FISCAR Inter-Marque

Thruxton Historics – 22 June, 2024

Preamble

The invitation, last year, from BARC to bring FISCAR back to Thruxton after a long absence, could not be refused. My only concern was whether we would get enough entries, and whether some of our members might be put off by the nature of what is the quickest circuit in the UK. Church, for example has quite a reputation! In the end we mustered 20 entries of which 18 eventually took the startline, and those who did so, loved it. It wasn’t really quite enough, but it was as big as most of the grids at the meeting and provided a great race at the front and an excellent variety of cars. Had we done enough to warrant inviting back? To their credit Thruxton invited us back pretty quickly, so we had plenty of notice this time. We would have to buy the grid again but although an increase on last year was anticipated, it was still more than reasonable, and provided that we could get 20 cars we would be able to peg the entry cost at the same level as last year. It was important, however, that this time we got more of our cars to the circuit and we needed to show that our superb entry level at Spring Start was no flash in the pan.  

In the end we had 26 entries for Thruxton, not quite on a par with Silverstone, but pretty good nonetheless. It’s never enough, of course, particularly when there is the inevitable element of attrition which impacts on the final grid, but this was really fabulous selection of cars.  I cannot imagine anyone not being impressed by both the quality and diversity of the grid.  

I will include all the cars under the Qualifying section, but should perhaps mention the one withdrawal the night before which reduced the entry to 25 cars. The ‘lost’ entry was again the Tollett Austin Healey 100M which was still not ready. Glenn and Rory turned up on foot with metaphoric tails between legs; Glenn was, at least, without crutches this time. I’m pretty sure that over the last couple of seasons we have seen more of Glenn and Rory ‘sans‘ car than ‘avec’ it and I was tempted to wind them up by saying that whilst it was always great to see them it would be even better if they came with a set of wheels to put on the track, so here’s hoping for BDC! Others to join us on foot were Alan House, Simon Jefferies and Richard Tyzack such is the pull of family FISCAR, and another welcome visitor was Rob Pennington who parked up his TVR Grantura Climax with us. He wishes to bring the car up to the latest safety regs required by MSUK in order to join us, and how I would love to see an early TVR on our FISCAR grids.

Qualifying

In reporting much of the detail of our races I rely heavily on the official time keeping documents. For most of our races, including this one, TSL Timing are the providers and they are invariably accurate and very reliable but it would be fair to say that they threw us a few curved balls on this occasion, both in qualifying and in the race!  

Initially, the timings informed us that the Ginetta  G4, driven by Mark Morgan and Andrew Mitchell was on pole in a time of around 1.18! This, however, would have put the car on pole by a couple of seconds for the HSCC Guards Trophy race later in the day! This anomalous time was later amended, and pole was actually taken by David Alexander in his Lotus Elite in an impressive 1.34.677, well clear of Jonathan Abecassis in his familiar left hooker Austin Healey 100/4 on a time of 1.37.163. I was hoping that this size of gap would not be a consistent factor during the race as an Alexander walkover would then have ensued!

David Reed, going really well qualified 3rd in his DB 2 but was not destined to take his place on the grid, as sadly a quite dramatic hub failure later sidelined him.  David’s time of 1.41.863 was almost matched by Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite on a 1.41.950. Fifth fastest was the invitation Gilbern GT, a bit of a surprise, but the time was made by the experienced David Smith sharing the drive with owner, Mary Bell. The Gilbern was previously owned by Mary’s brother the late Mike Bell, who is still much missed.

When all is going well with the RGS Atalanta, Peter Blanchett is very quick and he duly qualified this Class 3 car 6th in a time of 1.43.426. His pace is such that I have threatened a possible promotion to Class 2 for next season. The car has the same 1622cc MGA engine that the quicker Elva Couriers have and would still be competitive in the higher class. No doubt Peter would argue that the car is of older and heavier technology to the Elvas, so we’ll have to see but I’m sure that Mark Hoble, qualifying 7th in his Class 3 Morgan, on a 1.44.195 wouldn’t altogether be displeased!

Tristan Bradfield’s time of 1.45.251 in the Class 4 Sunbeam Alpine was outstanding, so much so that Richard Culverhouse suggested that the car had a supercharger. Not true, of course, but he was over 2 seconds clear of the next Class 4 contender. Qualifying 9th was Geoff Ottley’s lovely red Jaguar XK120 which he still drives to the circuit, races and then drives home again. It’s great to see Geoff back with us again.  His time was a 1.45.594 and completing the top 10, just a few hundredths slower was Reuben Jacob in his Morgan +4 on 1.45.607.  

Justin Beckett, one of our staunchest supporters, qualified the lovely AC Ace 11th on a 1.45.651, and 12th was the improving Ed Shah in his Elva Courier. Paul Mortimer has raced with us before but this was the first time with his Elva Courier GT, another great new shape to grace our grid, and his time of 1.46.799.put him one place behind the car’s open sibling! Gareth Evans qualified his Sunbeam Alpine, another new car to us, 14th on 1.47.364. Unfortunately, due to logistics, the car was not, as anticipated, running on synthetic fuel, a situation that Gareth hopes to rectify for our BDC, Silverstone race. Peter Baker’s beautifully presented Aston Martin DB2 qualified on a 1.48.2 and Martin Stowe a fine 16th in his Class 4 MGA on 1.49.747. Andrew Davenall, managed a 1.50.417 in his short qualifying run. His efforts came to a rapid conclusion however, when the Austin decided to shear a hub, setting a very poor example to David Reed’s Aston which clearly felt the need to follow suit (see earlier) shortly after. He was thus the second entry to fail to get to the race start. Andrew’s somewhat amusing account follows:-

‘I heard a rumbling in the left-hander in the complex, which disappeared on the right-handers but was disconcerting. Came back at the next left but louder, however as it sounded OK on the rights I thought, might be just a bearing, I’ll come into the pits. Then the big bang at the left hand kink on the back straight. (Rearcam shows my spacer pinging out so now all studs gone but bizarrely, it appears the wheel just bounces around in the arch). My thinking then was, don’t brake hard, guide the car off track once slowed in case fluid is coming out, and aim to park by the marshal’s post. What I hadn’t bargained on was somebody digging an anti-tank trench across the grass which I hit with a massive thump, and I think that’s when the wheel finally set off for the paddock without me – fortunately without crossing the track.

Marshals were great as always. Recovery driver was EXTREMELY thoughtful and careful. They did complain that I was nowhere near as spectacular as the shower of sparks coming from the DB2 minus NSF a few minutes later. (They did also say that they really liked FISCAR races because of the diversity of cars).’

Qualifying 18th was Andrew Cox in the Triumph TR3 Falcon on 1.53.053, except that he didn’t appear on the official qualifying sheet and therein lies another tale but more of that anon! Mark Shears qualified 19th in his Flat Rad Morgan +4, in a time of 1.53.691 and 20th came Jeremy Woods in the very rare Triumph Italia 2000, and the only one we know of that races, and, yes, it was another first for FISCAR!

Valerio Leone qualified the diminutive Elva Mk5 in 21st place on a 1.55.604, but I don’t think that was representative of his potential race pace as he seems to like to play himself in gently, which is fair enough. However, I have advised Valerio that next year, the car will be promoted to class 2 and that ultimately a car with this much potential should eventually be in Class 1. Mike Lamplough qualified his MG Magnette ‘Bumble’ in 22nd. I had asked Andrew Davenall to specifically find a suitable Magnette to join his Austin for just a couple of our races this year, so that we would have a pair of these modified saloons on our grid where spectator numbers are high (Thruxton and Castle Combe). The Magnette was very much a sports saloon in its day and so bridged the gap between sports car and saloon.  In period, mechanically similar to the MGA, this one has a FIA spec 1840cc MGB engine.

23rd on the grid, Mark Morgan and Andrew Mitchell assumed their more usual place on the grid in the pretty little invitation Ginetta G4, the exciting aberration of their alleged super pole time put firmly behind them. Their real qualifying time was 1.58.732, although surely that was now too slow and they would also go quicker in the race. Harry Naergar pedalled the super Jowett Jupiter round to record  a 2.09.891, way off the pace, but the Jowett with its flat 4 has the most fantastic sounding exhaust crackle. I’m sure Harry would have loved to see the Allard with which he diced at Spring Start back alongside him on the grid, but it was not to be. Finally, Glenn Brackenridge was unable to register a time as the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans incurred a puncture and was returned to our paddock area on the back of a truck, so Glenn’s first race of the day was to see if he could get a replacement in time for the real race!   

The outcome from qualifying was that we had two cars, the David Reed Aston DB2 and the Andrew Davenall Austin A105/6, both with broken hubs, that were going no further, and Glenn’s Sunbeam looking for a new tyre. However, it was worse than that, as both Elva Couriers had starter motor problems and Andy Cox, who had taken a very short qualifying stint of just 3 laps, did not even appear on the qualifying sheets. Would only 19 cars take the start or 23, or indeed any number between the two? Time would tell but since ours was, refreshingly, the first race of the day and before the lunch break, time, as they say, was of the essence!   

 Race

The efforts of all those involved, to get the cars troubled by issues onto the starting grid was splendid! Glenn Brackenridge managed to get a pair of new Continental tyres fitted onto the rear axle of the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans and he became the third driver to be Continental shod for the race as both the Lotus Elites had them on all round. You can read the initial thoughts of Brian Arculus on how these tyres performed in our NEWS section.

The starter motor problem with Paul Mortimer’s Elva Courier GT was simply overcome by bump starting it – he just had to make sure that he kept the engine running therafter! Although Andy Cox with the TR3 Falcon was held separately by the officials in the assembly area, Richard Culverhouse ensured that not only was Andy allowed to race but from his correct qualifying position. Afterall, he had qualified properly and the subsequent second amended time sheet confirmed this. Finally, with 1 minute to spare Ed Shah was able to take his place with the rest, his team having rigged up a solution for his Elva Courier’s starter motor problem to get him into the race, and so 23 cars took their place on the grid.

What a fantastic sight the FISCAR grid made. We may very occasionally have had bigger grids, but in terms of variety of models and shapes it would be very hard to beat and was the subject of much favourable comment. I haven’t actually checked but according to commentator Marcus Pye, we had 14 separate marques on the grid.

An impressive number of magnificent red kites circled above the track as Jonathan Abecassis outdragged David Alexander off the line, the greater power of the Austin Healey telling here, as David had expected it would. As they charged through Allard Corner for the first time Jonathan had already opened up a small gap to the Lotus. The rest of this wonderful field streamed after them, 3rd place being taken by Peter Blanchett in the RGS Atalanta who had managed to slot up the inside of the Lotus Elite of Brian Arculus. Everyone got away pretty well although, by his own admission, Ed Shah still needs to work on his starts as, yet again, he lost a few places off the line.    

Thruxton is an old style perimeter circuit built around the old RAF Thruxton airfield which still functions as an aircraft runway, and is therefore quite long at just under 2.4 miles. As the field of cars crested the rise at Green Corner and headed out through Campbell, Cobb and Segrave corners, their sound receded into the distance and the track fell relatively silent with the exception of the race commentary which, depending how close to the speakers you were, was not entirely audible! Spectators don’t have access to more than half the circuit and as the cars charged out of Segrave down through the dauntingly fast and challenging Nobel, Goodwood Village and Church sections, they were witnessed only by the ever watchful marshals …. and maybe the kites!

The leaders came into sight again as they headed up through Brooklands and Woodham Hill, braking hard for the Chicane. David Alexander had closed the gap to Jonathan Abecassis and as they completed their first lap the Austin Healey and Lotus were separated by less than 3 tenths of a second and were already no less than over 5 seconds clear of their closest pursuers, such was their pace!

Next over the line was Peter Blanchett in the RGS Atalanta doing a fine job of holding the inherently quicker Lotus Elite of Brian Arculus at bay but it was surely only a matter of time before they swapped places. Storming through in 5th was Mark Hoble in the Morgan +4, having passed David Smith in the Gilbern GT. Behind David came Justin Beckett who had a cracking first lap starting 10th and coming through in 7th place, a second clear of Tristan Bradfield who was backing up his fine qualifying time in the Sunbeam Alpine.  A lovely stream of cars followed in the order Elva Courier GT (Paul Mortimer), Triumph TR3 Falcon of Andrew Cox who had gained several places, Aston Martin DB2 (Peter Baker), Morgan +4 (Reuben Jacob), Sunbeam Alpine (Gareth Evans) , MGA (Martin Stowe) and Elva Courier (Ed Shah) – what a great sight! Just off the back of these was Mike Lamplough in the MG Magnette, in 16th place, but he had Mark Morgan (Ginetta G4) and Jeremy Woods in the Triumph Italia for close company. A little further away, Mark Shears was a bit lonely in 19th, already way ahead of Harry Naergar (Jowett Jupiter), Valerio Leone (Elva Mk5) and Glenn Brackenridge who was struggling to come to terms with a mixture of fattish Dunlops on the front and narrow new Continentals on the rear and it was understandably to take several laps for him to get used to this combination. The eagle eyed amongst you may wonder why there are only 22 positions mentioned when 23 started, and the reason is that Geoff Ottley does not appear in the lap charts. It transpires that the ignition had cut out, out of our sight around Cobb and Segrave, and the marshals pushed the car behind the barriers, seemingly into retirement!       

Onto lap 2 and David Alexander made the small gap to the leader, Jonathan Abecassis, even smaller and as they completed the lap, the Lotus was challenging the Austin Healey. Brian Arculus had displaced the RGS Atalanta so Elites were now 2nd and 3rd. Mark Hoble was 4 seconds behind the RGS but had cleared off from his pursuers who were now led by Justin Beckett’s AC Ace, 6th ahead of Tristan Bradfield’s Sunbeam Alpine, both having got passed David Smith in the Gilbern which appeared unable to sustain its excellent qualifying position. Paul Mortimer still had the Courier GT in 9th but Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon and Peter Baker in the Aston DB2 were pressing him hard. What a fantastic sight these 3 very different looking cars made. Gareth Evans had the second Sunbeam Alpine in 12th, less than a second ahead of Reuben Jacob’s Morgan +4 with Ed Shah finally getting up to speed and closing in with his Elva Courier. Just over a second behind, Martin Stowe was winding the white MGA Coupe up nicely.

There was then quite a gap to Mike Lamplough’s MG Magnette in 16th but he had the Triumph Italia on his tail. The Mark Morgan Ginetta G4 was 18th a couple of seconds clear of the Mark Shears Morgan, well ahead of the Elva Mk5 of Valerio Leone, who nevertheless was now picking up pace, whilst Glenn Brackenridge was 22nd and really struggling to get to grips with his unusual tyre combination. There was still no sign of Geoff Ottley’s XK120.     

A very minor error on lap 3 by Jonathan Abecassis, allowed the shadowing Lotus Elite of David Alexander slip by into the lead and they crossed the line just 2 tenths apart, having  just lapped Glenn’s Harrington Le Mans. The pair were steaming away from the rest of the field at a rapid rate of knots, and were now 15 seconds ahead of the 3rd placed Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite. Brian in turn was edging away from Pater Blanchett’s RGS Atalanta and gaps were opening up behind too, as Mark Hoble was also edging away from Justin Beckett’s AC Ace. Justin was a massive 12 seconds ahead of Andrew Cox who had got to the front of a great midfield bunch of 8 cars covered by less than 5 seconds. Behind the 8th placed TR3 Falcon, was Paul Mortimer (Elva Courier GT), Tristan Bradfield (Sunbeam Alpine) who had lost a few places when he got blocked in, David Smith (Gilbern GT), Peter Baker (DB2), Gareth Evans (Sunbeam Alpine), Reuben Jacob (Morgan +4) and Ed Shah (Elva Courier). Hopefully all this dicing was great fun for the drivers; it was certainly so for those of us spectating.

5 seconds behind Ed, Martin Stowe, in 15th place, was pressing on in his MGA Coupe, well clear of Jeremy Woods Triumph Italia who was 2.5 seconds clear of another Abingdon pilot, Mike Lamplough in the Magnette. Mike was at the head of a close group of cars consisting of Ginetta G4 (Mark Morgan), Mark Shears (Morgan +4) and Valerio Leone in the Elva Mk5, last of the unlapped runners. The leaders having completed lap 4 had now lapped Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter. Of Geoff Ottley there was still no sign but unbeknownst to us, he had lifted the bonnet on the Jaguar and after peering around for a while had spotted that the wire between the distributor and coil had dropped off and he was now busy reattaching it.  

The leaders had come across the line separated by 6 tenths but Brian Arculus dived into the pits to take his mandatory stop allowing the RGS Atalanta to retake 3rd place. Mark Hoble in 5th, had had a relatively slow lap for him and the Morgan was now 11 seconds behind the RGS but of more immediate concern to Mark was that he now had a mirror full of a closing Justin Beckett in the AC Ace. This pair were well clear of 7th placed Andy Cox in the TR3 Falcon who was now edging away from the midfield battle which had hotted up further as Peter Baker took the DB 2 passed both the Smith Gilbern and the Bradfield Sunbeam, despite the fact that Tristan was, himself, anxious to recover lost ground. He was also being pressed by fellow Alpine driver, Gareth Evans with Reuben Jacob keeping a watching brief. Ed Shah had dropped back slightly with a slowish lap in the Courier. 10 seconds behind, Martin Stowe was still well ahead of Jeremy Woods in the Italia but behind Jeremy there had been some change. The Ginetta had moved up, as had Valerio Leone’s Elva and Mike Lamplough had dropped to the back of this group although his lap time suggested all was OK and it was just great racing.     

David Alexander put in the quickest lap of the race on lap 5; it was a 1.35.880, a time beyond the reach even of Jonathan Abecassis, who was now 1.5 seconds behind the Lotus. Peter Blanchett was still going extremely well  in the RGS Atalanta but was now fully half a minute behind the Austin Healey. Mark Hoble had picked up his pace in his attempts to ease away from the AC Ace but Justin Beckett wasn’t going to disappear in a hurry. 14 seconds behind, Andy Cox took 6th place as according to the lap charts, David Smith, in the Gilbern GT entered the pit to hand over to Mary Bell. However, I have come to the conclusion that this did not happen (see Notes after the table of results below), and that the driver change took place at the end of lap 8. It was during this lap that the rear screen of the TR3 Falcon popped out, laying an unfortunate trap for one of our unsuspecting competitors. Paul Mortimer’s Elva Courier GT was only a couple of seconds behind Andy and still had Peter Baker’s Aston and Tristan Bradfield’s Sunbeam Alpine for company.

In 11th place, Gareth Evans was fending off Reuben Jacob’s Morgan with Ed Shah’s Elva Courier closing back in on them. Next up however, was Martin Stowe in the MGA heading straight for the pits having run over the Falcon rear screen which had smashed into the underside of the radiator, causing Martin’s retirement. It was the first retirement of the race and incredibly bad luck although Martin was pretty stoical as the marshals helped push the car behind the pits. 15th, and about to take 14th, following Martin’s retirement, Valerio Leone was beginning to find some decent pace in the Elva Mk5 having moved ahead of both Jeremy Woods Triumph Italia and Mark Morgan’s Ginetta. In 18th, Mark Shears was about to be overtaken by Brian Arculus who was now heading back towards the front of the race, having already taken his pit stop in the Lotus Elite.  Mike Lamplough was still on the lead lap in 20th in ‘Bumble’, the Magnette! Apart from the Naergar Jowett Jupiter and the Brackenridge Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le  Mans, both a lap down, Geoff Ottley’s Jaguar was still ‘missing in action’, but not posted as a retirement!  

6 laps had now been completed by the leaders and David Alexander had extended his lead over Jonathan Abecassis to 2.2 seconds. He was edging away very gradually. Following them over the line was a smart red Jaguar XK120 – yes, Geoff Ottley, having reconnected the ignition wire, had re-entered the fray from behind the marshals post. His first lap had been completed in 9.54.798 at an average speed of 14.25mph, an unusual stat possibly interesting enough to mention! The car was now going very well and lapping at midfield pace albeit 5 laps down.

At the end of lap 7, the Alexander Elite had edged a little further ahead, the lead now out to 2.5 seconds, not decisive but clearly the Lotus just had the edge on the pace of Jonathan’s Austin Healey. They had, by now, lapped almost half the field but we were about to enter the main pitting phase although the only car to do so at the end of lap 7 was the RGS Atalanta of Peter Blanchett, thus relinquishing 3rd position to Justin Beckett. Peter’s initial pace had dropped off as a misfire had set in so whilst he was in the pits, the plug leads were checked. It was to be a long stop but the misfire appeared to have been resolved as he returned to the track. Justin had also managed to get by Mark Hoble’s Morgan, and their battle was one of the best of the race as it continued even after their respective pit stops and went to the flag. Andy Cox was still 6th in the TR3 Falcon, a couple of seconds ahead of the battling duo of Peter Baker’s Aston and Paul Mortimer’s Courier GT. Tristan Bradfield was less than 2 seconds behind them in his Sunbeam Alpine, in 9th place, whilst another 2 seconds behind Tristan, Gareth Evans Sunbeam still held sway over Ed Shah’s Courier. Just over 7 seconds only covered positions 6th to 11th this far into the race, great midfield racing. Everyone else had been lapped at least once but racing continued all down the field and it’s noted that the unlikely pairing of Mark Morgan’s Ginetta in 15th and the Morgan of Mark Shears, in 16th, were lapping in very similar times. Brian Arculus was now up to 14th, and would start to pick up places more quickly as the rest of the field started to take their stops.

At the end of lap 8, David Alexander’s lead had gone out to 4.5 seconds. His lap was 2 seconds quicker than Jonathan’s partly because he had probably got through lapped traffic rather better. In 3rd place, Justin Beckett was almost a minute down but pitted on that lap, where he joined the 1 lap down Ginetta G4, which was having a driver change from Mark Morgan to Andrew Mitchell. Others to pit at this stage were Glenn Brackenridge in the Alpine Harrington LM (2 laps down) and Andy Cox, still on the lead lap in his TR3 Falcon. We now come to the curious tale of No 94, the Gilbern GT driven by David Smith. According to the lap charts, the car pitted on lap 5, and then, again on lap 8 to hand over to Mary Bell, did the fastest race of the lap in a time of 1.18.316 on lap 9 and promptly pitted again on Lap 10. Clearly the lap time is a complete nonsense and Mary assures me that, after the driver change, the car did not pit again until the end of the race. Make of that what you will!

The leader pitted on lap 9, at which point there were only 3 other cars still on the lead lap, the Austin Healey of Jonathan Abecassis, in 2nd, and (allegedly - see above!) 3rd, the Gilbern GT of Mary Bell, and Mark Hoble who was now pitting the Morgan. Jonathan Abecassis had inherited the lead as a result of the leader pitting and came through at the end of lap 10 with a 54 second lead over David Alexander who had re-emerged already back in 2nd as these two were now so far ahead of the rest of the field. Geoff Ottley pitted the XK120 at this time, still 5 laps down. Although lapping pretty quickly, he was never going to reduce the deficit by much.

Jonathan Abecassis completed lap 11 with a 53 second lead over David Alexander. Several cars pitted at that stage, all at least one lap down. They were, Tristan Bradfield (Sunbeam Alpine), Gareth Evans (Sunbeam Alpine), Valerio Leone (Elva Mk5), Jeremy Woods (Triumph Italia), Mark Shears(Morgan+4) and Mike Lamplough (MG Magnette). Jonathan finally pitted the Austin Healey on lap 12 so that at the end of lap 13, David Alexander had the Elite back in the lead although Jonathan, back on track was now only 1 second behind. Race on? The leaders pitting meant that Brian Arculus was now back on the lead lap in 3rd place. Briefly up to 4th was Ed Shah’s Elva Courier although he also then pitted. Peter Baker (DB2) and Paul Mortimer (Elva Courier GT) were leaving the pits as Ed arrived, so his was the last of the scheduled mandatory stops, so that we can now get back to some sense of normality regarding true race positions …… possibly!

At the end of lap 14, David Alexander came through with a 2 second lead over Jonathan Abecassis. The only other driver on the lead lap was Brian Arculus. 4th, one lap down was Justin Beckett, the AC Ace finally ahead of Mark Hoble in the Morgan +4. As Mark observed, Justin was simply quicker, and it would seem that he would now stretch away from the Morgan but events conspired to bring them back together at the end of the race.  Andy Cox was 6th in the TR3 Falcon but was being caught by the hard charging Tristan Bradfield, having one of his best ever races in the Sunbeam Alpine.  Peter Baker was 8th in the DB2, getting back up to speed having  just emerged from his pit stop, and Gareth Evans, 9th in the Sunbeam Alpine. Valerio Leone had been working quietly forward in the Elva Mk5 and was up to 10th, whilst another getting back up to speed was Paul Mortimer in the Courier GT, in 11th . Reuben Jacob was 12th in his Morgan +4 but Peter Blanchett had dropped to 13th in the RGS Atalanta as the engine misfire had returned. Mary Bell, in the Gilbern, was 14th.

Two laps down in the following order were Jeremy Woods (Italia), Andrew Mitchell (Ginetta G4), Mark Shears (Morgan) and Mike Lamplough (MG Magnette). Harry Naergar (Jowett Jupiter) was 3 laps down, Glenn Brackenridge (Sunbeam Alpine Harrington) was 4 laps down and the much delayed Geoff Ottley, still 5 laps down in the Jaguar XK120. We were also about to register a couple more DNFs as the Sunbeam Alpine of Gareth Evans went ‘pop’ and retired with a suspected head gasket failure, and ‘something let go’ in the engine of Ed Shah’s Elva  Courier when he was on for a good result. In fact ‘stings in the tail’ for a few more were a feature of the final few laps.   

Much happened in the last 4 laps that impacted on the results. At the end of lap 15, Jonathan Abecassis had closed in on David Alexander and was now less than 1.5 seconds behind. Brian Arculus was 3rd over 1 minute and 20 seconds behind, but a lap down in 4th, Justin Beckett’s lead over Mark Hoble was to be shortlived as he had now dived into the pits again to take a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. This set him back behind Mark and he completed his next lap, 18 seconds down on the Morgan. He could not possibly recover that in the time remaining …… could he? Whilst all this was going on both the leaders had also received drive through penalties for speeding in the pitlane, David Alexander serving his at the end of lap 16 and Jonathan Abecassis serving his on lap 17, with only 1 more lap to the flag. Although, on very rare occasion in the past FISCAR drivers have served penalties for slightly too short stops, I cannot remember any race in which our cars have been penalised for speeding in the pitlane. There were it would seem, 5 in this race! Whilst all this late race pit drama was going on, the flying Tristan Bradfield snatched 6th place from Andy Cox, but beyond that, it’s actually quite pointless for me to give any other positions in the race, and better to recount the late trials and tribulations of some of the drivers.

David Alexander had a nightmare last couple of laps. Having served his penalty, he later came too hot into the chicane on his new Continental tyres, with which he was not entirely happy, managed to negotiate the first part, but spun in the second part. It would not surprise you to learn therefore that Jonathan Abecassis took another victory in the Austin Healey but he had been tested for a second time on this circuit. David crossed the line second but was docked a place for speeding in the pitlane when he was taking his penalty for the first such offence! He had the consolation of taking the fastest race lap at 1.35.880 in the Elite once we extract the rather ludicrous fastest laps attributed to the Gilbern and RGS in the official race results. Richard Winchester who knows about these things, suggested that the correct course of action should have been a time penalty for David, but in any event, it elevated Brian Arculus to 2nd. Mark Hoble finished 4th overall in his Morgan but he again had Justin Beckett for company. Mark had come across a backmarker under yellows at the marshals post just after Noble’s and although he got a green at the next post, he had lost about 10 seconds. That, coupled with some quicker laps from Justin meant that the gap of 18 seconds between the Morgan and the AC Ace had come down to just over 1 second at the flag.   

Harry Naergar, incredibly, also served a penalty for speeding the Jowett Jupiter in the pitlane!   He thought that he had been black flagged so pulled into the pits and stopped only for a marshal to tell him that it was a drive through and that he could continue. As he said after, it’s ‘got to be the only time I’ve driven too fast!’ When the flag dropped, Peter Blanchett, not realising that there was only one more lap to go decided to retire the misfiring RGS Atalanta, entered the pit without taking the flag but was officially placed 9th. On the other hand, Paul Mortimer who was, I understand, also taking his drive through for speeding in the pitlane when the flag fell was classified as a DNF.  Out on the track, Reuben Jacob, in his Morgan noted in his mirrors that Jonathan was waving to the marshals, noted that the race had finished and headed straight for the pitlane rather than take the flag, so he too, was classified a DNF. It seems that following the Schumacher ‘thing’ at the British GP many years ago where he finished the race in the pits whilst serving a penalty, the rule was changed so that only those who took the flag on the track would be classified as finishers. I hope that all makes sense.

The full set of results will follow but to summarise, Jonathan Abecassis won outright, and as the winner is elevated out of the class structure for that race, Brian Arculus took Class 1 honours in the Lotus Elite although Jonathan will receive  full points for the end of year class tallies. Justin Beckett took class 2 in the AC Ace whilst Mark Hoble won Class 3 in the Morgan. It had been a fine drive by Mark although possibly edged by Tristan Bradfield in the Class 4 winning Sunbeam Alpine.

On Index of Performance, Andrew Cox won with 12pts, Valerio Leone was 2nd also on 12 points and Tristan Bradfield was 3rd with 10 points. Jonathan Abecassis, Mark Hoble and Reuben Jacob all earned 9 points, but I won’t give fill listings at this stage but will put the table up post BDC. In the team Inter-Marque, Morgan actually won with 10 points (not as reported in the NEWS section - I have amended), Sunbeams were 2nd on 7pts and Lotus 3rd on 5 pts.  

NOTES

This has been one of the hardest of our races to report on, mainly because of some discrepancies in the timing figures, and whilst I always go back over it to edit errors (sometimes more than once!), on this occasion, I’ve had to make other changes as more information comes to light.

Although they will forever be in the official results, for the purposes of accuracy in our report, I have discarded the best lap times accredited to Peter Baker’s RGS Atalanta at 1.20.781 and the Bell/Smith Gilbern at 1.18.316 and recorded their accredited second best. The winning car in the Guards Trophy at the same meeting recorded a best lap of 1.21.218, and the class winning Lotus Elan (the nearest to our age/type of cars) of Paul Tooms did a best lap of 1.31.353, which tells us all we need to know about the above times!

In fact the timings around the Gilbern have proved particularly trying since a whole clump of numbers don’t make sense unless you come to the conclusion that either David Smith didn’t pit at all on Lap 5, or that for some reason he drove through the pits without stopping, only handing over to Mary Bell at the end of the lap 8.

Justin Beckett’s fastest lap in the Ace at 1.41.945 on lap 10, given that it was 1.5 seconds quicker than his next best, stands out to me as a bit of an outlier, but it is also entirely feasible that Justin strung every aspect of this lap together to record an outstandingly good time.

Finally, it should be noted that both Paul Mortimer’s Courier GT and Reuben Jacob’s Morgan, although ‘officially’ DNFs, because they did not take the flag on the track, have nevertheless officially been accredited with 17 laps and a race/lap time so clearly cut the beam in the pits, so I asked Mark Campbell to include them in the IoP calculations although we cannot reinstate their race/class positions.

Photo Gallery

First group of shots from Andrew Davenall

Next few from JT - Morning pit and paddock shots

A few qualifying shots from JT

A few Race shots from JT

All the following by Steve Jones

Tailpieces!

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