cClubman's Championship

Clubman’s Championship Bill Moss Wins Twice in F.J. Gemini

T114 Silverstone season concluded on -October 7th with a meeting for club drivers using the full outer-circuit. Organisation was in the hands of the Aston Martin Q.C., Eight Clubs and 750 M.C. with the sanction and support of the B.R.D.C. This year this was a proper clubmen’s day, professional drivers not encouraged to appear as they were in 1960, but there are too many championships as it is, and we would have preferred the title of Clubmen’s Meeting.

Before a small crowd the 750 and 1172 Formula ears came out for toe first race, over 5 laps, and they looked very slow on the vast expanse of the Silverstone circuit, although closeobservation showed that they were being driven on the limit. Youlten’s Terrier had no difficulty in winning from Easterling’s Rejo, Wershat making a great bid for second place in his Lolita and failing at the run in. Aubrey came to grief in his Goodwin Special at Copse but after a rest in the ambulance was helped into a Jaguar and driven away. Boorer’s Deb staved off the rest of the 7505, to win its section of this essentially club race.

The T.J. to-lap race was fast and furious. Bill Moss had led all the way in a red Gemini which belonged to a customer who had asked for it to be thoroughly tested! Second place was closely contested between Proctor’s Abexis and Gardner’s Jim Russell Lotus. These three places were unchanged throughout and Count Ouvaro-ff held fourth position in the Cosworth-tuned Ausper but Pinckney worked his Lotus 20 up to fifth place, taking, first Terming’s Lotus-Ford, then AttwOod’s Cooper. Harris’ Lotus and Mackay’s 1960 Cooper indulged in a shunt and Rees’ Terrier burst its clutch, to the detriment of the driver’s ankle. Mallock’s li2 and Anstice Brown’s flillwood Fiat were completely outclassed. An interesting car was Tilden’s C.M.B. which had a B.M.C. transverse power -plot at the hack.

An enormous field of sports/racing cars emerged next for a to-lapper. Lee’s ex-Border Reivers Lister-Jaguar just went on increasing its lead over Keen’s Lola every lap and these two ran right away from J. Bekaert’s Lola and Beckwith’s 1,216-c.c. Lotus, these two fighting hard, swopping places all the way. Beckwith getting through on the inside at Copse on lap eight, only to be repassed on the next round. Major Baillie’s DBR2 Aston Martin was hotly pursued on the corners by Adlington’s Lotus 7 with Cosworth Ford engine, and Nicholson’s Lola, a slide well held on oil dropped at Copse, ran away from the big Aston. Densham seemed to find his space-frame de Dion axle Bristol Special a handful before it fizzled out on the grass at Copse, and J. S. Copper was hunched up in the cockpit of his Lotus 6 which has an enlarged TI) M.G. engine. Although Warner’s Elite had been well up amongst these sports/racing cars the G.T. cars proper had their own to-lap raca,

and out came Warner again! He led all the way, winning easily from the Jaguars of Protheroe and Sturgess, in Spite of the former being a rebuilt XK120 With 3.8 engine, triple Webers, disc brakes, etc., and the latter a soft-top E-type. The Small Car Age ? Hobbs’ Elite went hard in fourth place. Baker’s Aston Martin DB 2j4 never got going, Ian Walker’s Austin Healey retired and the Marcos beat the Sprites in the t,000 c.c. class. It was a fine dice! Dangertield’s Hurrell-prepared 2.1-litre Triumph broke the G.’I’. 2-litre lap record (2 min. 4 sec.) and the old-looking L.M.I3. succumbed to an electrical fire and was last seen being pushed home in disgrace by a bevy of Bellamy glamour girls.

The Saloon Car Race was dominated by five 3.4 Jaguars, Sargent comfortably in front until Dean’s caught fire at Becketts —and then there were four. Woodroffer’s and Kenison’s2.4 Jaguar also retired, leaving three Jaguars in the lead with a couple of A4os behind them and Merfield’s Willment Anglia mixing it with them until it got boxed in by flying Minis and fell back. The smallest class was won by Embley’s Downton Austin which out performed Doughty’s Don Moore Austin and l’arker’s disc braked Morris Minor.

A 7-lap race for vintage and p.v.t. sports cars had a fine field of 29 and only one non-starter. Somewhat confused by five cars getting a credit lap, it resolved itself into a good chase, out of which Elwell-Smiths 1932 Aston Martin team-car, with an Amal ” pot,” won at respectable speed from a 1933 41-litre Lagondi and the ex-Seaman 1936 T.T. Aston Martin. Aston Martins occupied the next two places and Binns’ O.M. was a creditable sixth. Burton made fastest lap, from scratch, collecting the B.D.C.’s prize of a double magnum of vintage champagne and Morley J. and Morley C. had their Bentley’s under control, more or less. The day’s sport concluded with a Tormult Libre evert, a splendidly assorted selection of cars appearing. Moss’ Gemini took three of the ten laps to get clear of a Lotus,Climax t8 and after six laps Rhodes, in a 1960 F.J. Cooper that Bob Gerrard has let him build up, using Webers and Ford Consul Classic crank and rods, disposed of the Ansper. There was much bunching further back, with the V2 wedged immovably behind Baillie’s Aston Martin with Bear’s Lotus and Cowles’ Lotus 18 helping to drive the wedge home. The winners are listed below.—W. B.