BDC Silverstone 2025

 Preamble

The BDC’s annual Silverstone race meeting always carries an extra appeal due to its 1960s old school style club ambience, at which our members and their cars feel at home. Last year we had an enormous entry of 40 cars reduced to 37 on the day, so it was a big field to live up to this year. Shortly before closing date we had entries in the mid twenties, adequate but not brilliant. However, a late flurry brought the total up to 33, every bit as good as last year bearing in mind that, unlike last year we had, with one special exception, no invitation cars. The exception was Paul Woolmer’s red Elva Courier, JHC 292, which had not been raced for many years, and was in as a one off guest car – see the Tale of Two Elvas in the ‘NEWS’ section of this website.

There were a number of new cars/members entered. Conrad Bos brought his MGA along and was to share the drive with Mark Ellis, who we know is quick. Edward Crossley brought along his Jowett Jupiter, fresh from the Le Mans Classic and looking a very well prepared entry. Jonathan Lupton brought along VMF 65,  one of the famous ex works Aston Martin DB2s and Steve Ward had entered his Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica.

There were a whole bunch of returnees entered. George Fordy in his Elva Courier, Andy Shepherd in his AC Ace Bristol, Mark and Jonny Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan +4, Chris Woodgate in the late Jon Gross Aston Martin DB Mk111, Richard Thorne in his Morgan +4, Peter Blanchett in what I believe to be a one-off drive in the RGS Atalanta, and Mark Campbell in his ex Privateer Le Mans DB2. None of these had raced with us this season and some for a lot longer than that. It was also good to see that David Cottingham was down to drive his Ferrari 500TRC, whilst also entering his AC Ace Bristol for Adrian King to drive.  All in all this was a fantastic and diverse entry.

Qualifying

Richard Woolmer duly put the Elva Courier on pole in a time of 1.13.742 but a very fine second was Tania Pilkington in Alex Quattlebaum’s LECo, in 1.14.192. Adrian King and George Fordy shared the second row on times of 1.14.486 and 1.14.718 in AC Ace Bristol and Elva Courier respectively.  Brian Arculus was 5th on 1.14.778 in his Lotus Elite with Christopher Mann alongside on an excellent 1.14.821 in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, so only 7 tenths covered 2nd to 6th qualifiers which promised close racing. The Conrad Bos/Mark Ellis MGA was next up on a 1.15.349 with Paul Woolmer’s guest Elva Courier 8th in 1.16.142. The fifth row was occupied by David Cottingham in the fabulous Ferrari 500TRC in a time of 1.16.461 with Matt Walton’s ex Tim Pearce AC Ace Bristol alongside in 1.16.508.

Mark Daniell qualified 11th in a time of 1.16.852 in his MGA Twin Cam whilst Tim Stamper was quickest of the Aston Martins, qualifying 12th on a 1.17.646 in his DB2/4 still showing it’s battle scars from its Silverstone inversion a few years back. The returning Andy Shepherd was 13th in his AC Ace Bristol in a time of 1.17.765 sharing row 7 with Neil Burnside’s MGA Twin Cam on 1.17.789. Barry Dye was 15th on a 1.17.797, much happier with his pace here than at Thruxton having spent Friday testing his Lotus Elite. George Daniell was 16th in the third of the MGA Twin Cams.  Nigel Winchester, sharing with Jonathan Cobb posted a 1.18.144 in his lovely little Lotus 7 and, rather surprisingly had Edward Crossley’s Jowett Jupiter alongside, just a tad slower on an excellent 1.18.151. Ed Shah’s Elva Courier qualified 19th in a time of 1.18.540 sharing row 10 with Mark and Jonny Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan plus 4  on 1.18.851.      

Michael Scott in the first of the Frazer Nash LMRs qualified 21st with a time of 1.18.985, sharing row 11 with Chris Woodgate in that historic BRG Aston Martin DB MkIII mentioned earlier, on a 1.19.372. Next up Richard Thorne put in a time of 1.19.421 and had Richard Lupton’s ex works Aston DB2 alongside on 1.20.466. Jeremy Woods and Peter Blanchett occupied row 13 in times of 1.20.527 and 1.20.561 in Triumph Italia and RGS Atalanta respectively, whilst the next row contained the Ward Frazer Nash LMR on 1.21.663 and Andrew Cox in the Triumph TR3 Falcon on a 1.21.794. Qualifying 29th in the second of the Aston DB MkIIIs was Simon Jefferies on 1.21.939 with Gareth Evans, next up on 1.22.340 in the Sunbeam Alpine, a little down on where I expected him to be compared to his Spring Start time. Gareth reports a gradual loss of power during te season which clearly requires investigation.  On the final row, sat two lovely early GT fastbacks – Stuart Dean’s MG Dick Jacobs Special with a time of 1.24.557 and Mark Campbell’s Aston DB2 on 1.27.130 Mark short of seat time and he would go quicker in the race.

There should have been 33 cars in qualifying but Michael Berry’s Austin Healey 100M was sitting in one of the garages being worked on by the Woolmer Classics team. Paul reports that ‘the clutch cover diaphragm broke on Michael’s car in the first qualifying for the VSCC sports car race. One of the team drove back to the workshop while the rest removed the interior & gearbox. We only missed having it ready for FISCAR qualifying by about 20 mins’ . The car was allowed to start from the back of the grid.

Three that didn’t make it onto the race grid were Matt Walton’s AC Ace (cause unknown), Neil Burnside’s MGA Twin Cam (valve train problems) and Barry Dye’s Lotus Elite which started to emit potentially expensive mechanical noises during qualifying. We still had an excellent grid of 30 cars taking the start.  Richard Tyzack, coming out of his brief retirement was down to share Simon Jefferies Aston Martin DB MkIII but was unable to take up Simon’s offer, as he simply couldn’t fit comfortably behind the steering wheel. The car is, of course set up for the very slim Simon. Paul Woolmer’s ‘guest’ Elva had cracked a rear hub in practice but this was welded up and everything was crossed in the hope that it would last the race.

Race  

A lovely grid in pleasant sunshine lined up in qualifying order in two rows in the holding area close to the BRDC stands. These stands were so packed that one of the officiating marshals took pity on this old bloke with a crutch!, along with my son and grandson and directed us to the adjacent building where we were able to view from one of the balconies where as you can see, I was able to grab some shots of our great cars.

As the lights went out, Richard Woolmer made a good start from pole but behind, the 3rd row overwhelmed the second row, as both Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite got up alongside Adrian King in the AC Ace and Chris Mann, emulating his great start at Thruxton, charged the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante between Adrian and George Fordy’s Elva Courier so that we briefly had 4 abreast heading into Copse behind Tania Pilkington who had held onto her 2nd placed grid position. She was not to stay there for long, for whilst Brian, sensibly cautious, stayed wide with 3 cars inside him, Chris pressed home his momentum which took him ahead of Tania to take second behind Richard’s Elva as they exited the corner. It was already getting exciting and more was to come, as the rest of this wonderful field streamed through Copse and disappeared from view.

Chris Mann was not yet done and as the cars came into view, almost en masse under the bridge, he had the lead, hurtling the Alfa into Brooklands, a magnificent sight. He was followed closely by Richard Woolmer’s Elva, Brian Arculus up to 3rd in the Lotus Elite, Tania Pilkington in the LECo, George Fordy’s Elva, the Conrad Bos MGA and Paul Woolmer’s Elva. It was even busier behind and got very crowded into Brooklands and at one point with a case of 3 into 1 won’t go, Ed Shah so very nearly lost it as he grazed the rear of Jonathan Lupton’s DB2 but somehow held the Elva superbly well to avoid any greater incident and all the following cars got through safely.

Back at the front, the nimbler Elva retook the lead through the complex and headed across the line at the end of lap 1 less than 3 tenths ahead of the Alfa with the following few positions unchanged. The first 5 cars were covered by 2.1 seconds but even this was to narrow over the following laps. Ed Shah had obviously lost momentum and, no doubt a little chastened, took his time to recover speed and ended the lap down in 27th place, a couple of seconds clear of the dicing duo of Mark Shears, his Flat rad Morgan already plagued with the electrical gremlins first identified in practice and Stuart Dean’s DJS Coupe. Slightly detached at the rear came Mark Campbell, just pleased to be back in his DB2 after several years absence and shaking off the lack of seat time rust.           

As the field streamed down the Wellington Straight and under the two bridges, for the second time, the Disco Volante was back in front and was closely followed by the pack in a long line of squabbling cars. This time however, Chris Mann kept the lead as they crossed the line, just ahead of the ever present Elva of Richard Woolmer, Brian Arculus (Lotus Elite), Adrian King (AC Ace), Tania Pilkington (LECo), Conrad Bos (MGA), Tim Stamper up to a splendid 7th in his Aston Martin DB2/4, Mark Daniell (MGA Twin Cam), David Cottingham (Ferrari 500TRC) and completing the top 10, George Fordy in his blue Elva Courier. In 11th place just behind his customer, was Paul Woolmer’s Elva, Paul having had a slowish lap and dropping several places, but just 7.7 seconds covered the top 11, and they were putting on a great show. Michael Scott was going very well in his Frazer Nash LMR in 12th and was one of the few cars that had breathing space both in front and behind, whilst Richard Thorne had gained a couple of places, up to 13th in his Morgan Plus 4. Edward Crossley was 14th in the Jowett Jupiter and up to 15th was the Winchester/Cobb Lotus 7 having made several places. An incredible stream of line astern cars followed the little Lotus over the line, but one, the AC Ace Bristol of Andy Shepherd headed for the pits with a sad repeat of his practice problem when the bottom hose again pulled off the radiator, leaving a trail of water behind it. Andy had no choice but to retire from the race. It was not the kindest of returns to the race track.  

The front continued to present a great spectacle as they hurtled into Brooklands for the third time, Richard was back in front into the complex and crossed the line in the lead but 1.8 seconds covered the first 5 as Alfa, Lotus Elite, AC Ace and LECo clung onto the metallic green Elva. I could imagine broad grins on the face of Richard, Chris, Brian, Adrian and Tania as they flashed across the line. It was certainly great fun to watch.  They had detached themselves slightly from Conrad Bos in the MGA but not by much and small gaps to Tim Stamper’s Aston and Mark Daniell’s MGA Twin Cam had also opened up. David Cottingham’s fabulous Ferrari was in 9th and had the Elvas of Paul Woolmer and George Fordy, who had swapped places again, for close company. The trio had pulled away from Richard Thorne’s Morgan but Richard still had a line of cars lining up behind; it was really crowded in the midfield, and amongst them was Michael Berry’s Austin Healey 100M which had risen to 16th, having started from the back, and his lap times suggested that there was more to come from him. Following the demise of Andy Shepherd’s AC, everyone towards the back had moved up a place, but otherwise the positions in relation to each other remained unchanged. Stuart Dean still had the DJS Coupe ahead of the Shears Flat Rad Morgan which was clearly ailing.     

Over the next few laps, Richard Woolmer tended to cross the line first but was never short of company, Chris Mann’s Alfa staying particularly close but the first 5 was covered by less than 2 seconds and 6th placed Conrad Bos was only a further second behind. The scrap for the lead was reduced by one when Brian Arculus headed the Lotus Elite for the pits to take his mandatory stop at the end of lap 5. Tim Stamper still held a strong 7th place with Mark Daniell trailing him by a couple of seconds in his MGA Twin Cam. Behind Mark and now a full 7 seconds back, it was again all change in the Ferrari/Elva battle as Paul Woolmer had moved ahead of both George Fordy and David Cottingham, the Ferrari now the rather exotic meat in an Elva sandwich, with Michael Scott’s Frazer Nash increasingly looming large in their mirrors. Another 7 seconds back and the midfield battle was now led by Nigel Winchester’s Lotus 7 but he was about to be challenged by Mike Berry’s Austin Healey 100M which had gained another couple places and was now up to 14th.

The battle behind Michael Berry showed no signs of abating as Richard Thorne (Morgan +4), George Daniell (MGA Twin Cam), Chris Woodgate (Aston DB MKIII), Edward Crossley (Jowett Jupiter) and Peter Blanchett (RGS Atalanta) were involved in a dice every bit as engaging as that at the front. We were being spoilt for spectacle. Jonathan Lupton’s Aston Martin DB2 was only just off the back of this quintet, just a couple of seconds clear of Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon. Andy was 7 seconds to the good ahead of Jeremy Woods in the Triumph Italia, whilst Simon Jefferies took to the pits with his DB MKIII for his mandatory stop. There were small gaps opening up between the last few cars but Mark Shears gave up the unequal struggle with the electrics and pulled into the pits to retire the Morgan +4 Flat Rad and thus denied son, Jonny, his turn at the wheel.

Completion of lap 6 saw Chris Mann’s Alfa Romeo Disco Volante back at the front, but both he and Richard Woolmer had done slowish laps of over 1.17s whilst the four cars behind them all dipped into the 1.16s so that the top 5 were covered by just 1.4 seconds. This surely couldn’t last, and indeed at the end of lap 7, Chris took the Alfa into the pits for his stop at which point Adrian King took his turn at tailing the Woolmer Elva. George Daniell pitted his MGA Twin Cam as did Mark Campbell in his DB2, thereby going a lap down.

The Elva retained its lead at the end of lap 8 but by the incredibly small margin of just over 3 one hundredths of a second! Both had banged in laps in the 1.14 seconds range and it drew them a little clear of Tania Pilkington in the LECo who, in turn, had pulled a small gap out to Conrad Bos in the MGA. Tim Stamper was almost 5 seconds behind Conrad but in an impressive 5th place in his Aston DB2/4 whilst Mark Daniell headed to the pits for his stop, shortly followed by both Edward Crossley and Gareth Evans in Jowett Jupiter and Sunbeam Alpine respectively. The order was now beginning to become quite jumbled as the pitting phase started to make its impact and as the leaders completed lap 9, Richard Woolmer took to the pits in the Elva and was very closely followed in by the LECo and Tim Stamper’s Aston as the AC Ace Bristol of Adrian King howled over the line to take the lead.

Adrian’s lead was to be short-lived as he also pitted at the end of lap 10 and the Conrad Bos MGA became our new leader. Paul Woolmer pitted his Elva, as did Stuart Dean in his lovely DJS Coupe, the latter immediately going a lap down. Nigel Winchester also visited the pits to hand the pale blue Lotus 7 to Jonathan Cobb. By my reckoning, George Fordy was now second on the track in his Elva Courier followed by Mike Berry’s Austin Healey 100M. Less than half of the race had been completed and half of the field had yet to pit so plenty of action was yet to come. 

Conrad Bos kept the lead for several laps in his MGA whilst many others took their pit stops. On lap 11 the Ward/Ward Frazer Nash LMR pitted to change drivers, David Cottingham brought the Ferrari in for his stop, followed in by Michael Scott in the other FNLMR, Peter Blanchett in the RGS Atalanta and Jonathan Lupton’s Aston Martin DB2. The following lap saw George Fordy (Elva Courier), Chris Woodgate (Aston Martin DB MKIII) and Andy Cox in his Triumph TR3 Falcon all in the pits. The pitlane then went quiet for a while.  

On the track, the MGA still led at the end of lap 13, just under 19 seconds ahead of Mike Berry who had risen to 2nd but was also yet to take his stop. A further 35 seconds behind Mike, only two tenths separated the next 3 cars, the yet to stop Richard Thorne in his Morgan +4, Adrian King in the AC Ace and Richard Woolmer in the Elva renewing their battle and clearly heading back towards the front. Six seconds back in 6th place Tania Pilkington in the LECo led Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite by 3 seconds. The only other drivers still on the lead lap were Chris Mann in the Disco Volante and Ed Shah in his Elva Courier but, unlike Chris, Ed had yet to take his stop.

Richard Woolmer reassumed the lead at the end of lap 15, when both Conrad Bos pitted his MGA to hand over to Mark Ellis, and 10 seconds later, Mike Berry brought the Austin Healey 100M in for his stop. Ed Shah, a lap down, had also taken to the pits in his Elva Courier, and these 3 were the last, the pit phase finally completed, but it would take a while for the cars to re-establish their true positions on the track. At the front, Adrian King was 1.5 seconds behind Richard, in his AC Ace, and Tania Pilkington was 3rd a further 6 seconds down just over 4 seconds clear of Brian Arculius in the Lotus Elite. Chris Mann had the Alfa Romeo DV in 5th and looking at his time stationary in the pits, he probably lost about 4 seconds which was the gap to Brian ahead of him. Tim Stamper was still in a fine 6th place in the Aston Martin DB2/4 but had Paul Woolmer’s Elva Courier slowly closing on him. Mark Daniell was 8th, 10 seconds clear of George Fordy’s Elva Courier. There was no threat to George from behind as he was over 20 seconds clear of Jonathan Cobb in the Lotus 7. Jonathan was followed by 3 cars running very close together - David Cottingham (Ferrari), Michael Scott (FNLMR) and George Daniell (MGA Twin Cam). They were the last cars still on the lead lap.

Richard Woolmer had started to draw away from Adrian King but there was quite a lot of lapping going on at this stage, and the cars they were lapping were midfielders so not going a whole lot slower. They took a while to get through and it is possible that Adrian was held up a bit more than Richard. I noted that on one lap, Chris Mann came hurtling into Brooklands with a group of jostling cars ahead of him and he had to put two wheels on the grass on the outside to avoid them. He managed to keep the Alfa straight, all the time scrubbing off speed, and managed to take the turn very wide in the run off area and thus avoiding the gravel trap. Judging by his lap times, this was on lap 16, where he lost a couple of seconds!

At the end of lap 18, Andrew King suddenly appeared in the lead in the AC Ace having previously been almost 6 seconds down. He had put in a lap under 1.16 whereas Richard Woolmer, in the Elva, had posted a lap time of almost 1.22, some 7 seconds off his best. I can only assume that Richard had either had a ‘moment’, or got very badly baulked, or indeed, both, given the time lost! By the end of the next lap, he was back in the lead, Adrian having been 3 seconds slower than his previous lap and I can only put these variations in lap times down to careful negotiation of cars during lapping. Whilst all this was going on Brian Arculus had taken his Lotus Elite into 3rd place ahead of Tania Pilkington who had started to experience braking problems on the LECo which was costing her in the region of 2 – 3 seconds a laps. She was now vulnerable to Chris Mann’s Alfa Romeo which was closing fast. 12 seconds covered these first 5 after 19 laps of racing and they were well clear of Tim Stamper’s Aston Martin DB2/4 who now had Paul Woolmer’s Elva for very close company. Mark Ellis, in 8th in the MGA, was catching them both but had 10 seconds to make up with only 4 laps to go. Mark Daniel was a couple of seconds behind in his MGA Twin Cam and dropping away from Ellis, but several seconds clear of Mike Berry’s Austin Healey 100M and George Fordy’s Elva Courier which was slowly gaining on Mike. 12th and still on the lead lap was Jonathan Cobb in Nigel Winchester’s Lotus 7.

One lap down, in 13th lay David Cottingham’s Ferrari ahead of George Daniell’s MGA Twin Cam and Michael Scott’s Frazer Nash Le Man Replica. Strung out behind but without knowing the gaps between them were Richard Thorne (Morgan +4), the Crossley Jowett Jupiter, Chris Woodgate in the first of the Aston DB MkIIIs, and Peter Blanchett (RGS Atalanta). In 20th position, Andy Cox was circulating without challenge as the 3 cars ahead of him had just lapped him and the 3 behind were about to do the same. He was well clear however, of Simon Jefferies (DB MKIII), Ed Shah (Elva Courier), Jonathan Lupton (DB2), Jeremy Woods (Triumph Italia) and Gareth Evans in the Sunbeam Alpine. The Alpine has certainly lost a bit of its edge over the season as Gareth should surely have been higher up the order. Stuart Dean (DJS Coupe) and Mark Campbell (DB2) had now gone two laps down.  Final positions were not yet set.     

Over the closing laps, Richard Woolmer held a slender lead over Adrian King but the Elva couldn’t rest and took the flag 7 tenths clear of the AC Ace. Brian Arculus had been chipping away and came across the line just 4.2 seconds behind the pair, in the Lotus Elite. Chris Mann on the same pace as Brian had taken the Disco Volante passed the LECo of Tania Pilkington but completed the race over 7 seconds adrift of the Elite. Tania was 5th having adapted well to the brake problems to finish just a couple of seconds behind the Alfa. All 5 had entertained at the beginning and had continued to do so right to the end despite the intervention of the pit stops.

Quite some way behind, Tim Stamper, in the Aston Martin DB2/4 had held off the closing MGA of Mark Ellis to take 6th overall, and as the first Aston Martin home, won the Jon Gross Memorial Trophy, the first time this has been awarded for some years.  Paul Woolmer should have been in the mix here but on the penultimate lap, the rear hub had broken again, the welded repair so close to getting the car to the finish. Nevertheless, the aim of having the two Woolmer Elvas on the track together had been achieved and Paul will no doubt be able to provide the now very elderly Trace brothers with the photographic evidence.  

Mark Daniell was 8th in his MGA Twin Cam followed at some distance by George Fordy’s Elva Courier and Mike Berry who had a very slow last lap in the Austin Healey 100M dropping several seconds away from the Elva. 11th was the Winchester/Cobb Lotus 7 which had managed to stay on the lead lap. David Cottingham brought the lovely historic Ferrari home 12th, one lap down, clear of Mike Scott’s Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica. Mike had managed to pass George Daniell’s MGA Twin Cam on the penultimate lap. Richard Thorne’s Morgan +4 and the Crossley Jowett Jupiter battled until the end, finishing 15th and 16th respectively split by a mere 3 tenths of a second.

Chris Woodgate brought the ex Works Sebring DB MkIII, owned for many years by the late Jon Gross, home in 17th. Although he had not raced much, if at all, in recent years and driving the Aston was clearly quite a physical exercise, Chris’s experience was on display by his remarkably consistent lap times. Peter Blanchett was 18th in the RGS Atalanta. Andy Cox held onto 19th in the TR3 Falcon although he was being caught by the Elva of Ed Shah who had never really completely recovered from his first lap mishap, having taken several laps to get back up to full speed. Simon Jefferies and Jeremy Woods were 21st and 22nd in Aston Martin DB MkIII and Triumph Italia respectively, and were the last to be just 1 lap down. Full race results will appear below in due course.   

Photo gallery

The following shots from Paul Woolmer until otherwise stated

Qualifying

The following shots by Peter Mallett, Tripos Media, until otherwise stated

Race

All the following photos by Mick Walker unless otherwise stated

A few more shots of the pit stops from Pat Arculus, Tripos Media

More Race photos from the camera of Mick Walker

Tailpieces

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