MOTOR SPORT CONCOURS

Dinos Dominate

It was the biggest gathering of Ferrari Dinos outside an FOC meeting when 28 of the mid-engined beauties took to Silverstone circuit as the highlight of the MOTOR SPORT Annual Concours which accompanies the HSCC final championship meeting of the year. Of the Dinos, Nick Cartwright won for the second year, though with a different car – his GT was judged tops, and also Champion of Champions, the Matlock dealer and restorer receiving his prize from Chris Evans of the Big Breakfast TV show. Evans a classic car fan himself, arrived at the circuit in his own Dino.

Away from the Ferraris, cars with MOTOR SPORT connections took two of the top three places: Guy Holmes’ second-placed Aston Martin DB4 GT is the one tested by us in 1961, while third slot when to the Series II 4.2 E-type with which DSJ used to tour Europe as our Continental Correspondent. After a long period lying fallow, it has been nicely restored by Bill Lodge of Colchester. But to forestall any cries of “foul”, the judging team awarded first place to Richard Dyball’s immaculate V12 E-type, especially commendable as it is finished in black, notoriously hard to present well.

As Most Interesting Car of the Day, Chris Evans chose David Lockspeiser’s Mk 14 Lotus Elite, though in terms of coachwork one might have pointed to David Wixen’s P2 Allard Safari, its “woody” station-wagon body originally designed by two farming sisters to carry a pair of sheep in the back! And for competition history it was nice to see the 1934 Riley brought by Peter Woodruff, which was a member of the Alpine Team of that year.

With a wide range of HSCC races for histori saloons and sports-racers, spear-headed by a dramatic MOTOR SPORT Historic Formula One event, the Concours day has become a popular round-up for the season – unless you are the hardy VSCC type, for whom it is instead the precursor to a programme of winter trials and driving tests! GC

Sean’s Show

Sean Walker drove a cool race in the Classic Team Lotus 87B to withstand strong pressure from three other drivers on his way to winning the MOTOR SPORT Historic Formula One race at Silverstone on September 17.

The 12-lap race was the high point of the HSCC’s Reliance Security meeting, in which Walker featured in an intense battle with Simon Hadfield in the similarly-hued Supersprint Cars Lotus 78, John Wilson (Williams FW08C) and Geoff Farmer (Tyrrell 012).

Walker and Wilson shot through from the second row to lead Hadfield away from the start, these three running virtually nose to tail throughout the race and pulling clear of the rest. Hadfield finally found a way past Wilson, and closed to within half a second of the other black Lotus by the end.

Pole qualifier Farmer had started from the back of the 28-car grid after problems on the warm-up lap, but took only five laps to reach fourth place, and in fact overtook Wilson for third at the end, the first four cars being covered by less than two seconds as they streaked across the line. However, Wilson was disqualified for passing under a yellow flag, which elevated Michael Schryver (Lotus 72) to fourth, and series debutant Bob Berridge (RAM March) to fifth. lan Giles had been between this pair on the eighth lap when his Tyrrell 012 spun into the barrier at Luffield, inflicting considerable damage on the car but fortunately rather less on himself. John Narcisi (Trojan T101) won the prize for Formula 5000 cars.

Heinz Schreiber (March 753) had opened the eight-race programme by winning the first part of the Norvic Aero Engines Trophy, a round of the German Open series, and later took the second part as well. Comfortable wins followed for Bob Sherring (7-litre Ford Galaxie) in the Reliance Security saloon race and Roy Eaton (Marcos-Volvo) in the MaST Trophy Classic Sportscar Championship race. After the MOTOR SPORT F1 race, Ralph Avis (Shelby 350GT) won a good battle with Nick Randall (Jaguar E-type) in the Barley Construction Improved Road Sports race.

The faster cars then returned for the Historic Sports Racing Car event, in which Willie Green, at the wheel of series sponsor Richard Budge’s Chevron B31/36, held off the race-long attentions of Mike Wrigley’s older B19 to take the race with just over a second in hand. Richard Evans (B26) came through from the back row of the grid to take a distant third.

Schryver then took his Gold Leaf Lotus 72 to victory in the Trupart Historic Formula Race Car event, beating Mike Whatley’s F5000 Surtees TS8. Mike Littlewood (Merlyn Mk21) was some way behind in third, fending off a late challenge from John Beasley (Brabham BT36) to win the F2 class. The meeting ended with the combined Standard Road Sports and Lotus Seven race, won by John Henderson’s Seven. DMcK