66th Goodwood members meeting (May 22nd)
Good weather, a good attendance, too many non-starters, sums up the last but one B.A.R.C. Meeting counting towards the 1965 MOTOR SPORT Brooklands Memorial Trophy. Burnard’s 2-litre Simca Abarth, from the back of the grid because it hadn’t practised, ran away with the to-lap GT race, beating a trio of Diva 1100s driven by Alexander, Mockford and Sir J. Samuel, although for some inexplicable reason Burnard’s enormous lead was suddenly demolished by Alexander to 1.2 sec. over the line.
An exciting 10-lap Saloon Car Race saw Calcutt’s Hillman Imp on the front row of the grid but it only lasted two laps before the fuel pump packed up. After many incidents Cox’s A40 split tile Odor Cooper-S domination by finishing second, behind Wilding, ahead of Kirby. Rayner’s early-style Ford Popular had a Cosworth-tuned engine and 5-speed gearbox! The F.3 Scratch Race was ruined because Cole (Brabham-Ford) was penalised 60 sec., for jumping the start. Actually two other cars left early but Cole suffered under the old school penalty of being seen to break the rules. As the one-minute signal was given at anything from 30 sec. to 1 1/2 min. before flag-fall during the afternoon, start-jumping was understandable. They gave the race to Bell (Lotus-Ford), from Payne (Lotus-Ford) and Sullivan (Repo Brabham-Ford).
Another 10-lap GT race saw the Elans of Burnand and Fallek act as giant-killers, slaying the E-types, the former winning by 14 sec. after ten laps! O’Connell’s Jaguar-engined A.C. was second, however, until its clutch gave out on lap nine.
Cave’s astounding A40 ran off with the second Saloon Car Race, even Dodd’s 3.8 Jaguar being 11.8 sec. behind at the finish.
Drury’s 1,718-c.c. Anglia finished third, beating Runham’s ex-Coombes/G. Hill 3.8 Jaguar before the Jaguar’s engine blew-up.
Lacey’s Merlyn-Ford took the Sports and “Clubman’s” Sports Car Race from Sawyer-Hoare’s smart Lotus 23, Rose-Gold’s Lotus 7 winning the “Clubman” category in spite of spinning in practice. Racing ended with a couple of 5-lap handicaps, Miles in the Cave A40 winning the first, Sawyer-Hoare having the second one in the bag from the third lap in his Ford-engined Lotus.—W. B.