Godfrey and Harper shine in spray
Godfrey and Harper shine in spray
HSCC I Silverstone I Oct 16
Very unpleasant weather conditions, which contributed to a nasty startline shunt in the Derek Bell Trophy race, took the edge off the HSCC’s end-of-season meet. Nevertheless, some excellent racing cut through the gloom, notably in the ’70s Road Sports Championship.
With the title assured after Jai Sharma’s Lancia Fulvia consumed its headgasket during qualifying, Richard Thorne was able to enjoy a spirited lead battle in his Morgan Plus 8. Alan Harper (Lotus Elan) and Andy Shepherd (Lotus 7) were his main rivals, and Harper’ s bravado under braking helped him inch ahead near the end as Thorne dealt with the persistent Shepherd.
Roger Godfrey will dine out all winter on the Historic Racing Saloon final. “I’ve been rain dancing in the paddock,” he joked after storming ahead of more powerful cars in his Mini Cooper. While Adrian Oliver netted the title for a third year in his Imp, Godfrey slayed some giants in style after Dan Cox spun his lead away at Becketts on lap one.
For the second time in two weeks Graeme Dodd blitzed the Jaguar XK field in horrid conditions, winning by almost 50sec. Meanwhile, in Classic Racing Cars Ian Gray was a surprised but elated winner in his ex-John Watson Brabham BT30, after Matthew Watts aquaplaned off on the opening lap in his BT16. Another to explore the Brooklands gravel trap was Nigel Bancroft, departing the lead contest to leave
the way clear for Nelson Rowe to score his first Historic FF1600Win.
Matthew Bannister in his Datsun 240Z and Richard Hayhow (Lotus Elan) both took wins, while Richard Trott mastered the Classic F3 pack in his Ralt RT1. “That seemed a very long 15 minutes,” admitted Trott, after taking the lead when Paul Smith spun his FF2000 Reynard.
Sadly, the Derek Bell Trophy race didn’t happen. With standing water generating huge clouds of spray, a shunt before the bridge wiped out half the grid. It was triggered when the leading F5000s of Frank Lyons and Edwin Jowsey touched, and the chain reaction reached far down the field. Worst off was David Brown (Brabham BT30), who needed medical help after suffering a back injury in the confusion.