Caroline's single-drive Morgan takes Sir Henry Segrave Trophy

Continuing the trend set at Goodwood the previous weekend, this glorious summer did its best to dampen spirits at the VSCC’s Sir Henry Segrave Memorial Trophy meeting at Oulton Park. A mere eight starters were mustered for a Pre-’65 Rear-engined Racing Cars encounter in which the first three places remained unchanged once Rod Jolley (Cooper T51) had displaced early leader John Beasley (F2 Cooper T45) on the opening lap. David Pennell (T51) held on to third in spite of a closing Fred Boothby (FJ Lotus 20).

III-suited to the conditions, Peter Morley (Napier Bentley) soon succumbed to the agile Parker-GN of Mark Walker, pursued by Gary Caroline’s Morgan. Its single driving wheel proved a handicap at the start but once up to speed Caroline took the lead on lap six when Walker missed the chicane, and held on to take the Sir Henry Segrave Memorial Trophy, and fastest lap. Westle Mitchell (GN/AC) claimed third.

Substituting for an unwell owner, Ian Nuthall claimed pole position by five seconds in Tony Noble’s Cooper Bristol in the Amschel Rothschild Trophy race, but a cautious start allowed Bob Gilbert’s similar car to set the early pace with Robin Lodge (Ferrari Dino) in third, the Dino proving a real handful in the wet conditions. On lap five, Nuthall and Lodge had reeled in Gilbert and drew away, only for Lodge to spin four laps later when a backmarker moved onto his line at Lodge. He held onto second, only to spin into retirement on the Cascades grass. Spencer Flack inherited third to make a Cooper Bristol 1-2-3.

Spurred on by his earlier retirement, Lodge produced an inspired drive in the Pre-’41 Racing Cars race in his Maserati 4CM. Starting from the 10-second mark, he was up to second by lap three admittedly helped by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn stalling the P3 Alfa on the line and shadowed by Rod Jolley (Giron Alvis) before taking the lead on lap five while Ted Dunn (Riley Falcon Special) pressed Jolley for second. A spin at Shell on the penultimate lap dropped Lodge down to third but, harried by Venables-Llewelyn, he stormed back into the lead followed by the Alfa, with Jolley and Dunn completing the quartet. Mark Gillies (Brooke Special) was a little off his usual pace in fifth.

Fastest in practice, Nick Linney followed his recent Donington form to take a flag-to-flag victory in the 1950s Sports Car race with his Lister-Jaguar ‘Knobbly’, while Richard Austin maintained an unchallenged second with his Lotus 19 that showed such promise at Silverstone and, once again, took fastest lap but was unable to mount a challenge. Ron Gammons, his Devin-Chevvy now slightly detuned, was secure in third but a fine performance from Hugh Taylor with the Willment-Climax saw him closing as the flag fell. Alan Cox