfe spun out of the lead on lap 1 at the Montreal Hairpin following an unintentional tap from behind by Jim Geddie's McLaren. He resumed well down the field and his drive through the field was the highlight of the race, which was marred by two safety cars. Ironically, the message that came back in the Sunday morning driver's briefing was that the safety car had been travelling too quickly for some of the cars to keep up easily and despite the Shaun Balfe won all three races in the Ferrari 458 wave-by's the field didn't come back together fully. Due to success time penalties lengthening his pit stop, Jim Geddie relinquished his lead to Shaun's Ferrari 458 but fought back to close within 2 seconds. In third place, despite an early trip onto the grass at Murrays, was Richard Chamberlain's fire breathing Porsche 935, this spectacular 42 year old car still the subject of constant © Mick Herring development to enable it to keep pace with its younger competitors. GTO class cars took the first five places before ultra competitive GTC cars of Shamus Jennings/Craig Dolby (Ferrari 458) and Jordan Witt’s Porsche 991 GT3 Cup. © Mick Herring Jordan, usually to be seen in the works Chevrons, getting to grips with his brand new car ahead of his full programme in the Carrera Cup next year. Lee Mowle brought out Race 2 Marcus Clutton Chevron GR8 2nd GTO and 2nd Overall

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Harry Blazer Radical RXC V8 11th

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© Mick Herring

his Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4, sharing the car with his Triple 888 British GT chief mechanic, Jeff Harding, the pair taking victory in the GTA class ahead of last year's overall champion Jeff Wyatt's BMW in 19th and 21st positions respectively. Making its debut in GT Cup was the GTO class Radical RXC Coupe sporting the powerful RPE V8 usually found in the SR8. Harry Blazer, still learning the car, would cross the line in a solid 11th place. © Mick Herring Race 2, the first of two 25 minute Sunday sprint races opened Jeff Wyatt BMW 2nd GTA 21st overall with Shaun Balfe making a good start and Marcus Clutton in the re-classed (now GTO) works Chevron GR8 GT4 V8, determined to make up for his race one spin and kerb beaching retirement, pass Geddie's McLaren into the first corner. Geddie would regain second place only to © Mick Herring suffer a puncture. The black Race 3 Lester-Bentley Lotus Evora 1st GTA 18th overall lines as he exited his pit box showed his disappointment and determined climb back to finish 11th. Balfe consolidated his lead and finished 4.8 seconds ahead of the Chevron with a fairly distant Iain Dockerill in third ahead of Jordan Witt by only 1.8 seconds as he grew in confidence with the Porsche, GTC victory being his prize. GTB winner and championship leader David Walley was sixth after great pressure from Peter Jennings' Ferrari 458, 0.48 seconds separating them. The normally highly placed Ferrari 458 of John Searle spun on its own radiator fluid into retirement and an early safety car was again needed to Richard Chamberline Porsche 3rd GTO 3rd Overall

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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© Mick Herring

© Mick Herring

allow the removal of stranded cars. John Saunders took GTA victory in his Ginetta G50. Race 3 ran cleanly without a safety car, Jim Geddie out to make up for the disappointments of the first two races made a Getting to grips. Jordan Witts Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 4 th overall Ben Tompkins Ginetta G50 2nd GTA 22nd breakaway from the start with Marcus Clutton holding off a very close Shaun Balfe. The Ferrari driver was able to pass the Chevron and Shaun set about catching the McLaren. The pair then proceeded to race nose to tail until an unforced late race moment on the grass at Hamilton saw Geddie's McLaren relinquish the lead. They would finish 0.78 seconds apart with Balfe setting the weekend's fastest lap during his pursuit. Father and son, Iain and Chris Dockerill had their customary battle, this time with Dockerill Jr's Ferrari 430 Scuderia at the front until his Ferrari retired on lap 10, Iain Dockerill finished fourth. The fast acclimatising Jordan Witt took GTC spoils and fifth overall ahead of GTB winner David Walley in eighth. GTA winner was the Lotus Evora shared over the © Mick Herring races Adrian © Mick Herring Lester and Andrew Bentley. Traditional Sunday only racer Dan Stringfellow finished 12th overall following a retirement in race 2. The BHP run Lamborghini Gallardo Supertrofeo now (only) 37 kilos lighter following its Classic and Competition car August 2014

Shaun Belfe interviewed after race victory

Race 2 John Seale drops fluid and then spins into retirement

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© Mick Herring

© Mick Herring

Race 3 Dockeril Dice _ Chris leads father Iani in 4th before retirement

Lee Mowle-Jeff Harding winners GTA 19th overall © Mick Herring

© Mick Herring

Race 3 Dan Stringfellow Lamborghini Gallardo Supertrofeo 12th heads Radical RXC 20th

Jim Geddie McLaren MP4-12C 2nd

© Mick Herring

© Mick Herring

David Walley 1st GTB 6th overall

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Jennings-Dolby Ferrari 1st GTC 6th

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Š Pete Austin

The Bob Gerard Memorial Trophy race meeting.

Classic and Competition car August 2014

The fantastic battle between winner Justin Maeers GN Parker and Dougal Cawley GN Ford Piglet

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95 Mike Painter MG PA and Geoff Bradford Riley Brooklands in the Handicap race for pre-war cars

Donington Park. 19th July 2014. By Simon and Janet Wright, with additional photos by Pete Austin. The Vintage Sports car Club returned to Donington Park this year, the first time since 2011, to stage the Bob Gerard Memorial Trophy race meeting, which is usually held at Mallory Park. The club, celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2014 was delighted to be returning to Britain’s first permanent park based motor racing circuit, with many of the cars racing today, having also raced at Donington Park before the second World war. This year is also a special year for the Bob Gerard Trophy as Bob Gerard was born 100 years ago this year. Morning practice was run in dull wet conditions, a big change to the recent warm and sunny weather which had covered the country, and a complete contrast to the glorious weather which the VSCC competitors had enjoyed just two weeks earlier at Shelsley Walsh. By the time of the first race after © Simon Wright lunch, the rain had all but stopped, but the circuit was still wet in places. The meeting was a typical VSCC mix of races, scratch races and handicap events. The first race was a scratch race for Pre-war cars and on the wet track, Andrew Kellock was an easy winner in a 1929/35 Fiat AC, beating Tom McWhirter in a Jaguar SS by over 17 seconds, with Rod King 3rd in a Delage Special. © Pete Austin The second race was the Dick Baddiley & Edwardian handicap race which started cars in batches, with the fastest starting last, with the task of chasing down the slower cars. Former VSCC PR Manager Gillian Carr started from the front in Alisdaire Lockhart’s 1914/18 Vauxhall A/D Type and was chased hard on the drying © Simon Wright circuit by Mark Walker in the flying 1905 Darracq 200HP. Gillian kept her cool with Mark getting closer and closer, and she scored a popular first victory by just 0.96 of a second at the flag. Mark set fastest lap of the

Clive Press 1913 Peugeot 148 leads Mark Walker 1905 Darracq 200HP in the Dick Baddiley & Edwardian handicap race

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Gillian Carr Vauxhall A/D Type heads for her first victory

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© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

race in his pursuit, to finish 2nd. The third race was for the Donington Mug for Special Pre-war sports cars and saw a fantastic battle between the 1926 GN Parker of Justin Maeers and the 1929 GN Ford Paul Lawrence Austin 7 Ulster Special won the Handicap race for pre-war cars Piglet of Dougal Chrispian Besley Elva 100 FJ beat Justin Maeers GN Parker for 8th place in the Cawley. This pair immediately pulled clear of the rest of the field and Bob Gerard trophy race swopped the lead several times. Cawley held the initial advantage but Maeers soon got in to the lead, even after a very sideways moment out of the Roberts chicane on to the start straight. The pair were often side by side into the chicane and Cawley retook the lead on the penultimate lap only to loose the car under braking © Pete Austin for the chicane on the last lap and running out on the escape road, leaving Maeers to sweep through and take the win by just over 5 seconds from the recovered Cawley. Richard Hudson was 3rd in the Bentley 3/4 1/2 litre, over 30 seconds behind the leaders. Race 4 was for the Redgate Mug for Standard and Modified pre-war sports cars with probably the largest entry of the day. Charles Gillett took an easy win at the wheel of a 1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports from Andrew Mitchell in a 1937 HRG 1 1/2 litre. Next out was the Boulogne Trophy for Vintage racing cars and Justin Maeers took his second win of the day in the GN Parker, this time beating Robert Carr in the AC/GN Special. Race 6 was a short handicap race for pre-war cars incorporating the Burghley Trophy for Austin 7s and even after getting a penalty for a jumped start, Paul Lawrence took the victory by 3.5 seconds in a little Austin 7 Ulster Special from Anthony Fenwick-Wilson in a Railton Light Sports 2+2. We now came to the title race of the meeting, the Bob Gerard Classic and Competition car August 2014

Chris Cadman 1931 MG Montlhery Midget in the Redgate Mug race

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© Pete Austin

© Simon Wright

Memorial & Robert Ashley Trophies race for Pre-1961 racing cars. The race got off to an exciting start when the Kurtis Indy Roadster driven by Frederick Harper made a very fast start from the second row of the grid and squeezed out both the ERA E-Type of Duncan Ricketts and the Cooper Bristol MkII of Steve Russell down the start straight to take the lead Ben Fidler ERA AJM1 - 6th Bob Gerard Memorial Trophy of the race through Redgate corner on the first lap. Ben Fidler in ERA AJM1 was in 2nd place but Simon Diffey in the Connaught B Type was soon through to 2nd and chasing hard after Harper. Diffey set the fastest lap of the race on lap 3 and was soon battling hard with © Simon Wright Harper. Diffey Frederick Harper Kurtis Indy roadster won the Bob Gerard took the lead, Memorial Trophy ahead of Simon Diffey in the Connaught B Type but could not shake off Harper who continued to apply pressure to the leader. It worked as Harper took the win by just 1.6 seconds. This was followed by another short handicap race for pre-war cars that saw Stuart Morley win in a Bentley 3/4 1/2 litre from the Frazer Nash Slug of Steven Pryke. With just two more races to run, the Formula 3 (500) cars took to the circuit for their 10 minute race of the day. There was a good entry of around 18 cars that formed up on the grid under darkening skies and the race started as a thunder and lightning storm seemed to surround the circuit. Within two laps the heavens opened with monsoon conditions. You could not see the end of the pit lane from Redgate corner and within a few seconds, you could not see a few feet in front of yourself. Part of the hoarding blew down off the gantry over the start line and Classic and Competition car August 2014

Minutes before the monsoon hit - the start of the F3 (500) race

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Alan Croft F3 500 JP Mk1 on the warm up lap before the race was abandoned

visibility was none existant, so the race, and then the meeting was abandoned. Some cars in the paddock were half under water by the time the storm eased off. © Pete Austin

© Simon Wright © Simon Wright

Clive Temple 1929 Riley Brooklands Boulogne Trophy

© Pete Austin

Simon Diffey 1955 Connaught B Type 2nd Bob Gerard Memorial Trophy

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Andrew Croysdill Riley 12/4 spun at the chicane and is passed by Duncan Potter MG C Type in the Handicap race for pre-war cars Page 28


Sheffield and Hallamshire Motor Club Sprint, Curborough. 29th June 2014. By Simon & Janet Wright. The Curborough sprint course has undergone some transformations since last year, with some new spectator facilities added and improved and some development work done to the circuit. There is now a tarmac cross over point that links the circuit at the Molehill with the main straight. This allows for several different variations to be made to circuit layout. The Sheffield and Hallamshire Motor Club sprint meeting at the end of June went for a figure 8 configuration layout. The competitors started as normal through Paddock bend and along Woodsid © Simon Wright e and proceed ed around Winner Martin Duffield Jedi Mk IV the Mole Hill and the Fradley hairpin, then half way down the main straight they take a right turn and go back along Woodside, away from the Mole Hill and turn left, up the main Shenstone straight, and at the cross over point they turn left again and complete the Fradley hairpin as normal and head back as normal down along the main Shenstone straight to the finish line. During the day, at least one competitor got it wrong, and I’m sure that won’t be the last. The club had managed to assemble a 45 car entry for the event, which gave competitors a couple of Practice runs in the morning, and three timed runs in the afternoon. The entry was a typical mix of sports cars and Class winner Michael Jackson was a thriller in the Porsche 911 © Janet Wright saloons with a few single seater racing cars thrown in for good measure. It was a warm, sunny and dry day and therefore was no surprise that the single seater racing cars took the top four positions. Martin Duffield driving a Jedi Mk IV set the fastest time of the day on his third run, with a time of 56.81 seconds, nearly half a second faster than second placed Jan Snape in another Formula Jedi whose time was 57.22 seconds. Third overall went to Steve Potter in a Megapin 10HC97 with a 57.46 seconds. Terry Dutton got a bit of a tank slapper going as he headed up the Shenstone straight in the Fastest of the none single seaters went to David Large in a © Simon Wright

Caterham 7 HPC

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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© Simon Wright

Radical PR6 sports racing car, 5th overall and first in class with a time of 59.62 seconds. Robert Wainwright was 7th overall and another class winner in his Caterham 7 HPC with a time of 60.18 seconds. His closest competitor in class was Terry Dutton who was sharing the car with Robert and may have beaten him but as he entered the Shenstone straight to come back up, he nearly lost the Caterham with a slight sideways moment and went from side to side along the straight to keep the car under control. Even after that slight mistake, he was only 0.15 of a second behind in 2nd place in class and 7th overall. Another less fortunate driver was Andy Kirk in the Phoenix who also lost © Simon Wright

Keith Solis in the Van Diemen was the only Formula Ford and finished 13th overall

control entering the Shenstone straight on the return leg, but he did not regain control, but spun off backwards in to the ditch and bank between the spectators and the track. His car had to be towed back on the track and appeared relatively undamaged. Other class winners included Paul Gough in the MG ZR, Steve Barrow in a Renault Clio though Oliver Swadkin in another Renault Clio tried the three wheel approach at some corners, obviously trying to reduce rolling drag, but it didn’t work and he finished 3rd in class. One of the nicest sounding cars was class winner Nick Taylor in a Ferrari 430, while at the other end of the car range was Julian Fishwick in an Austin Mini who also won his class. Events like this have many different classes to help The class winning Audi TT of Steve Barnard finished 10th overall even up performance and allow all entrants the chance of a class win against somewhat similar opposition. This gave class wins © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Andy Kirk in the Phoenix spun off heading up the Shenstone Straight

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© Simon Wright

to a wide variety of different types of cars and drivers including Richard Archbould in a Mitsubishi Evo 6, Emma Melhuish in a Westfield SEIW, Owen Cule in a Rover Metro, Daniel Street driving a Citroen Saxo, © Simon Wright Michael Jackson in a Porsche 911, Steve Barnard in his modified and lowered Audi TT and finally Keith Solis in a Formula Ford Van Diemen. © Janet Wright

David Large Radical PR6 class winner and 5th overall and first none single seater © Janet Wright

Stuart Bickley Sylva Phoenix 6th overall

Garath Clarke Vauxhall Corsa lifts two wheels through the new cross over

Oliver Swadkin tried 3 wheels in the Renault Clio © Simon Wright

Tim Brown Datsun 240Z was 3rd in class

Classic and Competition car August 2014

© Janet Wright

Mike Yates Proton Satria GTi cuts through the figure 8

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Š Simon Wright

1000 mile Trial By Simon & Janet Wright. The 1000 mile trial was first run in 1900 to show that the new motor car could become a commercial success when most people in the country had never seen one. The idea was for a tour of Great Britain, visiting major towns and cities to allow the people to see, touch and watch these new motor cars drive by. It was organised by the Automobile club and was a major undertaking, as few motorists had even driven 100 miles, let alone 1,000 miles. Road signs were poor, there were very few telephones around the country, speed limits were 8 mph in towns and 12 mph outside and repairs and spares were what you could carry with you. To show the public the cars that were taking part, Š Janet Wright

Concours winner Eduardo and Mavildia Neves Rolls Royce 20/25 Cabriolet

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Alastair Caldwell/Catriona Rings Alfa Romeo 6C Super Sport

motor shows were arranged in each of the towns visited. The whole event took 20 days to complete. The entry was 53 manufacturers and 31 private entrants of which 23 trade and 24 private made the finish. The Veteran Car Club ran an enactment in 2000 to mark the 100th anniversary of the original event. This year, the Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation (HERO) in partnership with the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) organised an event for pre war cars which would take just 6 days to complete, using the original route where possible. The event started from the Royal Automobile Clubhouse at Woodcote Park, near Epson and would travel all the way to Edinburgh and back using a circular route around the country. A magnificent field was assembled of 42 cars to tackle this immense event. A lot of the major British manufacturers of the period were represented including Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lagonda, Invicta,Jaguar, Talbot, Alvis, Triumph, Lea Francis, and Riley plus foreign cars like Alfa Romeo and Ford were also Page 32


© Simon Wright

John Abel/Martyn Taylor Lagonda LG45

present. Before the event started, the cars were judged on a Concours d’Elegance and the award went to the Rolls Royce 20/25 Cabriolet of the Portuguese crew Eduardo and Mavilda Neves. The MG K3 of Alan and Tina Beardshaw, which won its class in the 1934 Mille Miglia was awarded the Royal Automobile Club’s Cedar Concours award. Along the route, some famous old motorsport venues were visited, with the Prescott Hill Climb course being used on the Sunday, and fittingly the oldest

motorsport venue, Shelsley Walsh was used on the Monday, with all the competitors having a run up the famous 1000 yard course. At the end of the first day it was the Lagonda LG45 of John Abel and Martyn Taylor that was in the lead. After a long stage at Throckmorton near Pershore, the cars arrived at a very sunny Shelsley Walsh. The Invicta S Type Low Chassis driven by Alan, Rory and Stuart Brown was proudly displaying a picture of the car at Shelsley Walsh in the 1930s. By the time the cars reached Preston, the leaders remained the same but Charles Graves and Ron Palmer in the Bentley Derby Special had moved up in to 2nd Classic and Competition car August 2014

Charles Graves/Ron Palmer Bentley Derby Special

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place. Day three saw the cars travel from Preston to Edinburgh, on many roads used for northern road rallies. Unfortunately the Morgan 3 wheeler of Urz and Nick Mezger retired from the event. Day four started damp and dismal in Edinburgh but the crews were still smiling from the night before, where they had dined on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Heading south through the rain it was still Abel and Taylor in the lead. Day five was from Slaley Hall to Leeds and saw the return of the Morgan three wheeler, having managed to fix their mechanical

Š Janet Wright

Š Simon Wright

Paul Gregory/Nick Savage Invicta S Type Tourer

problems. The weather had brightened up as the crews continued south and took in the famous Harewood Hill Climb course near Leeds. Abel and Taylor were still leading but were chased hard by the glorious Alfa Romeo 6C Super Sport of Alastair Caldwell from New Zealand and Catriona Rings from Britain. The penultimate day of the event went from Leeds to Silverstone, with many regularity tests to challenge the crews Classic and Competition car August 2014

Alan and Tina Beardshaw MG K3 won the RAC Cedar Concours award

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© Simon Wright

Andreas von Engelbrechten and Andrea Bauer from Germany in a Bentley Derby 4 1/4 Sports

Angus Forsyth/Marcus Atkinson Austin 7 Ulster got the Against all Odds Trophy

Classic and Competition car August 2014

and lunch at Belvoir Castle before the night halt at Whittlebury Hall, next door to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. The final day saw a couple of tests at the Bicester Heritage Centre in wet conditions before heading over the Berkshire downs to the finish at Woodcote Park, where they had all started a week ago. The winners had led for the majority of the 1,000 miles and were John Abel and Martyn Taylor in a Lagonda LG 45. The Bentley Derby Special of Charles Graves and Ron Palmer was 2nd overall ahead of the Alfa Romeo 6C Super Sport of Alastair Caldwell and Catriona Rings who were 3rd. There were 5 classes in the event and the class winners were Seren and Elise Whyte from Wales in an Austin Seven Super 750, Phillip and Yvonne Haslam in an Aston Martin Le Mans, Tomas de Vargas Machuca and Ryan Pickering in an AC 16/80 March Special, Claus and Till Coester from Switzerland in a Bentley Sports Special and finally Sue Shoosmith and Trina Harley in a Bentley 3/4 1/2. There were several special awards presented for the event which included the best dressed crew that went to Philip White and Ian Wallace in Austin Seven Ulster No. 30, the Mixed Crew award went to Alastair Caldwell and Catriona Rings in the Alfa Romeo 6C Super Sport No. 46, and the Spirit of the Rally Trophy went to Pedro Villas Boas and Ana Maria Gonzalez Barbosa in the MG J2 Supercharged No. 24. The final couple of awards were the Team Trophy which went to “The What-Nots” which consisted of Charles Graves and Ron Palmer in the Bentley Derby Special, John Abel and Martyn Taylor in the winning Lagonda LG 45 and Alastair Caldwell and Catriona Rings in the Alfa Romeo 6C Super Sport and the final award was the Against all Odds Trophy which went to William Metcalfe, Angus Forsyth and Marcus Atkinson.

© Janet Wright

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© Simon Wright

Tiago Gouveia/Joao Lacerda/Salvador Gouveia Rolls Royce Phantom II © Simon Wright

© Janet Wright

C Cross/M Macaus/P Ward J Wood/ N Murray Rolls Royce Silver Ghost © Janet Wright

Robert Ingram/Kevin Browne Riley Brooklands 9hp © Janet Wright

James and Andrew Mann Bentley Derby 4 1/2 Duncan Wiltshire/Kevin Gapp/Robert Crofton Bentley 3 litre © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Istvan Kiss/David Franks Hudson Terraplane

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Silverstone Classic 25th-27th July 2014. By Simon & Janet Wright.

© Janet Wright

With additional photos by Pete Austin and Mick Herring. After 3 days of probably the best Silverstone Classic to date, a shadow was cast over the whole event when a tragic accident in the Pre 1966 Formula 1 race took the life of popular historic racer Denis Welch. The Silverstone Classic continues to grow as an event, utilising both the National pits and paddock and the International pits and paddock at the Wing for the 22 races that took place © Simon Wright over the weekend. The races covered all forms of classic Rupert Clevely Group C Martini Lancia LC2 motorsport, from Formula 1 Grand Prix cars, to Group C Le Mans cars, Super Touring Cars, Classic Formula 3, Saloons and GT Cars. There were celebration parades for 50 years of Grand Prix racing at Silverstone, 100 years of Maserati and 50 years of the Ford Mustang. The centre of the circuit was filled with car clubs displaying almost every popular make of vehicle since the car was invented, a free funfair, trade and shopping village and BMW had bought back the big wheel, from which you could obtain a birds eye view of the event. There was even a small drag strip where American custom cars and dragsters could perform burn outs and short drag racing demos over the weekend. If you wanted to join this group of enthusiasts by getting your own classic car, Silverstone Auctions had a sale going over the weekend, with all types of classic cars for sale, from Mini and Fiat 500 right up to Ferrari and Lamborghini The Red Devils dropped in on Friday

© Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Jaguar C Type line up in the Jaguar clubs display area

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© Mick Herring

© Simon Wright

50 years of the Mustang, including a P51 Mustang fighter plane © Pete Austin

models. Finally in the air, there were the Red Devils parachute display team, and aerial display by a P51 Mustang fighter aircraft and a display by the wildcats aerobatic display team. As the organisers said “Too much for just one day”. The racing was opened by the first of two Formula Junior races which saw Sam Wilson take the first win of the day in his Lotus 20/22 from Jon Milicevic in a Cooper T59 and Michael Hibberd in a Lotus 27. Their second race was race 15 on the programme and saw Milicevic much closer to Wilson in the second race, though the result remained the same, this time David Methley was 3rd in a Brabham BT6. The second race of the event was for the Silverstone Classic newcomers, Classic Formula 3 for the Brian Henton Trophy. The second race was on Sunday, race 13, and both races saw Nick Padmore win in a March 783 from Martin Stretton in Classic and Competition car August 2014

50 Grand Prix at Silverstone parade

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© Janet Wright

Naismith Aston Martin DB4 Class winner - 6th RAC Tourist Trophy

Classic and Competition car August 2014

© Mick Herring

a Martini Mk39 with David Shaw 3rd in a March 803B. Next out were the under 2 litre Touring cars in their one race for the Sir John Whitmore Trophy. The Ford Lotus Cortina seems to be the car to have for the under 2 litre races with Meaden/ Thomas taking the win from Brown/ David Brabham and Sir Stirling Moss Dutton both in Ford Lotus Cortina’s. Next was a one off race on Saturday for The Sir Stirling Moss Trophy for Pre ’61 sports cars. This 50 minute race had some mouth watering cars entered with quite a few Lister Jaguar models, Lotus, Lola, Aston Martin, Maserati, Ferrari, Elva and Cooper cars along with various other classic sports cars. The race saw a 1-2 result for Lister Jaguar © Pete Austin with a Knobbly winning driven by Minshaw/Keen from Ward in a Lister Jaguar Costin. On Sunday it was the turn of the RAC Tourist Trophy for Historic cars Pre’ 63 GT race to bring a large field of Ferrari, Andrew Wareing BRM P261 Jack Brabham Memorial Trophy

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Jaguar,AC, Aston Martin and Morgan to mention just a few, to the track for a 50 minute race. This was one of the highlights of the whole meeting and brought back memories of the great Ferrari versus Jaguar Le Mans battles of the past. Former Le Mans winner Jackie Oliver was driving a yellow Ferrari 250 GT took the initial lead after a three cars abreast first lap, but then he made a rare mistake and he had a moment which cost him three places, which gave the lead to James Cottingham in a Jaguar E-Type. Oliver was soon scrapping with the Jaguar and they were often side by side, even swopping paintwork at one point but Oliver got ahead before the pitstops. Cottingham then had his own slide on oil dropped at Becketts which took him through the gravel. At the pitstops Gary Pearson took over from Oliver and pulled away to a 20 second victory with the E-Type Jaguar still 2nd and Martin Hunt and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards had a huge battle to finish 3rd in the AC Cobra, passing Jon Minshaw in his E-Type jaguar © Simon Wright © Pete Austin

Silverstone Auctions even had a Harrier jump jet for sale. It went for £105,800

on the last lap. In the afternoon, the attention turned to the pits in the Wing and the first of two FIA Masters Historic Formula 1 races. A really good field had entered with a few cars not regularly seen at recent races including an immaculate Yardley McLaren M19A driven by Stuart Hall and a Theodore TR1 driven by Philip Hall. Unfortunately the race was red flagged after a huge accident when Sidney Hoole in the Ensign N173 hit the barriers hard and had to be taken to hospital with leg injuries. The race was restarted and after qualifying, it looked like a fore gone conclusion that pole sitter Michael Lyons in the Hesketh 308E would score a couple of easy wins being nearly two and a half seconds faster than the rest of the field. Michael led from the start and pulled out a four second lead after 6 laps from Ollie Hancock in the Fittipaldi F5A who had started in seventh place. Then on the last lap Michael suffered a mechanical failure which left Hancock with the victory from Martin Stretton in a Tyrrell 012 Patrick Watts Peugeot 406 Jet Super Touring Trophy

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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and Christophe D’Ansembourg in a Williams FW07C. The second race on Sunday was a thriller as Michael Lyons started 13th and carved his way through the field. Meanwhile Hancock held the early lead from Stretton and Steve Hartley in the Arrows A4 and D’Ansembourg. Then Michael Lyons seemed to suffer more mechanical problems and he had to hold station for 5th position. The other four swopped the lead until Stretton managed to pull out a couple of seconds to claim victory, with Hartley 2nd and D’Ansembourg 3rd. The Jet Super Touring Car Trophy had a massive entry of some of the best of the more modern Touring cars from the 1990s. The entry list contained several former British Touring Car Champions including John Cleland in a Vauxhall Vectra, Steve Soper in a Ford Capri and Colin Turkington in a BMW 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’. However it was the Honda Accord which was the car to have with James Dodd winning the first race and finishing 2nd in the second, and Stewart Whyte made it an Accord 1-2 in the first race by finishing 2nd and he was 3rd in the second race. John Cleland was cheered on by the crowds to take 3rd in the first race to get on the podium. The second race, on Sunday, saw former World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff start in a Ford Mondeo and he had a mighty battle with James Dodd to claim the win, with Dodd sticking to his rear bumper to finish just 0.71 of a second behind. John Cleland had another stirring drive, was pushed in to a spin at the start and carved through the field to finish 4th. The Chopard International trophy for pre 66 GT cars saw 56 cars take the start of this hour long race on Saturday afternoon and it included cars from Jaguar, AC, TVR, Lotus, Chevrolet, Austin, Morgan, Aston Martin and many more major sports car manufacturers. It was Sean McInerney who drove single handed to take the chequered flag in his TVR Griffith from the Jaguar EType of Nathan and Laurence Kinch. A new category for this years Silverstone Classic was the 90’s GTs. The organisers decided to run three high speed demonstrations for these cars, one each day of the meeting, rather Classic and Competition car August 2014

© Simon Wright

Ollie Hancock Fittipaldi F5A won the first FIA Masters Historic Formula One race © Simon Wright

Martin Stretton Tyrrell 012 won the second FIA Masters Historic Formula One race © Janet Wright

90’s GT Legends Jaguar XJ220 caught fire on Friday afternoon

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Š Pete Austin

than offer a race that may not attract many of these valuable cars out first time. The aim is to possibly have a race for these cars next year. The entry was impressive with Porsche 911 GT1, McLaren GTR, Jaguar XJ220, Ferrari F40 and many others taking part. Unfortunately the first demo on Friday was red flagged after a couple of laps when the ERG Jaguar XJ220 caught fire. As it rounded Luffield, flames could be seen coming from around the right rear wheel, and the driver at that point did not seem to be aware of the problem. By the time he stopped somewhere near Copse corner and the fire was extinguished by the marshals, quite a lot of damage had been done to the rear of the car. The HGPCA Pre 66 Grand Prix cars were racing for the Jack Brabham Memorial Trophy, which was presented by his son David Brabham. It was fitting that Jason Minshaw in a Brabham BT4 won 90s GT Legends demonstration Porsche 911 GT1 both races and Jon Fairley was 2nd in a Brabham BT11. The second race on Sunday was red flagged after the accident that took the life of Denis Welch and re-started later. The news that Denis had succumbed to his injuries was not announced until much later in the afternoon. On Saturday lunch time there had been a parade of Ford Mustang vehicles Š Mick Herring around the circuit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this legendary muscle car, and it was fitting that Stephen Avery Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 in the Mustang Celebration Trophy race there was a pair of Mustang Celebration Trophy proudly presented by Pure Michigan races run over the weekend which included around 30 Mustangs in the race. However, it was a pair of the lighter Ford Falcons of Leo Voyazides Classic and Competition car August 2014

Bradley Ellis Tojeiro Bristol LOY 500

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and Mike Gardiner that took the first two places in both races, with Tom Roche chasing hard in 3rd place in a Ford Mustang. The HGPCA Pre 61 Grand Prix cars were racing for the Maserati Centenary Trophy. To Mark the 100th birthday of the Maserati, there was also a parade on the Sunday lunchtime of Maserati cars and motorbikes, led by Sir Stirling Moss in a Maserati 250F Grand Prix car. Both races ended with the same three drivers on the podium, with Philip Walker winning both in his Lotus 16 from Julian Bronson in the unusual Scarab Offenhauser, while Tony Wood maintained Maserati honour by finishing on the podium in both races in the TecMec Maserati F415. By now it was starting to get a little dusk on the Saturday evening, so it was time for the Le Mans racers to compete on track. First © Simon Wright

Eastick Jaguar D-Type RAC Woodcote Trophy for Pre ’56 Sports Cars

© Simon Wright

Summers Ferrari Daytona 365 GTB/4 FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars

out were the FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars, representing the Group 5 and 6 sports racing cars and prototypes from the 1960s and 70s. Although not that successful in its day, usually beaten by Porsche 917 or Ferrari 512, for Historic racing it seems that the Lola T70 is the car to beat. At the Classic, the Lola T70 Mk 3B filled the first four places after an hours racing. Leo Voyazides and Simon Hadfield were the clear winners from Jason Wright and Andie Wolfe. The final race on Saturday was the Group C into the night race, with the very popular sports racing cars from the 80s and 90s that competed at the Le Mans 24 Hours race. An impressive line up of twenty cars took the start with cars from Mercedes, Nissan, Jaguar, and Porsche amongst the entry. The initial battle for the lead was between Bob Berridge in the Mercedes C11 and the Nissan R90CK of Katsu Kubota. Both took a turn in the lead in the early stages before Kubota ran wide at the loop allowing Berridge into the lead and to pull away to win by over 25 seconds. Michael Lyons held 3rd place in the Gebhardt and was being Classic and Competition car August 2014

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© Janet Wright

chased by Steve Tandy in the Nissan R90, until Tandy spun down to 7th place. Unfortunately Michael Lyons’ poor day was to suffer another blow and 4 laps from the finish, he went out with mechanical failure, and ended up being classified 17th. This gave Mike Donovan 3rd place in a Spice SE88 ahead of a recovering Steve Tandy. The second shorter 30 minute sprint race on Sunday afternoon saw Berridge again take victory in the Mercedes C11 after leading all the way from the start to finish, 30 seconds up on 2nd placed Justin Law in the Jaguar XJR8. Steve Tandy managed to bring home the Nissan R90 in to 3rd place today, one better than yesterday. Kubota in the Nissan had a spin which took him out of the race at just under half distance. © Pete Austin

© Pete Austin

Silverstone Auctions Sale © Janet Wright

BMW Eye © Pete Austin

Young & Ward Cooper Jaguar T33 RAC Woodcote Trophy © Janet Wright

McInerney TVR Griffith won the Chopard International Trophy for Pre ’66 GT Cars

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Stirling Moss Maserati 250F leads the Maserati parade

Jason Minshaw Brabham BT4 winner Jack Brabham Memorial Trophy for Pre’ 66 Grand Prix Cars

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© Simon Wright

Bob Berridge won both Group C races in his Mercedes C11 © Pete Austin

Steve Soper Ford Capri

Classic and Competition car August 2014

© Mick Herring

© Simon Wright

Heinz Bachmann Buick Shafter 8 Pre 61 Grand Prix cars

© Mick Herring

Jacopo Sebastiani Ferrari F40 90s GT Legends

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© Simon Wright

Knapfield/Campbell-Walter Ferrari 512M FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars

© Simon Wright

David Brabham and Stirling Moss lead the 50 yers of Grand Prix parade © Simon Wright

Karting demonstrations over the weekend

Classic and Competition car August 2014

© Janet Wright

Bernie Chodosh Ford Falcon in the Mustang Celebration Trophy race.

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© Simon Wright

Old Hill Festival 12th July 2014. By Simon and Janet Wright. All through the summer months there are lots of local fetes and carnivals taking place all across the British Isles. Many of these events now include classic car shows amongst the attractions, along with fun fairs and tom bola stalls. The Old Hill Festival in the heart of the Black Country is a relatively small local festival which consists of a parade through the town, located just a few miles from Dudley, in the West Midlands, followed by a fair and stalls set up on local greenland space. This year, the car theme was related to TV and the Movies. Pride of place went to the Ecto-1 wagon from the Ghostbusters movie. The vehicle used for Ecto-1 was a 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood professional chassis built by the Miller-Meteor company and was based on the ambulance/herse combination with rear loading door. © Janet Wright

Next up was probably the most famous 3 wheeled vehicle in the country - Derrick ‘Del Boy’ Trotters Reliant Robin, complete with ‘Hooky’ goods including the famous Mona Lisa portrait painting, which according to the sticky note on the frame was ‘Still wet!’ Finally, in tribute of the original Italian Job movie, there were several of the original Austin Minis,including at least one red, one white and one blue as in the © Janet Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

film. After the parade through the main high street in Old Hill, the cars were parked up next to the playing field and right in the heart of the festval, so people could see and admire the vehicles up close. There was also live musical entertainment on stage, a fun fair and local entertainers like stilt walkers to keep the crowds occupied and enjoying themselves.

© Janet Wright

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Classic Nostalgia at Shelsley Walsh 20th July 2014.

© Simon Wright

By Janet Wright with additional photos by Simon Wright. Wow what a wonderful day we had at Shelsley! The weather was very kind to us.... in fact it was rather too hot! Many punters had made the effort to dress in period dress, and also lots of people had come to the event in their Classic cars. This year we had a very special visitor, namely Sir Stirling Moss OBE, who I must say looks very well after suffering a nasty accident some years ago, when he broke his ankles. Louise Goodman an award winning TV presenter interviewed Sir Stirling in the Courtyard at lunchtime, Some of Stirling Moss former race cars on display after which they were both driven up the hill in classic Jaguars. Later in the afternoon Sir Stirling drove his 1961 race winning Ferrari 250 GT SWB up the hill with raffle winner Catherine Belland and was loudly cheered by the many spectators on the various vantage points on the hillside. Various car © Simon Wright clubs had displays on the lower field, including an impressive line up of American cars, the Riley register, a selection of Dallow cars, Morgans © Janet Wright and MGs. There were also around 100 cars taking part in the Concours d’Elegance award which was won by Roy Powell with his Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk III and presented by Sir Stirling Moss. This year we were entertained in the courtyard by dancers, and the singing of ‘Vintage Rose’, amongst others. Of course there were the usual timed runs up the hill, and the fastest time of the day went to Keith Harris in a Formula 2 Chevron B25 with a time of 28.90 seconds. This event has all the atmosphere of the Goodwood Revival in an even more historic venue. Make sure you don’t miss it next year. Classic and Competition car August 2014

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© Simon Wright

Stirling Moss gets taken up the hill in a Jaguar XK120

© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

Greg Bibby Morgan three wheeler Super Sports

Period costume © Janet Wright

© Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

Peter Joy MGA Roadster © Janet Wright

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Classic Studebaker on display

Dancing in the Courtyard

Ian Wright Chaparral Mk1

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Š Janet Wright

Stirling Moss was re-united with the Ferrari 250GT SWB in which he won many races. He took lucky raffle ticket winner Cathryn Belland for a ride up the hill.

Classic and Competition car August 2014

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© Simon Wright

© Simon Wright

Ian Wright Chaparral Mk2a © Janet Wright

Brian Dennis Austin Mini Clubman about to start his run up the hill

Classic and Competition car August 2014

© Janet Wright

Stirling Moss presents Roy Powell with the Concours award for his Aston Martin DB2/4

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© Simon Wright

TV Presenter Louise Goodman being taken up the hill in a Jaguar D Type

© Simon Wright

Riley Register line up © Janet Wright

© Simon Wright

Classic Buick on display © Janet Wright

Line up in the paddock

Classic and Competition car August 2014

Fastest Time of day went to Keith Harris in the Formula 2 Chevron b25 28.90 seconds

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New Classic and Competition car Multimedia edition is now Available. We have the normal PDF version that can be viewed on any device, including PC and Mac computers, iPad, iPhone and Android tablets and phones with a suitable PDF reader program (Adobe PDF reader is available free from www.adobe,com for many operating systems). Our NEW Multimedia version is the same as the normal version, but includes extra embedded video clips in various reports. This can be viewed on any PC or Mac using the Adobe PDF viewer

Closing Shot

Š Simon Wright

Making a re-appearance at the Silverstone Classic was Theodore TR1 driven by Philip Hall. The car was commissioned by Teddy Yip and built by Ron Tauranac in 1978. Eddie Cheever failed to qualify in both the Brazilian and Argentinian Grand Prix, but Keke Rosberg took over and won a very wet International Trophy meeting at Silverstone. He only managed to qualify for the South African Grand Prix and the car was abandoned mid season. Classic and Competition car August 2014

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