ur unsung heroes. I thought I’d kick this report off by featuring those who make our races work on the day. Richard Winchester standing and Richard Culverhouse who look after all the processes, technical and otherwise, and tackle any issues that arise to ensure that our day runs as smoothly as possible. The already damaged marquee was given a real work over by the wind at Thruxton and both Richards were constantly working to keep it upright. Richard Culverhouse is on the lookout for a stronger replacement which will hopefully see the light of day at Castle Combe.

Andy Cox’s Triumph TR3 Falcon and Ed Shah’s Elva Courier in repose. Photo - JT

Gareth Evans and Ed Shah have a chinwag whilst both Sunbeam Alpines have their bonnets up and in the background David Alexander’s Lotus Elite.

 Preamble

(Apologies for delay in starting this but I have had a small op needing a few days recovery - JT 29/06/2025)

This was our third year in succession at the Thruxton Retro meeting and I really had expected our best grid ever this year but it was not to be. We finally mustered 16 entries, albeit excellent ones, after late entries from Barry Dye and Nigel Winchester, just about got us into the high teens! There were some suggestions as to why this would be but it should be noted that the majority of this grid were made up of Motoring News Series cars and just 3 in the Peter Mann series race, so the reasons seem rather more prosaic. A number of cars were in need of engine work (Mark Shears Morgan and Martin Stowe’s MGA for starters) and a few cars were being saved for the Le Mans Classic. Both business and holidays had an impact and I have to take some of the blame for failing to publicise the correct date intially. Whilst the quality was there as always it was nevertheless, numerically, a disappointing entry and our lowest for about 3 years. I hope that we did enough to retain this slot and it has to be said that there were a couple of smaller grids there on the day. We needed about 25 entries to cover all our costs, but fortunately FISCAR’s finances are robust and can take the occasional hit! Anyway, enough of the negatives!

Chris Mann heads through Allard in his Disco Volante during qualifying. Photo - JT

Nigel Winchester works on his delightful little Lotus 7 S1. Photo - JT

There were two quite unexpected entries in the form of Chris Mann’s delectable Alfa Romeo Disco Volante and Nigel Winchester’s Series 1 Lotus 7. Chris has always been a great supporter of FISCAR but he is usually away for the Thruxton event, and Nigel’s was a late decision to air the little Lotus that hadn’t run with us for some years. In the light of what happened during the day, they both might have wondered why they turned up, but I’m very pleased that they did!

To be continued!