Tag Archives: Jones

Ferrari Friday – Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic

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Welcome to another Ferrari Friday edition of “Gettin’ a l’il psycho on tyres” this week brought to you from last month’s Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4, Silverstone Classic,

There were plenty of disguised Ferrari’s present such as this 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 chassis #16643 which left the factory as a 2+2 Berlinetta and was converted into a Spyder in 1988, this car is reported to have recently been upgraded with a Traffic Master tracker, Autowatch immobiliser and iPod stereo connection.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4, Silverstone Classic,

Still carrying it’s original Scaglietti 2+2 Berlinetta body above is the 1970 365 GTB/4 chassis #13775 that was owned by “20th Century Boy” Marc Bolan who famously never learned to drive fearing premature death only to be tragically killed when a passenger in a Purple Mini 1275GT driven by his partner in 1977.

Ferrari 275 GTS, Silverstone Classic

Another Ferrari with a famous owner is the 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS chassis #07395 seen above which once belonged to 1980 Australian Formula One world champion Alan Jones.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Halusa/Halusa, Silverstone Classic

Also no longer carrying the body it left the factory with is the famous 250 GT SWB chassis #2819 which Count Volponi had hastily converted to a GTO spec with Breadvan body by Giotto Bizzarini and other ex Ferrari personnel. The car was shared by L & N Halusa and is seen during qualifying for the Sunday TT race in which it finished 17th from 16th on the grid.

Ferrari 250 GTE, Silverstone Classic

I have not yet been able to discern a chassis number for the 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE above, if you know it don’t hesitate to chime in below.

Ferrari 250 GTE, Silverstone Classic

The replicated TR body above also sits on a V12 250 GTE which I believe is the 1963 chassis #4873.

Ferrari 246S, Gregor Fiskin, Silverstone Classic

Finally congratulations to Gregor Fisken who is seen above dancing the, GALPOT site banner car, 246S #0784 through Chapel on his way to a win in the Stirling Moss Trophy.

Thanks for joining me on this Ferrari Friday edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me tomorrow for more highlights from the Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Indy Tin Lizzie – Ford T Fronty Ford

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After migrating from Switzerland to France and before migrating to North America Louis Chevrolet had a career as a successful racing cyclist and at one stage built and sold his own cycles under the Frontenac brand.

Later he would move into the French motor industry before migrating to the United States in 1902 where he became a successful mechanic and racing driver.

Ford T / Frontenac, Sanoma Historics

While Louis lead driver for the Buick Racing Team General Motors ousted founder William C Durant founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company with Louis in 1911.

By 1915 Louis and William had fallen out over William’s plan to offer cheaper products with the Chevrolet brand, William bought Louis out and went on to regain control of General Motors in 1916 before being dethroned by shareholders a second time in 1920.

Ford T / Frontenac, Sanoma Historics

Meanwhile in 1915 Louis raced a Cornelian, the first monocoque raced in the Indy 500, before using the name of the 17th century governor of France’s North American colonies for a second time to found the Frontenac Motors Corporation, specialising in competition vehicles with his brothers in 1916.

Frontenac built the cars that won the 1920 and 1921 Indy 500 races for Gaston Chevrolet, who would die at the wheel of a Frontenac on a West Coast board track in November 1920, and Tommy Milton respectively.

Ford T / Frontenac, Sanoma Historics

By 1922 no less than nine Frontenacs started the Indy 500, from a field of 27, with Tom Alley finishing a marque best of 9th from a 12th place start.

Also in the 1922 Indy 500 field were two Fronty Fords which used modified Ford Model T chassis and Frontenac modified Ford motors for Jack Curtner and C Glen Howard which finished 14th and 18th respectively.

Ford T / Frontenac, Sanoma Historics

Barber Warnock Ford entered a single Fronty Ford for LL Corum who finished 5th at Indy in 1923.

In 1924 Barber Warnock Ford entered 3 Fronty Fords for Bill Hunt, future Stirling Moss’s father Alfred E Moss and the #27 Fred Halder who finished the Indy 500 in 14th, 16th and 17th places respectively.

Fronty Fords appeared at Indy in 1925, ’30 and ’31 with MC Jones, Chet Miller and Gene Haustein respectively but none of them finished inside the top ten.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs of the #27 Ford T Fronty Ford seen at last years Sonoma Historic meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “Indy Tin Lizzie” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Pick Up Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Chevrola – Race Retro 2015

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A couple of weeks ago I found myself at the wheel of a seventeen seat minibus full with friends and acquaintances from the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club headed for Race Retro at Stoneleigh Park.

Cooper Mk V, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

One of the racing highlights of my 2014 season was the 500cc Formula 3 race at the Autumn Classic meeting at Castle Combe the series with cars like the 1951 Cooper Mk V above, will be returning to Castle Combe on Saturday October 3rd, more dates can be found under “Circuits” on this link.

Lola T332, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Like 500cc Formula 3 the sound of old skool Formula 5000 cars is not to be missed the ex Chuck Jones 1974 Lola T332 belonging to Steve Farthing should be out at some of the HSCC events on this link follow the column DBT, for details on the seven Derek Bell Trophy events.

Chevron B1, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Chevron is celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary this year above the 1965 Chevron B1 was designed to beat the ubiquitous Lotus Seven in ‘Clubmans’ events. Current custodians of the Chevron marque Helen Bashford-Malkie & Vin Malkie announced at Race Retro that they will be working with Lola Heritage to supply parts for the rival brand which dates back to 1958.

Steady Special, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

MotorSport Magazine unveiled the recently restored Steady Special based on a 1934 V8 powered Lancia Astura modified by Ronald “Steady” Barker for VSCC competition after the ’39/’45 war.

Datsun 240Z, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

As ever there was a selection of rally cars in the shed next to the exhibition halls, while I was admiring this 1972 Datsun 240Z a chap in a wheel chair came flying over asking if it was one of the 77 “real” Samuri 240Z’s prepared by Spike Anderson of Samuri Conversions at Silvestone. I never did find out if the the car above was “real”, but it turned out that the enthusiastic chap in the wheel chair was the “real” Win Percy who drove Samuri 240Z’s and later Samuri Celica’s to many race victories back the mid 1970’s.

Leyton House CG901, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Vintage Racecar Magazine always seems to pull a cool Formula One Car out of the hat for this event and this year they brought along the 1990 Leyton House CG901 chassis #003 which Ivan Capelli drove to a season best 2nd place finish in the 1990 French Grand Prix. The car was designed by Adrian Newey who the following year helped design the 1992 World Championship winning FW14 model and most recently designed the Red Bulls with which Sebastian Vettel has won four consecutive World Championships.

Thanks for joining me on this “Chevrola” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Bird’s Wyedean Win – Wyedean Forest Rally

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On Saturday I popped over to the Forest of Dean to see the 40th Weir Engineering Wyedean Forest Rally for which 175 entries had been received.

The Wyedean started and finished at Chepstow Race Course and was run over 8 stages making a total of 43.42 stage miles that were linked by 98.37 road miles.

MG ZR, Gemmell, Beebe, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

This was the first Rally I had been to since the 1985 Lombard Race Rally, during the course of the day I visited two stages the 3.26 mile Blaze Bailey on the eastern edge of the Forest of Dean near Soudley and 6.02 mile Mailscot near Staunton on the western edge.

Above co driver Matt Beebe directs enthusiastic spectators in their efforts to get driver Richard Gemmell and his MG ZR out of a mud trap that saved the car from a couple of hundred foot drop into an abyss on the last corner of the Blaze Bailey stage, the #243 crew recovered to eventually record a 100th place finish from the 120 crew’s who made it back to Chepstow.

Mini Cooper S, Lewis, Fife, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Unfortunately I was not party to any radio communications during the event which made it impossible to follow what was going on in terms of positions and stage times so today’s blog will be limited to photographs of the winners of the 5 classes which split into a total of 16 sub classes each with a winner along with an overall winner.

The historic class was divided into four, winners of the H1a Class were Peter Lewis and Paul Fife in the 1963 #255 Mini Cooper S, seen above in the Mailcot Stage.

Datsun 240Z, Easson, Reynolds, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally

Back in 1971 and 1973 Datsun 240 Z’s driven by Edgar Hermann and Shekhar Mehta respectively won the gruelling East African Safari Rally proving the model was no flimsy boulevard cruiser.

It was therefore perhaps no great surprise that Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds won class H2b on Saturday with their #53 240Z built in 1974.

Mazda RX7, Scannell, Stevens, Blaze Bailey, Whedean Rally,

Nowhere near as noisy as it’s circuit racing siblings was the 1979 #48 Mazda RX7 crewed by class H3b winners Jake Scannell and Adrian Stevens which like the #53 Datsun is seen on the Blaze Bailey stage above.

Ford Escort RS1800, Elliot, Price, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

The Ford Escort in MkI and MkII guises was a rallying staple through out the 1970s, winning the 1970 World Cup Rally in MkI form and the 1979 World Rally Championship in MkII form.

The #24 Escort RS1800 Replica above crewed by Nick Elliot and Dave Price won the H4 category and as we shall see was one of three MKII shelled Escorts to win awards on Saturday, the #24 started life as a far more mundane 2 door Ford Escort Popular.

Nissan Micra, Quinn, Carmen, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Three classes were run for the Rally First starter series for novice crews running production cars with a few basic competition safety features.

The RF 1.0 class for cars running motors of no more than 1 litre / 61.5 cui was won by the 2001 #260 Nissan Micra S crewed by Nick Quinn and Neill Carmen seen above on the Mailscot Stage.

Volkswagen Polo, Handford, Davies, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Morgan Handford and Richard Davies took top honors in RF1.4 despite taking the longest route around the final corner of the opening Blaze Bailey stage in their 1999 #236 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 16V.

Volswagen Polo GTi, Smith, Houldsworth, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Top starter class RF1.6 honours were taken by Mick Smith and Calvin Houldsworth driving their 2001 #220 Volkswagen Polo GTi seem above on the Mailscot Stage.

MG ZR, Riddick, Riddick, Mailscot Wyedean Rally,

The BTRDA kick Start 1400 series is run in two classes for slightly more sophisticated cars than the Rally First vehicles, but with tightly controlled stock restricted specifications on motors and suspensions.

Winners of Class 1400 C were the Scotish pair Keith and Mairi Riddick in their 2001 #227 MG ZX.

Vauxhall Corsa, Bennett, McNeil, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

The slightly more liberal 1400 S class was won by #201 Vauxhall Corsa crewed by David Bennett and Alistair McNeil seen above on the Blaze Bailey stage following a much better line through the final corner than the #236 RF1.4 class winning VW Polo.

Ford Fiesta ST, Cook, Jones, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Group N is an internationally recognised production based category that allows only safety modifications and a free choice of electronic control unit (ECU) for the motor, the success of the category can be judged by the fact it has remained largely unchanged since it’s inception in 1982.

Winners of the Group N3 class for vehicles with motors up to 2 litres / 122 cui on Saturday were Geno Cook and Ryan Jones who drove the #66 Ford Fiesta ST seen above in the closing gloom towards the end of the final Mailscot Stage.

Mitsubishi EVO IX, Thompson, Murphy, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Russ Thompson and Andy Murphy won the over 2 litre / 122 cui Group N4 class driving the #10 Mitsubishi Evo IX seen on the Blaze Bailey Stage above.

Peugeot 205 GTi, Lloyd, Roberts, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

The top five classes, B10, B11, B12, B13 and B14 cater for a range of specialised vehicles which must retain FIA crash tested type body shells, which precludes the use of space / tube frame specials.

Winners of the up to 1600 cc / 97.6 cui B10 class were Thomas Lloyd and Sherrin Roberts in their formerly Grey 1987 #60 Peugeot 205 Gti running with non period LED fog lights.

Ford Escort Mk II, Elsmore, Harrold, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Graham Elsmore and Stuart Harrold won the first three Wyedean Rallies from 1975 to 1977, the pair were also British Group One, similar to Group N, champions in 1977 and competed for works Ford, Triumph and Vauxhall teams in to the 1980’s.

They were loaned the #32 Ford Escort Mk2, seen hanging it’s tail out on the Mailscot stage above, by event sponsor Rob Weir, Graham and Stuart repaid Rob’s kindness with an up 2 litre / 122 cui class B11 victory.

Ford Escort Mk II, Phelps, Manuel, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Over 2 litre / 122 cui B12 class honours were won by the #61 Ford Escort Mk2 crewed by Tim Phelps and Elwyn Manuel, their car is powered by a 2.4 litre / 146 cui motor who’s origin I was not able to determine during the course of the event.

Mitsubishi EVO IX, Elsmore, Edwards, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

Graham Elsmore’s son Nik is a proper chip off the old block, he was 1999 BRTDA Gold Star champion and shared the #21 Mitsubishi Evo IX above with Matt Edwards to finish 5th overall and win the B13 class for vehicles over 2 litres / 122 cui with four wheel drive.

Ford Fiesta ST, Payne and Williamson, Mailscot, Wyedean Rally,

The events Press officer Andrew Haill kindly explained that despite finishing behind 2 other B14 competitors James Payne and Carl Williamson driving the #3 Ford Fiesta ST above on the Mailscot stage were awarded the top honours in class B14 because the top three overall finishers are excluded from class awards.

Ford Focus WRC 07, Bird, Davies, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Rally,

Clear overall winner of the 40th Weir Engineering Wyedean Forest Rally with five stage wins and 3 second fastest times was 2005 ANCRO National champion Cumbrian Paul Bird and his Welsh co driver Aled Davies driving his 2007 #1 Ford Focus WRC.

Paul, the head of Paul Bird Motorsports who run PBM Moto GP and British Superbike teams, has finished 2nd twice on this rally before was thrilled to win the event at the third time of asking.

Paul finished last season with two straight rally victories, which has now become three and he will be looking to make it four on the Malcom Wilson Stages Rally on March the 7th.

If you have never seen a forest rally in person I can heartily recommend it, your fellow spectators are unfailingly friendly, kids seem to love the sport, one six year old on Saturday managed to detain his Dad on the stages for many hours beyond the original two Dad had planned for the visit and most National Forests in the UK can be visited for free, though there maybe charges for car parking, as for example the reasonable £6 being charged for Forestry parking on the Mailscot Stage.

Thanks for joining me on this “Bird’s Wyedean Win” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at King Richards ’67 Plymouth Belvedere. Don’t forget to come back now !

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2014 Highlights – Motor Racing

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45 years after I was taken to my first motor race meeting in the middle of Africa it is hard to believe that one of my greatest joy’s is getting up in the middle of the night and heading to the next one.

M4 East Bound

This year I managed to get to at an average of one meeting month from March through to October.

Gould GR55, Colin Calder, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe,

For the last couple of seasons my motor racing year has got underway in March marshaling at the Bristol Motor Clubs Great Western Sprint, this year my duties in the pit lane were over for the top ten run off, above Colin Calder made his 15 hour trip from Scotland worthwhile by grinding out the fastest time of the day narrowly pipping his daughter heather by just over 1/10 of a second.

Lola, Goodliff, Elva, Woodhouse, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The VSCC Spring Start meeting at Silverstone saw the start of the 80th Anniversary of ERA celebrtions, top race of the day was the Formula Junior event which saw a race long scrap twixt the red 1960 Lola Mk2 of Simon Goodliff and the 1959 Elva 100 driven by Mark Woodhouse fall in Simon’s favour.

Ocon, Verstappen, Dallara F312, Silverstone

2014 was Max Verstappen’s first season in car racing, in his third car race ever, above, he is seen overtaking Esteban Ocon on his way to second place in the 3rd European Formula Three championship of the season run at the Silverstone 6 Hours meeting. Even then he probably would have found it unlikely to believe that aged seventeen years and one hundred and sixty-six days old he is set to become the youngest driver ever to start a Formula One Grand Prix when making his 33rd race car start driving a Torro Rosso in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne next season.

Benhard / Webber / Hartley, Porsche 919 Hybrid, 6 Hours of Silverstone

The 6 Hours of Silverstone meeting was my second visit to Silverstone in 8 days. Timo Benhard Mark Webber and Brandon Hartley in the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid above started the event in 6th place and survived to finish 3rd. At the end of the season Mark Webber became world news and ended up in hospital after crashing his 919 Hybrid with in half an hour of the finish of the race run in São Paulo an event which completely eclipsed the fact that #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid team mates Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb went on to score the teams first World Endurance Championship race win since returning to top level endurance racing at the start of the year.

Maserati MC12 Goodwood Cent 100, Michael Bartels, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the end of June I popped over to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed where Sebastian Loeb driving his 2013 Pikes Peak winning Peugeot 208 was tipped to make an attempt on the Goodwood Hillclimb course record set by ‘Quick Nick’ Heidfeld driving a Formula One McLaren Mercedes in 1999. Dark horse for the Goodwood Hillclimb turned out to be Michael Bartles driving the specially liveried Maserati MC12 ‘Goodwood Cent 100’ which finished just over a second down on Loeb who missed taking the outright record thanks to the gearing being short on top speed.

Lotus Cortina, Shedden, Meaden, Silverstone Classic,

Gordon Shedden and Richard Meaden provided the tyre smoking dice of the day driving their Lotus Cortina’s on the Super Saturday morning of the Silverstone Classic meeting. Richard Meaden seen following above won with team mate Grant Tromans after Gordon’s car over heated during the mandatory pit stop in the Sir John Whitmore Trophy.

07 14 07 26 Lola T70 Voyazides Hadfield_2455sc

Having already won the Mustang Celebration trophy during the afternoon of the Super Saturday Silverstone Classic meeting Leo Voyazides swapped his Ford Falcon for his Lola T70 Coupé and won the FIA Historic Masters Sports Cars race with Simon Hadfield after Martin O’Connel’s 2 litre/122 cui Chevron B19 mysteriously went off road with out injury to the driver.

Mallock Mk 9, Michael Mallock, Oulton Park,

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend I managed to get up to Oulton Park for the Gold Cup meeting, while the day was fairly wet and miserable the racing was hot from beginning to end. Michael Mallock achieved the rare feet of not only winning a race in a car, #9 Mallock Mk 9 Formula Ford, bearing his family name but also beating a field of rear engined Formula Ford cars with the only vehicle carrying it’s engine in front of the driver.

Plymouth Satellite, Cheng Lim, Brighton Speed Trials,

Having encouraged readers to help save Brighton Speed Trials at the beginning of the year I managed to make my way down to Sussex for the saved event in September. Slowest car in the event but none the less entertaining was Cheng Lim’s Plymouth Satellite.

BY-Pod, Chipping Sodbury School, Renishaw Castle Combe Heat 2014

Counting as one of the most awesome vehicles I have seen all season is Chipping Sodbury Schools BY-Pod electric vehicle taking part in the Renishaw Castle Combe Heat 2014 of the Greenpower Challenge. I left the meeting with my spirits for the future of motorsport in what ever form it might take thoroughly uplifted.

Cooper Mk X, Steve Jones, Cooper Mk XI, George Shackleton, BAC MSC Challenge Trophy, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

One of the many highlights of the third Autumn Classic meeting run at Castle Combe was the dice between the Cooper 500 Formula 3 cars of Steve Jones and George Shackleton for the BAC MSC Challenge Trophy, Steve claimed the spoils in his slightly older #74 Mark X. Next year among the many attractions of the 4th Autumn Classic at Castle Combe on October 3rd will be one of the BRM V16’s which for my money would be worth the price of entry if nothing else showed up.

Thanks for joining me on this “2014 Highlights” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Americana Thursday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Wider & Longer Cockpit – Flash Special

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In 1957 while Jack Brabham was building the Cooper T43 for an almost complete season of Formula One the Cooper Car Company was still predominantly dependent on selling open wheelers for the “500” Formula 3 class, their 1957 500 F3 model was known as the Mk XI even though it was little changed from the 1956 Mk X and 1955 Mk IX models that preceded it.

West London launderette and dry cleaning operator Albert Zains had been racing Cooper 500 Formula 3 cars since 1954, for some long forgotten reason he ordered his 1957 Cooper XI to be built with a cockpit 2 inches wider and 2 inches longer than standard.

Flash Special, Roy Wright, Oulton Park

Albert’s own size is not thought to have played any part in the decision, he christened his Norton powered car the Flash Special.

Of the cars known results up to 1960 when Albert appears to have retired from racing were 5 third place finishes all recorded in 1958, two of which were scored by Albert, two with Ian Raby at the wheel and one with Syd Jensen.

Flash Special, Roy Wright, Oulton Park

Albert appears to have been part owner and one time racer of a Lotus Eleven chassis #168 which post Albert’s involvement in 1958 became known as the “Singapore Eleven” with fellow 500 F3 exponent Gordon Jones.

The Flash Special was fitted with a Triumph motor in 1970 and is seen in these photo’s with current owner Roy Wright at the wheel at last years Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting.

Flash Special, Roy Wright, Oulton Park

Thanks for joining me on this “Wider & Longer” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another ERA. Don’t forget to come back now !

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8 Race Card – Autumn Classic Castle Combe

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A couple of weeks ago Castle Combe’s 2014 racing season came to an end with the third Autumn Classic meeting and it has without question grown and flourished in the 36 months since the first one.

Anthony Binnington Cooper T67, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Today I’ll focus on last weekend’s racing and return to some of the other stunning attractions at a future date. First race of the day was for Formula Junior cars which was won by Jonathon Milicevic in his 1962 Cooper T59. During the grid walk about before the start I became acquainted with Anthony Binnington who qualified his ex Peter Revson 1963 Cooper T67 6th, fell to 19th on the opening lap and climbed up to 7th in the remaining 15 laps. Anthony tells me his car originally belonged to Peter Revson, first US born Can Am Champion in 1971, who set an all time lap record for the Formula Junior class at any track of 130 mph at Enna Pergusa, Italy on his way to a second place finish behind Frenchman Jo Schlesser in August 1963.

David Smithies, Bruce Montgomery, Austin Healey Challenge, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The John Gott Memorial Trophy race for Austin Healey’s last year saw an attempt by the leading 5 cars to go into the Bobbies chicane simultaneously, this year the action was not quite so wild, but the race for the lead twixt winner David Smithies, driving the #50, who got the jump on pole man Bruce Montgomery, driving the #177, at the start was entertaining until Bruce was forced to give up his second place to David Grace who finished just over .2 of a second behind Smithies.

David Reed, Chris Jolly Historic Aston Martins, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

Simon Hadfield driving an Aston Martin DB3S drove a text book race to win the Historic Aston Martin race by nearly a minute. The second place challengers David Reed, driving the #53 Aston Martin DB2, and Chris Jolly, driving the #16 DB2 were rarely more than spitting distance apart until the final 2 laps when the invited Jaguar XK 150 of Paul de Havilland passed Chris and made it stick to the finish.

Andy Wallace, Les Ely Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

One of the high lights of the Autumn Classic was seeing 1988 Jaguar Le Mans winner Andy Wallace, driving the #61 Jaguar D type seen above after lapping the #31 Jaguar 3.4 litre Saloon of Les Ely, on his first visit to the circuit in 30 years. Andy recorded a dead heat in a Formula Ford (Pinto) 2000 race on his last visit to the circuit, this time he was in third place in the D-type when the safety car came out and trapped him out of position in traffic from which he could only salvage a 5th behind 4 E-type Jaguars driven by Martin Hunt, Mark Russell, Brian Stevens and Grahame Bull.

Patrick Blakeney Edwards, Fraser Nash Owlet, VSCC Pre War Sports Cars, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

I am quite sure if the only competitor in the VSCC Pre War Sports Car Race had been Patrick Blakeney Edwards the crowd would have gone home convinced they had got their money’s worth. Patrick driving the chain driven Fraser Nash Owlet as entertainingly as ever only finished 6th behind winner Frederick Wakeman who was driving a roadster bodied Fraser Nash Super Sports.

Robin Ellis, Simon Hadfield, John Ure, FiSCar 50's Inter Marque, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

The FiSCar 50’s Inter Marque challenge lived up to it’s name with the lead contested by a pair of Lotus Elites, the #6 Cooper Bristol driven by John Ure and Nick Wrigley, and the #10 Elva Courier by Simon and Amanda Hadfield, seen above with Simon going into a brief lead ahead of the eventual winning #75 Lotus Elite shared by Robin Ellis and Richard Fores. The Hadfields finished 10th and the Cooper Bristol 3rd behind the Lotus Elite driven solo by Brian Arculus.

Steve Jones, George Shackleton, Cooper, 500 Formula 3, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

I reported on the activities of the 500 Association on Saturday, above 500 Formula 3 winner of the BAC MSC Challenge Trophy Steve Jones thanks the track marshals with a wave with second place finisher George Shackleton riding shot gun, driving the #74 Cooper Mk X and #23 Cooper Mk XI respectively.

08 Austin Healey Challenge_2072sc

Light levels were falling as the final race of the day, for the ever entertaining Austin Healey’s, got under way.
David Grace, seen leading on the opening lap into Quarry above, made the best start and kept it to the end from pole sitter David Smithies.

I’ll be revisiting Castle Combe in the coming weeks with further blogs on this great day out.

Thanks for joining me on this “8 Race Card” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow to continue the Dodge centenary celebrations. Don’t forget to come back now !

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