The Tom Cole Trophy

Incorporating VSCC The Hawthorn International Trophy

VSCC Spring Start 17th April, 2021

Preamble

Well, we got there, Covid notwithstanding; no spectators and all doing our best to socially distance and wearing masks where required. Polite marshals were on hand to remind us, and Richard Winchester on a number of occasions issued reminders to the paddock over the tannoy system, so it was all very well controlled. The weather was superb and matched by our joint grid with the VSCC 50s sports cars and, as in 2019, the last time this race was run, FISCAR represented 80% of the grid. In fact, the race was oversubscribed and I am aware that a few of our members missed the boat, so it was quite likely that we could have put on our own race with approaching 30 cars. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing and race organisers cannot risk grids that don’t turn a profit. As it was, we had 3 reserves (all FISCAR) over the 34 car grid maximum. In the event, with withdrawals and non starters, they all got into the race.

I will not go into a lengthy explanation of the make up of this race and the history of it appears in my ramblings on previous Spring Start race reports. Normally, a few sports racers get invited to the Tom Cole to augment the normal FISCAR contingent but with the very disappointing withdrawal of Eddie McGuire in the fantastic Gordini T23S and the fact that although entered (in the Hawthorn International part of the race) previous Trophy winners Martin Hunt (HWM Jaguar) and Chris Keen (Kurtis 500) are now simply too fast for our Trophy race, all ‘our’ cars were either FISCAR members or FISCAR compliant.

Other entries to withdraw were Geraint Owen in the Knobbly Lister Chevrolet which would surely have figured as a strong contender for The Hawthorn International Trophy, and our member, Simon Evans, who once again found his long awaited debut in his Allard delayed through yet more mechanical maladies with new parts! A very late withdrawal was Paul Griffin in the wonderful Connaught ALSR. A couple of days before the event, Paul had badly damaged his hand in an accident, to the extent that it needed surgery. We wish Paul a speedy recovery from his painful injury. His withdrawal promoted 1st reserve, Chris Mann and his Alfa Romeo Disco Volante to the race and we were left with just two reserves, the Tim & Oli Llewellyn Allard J2 and the Jaguar C type of David Brazell & John Harper. As mentioned above, they were both to get a race as we will see.

It was a delight to see the eclectic nature, quantity and quality of our grid but I hope that our other competitor members will forgive me for expressing particular pleasure at seeing that rare beast amongst us these days, an Aston Martin, the splendid DB MKIII owned by Simon Jefferies who was sharing it with Roddie Fielden. It was also fantastic to see no less than 5 examples of the MGA in our race - it’s a very long time since we saw that number - bravo! Finally, in this section, I include a photo of a pleasing tribute to the late Duke of Edinburgh by the Lotus Elites, below.

Qualifying

Ultimately, 35 cars were given qualifying times and it was a busy old time with that number of cars on the track, practicing pit stops and driver changes, the latter requiring the sanitising of all points of contact - steering wheel, gear knob, door handles, seat belts etc , as a result of which the normal mandatory pit stop time for the race was extended to 90 seconds, which must have seemed interminably long particularly for those not changing drivers!

Pole time for the Hawthorn International Trophy was posted by Bernardo Hartogs in his Lotus XV in a time of 1.09.18. This was no surprise but former Tom Cole Winners, Martin Hunt/Patrick Blakeney Edwards in HWM and Chris Keen in the Kurtis were very close on a 1.09.24 and 1.09.59 respectively. Over a second behind them, Nick Taylor in Richard Tyzack’s Kellison J4R annexed 4th place on the grid with a 1.10.93, thus making them potentially favourites for the Tom Cole Trophy, particularly so when the Allard J2 of Tim and Ollie Llewellyn clocked a best lap a full second behind in a 1.11.94 to take 5th on the grid. Curiously, the timing sheets say the Allard was ‘not seen’ in qualifying but, of course, it undoubtedly was! The time was given to the Llewellyns in their Vintage Bentley 4.5 which had it been true, would suggest that we had not made the performance advances that we thought we had in the intervening 25 years between their manufacture. Richard Culverhouse came to the entirely reasonable conclusion that the Allard had been carrying the Bentley’s transponder!

Sixth on the grid was John Clark, a Hawthorn Trophy runner, in the little 1500cc Cooper Bobtail with a time of 1.12.33 and seventh was the third Tom Cole car, the Austin Healey 100/4 of Jonathan Abecassis in a very competitive 1.12.45. and he would probably be close enough to the V8 Kellison and Allard, to capitalise should they fail for whatever reason. He was not alone however, as there were 4 other cars under 1.13 seconds, 3 of which were FISCAR cars ((Marshall Bailey’s Cooper Bobtail being the other) - David Alexander (Lotus Elite) on 1.12.73, Stephen Bond’s Lister Flat Iron Bristol on 1.12.77 and Robin Ellis on a 1.12.95 in his Lotus Elite. This grouping really offered the prospect of some close and exciting racing in the top third of the grid.

Twelfth on the grid was the first of our Class 2 racers, Paul De Havilland in the Jaguar XK150S on a 1.13.88, surprisingly ahead of the short nose D type (Hawthorn Trophy car) of Nicholas Ball, just a tenth slower but you had to think that the sports racing car might prevail over its road going sibling in the race. I will not list all the practice times but quickest of our Class 3 runners was Alex Quattlebaum in the LECo2 XPAG, in 16th on a time of 1.15.48 and on a 1.19.57 was Martin Stowe in the quickest of our Class 4 runners in his MGA, qualifying 29th. 34th out of the 35 was the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante on a 1.23.82, not a representative time as Chris had to terminate his practice early due to running low on fuel!

During practice, sadly, we lost two cars - the TR3A of Ed Shah, with a failed head gasket (or worse*), and the pretty Alfa Romeo Giulietta (spelt amusingly in the time sheets ‘Chilleta’) Sprint which was pushed away from the pit lane during practice and was not seen again. The Alfa and the Chris Phillips Cooper Bristol (which qualified 16th in 1.15.13) would make great additions to the ranks of FISCAR and I was able to have a quick chat with Chris about this, so fingers crossed for this to happen.

The demise of the TR3A and the Alfa during practice ensured that all reserves were in the race.

*It was worse - Ed has since reported back to advise a dropped exhaust valve and a destroyed piston.

Race

As this substantial grid of fabulous historic cars lined up under bright sunny and warm conditions, a fleeting suspension of reality created the illusion that all was right with the World, certainly in ‘our’ World, anyway. It isn’t, of course, and I had been struck by the comments made by a number of drivers who stated how lucky and privileged they felt at being able to do this at any time, let alone during this appalling pandemic which has cost so much pain and suffering across the World. They were surely right to do so.

The start made an impressive sight, the diminutive Lotus XV of Bernardo Hartogs on pole dwarfed by the HWM Jaguar of Martin Hunt alongside, and even more so by the American V8 muscle in Row 2, in the form of Chris Keen’s Kurtis and Richard Tyzack’s Kellison. Martin got alongside Bernardo going into Copse but had to give best to the nimble Lotus, which apart from its mandatory pit stop was never to relinquish the lead. Behind, all the starts appeared clean, although the Allard J2 again displayed its high gearing by a relatively slow getaway and dropping back a couple of places. The best start was surely that of Robin Ellis in the Lotus Elite, making several places up from 11th even before Copse where he clung to the inside to squeeze ahead of Jonathan Abecassis in the Austin Healey 100/4, to take 5th place overall, second only to the Kellison in the Tom Cole Trophy race. This all had the makings of a great dust up.

The field looked magnificent as it stormed through Copse for the first time …… and they kept coming. This was a grid worthy of any top Classic event and as an ‘oldie’ I’ve seen more than a few over the 55 years that I’ve been spectating. Well done to the VSCC for allowing us to put it on. As the tailenders went through, Chris Mann had yet to make progress in the exotic Alfa Romeo Disco Volante but everyone was looking strong, particularly Shaun Bromley, another to make a great start, from 29th, as he moved quickly and safely across from the outside lane to the middle to grab a place or two, heading into Copse alongside Justin Beckett’s AC Ace Bristol.

Bernardo Hartogs flew across the line at the end of lap 1 in the little Lotus XV, fully 2.15 seconds ahead of Martin Hunt in the HWM. Martin was really trying, the HWM wailing magnificently through Copse for the second time, visually squirming for adhesion in Martin’s attempts to hang on to Bernardo. Chris Keen, travelling almost as fast but appearing steadier in the growling Kurtis was 3rd another 2.41 seconds behind but had an inspired Richard Tyzack for company in the Kellison.  Robin Ellis was 5th, consolidating on his superb start and absolutely ‘on it’ in the Lotus Elite. He was just over a second behind Richard and, this was not in the script, ahead of the John Clark Cooper Bobtail. Robin therefore, already had a Hawthorn Trophy car between himself and his direct competitors in the Tom Cole Trophy, the closest being Jonathan Abecassis in the Austin Healey 100/4 in 7th, also going very well ahead of Marshall Bailey’s Cooper Bobtail. Next up in the Tom Cole, was Oli Llewellyn, 9th, in the Allard J2, with Stephen Bond (Lister Bristol). Matthew Moore in the Austin Healey 3000Mk1 was 11th, a fine motor car but a bit borderline in this field as the VSCC had been under the impression that this was the one off Jamaican bodied car whereas this car had a standard production body but it all added to the spectacle of the race. 12th was David Alexander in the Lotus Elite. David is a quick driver in this car and he had qualified a fine 8th, a couple of places ahead of the sister car of Robin Ellis so the deficit was probably down to a relatively poor start and with cars of comparable performance around you, it is not easy to make up ground. Even in historic racing, the start can set the tone for your race.  Tucked in behind David was John Ure in the very rare Mk 2 version of the Frazer Nash LMR, and John always goes very well with years of competitive historic racing behind him. He was accompanied across the line by the Jaguar XK150S of Paul De Havilland. The rest of this lovely field streamed across the line with the very standard original Austin Healey 100M of Matthew Collings who loves this Spring Start meeting, taking up the rear. Both the sports racing Jaguars were making ground, Chris Mann’s Alfa Romeo had made up a couple of places and Shaun Bromley was continuing his charge in the MGA, coming across the line in 24th.  There was plenty going on with jockeying of positions and only one lap had been completed!

Martin Hunt had pretty well matched Bernardo Hartogs on lap 2, the pair crossing the line 2.5 seconds apart, but the gap to Chris Keen in the Kurtis had grown to 3 seconds and Chris had, in turn, eased away a little from the Kellison, but Richard Tyzack was still in pole position for the Tom Cole Trophy. Robin Ellis, proving that his excellent first lap was a sign of intent rather than a flash in the pan, was now firmly in 5th place overall, over 2 seconds clear of the first of the Cooper Bobtails. Jonathan Abecassis was still 7th but there was a whole string of cars lined up behind him as they crossed the line for a second time – Marshall Bailey (Cooper Bobtail), Oli Llewellyn (Allard), Stephen Bond (Lister Bristol), David Alexander (Lotus Elite) having made up a place, Matthew Moore (A-H 3000), Paul De Havilland (Jaguar XK150S), Nicholas Ball, making some real ground in the fabulous short nose D Type Jaguar, John Ure (FNLMR) and David Brazell in the C Type, coming through line astern and covered by a handful of seconds. It made a stirring sight. There was a small gap back to Tim Pearce in the first of the AC Aces, and another to Mark Daniell in the first of the MGAs, his Twin Cam version, but he was only just in front of another gaggle of close running cars – David Cottingham (AC Ace), Alex Quattlebaum (LECo2), Chris Phillips (Cooper Bristol), Justin Beckett (AC Ace) and Peter Campbell (Wingfield Bristol), covered by just over 3 seconds. What a treat this all was, and there was still more to come as a few seconds later, now well ahead of his grid position, Shaun Bromley (MGA) crossed the line with Barry Dye (Lotus Elite) attached to the MG as if on a string. Less than 2 seconds behind, Chris Wilks (MGA Twin Cam) led a line of cars made up of Alan House (Morgan +4), Simon Jeffries (Aston Martin DB MkIII), Martin Stowe, (MGA) and Chris Mann, still getting up to speed in the Alfa Disco Volante. Mark Shears in the Morgan +4 Flat rad and Matthew Collings in the Austin Healey 100M were beginning to lose touch but no-one was hanging about.     

As the leaders rushed over the line to complete lap 3, Martin Hunt had actually closed, fractionally, the gap to Bernardo Hartogs, and was just 2 seconds behind the Lotus XV but it was to be the closest that the HWM would get.  Chris Keen was now 3.5 seconds behind Martin but had shaken off the attentions of Richard Tyzack partly because the Kellison had lost a bit of pace. If this continued, the other leading Tom Cole runners would quickly be upon Richard. Indeed, Robin Ellis was already only just over a second behind. The Elite was absolutely flying, although he was not shaking off John Clark’s Cooper Bobtail, but the pace of both was easing them away a little from the hard pursuing Jonathan Abecassis who still had the second Bobtail of Marshall Bailey filling his mirrors. Jonathan was the first of a line of 9 cars that were covered by 6 seconds and seeing this eclectic mix of battling sports cars charging through Copse was a truly splendid sight. There was plenty of grouping behind as well.  Mark Daniell had emerged as the leading MGA in his famous ex works Twin Cam, in 18th and was heading a 6 car train made up of David Cottingham (AC Ace), Alex Quattlebaum (LECo2),  Chris Phillips (Cooper Bristol), Justin Beckett (AC Ace) and Peter Campbell (Wingfield Bristol). The gaps behind had started to open up but they all had each other comfortably in sight and it was noted that Chris Mann had, as expected, started to make progress in the Disco Volante, having moved passed both Martin Stowe (MGA) and Simon Jefferies (Aston Martin DB MkIII). However, the end of lap 3 also signalled the end of Shaun Bromley’s fine, but brief, run, as he raised his arm as he crossed the line and cruised silently through Copse and pulled onto the grass just beyond the marshals post to retire with a suspected fuel pump failure.  A real disappointment for Shaun after what looked to be a really good drive and, of course, to son, Josh who failed to get a race at all.

The race raged on but by the end of lap 4 Martin Hunt’s challenge started to fade and the gap to the relentless Bernardo Hartogs went out to over 3 seconds whilst Martin’s HWM had increased the gap to Chris Keen’s 3rd placed Kurtis to almost 4 seconds. These 3 were now clear and on their own as Richard Tyzack’s pace had really tailed off and he had been swallowed up by the chasing pack and dropped to 6th having been passed by both Robin Ellis and John  Clark. However,  whilst now first in the Tom Cole Trophy, Robin was still 5th overall as John had seized the opportunity to pass the Elite driver,  the Cooper Bobtail taking 4th, whilst behind, fellow Bobtail driver, Marshall Bailey, had snatched  7th from Jonathan Abecassis. This was all really close stuff, but the slowing of the Kellison and all the ensuing jockeying for positions meant that this battling 9 cars had allowed the 3 leaders to disappear down the road as the 3rd placed Kurtis was now the best part of 12 seconds ahead of the Clark Bobtail.  David Alexander had improved one place to 11th at the expense of Matthew Moore‘s Austin Healey and was now embroiled in this battle albeit not probably where he wanted to be or where his qualifying position suggested.

There was still plenty of dicing continuing down the field, although Matthew Collings had now been lapped by the leading 3, and pit stops were about to impact on positions and battles.    

The usual long 20 minute pit window opened during the course of lap 4, but none pitted (Brian Arculus was playing away at Snetterton!) until the end of lap 5 so the whole field raced on, continuing some great battles unfortunately unseen by any spectators. Bernard Hartogs had stretched his lead over the HWM to over 4 seconds by the end of lap 5 with a further similar gap back to the Kurtis, these three now long gone, being 14 seconds clear of the chasing pack. In the Tom Cole race Robin Ellis, still held sway, sandwiched between the Cooper Bobtails of John Clark and Marshal Bailey. 1.5 seconds back, in 8th, Jonathan Abecassis was fighting to stay in touch but was also defending from Stephen Bond’s Lister Bristol, who, in turn, had both the Llewellyn Allard and David Alexander’s Lotus Elite in close attendance and it was a great watch if you were lucky enough to be there. Richard Tyzack had fallen further back through this group, his lap times in the Kellison rather erratic, but he was still well in touch. In 12th,  Nicholas Ball was working his way forward  in the Jaguar D type which looked stronger as the race went on.  He was now clear of Paul De Havilland’s well driven XK150S with David Brazell in the C type Jaguar a couple of seconds back, so 3 classic Jaguars in a stretched line astern!  

Matthew Moore’s Austin Healey 3000Mk1 had settled into a small gap, 2 seconds of clear air in front and behind although no-one could relax, and circulating behind him was John Ure’s Frazer Nash and Tim Pearce’s AC Ace Bristol. Several of the cars in the latter half of the field were still pretty close, none more so than Mark Daniell, David Cottingham and Alex Quattlebaum  in MGA Twin Cam, AC Ace Bristol and LECo2 XPAG respectively. David always seems to find someone to race closely with and he must have been in his element dicing so closely with Mark and Alex. The dice was barely broken up even when Chris Phillips got into his stride in the Cooper Bristol, passing all three in the course of 2 laps. 4 seconds behind, Peter Campbell (Wingfield Bristol) and Justin Beckett (AC Ace ) were having their own battle. Barry Dye was next up in a rather lonely 24th, not quite able to stay with Peter and Justin but way too quick to be embroiled in the following great 4 car dice behind between Chris Wilks (MGA Twin Cam), Chris Mann (Alfa Romeo Disco Volante), Neil Burnside  (MGA Twin Cam) and Alan House(Morgan +4) with the last of the unlapped runners, Martin Stowe, in his MGA less than 2 seconds back. Absent from this group was the Aston DB MkIII but of no concern since Simon Jeffries had simply pitted at the end of the lap to hand over to Roddie Fielden. Roddie must have been delighted to have such a long stint at owner Simon’s expense - '….. after 3 laps I lost track and came in earlier than planned - duh.‘ Ah, the best laid plans and all that! Matthew Collings followed the Aston in to take his stop.

As the race pressed on, few were in a rush to break up their rhythm or their dices to pit early, so apart from the already pitted Aston Martin and Austin Healey, only John Ure (FNLMR), Chris Wilks, handing the MGA Twin Cam over to owner Mark Ellis and Alan House (Morgan) pitted at the end of lap 7, everyone else racing on.  However, we were about enter that phase of the race where both pit stops and lapping caused this scribe his usual confusion. It’s hard enough to watch and keep tabs on, and almost as hard to unravel even when I have the lap charts in front of me!    

As we entered the middle phase of the race, the Lotus XV continued to stretch away, the gaps between the leading trio growing but clearly in a race of their own, for the VSCC Hawthorn International Trophy. They were well into lapping the back markers and this was particularly detrimental to Chris Keen in the Kurtis who was now over 15 seconds adrift of Martin Hunt in the HWM, but equally, well ahead of the chasing pack headed by John Clark’s Cooper Bobtail which was just beginning to build a small gap to a 6 car cohort led by Robin Ellis, covered by just 4 seconds after 8 laps. The Jaguar D Type was moving in to make it a 7 car gaggle. Richard Tyzack in the Kellison had now dropped to 12th, the V8 power clearly having lost its edge and was now almost within striking range of Paul De Havilland’s Jaguar XK150S. The few remaining cars on the lead lap were David Brazell (Jaguar C type), Tim Pearce (AC Ace Bristol) and Chris Phillips (Cooper Bristol), although, some of this was simply due to pitstops.  Chris Keen (Kurtis), Mark Daniell (MGA Twin Cam) and David Cottingham (AC Ace) came in at the end of lap 8. David was to hand over to Adrian King, but the stop did not go well as the timer had not reset the stopwatch and held them for at least 30 seconds longer than necessary, undoing David’s excellent stint and causing Adrian to express a gesticulation of disappointment as he left the pitlane! The delay probably cost them at least 4 positions which they were never able to make up, such was the competitive nature of the midfield.

The pit stops were coming thick and fast now. At the end of lap 9, Neil Burnside (MGA Twin Cam), Paul De Havilland (Jaguar XK150S), Christopher Mann (Alfa Romeo Disco Volante), Richard Tyzack (handing over to Nick Taylor), Martin Stowe (MGA) , John Clark (Cooper Bobtail) and Alex Quattlebaum (LECo2 XPAG) all pitted. Meanwhile the leader, Bernardo Hartogs sailed serenely on, extending his lead over Martin Hunt and Chris Keen, these 3 quickest cars now well ahead, as you would expect from the quickest of those contesting the Hawthorn International Trophy.  

At the completion of 11 laps by the leaders, The Tom Cole Trophy was still being closely contended, with Robin Ellis in 5th place in his Lotus Elite holding a slender lead over Jonathan Abecassis in his Austin Healey 100/4, now up to 6th and just 2 seconds behind Robin with a further 3 seconds back to the Allard J2 of Oli Llewellyn. The other main contender was Stephen Bond but he was currently out of synch, having pitted the Lister Bristol at the end of lap 10. I expected him to reappear in the middle of this group once all the pit stops had shaken out. David Alexander in a sister Elite was having a nightmare of a race. Having had a poor start from a very good grid position, he managed to haul himself back into this battling group, only to spin off on oil going into Brooklands, on lap 11. The car stalled and flooded and by the time he had got it restarted, he had lost a minute and the possibility of a good result. He immediately pitted only to find both Barry Dye and Robin Ellis who was now a complete lap ahead of David, already being timed down by the pit crew and I quote  ‘….. I triple stacked and had to wait. After that I was so far down, I decided to sit out the rest of the race. No sense in wearing out the car’, so David thereafter cruised to a very unrepresentative 15th place (9th in the Tom Cole). It was a very disappointing end to a race in which his qualifying position promised so much more and had made him one of the key Tom Cole contenders. He described the race as ‘Not my finest hour’ but he did console himself with a fine 4th place at Brands the following day. It was at the end of lap 11, that the Matthew Moore Austin Healey 3000Mk 1 retired (cause unknown, at this time).

By the end of lap 12, virtually halfway through the race, pit stops and lapping meant that, at this stage, just 6 cars were on the lead lap and some cars were now 3 laps down. However, in that 6th place, having cut the lap timing beam in the pit was, Robin Ellis. He had suffered a really unfortunate in lap which completely scuppered his challenge to take top Tom Cole honours.  On the Wellington Straight, he encountered both yellow flags and two cars in front of him, the pace of which was governed by the slowest at the front. With no overtaking allowed, he had to follow them round and one peeled off into the pits well under the pit lane speed limit. By my reckoning, this cost him at least 12 seconds and in fact, his combined in and out laps were 17 seconds slower than his closest competitor, Jonathan Abecassis in the Austin Healey, who pitted some laps later. The difference between them at the end of the race was under 16 seconds. Even in club historic racing, the pit in and out lap times can make all the difference.             

Nick Taylor was not to stay out long after taking the Kellison over from owner, Richard Tyzack, and pulled in to retire the car at the end of 12 laps. He had found the car a little down on power with an intermittent misfire, thus confirming Richard’s own experience in the first stint. Withdrawal was the sensible thing to do, and we await the diagnosis! By the end of lap 13 there were only 4 cars left which hadn’t pitted, the Lotus XV of the leader Bernardo Hartogs, his closest pursuer, the HWM Jaguar, Martin Hunt driving with his usual gusto, the Austin Healey 100/4 driven by Jonathan Abecassis and going splendidly, now leading the Tom Cole Trophy and 3rd overall, and Chris Phillips in the Cooper Bristol. The Lotus XV pitted at the end of lap 14 and Chris pitted on his lap 14 albeit over a lap behind Hartogs and both returned without drama or delay to the circuit. Chris had handed over to the experienced Ian Nuthall.  Hartogs had been so far ahead that he only dropped to 2nd overall, and that was to the yet to stop Martin Hunt. Chris Keen had not been able to extract quite the same level of performance from the Kurtis that he had done back in 2019, but this seemed true of a number of cars, and I wonder if, on this occasion, with little previous recent racing after the lockdown, the track was a bit greener and not quite as rubbered in, and loss of recent seat time for the drivers were the reasons, but that is mere speculation, of course!  

Martin Hunt led for 2 laps in the HWM before he too pitted at the end of lap 16 and handed over to Patrick Blakeney- Edwards. Just over 45 seconds later, Jonathan Abecassis brought his Austin Healey 100/4 in. These were the last 2 cars to pit and their combined in and out lap times were very similar, carried out on an unobstructed track and a clear pitlane with no hold ups and no queuing. Patrick emerged in 2nd place completing lap 17 around 10 seconds behind the Lotus XV but he was to get no closer. Hartogs banged in a series of 1.09 laps which Patrick only managed to achieve once and the lead stretched out further. The Hawthorn International Trophy was surely now Bernardo’s although the Tom Cole Trophy was still just about up for grabs, but Jonathan was favourite to take it.

As Jonathan emerged from his stop he had dropped to 6th behind 4 Hawthorn International Trophy cars and the Allard J2, now in the hands of Oli Llewellyn’s Dad, Tim, which had taken the position as Jonathan was returning to the track. The Allard now led the Austin Healey, but by less than a second and battle was joined although I doubt either realised that it was for the outright win of the Tom Cole Trophy. The other main protaganists for the Trophy, Robin Ellis in the Elite, had dropped back for reasons already described, the Kellison had retired and, as already noted, David Alexander’s woes had caused him to adopt cruise mode. Stephen Bond’s Lister Bristol was the only other to figure here but he had lost touch by a few seconds in 7th overall and had both Nicholas Ball’s Jaguar D type and Robin’s Lotus Elite edging in. Our Trophy winner was now down, it would appear, to a straight fight between the Allard and the Austin Healey in the closing laps. 

Whilst this was all going on, Paul De Havilland continued to circulate quickly in the Jaguar XK150S, well clear of the Jaguar C –type now in the hands of John Harper, arguably the most experienced driver in this race. Although the race positions were now spread out, most cars had frequent company, albeit on different laps, with 4 laps now separating the first from the last. There were few battles down the field although I note from the lap charts that Ian Nuthall in the Cooper Bristol was trying to get on terms with Mark Daniells in the MGA Twin Cam, ultimately without success, and the Mark Shears/P Tisdall Morgan was somehow keeping Roddie Fielding in Simon Jeffries Aston Martin tantalisingly in sight without quite getting there. The Morgan even posted a marginally faster best lap time!          

The head to head between the Austin Healey and the Allard never quite materialised. The qualifying time of the Allard, which had been victor in our race at the BDC last year, indicated that another win was on the cards. In the event, however, although during the race it was always there or thereabouts, it had never quite shown the pace to be right at the front and Tim Llewellyn wasn’t able to resist Jonathan Abecassis’s charge to the flag. The swap took place at the end of lap 18 when they both charged across the line in a gaggle of cars, some of which had been lapped more than once!  Oli Llewellyn later reported that ‘The Allard was running terribly (Our own fault not putting it on a dyno after some jetting changes) but Jonathan was flying in his Healey so great to see!’

The best battle in the closing laps was that between two fabulous mid 50s sports racers in the shape of Chris Ball’s short nose D-Type Jaguar and Stephen Bond’s Lister Bristol. Although the Jaguar had overhauled him, Stephen then absolutely glued the Lister to the tail of the Jaguar for lap after lap but the grunt of the XK engine over the Bristol one counted where it mattered and kept the D type ahead just 7 tenths separating them at the flag. Great stuff!

Unaware that he was now leading the Tom Cole Trophy, and in full race mode, Jonathan had again latched onto the tail of the Cooper Bobtail of John Clark. In their battle, they slowly drew away from the Allard. The Austin Healey hounded the little Bobtail for several laps until Jonathan took the opportunity to pass on the penultimate lap to take 4th place overall, only beaten by the 3 fastest Hawthorn International Trophy cars of Bernardo Hartogs, Martin Hunt and Chris Keen. It was another great FISCAR result for Jonathan, and whilst it could be argued that he benefitted from the various misfortunes of others, he had been the only one to stay in contention from start to finish and a well-deserved winner although he was unaware of it until I told him and pointed at the trophy for him to take away for a year – no handshakes or proper celebrations during these strange times.   

Behind Jonathan and John Clark, Tim Llewellyn brought the Allard home 6th overall and 2nd in The Tom Cole. Nicholas Ball in the superb looking Jaguar D type was 7th and you have to wonder where he would have finished with a better grid starting position than 12th, since that part of the field had been pretty competitive. Stephen Bond finished 8th (3rd in the Tom Cole) in the Lister Bristol, having posted the best FISCAR lap in the whole field on a very quick 1.11.87. Robin Ellis, understandably pretty disappointed, and pondering what might have been, finished 9th in the Lotus Elite and the top 10 was rounded out by the second Cooper Bobtail of Marshall Bailey.

It made perfect sense, and was expected that the 6 surviving Hawthorn International Trophy cars finished in the top 10 but impressive that ‘our’ quickest cars finished 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th. Every other car that finished behind the Bobtail was a FISCAR compliant one, and this was led home by class 2 winner, Paul De Havilland in another good drive in the Jaguar XK150S. It has presented me with a class quandary though because,  at this track anyway, he is now a couple of seconds a lap quicker than the quickest of our other class 2 contingent but just a tad too slow to be in Class 1! 12th was the Jaguar C-type of David Brazell & John Harper, up from 19th on the grid. John Ure drove as well as you would expect, to bring the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica 13th, well clear of Tim Pearce in the best placed AC Ace Bristol. David Alexander, in his Lotus Elite, finished at fast cruising speed but still well ahead of Alex Quattlebaum, 16th in his class 3 winning little LECo, ahead of the quickest MGA, the Twin Cam of Mark Ellis & Chris Wilks.  In 18th place was the Cooper Bristol of Chris Phillips which he shared with Ian Nuthall, and although an Invitation class car, it is FISCAR compliant and Chris should be encouraged and welcomed to join us! Adrian King brought David Cottingham’s AC Ace home in 19th, and it is clear as earlier reported that this was a number of places lower than they could have expected to be because of the unnecessarily long pit stop. Barry Dye completed the top 20 in his lotus Elite.

The full list of finishers, along with IoP placings and team results are included in the usual results table below, but I mention that Chris Mann did make his way up to 23rd in the Alfa Romeo Disc Volante, probably about the best he could expect, and Martin Stowe in his MGA was 25th, winning Class 4.      

Gallery

Tailpiece(S)

…….. And that finally, is the end, but if any of our members want to submit their own accounts or incidents, they can easily be incorporated. JT