HSCC Finals, Silverstone - 17th Oct, 2009

[John Turner]

Pic 1 - taken sometime later, shows Phil Briggs, at that stage in 3rd place coming under attack from Barter whilst they both lap Stuart Downward (25 - Lancia Fulvia - 25th) and Elizabeth Head (6 - MGB - 24th). At this stage, Shaw had dropped back behind Barter and is just out of shot. 82 is the Fulvia Zagato of Alex Childs who finished 17th. In the next pic, Briggs having been passed by Barter, now finds himself being challenged by Shaw, as they both lap Jeremy Stafford's Triumph GT6 (50 - 21st). Shaw had got a quicker exit out of Copse with Briggs possibly held up slightly by the Triumph and successfully completed the pass going between the other pair. Christina Totty was 9th in her TVR 3000M (86). The final picture shows the gyrating Ferrari 308GTB (14) of Jai Sharma who failed to finish.

Anderson had held onto Plant for many laps, posting the fastest race lap on lap 6 but he was eventually to drop back (brake/tyre wear issues?) and faded very badly over the last couple of laps (other problems?) to finish 5th, having been pipped by Briggs. Plant won reasonably comfortably in the end by nearly 9 seconds from the as usual hard charging Barter, with Peter Shaw just another 1.3 seconds back in 3rd.

[John Turner]

34 starters; 32 finishers

John Milicevic was on pole and took his customary lead in his Cooper T59 (1), and is seen leading the pack away from the start, with Michael Hibberd (51 - Lotus 27) in close attendance and James Murray (63 - Lola Mk5A) and Sam Wilson (50 - Cooper T59) behind. I'm still not used to seeing James Owen in a single seater, but here he is in the Elva 200 (43) in which he finished 29th. Pic 3 is of Adam Sykes who finished 6th in his Lotus 20/22 (97) whilst William Grimshaw appears to be gritting his teeth on the way to 21st in his Moorland Mk1 (29). A great dice between Chrispian Besley (14 - Elva 100) and Andrew Tart in the Bond (25) was resolved in favour of the latter who finished 17th just half a second ahead. Final pic is of Paul Dixon (27 -Gemini MkII) who finished 25th.

[John Turner]

33 is the Lotus 18 of John Percy who was 28th. James Murray 63) held off the attentions of Simon Ham (66 - Brabham BT2) for some laps but whereas Ham finished 3rd, Murray finished 7th, so what happened James? 56 is Stuart Roach who finished 10th in Cooper T56 and I think that maybe John Rees hidden from view in his Lotus 22 (12th). I only use Pic 4 to illustrate the late race drama when for the first time this season, Jon Milicevic had a mechanical failure. Here Hibberd has already assumed the lead and over his right shoulder you can see the slowing Milicevic with his hand held up to signify that he is about to pull off. Pic 5 is of Hibberd whose Terrier like pursuit paid off on this occasion. Milicevic has normally driven away from the field this season, but on this time Hibberd really hung on to him, the lead never more than a few lengths and although he probably wouldn't have wanted to win like that, it was reward for a tenacious drive. The last pic is of the erstwhile leader drifting to a halt and raising his visor. At the end of the race I was briefly able to commiserate with him, but added that he had had a fantastically successful season - with a very broad grin, he agreed.

[HRSTR5]

Thanks for the photo John.

Not a great day at Silverstone for me, having gone okay at Lydden a couple of weeks before, I'd had no chance to spend any time on the car before loading it up to go to Silverstone - well I was warned that this is not a good way to treat a Junior, and so it was proven! Issues in qualifying, with a major misfire, meant I only ran 6 laps in FJ qualifying, and just 1 in CRC - depriving me of much needed track time in the new car.

We replaced several ignition components over lunch, and the car ran better in the afternoon, so I enjoyed the races, but my performance was poor, with no confidence in grip levels at all, and a braking issue too. Having run relatively competitively at Lydden, I was pretty disappointed to be so off the pace, as I had hoped to progress further up the order. Oh, and the central heating broke down in the motorhome flooding it throughout (Cue, howls of derision from certain Forum-members no doubt!)

But with my chums Jonathon Rushton and Robert Barrie both securing their Championships, and Matt Newman being first non-Chevron in Guards, then Westie successfully getting his places back on the last lap having been so badly baulked on the penultimate lap, it turned out to be a good day, despite my tribulations, and it was followed by a good evening..!

Will be back next season, can't wait!

[John Turner]

Thanks, James; great post.

[John Turner]

Incidentally, I should have stated that Julian Barter is the 2009 70s Road Sports Champion in his TVR, and that Chris Drake is the new Formula Junior Champion in his Elva 300, so congrats to them, and I will try to remember to record the new champs as we go through the races on this thread.

[John Turner]

27 starters; 22 finishers.

I'm going to make this one of feature races of this thread because, I think I need to go to 3 posts, and even then not everyone will be covered. Last year this race saw a mighty tussle for victory between Graeme Dodd in the Jaguar MkII and Dan Cox in the Lotus Cortina, settled on that occasion in the favour of the Jaguar driver. I fully expected to see this happen again, and indeed it did, but I completely failed to register the fact that one Neil Cunningham was on the grid with Ford Mustang! Doh! It will come as no surprsie to know that we had a superb 3 way battle for the lead.

The first pic shows most of the grid, Alfas, Anglias, Imps, Minis, an A40, an LC and Gregory Thornton's 1100 which doesn't look quite so out of place with a Mini sat behind it. Pic 2, at the end of lap 1 and Dodd (21) leads Cunningham (2), with Peter Hore tucked in behind in his Lotus Cortina (49). Andy Jones pedalled his Singer Chamois (86) to 8th. 72 is the Mini Cooper S of Andy Harrison who finished 12th. In stark contrast to his F5000 Surtees, Gregory Thornton, no doubt grinning broadly into his helmet circulated the MG1100 at the back but he did at least finish. Final pic is of Roger Cope piling on loads of opposite lock to bring the BMW 1800 (27) back. He finished 6th.

[John Turner]

87 is Simon Benoy lifting a wheel in his Hillman Imp in which he finished 7th and class E winner. By this time, Dan Cox (46) had supplanted Peter Hore, who started to drop back, and glued his car to the back of the Mustang, intent on gaining 2nd place - Dodd still leading at this point. Pic 3 shows the race long battle between the Alfa Guilietta GTs of Robert Ballard (4) and Crispin Thomas (70). Thomas was to win this, finishing just one second ahead in 19th place. 61 is the Ford Anglia of Brian Webb who finished 11th and 65 is the Anglia of Andrew Law who is about to lose a position to Andy Harrison. Law was to retire after completing 7 laps. The last shot shows the battle truly joined by the leaders.

[John Turner]

Rob Trevor retired his Anglia (56) but not until he had entertained. At one stage Cox had relegated Cunningham to 3rd, but here we see that the Mustang has hit the front. Pic 3 shows a nostalgic grouping of small family saloons, the only one not mentioned before being the Anglia (60) of Steve Read who finished 10th. Next pic, Cunningham gets a bit of breathing space as Cox dives up the inside of Dodd. Cox then attempted to go around the Mustang, but Cunningham, once he had hit the front never lost the lead and won by 4 tenths from Cox whilst Dodd had dropped back just a little at the flag. Final pic is of Paul Hopkinson (39) who finished 21st in his Alfa Guilietta, being lapped by the two surviving Anglias.

Congratulations to Dan Cox who is this year's Champion

[John Turner]

25 starters; 20 Finishers.

Supported by Chartland Properties, this was a 15 minute race in which Michael Scott had the legs of the grid. In pic 1, he is seen leading the field through Luffield on the first lap in his Brabham BT30 (88), followed by Ian Gray (1 - Brabham BT16) and Richard Kendle (30 - Brabham BT21B). Further back, Rachel Arnold (55 - Merlyn Mk20 ) leads Brian Ashby (31 - Emeryson F1 -18th) and Julian Judd (32 - Jovis - 16th), with Barrie Pusey (42 - Brabham BT21B - DNF) and Geoffrey Laycock (63 - Merlyn Mk14 - DNF) in the background. 81 is the Chevron B9 of Baba Yazaburo who finished 11th, and 42 is Pusy again. 43 is James Owen who finished 19th in the Elva 200, and it was good to see Lincoln Small out again in his BT30 (37) as we have not seen him for a while. He finished 7th.

[John Turner]

Scott (88) ran away with this race winning by almost 13 seconds. Allen Rennie (22 - Lotus 35) got ahead of Kendle (30) and held on to take 3rd, with Kendle 4th and Jon Waggit, 5th in his Brabham BT18 (74). 11 is the Brabham BT23C of David Brown who finished 13th. Benjamin Mitchell, Westie's son, drove Simon Hadfield's Merlyn Mk20 to 12th' whilst Andrew Thorpe took the March 703 to 15th. Last pic shows Ian Gray lapping Rachel Arnold around the outside. Apart from when lapping, his race must have been pretty quiet after he lost touch with Scott, since in finishing 2nd in the BT16, he was 22 seconds clear of Rennie.

I don't seem to have a decent picture of Chris Holland, but he is this year's champion, being the regular winner in Class D in his Brabham BT21.

[simonb87]

John

Great report and pictures of the saloons. Thanks for posting your stuff all season - much appreciated and enjoyed. When you are in a race, the perspective is very different so it is great to find out what happened to others from an unbiased viewpoint!

This race was quite quiet for me after the first few laps - I tried to stick with Roger Cope in the BMW, nearly collecting him when he got sideways in your photo, but there aren't enough twisty bits on the club circuit to allow me to regain what I lose on the straights, so I got the chance to practice and improve my technique round Copse, a corner that I have always tended to take too slowly, in spite of all the run off available - I think it is the effect of the blind entry.

Cheers - Simon

[macca]

Originally Posted by John Turner

I'm sorry, I seem to miss an awful lot of people despite my best efforts. I tend to walk around the paddock area in the morning taking pics and hopefully meeting drivers/ten tenthers but it is still a lottery. Stationary cars are easier to find than owners/drivers etc! Then I'm off around the circuit for the racing and by the time I get back at the end of the day to pick up the results sheets, the place is practically empty!

So was that you near the bridges on the club straight taking pictures during practise?


Mike Lyons in McLaren M4, before gearbox bothers - dns



Paul M

[John Turner]

No, Paul, I don't think I took any pics during practice; I was no doubt lapping the paddock area being successful at finding racing cars, but generally unsuccessful at finding their drivers!

Simon, good post, thanks.

[John Turner]

14 starters; 12 finishers

Sponsored by Lloyds TSB this 15 minute race for F5000 and F2 cars lost 3 cars before it had started since 17 had actually practiced. One of those not to take the start was Frank Lyons who had placed the Gurney Eagle on the front row alongside poleman, his son, Michael in the Lola T400 (64). No disrespect to Judy, but it would have been great to see Frank running that stunning car at race pace. Anyway, it was not to be so it seemed likely that Michael would drive away, which he did eventually, but not before a superb start by Neil Glover took him to the head of the field, in his Lola T330/332 (30). Pic 1 shows this situation with, another fast starter, Mark Dwyer (54 - Lola T400) tucked in behind Glover and Lyons. Glover held the lead until Lyons slipped ahead going into Brooklands towards the end of lap 3. Michael then drove away from the field, whilst Neil started to have gear selection problems, and dropped back through the field. Pic 2 shows Frank Sytner in the Simon Hadfield/Marcus Pye owned Lola T332 (40) which unfortunately only lasted 4 laps. Oldest car in the race was surely Phil Walker's Lola T142 (32) in which he finished 8th. Pic 4 shows outgoing champion Gregory Thornton (1 - Surtees TS11) who had his mirrors full of Stuart Tilley in the Modus M1 (48) for some of the race. Thornton finished 5th well clear of Tilley in the end, but it was good to see Stuart and the Modus out, both under raced I feel! They finished 6th. Pic 5 shows the battle between Daryl Taylor (8 - Chevron B28) and Darwin Smith (10 - March 722) and this one lasted all the way to the flag, as they finished 3rd and 4th respectively, just 1 second splitting them. Pic 6 is of Jo Sebastien (61 - Lola T300) ahead of John Rand (62 - Lola T460) although they had swapped places, with Rand having pulling well away by the end to finish 10th, Sebastien 11th. I apologise for the indifferent quality of some of these pics, used merely to illustrate given situations.

[John Turner]

Daryl Taylor (8 - Chevron B28) spent most of the race holding off Darwin Smith, to finish 3rd. 18 is Robert Shaw in his Chevron B42, showing, it seems to me, a surprising degree of suspension movement and some interesting tyre wear. He finished 7th. Michael Lyons (64) stroked home to win by 26 seconds. Neil Glover (30) eventually had only 2nd gear. I'm sure that normally, that would warrant retirement but Neil knew that he just had to finish the race to ensure that he would be this year's champion, so he pottered around to finish last, and duly delivered, so many congrats to him. I was pleased to get the next shot even though it could have been of better quality, since it shows the Surtees TS11 of Gregory Thornton (1) lapping the older Surtees TS8 (75) of Stephen Gibson who finished 9th. Mark Dwyer (54 - Lola T400) could not match the pace of Lyons but was well clear of the rest to finish 2nd.

[John Turner]

And just to complete the picture, here is 4th placed Darwin Smith (10 - March 722).

[John Turner]

31 starters; 26 finishers.

Another excellent grid for this 15 minute race with 'Dunlop Tyres'. Michael Schryver put his Chevron B6 (49), a car that he has owned so long and raced so successfully that it is considered almost an integral part of the family, on pole. Alongside, was Graeme Dodd in the Ginetta G16 (45), which I hope will be out in as many rounds as possible next year (along with Stuart Tizzard and his Lenham Spyder) to get amongst the B6/B8 brigade. On row 2 was James Schryver with B8, and whilst Michael took the lead, most eyes were on the racelong battle between Graeme and James. The first pic shows them on lap one already embroiled, James having got ahead at this point. Simon Garrad also made a good start in his TVR Griffiths (79) although he was to drop a couple of places to the sports racers to finish 8th, first class D home. Both cars behind, the Chevron B8 (12) of Ross Maxwell and the Lotus 23B (43 -7th) got ahead of him. Pic 3 is of Greg Caton's Lenham Spyder (77) which was not destined to finish. Per Jonsson's very standard looking Jaguar E -type (21) finished 25th. It's appearance is much improved with the hard top fitted, as the latest roll cage requirements for open sports cars, whilst I'm sure welcome from a safety point of view, do absolutely nothing for them, aesthetically. Form an orderly queue, chaps - Paul Castaldini (55 - Jaguar E -type lowdrag - 12th), Nick Fleming (42 - Chevron B8) and Andrew Smith (67 - Marcos 1800GT - 11th) present a very neat line astern display.

[John Turner]

Mark Hoble brought the Morgan Plus 4 (27) home in 23rd place. Michael Schryver (49), initially eased away from the field but was briefly caught by nephew, James, and Graeme Dodd whilst they were among lapped traffic. However, with a clear track ahead of him, he again edged away and won by nearly 9 seconds. Nick Fleming was 4th in his B8 (42), whilst Ross Maxwell was 5th in his. Nick Thompson was 6th in his B6 (6) and Michael Hibberd, 9th, in Lotus 23B (25). It's good to see 23Bs out again this season, hope that trend continues next year. Ben Adams was 24th in his Turner MkII.

[John Turner]

The excellent battle between Dodd and Schryver (J) continued right to the flag. Here Dodd is just ahead. However, it was James who got to the flag first to take 2nd place - a Shryver one-two - by about 3-tenths! It was a superb dice and well done to both. Next pic shows Peter Tognola (47 - Porsche 911 - DNF), Martin Richardson (64 - MGB - 19th) and Nick Fleming (again!). Andy Somerville (88 - Triumph TR4 - 21st) about to be lapped by Stephen Radcliffe (44 - E-type - 10th). Simon Edwards was 15th in his Rejo MkIV (9) and Alan Cosby 14th in Lola Mk1 (8). Last but not least is Robert Barrie, three-wheeling his way to 18th, winning class B2 and retaining his Guards Trophy Championship, in his Porsche 911. So many congrats to him.

[John Turner]

26 starters; 21 finishers

Supported by Motor Sport magazine, this race was another 15 minute one. Bill Coombes was on pole and converted that into the lead at the start in his Argo JM6 (8), but was hard pressed by Paul Smith in the Martini Mk31 (82). In the first pic, half the field has gone through as John Wilson spins his Royale RP26 (73) coming out of Brooklands. Peter Dunn takes avoiding action in his March 733 (35) going on to finish 12th and class B winner. Wilson rejoined at the back and finished 18th. Pic 2 - Coombes leads Smith into Brooklands. 87 is Andy Storer in Chevron B38 who retired after 5 laps. The next pic shows the battle to avoid coming last! 96 is Gareth Walters (Palliser WDF3 - 19th). 71 is Alan Hicks (Jamun T9), who was overtaken by Richard Walters (97 - Mallock Mk11B - 20th), and the dropped back to take the final classified position. 38 is Hugh Price in the Chevron B38. He was unable to hold on to the leading pair but finished 3rd, well clear of the rest. Marcus Mussa was 7th in his Modus M1 (70).

[John Turner]

After several laps of sustained pressure, Smith took the lead, and although Coombes took fastest race lap on lap 12, Smith ran home the winner by 2 seconds (see pic1). Mike Simpson finished 10th in the Ralt RT1 (24), but Derek Watling retired his Royale RP27 (77) after completing 14 laps. Oliver Thorpe was 6th and class C winner in another RP27 (48). Christopher Drake was 4th in his March 743 (53) albeit over 14 seconds behind Price. Final pic is of Michael Quinn, 9th in his Ralt RT1.

Bill Coombes is this year's champion, so congrats to him.

[John Turner]

26 starters; 22 finishers

Supported by Zircotec, a 15 minute race, with some excellent battles at the front and down the field. Andrew Marler snatched the early lead, in his Lotus Elan (84), and with a number of quick nimble cars around him, it was a couple of laps before Simon Crompton had worked his way into a challenging position in the AC Cobra (77), see pic 1, with Dave Randall's Ginetta G4 (5) in close attendance. Another G4 (32), this time with fitted hard top, is that of Patrick Ward-Booth, who finished 9th. Kerry Wilson's Aston Martin DB2/4 (18) was last of the classified finishers. Mark Shears finished 16th in his Morgan Plus 4 (34), whilst Grant Saunders was a non finisher in his MG Midget (23). 67 is Graham Oakins in his Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint which finished 21st.

[John Turner]

First pic shows a good battle between Alan Harper (47 - Lotus Elan S2 - 7th), Martin Halliday (54 - Lotus 7 S3 - 4th) and Tony Howard (76 - Morgan Plus 8 - 5th). The current National Editor of Autosport was nearly born in one of these, as it was the only car I had running at the time to get his Mother to hospital in, but that's another story - the Ginetta G15 (10) of Peter Bornhauser was 17th. 91 is the Triumph TR2 of Richard Owen who finished 20th. Andrew Sharp was 8th in his Aston Martin DB2 (55). Meanwhile Simon Crompton had hit the front and went onto win by 5.2 seconds leaving a wonderful dice for 2nd between Randall and Marler which went to Randall by less than 2 tenths. Final pic is of Paul Tooms (46 - Lotus Elan - 10th), I think on his slowing down lap, displaying what appears to be an almost flat tyre. I suspect a slow puncture during the race because his finishing position does not reflect his earlier race pace. Note the livery, too - I think that his other Elan is still being rebuilt.

Apologies to Mark Hoble and Jonathan Rushton for the absence of either of their Morgans in the pics, but congrats to the latter for becoming Road Sports Champion.

[bigvalveelan]

Thanks for the roadsports report John. My green Elan was put together in 2 1/2 weeks after my biggie at SPA (lots of friends helped!) so we were thrilled to have it competitive enough to qualify 3rd.
In the race my front left started going down from about 5 laps in - I did the last 3 laps with the rim touching on right handers - the photo you have is me on the last lap.

Red Elan is being rebuilt and I gues I'll have to chosse between the two cars next season - can't manage to run both, just not enough time.
Paul