Qualifying

It was pleasing to note, and a bit of a surprise, that Jonathan Abecassis put his Austin Healey 100/4 on overall pole, in a time of 1.13.142 ahead of Paul Bryan in a relatively modern (1987), by our standards, 2 -litre Morgan +4, Robi Bernberg’s Cooper T39 Bobtail and late entry, Neil Cawthorne’s MGA 1760cc Twin Cam, all of which were within 2 tenths of Jonathan. Neil Cameron qualified the Arkley in an excellent 8th, on 1.13.883 and Gordon Elwell was 9th in his Sebring Sprite in 1.14.311. Qualifying 17th was Asher Robson in his Dad, Graham’s Sebring Sprite, on 1.15.296 and the first of the AC Ace Bristol’s was David Cottingham in 22nd with a time of 1.18.66. Mark Morgan qualified his Ace Bristol 25th on a time of 1.18..458, just ahead pf Paul Mortimer’s Austin Healey 100 on 1.19.100. Matthew Collings posted a 1.22.218, good enough for 31st. ad a point of interest, the lovely Delahaye qualified 35th and last in a time of 1.28.722

Race

The Bentley Drivers Club decided that notwithstanding the low numbers, The Bic Healey Trophy was the headline race so that the cars would start ahead of the Main Challenge race so they, along with the Team Challenge AC Aces, formed up in front of the main grid and were flagged off 10 seconds ahead of the main part of the grid. It did deny us an almighty ding dong race at the front, given the close times of the top 8, but on the other hand it allowed our cars to get away without being either initially split up or swamped!

Jonathan Abecassis made a reasonable start from pole but Gordon Elwell in his Austin Healey Sebring Sprite did a better one to take the lead from the second row, demoting Neil Cameron in the Arkley Sprite to 3rd. Gordon’s lead was relatively shortlived however as Jonathan outgunned him coming out of Woodcote and as they they flashed across the line for the first time, just 9 tenths covered these first three of them. David Cottingham was 4th in the AC Ace, albeit already a further 1.7 seconds behind but had Paul Mortimer’s Austin Healey 100/4 in close attendance, with Asher Robson a further few lengths back, 6th in the second of the Sebring Sprites. These were well clear of Mark Morgan in his AC Ace which was running 2 seconds ahead of our tailgunner, Matthew Collings in the Austin Healey 100M who was another 2 seconds ahead of Paul Bryan’s Morgan 4/4, first of the Challenge cars.

By the end of lap 2, Matthew had been passed by 7 of the chasing front running MG/Morgan Challenge cars and was therefore completely split off from the rest of the Bic Healey grid. Up front, Jonathan Abecassis had drawn away a bit from Gordon Elwell, the gap now over 2 seconds but Neil Cameron in the Arkley was hanging onto the Sebring Sprite, and Paul Mortimer had moved his Austin Healey 100/4 ahead of David Cottingham’s AC Ace, and closed up to the back of the Arkley, so that 2nd to 4th were separated by just 7 tenths of a second. Asher Robson had also moved his Sebring Sprite passed David Cottingham but was now 4 seconds down on the dicing trio ahead of him. Mark Morgan, was another who had now been detached from ‘our’ cars by the new leader of the chasing Marque Challenge cars, James Sumner’s Morgan 4/4 which had overcome Paul Bryan’s similar car. However, I won’t dwell on the main race other than where it impacts on the Bic Healey Trophy and the AC/Austin Healey Challenge.

Jonathan Abecassis continued to extend his lead over Gordon Elwell who still led Neil Cameron and Paul Montgomery. These 4 held on at the front until lap 7, when Sumner displaced both Neil and Paul to take 3rd place in the Morgan. That it took that long was down to the fact that they were all lapping slower cars and because they were maintaining a pace that was not actually much slower than this leader of the chasing pack. By the end of lap 8, however, Jonathan was the only Bic Healey racer who hadn’t been caught. He had his Austin Healey 100/4 6.2 seconds ahead of the Sumner Morgan with the added bonus of 4 lapped cars between them. Jonathan was lapping very consistently in the 1.14s, not quite as quick as his pole time but he was going to take a bit of catching although a number of cars behind him were lapping a bit quicker! Gordon Elwell’s Sebring Sprite was 7 seconds behind Jonathan, 3rd overall and just 1.8 seconds ahead of Neil Cameron who was pressing on to great effect in the Arkley, but Neil was separated from Gordon by Neil Cawthorne’s MGA, the leading MG in the Morgan/MG challenge race (yes, it gets confusing!). Of the balance of the Bic Healey Trophy and AC/Austin Healey team challenge all were still in the race albeit well split up in the pack. Paul Mortimer was 7th overall, Asher Robson, 10th, was now over 20 seconds ahead of David Cottingham’s AC Ace in 17th position. Mark Morgan was still on the lead lap down in 25th place in his AC Ace, whilst a lap down was Matthew Collings in his Austin Healey 100M.

Paul Mortimer retired (cause unknown) his Austin Healey 100/4 on lap 11. He had been going very well and was still in 4th (8th overall) in the Bic Healey Trophy at the end of lap 10. Meanwhile, Jonathan Abecassis still had the overall lead, although it was down to 3.5 seconds at the end of Lap 11, as James Sumner continued gradually to haul him in. However, James was also having to watch his mirrors as Neil Cawthorn was really charging and beginning to loom large - he had actually recorded the fastest race lap of all on lap 7 - in his MGA. Gordon Elwell was still 2nd (5th overall) but now had Neil Cameron closing in but barring mishap the first 3 in the Bic Healey Trophy was now set, with David Cottingham, first of the AC Aces in 4th (9th Overall). It only remained to be seen if Jonathan could hold on to the overall lead. Despite being caught, he backed off over the last couple of laps reckoning he had just about enough in hand; cool judgement, but he was right, since he crossed the winning line just 1.8 seconds ahead of the Sumner Morgan with the very quick Neal Cawthorn a similar amount back in 3rd. So Jonathan won overall and also retained the Bic Healey Trophy. The Bic Healey podium places were completed by excellent drives from Gordon Elwell in his Speedwell Sprite and Neil Cameron in the Arkley Sprite, the gap being 3 tenths at the end although I note that Gordon appeared also to back off over the last couple of laps. In the AC /Austin Healey 100 challenge, only two of each finished but the Austin Healey boys were the winners, making it 2 - 1 to them in the series to date!

Comment, Full results & Gallery to follow.

Comment

This turned out to be the final running of this race to date (as at 06/2020) as, although continuation of the race had the support of the Peter Healey (Bic’s son), grid size was an issue. As stated in the preamble, entry levels were undoubtedly affected by the merging of the grids. Whilst I understand the BDC’s desire to ensure a viable and profitable grid this particular marriage was not made in heaven. As one of our racers pointed out, our drivers in the slower cars spent more time looking in their mirrors than forward, as they were overwhelmed by modified MGAs and much more modern Morgans often on stickier tyres; a couple of them were even lapped by these quicker cars in a race that only lasted 16 minutes. This, incidentally, is no criticism of the cars involved, merely a comment on the unfortunate mix. I still think this race has potential but it needs the drivers of all the appropriate cars to embrace it and guarantee a grid from which the organisers can make a profit.

In the 3 years this race has been run, it has been very well supported by Paul Woolmer and his team (Woolmer Classic Engineering -  http://www.woolmerclassic.co.uk/ ) and in fact it was won on all 3 occasions by cars prepared by them. Richard Woolmer took the trophy in the first year in the pretty yellow Sebring Coupe and on the subsequent 2 occasions, by Jonathan Abecassis in his left hooker Austin Healey 100/4. The first two races were pretty close, last year’s (2016), particularly so, an enthralling race which Jonathan took by 3 tenths from Drew Cameron in a fabulous race long duel. Reports for both the previous races already appear on this site.

Please note that above, I have included just a few positions and fastest laps for a few of the non Bic Healey cars. Jonathan Harmer, organiser of the MGCC Iconic 50s races (no longer run as at 06/2020) with which we ran a few FLIERS, some years ago, who runs a Cooper Bristol Sports which I feel would fit our FISCAR grids and both Alan House and Mark Shears in FISCAR compliant Morgans. Both have since raced with us - Alan regularly - so the lap times were of interest. Finally, Ross Keeling’s Delahaye which was surely of interest to any car aficionado.

Gallery

(All photos by Mick Walker)

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