Masters at Donington 23rd August 2009

[Peter Mallett]

Robin Brundle presented the Lola awards at the post race gathering.

[John Turner]

19 starters; 15 finishers.

Again a rather small entry, especially for a 90 minute race, but actually some good racing, and I really enjoyed it, although I did rather lose track of who was where after about 30 minutes!

The Jaguar E-type (79) of Mike Wilkinson was on pole (put there by co-driver, Mark Wright) but he slipped behind the other frontrunners at the start with the Allen Tice/Chris Conoley Marcos 1800 (40) snatching the lead briefly before Jason Minshaw asserted himself in Martin Melling's low drag E-type replica (55). However, after about 3 laps, the safety car was out to remove a car from Redgate (possibly the Tandy/Chambers E-type, as that did not reappear). Once the track was cleared Minshaw maintained his lead but with a big battle brewing close behind between the Marcos and Julian Bronson in the Chevrolet Corvette (44).

Pic 1 shows Minshaw coming through Hollywood, in the lead. Pic 2 is of the Clarkson/Williams Healey 3000 (73) which eventually finished 5th, whilst the next pic is of the Aylett/Jones Diva GT which presumably lost some time somewhere as lap times suggested a higher finishing place was possible than its final 14th position. Pic 4 is of the John Reed/Desmond Smail MGB (19) overtaking the 99 MGB of Pia and Tony Bianchi into Redgate but it was the latter that came out ahead at the flag, finishing 7th, one place ahead. 91 is the Neil Merry/Christian Dick Sunbeam Tiger that had gone off around Hollywood early on, but was eventually extracted and allowed to continue. However, it did not complete enough laps to be classified. Last pic is of the Anthony Galliers-Pratt/Patrick Blakeney Edwards E-type which was to finish 3rd. More pics to follow.

[John Turner]

88 is the Gordon McCulloch/Andy Newall Alfa Romeo TZ1, another car that I would have thought should have finished higher than its last place. Next pic shows Julian Bronson challenging for the lead. Pic 3 is of the other TZ1 (46). Newall was also driving this one, shared with Ross Warburton, and it finished 9th. The Nigel Williams/William L'Anson Porsche 911 (4) which finished 11th. 48 is the Gavin Henderson/PatricK Blakeney-Edwards (another driving two cars) Healey 3000MkII, which finished 10th. This attempted excursion down the Melbourne loop was repeated a few laps later. Final pic (but more to come in next post!) is the James Wood/Robert Coucher MGB (36) which took 12th place.

[John Turner]

40 is the winning Marcos of Allen Tice/Chris Conoley. It won on merit being the only one of the leading cars that was in contention for the whole race. I don't think it ever dropped out of the top 3, unlike all the other challengers. However, it had a great battle with Bronson in the Corvette. The latter lost a lot of time later on (anyone know why?) and Barry Cannell drove it to the flag 13th place. 55 is the Minshaw/Melling E -Type again. The two TZ1s together. Pic 5 is of Mark Wright in the E type (79). He drove a splendid stint, which included unlapping himself from the Marcos and a drive through penalty, to finish 2nd. Final pic is of the Alan and Daniel Ross-Jones Triumph TR4 (78) which finished a fine 6th. And that's it for this meeting!

[Peter Mallett]

Great coverage and pics John, I almost feel like I was ther............... Oh wait!