BDC, Silverstone (2023)

Preamble.

The Bentley Drivers Club meeting at Silverstone has always been a particularly happy hunting ground for FISCAR and whilst nothing is ever guaranteed, I like to think that we will continue to be a fixture at this meeting which so suits our approach to motor racing. There was a time, not so long ago, when our entry numbers had declined sufficiently for BDC to merge our grid but hopefully this is now in the past, for two reasons. One, we now guarantee BDC a minimum price for their grid, and two, our entry levels are becoming healthier, and, of course, it is the latter that should be the key element. Neither BDC nor FISCAR want to see small grids, whether adequately paid for or not, and this year we obtained a very respectable 26 entries, reduced to 24 on the day, after the withdrawal of Tim Stamper (Aston) and the Tolletts (A-H 100M). I think this was one of our best grids for some time. We can exclude our joint VSCC Spring Start race which also contained a number of VSCC entries.

We had some new players in that entry of 24. Valerio Leone entered his Elva Mk5. The car is a proper FLIER, built in 1959 and with the correct Coventry Climax FWA 1098cc engine. It is now kept in the UK and is being looked after by Paul Woolmer’s team, and it was a bit of a rush job to get it prepared in time in what Paul described as a labour of love. It still needs a bit more sorting but it was beautifully presented and as a far as I can tell, behaved itself all day. I’d put the car in Class 3 which is for the quicker of our FLIERS cars but it has the potential to be very quick and I suspect that once  Valerio gets to grips with it, promotion will be in order! Paul, apart from bringing his own very quick Elva Courier, also prepared the blue example of George Fordy. This was a true first, since this was George’s very first race. Ed Shah had also entered his Courier, so another first for FISCAR was that we had 3 Couriers on the grid and 4 Elvas altogether.

Three AC Aces on our grid used to be a fairly common sight but not so much recently, so having a full team back was excellent, and what an impact they were to make on the race. It was great to see David Cottingham back in the paddock, and whilst he was not driving he had entered his Ace for his very competent co-driver, Adrian King,  to drive.   Andy Shepherd returned to the fold with son Murray, after the latter’s very expensive prang at a Goodwood sprint last year, and of course we had FISCAR stalwart, Justin Beckett, back in his lovely dark blue example.

It was very good to see Simon Evans in our pit garage with the big Allard J2X Le Mans. Simon’s last entry with us had been at this meeting last year but the less said about that the better (read my report!), and it was unfinished business for Simon. The Allard is a big old beast with plenty of torque but decidedly a handful with Simon still getting to grips with it. I was delighted that Stuart Dean had finally got around to racing with us again in the unique Dick Jacobs Special Coupe. I was also pleased to see John Waterson entered in his Lotus Elite as he had been noticeable by his absence since Snetterton over a year ago.

I will, of course mention all the splendid entries in the next section covering qualifying.    

Qualifying

Qualifying in the dry produced close times at the top but Nick Taylor managed to annex pole in Richard Tyzack’s Kellison J4R. This car always seems to perform well on the Silverstone National circuit when it is going well which as we know, is not all the time! His time of 1.13.681 was less than two hundredths ahead of Murray Shepherd’s time of 1.13.862, in Dad, Andy’s AC Ace. Very close behind in his Elva Courier was Paul Woolmer on a 1.13.903 and alongside Paul was Geoff Turral in the Triumph TR3A/B on 1.14.071. So 4 tenths covered the top 4 which boded well for some good racing at the front …… if it stayed dry. If it rained, as had been forecast at some stage during the day, all bets were off!

Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite and Adrian King in David Cottingham’s AC Ace occupied row 3 on 1.15.110 and 1.15.351 respectively. I thought that if it stayed dry for the race, Brian would find more time, as he has lapped a good bit quicker in NUB 303 on previous occasions. Peter Blanchett, in his second race with us qualified a good 7th in his rare RGS Atalanta on 1.16.687 and Barry Dye was just behind in 1.16.866 in his Lotus Elite which was a really good effort amongst this good sized grid. On row 5, we had Ed Shah, also beginning to find some form in his Elva Courier on 1.16.877 and alongside he had fellow Courier driver George Fordy on 1.17.373, another particularly good qualifying for someone in their very first race.

Mark Morgan’s invitation Ginetta G4, qualified 11th on 1.17.659 although I understand that it was co-driver, Andrew Mitchell who did the time. The Ginetta shared the 6th row with Justin Beckett’s AC Ace on 1.17.771. Simon Evans was next up in the big Allard J2X LM on a 1.18.536 and Richard Thorne was only a fraction behind in his Morgan +4 on 1.18.685. Another Morgan +4, but this time, the Flat Rad version of Mark & Jonny Shears followed on 1.18.714, with Andy Cox alongside in the TR3 Falcon on a time of 1.19.266. Yet another Morgan +4 occupied row 9 with Alan House, still unfortunately with his ‘Donington hotel’ fat lip, but raring to go, on 1.19.442 with the returning John Waterson alongside, on 1.19.987 in his Lotus Elite. Completing the top 20 were Reuben Jacob on a 1.21.143 in his Morgan +4 and Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter, Harry sharing with Chris Bates who I believe posted the time, on 1.23.446.

There were two more rows at the back and what a delightful and interesting little group of cars they were. Qualifying 21st, in the unique MG Dick Jacobs Special, was Stuart Dean on a 1.24.621. Unfortunately, this lovely car disgraced itself by depositing a large amount of oil on the track after the oil filter unscrewed itself. Stuart, however, was able to rectify the situation to enable it to take its place on the grid. Chris Mann was alongside in his Alfa Romeo 1900CSS Zagato, another car that turns heads, having recorded a best qualifying lap of 1.25.639. On the back row, Valerio Leone had recorded a 1.26.208 in the very low slung Elva Mk V sports racer, but he would surely go quicker in the race. Alongside Valerio was yet another crowd pleaser, the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans of Glenn Brackenridge on a 1.33.712. It was a fantastic grid despite the absence of certain marques and we were very much looking forward to the race. The close groupings of qualifying times down the field offered the chance of close racing …… in the dry at any rate!       

Race. 

We’d had a few spits of rain during the morning but on the whole the weather had remained reasonably bright and dry, but about 10 minutes before our race (Race 4), it started to drizzle and then turned into a heavy shower. Although it started to tail off as the cars took to the track, the conditions were now very wet and slippery. As a result, there were two warm up laps, during which the Kellison took to the pits with the exhaust disconnected below the manifold. It was a repeat of the problem experienced at Thruxton.  Whilst the car went out later after attempts to fix it, it was brought back in to retire. Richard Tyzack does not have a lot of luck with that car.

The demise of the Kellison meant that 23 cars took the start and it had left Andy Shepherd in his AC Ace alone on the front row and he duly took the lead as the field, almost hidden in spray and mist, headed into Copse for the first time.  The conditions were already playing havoc with the qualifying positions and as the leaders emerged from the spray heading into Brooklands for the first time, Andy still had the lead but with Geoff Turral challenging in his TR3A/B and Adrian King up from the 3rd row and already looking menacing in the Cottingham Ace. The cars streamed, almost literally, through the Brooklands, Luffield, Woodcote complex tip toeing their way carefully around it. It was no good looking for a dry line – there wasn’t one, so they were spread right across the track. First timer, George Goody turned into Luffield just a tad too early and the tail of the pale blue Elva Courier came around and there was nothing he could do about it. It was no disgrace in these conditions, a true baptism of, in this case, water! One of his fellow Courier drivers and effectively, Elva team leader, the experienced Paul Woolmer had already gyrated earlier in the lap and was already embarked on a recovery drive. Paul was a little embarrassed by the spin but he was to make up for what he called a ‘rookie error’ as we shall see. Back to George, and everyone managed to avoid him and all cars came through to complete the first lap unscathed.

Andy completed the first lap in the lead but had both Geoff and Adrian in close attendance, these 3 having already broken away, almost 4 seconds ahead of the RGS Atalanta of Peter Blanchett, again showing what a useful driver/car combination they are. Looking down the positions at the end of the lap, the only car in its qualifying position appears to be the Lotus Elite of Brian Arculus in 5th.  In a superb 6th place was Justin Beckett, so 3 Aces in the top 6 was impressive. You’d have to think that they were perhaps the ideal car for these particular conditions; just the right balance of power and weight and drivers who could feed that straight 6 Bristol power in progressively.  It’s also a quirky fact, or is that just me, but I noted that if the number 12 featured on the side of your car, you had made good forward first lap progress since Justin carried 212, Richard Thorne, up to 10th carried no 12 on his Morgan and, best progress of the three, was no 112, the Alfa Romeo Zagato of Chris Mann who had made a staggering leap up to 14th from the penultimate row of the grid!  

Barry Dye was in a good 7th in his Lotus Elite, and John Waterson in the third of the Elites had made good ground up to 12th. Chris Bates also had a great first lap coming through in 10th place in Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter. You wouldn’t often see a Jupiter that high in this field. Dry qualifying really was no indicator of performance in these conditions. I will not mention every car at this stage but Paul Woolmer had already made up a bit of ground coming across the line 18th, just ahead of Glenn Brackenridge who must have been delighted with the experience of seeing a number of cars behind his Sunbeam Alpine Harrington, although they probably just appeared as plumes of water in his mirror! Now, Valerio Leone, his first time out in what should potentially become quite a competitive car was experiencing the downside of a very low slung  open cockpit car – almost zero visibility in wet conditions. He was to suffer this problem throughout the race and it was ultimately to cost him. All the Elvas were out of position at this point with the exception of Ed Shah’s Courier, running midfield in 11th position.

Andy Shepherd was unable to hold back either Geoff Turral or Adrian King and as they came back into Brooklands for the second time, they had already pulled a gap on Andy who had older tyres. Adrian made his move for the lead with a tighter line through Luffield and Woodcote, the Ace finishing the lap just ahead of the TR and, in reality, it was game over, as from then on, he never looked like being caught, only losing the lead briefly during the pit stop phase.

Behind the leading trio, Peter Blanchett was going really well in the RGS Atalanta, leading class 3,  and drawing away from the Lotus Elite of Brian Arculus, who, quite candidly, admits that he doesn’t like to race in the rain but he is not the only one by far. He was now coming under attack from Justin Beckett, clearly enjoying himself in his AC Ace. Andrew Cox, also going very well in the TR3 Falcon was up to 7th having passed Barry Dye’s Lotus Elite, albeit a few seconds adrift of Brian and Justin. In fact, Barry had lost another place during the lap, this time to the flying Jupiter of Chris Bates, that old 1500cc Flat 4 crackling crisply away, up to 8th, having just put in the car’s fastest lap of the race, this early! Where would it all end?

Richard Thorne was 10th in the Class 4 Morgan, for once, not leading the class as the Jowett was up ahead of him.  Ed Shah was closing in on the Morgan, in his Elva Courier, whilst several seconds behind was John Waterson, his Elite a couple of seconds ahead of Simon Evans trying to tame the big Allard in these difficult conditions. He was now, amazingly, being harried by Chris Mann, absolutely revelling in the conditions in the Alfa, but Paul Woolmer was on their tail and would shortly dispose of both. Behind Paul, in 16th, was Mark Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan +4, and Reuben Jacob in the later version was just a second away. Mark Morgan had his Ginetta G4 in 18th and I suspect his visibility was not a lot better than Valerio’s in the Elva sports racer which was now in 19th, 3.5 seconds behind Mark. Less than a second behind, Glenn Brackenridge was still circulating well in the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans ahead of Stuart Dean’s MG DJS Coupe. Alan House, probably not relishing the conditions either, and still not fully recovered from his fall, was 22nd and being hauled in by George Fordy who had his Elva Courier back pointing in the right direction and now going well.

By the end of lap 3, Adrian had pulled out just over 2 seconds on Geoff Turral.  Geoff was trying hard to stay in touch, the TR pulling quite quickly away from Andy Shepherd’s AC Ace, but he really couldn’t do much about the Ace ahead of him. The combination of new tyres, balanced chassis, excellent car control and delicate right foot was irresistible, and Adrian seemed in a class of his own. Back in 4th place, Peter Blanchett was pressing on, losing ground to Andy, but still pulling clear of the rest of the field. Justin Beckett, another Ace driver in the groove, had passed Brian Arculus for 5th, so, quite remarkably, we had 3 Aces in the first 5. Brian’s Elite was 5 seconds clear of Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon. About 4 seconds behind Andy was Chris Bates, still in 8th and continuing to keep the Jowett Jupiter in a place it really shouldn’t have been, and he headed a line of cars covered by four seconds – Richard Thorne (Morgan +4), Barry Dye (Elite), Ed Shah (Courier) and Paul Woolmer (Courier). Paul was now going great guns and his progress forward was rapid, although it was difficult, as he worked his way forward through the field, to establish what his true potential pace was. 5 seconds behind in 13th place, John Waterson’s Elite was coming under pressure from another stand out drive by Chris Mann in the Alfa, Chris having managed to get by Simon Evan’s Allard. I think it would be fair to say that the Allard was quite possibly the most difficult car to control in the slippery conditions. Mark Shears was 16th, and the only change behind was Stuart Dean who had taken the DJS Coupe passed Glenn Brackenridge’s Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans who now had both Alan House (Morgan +4) and Ceorge Fordy (Elva Courier) for very close company.

The inexorable pace of Adrian King had taken a further 4 seconds out of his pursuer in a single lap, so that by the end of lap 4 he was 6.3 seconds ahead of the Turral TR3A/B. Geoff was over 10 seconds clear of Andy’s Ace which appeared to be losing a bit of pace as Peter Blanchett was now within 2 seconds. We had to wait a further 11 seconds before Justin Beckett came through in his Ace with Brian Arculus a further 3 seconds back in the Lotus Elite. The leading cars were really spread out, over half a minute covering these first 6. Andy Cox was still 7th but Paul Woolmer had jumped passed several cars and elevated himself to 8th in the quickest of the Elvas. The positions behind remained relatively unchanged, although John Waterson had lost out to both Chris Mann and Simon Evans, but looking at John’s lap time, he had lost 4 seconds, so he had probably had had ‘a moment’ somewhere. Tailenders, Alan House and Glenn Brackenridge took to the pits as the window was now open, going a lap down to the leader. 

Alan and Glenn were followed into the pits, by Brian Arculus who had completed one more lap in his Elite, the first of the leading cars to do so. They were joined by the retiring Kellison, and Chris Bates in the Jowett Jupiter. This was much earlier than intended for the Jowett, as a misfire had intervened to hinder its wonderful progress. Harry Naergar takes up the story  – ‘Chris loves a bit of rain! It was a shame as he was doing so well but developed a misfire which is why he came in. We think probably water in the electrics which is something Jowetts are prone to sadly. Having dried things off a bit we had no further problems but sadly my skills don’t match Chris’s! This was very unfortunate for the car and its drivers, but whilst it lasted it had been a very fine wet weather drive by Chris Bates. Its stop was nearly 4 minutes long so Harry was never going to be able to make up much ground on the pack thereafter.

Adrian King, sailed appropriately on, apparently untroubled by the state of the track and at the end of lap 6, he was 11 seconds ahead of the Turral TR3A/B, despite Geoff putting in the car’s best lap of the race in a very competitive 1.27.998. Unfortunately for Geoff, Adrian had just done a 1.26.236, the quickest of the race at that point and one of 4 laps in sequence in which Adrian had been in the 1.26s! Geoff was, nevertheless, no less than a further 16 seconds ahead of the Ace of Andy Shepherd, who now had Peter Blanchett, leading Class 3 in the RGS Atalanta, filling his mirrors. 10 seconds behind, Justin Beckett was still circulating strongly in 5th, but following the pit stop by the Arculus Elite, he no longer had Brian behind him, but the Elva Courier of Paul Woolmer. Justin would not have known that because the Elva was 12 seconds behind but closing. Paul’s progress back up the field had been pretty meteoric but, of course, the nearer you get to the front, the harder the gaps are to close. He had just cleared Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon and had a lot more work to do. Richard Thorne was 8th and, with the pitting of the Jupiter, now assumed his customary control of Class 4. Both Barry Dye (Lotus Elite) and Ed Shah (Elva Courier) also seemed pretty unfazed by track conditions, and were pressing on well in 9th and 10th respectively, Ed staying close to Barry. Chris Mann was next up, but heading for his mandatory pit stop, so Simon Evans was on his own in the big Allard but behind him, the lovely close battle between John Waterson (Elite), Mark Shears (Flat rad Morgan) and Reuben Jacob (Morgan) continued. Lapping faster than that group, and now only 3 seconds back, was Valerio Leone up to 16th in the Elva MkV.

By the end of lap 7, several cars had been lapped either on the track or whilst they were stationary in the pits. Adrian King, for once had not advanced his lead further as he’d had to lap a couple of cars which cost him approximately 3 seconds and Geoff Turral pretty much matched him. Peter Blanchett was now up to 3rd, but I’m not sure whether he had passed Andy Shepherd on the track, as seemed inevitable, as Andy had headed for the pits. We were later to learn that the Ace had not been on full song for much of the race, so it had held on well, and Murray took over from his Dad. Justin Beckett carried on with his splendid drive and Paul Woolmer had only taken a second out of him, so still 11 seconds away. Andy Cox was now 7th in the TR3 Falcon but Ed Shah, now 9th behind Richard Thorne’s Morgan had gained a place when Barry Dye pitted his Elite. Simon Evans was 11th, the Allard now the last car on the lead lap. I have not mentioned our first time racer George Fordy for a while. He had been getting on with it in conditions totally unsuited to someone in their first race, feeling his way around the track and working out how the Elva behaved under him in such conditions. It was hardly surprising that he had a second spin and although I don’t know where it took place, I can be certain that it was on lap 7 where he lost 2 minutes, so it obviously took a while to get going again. He wasn’t to pit for a further couple of laps.     

Adrian King had stretched his lead to over 15.5 seconds by the end of lap 8, Geoff Turral slowed by lapping the cars that Adrian had gone passed the previous lap. It seems unfair to mention the fact that both Glenn Brackenridge and Alan Hunt had gone two laps down at this point, but it is part of the narrative, and to a certain extent mitigated by the fact that they had both taken their pit stops, and Glenn had made his position worse by spinning in Brooklands! Undaunted he carried on and he was, as we have seen, not the only one to slow his forward progress by a gyratory interlude! The cars were now all over the place, position wise, and there were no less than 6 of them in the pits – John Waterson (Elite), Mark Shears (Flat Rad) handing over to Jonny, Reuben Jacob (Morgan), Mark Morgan (Ginetta) handing over to Andrew Mitchell, Stuart Dean (DJS Coupe) and Justin Beckett (Ace). There were just 8 cars on the lead lap, the last of those being Ed Shah in the Elva, doing a great job and hopefully washing away the despondency of his Thruxton non-start.   

The pitting phase was now in full swing and after the leader had completed his 9th lap, 5 more cars took to the pits – the Allard of Simon Evans, the RGS Atalanta (Peter Blanchett), Morgan +4 (Richard Thorne), Elva Courier (Ed Shah) and, for the second time, the Lotus Elite of Barry Dye. After his mandatory stop, Barry had incurred transmission issues which forced him back into the pits to sadly retire. By this time, Adrian King had completed his 10th lap still in the lead but now in the pits for his mandatory stop. It meant that we had a new leader in Geoff Turral but it was short-lived, as he too pitted the TR3A/B at the end of lap 11 to hand over to ‘Toddy’ Worthington. Murray Shepherd, now a lap down in the misfiring Ace, followed Geoff in, but this time to retire having, not unreasonably, decided to give up the unequal struggle to keep the car competitive and to avoid any knock on effects of the misfire. It had been great to see the car out there, so let’s hope we now see it more often. It was the third and final retirement from the race.

Andy Cox (TR3 Falcon) and first timer, George Fordy (Elva Courier) also took to the pits at this point, leaving just two drivers yet to pit. One was another new leader, the third in as many laps. Yes, Paul Woolmer had finally hit the front on lap 12, his long and consistently quick first stint in the Elva Courier going a fair way to making amends for the first lap spin. His work wasn’t done yet, though, as his true position would not be properly ascertained until he had completed his own stop and returned to the race. The other, not yet to stop, was Valerio Leone in the little Elva sports racer. The pit board was hung out to him for several laps but apparently he was so low in the car, he couldn’t see it for all the spray about. It’s true that the drizzle continued well into the race, but unless he had been behind a fellow competitor on every lap (possible!) could he have missed it each time? I prefer to think that with adrenalin pumping coupled with the enjoyment of being out there, he simply just missed the boards! He was certainly in the zone since he told me after the race that by the time he thought about coming in, the race was over! He obviously incurred a 5 place penalty as a result, but he’d had so much fun, he wasn’t that bothered!   

The Woolmer Elva stayed out another couple of laps, but as Paul took to the pits at the end of lap 14, Adrian King swept by in the electric blue Ace to start his 15th lap and retake the position he had not really ever looked like losing for very long. His lead over the stationary Elva was just short of 5 seconds but, of course, that was not a true reflection of the positions and his nearest challenger, if he could be called that, was Peter Blanchett in the RGS Atalanta, over a minute behind, and the real question was whether Paul could get the Elva out ahead of Peter. The TR3A/B was now out of podium contention, as Toddy Worthington, by his own admission, couldn’t approach the pace of the car’s owner, Geoff Turral, and had dropped behind the excellent Justin Beckett, who was 3rd on the track in his Ace but unlikely to stay there once Paul had returned to it! Only Toddy, and Brian Arculus, now in 6th place in the Lotus Elite remained on the lead lap. One lap down occupying the next few places in order were Valerio (but see above!), Andy Cox, Ed Shah, Richard Thorne, Chris Mann, Jonny Shears, Reuben Jacob and Simon Evans, the rest of the field being 2 or 3 laps down.   

 Paul Woolmer returned to the track behind Peter Blanchett who was still lying 2nd and they were just one second apart at the end of lap 15, so it seemed unlikely that the RGS would be able to resist the Elva for long, in the remaining few laps. They were both nearly 70 seconds behind Adrian King, that Bristol engine still singing away at the front. Only Justin Beckett, in 4th, remained on the lead lap, in the other surviving AC. This remained the case at the end of Lap 16. Harry Naergar, had gone 4 laps down to the leader, due to the Jupiter’s extended pit stop. George Fordy was a lap ahead of Harry in the penultimate position, the two spins early on pretty much consigning him to a tailend position. As the drizzle eased to nothing, track conditions improved in the second half of the race, and George, like the majority posted his best lap towards the end. It remained slippery, however, and the best lap times got nowhere near those of qualifying.

Paul put his best lap in on lap 17 and in doing so it took him passed Peter into take 2nd place. By this time, even Justin Beckett had gone a lap down to the leader. The field was now so spread out that I cannot tell from the lap charts whether there was much close racing going on as the race wound down to completion – I was on my way back to the Paddock from Luffield at this time!

Adrian King took the flag at the end of lap 20, winning by almost 83 seconds. It was one of the most emphatic victories we have seen with FISCAR and about as flawless as you can get at this level. Paul Woolmer had fought back to a fine 2nd place in the Elva, but lap times indicate that he would not have been able to challenge Adrian, so he probably finished where he would have done, without the spin, and, no doubt, had a lot more fun getting there. Peter Blanchett’s drive to 3rd in the RGS Atalanta had been exemplary too, winning Class 3. After being passed, he had done his best to hang onto Paul and finished just under 3 seconds behind.

In 4th, one lap down, Justin Beckett’s drive was one of his very best, in the AC Ace, and despite his lack of enthusiasm for the wet, Brian Arculus had pressed onto finish 5th in the Lotus Elite just 8 seconds behind after 30 minutes of racing, winning Class 1. Justin and Brian were a long way clear of Andrew Cox and Ed Shah in 6th and 7th respectively, but they too had provided fine drives and Ed must have been almost alongside Adrian as they crossed the finishing line, split by two tenths of a second. Toddy Worthington had hung on well in the TR3A/B to bring it home in 8th place just 4 seconds behind the dicing duo, and 15 seconds ahead of the Class 4 winning Morgan +4 of Richard Thorne.

Valerio Leone was classified 10th, but since he incurred a 5 place penalty for failing to take his pit stop, that suggests that he finished 5th on the road. However, I simply cannot get my head around that as he completed 19 laps just 2 seconds down on Richard Thorne, so shouldn’t he be classified 15th?  It would make more sense, given his lap times, but maybe I’m missing something (entirely possible!). In any event, it was great to see another FISCAR newcomer out with us, and he professed how much he enjoyed his very wet outing with us and will be back!

Mark and Jonny Shears were a very good 11th overall in the Flat Rad Morgan, but even better, surely, was Chris Mann’s amazing drive to 12th, in the Alfa Romeo 1900CSS Zagato, confirming his love of wet weather driving. He finished just over 2 seconds behind the Morgan. His best lap was a fairly lowly 1.34.082, but he had achieved that in the first half of the race, which was impressive given that track conditions along with lap times improved considerably over the course of the second half of the race.  

A further lap down on 18 laps was Reuben Jacob, 13th in his Morgan +4, another pretty good drive, and Simon Evans manhandled the beefy Allard to 14th, 12 seconds ahead of John Waterson in his Lotus Elite. Alan House was 4 seconds behind John, in 16th position and Andrew Mitchell brought Mark Morgan’s little Ginetta G4 home in 17th. The last car to complete 18 laps was Stuart Dean in the delightful MG Dick Jacobs Special coupe, 4 seconds behind the Ginetta.

On 17 laps, Glenn Brackenridge finished 19th in the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans, very pleased to have finished ahead of a couple of cars, one of which was George Fordy’s Elva Courier, George having finished behind Glenn by beating him by two spins to one! Harry Naergar was last of the classified finishers on 16 laps but we have already seen why he was so far behind and the Jupiter had certainly stirred things up in the first part of the race, until the misfire had set in with Chris Bates at the wheel.

Notwithstanding the ultimate dominance of one car and driver, from my point of view, this was one of the best races FISCAR has put on for some seasons (although Thruxton was pretty good too.). A few early spins in the appalling conditions was inevitable, but the standard of driving from everyone was outstanding. Every drive had merit and there were no stoppages and no panel damage at the end. It showed FISCAR in its best light and was one of our bigger grids for a while, included a couple of new enthusiastic drivers, and was hugely entertaining. More please!

Of course, as you will see from our homepage, subsequent events cast a shadow over this race account but I am able to say that I reported the above to Richard Bell on the day after the race and he was clearly pleased, as founder member, at the way FISCAR had been progressing this season, and was looking forward to seeing the entry list for Castle Combe. It was very sad and more than a bit of a shock to learn that he had died only two days later and would never see it, but FISCAR is one of his legacies, and we are grateful for it.   

PHOTO GALLERY

Yet again, we have a substantial number of photographs to select from, but this time from 4 different contributors, so even more than usual!

The first batch are from Lizzy Woolmer:-

The following batch from JT

This next batch from Peter French

All the following by Mick Walker

Tailpieces

This final batch below from Mick Walker

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