Castle Combe Autumn Classic (2021)

Preamble

Two weeks before this event, the Castle Combe organisers had registered only 5 official FISCAR entries! I’m not one to panic, usually, but ……! Anyway, Richard Culverhouse rapidly got out another reminder to members and I put a plea up on the home page of this site, and it was with much relief that within a few days we were up to 20 entries. A significant improvement, but not really enough to satisfy the organisers, even though our grid was larger than 3 of the others in a 7 race meeting! In truth, it really wasn’t enough for us, as our season finale should surely get 30+ cars but I like to think that there were a whole number of reasons for this downturn in entries. We lost a couple of cars before the event, but what I will say is that this was a fabulous, quality grid of great variety and interest. It epitomised what FISCAR is about these days even if we have evolved a little away from how we started, but that is over 10 years ago now and we have had to adapt to survive but only in small and, in my view, beneficial ways. I’m inclined to call our grid on Saturday, ‘The Magnificent 18’ , but extended to 23 to include the two driver cars!

The two entries we lost prior to the race were Brian Arculus and Andy & Ted Murray. The differential on Brian’s Elite had destroyed itself recently, for the second time this year, so Brian had entered the equally lovely little Lotus IX which I was really looking forward to seeing again but Brian is no fan of the wet particularly in this open car and having seen the weather forecast had, understandably, withdrawn his entry. Andy’s absence was also understandable as this email from him explains - ‘Sorry for our no-show. Our only tyres for the Ace have little or no tread and the forecast of continuous rain with standing water did not bode well. Rather than risk throwing it into the Armco with little chance of being even mildly competitive was the deciding factor. A damp track would have been a possibility but a monsoon was not going to be sensible’.

So, we were down to ‘The Magnificent 18’ - this is the last time I use this term, I promise - and I will refer to every entry before embarking on the race report either here or under the qualifying section. However, first, I think I should mention the Chairman’s Invitation Class because it is sometimes misunderstood. It’s simply any car that doesn’t fit our Class structure for whatever reason. In this race, there were 3 such cars but all driven by fully paid up members of FISCAR. We all know now about the Tim and Oli Llewellyn Allard, which for the moment seems to be our benchmark performance car, and I was interested in seeing how this car would perform on a track that neither it nor its drivers had raced on before. John Ure and Nick Wigley were entered in Peter Mann’s Cooper Bristol T24/T25. This ex F2 car was potentially the quickest car in our race and is not FISCAR compliant but Peter’s Frazer Nash LMR was awaiting a rebuilt engine and the Cooper Bristol has raced at this meeting with us before without making waves. It is a famous Ex Tony Crook car (as is Peter’s Frazer Nash) with some great history and driven quickly but, like the Allard, with due respect for its own performance and those cars around it. Finally, Glenn Tollett’s lovely MGA Sebring Coupe is now fitted with an MGB engine which drops it out of FISCAR compliance. However, Glenn and Rory have supported us with this car in recent years and it looks absolutely right, so I have informed them that they are very welcome to continue racing it with us, initially as an Invitation car but I may reclassify it to Class 3 should it’s performance be on a par with the MGA Twin Cams. In any event, it will also continue to be part of the MG team and able to compete for Index of Performance award since both are performance related, rather than on based on engine size.

Altogether this was a diverse grid truly representative of the shapes and sizes of sports cars that appeared from the late 1940s through to 1962. We had 4 different examples of the stark cycle winged cars, two of which, the Allard and the Cooper Bristol, have already been mentioned. The other two, both Bristol powered, was the Frazer Nash LMR of Jeremies, Holden and Brewster, and Peter Campbell’s unique Wingfield Bristol Special. We also had two examples of the small 1500 sports racing cars, members of our FISCAR FLIERS group. One, Paul Griffin’s Connaught ALSR which has the rare Lea Francis engine, and the other, Alex Quattlebaum’s LECo2, fitted with the more usual XPAG. We had one proper period endurance racing sports car in the wonderful form of Chris Mann’s Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, a car that he often drives to and from the circuit, although not on this occasion, and all these were mixed in with our equally lovely production sports cars of the period. I just loved this grid! What’s not to like?

Qualifying

It will come as no surprise when I tell you that it was raining when the cars went out to qualify and its intensity got worse over the course of the practice. I have a tendency to stay trackside in an attempt to get some shots although in this case it was a case of pointing the camera, in a hopeful way, in the general direction at the plumes of spray coming towards me, but in the end, thoroughly soaked, despite suitable (!) attire, I reluctantly retreated to Richard Culverhouse’s club tent/marquee and missed the last few minutes!

The Allard didn’t even get a full lap in, Oli bringing it straight back in to attend to the exhaust system, parts of which had indicated a desire to part company with the rest of the car. Unable to fix it in time, Tim and Oli were later able to get the requisite number of practice laps in by tagging onto another grids qualifying, but they would have to start the Allard from the back, and, as it turned out, that was no bad thing especially for the long suffering wet spectators.

It was clear that some of our members drove circumspectly and just wanted to get through qualifying without risking ‘offs’ and damage to machinery but others were noticeably keen to get on with it, none more so than Marc Gordon in the Jaguar XK150. In the programme notes, I’d picked out 4 cars to watch out for as frontrunners! Marc was not one of them, but as soon as I saw the Jaguar emerging from the rain and mist out of Westway, and charging down Dean Straight, late braking into Camp with intent, and then repeating it lap after lap, I was rueing my prediction. It was so visually apparent that Marc was ‘on it’ that it came as no surprise to learn that he had taken a superb pole in 1.37.614. Well done, Marc! I’m pleased to say that the next 3 cars were as predicted. John Ure put the Cooper Bristol T24/25, alongside in a 1.37.743, and the second row was occupied by the David Alexander and Robin Ellis Lotus Elites, in 1.39.733 and 1.41.192 respectively.

Rory Tollett was a brilliant 5th in his MGA on a 1.45.120, the surefootness of the car or the exuberance of youth? Probably a bit of both. He was followed by Paul Griffin’s Connaught ALSR and Alex Quattlebaum’s LECo 2 on 1.46.107 and 1.47. 794, the two FLIERS starting close together. Alongside Alex was the other MGA with the smaller engine, Martin Stowe on a 1.49.294, and just behind in 9th place was Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans on a 1.49.972. It is interesting to note that those positions from 6th to 9th were occupied by a pair of Class 3 cars followed by a pair of Class 4 cars, all ahead of the first Class 2 cars, an unlikely scenario had the track been dry, but could they stay ahead in the race?

In 10th place was the first Class 2 runner, the Frazer Nash LMR of Jeremy Holden, shared with Jeremy Brewster and wouldn’t it be great if we saw this car out with us more often in the future. Their time was possibly an unrepresentative one at 1.51.187 since they were one of the few cars to go quicker in the race. Row 6 was occupied by Justin Beckett’s AC Ace and Peter Campbell’s Wingfield Bristol Special which Peter was sharing with Andrew Mitchell and the two cars were on 1.51.377 and 1.51.944. Surprisingly higher up the grid than expected was Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter, but that car is good in the wet particularly if you add in Harry’s secret weapon, experienced club racer, Chris Bates (not Tom Leopold as stated in the programm & results) who recorded a 1.53.623, just ahead of Christopher Mann’s Alfa Romeo 6C 3000PR Disco Volante on 1.54.256. Row 8 was occupied by Barry Dye and Mark Morgan, in Lotus Elite and AC Ace Bristol respectively on times of 1.54.899 and 1.59.464. Finally, we had Alan House’s Morgan +4 on a 2.14.033 with the Allard alongside with, as noted, no time.

Race

Unbelievably, or maybe not, conditions were worse for the race. With a few exceptions, most drivers did not, or could not, match their qualifying times, but they put on a fantastic display of safe, competitive and gentlemanly driving. It was a joy to watch. As the cars scrabbled for grip off the startline, departing in a huge cloud of spray, Robin Ellis made a great start from the second row to burst through into the lead. David Alexander followed and gave chase to Robin, both demoting front row men, Marc Gordon and John Ure. in these conditions, I really felt that the Elites would have an advantage over the bigger older cars but there were a couple of drivers with other ideas, as we shall see.

Martin Stowe was another to make a super start, appearing, incredibly, in 5th place in his MGA as the pack crested Avon Rise for the first time, having started 8th. It seemed unlikely that he would be able to maintain that position though, but he completed the first lap still holding that position behind leader Ellis who had a 1.5 second lead over Alexander who had a half second gap to John Ure in the Cooper Bristol, with poleman Marc Gordon a further second and a half behind. There was much careful jockeying for position and it was noted that Tristan Bradfield had dropped a couple of places in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans, and Harry Naergar never expected to retain the position that Chris Bates had qualified the Jowett Jupiter in and lost several places. More ominously, the Allard J2 thundered over line at the end of that lap already up to 6th. I was not expecting the Allard with its big low revving engine to go quite so well in these conditions, but although Oli Llewellyn is young, he is also an experienced driver of big old cars and it also seems that our option tyre, the Blockley gives better wet weather grip than the Dunlops which Oli’s ability was able to exploit. Having said that there was much rapid arm twirling even on the straights to keep that car heading in the right direction, and it certainly entertained us, the spectators!

Onto lap 2 and David Alexander started to close in on Robin Ellis, the two Elites looking pretty much at home in the wet, whilst John Ure shadowed them in the Cooper Bristol. This was pretty much as expected and Marc Gordon was starting to drop away a little in the big Jaguar being over 3.5 seconds behind at the end of the lap. Oli Llewellyn easily moved the Allard ahead of Martin Stowe’s MGA and was eventually followed through by Rory Tollett, now getting into his stride in the other MGA, having also scrabbled passed Alex Quattlebaum in the LECo who completed the lap in 8th place. Alex had Jeremy Holden in the Frazer Nash LMR breathing down his neck and they were both being stalked by the Connaught ALSR of Paul Griffin. A couple of seconds back Tristan Bradfield was getting to grips with the slippery conditions and lapping a bit quicker than those around him and was now clear of Justin Beckett in the leading AC Ace Bristol. Peter Campbell was 13th, well clear of Barry Dye who was not really relishing the rain, but ahead of Chris Mann in the Alfa Disco Volante, Mark Morgan’s AC Ace Brisol, Harry Naergar (Jowett Jupiter) and Alan House (Morgan +4).

It started to really hot up at the front on lap 3, as David Alexander snatched the lead from Robin Ellis and then John Ure took the Cooper Bristol passed both Lotus Elites, demoting David back to 2nd and the 3 of them crossed the line just 1.1 seconds apart in the reverse order of the previous lap. However, Marc Gordon had really picked up the pace in the Jaguar and although still 4th, he was now a mere 2.1 seconds behind the leader with the Llewellyn Allard closing in behind. These 5 cars were now coming together and at a pace that had left the rest a long way behind. Rory Tollett, driving a fine race was in 6th, but no less that 15 seconds behind the leaders after only 3 laps although he had the MGA well clear of Alex Q’s LECo, Martin Stowe’s MGA, Jeremy Holden’s FN LMR, and Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam Alpine. These 5 were also putting on a great show, 4 seconds separating them but there was an inevitability about Martin slipping backward through the group, since his superb start belied the natural pace in the MGA. The positions behind Tristan remained unaltered as the cars headed onto lap 4.

It was all change again at the front by the end of lap 4. John Ure had a slow lap, and I have no explanation for it, but it meant that David Alexander swept through in the lead at the end of the lap with over 3 seconds on the Cooper Bristol, which now had Oli Llewellyn in the Allard sitting on its tail. Oli had passed both Marc Gordon and then Robin Ellis during the course of the lap but it did not look easy as he fought to keep the car on track and in a straight line. These 5 were still well ahead with a 14 second lead to 6th placed man Rory Tollett, although there was one car ahead of him on the road and that was the lapped Morgan of Alan House. Rory was going very quickly, nowhere quick enough to match the top 5 but lapping a good 3 seconds quicker than any of the following cars, and so he now had almost 18 seconds on 7th placed Jeremy Holden in the Frazer Nash. Jeremy had passed Martin Stowe’s MGA and had opened a small gap to the group he had been part of earlier, but Tristan Bradfield had the Sunbeam on the tail of the MGA and this was the battle for the lead of the Class 4 runners. Justin Beckett had assumed 10th as the the battle for the lead of Class 3 between Alex Quattlebaum in the LECo and Paul Griffin in the Connaught headed for the pits for their mandatory stop. They were the first to do so. In 13th, was Peter Campbell in the Wingfield Bristol with the following cars increasingly spread out and with no position changes.

On lap 5, Oli Llewellyn put his fastest lap in, and it was also the fastest lap of the race, a prodigious (in the conditions!) 1.38.698, and it took him thundering by both John Ure’s Cooper Bristol and then David Alexander’s Lotus Elite to lead, marginally from David, at the end of the lap. John was 3rd but now nearly 5 seconds ahead of Robin Ellis’s Elite who had Marc Gordon’s Jaguar XK150 looming large in his mirrors. They were now over 15 seconds ahead of the lonely Rory Tollett, the MGA itself almost 22 seconds ahead of the Jeremy Holden Frazer Nash. Martin Stowe was in 8th place and holding onto the Class 4 lead and fighting hard to resist the increasingly competitive Sunbeam of Tristan Bradfield for Class 4 honours. Justin Beckett was still in 10th as the lapped Alan House headed for the pits, and Alan was followed in by the unlapped Chris Mann in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante.

The race conditions were making this all a bit of a lottery in terms of consistent lapping. There was no question of finding a dry line, just the least wet one. Alex Quattlebaum later reported aquaplaning and it is unlikely that he was the only one to suffer it! At the end of the lap 6, Oli’s Allard had a 5.7 second lead despite lapping almost 2 seconds off his previous lap, partly because David Alexander had, himself, lapped almost 3 seconds slower, but David had also opened a gap to John Ure because John had lapped almost 6 seconds slower than his previous lap. What was going on here? I can only put it down to their careful lapping of Mark Morgan and Harry Naergar, the latter about to pit, since the conditions couldn’t have got much worse; they were already pretty diabolical! In fact, with the exception of Marc Gordon in the Jaguar, who passed Robin Ellis for 4th, the top 5 had all been well off their previous pace. Whereas 8.3 seconds had covered them at the end of lap 5, they were now, just a lap later, spread over 14.3 seconds! Rory Tollett, way behind, in 6th place, had actually lapped quicker than 3 of those ahead. Since some of the cars around him had pitted, Martin Stowe had the other MGA back up to 6th but was coming under increasing pressure from the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans of Tristan Bradfield. Jeremy Holden in the Frazer Nash pitted to hand handed over to Jeremy Brewster. Justin Beckett was also in the pits with his Ace, so we were now well into that phase where the real race positions would only become apparent when the phase ended! 11 cars were still recorded as being on the lead lap but with 2 of them in the pit, this was about to change.

At the end of lap 7, Oli had extended the lead but this was mainly due to David Alexander pitting the very rapid Lotus Elite for his mandatory stop and the paddock briefly presented a spectacle of stationary quick (a contradiction surely!) cars as John Ure followed David in, to hand the Cooper Bristol over to Nick Wigley, Marc Gordon pitted the XK150 and was joined a bit later by Rory Tollett in the MGA. Rory stayed in the car as, Dad, Glenn, had decided to sit this one out. So 4 of the 6 front running cars were in the pits at the same time whilst the Allard pounded on and Robin Ellis assumed 2nd place in his Lotus Elite. This position was shortlived as Robin then pitted at the end of the next lap, lap 8. Already there, was Peter Campbell handing his Wingfield Bristol over to co driver, Andrew Mitchell. Tristan Bradfield had finally found a way passed Martin Stowe, in their great dice and they both stayed out and were now, briefly, 3rd and 4th on the track. Just 10 seconds behind however, were David Alexander and Marc Gordon, back on track and intent on heading back towards the front and to figure prominently in the second half of the race.

Oli Llewellyn brought the Allard in at the end of lap 9 to hand over to Dad, Tim, and briefly, not having stopped yet, the leading car, on track, was Martin Stowe in the MGA, as Tristan Bradfield having got ahead, pulled the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans into the pit entry lane for his stop! However, just a couple of seconds back was the flying Lotus Elite of David Alexander, pretty much back up to speed and now over 7 seconds clear of Marc Gordon’s XK150, but Robin Ellis was a further 11 seconds behind Marc, and Nick Wigley another 7 seconds behind Robin, so the leaders were now well spread out and this is the one downside about our pits stops; they break up battles because with the best will in the World, the stops are never exactly even between competitors. Time can be gained or lost on pitlane entry and exit speed, even when all are complying with the speed limit and it is surprising how many actually stop a bit longer than they have to, possibly to ensure avoidance of time penalties, but for whatever reason, seconds can be lost, and with the covid induced 60 second stop (as opposed to 45 seconds), there was a greater margin for error. It was going to be interesting to see where the Allard would filter back in to the race. Barry Dye took his stop at this time which left just two cars, the MGA of Martin Stowe and Mark Morgan in the AC Ace Bristol yet to pit.

The Allard emerged behind David Alexander’s Elite, David crossing the line at the end of lap 10, 2.7 seconds ahead with Martin Stowe’s, effectively out of position MGA, now 3rd but having Marc Gordon’s Jaguar rapidly bearing down upon him. Robin Ellis was some way behind, in 5th, apparently unable to maintain the pace he’d had earlier on - his fastest lap had been as early as lap 4. Nick Wigley was next up in the Cooper Bristol and was taking his time to work up to speed. He is normally pretty close to John Ure’s times but has had much less seat time in recent years in this car and it really does make a difference. Rory Tollett was 20 seconds behind Nick, in 7th, but completely untroubled from behind. There was a good grouping over 45 seconds behind Rory, comprising of Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam Alpine, Alex Quattlebaum (LECo), Paul Griffin (Connaught ALSR) and Jeremy Brewster in the Frazer Nash. Would it stay that way, as, theoretically, the Sunbeam was the slowest car in the group but rain is a great leveller and Tristan was handling these conditions extremely well. We were now back to having 11 cars on the lead lap.

By the end of lap 11, David Alexander had extended his lead to 4.3 seconds over Tim Llewellyn in the Allard, and Marc Gordon was just 1 second behind Tim. Barring mishap, outright victory would surely go to one of these 3, as Robin Ellis was now 16 seconds behind Marc and was lying 5th, since the Stowe MGA ahead of him, had still not stopped. Nick Wigley was another 6 seconds behind in the Cooper Bristol, Nick trying to find some rhythm and consistent speed. Rory Tollett was a further 20 seconds behind but 50 seconds ahead of the last two cars yet to be lapped - Alex Quattlebaum in the LECo and Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam, which had given best to Alex during one of the latter’s quickest race laps. They were 8th and 9th.

On the following lap, Tim had closed in on David but they were separated by Paul Griffin’s lapped Connaught and Marc Gordon had lost ground to the Allard. It was with some surprise then, that by the end of the next lap, Marc appeared in 2nd place, the Jaguar being within 2.3 seconds of the Alexander Lotus Elite. Tim had had a slow lap in the Allard, and since he had been in the process of trying to lap both Paul and then Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam, Marc had pounced and passed all 3 cars. This cat and mouse game between the 3 leaders was well and truly holding the attention of the soaking spectators and the outcome was in doubt, although the Elite was surely favourite at this point with 4 laps to go.

Martin Stowe had finally pitted at the end of lap 12 and Mark Morgan had followed him in so that, at last, we had all cars back on track and at the end of the leaders lap 14, the true race positions were re-emerging. David Alexander led Marc Gordon by 2.8 seconds and Tim Llewellyin was a further 1.2 seconds behind and in the process of lapping Barry Dye’s Lotus Elite. Robin Ellis was clearly no longer in contention as 19 seconds and a whole gaggle of lapped cars lay between him and Tim. In any event, Robin was about to come under pressure from behind as Nick Wigley was beginning to get to grips with both the Cooper Bristol and the conditions and had started to home in on the Elite. Half a minute behind, in 6th place was Rory Tollett, still going great guns in the MGA and the last unlapped runner. One lap down, but in close contention were Alex Quattlebaum (LECo), Tristan Bradfield (Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans), Paul Griffin (Connaught ALSR) with Jeremy Brewster trying to hang onto the trio in the Frazer Nash LMR. These 4 cars had been circulating in close proximity to each other for much of the race and this was to continue to the end. Martin Stowe, following his late pit stop had popped in behind them but was unable hold on. Justin Beckett’s AC Ace was next up, and the rest of the field were at least 2 laps down on the leaders, Alan House having a particularly torrid time in the Morgan +4, but most importantly, all cars were still on track, staying out of trouble in conditions which, at best, were not improving and there had been no retirements, and nor were there to be!

Into the final laps, and although not the key element of FISCAR’s award structure, the race to finish 1st overall is always keenly contested, as you would expect, and we have had some great finishes over the years, particularly at this track. We were again, not to be disappointed. At the end of lap 15, Marc Gordon had lapped a whole second quicker than leader David Alexander’s Lotus Elite and the Jaguar was now within 1.8 seconds. There was still time for Marc to convert his great pole into outright victory but behind Marc and now going even quicker, was Tim Llewellyn, closing in on the Jaguar, 2.2 seconds separating these leading 3 cars as they headed into the penultimate lap. They were 24 seconds clear of Robin Ellis in the second Elite but as he flashed across the line in 4th, Nick Wigley was virtually alongside him in the Cooper Bristol. Rory Tollett was still 6th as he had been for most of the race, over half a minute behind but, equally, at least that much ahead of the rest, which was led by Alex Q in the LECo, beginning to shake off Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam. Behind Tristan and lapping quicker were both Paul Griffin in the Connaught and Jeremy Brewster in the Frazer Nash. Martin Stowe still hard charging in his MGA was now many seconds back but still in an excellent 11th, a few seconds ahead of Justin Becket’s AC Ace Bristol. Andrew Mitchell, not able to match the pace of Peter Campbell in the latter’s Wingfield Bristol Special was in 13th and had Barry Dye’s Lotus Elite, Chris Mann’s Alfa Romeo and Chris Bates in the Jowett Jupiter all closing in. Bates, in fact was the quickest of this group, and was literally taking chunks of time out of the 3 cars ahead and it was surely only a matter of whether there was enough time left in the race to get amonst them. There was still so much racing life left in the final couple of laps before the chequered flag dropped.

Onto Lap 16, and Tim Llewellyn put in a stonking lap to repass Marc Gordon’s Jaguar and going into the final lap he was on the tail of David Alexander’s Lotus Elite. This was going to the wire, as Marc was still there in the background ready to pounce on any mistake by the leaders, entirely possible in these dreadful conditions. Over half a minute behind Robin Ellis had succumbed to Nick Wigley as Nick took the Cooper Bristol passed the Lotus Elite to take 4th. Rory Tollett was in 6th and whilst not exactly cruising, only needed to keep it on the track to bring the MGA home in that position there. No-one else was on the lead lap. Alex Q had eased away from Tristan Bradfield but Tristan had more than stabilised his position in the Sunbeam which was no longer being caught by the Paul Griffin Connaught or the Jeremy Brewster Frazer Nash. Martin Stowe was in 11th and whilst most cars down the field were now just intent on getting to the finish, Chris Bates was still charging in the Jupiter and over the last few laps it took him passed Chris Mann’s Alfa Romeo and then Barry Dye’s Lotus Elite. His next target was Andrew Mitchell in the Wingfield Bristol - could he get the pass done in time?

Back at the front, it was to be a massive disappointment for David Alexander in the Lotus Elite. He had led for more laps than anybody else, driven quickly and flawlessly but had overall victory snatched from him on the last lap by Tim Llewellyn in the Allard which had proved to be unexpectedly strong in the conditions, managed to get the power down sufficiently to pass the Lotus. Oli and Tim, along with David and Marc, had driven superbly well and put on a fabulous show for the bedraggled spectators. 3 seconds covered the 3 cars at the flag after 30 minutes of racing. Robin Ellis had had no answer to Nick Wigley in the end, finishing 5th almost 3 seconds behind the Cooper Bristol. Chris Bates didn’t quite catch Andrew Mitchell but 14th was a very good result for the Jupiter.

In truth every driver in this race had starred. I’m sure a few had some ‘interesting’ moments but the fact is that there were no real ‘offs’ and they all got to the finish intact, and yet no-one was hanging about and there was some strong racing down the field, not just at the front. Tim Llewellyn repeated his compliments from the BDC meeting about the quality and conduct of his fellow FISCAR racers and it was backed by similar comments from John Ure and Chris Mann. I think it is fair to say that these 3 are the most experienced drivers who race with us, certainly in historic racing terms, so it really means something!

Class 1 honours went to David Alexander in the Elite although he was pushed all the way by Marc Gordon in the XK150. Much to their surprise Jeremy Holden and Jeremy Brewster took Class 2 in the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica but they had on this occasion been beaten by our Class 3 winner, Alex Quattlebaum who seemed to relish the conditions in the LECo2 XPAG, and by Class 4 winner Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans. Tristan’s was one of the best of the many good drives of the race. He had overcome an equally impressive Martin Stowe in the MGA for the class win, with some really consistent lapping. This consistency was the key to this result since Tristan’s best race lap was slower than those of the 4 cars behind him in the results, including Martin’s. It was also a rare defeat for Martin in the class.

In the Index of Performance results, phoned through by Mark Campbell, the Holden/Brewster FN came out on top, followed by the Harry Naergar/Chris Bates Jowett Jupiter and Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans. In the Inter-Marque race, the Lotus Elites took the top honours. They were the only team on the day to field a full 3 car team. The MGAs were 2nd and the AC Aces, 3rd.

In the annual Whitehead Cup, Alan House, despite a couple of poor recent results, had done enough at the beginning of the season not to lose top spot but he was caught, metaphorically, on the line, by Martin Stowe at this last race, so they shared the cup, both on 30 points. On 29 points was Chris Mann, so near and yet so far, and no doubt a bit miffed that business commitments had prevented him getting to Snetterton, one of his favourite tracks. The Lotus team victory was not quite enough to take the Inter-Marque Trophy which went for the first time to the MG team. Martin Stowe and Rory Tollett had done enough in this race to keep the Abingdon marque at the top of the tree with 26 points to the Lotus Teams 23 points. Well done to all our winners on the day and to our annual award winners. I’m afraid that there are no photos of the presentations - most of us just trying to keep warm, if not dry, at the time.

I’d like to give a big thanks out to Richard Culverhouse for keeping it all as organised and co ordinated as possible, and to Sarah, Lisa, and my partner, Jackie for providing and looking after refreshments! Before we come to the results, and gallery, I’d like to share part of an email that Richard Culverhouse and I received from Martin Stowe, after the event:-

…………… I have really enjoyed racing with FISCAR this season and hope to join you again next season. I think it's a combination of fabulous cars, lovely people, great race reports & of course, fantastic quiche!

As an example of how friendly everyone is my battery failed in the holding area at Castle Combe before the race and the car wouldn't start. In no time helpers with the other cars came over, got me bump started & knowing I was on my own made arrangements to be ready when I came in for my pit stop to restart me. This they did and without losing too much time I was back out and on my way again. Without them my race would have been over before it started.

anyway....a big thanks to you all and I look forward to joining you again next season.

I can’t top that and I hope that it sums up the feeling of all our members.

Gallery

(Pit & Paddock + Qualifying - all photos in this section by JT)

Race

Tailpiece(s)

(All photos by JT)