Preamble 

Season’s end and another trip to Castle Combe, the circuit that many regard as the most technically challenging on our calendar. It would be fair to say that our entry was again a bit lower than hoped for but it would not be entirely correct to say that this was as a result of the tighter application of our existing regs. Reviewing other historic series, it is clear that a downturn of entries across the board has been experienced and in that context, FISCAR entries have stood up well. We had a reasonable 24 entries for this race, but unfortunately withdrawals from Michael Scott (Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica), Benn Faulkner (Bristol 450), Gareth Evans (Sunbeam Alpine) and Morgan Cleasby (Lotus Elite), reduced the number on the day to 20. It was nonetheless, yet another lovely mix of cars and they certainly put on a great show as we will see.

Qualifying

It was probably no surprise that a pair of Lotus Elites occupied the front row. Andrew Mitchell, sharing with Mark Morgan, put his Elite on pole in a time of 1.26.140, the surprise was that it was so far ahead of Brian Arculus’s time of 1.28.233. Apart from the fact that Andrew has been going quicker this year anyway, Castle Combe is his home circuit and he has also received a fair amount of tuition from ARDS instructor, Richard Fores (with whom I later watched the race!). Another surprise was the fact that Jonny Shears placed the Flat Rad Morgan +4, 3rd on the grid in a time of 1.28.535, ahead of Tania Pilkington’s Maserati 300S. I couldn’t help thinking that both Brian and Tania would up their game for the race.

Conrad Bos was an excellent 5th on the grid with a time of 1.29.025 in his MGA, which he was sharing with Mark Ellis, whilst Neil Burnside had his Twin Cam version alongside in 1.29.266. Justin Beckett, still getting to grips with his C-type Jaguar was 7th on 1.29.898, and he was sharing an all sports racer row with Chris Mann on a 1.29.912 in his Alfa Romeo 6C Disco Volante. As you can see, there were some close times here which boded well for the race.

Nigel Winchester, sharing with Jamie Mason, was 9th in Nigel’s Lotus 7 on 1.30.485 and Mark Hoble was 10th in his Morgan +4 on a time of 1.30.727, his time no indication of how he would go in the race. Barry Dye was 11th in his Lotus Elite with a time of 1.32.356 sharing row 6 with Jeremy Woods in his Triumph Italia on a time of 1.32.592. Although, Peter Baker was entered to drive his DB2, it was his son, Guy, and a Mr May (apologies first name not known) who qualified the car 13th, with a time of 1.33.508. Peter had decided to concentrate on driving his splendid ex Gerry Marshall DB4 lightweight, an altogether quicker and trickier beast, in races 4 & 7. I thought Peter Bower’s time of 1.35.660 in his MGA Twin Cam was a good effort in a car that he is still finding his feet with, and it placed him ahead of a few cars, one or two of which had untypically slow times.

On row 8, David Parry had qualified his Lotus Elite in a time of 1.36.150. It is important to note that this car is not to the same spec as the Elites ahead of him on the grid. Andy Cox was alongside David, in his Triumph TR3 Falcon, a car that always brings a smile to my face, with a time of 1.37.566. Mark Campbell was next up in his ex Le Mans Aston Martin DB2 with a time of 1.38.370, and, rather surprisingly, making it an all Feltham 9th row was the DB2/4 of Tim Stamper on 1.39.247, normally much quicker but using practice to run in a new engine! Completing the grid, on row 10, was Steve Ward in his Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica on 1.41.202 and the returning Tolletts in their Austin Healey 100M, clearly still not right with a time of 1.45.769.     

Race

A lovely eclectic mix of 20 cars took to the track for FISCAR’s final race of the season. It was dry and clear although some of the grid was briefly obscured by rubber smoke as Poleman, Andrew Mitchell applied too much welly to his Lotus Elite and Brian Arculus briefly edged ahead. Andrew nevertheless had the inside line through Folly and held onto the lead, from Chris Mann, who is making a habit of superb starts, grabbing 2nd from his 8th place starting position in the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, whilst Brian slotted into 3rd.  As they headed up Avon Rise, Chris was almost alongside Andrew but as he was on the outside line, decided that discretion was the better part of valour and backed out as they entered Quarry. The rest of the field streamed into and out of Quarry without drama towards the Esses and out of sight of the startline although there were plenty of spectators around the circuit to witness their progress. The pack headed through Old Paddock, Howard’s Way and into Gooches where it can be easy to miss your braking point with the low Autumn sun shining straight into your eyes. All safely negotiated and straight into Bobbies and Westway, the cars came back into view down Dean Straight and into Camp before crossing the line to complete the first lap. Andrew Mitchell had already built a small gap of 1.5 seconds to Chris Mann’s Alfa with Brian Arculus tucked in behind and challenging for second place. Mark Shears, as usual, in a place where I always think he shouldn’t be, was 4th and 1.5 seconds clear of Justin Beckett’s Jaguar C-type who had Conrad Bos all over the back of him in the MGA. Justin must be getting used to being buzzed by these products from Abingdon.  These two were 2 seconds clear of Nigel Winchester in the little Lotus 7, with Tania Pilkington down in 8th in the Maserati, having dropped 4 places but unlikely to stay there. The rest of the field streamed across the start finish line – a wonderful sight – and at this point Mark Hoble was down in 11th in his Morgan.

Andrew Mitchell extended his lead to almost 2.5 seconds at the end of lap 2 but Brian Arculus had passed Chris Mann to take 2nd place. Brian proceeded to eat into Andrew’s lead so that by the end of lap 3, the gap between the two Elites had been halved to 1.2 seconds. Chris Mann still had the fast starting Alfa Romeo in 3rd but was being harried by Jonny Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan. Justin Beckett was holding onto 5th and Conrad Bos was 6th in his MGA. A couple of seconds behind, Nigel Winchester’s Lotus 7 was 7th, clear of Tania Pilkington by over 2.5 seconds. Tania was sensibly taking her time to get up to speed in the Maserati on this unfamiliar track. Barry Dye was 9th in his Lotus Elite and the top 10 was completed by Tim Stamper in the Aston Martin DB2/4. All the positions behind remained unchanged with the exception of Glen Tollett in the Austin Healey who had moved up one place, but his lap times were way off where they should have been, albeit a good bit quicker than the qualifying time.  

On lap 4, Brian Arculus closed right up to the back of Andrew Mitchell’s Elite but then dived into the pits for his mandatory stop. There were no other changes of position other than that created by the Tollett Austin Healey which also headed for the pits. It was already beginning to sound a bit rough, but Glen handed over to Rory and the car returned to the track. Andrew Mitchell retained his lead and at the end of lap 5 was over 13 seconds clear of new second placed man, Chris Mann, the Disco Volante managing to stay ahead of the C – Type Jaguar of Justin Beckett who had squeezed by Jonny Shears in the Morgan.  Conrad Bos was also holding onto to this group so that all 4 cars were covered 1.5 seconds – a great dice. Jeremy Woods took the Italia into the pits for his stop.

Justin Beckett grabbed second place from Chris Mann on lap 6 but by this time Andrew Mitchell had his Lotus Elite down the road to the tune of almost 15 seconds and lapping quicker. Tania Pilkington had not made much forward progress at this stage and headed the Maserati to the pits for her stop. Andy Cox and David Parry in TR3 Falcon and Lotus Elite respectively also pitted on this lap.

Through laps 7 & 8, Andrew continued to extend his lead and it was now up to over 19 seconds to Justin’s C-Type and several lapped cars now lay between them. Conrad Bos was up to 3rd in his MGA, Jonny Shears 4th in the Flat Rad Morgan and Nigel Winchester 5th, as Chris Mann took the Disco Volante into the pits. Mark Hoble was now up to 7th in his Morgan, a second and a half ahead of Neil Burnside’s Twin Cam MGA. Barry Dye (lotus Elite) and Tim Stamper(Aston DB2/4) took to the pits and of the others, only Peter Bower (MGA Twin Cam) and the recovering Brian Arculus were on the lead lap, but, of course, at least half the field had yet to pit.   

Justin Beckett took to the pits on lap 9, so Andrew Mitchell’s lead was now 24.5 seconds to new second place man, Conrad Bos going exceptionally well in the MGA roadster just ahead of an equally impressive Jonny Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan. Nigel Winchester followed Justin into the pits to hand over to Mason, and a little while later Mark Hoble also pitted his Morgan +4. Last driver on the lead lap was Brian Arculus, now up to 8th in his Lotus Elite but still not lapping quite as quickly as Andrew Mitchell in the leading Lotus. Brian had started to hear an ‘ominous noise from the left rear when powering out of right hand corners – felt like a hub bearing or UJ on the drive shaft. The only way to mitigate it was to take a gentler exit line on faster bends which, of course compromised exit speeds.’  Little changed through lap 10 but both Neil Burnside (MGA Twin Cam) and the Baker DB2 pitted and Andrew Mitchell pressed on to build as a big a lead as possible before handing over the Elite to Mark Morgan.

Andrew Mitchell continued to extend his lead and by the end of lap 11, it was over 30 seconds to Jonny Shears who had taken over 2nd place when Conrad Bos pitted his MGA roadster. At this point Brian Arculus was up to 4th in his Lotus Elite albeit just under 1 minute 27 seconds behind the leader and these 4 were now the only cars on the lead lap. Unfortunately, Conrad was not to return to the track as upon entering the pits, the bonnet went up and after some inspection the car was pushed away into retirement. Meanwhile, Andrew Mitchell had entered the pit at the end of lap 12. He had stayed out in an effort to build up a cushion to Brian that might enable his Co-driver, Mark Morgan to defend the lead. Mark was never going to be able to match the owner’s time at Combe and, in fact Andrew had already put in what turned out to the fastest race lap which Brian didn’t quite match.

Jonny Shears also pitted the Flat Rad Morgan on lap 12 and he was followed in by the lapped Steve Ward Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica. Only Peter Bower was yet to take his pit stop.   

At the end of lap 13, Mark Morgan had a 10.2 second lead over Brian Arculus, the Lotus Elite pair in a race of their own but at the end of lap 14 whilst Mark was still getting acclimatised, Brian had carved into that lead which was now down to 6.1 seconds. Behind, Justin Beckett, undoubtedly having his best race so far in the Jaguar C -Type, was in a comfortable 3rd position, unable to challenge the leaders but 12 seconds clear of what was brewing up to be a great battle for 4th between Tania Pilkington (Maserati), Jamie Mason (Lotus 7), the charging Mark Hoble (Morgan +4), Mark Shears (Morgan +4 Flat Rad) and Neil Burnside (MGA Twin Cam) with Barry Dye in his Lotus Elite tantalisingly close to joining them. Tim Stamper wasn’t that far away from them either, 10th in his Aston Martin DB2/4. The last mandatory pit stop had been taken by Peter Bower in his MGA Twin Cam, and with all the stops now taken and most cars up to speed, we now had 11 cars back on the lead lap, the last of these being Chris Mann in the Disco Volante. After fighting a losing battle with the recalcitrant Austin Healey, Rory Tollett pulled into the pits to retire, the misfire exacerbated by overheating.  There was to be a fair bit more action over the final 5 laps.     

Brian Arculus was just half a second down on Mark Morgan at the end of lap 15, and during the course of the next lap took the lead, Mark simply unable to resist and as they started their 17th lap, Brian had established a 2.3 second lead. Behind this, the race for 4th behind Justin Beckett, continued to hot up, the main mover in this group being Mark Hoble in his Morgan +4, now leading the charge towards the 4th placed Maserati of Tania Pilkington. a couple of seconds behind Mark, the Winchester/Mason Lotus 7, Marrk Shears Flat Rad Morgan and Neil Burnside were tied together, less than half a second separating the 3, all the placings from 4th to 8th still in doubt. Barry Dye had dropped away from the group, having to concentrate on holding off Tim Stamper’s Aston. Unfortunately, Andy Cox had to trickle the TR3 Falcon into the pits to retire with what appeared to be a front nearside top suspension failure. 11 cars remained on the lead lap.        

By the end of lap 17, Brian had increased his lead to 3.8 seconds to Mark, and Justin held a very comfortable 3rd place in the C-type Jaguar whilst behind in 4th place, Tania Pilkington was coming under increasing pressure from Mark Hoble in the Morgan +4, and Mark Shears, Jamie Mason and Neil Burnside, running closely together were still within striking range. As Mark Morgan stabilised the gap to Brian with his personal best lap of the race, there was drama behind as Justin Beckett’s fine run to 3rd came to and end when starting lap 18 expensive noises and smoke from the engine forced him to pull the C type off the track at the top of Avon Rise. It was a disappointing blow for Justin, as it was undoubtedly his best run in the car to date. It meant of course that the battle for 4th had instantly become one for 3rd and this position was now in the hands of Mark Hoble as he had somehow got alongside the Maserati through Folly and held on heading into Quarry. This battle had marginally slowed the two cars sufficiently for Mark Shears (Flat Rad), Jamie Mason (Lotus 7) and Neil Burnside (MGA Twin Cam) to close in and as they headed into the final lap the 5 cars were covered by 1.5 seconds.

Brian Arculus took the flag just 3.6 seconds ahead of Mark Morgan, the two Lotus Elites finishing over 20 seconds ahead of the 3rd place skirmish, which was headed by a beaming Mark Hoble. From being midfield for most of the first half of the race, Mark had put his head down and simply gone for it. It was the best race I’d seen from him in all the years he’s raced with FISCAR, and I think he felt the same and pointed out that it was his first podium place for many years. Tania Pilkington held onto 4th in the Maserati, just keeping Mark Shears at bay but behind there was another change of place as Neil Burnside grabbed 6th from Jamie Mason on the last lap. Still only 2 seconds covered the 5 cars at the flag and they had put on a superb show for the spectators. Some 8 seconds away, Barry Dye took 8th place in his Lotus Elite but Tim Stamper had closed him down in the final laps and finished just half a second down in his Aston Martin DB2/4. Chris Mann finished 10th in the splendid Disco Volante although looking at his lap times suggests he should probably have been in the mix a bit higher up. A glance at his pit stop time identifies some of that loss, however, although it was nothing like as bad as the time lost by Mark Shears in his stop!

11th and one lap down was Jeremy Woods in the Triumph Italia, although this had been a good race from Jeremy and he had only been lapped right at the end and was fully 21 seconds ahead of David Parry who was only too pleased to have finished in his Lotus Elite. Peter Bower was 13th in his MGA Twin Cam, Steve Ward 14th in his Frazer Nash LMR, Mark Campbell was 15th in his DB2 having been delayed in the pit by an additional 40 seconds after yet another discussion with officials about his smoke trail. In fact it is a minor oil leak dripping onto the exhaust but hopefully it will be fixed during the winter. The May/Guy Baker DB2 was last of the finishers and as has been noted, we had 4 retirements.            

Gallery

Qualifying

Race

More photos to follow.