BDC, Silverstone (2022)

Jonathan Billingsley, who has not raced with us before, qualified 11th in his smart Austin Healey 100M on a 1.17.844 with Barry Dye 12th on 1.18.213 in his Lotus Elite. Paul Griffin was next up in the splendid Connaught ALSR, his time of 1.18.245 suggesting that he might give Barry a hard time. Paul had enjoyed his qualifying but had been advised by marshals that he had a ‘wobbly’ exhaust which needed to be addressed for the race - that was duly attended to! Alex Quattlebaum had qualified the LECo 14th on a 1.19.183 but unfortunately, an increasingly severe crankshaft oil seal leak prevented the car from getting into the race. An oil catch tank had earlier been fabricated and installed but simply could not handle the quantity of escaping oil. Alan House was 15th in the Morgan +4 with a 1.19.467, and Mark and Johnny Shears, 16th in the earlier Flat Rad version on a 1.21.396. Ben Norfolk was 17th, further down than I expected him to be in Peter Swete’s Triumph TR3, his time of 1.22.295, surely not indicative of either the car or the driver’s true pace. This circumspect pace was due to the high coolant temperature although this did not appear to be from the same cause as that experienced earlier in the year at Snetterton, and the engine was also running ‘fluffy’. Reuben Jacob was 18th in his Morgan +4 with a 1.24.482 but Simon Evans on a 1.29.016 was well down on his potential pace in the Allard J2X Le Mans. Both car and driver will get a lot quicker. Glenn Brackenridge was 20th in the Sunbeam Harrington Alpine Le Mans. He wasn’t happy being at the back of the field but this is quite a heavy car and we don’t expect fireworks from it but love to see it out with us and it really enhances our grid, so I hope Glenn continues to bring it out with us. Our guest driver, Dominic Spicer brought his 1961 Triumph TR4 out for one qualifying lap, returning to the pits without recording a time and was not seen again. I have yet to ascertain the reason.

Race

The day got hotter and hotter and in order to help competitors and cars, the scheduled race times were brought forward but you had to be listening to the pit/paddock announcements to keep abreast of this. It was extremely unfortunate that one of our number, Simon Evans, did not hear the call for our cars, and as a result missed the race. Very disappointing for Simon, naturally, and for those of us who were hoping to see the Allard J2X Le Mans in action. FISCAR officials (usually Richard Culverhouse and me) are pretty thin on the ground at these meetings so getting around to inform everyone especially when they are spread out through the paddock, is difficult. However, we will endeavour to ensure that such an event doesn’t occur again.

The heat of the day also led to the BDC decision to have rolling starts in order to spare engines and clutches the stress of a standing start. Although I would not advocate rolling starts for our cars normally, on this occasion it was eminently sensible. The rather fine, but depleted, collection of FISCAR cars followed the safety car around, the lights went off and it entered the pitlane. Our grid headed at increasing speed, but in disciplined order, toward the startline except that the rear two or three rows, confidence clearly sky high(!) had decided to give the front 6 rows a head start, so that by the time they started their race, those at the front were heading through Copse (see photos!). These Morgan drivers are a pretty laid back bunch aren’t they! I was delighted to have my son, Kevin (and Grandson, Max) join me for the day, and as usual, I was out at Luffield/Woodcote for the start of the race. Kev commented on the fact that this issue of keeping up with the field behind the safety car is not restricted to historic racing! I could not help but chuckle, as I’m easily amused, but I’m sure that Ben Norfolk in the TR3 was a tad frustrated, since his slow qualifying laps had left him further down the grid than expected! After reading these words, Alan House emailed me to say:-

‘One of my worries and gripes with rolling starts is the problem of cars not closing up enough on the green flag lap and I've made my view known several times! Imagine my embarrassment thus when I realised that our start was to be of the rolling variety!! And of course, Ben would have been understandably fuming at my slowing down to take the grid, as I would have been. Unfortunately, although we were held in assembly for a prolonged time, nobody got down as far as me to inform me of the change from standing start. Richard was roaming up and down at assembly but did not come near me. After the race I spoke with Mark (Shears - ed) and he was as unaware as I was!

That's my excuse anyway.’

Inevitably at the start, Nick Taylor took the Kellison into the lead but 2nd place was already being hotly contested between Paul Woolmer in the Elva and Murray Shepherd in the lead Ace. Murray grabbed second place from Paul at the start and crossed the line at the end of lap 1, 2.2 seconds behind Nick, with Paul just over a second further back. John Harper had already moved the Jaguar C - type into 4th and he was followed across the line by a brace of AC Aces led by David Cottingham from Justin Beckett. So 3 Aces in the top 6 - impressive stuff. Hard on Justin’s heels was Brian Arculus in the leading Class 3 Lotus MkIX, Chris Mann’s Alfa Romeo Disco Volante and Jonathan Billingsley, 10th in the Austin Healey 100M.

Paul Griffin had the Connaught ALSR in 11th, less than half a second behind the 100M, and already clear of Glenn Tollett’s Austin Healey 100/4 which, new to the drivers, was being sensibly brought up to race speed gradually. Alan House had made up for his self-inflicted delayed start and was very close to the 100/4 and Mark Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan was 14th. 15th was Ben Norfolk in the TR3 and Reuben Jacob, still a novice, remember, 16th in his Morgan +4. Glenn Brackenridge was last in the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans as he expected to be but I love to see that rare car out with us.

Although he had a comfortable pace advantage, Nick Taylor continued to push hard in the Kellison to build a good lead. Apparently, the handover to Richard Tyzack always takes in excess of a minute whereas of course our mandatory pitstops only require 45 seconds, so Nick extended the lead to 3.7 seconds at the end of lap 2 and 5.5 seconds by the end of lap 3. Behind however, the battle for 2nd was hotting up, for although Murray Shepherd had jumped ahead of Paul Woolmer at the start, Paul inexorably brought the Elva back to the AC and was just 8 tenths behind at this stage. John Harper, going very well in the C-Type, nevertheless had dropped away from the pair, secure in 4th place, but already 8 seconds behind them. David Cottingham was 5th in his AC Ace, 3 seconds down on John, but had Justin Beckett in his Ace breathing down his neck. Chris Mann going really well in the Disco Volante had latched onto the pair of ACs and the 3 of them made a fine spectacle. Jonathan Billingsley was 8th in his Austin Healey 100M but his position was not secure as he had the Lotus MkIX of Brian Arculus for company. Not far behind, Barry Dye continued to press on in the Lotus Elite as he had the hard charging Connaught ALSR of Paul Griffin on his tail. Alan House was a further 4 seconds behind, in 12th but lapping at a very similar pace. Glenn Tollett in his Austin Healey 100/4 was another 4 seconds back but safe in 13th in front of the Shears Morgan, Reuben Jacob’s Morgan and Glenn Brackenridge’s Sunbeam Alpine Harrington. Unfortunately, Ben Norfolk’s race came to an end on lap 3 as he cruised into the pits to retire, as the water temperature was again simply too high to continue.

As the Kellison continued to draw away, albeit at a slower rate, the battle for second raged as Paul Woolmer continued to press Murray Shepherd, the Ace and Courier appeared tied together and at the end of lap, just over one tenth of a second separated them and they were still less than 7 seconds behind the leader. John Harper continued to drop away in the C -type but had a 5 second advantage over the excellent and continuing dice for 5th between David Cottingham, Justin Beckett and Chris Mann, this trio now joined by the battling Jonathan Billingsley and Brian Arculus. Less than 2 seconds covered all five cars. Barry Dye was 5 seconds behind, the Elite not quite able to match them but secure in 10th. Behind Barry, Paul Griffin, Alan House and Glenn Tollett all headed for the pits to take their mandatory pit stop.

At the end of Lap 6, Nick Taylor led Murray Shepherd by just under 10 seconds, but Paul Woolmer was no longer on Murray’s tail and nearly 12 seconds elapsed before the Elva came through. Why? Well, in Paul’s own words:-

‘I thought I had Murray on the run up to Copse, him on the inside & me on the outside, but he was braver on the brakes than me. We were so close in the corner that I thought we would touch so took avoiding action which caused me to spin.... Murray actually thought we had touched, but there were no marks on either car.’

So, back to the drawing board for Paul as is he set about closing the gap to the Ace ….. again! John Harper was still 4th, 6 seconds clear of the fabulous battle for 5th, now led by the Disco Volante, Chris Mann having worked passed both the AC Aces of David Cottingham and Justin Beckett, who now had Jonathan Billingsley’s Austin Healey 100/4 breathing down their necks. Less than 2.5 seconds separated the 4 cars and the only reason why Brian Arculus was no longer in this mix was because he had dived into the pits to take his mandatory stop in the Lotus IX. In 10th, having already pitted (on lap 6) was Barry Dye but he was again in the pits to sadly retire the Lotus Elite - Barry has advised me that ‘I had a misfire and loss of power so was just getting in the way so pulled in. We think it was the coil that had failed, red hot.’ He was the last to retire, leaving just 14 cars circulating in the very hot conditions. In 11th was Mark Shears, going extremely well in the Morgan and the last car on the lead lap.

Over the next few laps Paul Woolmer gradually whittled the gap down Murray Shepherd. It was down to 10.3 seconds at the end of lap 7, 8.7 seconds on lap 8 and 7.2 seconds at the end of lap 9. On that lap, this became a tussle for the race lead as Nick Taylor had trickled the Kellison into the pits to retire with brake problems, thus denying the owner, Richard Tyzack the opportunity to get behind the wheel. This elevated the John Harper C type Jaguar to 3rd and Jonathan Billingsley to 4th and behind, Chris Mann had taken to the pits for his stop in the Alfa Romeo, although by this time both David Cottingham and Justin Beckett had already pitted their AC Aces (Lap 8), breaking up the 5 car battle. David handed over to Adrian King. Over the next 3 laps, a number of the other cars also took to the pits, so the track positions, as usual, became slightly misleading but by the end of lap 10, Paul Woolmer had taken the Courier to within 6.2 seconds of leader Murray Shepherd in the leading AC Ace. The C-type was still 3rd but almost 18 seconds behind the Elva and 4th, a further 12 seconds behind was Jonathan Billingsley’s Austin Healey, the last car still on the lead lap.

The leader pitted on lap 11 leaving the Elva, already close, to assume the lead. Paul had been lapping incredibly consistently and quickly in the 1.14s, continually chipping away at the Ace’s lead. Murray Shepherd handed the AC over to Dad, Andy. John Harper and Jonathan Billingsley were still on the lead lap but 25 seconds and 33 seconds behind respectively. John, however, was now in the pits, handing the C type over to David Brazell, along with the 5th placed Shears Morgan, Mark handing over to Jonny. Adrian King was 6th, in the lovely metallic blue left hand drive AC Ace, with Chris Mann, also back on track with the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante in 7th and Justin Beckett, 8th in the very sharp sounding Ace. Behind and also one lap down were Brian Arculus (Lotus IX), Paul Griffin (Connaught ALSR), Alan House (Morgan +4) and Rory Tollett (Austin Healey 100/4). Reuben Jacob was 2 laps down in his Morgan +4 and 3 laps down Glenn Brackenridge in the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans. The field had not settled back into race rhythm following the pitstops and two, the Paul Woolmer Elva Courier and the Jonathan Billingsley Austin Healey were yet to pit.

Paul Woolmer finally pitted on lap 13 to hand over to Paul Mortimer, so Jonathan Billingsley now assumed the lead for two glorious laps before he too, pitted, the last to do so on lap 15. The Elva Courier was 20 seconds behind but would retake the lead long before the Austin Healey returned to the track and Andy Shepherd was now 10 seconds down on the Elva and it was a tall order to expect the Ace to close in on the Elva, even allowing for the fact that Paul Mortimer was not going to lap quite as quickly as its owner. The pitting of the lead cars had brought several others back onto the lead lap. Behind Andy was Adrian King (AC Ace), Chris Mann (Disco Volante), David Brazell (Jaguar C-type - leading Class 1), Justin Beckett (AC Ace), Brian Arculus, leading his Class in the Lotus MkIX, Rory Tollett (Austin Healey 100/4) and Paul Griffin (Connaught ALSR), so back to 10 unlapped cars at the end of lap 15!

All mandatory pit stops now completed, the field began to sort itself out. At the end of lap 17, Paul Mortimer held a strong 11.2 second lead over the AC Ace of Andy Shepherd, who seemed unable to make any impression on the Elva. The pit stops had, as usual, broken up most of the battles. Almost 15 seconds behind Andy was Adrian King in the second Ace, but he was well clear in 3rd place and almost 16 seconds ahead of Chris Mann’s Alfa. David Brazell was 5th, just 6 seconds down on Chris but lapping a bit slower and Justin Beckett was 6th in his AC Ace - so, 3 Aces still in the top 6! Justin had a little white sports racing Lotus beginning to appear in his mirrors and it was to get larger over the ensuing laps as Brian Arculus chipped away at the gap! Jonathan Billingsley was 8th in the Austin Healey 100/4.

One lap down was Rory Tollett in the Austin Healey 100/4 and Paul Griffin in the Connaught ALSR, stretching away from Alan House’s Morgan +4 but Alan was going better and seemed to have finally found a bit of form over his early season dip. 12th was the earlier Flat Rad Morgan +4 of Jonny and Mark Shears. Two laps down was Reuben Jacob in his Morgan +4 and 3 laps down Glenn Brackenridge in the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans. After a day of attrition, these 14 cars were the sum total still circulating but they were to all reach the flag.

Over the next few laps, Paul Mortimer drew away from Andy Shepherd, the gap between the Elva and AC growing to 14 seconds by lap 19, and barring mishap or mechanical maladies, the Courier’s victory seemed assured. Well behind, but safe in 3rd, was Adrian King in the AC Ace Bristol with Chris Mann in a superb 4th place in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante. David Brazell, whilst not matching John Harper’s pace in the first half of the race, was going well in the Jaguar C type and his 5th place was not likely to be challenged by Justin Beckett who was lapping at about the same pace as David and almost 8 seconds down with only 4 laps to go. In fact, Justin was almost certainly more concerned with the Lotus IX of Brian Arculus who had closed right up to the Ace and was right on his tail as they crossed the line to complete the lap. 15 seconds behind and still on the lead lap was Jonathan Billingsley’s Austin Healey 100/4 in 8th place but he’d had a particularly slow lap, was shortly to be lapped by the leader, and also come within range of Rory Tollett. Positions behind remained unaltered.

The race ran its course with the Woolmer/Mortimer Elva taking the flag almost 15 seconds ahead of the Shepherd AC Ace, both cars having been driven with great enthusiasm and commitment. The Elva ultimately had a slight edge in performance throughout, but had had to battle hard particularly in the first half of the race. Adrian King had also been putting in some quick laps in David Cottingham’s Ace and had taken a few seconds out of the sister car ahead and got the gap down to 10 seconds at the flag. 4th on the road was Chris Mann showing good form, ahead of David Brazell in the Jaguar C-type. The gap between the Alfa and the Jaguar had been fluctuating but over the last couple of laps David had started to close back in on Chris and crossed the line 4 seconds down after 23 laps. Brian Arculus finally got the better of Justin Beckett on the last lap to take 6th on the road - great drives from both of them.

One lap down, Jonathan Billingsley had succumbed to the late charge from Rory Tollett, who had strung several laps in the 1.16s together and had passed Jonathan on lap 21 and pulled clear. A study of Jonathan’s lap times indicates a problem in the second half of the race as he was consistently 3 seconds a lap down on his earlier pace. Paul Griffin in the Connaught ALSR finished less than 6 seconds away from the Austin Healey 100M at the flag. The 3 Morgan +4s finished 11th, 12th and 13th, but not in line astern, in the order Alan House, Jonny and Mark Shears with Reuben Jacob, the last of the trio. Last but most certainly not least was Glenn Brackenridge in the rare Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans.

There was to be a nasty sting in the tail for the on the road winners though since both drivers had been caught speeding (very marginally!) in the pitlane. ‘Rules is rules’ and whilst the breach was in respect of the circuit requirements, once recorded, FISCAR had to apply its own set rules for such a breach and dock the Elva 5 places. Paul Woolmer has since graciously written to me to say that ‘I was not too bothered about the Silverstone Penalty to be honest, we were caught fair & square ……. at 63 & 65kph ….’. It meant of course, that the next 4 cars were promoted above the two Pauls, giving Murray and Andy Shepherd the victory and it has to be said that they too deserved it and the battle between Murray and Paul Woolmer in the early laps have been one of the highlights.

Photo Gallery

The first few photos are of those cars that qualified but either failed to start and/or complete the race. All taken by Mick Walker.

More Mick Walker photos of Qualifying

The next batch, all taken during the race, by Mick Walker unless otherwise stated:-

Tailpiece(s)!

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