Preamble 

Where to start? Our relationship with the Bentley Drivers Club goes back many years. There have been times when we haven’t really delivered for them as much as we would like and at one point they even merged our race with another, if I recall correctly. Fortunately, we have moved beyond that, and have managed to just about come out ahead in recent years. This year we really delivered a fabulous grid, not only our biggest and best at this meeting, but one only ever exceeded a couple of times at Castle Combe in earlier times. In fact, we almost had an embarrassment of riches here, and more cars in the invitation class than we would expect. You can put that down to me and my wish to ensure a good-sized grid which with our profit share agreement with BDC would enable both clubs to come out ahead. It was only towards the closing date, and I had already written the programme notes, that the entry rocketed towards the 40 mark. We will endeavour to limit the number of invitation cars in the future to represent a smaller percentage of the overall grid size.

The long-awaited return of Mark Campbell’s DB2 to our grids was unfortunately delayed further as he had to withdraw when an engine mounting was found to be cracked. However, one (historical) invitation late entry from Dominic Spicer in the TR4 caught me out as it only appeared on the final BDC list after closing date but returned the entry total to 40.

On the day, 37 cars appeared. Vernon Moore’s Bentley Mk6 and Thornton Mustard’s Lotus Elite failed to show, the latter possibly due to engine problems encountered at testing the day before? Reuben Jacob, very unfortunately blew his Morgan engine, also in testing the day before.

A few words on some of the entries. It was good to see Mike Thorne join us in his lovely and historic gun metal grey Austin Healey 100M, after a long absence and I expected him to be quick. Tania Pilkington was driving Alex Quattlebaum’s LECo and Alex was in our pit garage and continuing to improve in health. Andrew Mitchell had finally got his Elite sorted and ready to run. George Foordy was back in his Elva which we had last seen a year ago. We also had a Frazer Nash LMR back driven by Michael Scott, and George Frankel was driving the Giulietta Sprint in the place of Richard.

In the Invitation class, the Maserati of Alex Hearnden was of particular interest. It is in fact a 1957 3500GT road car clothed in a 300S body, so it would be interesting to see how that would go. Paul Pochciol’s C -type was to the wrong specification so it was only to be a one-off drive but good to see that shape on our grid. Newcomer and novice driver, Ian Beattie had his XK120 OTS and was in the invitation class as it too was out of spec.  

All the cars and drivers will get mentioned in the qualifying section, but non racing supporters, Alan House and Simon Jefferies were in attendance. Very pleasingly, Simon has an invite to take his DB Mk111 to Goodwood but I’m sure that we will see that car back in our midst soon. Barry Dye popped into see us, still recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon which prevented him from racing his Elite.I also bumped into Tim Stamper. He seemed in good form although recovering from a minor health scare from last year and still enthusiastically working to get his DB2/4 up and running after his dramatic accident at the Silverstone last year.

Qualifying

It would be fair to say that the front two rows were entirely predictable. David Alexander put his Lotus Elite on pole in a time of 1.13.006, with Jonathan Abecassis, on a 1.13.153, alongside in his Austin Healey. The second row was occupied by Richard Tyzack’s Kellison, recording a 1.13.495 in Nick Taylor’s hands, with Brian Arculus, very close, alongside, on a 1.13.508!  So half a second between the four of them. A huge gap in F1 terms but pretty small in historic races.

Last year, Adrian King proved what a quick and skilful driver he is by winning outright at this meeting, in the wet. This year, with virtually no seat time since then, he put David Cottingham’s lovely AC Ace on row 3 with an impressive time of time of 1.13.638. Just as good was the fact that this time, David Cottingham himself was back in the car – a sight that a year or two back seemed most unlikely. Alongside the AC was, newcomer to us, Tom Andrew, in the Morgan +4 in a time of 1.14.211.  Less surprising was the time of Paul Pochciol in the Jaguar C-Type on a 1.14.814, sharing the 4th row with George Foordy in an excellent time of 1.14.484. George has clearly found some pace since we last saw him! Simon Evans, improving all the time, had the big Allard J2X Le Mans in 9th on 1.15.355, and we  finally saw the return of Glenn Tollett’s Austin Healey 100M, which rounded out the top 10 with a time, in Rory’s hands, of 1.15.575, which I felt was probably a good second down on where I expected him to be. Of course, it’s awhile since either car or driver have been on track, and that really does make a difference!    

After missing Thruxton, it was great to see Christopher Mann back in the fabulous Alfa Romeo 6C 3000pr Disco Volante, to give it its full name. It also sounds superb these days, and Chris had it nicely wound up to qualify 11th in a time of 1.15.723. Michael Berry’s Austin Healey 100/4 was 12th on a 1.15.869. Mark Hoble was 13th in his Morgan +4 and sharing row 7 with Tania Pilkington in Alex Quattlebaum’s LECo. Those of you who follow historic sports car racing will know that Tania’s usual weapon of choice is the beautiful Maserati 300S but she expressed her delight with driving the LECo and actually that was a pretty good time in a car that she hadn’t driven in anger before. A brace of AC Aces occupied the 8th row – Justin Beckett on a 1.16.664 and newcomer to FISCAR, Matt Walton in the ex Tim Pearce Ace with a time of 1.17.105. Dominic Spicer in guest TR4 was 17th on 1.17.312 and alongside was Mike Thorne, way below where he should have been. He has since informed me that overdrive wasn’t working, so I’m pretty confident that he would have been a top 6 qualifier without that handicap. Another newcomer, Ian Beattie qualified 19th on a 1.18.240. in his XK120 and the flat rad Morgan of Mark Shears, sharing with Richard Plant recorded an excellent 1.18.533 to round out the  top 20, with plenty more rows to follow!      

The times of the two flat Rad Morgans were incredibly close, and it was Leigh Sebba’s example that he was sharing with James Bellinger which was on row 11 on a 1.18.577. Andrew Cox in the TR3 Falcon was alongside with a lap of 1.18.732. Richard Thorne’s Morgan+4 was next up on a 1.19.268. Mark Morgan’s Invitation Ginetta G4 shared the row with Richard, on a time of 1.19.581. Andrew Mitchell, finding his feet in his Lotus Elite was 25th on a 1.20.132 but would find more pace in the race and had Michael Scott’s Frazer Nash Le Mans alongside on a 1.20.175. Peter Baker was 27th with a time of 1.20.243 in his Aston Martin DB2, and had George Frankel alongside in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint on 1.20.404.

Onto row 15, and here we see Martin Stowe’s MGA Coupe, recovered from its Thruxton mishap, with a time of 1.20.44 and alongside he had Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter, the time of 1.21.822 being recorded by Harry’s not so secret weapon, Chris Bates! Gareth Evans recorded a 122.355 in the synthetically fuelled Sunbeam Alpine with Jeremy Woods Italia 2000 on 1.22.437, for company. Peter Bower was on row 17 in his MGA on 1.22.545 with Stuart Dean’s MG Dick Jacobs Special on 1.23.944. The rather extraordinary and impressive looking Maserati 3500GT with 300S style  body driven by Alex Hearnden recorded a 1.24.377 had George Passey’s very road going AC Aceca Coupe alongside with a 1.32.366. Just a little slower on 1.32.794 was Glenn Brackenridge in his Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans with a 1.32.794 .

There were some incredibly close times in the field so good racing was entirely possible and others were likely to be working forward from grid positions which did not fully reflect their potential. A big field and plenty to look forward to.    

Race

The race results indicate that conditions were cloudy and dry although I thought I detected a few spits of rain just before the start, but in any event the conditions were good although quite cool. As our cars emerged from the paddock onto the grid, it took quite a while for them all to appear such was the size of the grid but even then two cars were missing. The meeting was running a bit early, and I think it caught out Peter Baker, in the immaculate Aston Martin DB2, but he was able to start from the pitlane to tag on to the end of the field after the start. The Tollett Austin Healey, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen and Richard Winchester found them in the paddock tinkering with the Austin Healey, oblivious of the fact that the race was about to start. Richard managed to get them into the race but by the time they were ready and joined the race they were already 3 laps down! Nothing like giving yourself an extra challenge!

This huge grid looked very impressive as they got away. Jonathan Abecassis outdragged poleman David Alexander’s Lotus Elite as he had done at Thruxton and from the second row Nick Taylor was already showing the nose of the Kellison up the inside of David’s Elite into Copse, with Brian Arculus tucking in behind. The Morgan of Tom Andrew had edged ahead of David Cottingham’s AC Ace and behind them followed 3 cars line abreast conjuring up visions of the early 1950s Le Mans – Chris Mann’s Alfa Rome Disco Volante, Paul Pochciol’s Jaguar C-type and the Allard J2X of Simon Evans. What a sight!  Chris then dived up the inside of David Cottingham’s Ace to take 6th. Behind, a magnificent collection of other machinery raced through Copse and headed down toward Maggot’s and Beckett’s and a few seconds later Peter Baker exited the pitlane behind them to join the fray!

Nick Taylor was on a mission and powered passed David Alexander heading towards Maggots, but, of course, the Kellison was always going to have to brake earlier than the Elite so David dived to the inside, got two wheels up on the curb, both locking up, destabilising the car and throwing it into a spin. Now if you feel that you need to spice your race up with a spin you don’t do it on the first lap when the whole field comes streaming passed and you don’t do at the end of the race as you have no time to recover your position. David has bagged this pair in the last two races, so needs to change his choreographer! However, joking aside we all know that this is a very quick driver/car combination and it surely won’t be long before they take outright victory in a FISCAR race. Whilst David was getting the Lotus pointed back in the right direction, Nick Taylor steamed passed Jonathan Abecassis on the Wellington Straight but as they charged into Brooklands, Jonathan took the inside line and outbraked the Kellison to retake the lead in his Austin Healey. He held it through Luffield and Woodcote but the greater power of the V8 took Nick back into the lead to complete the first lap 4 tenths ahead. Just under 2 seconds behind was Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite but staggeringly, in 4th, was Chris Mann in the Disco Volante. He’d had a great start and then taken advantage of the mayhem caused by the gyrating Lotus at Maggots to pass Tom Andrew’s Morgan. It seemed unlikely that the Alfa would be able to hold that position for long but what a superb sight whilst it lasted.

Tom Andrew was 5th, as they crossed the line, with Paul Pochciol’s C-type behind. A small gap had opened up to Simon Evans in the Allard which was just ahead of Mike Thorne. Mike had already much improved on his qualifying but was to battle the lack of overdrive throughout, so we never really saw the true pace of the Austin Healey 100M.  Just a second behind, in 9th, came George Foordy in his Elva Courier and he lead a huge phalanx of cars, in an almost endless stream of fantastic 50s machinery which only ended with Jeremy Woods in the Triumph Italia in 33rd position. Six seconds behind Jeremy came a pair of iconic fastbacks in the form of George Passey’s AC Aceca and Glenn Brackenridge’s Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans, whilst last, yet to get on the tail of the field was Peter Baker’s Aston Martin DB2. He would not stay there long!   

 At the end of lap 2, Nick Taylor had established a 1.8 second lead over Jonathan Abecassis, and Chris Mann still had the Disco Volante in a fine 4th albeit that he had dropped a couple of seconds behind Brian Arculus, and was now coming under pressure from the Tom Andrew Morgan. The order down to 8th was unchanged but Matt Walton, having a good race had moved a head of Dominic Spicer’s TR4 to take 9th in his AC Ace and Mark Hoble had grabbed 11th from David Cottingham’s Ace. George Foordy had moved up two places to take 15th in his Elva Courier at the expense of Michael Berry’s Austin Healey and Tania Pilkington in the LECo and was now closing in on Andy Cox (TR3 Falcon) and Justin Beckett (AC Ace).

David Alexander was making up ground rapidly from his first lap spin and was now up to 22nd but he was almost 24 seconds behind the leader and it seemed a tall order to expect the poleman to get back to the front. Behind David there had been some shuffling of positions, Mark Morgan’s Ginetta dropping to 28th and Leigh Sebba’s Flat Rad Morgan several places to 33rd, both probably evidence of their good starts rather than a drop in pace. Peter Baker had caught the tail of the field and overtaken both Glenn Brackenridge (Alpine Harrington LM) and George Passey (AC Aceca) to move his DB2 into 34th.

Nick Taylor had taken another 4 tenths out of Jonathan’s Austin Healey by the end of lap 3 and he needed to build the lead up as much as possible knowing that his pit stop would take longer that the Austin Healey and that Richard Tyzack would not have quite the same pace. However, Jonathan was also safe in that knowledge and it was unlikely that the Kellison would get anything like enough of a gap. Brian Arculus, having a cracking drive was only 2 seconds behind Jonathan and was now over 4 seconds clear of 5th placed man Tom Andrew in the Morgan which had displaced Chris Mann. Paul Pochciol’s C Type had also passed the Alfa and Simon Evans was still in 7th in the big Allard and Richard Thorne’s Austin Healey 100M maintaining 8th despite the overdrive handicap.The next few positions were unaltered until we get to 14th now occupied by George Foordy and 15th, Tania Pilkington, both having passed Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon. David Alexander had made more ground in his Lotus Elite, up to 18th ahead of Richard Thorne’s Class 4 leading Morgan+4, but David had lost another 3 seconds to the leader, such was the number of cars to work by. Chris Bates, as he always does, had Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter up in a place it ‘shouldna oughta be’ in 23rd.  Mark Morgan had dropped another couple of places, despite speeding up, because those around had done the same. Peter Baker’s DB2 had not improved further as he still had over 10 seconds to make up on Leigh Sebba’s Morgan whilst, Glenn Brackenridge was about to go a lap down to the leaders.           

At the end of lap 4, Nick Taylor had lapped Glenn’s Sunbeam and extended his lead to Jonathan to 3 seconds, but that gap was never to get any larger. The Lotus Elite of Brian Arculus still had the Austin Healey well in sight, Brian within 2.5 seconds of Jonathan, and these three were now well away from the pack, the gap back to the 4th placed Morgan of Tom Alexander now up to 6 seconds. Chris Mann’s Alfa had a slowish lap and dropped behind the Pochciol C-Type Jaguar and Simon Evans who was really getting to grips with the big Allard. Chris was in a fairly secure 9th as he had a cushion of almost 6 seconds over Mark Hoble’s Morgan +4. Mark was just ahead of Dominic Spicer’s TR4, but more than 5 seconds passed before David Cottingham’s AC Ace came through. David was leading a wonderful train of cars, being closely followed by David Alexander’s recovering Lotus Elite, Justin Beckett’s AC Ace, Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon, George Foordy’s Elva Courier, Tania Pilkington (LECo) and Michael Berry in his Austin Healey 100M, all 7 cars covered by just 2 seconds. The Alexander Elite was, of course, passing through, endeavouring to get back to the front. Three seconds behind another line of cars, covering 19th to 22nd came through, Richard Thorne (Morgan +4) leading Ian Beattie (XK120), Michael Scott (FNLMR) and Martin Stowe in his MGA Coupe. Another short pause and Chris Bates (Jowett Jupiter) came across the line with Gareth Evans (Sunbeam Alpine) in tow, an epic battle that had already been raging for 4 laps and was to continue for some laps to come; it was probably the best dice of the race.

A smart green Austin Healey then suddenly appeared as Rory Tollett charged across the line for the first time, 3 laps down following his late entry to the race! Behind in 25th position came Peter Bower in his MGA, 6 seconds ahead of another fine line of cars lead by Mark Shears (Morgan Flat Rad), George Frankel (Alfa Romeo), Andrew Mitchell (Lotus Elite), Stuart Dean (MG DJS), Mark Morgan (Ginetta G4), Alex Hearden (Maserati), and Jeremy Woods in the Triumph Italia. Just off the back of this group, Leigh Sebba’s Flat Rad Morgan was in 32nd place whilst still several seconds behind, but going quicker, Peter Baker’s DB2 was closing in.

Jonathan Abecassis had reduced the lead to Nick Taylor to under 3 seconds as Brian Arculus dived into the pits to take his mandatory stop in the Lotus Elite on lap 5. He was, as usual the first to do so and no-one else followed suit. George Passey’s AC Aceca had been the next car to be lapped and Simon Evans had a slow lap dropping him behind Mike Thorne’s Austin Healey 100M, now up to 7th. Chris Mann’s Alfa was well clear of Mark Hoble whilst David Alexander was still endeavouring to negotiate his way through a substantial line of cars and was now half a minute down on the leader. Behind there was plenty of dicing and Mark Shears and Stuart Dean lost places.  

The lead came down again on lap 6, now under 2.7 seconds and the Austin Healey was clearly just tracking the Kellison. The Tom Daniel Morgan was now up to 3rd following the Brian Arculus pit stop, Brian now heading back onto the  track to start his climb back towards the front. Sitting on the Morgan’s tail was Paul Pochciol’s Jaguar C - Type, with Matt Walton, a fine 5th in the AC Ace, 3 seconds away. Mike Thorne, off his natural pace for reasons already stated, was nevertheless in 6th place in the 100M albeit now some way behind the Ace but running 3 seconds ahead of the rumbling V8 Allard of Simon Evans with Chris Mann gamely holding on to Simon in the Disco Volante. David Alexander had finally extracted his Elite from the battling gaggle of cars to find himself in 9th with clear track ahead and now in a position to chase Chris down. Mark Hoble was in 10th battling with Dominic Spicer’s TR4, and similarly Justin Beckett and George Foordy were dicing together, although George’s Elva seemed to have the legs of the Ace. In 14th place, Andy Cox was leading Tania Pilkington (LECo), David Cottingham (AC  Ace) and Michael Berry (Austin Healey). These four made a fine sight circulating closely together for several laps. A few seconds behind, another group of cars were battling, Richard Thorne 18th, in his Morgan followed by Ian Beattie (XK120), Michael Scott (FNLR) and Martin Stowe in his MGA. There was plenty of dicing further down the field whilst George Frankel, only the second to do so, headed to the pits in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint.                     

Nick Taylor’s attempts to shake off Jonathan Abecassis ended in the proverbial tears when he overcooked it heading into Beckett’s for the seventh time, locked up the rear brakes and the Kellison spun. Jonathan duly took the lead in his Austin Healey, but such was the lead that these two had already opened up, and Nick having recovered quickly, he still came across the line in 2nd albeit now over 10 seconds behind. Other positions were relatively unchanged but with plenty of battling going on, both Leigh Sebba and David Alexander in Morgan and Lotus respectively headed for their mandatory stops. It was at this time that the already lapped Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans decided to break a wheel stud, causing the 3 remaining studs to loosen and damaging the wheel. Glenn Brackenridge was able to pull off safely without further damage. It was our first retirement.         

The Kellison was able to lap marginally more quickly that Jonathan Abecassis in the Austin Healey 100/4 so the gap started to close a little but Nick Taylor was now on the back foot and his spin, coupled with the longer pit stop that it would be required to take when handing over to owner, Richard Tyzack, meant that it would unlikely be a contender for outright victory. Paul Pochciol had opened up a small gap to the Tom Andrew Morgan and Matt Walton, absolutely flying in the AC Ace was pretty much on the tail of the Morgan. Mike Thorne was now on his own in 7th in in his Austin Healey 100M, but several seconds behind him, Simon Evans had his hands full, both of his Allard and a very racy Chris Mann in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante. Great dicing continued down the field, but David Cottingham had left the battle line to head his AC Ace to the pits in order to hand over to Adrian King. Their changeover was slow and probably cost several places at race end. Glenn Tollett continued to circulate in his Austin Healey, still 3 laps down as we headed into lap 9, at the end of which he pitted to hand over to Rory, where he found Tom Andrew and Andrew Mitchell in Morgan and Lotus about to head back into the race, having served their stops.  The Tollett stop was also pretty leisurely, but no doubt due to the fact that they were so far behind that any sense of urgency didn’t figure!

At the end of Lap 10, not halfway through the race, the Austin Healey led the Kellison by 8.9 seconds so Nick Taylor was making little headway, and it seemed that any challenge to Jonathan Abecassis would have to come from another quarter, although it was hard to see where, as his other main challenger, David Alexander had also spun. The Pochciol C-Type was going well in 3rd ahead of the Tom Andrew Morgan, but its lap times did not suggest it could mount a challenge and Brian Arculus, whilst lapping consistently fast in his Lotus Elite was not quite matching Jonathan’s pace. In any event, we wouldn’t know until all the pit stops had been undertaken. It was on this lap that the stops began in earnest. Seven cars took their stops – Alex Hearnden’s Maserati , Mark Shears (Morgan) handing over to Richard Plant, Peter Baker (Aston DB2), Stuart Dean (DJS Coupe), Christopher Mann (Disco Volante) and Ian Beattie (XK120).  Four of these were a lap down so stopping at the end of their lap 9.

 The pitlane was becoming busy and at the end of the leaders lap 11, four more cars headed for their stops, the first being the Kellison with Nick Taylor handing over to Richard Tyzack. We penalise this quick car by adding 15 seconds to its stop, but in truth Nick and Richard take a good 60 seconds to changeover anyway, and actually access the cockpit via a platform step! Others to join them in the pits were Mark Morgan (Ginetta G4), Mike Thorne (Austin Healey 100M) and George Foordy (Elva Courier). Three more pitted on lap 12 – Paul Pochciol (Jaguar C – type), Simon Evans (Allard J2X LM), and Dominic Spicer (TR4).  Simon’s stop was a tad longer than it could have been and maybe cost him a place at the end.

The leader, Jonathan Abecassis, was charging on in his 100/4, the car dancing through the bends, appearing to be on the edge with loads of small steering inputs, but it’s how Jonathan drives it and is obviously very effective. As he hadn’t yet pitted, there were at this stage only 8 other cars on the lead lap, the nearest, Tom Andrew in the Morgan +4 just under 20 seconds behind and the last, Michael Berry in his Austin Healey 100M, over a minute down but going well. 3 more cars pitted on the next lap – the MGA of Peter Bower, Justin Beckett’s AC Ace and the LECo piloted by Tania Pilkington. There were still 10 more cars to pit, so it would be awhile before everyone was back in their true race positions

Tom Andrew pitted his Morgan +4 on lap 14, and two more entered the pits shortly after – Mark Hoble (Morgan +4) and Jeremy Woods Triumph Italia, and on lap 15 Michael Scott (Frazer Nash LMR), Martin Stowe (MGA) and Gareth Evans in the synthetically fuelled Sunbeam Alpine. The lap charts tell me that at this point only the leader, was on the lead lap! Everyone else was variously down by between 1 and 5 laps. Richard Thorne who had been leading Class 4 trickled into the pits to retire with a sick sounding Morgan +4. It was our third retirement.  

There were just 3 cars left that hadn’t pitted but they were all to do so on the leaders lap 16. The lap chart for that lap, shows 55 entries for 34 remaining cars, but many of the cars appear twice, an idiosyncrasy of the system which occasionally crops up. Jonathan’s lead seemed unassailable and he did not lose it whilst pitted, his closest pursuers merely unlapping themselves. Michael Berry (Austin Healey) and, much later, Chris Bates pitted, the latter to hand the Jowett Jupiter to owner, Harry Naergar, after a fine combative run. We would shortly see, more accurately where everyone was placed on track.  

The completion of lap17 finally gave us a better indication of where everybody was. Jonathan Abecassis had a lead of almost 26 seconds in his Austin Healey from Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite with Tom Andrew, 3rd in the flying Morgan+4. David Alexander had emerged in 4th place. It had been a long haul back from his first lap spin, and he was now 5.5 seconds down on the Morgan, and lapping more quickly in his Elite but did he have time to catch and pass ii in the remaining laps? Paul Pochciol’s C-Type Jaguar was a comfortable 5th, 9 seconds ahead of Richard Tyzack in the Kellison, with Mike Thorne’s Austin Healey 100M a further 2.5 seconds behind. Over 11 seconds was to pass before George Foordy completed the lap in 8th place whilst Chris Mann was a couple more seconds behind in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante. Rounding out the top ten and the last car on the lead lap Mark Hoble was charging on, although a challenge from Tania Pilkington in the LECo was on the horizon.  Behind Tania, also 1 lap down were no less than 13 cars and whilst I can give their positions, the lap charts don’t give me the gaps, so it’s hard to know from them how much close racing was going on. Several cars were now 2 laps down and Glenn Tollett was 5 laps down on the leader, the late starting Austin Healey 100M now beginning to slow.    

Through laps 18 – 20, Jonathan continued to build his lead to Brian Arculus, whilst the gap from Brian back to Tom Andrew fluctuated only slightly at around 3 seconds. In the meantime, David Alexander had gradually closed in on the Morgan and arrived on its tail at the end of lap 20. Paul Pochciol’s C-type was 5th, 8 seconds behind David but 7 seconds ahead of Richard Tyzack in the Kellison. Mike Thorne was another 5 seconds down, and 8th was George Fordy, leading class 2 in his Elva Courier, followed at a short distance by Chris Mann’s Disco Volante. We therefore had just 9 cars on the lead lap and with the exception of the dice brewing up between Tom Andrew in the Morgan and David Alexander in the Elite for the last podium position, these positions looked set.

10th was Mark Hoble in his Morgan +4 but his place was under threat from the fast closing Tania Pilkington getting ever quicker as she got to grips with the LECo. Simon Evans was next up in the Allard, and then came Dominic Spicer and Justin Beckett, in TR4 and AC Ace respectively, closely matched and dicing for 13th position. Adrian King, hero of last year’s wet weather race was putting in some good times in the Ace and taking chunks of time out of the 3 cars ahead. Michael Berry was 16th in his Austin Healey 100M and Andrew Cox was embroiled in a battle with Ian Beattie’s XK120, and this one would go to the flag. Martin Stowe was 19th and comfortably leading Class 4 now that Richard Thorne had retired. Michael Scott was going a little quicker than Martin, in his Frazer Nash LMR and looked as though he might catch the MGA before the end but as a class 2 car was no threat to Martin’s class position. The Frazer Nash was the last of the cars only 1 lap down.

In 21st place, 2 laps down was Gareth Evans in the Sunbeam Alpine but he was being rapidly caught by a gaggle of 3 cars – Andrew Mitchell (Lotus Elite), Richard Plant and James Bellinger, very closely matched in the brace of flat rad Morgan +4s. In 25th George Frankel, in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint was also going a bit faster than the Sunbeam Alpine but had some ground to make up. Alex Hearnden’s Maserati was 26th but had Mark Morgan’s little Ginetta bearing down on him, if laps times were anything to go by, and they were both pulling clear of Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter in 28th. Peter Bower, going well in his MGA considering he has not had much seat time in the car was closing on the Jowett and pulling away from Jeremy Woods in the Triumph Italia. George Passey, not entirely happy with his suspension settings on the road going AC Aceca was 4 laps down in 31st position which was about to become last place as the Tollett Austin Healey headed for the pits for last time trailing white smoke. It had been an uphill battle to keep the car going after its late start. Short on gears and overheating, it looks as though much more work is required to make that car both fast and reliable. After 19 laps, James Bellinger brought Leigh Sebba’s the flat rad Morgan + 4 in to retire with a flat battery. Apparently, the electric fan was cutting in too early. Dominic Spicer also retired his TR4 after 22 lap completed, making 5 retirements in all for the race.

Had David Alexander not spun his Lotus Elite on lap 1, Jonathan might have had to work harder but he turned down the wick just a little over the remaining laps. He had just over a  half minute lead, and at the end of lap 24, he took the flag, in his  Austin Healey 100/4, 32 seconds ahead of the Lotus Elite of Brian Arculus. Brian had kept the Tom Andrew Morgan +4 at arms length over the last few laps, and it was more likely that Tom was concentrating on his rear view mirror, which was full of the David Alexander Elite. This was great dice, David even getting ahead on lap 22 but Tom fought back, and the fact that they were also amongst backmarkers complicated matters. It was a case of what might have been for David and he had to be satisfied with 4th just 8 tenths behind the Morgan. Paul Pochciol brought his Jaguar C-type home in 5th but he was so nearly caught by Richard Tyzack, who finished just over one second behind in the Kellison. This was a very good drive by Richard. Whilst he can’t quite match Nick Taylor’s pace, it was probably Nick’s first stint spin that meant the difference between 5th and 6th. Mike Thorne’s 7th place, just 5 seconds back was an excellent result considering the lack of overdrive, and another excellent drive was that of George Fordy, taking 8th and first in Class 2. Chris Mann took 9th in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, over 45 seconds behind the Elva but this did not reflect the true gap as he is recorded as having pitted at the end of the lap and therefore took the flag in the pitlane which must have cost him many seconds. He was the last to complete the full 24 laps.        

Tania Pilkington took a very good 10th, in the LECo, having worked her way passed Mark Hoble’s Morgan +4 a lap from the end. Mark was 11th just over 3 seconds behind, with Simon Evans, in the Allard, a further 7 seconds back in 12th.   On his best lap times, Simon should probably have finished higher. He was chased home by Adrian King, who had been closing the Allard down during the final laps, in David Cottingham’s AC Ace and just 4 seconds back in 14th place, Justin Beckett brought the sister Ace home. Mike Berry finished a pretty lonely 15th, although he had had plenty of company along the way, in his Austin Healey 100M, 14 seconds down on Justin but 8 seconds ahead of Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon. Andy still had Ian Beattie’s XK120 for company as they crossed the finishing line and they were the last to have completed 23 laps.   

Still, they kept coming across the line. Martin Stowe, on 22 laps came across the line in 18th, taking Class 4 and having held off the slightly faster Frazer Nash LMR of Michael Scott who finished just 6 tenths behind. Andrew Mitchell, who will get quicker in his Lotus Elite, finished 20th just ahead of Richard Plant in Mark Shears Flat Rad Morgan +4. 3.5 seconds later George Frankel brought the lovely little Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint home in 22nd with Gareth Evans next up in the Sunbeam Alpine. Alex Hearnden brought big special bodied Maserati 3500GT into 24th just holding off Peter Baker’s Aston Martin DB2 which had spent the whole race making up ground following his pitlane start. Peter, would surely have finished several places higher but for that start. Peter Bower was 26th in his MGA, just 4 seconds ahead of the Ginetta G4 of  Mark Morgan, and Mark was the last to complete 22 laps.         

Such was the quality of this large field that 4 fabulous cars completed the list of finishers. On 21 laps Jeremy Woods brought the very rare Triumph Italia 2000 home in 28th place just scraping in ahead of Harry Naergar’s wonderful sounding Jowett Jupiter. A little further back, Stuart Dean came home in the MG Dick Jacobs Special. This great looking car, actually sits on an old MG YB Saloon chassis and I’ve always had a particularly soft spot for this car. The final classified finisher was George Passy’s very handsome AC Aceca, a car that George drives regularly on the road.

This really was a stunning display of great FISCAR cars and despite the fairly crowded track, the driving was exemplary. My son, Kevin, who some of you may know is Chief Editor at Autosport has witnessed hundreds of races at all levels, including many historics. He watched with me at Woodcote and commented that he thought it was probably the best behaved and gentlemanly race that he had ever witnessed. Thank you to all our members who contributed to this great spectacle and it’s a great shame that there were not more spectators to witness it.

 Photo Gallery

A few shots taken of pit stops during practice:-

Some great shots of Qualifying by Mick Walker:-

Qualifying shots from Peter Mallett, Tripos Media

Race shots

The following by JT until advised otherwise. All these shots taken precariously from a set of steps on the outside of Woodcote over the ever higher catch fencing!

Race Photos from Peter Mallett, Tripos Media

The following Race shots by Mick Walker until otherwise stated

Tailpieces

All the remaining photographs below by Mick Walker