Classic and Competition car issue 49 October 2014 by Simon Wright

Classic and Competition Car October 2014

ay rthd i B 4th dition E

Issue 49

British GT Championship

ÂŠ Simon Wright

Contents Page 3

News.

Page 9

Coventry festival of Motoring.

Page 14

GT Cup Donington park.

Page 18

Bandimere Speedway USA.

Page 25

SDCC Sprint finale Curborough.

Page 29 Page 36

CSCC race meeting, Donington Park. CSCC Special saloon race Donington Park.

Page 38

Archive Photo of the month.

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Plum Festival Classic car show, Pershore.

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British GT Brands Hatch.

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Iron Curtain Vehicle Rally.

Page 50

AMOC Sprint, Curborough.

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British GT Finals Donington Park.

Front Cover. The Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in British GT action at Brands Hatch ÂŠ Mick Herring

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Classic and Competition car October 2014

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 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. Welcome to our 4th Birthday edition. We have attended some fantastic events over the past 4 years, covering vintage, classic and modern motorsport and car events from all across the UK and beyond. In this issue we have a report from America on a Drag race meeting at Bandimere, GT racing from Brands Hatch and Donington Park and the fabulous Coventry Motoring Festival. We are also pleased to announce that one of our regular contributors, Mick Herring, has got married and we wish him and his bride Linda all the best for the future. We hope our readers continue to enjoy Classic and Competition car, and we look forward to continuing to bring you the best in motoring event coverage for years to come.

News

Radical RXC wins straight out of the box.

Rob Weldon took delivery of a new RXC on Wednesday from the radical factory and completely dominated the three GT Cup races the following weekend at Donington Park. With three pole positions and three victories by over twenty seconds in each race, Rob describes the car as “Work in progress”. In an effort to slow the car down, the organisers reduced the overhang on the rear wing for the final race to reduce downforce, but Rob still beat the McLaren MP4 12C of Jim Geddie by 27 seconds. The car is the product of 3 1/2 years of design and development by Radical. The Race car is powered by a 3 litre V8 RPE engine producing around 450bhp and lapped Donington 1.9 seconds a lap faster than its nearest rival. Classic and Competition car October 2014

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Mick Herring Got married.

We are pleased to announce that our regular contributor Mick Herring has just got married to his lovely bride Linda. The ceremony took place at Ruddington Grange Golf Club. Ruddington Grange was originally the home of Sir Henry Ralph Stanley “Tim” Birkin, 3rd Baronet, better known as Tim Birkin, British racing driver of the 1920s and one of the famous Bentley Boys. He won the Le Mans 24 Hours race in France in 1929 racing the “Speed Six” with co-driver Woolf Barnato. Appropriately Linda arrived in a vintage Bentley belonging to regular VSCC Competitor Dr David Morley, while Mick arrived in a Jaguar D-Type. The happy couple are pictured with the Bentley at the Birkin gate in the grounds of Ruddington Grange after the wedding ceremony. We would like to wish them a very happy future together. © Janet Wright

Classic and Competition car October 2014

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Hong Wei Cao takes a close fought British F3 Title. Twenty Two year old Chinese driver Hong Wei ‘Martin’ Cao won the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 crown at the final round by just 2 points. His nearest challenger and team mate Matt Rao stalled at the start of the first race which left Cao an easy victory. He then followed Rao home in the second race at Donington Park. He decided to start the final race from the pit lane to avoid any problems off the grid and cruised round at the tail of the field to finish 5th, which was enough for him to claim the crown.

Electric Sprinter. Further to last months articles on Formula E and Electric cars, Jeff Allan is now sprinting a Mitsubishi iMiEV. The car is pictured at Curborough where at a recent meeting the car managed a 47 second run in the official event, then he knocked over 6.5 seconds off that time on his third (Charity) run where he managed a time of 40.43 seconds and a terminal speed of 75 mph. The i-MiEV has a 49 KW motor and 16KWh high capacity lithium-ion battery which is fully charged in 7 hours and gives a range of up to 100 miles. There is also a rapid charge which can go from 0 to 80% charge in just 30 minutes. It has a top speed of 81 mph. The car also features Active Stability Control which controls the brakes and motor torque to stabilise the car if sensors, located all through the car, detect unstable movement. This system also provides Traction Control in slippery conditions. Classic and Competition car October 2014

New Classic and Competitio n car Multimedia edition is now Available. We have the

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The new McLaren 650S Sprint made its World competition debut at the GT Cup race at Donington Park on Saturday 20th September in the hands of works driver Rob Bell and journalist Dale Lomas. In the 45 minute endurance race, the McLaren finished 6th overall and 2nd in class behind the Ferrari 458 of Peter Jennings. In the other two races it took a further 2nd and 3rd in class finish. The car is based on the 650S Coupe and has been aerodynamically optimised to generate greater downforce than the road car. The Brake steer system and ProActive Chassis control have been refined to improve cornering speeds. ÂŠ Mick Herring

Classic and Competition car October 2014

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And now for something completely different.................... By Pete Austin ...........is it a Riley?, is it a Wolseley, is it an E-Type.......no, it’s a Vulcan!

The excellent Heritage Motor Museum forms part of the site of the former Royal Air Force base at Gaydon and on 25th September, the last flying Vulcan (X558) flew over the facility as part of its Cold War Tour. During the Cold War, Gaydon was one of a number of stations that played an important role as home to several squadrons of Vforce aircraft be they Valiant, Victor or Vulcan – all serving as part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Gaydon first came into use in early 1942 during the Second World War with Vickers Wellingtons using the base. It was in July 1955 that No 232 Operational Conversion Unit was formed here with Valiants and from 11 November 1957 with 7 Victors. The OCU was disbanded in 1965 and in 1978 British Leyland purchased the land for a new car testing and development ground. As you may have read in an earlier issue the Heritage Motor Centre celebrated its 21st birthday on the site this year. The control tower still remains and the site is owned by Jaguar Land Rover with the nearby Aston Martin plant also using the facility for testing. Vulcan X558 is operated by Vulcan to the Sky Trust and relies on constant public support to keep it flying. The Cold War Tour was seen as a fitting way to commemorate the men and women who served in this period and marked the symbolic end to the Cold War with the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th 1999. © Pete Austin After departing from RAF Finningly (now Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster) X558 transited over RAF stations Scampton, Coningsby, Marham, Honington, Wyton, Gaydon, Wittering, Cottesmore and Waddington. A large crowd had gathered at Gaydon to witness the event with reduced admission also being offered for entry to the museum. Visit: www.vulcantothesky.org and Dr Robert Pleming (Cheif Executive of the Vulcan to the www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk Sky Trust) and John Bishop (Gaydon V-Force historian)

Classic and Competition car October 2014

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Champion 911 Sprinter.

After eight exciting rounds organised by several different clubs, the Red Line Synthetic Oil 2014 Curborough Sprint Championship came down to the last round, organised by the Shenstone & District Car Club on the 14th October to decide this years champion. The overall winner is Michael Jackson driving a Porsche 911 from Class 3C - Modified Production Cars over 2000cc 2nd overall Steve Barrow in a Renault Clio 197 Sport from Class SB - Standard Production cars 1401cc to 2000cc 3rd overall Chris Gillie in an MG TF 160 from Class SB - Standard Production cars 1401cc to 2000cc Novice Award: OLIVER SWADKIN (Renault Clio Sport) © Simon Wright

The Class champions are as follows CLASS Sa Standard cars upto 1.4L 1st MARTIN DOMLEO (Ford Fiesta Eco Boost) CLASS Sb Standard cars upto 2.0l 1st OLIVER SWADKIN (Renault Clio Sport) CLASS Sc Standard cars over 2.0l 1st DAVID PAISLEY ( BMW M3) CLASS 1a Road mod. cars upto 1.4l 1st JULIAN FISHWICK ( Austin Mini 1380) CLASS 2a Kit and Replica upto 1,7L 1st GRAHAM REED ( Locost) CLASS 2b Kit and replica over 1.7l 1st TERRY DUTTON (Caterham HPC) CLASS 3a Mod prod cars upto 1.4l 1st OWEN CULE ( Metro GTI)

Classic and Competition car October 2014

CLASS 3b Mod prod cars upto 2.0L 1st ANDREW HARDING ( VW Golf GTI) CLASS 3c Mod prod cars over 2.0l 1st STEVE JACKSON ( Porsche 911) CLASS 4a Mod kit and replica cars 1st STUART BICKLEY ( Silva Pheonix) CLASS R2 Rally cars 1st PETER SHENTON ( Ford Escort Mk1) CLASS 6a Sports Libre cars over 1.7l 1st ANDREW BIRCH ( Radical Clubsports) CLASS 7b Racing Cars upto 1100cc 1st MARTIN DUFFIELD (Jedi Mk4) CLASS 8b Period Defined Racing cars 1st ANDREW BIRCH ( Jomo) Page 8

Coventry Festival of Motoring. 23rd and 24th August 2014. By Simon and Janet Wright. © Simon Wright Now firmly established at Stoneleigh Park, near Coventry, the Festival of Motoring had its usual format of club displays on Saturday and Sunday with the addition of a 50 mile road run on Sunday around the Warwickshire countryside. Several hundred cars left Stoneleigh Park on a lovely sunny morning, heading first in to Coventry city centre before turning south to Kenilworth and past the castle, through Leamington Spa and then out through the warwickshire villages in a long loop back to Stoneleigh Park. The route had been publicised in the local press and there were large groups of spectators along the © Janet Wright road sides waving to the cars as they passed by, with many of the cars flying or waving the union jack. The sight of classic cars driving through historic villages and countryside really was like MGA passes Kenilworth Castle

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Jaguar E-Type out on the road run

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Stoneleigh Park, a large taking a step back area had been left for them to park up in number in time, order for the spectators to with get a closer look at the many traditional cars they may have seen in passing during the British morning run. There were cars also hundreds of other looking vehicles already on display like they on the many club display had just areas in the park, along left the with an exhibition of factory, Imagineering in the display and hall with a huge Lady Austin A40 custom sweeps round the curves many of the owners had made an effort and dressed in period outfits. The Godiva puppet and Lawn mower racing on the far list of vehicles on the run was like a tribute to the many British side of the park. One of manufacturers who have long ceased production, but whose the more interesting models won the hearts and minds of the public, many of whom still have memories of previously owning these vehicles in their © Janet Wright youth. Austin, Jaguar, Triumph, MG, Standard, Ford, Hillman, there are too many to list, but there were also foreign supercars, and not so super cars that were also part of this pageant. When the cars returned to MG TF leads a group through Kenilworth

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Riley RMC convertible

Jaguar XK sports car and MkII saloon

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Triumph TR6 waving the flag through the villages

displays was an area dedicated to “Built in Coventry” which featured vehicles built by Jaguar, Humber, Triumph. More modern classic supercars were well represented with a large selection of Lotus models displayed while there was an interesting selection of Ferraris including an immaculate black 250 GTO replica. There was a display arena which was used for various demonstrations and displays. one of

the more spectacular was the stunt motorcycle display team whose aerial display entertained the large crowd as the riders jumped from ramp to ramp. While in midair, the riders performed all kinds of tricks, including holding arms and legs clear of the bike, flying behind the bike whilst holding just the seat and the final trick Ferrari 250 GTO replica © Janet Wright

Motorcycle display team did a loop the loop

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Superb 1939 Alvis Speed 25

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was to loop the loop. Earlier, the display area had seen a parade of steam Traction Engines and early steam trucks being driven round. The action kept coming as during the afternoon there was a fly-by from a Spitfire and Hurricane to commemorate the Battle of Britain and World War 2.

Spitfire and Hurricane fly by © Simon Wright

Lawnmower racing was an interesting attraction © Simon Wright

Ford 100E Squire estate car rarest of the 100E models

1929 Sentinel DG6 Steam Waggon will soon bring the tea to the boil

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Local built Triumph Stag

Morris and MG from nearby Oxfordshire

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Lady Godiva in the imagineering Hall

1955 Daimler Regency Mk II

Triumph TR sports cars part of the TR Register display. © Simon Wright

Built in Coventry, the Swallow Swift later became Jaguar

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Jaguar Mk VII Built in Coventry

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ÂŠ Mick Herring

Race winner Rob Wheldon laps the similar car of Harry Blazer

GT Cup Donington GP - Buy on Wednesday, Win on Saturday and Sunday, Twice. 20th/21st September. By Mick Herring. The GT Cup's penultimate race weekend played out the excitement on a dull, cloudy Saturday with the 45 minute enduro and two twenty five minute races on a sunny Sunday. Donington's GP Circuit, in use again following the British GT finale one week earlier, but this meeting boasted the coup of the competition debut of the brand new McLaren 650S Sprint in the hands of journalist Dale Lomas and works driver Rob Bell. It also marked the debut of second Radical RXC in GT Cup in the hands of experienced Radical Classic and Competition car October 2014

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ÂŠ Mick Herring

Start of the first race with Wheldon in front in to Redgate

penalty pit stop put him a long way down once again. This promoted the Iain Dockerill/Ben Barker Porsche to second and Chamberlain retained his third place. Peter Jennings took his first GTC class win in fifth place in his Ferrari 458 ahead of the stunning black and white GTC class McLaren 650S Sprint, making its worldwide competition debut today in the hands of factory driver Rob Bell and journalist Dale Lomas. Rounding out the GTC class, also making his GT Cup debut, was Adam Caroll, the former A1 GP title winner sharing the GTC Ferrari of fellow Irishman Shamus Jennings. GTB went to Will Plant in 10th as he gains speed with every race and would be repeated in Sunday's races with a sixth and a ninth. Taking the GTA class, Marcus Clutton shared and brought Colin Broster's Porsche back to 13th. Race 2, also subject to an early safety car which did little to halt Rob Wheldon's dominance. Jim Geddie brought his McLaren home second with Richard Chamberlain claiming another third, whilst Lomas' new McLaren claimed second in GTC and 10th. David Walley, in spite of incurring more

racer Rob Wheldon. He and the car, which left Radical's factory the previous Wednesday, totally dominated the three races with margins of 35, 22, and 27 seconds from three pole position starts. The organisers attempted to slow the new car for the third race by reducing the overhang of the rear wing and thus downforce and will no doubt have to find further ways to slow ÂŠ Mick Herring the 450 bhp 3 litre "motorbike" V8 car, which Rob Wheldon described as "work in progress", to equalise its performance. Race 1, the 45 minute enduro on Saturday afternoon saw Jim Geddie being the only car to match the acceleration of Wheldon's Radical but once through Redgate the new RXC just pulled away. At the end of the first lap, Wheldon had 100 metres over Jim's McLaren who, in turn was 200 metres ahead of the bunch lead by Richard Chamberlain's familiar fire-breathing Porsche. The pattern continued despite an immediate safety car, to clear the damaged Noble M400 and the Porsche of Championship leader, David Walley who had tangled at the Melbourne hairpin. Despite this, Rob Wheldon emerged from his pit stop still leading but Geddie had to fight his way back to an eventual fourth place, after his extra 45 second success Classic and Competition car October 2014

Debut of the McLaren 650S Sprint

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Chamberlain heads Geddie and Stanley

damage, salvaged a second in GTB in 9th, behind GTC winner John Seale's Ferrari 458, Seale having made contact with Peter Jennings similar car © Mick Herring earlier in the race. Absent since the first Silverstone round, the enthusiastic Bulgarian BMW dealer Rosen Daskalov, brought out the latest SIN R1 for its first race. Looking outwardly similar to the older white car, many chassis revisions have taken place and as development continues, it will climb up from its 17th and 18th places today. Race 3 With some the top cars being handed over to the pro-drivers, proved to be a much tidier and exciting affair, albeit with a start that mirrored that of the previous day's race but no safety cars. However, Classic and Competition car October 2014

© Mick Herring Jim Geddie would start the second lap in 4th position, behind Chamberlain and Jamie Stanley in a GTC Ferrari. The power of the Iain Dockerill/Ben Barker finished 2nd McLaren told over the slowing Porsche with both Geddie and Stanley overtaking the orange car. Wheldon's Radical RXC raced into the distance, despite having its rear downforce reduced by the organisers, to win by 27 seconds from Geddie. Give that the first two cars were GTO class the performance of

Richard Chamberlin Porsche 935 finished 3rd in the first race

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Francis Galashan heads through the gravel trap…..

Jamie Stanley in Seale's GTC Ferrari 458 was noteworthy to finish 3.2 seconds adrift of Jim Geddie. Rob Bell brought the McLaren 650S Sprint across the line third in GTC with 6th place. © Mick Herring

GTB went to Will Plant ahead of David Walley in 9th and 10th. Marcus Clutton's venerable Porsche 996 won GTA in 16th. Francis Galashan exited the race after ten and ended up in the tyre wall laps when he approached Redgate Corner at undiminished speed, skated across the gravel trap before making heavy contact with the tyre wall. The final, one day, round of the GT Cup takes place at Oulton Park on October 25th. © Mick Herring

Mark Smith heads Jeff Wyatt and Ryan air!

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Rosen Daskalov’s new Sin finished 17th

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ÂŠ Syd Wall

John Koenig Chevrolet Impala lifts off from the start line in the Sunoco King Street class

Bandimere Speedway By Syd Wall

After Bonneville Salt Flats, another racing cathedral to visit was Bandimere Speedway, home of the NHRA Mile High Nationals. The Speedway was opened in 1958 and is still owned and run but the Bandimere family. As it says on the tin, this drag strip is a mile above sea level and it's nickname, Thunder Mountain, acknowledges that it is adjacent to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This means the climate can change very quickly and racing was interrupted twice, once when it was raining at the end of the strip but not at the start and later with a tremendous thunderstorm. But the tarmac is so hot that Diesels took part in the burn out comp too! Classic and Competition car October 2014

ÂŠ Syd Wall

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with much work from the marshals, we are racing again in less than an hour. The meeting is a small one, based on various street car classes along with a very large junior dragster entry. But the quality of the cars is as you would expect, superb. The racing went on under floodlights until about 9pm...no curfews here. The following day was radio station KBPI's Rock 'n' Roll car show. Over 1000 cars, trucks and bikes were entered. The spectators, still queuing on the adjacent freeway to get in when the burnout contest show highlight was about to start, five hours after opening time, were also entertained by rock bands, drag © Syd Wall

John Crooks Ford Mustang waits in the rain © Syd Wall

race grudge matches and a guess the cube contest...a crushed car was on show for spectators to guess the make and model. The facility is enormous and the thought of attending the NHRA meeting with entries totalling hundreds of of top fuel bikes and cars, funny cars and pro stock cars is spine tingling. Many thanks to Jeff and Debbie for their welcome. Classic and Competition car October 2014

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ÂŠ Syd Wall

Classic and Competition car October 2014

David Hildebrand Chevrolet Corvette Stingray winner of the USP Ultimate Street class

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Steve Renner Chevrolet Nova SS in the Sunoco King Street series © Syd Wall

Classic and Competition car October 2014

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Mike Kelly gets off to a flying start in the Fastlane Auto Shift Stick class © Syd Wall

John Koenig Chevrolet Impala

Classic and Competition car October 2014

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Front wheel drive cars doing burn outs are impressive...tyre smoke appears from everywhere. Mike Besserer won the USP-Pro Sport Compact class © Syd Wall

Replica Penske AMX Javelin

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Jeremia Stanton Ford Mustang flies off the line

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Greg Talkington launches his Chevrolet © Syd Wall

Classic and Competition car October 2014

The above Chevy won the burn out comp

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SDCC Sprint Curborough 14th September 2014. By Simon & Janet Wright. The eighth and final round of the Red Line Synthetic Oil 2014 Curborough Sprint Championship in association with Lifeline was held in the middle of September, as a single lap event. Run by the Shenstone and District Car Club which runs the Curborough Sprint course, this was a fitting end to an exciting season of sprinting at the Lichfield course. The championship was very close as they came to the finale with Michael Jackson in the Porsche 911 just 2 points ahead of Steve Barrow in the Renault Clio 197, but as Michael was a previous overall champion and had not changed class, he will have 4 points deducted at the end of the season. Chris Gillie in an MG TF 160 was a further 1/2 a point behind in third place, with the top ten in the championship split by only 9.5 points as they came to the final round. The weather was perfect for the meeting and after the usual © Simon Wright

Howard Cottrell spun his MG Midget right off the course on his first run

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Nick Skidmore in the Tatuus FR 2.0 set Fastest Time of Day in 29.65 seconds

morning practice, each competitor started their two timed runs. First out was the single Electric car at the event, Jeff Allan in a Mitsubishi i-MIEV whose © Simon Wright best time was 47 seconds exactly and a terminal speed of 63 mph and he was not the slowest driver on the day. A lot of the drivers did an extra third run at the end of the meeting in aid of charity which was timed, but did not count towards the results. On his third run, Jeff managed to lower his time by a further 0.14 of a second. Next out were the Standard Production Cars up to 1400cc with Martin Domieo taking the class win in a Ford Fiesta Eco Boost Steve Brennan Radical Clubsport 3rd in class Page 25

Robert Birch in the Jomo F/F was fastest in the Period Defined Racing Cars Class

with a best time of 40.93 seconds. Next up was the big battle class for the championship challengers with the Standard Production Cars 1400cc and up to 2000cc class containing both © Simon Wright

another class win, nearly a second ahead of Paul Green in his mighty red 8 litre Dodge Viper GTS. The next class was the Academy Class which saw Sarah Wood out in the SDCC Vauxhall Corsa school car. She set her best time on her first run, improving by Les Proctor Austin Healey Sebring Sprite 4th in class 0.78 of a second on her best practice time. Back to the competition for the championship which saw Owen Cule sharing Julian Fishwicks Austin Mini instead of his usual Metro in the Road going modified and sports car class up to 1400cc, but it was Graham Harvey in another Mini which took the class win with a 38.20 second run ahead of Cule who managed to get with in 1/2 a second for 2nd in class. David West was the only runner in the over 1400cc to 2000cc Road going modified saloons and © Simon Wright

Paul Green Dodge Viper GTS 2nd in class

2nd placed Steve Barrow in his Renault Clio 197 and 3rd placed Chris Gillie in his MG TF 160. Both would need a class victory to stand any chance of challenging championship leader Michael Jackson. The competition was intense with Gillie out first and setting his best time of 38.72 seconds while Barrow responded with a class winning 38.22 seconds, with neither improving on their second run and finished 1st and 2nd in class. Next championship hopeful out was Championship 6th placed David Paisley in a BMW M3 in the Standard Production Cars over 2000cc class. His 37.79 second run was good enough for Classic and Competition car October 2014

Martin Depper tried a short cut on his first run, but still won his class

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sports car class in his Peugeot 106GTi with a time of 36.81 seconds, good enough for 38th overall. Andy Stone in a Subaru WRX STi took the Road going modified saloons and sports cars over 2000 cc class with a 35.67 second run. The Road going modified kit, replica and spaceframed cars up to 1700cc class was won by George Newrick in a Westfield SEiW winning by a whole 2 seconds from Steven Walford in another Westfield SEiW, while the over 1700cc class was taken by Chris Howard-Harris in a Caterham Superlight by over a second with a 31.73 second run pushing championship contender Terry Dutton Tim Child Mini Mod Sports set a time of 40.38 seconds round Curborough © Simon Wright

Andrew Birch Radical Clubsport was 11th overall in 31.48 seconds

back to 2nd in class in his Caterham 7 HPC on a 32.78 second run. There were only two cars in the Road Going Lotus cars up to 2200cc and Vauxhall VX220 and Opel Speedsters class and the Lotus Elan Sprint of Andrew Palmer beat the Lotus Europa of Les Buck by 2.2 seconds. Martin Depper made hard work of the Modified Production cars up to 1400cc in his Rover Mini Cooper when he went straight on at the mole hill on his first run and ploughed through the grass and failed the run. His second run at 35.86 seconds was enough to ensure the class win ahead of Gareth Clark in a Vauxhall Corsa B. The over 1400cc to 2000cc class saw Sarah Bosworth in a Lotus Elise Series 1 take the class win at 33.57 seconds ahead of Adrian Crawley in a shared Peugeot 205 GTi. Classic and Competition car October 2014

Championship leader Michael Jackson continued his domination of the Modified Pruction Cars over 2000cc class with another win at 34.43 seconds ahead of Steve Jackson in the same car. This was enough to win him the Championship, with Barrow 2nd overall and Gillie 3rd. The Modified Kit, Replica and Spaceframed cars up to 1800cc class had just one car, the Sylva Phoenix driven by Stuart and David Bickley which saw Stuart ahead with a 32.30 seconds, while the over 1800cc class was just Phil Day in a Locost 7 who seet a time of 38.10 seconds. There was © Janet Wright

Jan Snape locks up his Jedi Mk1 at the Molehill on his way to 8th overall

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Davrian Imp who did a 38.77 second run and the Rally Cars 2WD class of Peter Shenton in a Ford Escort Mk1 who managed to get the car sideways to a 35.81 seconds. Moving in to the single seater racing cars classes with the over 600cc and up to 1100cc class saw championship contender Jan Snape in his Jedi Mk1 only finish in 4th place with a 31.11 timed run while Steven Potter took the class win with a 30.55 second run in his Magapin 10HC97 The Fastest Time of the Day was set by Nick Skidmore in the Racing cars over 1600cc and up to 2000cc class when he pushed his Tatuus FR 2.0 round in a time of 29.65 seconds just ahead of 1989 British Hillclimb champion Ray Rowan in a Dallara F307 who was close behind at 30.34 seconds. Nice bit of opposite lock from Peter Shenton in his Ford Escort Mk1 Rally Car The final two classes were both single car entries for Period an interesting entry in the Sports Libre cars up to 1700cc class, a Defined Road Going Production Cars, won by Bill Smith in a Mini Mod Sports driven by Tim Child. It looked like a modified Mini Marcos with a time of 38.58 seconds and the Period Defined van and was up against three Radical sports cars which all proved (Historic) Racing cars class was won by Robert Birch in a Jomo to be faster. Matt Carter won the class in his Radical PR6 with a F/F with a time of 33.07 seconds. time of 29.95 seconds compared to the Mini at 40.38 seconds. © Simon Wright Another couple of single car entry classes were the Sports Libre Saloon cars up to 1400cc which consisted of John Webster in a © Simon Wright

Nigel Fox cuts the grass on the Molehill in his Caterham Seven R300, 5th in class

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Three wheeling his Vauxhall Corse ‘B’ is Gareth Clark, 2nd in class

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before they both dived in for their pitstops. This handed the lead to the Ainge/Jordan Honda Integra DC5 until they pitted, which left the Boon Honda Civic R Type leading until they also pitted. After the pitstops Danny Casser was leading in his Honda Integra but he was slowly being closed down by a chasing Richard Woods in a Ford Focus and with just seven laps to go the Focus took the lead, with Casser remaining attached to his bumper for the rest of the race, with them finishing just 0.897 of a second apart after 40 minutes racing. © Simon Wright

Jaguar Saloon and GT race first lap through the Craner Curves

Classic and Sports Car Club Donington Park 30th August 2014 By Simon and Janet Wright with additional material by Mick Herring. The CSCC weekend at Donington Park had drawn a good entry for the star event, a pair of Special Saloon and Modsports races, but the meeting also carried a full selection of CSCC series races including Tin Tops, Future Classics, Jaguar Saloons and Magnificent Sevens amonst others. After Practice on Saturday morning, the racing started straight after the lunch break with the Tin Tops with MS Society Series kicking off the racing with a 40 minute event that saw Nigel Tongue on pole position in a © Simon Wright Peugeot 306. But it was Russell Hird in a Honda Integra DC5 from the third row who led for the first couple of laps and then swopped the lead with Tongue for several laps Nigel Tongue Peugeot 306 ran wide at Redgate but still finished 6th Tin Top race

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Ainge/Jordan Honda Integra DC5 finished 3rd Tin Tops race

The Ainge/Jordan Integra was 3rd. The Future Classics saw a large grid of interesting sports, GT and saloon cars from the 1970s and 80s form up behind the TVR Tuscan of Bill and Howard Lancashire. The Tuscan grabbed the lead from the start until lap 9 when Mark Chilton got through in to the Page 29

V8 to win his class, and the other class winners were 5th placed Harvey/Neal in a Porsche 964 Carrera 2, and the Jones in a Toyota MR2 in 12th place. After the first Special saloon race, another 40 minute race for the CSCC Modern Classics Series, Dunlop Production Cup for Porsche Models came out to play. This Card/Card BMW M3 E30 battled for the lead with the TVR Tuscan of Lancashire/Lancashire for the Future Classics race combined race mixed all saloons and lead in the Porsche 928 S4 for a couple of laps before his hatchbacks over 2 litre capacity and all pre-year 2000 pitstop which put the Card BMW M3 E30 in the lead until they © Simon Wright pitted, promoting the Bailye/Black Mazda MX5 BBR Turbo to leader for 3 laps until they too pitted. Nicholas Olson in the Lotus Esprit S3 was now the leader and he immediately retired from the race! This now gave the lead to Alec Livesley in a Jensen Healey who maintained the position to the flag, beating the Card BMW by over 20 seconds while the Bailye/Black Mazda was 3rd. Martyn Adams finished 4th in a Triumph TR7 © Janet Wright

Simon Lewis Jaguar XJ6 spun out at the chicane in practice

Daniel Wood Porsche 944 laps the James/James Ford Escort RS2000 in the Future Classics race

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Production sports and GT cars of any capacity (For 2014, this also included a class for Front Wheel Drive cars of any age, with normally aspirated engines up to 3.4 litres or up to 2 litres forced induction) with the Dunlop Production Cup for Porsche models. The Wylie/Fitzgerald BMW M3 took pole position from Miles Maserati in a Porsche 996, but it was the Mather/ Spencer BMW E36 M3 that led for the first 15 laps until they came in for their pitstop, handing the lead over to the Smith/ Page 30

Moulton-Smith BMW M3 but they pitted the next lap, leaving the lead to the Wylie/Fitzgerald BMW M3. They pitted on lap 19, outside the pit stop window, and were penalised 2 laps which left them at the finish in 19th place. Through all the normal pitstops came Miles Maserati in the Porsche 996 to take the lead right through to the finish and won the race. His margin at the flag was 4.762 seconds over Class winner Neville Anderson in a Vauxhall Vectra, while the Mather/Spencer BMW was 3rd. The other class winners were Luke Johnson in a Porsche 944 S2 in © Mick Herring

from the start, building up quite a lead down through the Craner curves and was never challenged, winning by nearly 9 seconds. Lawrence Coppock in an XJ6 was initially 4th but took 2nd place at the end after James Ramm was penalised 10 seconds for passing under a yellow flag. This dropped Ramm in a XJS down to 4th but he still won his class behind Alistair Dyson in an XJ40 in 3rd place. Dave Bye in an XJ6 Coupe was 5th, winning his class, while the final class winner was Ben Walker in another © Mick Herring

Tim Davis TVR Tuscan spun out of the Millennium & Dunlop Puma Cup series

4th, the Phillips/Senter Subaru WRX in 15th overall, the Porsche 924S of Andy Yomans in 20th place overall, the Porsche 964 Carrera of Cortes/Dennett, and finally Mike Watson in a Lotus Elise. The Classic Spares/Toyo Tires Jaguar Saloon and GT Championship had two races over the weekend. Thomas Barclay put his Jaguar Coupe on Pole position and romped away Classic and Competition car October 2014

James Ramm Jaguar XJS finished 4th

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trap, but managed to keep moving and rejoin the track. It probably cost him the race as he finished 2nd in the Puma class behind the Puma of Eacock and Eacock who were 9th overall. © Simon Wright

Paul Dolan Ford Puma finished 2nd in class in the Millennium & Dunlop Puma Cup series

XJS in 12th place. Rounding off the first day of competition was the CSCC New Millennium & Dunlop Puma Cup Series race. Tim Davis put his TVR Tuscan on pole position while Paul Dolan was fastest of the Ford Puma runners in 12th position. Davis led off the grid, followed closely by the TVR Sagaris of Dean Cook who was behind him on the second row of the grid, leaving front row BMW of Kal Ezzat in 3rd. Dolan in the Puma ran wide at Redgate at the start and took the long route through the gravel

Classic and Competition car October 2014

At the front of the race Davis led until lap 6 when he just disappeared off the lap chart giving the lead to Cook in the other TVR who held a slight lead over Ezzat until his pit stop on lap 16 which gave Ezzat the lead for one lap until he too made his pitstop. After the pitstops had finished it was Cook back in the lead, which he maintained until the chequered flag, winning by © Mick Herring 23 seconds from Ezzat with another BMW M3 E46 in 3rd place driven by Card/ Card. Both Cook Thomas Barclay Jaguar Coupe won both Jaguar races

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Start of the Tin Top race

and Ezzat won their respective classes while 4th placed Ainge/ Jordan Honda Integra DC5 and 6th place BMW M3 of Broad/ Broad were the other class winners. Sunday saw more qualifying in the morning for the series which were not © Janet Wright racing on the Saturday. The first two races were also fitted in before the lunch break, starting with the second race for the Matthew Lewis Marcos Mantula Future Classics 6th Classic and Competition car October 2014

Special Saloons and Modsports 20 minute blast around the sweeps of Donington Park. The Jaguar saloons held their second 20 minute race straight after the Special saloon race and it saw another lights to flag © Simon Wright

Robin Gray Pontiac Trans Am Future Classics 7th

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Steve Owen in a Caterham Seven Blackbird who led the early part of the race before the mandatory pitstop. This gave the lead briefly to the Springate/Rowe Caterham Supersport Sigma before the Fox/Bingham car took over the lead when Springate/ Rowe pitted. But Owen, after his pitstop was slowly gaining ground and with 8 laps still to go, he passed the Fox/Bigham car for the lead, which he managed to maintain to the flag, winning by just 0.58 of a second. Owen and Fox/Bingham both won their respective classes, while the Caterham Roadsport of Carl Nairin and the Caterham Supersport of Garrett/Garner and the Tiger Avon of Whitlock/Slade were the other class winners. © Simon Wright

Wylie/Fitzgerald BMW M3 leads a group of Ford Pumas in the Millennium & Dunlop Puma cup

victory for Thomas Barclay in the Jaguar Coupe. This time James Raimm kept his 2nd place in the XJS after receiving a time penatly in the first race which had dropped him to 4th. He also won his class. Lawrence Coppock made it same 3 podium finishers with 3rd place in this race, driving his XJS after his 2nd place in the first race. After lunch, the Gold Art Magnificent Sevens Series Group 1 © Mick Herring took to the circuit for their 40 minute race with Bingham/ Fox on Pole position in a Caterham Supersport. They were beaten off the grid by Winner Mark Ticehurst Porsche 935 Special saloon race

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Rob Compton Vauxhall Belmont Special Saloon race

The Group 2 race saw Anthony Bennett take a close Pole position in a Caterham R300, but it was front row man Pascal Green who led the first 9 laps in his Caterham C400 until his pitstop which put Peter Ratcliff in another C400 in front until his pitsop on lap 14. Mark Rider in yet another C400 was now in the lead till lap 18 when he took a late pit stop which gave the lead back to Green who held his advantage to the end. He won by over 28 seconds from Bennett, with Ratcliff 3rd. The other class winners were Rider in 4th, Julian Sage in a Caterhan Seven in 5th, Mike Aikens 7th in a Caterham CSR, and 10th placed Caterham R400 of Fincham/Fincham. The CSCC Swinging Sixties Series Gp1 and 2 entertained the spectators with their 40 minute race and the mix of saloons and Page 34

sports cars from the 1960s. The little Ginetta G4 of Halstead/ McPherson took Pole position and led the race from start to finish, not even loosing the lead during the driver change pit stop. In fact by lap 16 when the leader stoped, there were only © Janet Wright

James Guest Rover Mini Special Saloon race

2 other cars on the same lap, but even they were over 2 minutes behind. By the end of the race, the Ginetta was over 48 seconds in front of Will Hodges in a Lotus Seven Series 2, the only other car on the lead lap. 3rd place went to Adam Cunnington in an Austin Healey Sprite. The first three also won their respective classes. The other class winners were Steve Pickering who finished 8th in a Sunbeam Tiger, followed by in an old Triumph GT6 in 11th driven by Stuart Daburn and Julian © Simon Wright

Gammage in an Opel GT who was 12th. The final class winners were Norman Davidson-Kelly in a Jaguar E-Type (13th), and Gary Weston in an MG Roadster (19th). The Classic K series took to the track for their one hour race around tea time, with the Lotus Elan S2 of Halstead/ McPherson in Pole Poisition from the mighty 4.7 litre Ford Falcon of Gardiner/Faulkner. The Elan led from start to finish, loosing the lead for just one lap when they made their pitstop. Allen Tice was 2nd in a Marcos 1800 GT, over 56 seconds behind the Halstead/McPherson Elan, while David Holroyd in another Lotus Elan was 3rd. The Gardiner/Faulkner Ford Falcon won its class in 4th place and the Jaguar E-Type of Gray/Gray was another class winner in 5th. Brian Lambert in an MG B Roadster (6th), Burtt/Monk Porsche 911 (7th), Steve Chapman Triumph TR4 (9th), another TR4 of Somerville/ Barton (13th), Chris Blewett Ginetta G12 (18th) and finally Tom Andrews Lotus Cortina was 20th. The final race of the meeting was the 30 minute Sports Car V Saloon Car Challenge race which saw various Caterhams dominate the top of the timesheets with Anthony Bennett on Pole in a R300. He led the majority of the race and won by just over 4 seconds from Simon Smith in a CSR and Pascal Green in a C400. © Simon Wright

Neville Anderson Vauxhall Vectra Modern Classics

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Colin Philpott Jaguar XJS passes Derek Pearce Jaguar Mk II in the Jaguar race

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Special Saloons and Modsports. By Mick Herring and Simon Wright. Additional photos Janet Wright. The Classic and Sportscar Club's initiative to return to the essence of the 1970s Super/Special Saloons and Modsports heyday continued apace at Donington with the first of two races over the weekend taking place on Saturday. From his commanding pole position, the experience of Mark Ticehurst and his spectacular flame-spitting Porsche 935 3300 ensured that he was never troubled for his win. The action that went on behind him made for great entertainment with, first, Joe © Simon Wright

Peter Stevens Vauxhall Carlton TS finished 4th Special saloon race 1

around Mallory Park in a back issue of Classic and Competition Car) Sibley's Elan Modsports maintained its third position ahead of the Morris family Peugeot 309 GTi Turbo with Peter Stevens bringing his Vauxhall Carlton TS6000 to 5th. A David and Goliath battle between Kevin Doyle's Jaguar XJ12 6800 and the diminutive Suzuki SC1000 1298 of David Brewis was eventually resolved in favour of the Jaguar but the conclusion was by no means foregone until the flag separated them by just 0.284 © Janet Wright

Tony Paxman 2.3 Ford Escort Mk 2 Special saloon race

Ward having to fend off the close attention from Steven Moss' Ford Anglia Spaceframe before he could begin to chase down the fleet Lotus Elan of Paul Sibley that had started alongside the Porsche. Joe drove that most iconic of "Supersaloons, Baby Bertha" with huge determination to take the flag in second place 21.6 seconds behind the dominant Porsche. I'm told that this was the immaculate "Baby Bertha's first race since its accident at Donington last year. (For impressions of "Baby Bertha" from the inside, read about my passenger ride Classic and Competition car October 2014

Paul Sibley Lotus Elan Modsports finished 3rd in race 1 Special Saloons

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Thomas Carey Honda CRX Special saloon finished 10th

Joe Ward Vauxhall Baby Bertha leads Steven Moss Ford Anglia Spaceframe

seconds in 7th and 8th respectively. Steven Moss dropped down to 6th following a spin at the chicane and a momentary beaching on the raised hump. Another determined drive, having started from the pit lane, came from Thomas Carey in his Honda CRX 2000. He sliced through the field and got back to 10th, just behind Tony Paxman's Ford Escort Mk2 2300. Always great to witness racing between cars that formed the backbone of topline clubmans motorsport from the 1970s and the evocation of cars that could have raced, together with the spirit of what might have followed them had the emphasis of British motorsport not been changed. The Sunday race lined up in the finishing order of race one and proved to be another run away win by Ticehurst in the Porsche 935, chased all the way by Paul Sibley who was not really challenged in this second 15 minute blast, finishing just over 13 seconds behind the Porsche and about 13 seconds ahead of the 3rd placed Peugeot 309 GTi Turbo of Morris. Ticehurst and Classic and Competition car October 2014

Sibley both won their class with 4th placed Steven Moss in the Ford Anglia Spaceframe and 5th placed David Brewis in the Modsports Suzuki SC100 also winning their classes. The final class winner was Martin Baker in the Hillman Imp Spaceframe in 10th place. © Simon Wright

Gary Cole Citroen XU9J4 Special saloon race

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Archive Photo of the month. By Pete Austin ÂŠ Pete Austin

Classic and Competition car October 2014

As I write this the Japanese Grand Prix is due to take place in a few days time. This Japanese connection (sorry about the tenuous link this month!) took my mind back to Brands Hatch in 1974. Practice for the British Grand Prix that year saw the first public appearance of the Maki in its patriotic colours driven by Howden Ganley (seen here). The car failed to qualify and a slimmer version made its only race start at the 1975 non-championship Swiss Grand Prix held at Dijon-Prenois where it finished 13th in the hands of Tony Trimmer.

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Plum Festival, Abbey Park, Pershore. 25th September 2014. By Simon & Janet Wright. ÂŠ Simon Wright

classic car owners to show their vehicle without having to belong to a car club. Next to the Abbey was an impressive line up of Rolls Royce and Bentley motor cars, while on the edge of the Abbey grounds, next to the main park entrance was a large collection of MG sports cars and saloons including various MG B and MG Midgets. Despite the poor weather, there was a nice line up of more modern Mercedes sports cars with many SL models from

1929 Morris Oxford by a unique carved tree

Typical Bank Holiday weather greeted people attending the annual Plum Festival at Pershore in Worcestershire on August Bank Holiday Monday. Heavy rain all day failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds that flocked the streets of Pershore, with many market stalls providing food, drink and plenty of local grown plums. The centre piece of this town festival was a huge classic car show in the grounds of Pershore Abbey, which is located in the heart of the town. Although car attendance was down on last year, there were still lots of classic cars filling the grounds of the Abbey and the attached park. A lot of car clubs were in attendance, so cars were grouped by manufacturer in most displays, though there was a large area in the park for Classic and Competition car October 2014

ÂŠ Simon Wright

Austin Healey line up by the Abbey

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Another unusual lineup were six Volkswagen Karmann Ghia sports cars. The Karmann Ghia 2+2 Coupe and convertible were built between 1955 and 1974 and combined the chassis and mechanicals from the VW Beetle with a body styled by Luigi Segre from the Italian Ghia company and hand built by German coach builder Karmann. The original model was a Type 14 and the Type 34 featuring angular bodywork was introduced in 1961. The Ford Thunderbird was designed to challenge the Chevrolet Corvette as a high performance sports car. The 1956 model © Simon Wright

Part of the MG line up.

the 1970s and 80s. The park area had large trees around the edge and many of the classic cars were parked under the trees to provide whatever shelter they could offer. Some clubs had small pop up gazebo shelters, often used to shelter from the sun in summer, but were now used to shelter a car or two from the rain. There were some interesting vehicles scattered around the park area, with several different variants of VW Buggy sheltered under the trees, next to a selection of interesting classic and Custom American cars. Jaguar owners had a selection of sports and saloons varying from some perfect Mk II saloons to the XJS and the new XJ F. © Simon Wright

The VW Karmann Ghia 2+2 Coupe line up

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Ford Thunderbird

made several improvements to the original model which was first introduced in 1955. The boot capacity was increased by mounting the spare wheel externally and the exhausts were moved to the ends of the bumper and air vents were added behind the front wheels to improve in car ventilation. The removable hardtop was fitted with a “porthole” window to improve all round visibility. Jowett manufactured light cars and commercial vehicle in Bradford, West Yorkshire between 1906 and 1954. The Jowett Car Club had a Javelin, Jupiter and Bedford Van on display and Page 40

Rolls Royce line up was impressive Jowett Car Club line up

there was a 1936 Jowett 10HP Flat Four saloon also on show. Moving back to the Abbey Grounds, the Austin Morris BMC area was well represented with Mini, Morris Minor, A30/A35, and Riley cars, plus a line of of Triumph sports cars. Mazda MX5 had a large gathering, while classic Buick saloons made an impressive sight lined up in the shadow of the Abbey.

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Classic Buick saloons

Lots of MGs in the shadow of the Abbey

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1950s Cadillac Coupe de Ville © Simon Wright

Nearby Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb was represented by the Midland Automobile Club © Simon Wright

Morris Oxford © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Delage

Mercedes Benz 190SL

Triumph TR4

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British GT Brands Hatch August 31st. By Mick Herring.

Jon Minshaw loses “A contact lens” on the back of Andrew Howard’s Aston Martin

Always an exciting race, Brands Hatch's full 2.433 mile GP circuit hosted the penultimate round of the British GT championship with a 2 hour enduro race. Generation Bentley's withdrawal from the championship left a total of 31 cars taking the start, behind the Beechdean Aston Martin GT3. Sir Chris Hoy, following his first podium at Spa, had Jann Mardenborough as his third partner of the season in the Nissan GT Academy GT-R and would finish 11th. Brake problems from the start saw them end in 16th place and Andrew Howard's team gaining penalties and a 3-place grid drop at Donington for contacting Derek Johnston's 888 BMW. Classic and Competition car October 2014

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champion, Rick Parfitt Jr suffered an early puncture and had to drive a complete lap before pitting, he and Tom Oliphant would finish 6th in GT4, 23rd overall. Further highs and lows befell the newly enlarged Triple 8 BMW team with Warren Hughes losing a wheel on his out lap, having taken over from Jody Firth, whilst © Mick Herring

Warren Hughes rear wheel coming loose on his BMW Z4

Out of luck, DJ lost 5 laps in the gravel trap and took no further part, prompting the safety car being scrambled and scrambled again immediately after the green flag when Jon Dhillon's Ferrari halted in a dangerous spot. However, victory would go to 67 year old, serial retiree and comeback king, David Ashburn, the Trackspeed boss driving as well as ever, sharing with Porsche factory driver Nick Tandy. © Mick Herring GT4 yielded another victory for Beechdean pairing of Ross Whylie and Jake Giddings whilst reigning GT4

Adam Carroll FF Corse Ferrari 458

co-reigning GT4 champion Ryan Ratcliffe, making his GT3 debut in British GT and sharing Lee Mowle's car, showed his skill to bring the No. 88 BMW home in a strong 10th place. The sprint away from the grid bunched the cars, light contact by Jon Minshaw on the back of Howard's Aston at Paddock Hill let © Mick Herring

Beechdean Ice cream order, GT4 follows GT3

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Trackspeed Chase, Nick Tandy pursues Phil Keen

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Sims, who posted fastest lap, finished a distant 4th but holds on to his championship lead with only the Donington round to go. © Mick Herring

Paul Bailey in the gravel at Paddock Hill bend.

Fourth place and fastest lap keeps Marco Attard in championship lead

Ahmad Al Harthy break away on the run up to Druids. Jon Minshaw was amongst the first to pit, handing the Trackspeed Porsche to Phil Keen, who then swept past in the lead, as Michael Caine exited the pits having taken over the Aston from Al Harthy. Keen then proceeded to build a gap that looked destined to add another victory to those at Snetterton and Spa. Nick Tandy, having replaced David Ashburn, had other ideas and began the chase to the front. He first deposed both of the Motorbase/Oman Racing team Aston Martins, Rory Butcher for third and then Michael Caine for second. The final few laps saw the gap to Phil Keen come down to nothing but it would be Keen's last lap tyre explosion that would deny Trackspeed a one-two, the Demon Tweeks Porsche dropping to ninth. Tandy took the flag 8.5 seconds ahead of Michael Caine with Rory Butcher only 0.16 seconds behind. Rory Butcher's first podium saw him complete his "Ice-Bucket" challenge and co-driver Jeff Smith being awarded Blancpain "Driver of the weekend". Marco Attard, partnered by Alexander Classic and Competition car October 2014

The hotly contested GT4 category was a one-two for Aston Martin with the Beechdean pairing of Ross Whylie/Jake Giddings heading Andrew Jarman/Devon Modell by 57 seconds and Paul McNeilly/Jamie Stanley's Ginetta G55 3rd, one lap behind. © Mick Herring

Benny Simonsen Rosso Verde Ferrari 458

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Colourful turnout of former “Eastern Block” Cars

Iron Curtain Vehicle Rally Foxfield Railway. 7th September 2014. By Simon & Janet Wright. Members of the Wartburg IFA Club launched a new show called the Iron Curtain vehicle rally to fill the gap left after the Red Oktober event was axed by the Critch Tramway museum. © Simon Wright

Staffordshire to the main Stoke - Derby rail line. Originally built in 1892-93 by North Staffordshire railway employees at weekends © Janet Wright with second hand material. In order to keep costs down, there are almost no earthworks on the line, the only ones being a cutting dug through rock and a road over rail bridge. This resulted in some huge gradients along the line, as steep as 1:19 in places making it the steepest adhesion standard gauge railway in © Janet Wright

1966 Wartburg 311

The event commemorated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and was held at the Foxfield Railway, near Stoke on Trent. The Foxfield Railway, located at Blythe Bridge, in Staffordshire, is a preserved steam railway operating on the old Foxfield Colliery railway line. The line was originally used to transport coal fom the Cheadle coalfield of North Classic and Competition car October 2014

Trabant may be basic, but it sure is bright

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transport for many people in the former communist countries and cheap transport to many people in the UK in the early 1970s. Lada used to be a popular cheap car in the 1970s, with a specification at the time that was often better than British built cars in the same price range. They were sturdy, reliable cars, but often lacked the performance or fuel economy of their European rivals, so they were supplied with extras at cheaper prices. For example, Lada would supply a fairly comprehensive © Janet Wright

Lada 1600

Britain. It was productive until the colliery was closed by the National Coal Board in August 1965. The show was open to all vehicles with a cold war heritage from former Eastern Block countries. Saturday saw a road run round the Staffordshire moors and Peak district and Sunday saw the cars displayed at the Foxfield heritage railway centre. The bright, warm, sunny day saw a large turnout of cars © Simon Wright displayed in the main carpark at the front of the station, with enough cars to go round the outside edge of the car park. This was a special event, with many cars that you hardly ever see anymore on the roads of Britain. They might not be exotic names like Ferrari and Lamborghini but these cars proved basic Classic and Competition car October 2014

Standard Lada tool kit

Zastava Yugo

toolkit in their vehicles compared to the normal wheelbrace and car jack supplied with cheap British cars. You would also get a 1500cc or 1600cc car for a similar price to a Mini 1000, but then the Japanese manufacturers started to supply cheaper cars with better performance and economy, with better specifications at similar prices, which effectively cut out the market for the Eastern block imports, and killed off most of the British car industry.There were 3 Lada models on display, a couple being in perfect showroom condition. The Zastava Yugo was represented along with several classic Wartburg models. Then you come to the iconic Eastern Bloc car Page 47

Wartburg bonnet badge

the Trabant. There were quite a few of these on show, in many bright colours. The Trabant was the most common vehicle in East Germany, with over 3 million being built between 1957 and 1991. Manufactured by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerk Zwickau in Zwickau, Saxony, this small 2 stroke powered car was advertised as having room for four adults and luggage in a compact and fast car. The 600cc two cylinder two stroke engine was relatively underpowered and gave poor performance and economy and a smokey exhaust. © Janet Wright

Skoda

It gained cult status in the west after many Germans streamed in to West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The name Trabant means Satellite or Companion in German and was inspired by the Russian Sputnik satellite that was put in to space in 1957. In the East there were long waiting times for delivery after ordering, sometimes in years, so when owners received their car, they did their best to maintain the vehicle in the best possible condition, which has given the Trabant an © Janet Wright

Classic and Competition car October 2014

East German Trabant Police Car

2 stroke Trabant is iconic from East Germany

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The rainbow of Eastern Bloc cars

average lifespan of 28 years. The small 600cc engine developed 26 bhp, but due to the light kerb weight it could accelerate form 0-60 mph in around 21 seconds and had a top speed of 62 mph. Its emissions were up to 9 times higher than their European rivals in 2007 and the average fuel consumption was 40 mpg. The car also had no fuel pump, the tank being mounted above the engine and used gravity to feed the fuel to the engine. The steel monocoque shell had the roof, bonnet, boot, bumpers and doors made of Duroplast, a hard plastic similar to Bakelite, made from recycled material. On the other side of the car park were three Barkas vans and

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Barkas vans

Minibuses. Barkas vans were also built in East Germany, in Chemnitz. The B1000 range were built between 1961 and continued for thirty years until 1991. Typical of East Germany designs, the vans were powered by a Two Stroke three cylinder DKW derived engine which produced 45 bhp, very similar to those engines found in Wartburg cars. Over 175,000 were built during the thirty year production run. Finally the most popular Eastern Bloc car sold in the West, Skoda, were © Simon Wright also represented with several vehicles making an appearance, including the Estelle and the Favorit, along with a small selection of MZ motorbikes. Wartburg engine

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AMOC Sprint Curborough, 21st September 2014. By Simon and Janet Wright. The Aston Martin Owners Club made their annual trip to ÂŠ Simon Wright Curborough for a two lap sprint round the traditional long course circuit. It was a bright, dry day but with a slight breeze which kept the temperature down. There was a good entry of Aston Martins taking part in the main sprint and also a handicap event at the end of the main runs. Also supporting the meeting was a round of the Lotus Cup UK which saw 14 Lotus cars taking part, mainly Elise models with an Christopher Scott Mackirdy Aston Martin Le Mans won the handicap and his class Exige and Classic and Competition car October 2014

Europa thrown in for good measure. After morning practice runs which saw a few competitors make some mistakes, the timed competition runs started after lunch with the Vintage and Venerable (PVT) Aston Martins mildly modified cars out first with Christopher Scott Mackirdy take the first class win in his Aston Martin Le Mans with a time of 78.31 seconds, ahead of Keith Piper in his Aston Martin International. Next class was for David Brown Aston Martins - DB1, DB2, DB2/4 Mks I & II and DB Mk III standard cars. All four cars in the class were DB2/4 models and it was Nigel Grice in a Mk II that won the class with a time of 75.25 seconds. Class 4 was for David Brown Aston Martins - DB4, DB5, DB6 ÂŠ Simon Wright

Peter Hall Porsche 914 lifted a wheel as he rounded the hairpin

and DBS (6 cylinder cars only) mildly modified. One DB5 took on a pair of DB6, with Clive Hipwell in the DB5 proving victorious with a time of 69.00 seconds. The Highly modified class only had one entry, so Mike Wadsworth took an easy class win in his DB4 in 65.98 seconds. The All V8 Engined Page 50

Glyn Sketchley in the Megapin CFM9 set fastest time of day with a 55.37 seconds

Aston Martins and Lagonda as standard only had one car, A DBS V8 shared by Ken and Paul Hipwell. After Ken had two fails in practice, it gave Paul the advantage in the timed runs, and he took the win with a 68.76 second run. Class 6A All Newport Pagnall/Bloxham/Gaydon production cars from DB7 onwards standard cars covered most of the newer Aston Martins competing. The field of mainly 3.2 litre DB7s was beaten by the lone 6 litre Aston Martin Vanquish of Tom Whittaker who did a © Simon Wright

Tom Whittaker set the fastest terminal speed of the Aston Martins in his Vanquish at 100mph

Classic and Competition car October 2014

68.05 seconds, but he was kept on his toes by David Reed in a gold 3239cc Aston Martin DB7 who was less than 1/2 Briony Serrell Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk II was 3rd in class and won the a second Ladies handicap behind with a 68.52 seonds at the finish. Reed was spectacular as he crossed the line on his second timed run with smoke and fluid coming from the car. The marshals took to the track and put down plaster powder as it looked as if the engine had blown and deposited oil all over the circuit, but the driver reckoned it was only water. Whatever it was, the next car out was Simon Cox in his Austin Mini Ritz, and as he braked at the end of the straight at the end of his first lap, he lost control and spun the Mini, but managed to avoid hitting anything. Class 7 had a lone entry for Keith Piper with an Aston Martin International for the Vintage and Venerable Sports Cars class which was the slowest car on the day but he did improve from © Simon Wright his first practice runs to record an 83.51 seconds. We then moved away from the Aston Martin only classes, as the club Simon Cox Austin Mini Ritz spun on dropped fluid

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911 with a 62.10 second time, a whole 1.8 seconds faster than the 2nd placed Porsche 911 Carrera 3 of Ian Wadsworth with another 2 911s in 3rd and 4th in class. The fastest Aston Martin in the class was Tom Whittaker in an Aston Martin Vanquish with a time of 68.04 seconds for 7th in class, but he did have the satisfaction of recording the fastest speed over the finish line in the class with 100 mph. Now it was time for the Lotus Cup UK championship to take to the track with the Production Class out first. Xavier Brooke was fastest in his red and white Lotus Elise S1 with a time of 63.48 seconds over 2 seconds faster then the next car in class. © Simon Wright

James Hipwell Aston Martin DB5 locked up on his way to 3rd in class

had a full sprint entry for the meeting with a good variety of other saloons and sports cars, plus a few fast single seaters for good measure. Class 8 was for Sports cars, saloon and GT cars up to 2000cc and saw Daniel Street take the class win in his Citroen Saxo with a time of 69.19 seconds. There was a much bigger entry in class 9, Sports cars, saloon and GT cars over 2000cc which saw five modern Aston Matins take on the might of Porsche and BMW for honours. Unfortunately for them it was a walk over for Porsche, with new Curborough Sprint Champion Michael Jackson dominating the class in his Porsche © Janet Wright

Andrew Pidgeon Lotus Elise S2 had a busy day

Andrew Pidgeon had a spectacular lock up at the hairpin in his Lotus Elise 2 and managed to slide right off the track and almost reach the bank on his second run. Although it looked like he had hit the bank, when he reversed out and continued back to the paddock, there was no sign of any damage to the front of the car. He was having an exciting day as on an earlier run he had locked his brakes as he completed the low sweeping first corner and had to slide the wrong way on to the finish straight before being able to continue. He probably deserved an award for most spectacular trier of the day! Anthony Ward took an easy class win in his BMW 2002 Tii

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Next it was the turn of the Supersport class and another Elise, this time a lurid green S2, was the winner driven by David Mann with a time of 62.54 seconds. Class 11 was for BOC Paul Matty Sports Cars Classic championship and was split in to three categories. Category 1 Saloon cars was a single car entry for Anthony Ward in a super looking BMW 2002 Tii who set a time of 66.28 seconds. Category 2 - Sports cars saw Garry Cox take the honours in a Reliant Scimitar GTE in 67.48 seconds, slower than Wards time in the Category 1 BMW. The third and final category was for Sports Racing and Racing cars and saw Martin Jones in a Lotus 51A FF with a time of 59.72 seconds, narrowly beat Nick Stephens in a Lotus 51B by just 0.28 of a second. Class 13 for Historic Road Sports and Racing cars saw a couple of Aston Martins defeat a single Jaguar C Type. Mike Wadsworth in a DB4 took the class win in 66.26 seconds. Finally the fast boys came out at the end with the Single seater racing cars up to 1600cc. This proved to be a close fought battle for fastest time of the day (FTD) with Glyn Sketchley in the Megapin CFM9 just taking victory with a 55.37 second final run to beat Richard Arrowsmith in the Force PC by just 0.48 of a second. Finally there was a handicap for the Aston Martin Owners, split into two parts. Class 17 Part 1 for lady drivers was won by Briony Serrell in an Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk 2 with a fastest lap handicap time of 63.37 seconds. Part 2 for the gentlemen was won by Christopher Scott Mackirdy in the Aston Martin Le Mans with a handicap time of 57.10 seconds. There were two overall Trophies awarded at the end of the meeting. The Foden Trophy for the fastest time of day in Classes 109, 13, 16 and 17 went to Michael Jackson in the Porsche 911 with a time of 62.1 seconds. The Corgi Trophy for the fastest time of day in an Aston Martin went to Mike Wadsworth in an Aston Martin DB4 with a time of 65.98 seconds. Classic and Competition car October 2014

Anne Reed Aston Martin DB7 finished 3rd in class

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British GT Finale Donington - Down to the wire and beyond, Trackspeed win, Attard takes title.

ÂŠ Mick Herring

14th September. By Mick Herring, with additional material by Simon & Janet Wright. Marco Attard was finally crowned a deserved British GT champion despite spending a tense one and three quarter hours of the two hour race in retirement. He also won the Blancpain Gentleman Driver Trophy for which he will receive an engraved Blancpain 8885 S watch. The Sunday morning warm-up highlighted a problem with Attard's BMW engine, requiring a pre-race change, it would be a very smokey car that would take the start but transmission problems that saw the Ecurie Ecosse Z4 retire after just ten laps. He came to Donington with a slender lead but his nearest rivals, the Beechdean duo of Andrew Howard/Jonny Adam and the Oman Racing pair of Ahmad Al Harthy, similarly Aston Martin mounted, all saw their luck desert them. Outgoing champion, Andrew Howard retired via the gravel trap after fourteen laps.

British GT Champion Marco Attard retired the Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 from the race after 10 laps, but still won the championship

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skill, this time partnering Liam Griffin in the second car. A late slight rain shower enlivened the proceedings for a few moments and affected the GT4 order but not their championship. The finale on Donington's GP circuit also marked the retirement of United Autosport's Mark Patterson from racing. The American, having been with UA since their beginning and flying over from America for each race, so it was a fitting third place and their only podium this year on which to retire and the Blancpain Gentleman Driver of the Weekend award. © Mick Herring

Ecurie Ecosse engine change

Al Harthy, leading from their pole position start and following Attard's retirement, looked to be odds on for race and championship victory, saw partner Michael Caine resume the lead but seemingly unable to offer any resistance to the late advances of winner Phil Keen (Jon Minshaw's Trackspeed Porsche), Gary Eastwood and Ollie Hancock (FF Corse Ferrari © Mick Herring 458) and the United Autosports Audi R8 of Mark Patterson and Matt Bell. Thus the Oman Astons rounded off the season in fourth and fifth, with Rory Butcher Good luck charms bring GT4 win for Tom Oliphant and again proving his Rick Parfitt Jnr in the Ginetta G55 GT4

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Al Harthy in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 heads Matt Bell in the Audi R8 LMS Ultra

GT4 has been equally hard fought throughout the season and it was fitting that Tom Oliphant and outgoing champion, Rick Parfitt Jr, after a disastrous season could finish with a class race win also netting the musician with Mobil 1 Master of the Weekend. Covering their Ginetta G55 with every good luck charm they could find must have helped together with the late off track moment by the Devon Modell/Andrew Jarman Aston Martin. They would recover to finish second in the race and championship ahead of Adey Barwick/Bradley Ellis' Ginetta Page 55

Paul McNeilly/Jamie Stanley cut the chicane in practice in the Ginetta G55 GT4

G55, third in race and championship. Bringing a strong points lead to Donington and a fifth place finish today netted the GT4 title for the Beechdean AMR pairing of Ross Whylie and Jake Giddings. The Parfitt/Oliphant points haul from Donington, added to consistence of our welcome Scandinavian pairing, Morten Dons/Aleksander Schjerpen ensured that Century Motorsport secured the Team's championship for themselves and Ginetta. © Janet Wright

Humaid Al Masaoud and Steve Kane in the M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 finished 14th

Griffin/Butcher Aston Martin Vantage powers past the Schjerpen/Dons Ginetta G55 GT4

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Gary Eastwood/Ollie Hancock finished 2nd in the FF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia

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Steve Tandy and Mike Simpson retired the Team LNT Ginetta G55 GT3

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Derek Johnston and Joe Osborne 888 BMW Z4 GT3 finished 9th

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Matt Rao F3 Dallara F312 HWA Mercedes won 2 out of 3 but failed to win the championship

Start of the first F3 race with Rao stuck on the line as Cao leads in to Redgate

How the mighty have fallen. The British Formula 3 Championship used to be the gate way to a Grand Prix career. In the early 1970s there were as many as three major Formula 3 championships in one year, with Forward Trust, Lombard and BP sponsoring these series and the talented drivers from all over the World would come to the UK to race against the best young drivers in the World. Many World champions and successful Grand Prix drivers in the past have gone straight from Formula 3 in to Grand Prix. This years Cooper Tyres British Formula 3 International series finished at Donington Park in the middle of September with a grand total of five drivers taking part. The field was at least International, with two British Classic and Competition car October 2014

drivers, one American and two Chinese. Local Matt Rao took pole position for Fortec Motorsport from Martin Cao in the sister car. The start was nearly a disaster as only 4 cars left the line initially and it looked like 20% of the field was going missing from the start! Martin Cao made the best start and led in to Redgate while Pole position man Matt Rao just sat on the line as the rest of the field streamed through Redgate. He finally got going and set off in pursuit of the rest of the field. By lap nine he had reached 3rd place and on lap 13 he set the fastest lap of the race, but he was still 1.911 seconds behind at the finish. Cao had led from start to finish with British Max Marshall a constant 2nd just 0.863 © Janet Wright of a second behind the winner after 14 laps. In the other two races Rao was dominant taking two easy victories. Cao was 2nd and American Camren Kaminsky was 3rd in the second race, while Marshall was 2nd in the final race and

Howard Fuller spins his Golf GTi at Redgate in the first VW race

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race was won by the Track-Club.com car of Kevin Norville and Benjamin Clucas, while the second race was won by Chloe and Jade Edwards in the Stratton Motorsport V8 Vantage. The Ginetta Racing Drivers Club races for Ginetta G40 Club Cars © Simon Wright

James Greenway VW Scirocco finished 2nd in the first race

Kaminsky took another 3rd. Peter Li from China had an steady meeting with 5th in the first race and then two 4th place finishes. All this meant that Hong Wei ‘Martin’ Cao was crowned British Formula 3 Champion 2014. Supporting the British GT/F3 race series were races for the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge, the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, the Volkswagen Racing Cup and the Ginetta Racing Drivers Club © Janet Wright series. The Aston martin GT4 Challenge saw Kieran and Liam Griffin claim pole position in their V8 Vantage even after one of their lap times had been disallowed for exceeding track Tom Black leads Chris Kemp and Mike Brown in the AMR GT4 limits. It was a very race1 small entry for this race with just 8 cars taking part. The first Classic and Competition car October 2014

Will Moore Ginetta G40 had a spin in practice for the Ginetta GT5 Challenge race

saw Charles Ferguson on Pole position and he won both races over the weekend. The Volkswagen Racing Cup had two rounds over the weekend, with the usual mix of Scirocco and Golfs in the race. It was Aaron Mason who claimed pole position in his Scirocco and won the first race. The second was won by Robert Barrable in a VW Golf GTi. The final series support the GT/F3 package was the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge with three races over the weekend. Ollie Chadwick took Pole position in a Ginetta G40 Xentek but it was George Gamble who won the first two races in a Ginetta G40 TCR and finished 2nd in the third behind Ollie Chadwick who won in a Ginetta G40 © Simon Wright - xentek. Alan Preston Ginetta G20 passes Osamu Kawashima Ginetta G40 in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge race.

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running gear. One of the more popular marques to copy appeared to be Ferrari, with kits to reproduce everything from a 250 GTO right through the Dino to the Ferrari 360 and F40, though some of the manufacturers don’t actually name the car they are copying, and don’t supply the Prancing Horse badges that seem to appear on a lot of these reproduction sports cars. © Simon Wright

Kit Car Show Donington International Exhibition Centre. 13th-14th September 2014. By Simon Wright. There are two types of kit car, the unique designs and the replica cars. Unique designs does not refer to one off specials, but to vehicles that are kits not based on an existing car design. Vehicles like the Quantum and GTS Cox range, and the Mini Midas. Replicas are the AC Cobra copies, Lancia Stratos look alikes and the million and one slight variations on the Lotus 7. However, this year there seem to be more and more replica kits becoming available, many designed to fit on Mazda MX 5 © Simon Wright

Classic and Competition car October 2014

The Quantum Collection

250GTO Ferrari or Mazda MX5?

There was a special display of one off replicas in the Exhibition Centre which included a very good copy of the Bentley Continental GT3 racer based on a Toyota Supra and an Aston Martin Vanquish based on a Jaguar XK8. Italian supercars were also represented with a unique one off replica of the Lamborghini Murcielago which was built round a tubular steel spaceframe, powered by a BMW 5 litre V12 engine and fitted with bodywork from Triple G which was imported from America. The Exhibition Hall was full of Kit Car Manufacturers touting their wares, with some stands displaying the conversion/ assembly process, while others had finished examples of how the car would look when the kit was fully assembled. Even Dick Page 60

Dastardly and Penelope Pitstop were spotted, presumably looking for a new Wacky racer! Outside the Exhibition Hall was a large area devoted to kit cars, where clubs and individual owners had brought their kit cars for everyone to admire. There was a lot of variety and history on display with cars like the Quantum, that used to be manufactured in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. There were also Ginetta and Marcos cars on display, as they started as kit car manufacturers before progressing to building complete vehicles. Most of the major kit car manufacturers were represented including Tiger, Dutton, Marlin, Midas, GTM, Vindicator, and Hawk as well as many others.

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Nova is based on the VW Beetle

Pulse GT1

Hawk make the Stratos copy

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Mirage Mk 2

Road Runner Sprint R1

Classic and Competition car October 2014

Marlin

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