ERA thriller and Italian exotics take the starring roles

VSCC: Donington Park

While the life and career of Ayrton Senna was the major focus of this VSCC event, on the track it was ERAs providing the thrills. The contest for the Historic Seaman Trophy finally went in favour of John Ure in R9B, but only after a wonderful battle with Mac Hulbert in R4D. David Morris, who has almost made the trophy his own in recent seasons, was left to run home third in R11B.

Aside from demonstration runs by F1 cars from Senna’s history, the headlining Shell Historic Ferrari/Maserati Challenge provided six races during the weekend. Aboard Carlos Monteverde’s rare Ferrari 712 Can-Am, David Franklin’s skill took him to a brace of victories as Bill Binnie gave chase in his 312PB in the first race. Ray Bellm took over from Binnie for race two and also claimed second, this time from the back of the grid.

Tony Smith also scored a double success in his Ferrari 246 in the single-seater races, one of which also earned him the Ron Flockhart Trophy. The drum-braked Ferrari sports/GT races were shared by Frederico Kroymans (GTO) and Vincent Gaye (250GT).

Saturday’s Vintage Seaman race fell to Julian Majzub’s Pacey-Hassan in what is proving to be an excellent season, while John Harper arrived hot-foot from racing at Silverstone to bag the 1950s Sports Car spoils.

Robin Longdon’s FJ win was more leisurely than most in the category as he moved clear of fellow Lola Mk2 pilots Tony Steele and Clive Wilson.