Silverstone Classic July 27-29th July, 2007

[John Turner]

A 45 minute race with driver changes, although a few drove solo.

Some great cars and drivers but a real race of attrition; almost a case of last man standing. Ok, I exaggerate but we lost almost half the field of 23 cars before the end. Between laps 12 and 19 (of 26) we lost 4 of the front runners - the Mark Sumpter/Derek Bell (it was not Bell's weekend) 962C, the Justin Law/Andy Wallace XJR12, the Gary Pearson XJR11 and the Spice SE90C of David Mercer. In addition, and during that period we also lost (for the second time in the weekend) David Leslie in the Ford C100. Leslie, I'm sure would have preferred to be driving the AMR1 given that he drove it in period and has, I believe, a strong affection for it, not that the Aston even made it to this race. All this is proof if any were needed that these relatively modern (by our terms!) and sophisticated cars are not the easiest to maintain in raceworthy condition.

In the light of the above, well done to Andy Purdie and his team for getting the 962C (seen here), a car I photographed at this venue when contemporary, to the finishing line first. It was some consolation, too, for Charlie Agg to take the yellow Nissan R90K to 2nd, with the Mullen/Gillies Spice Chevrolet GTP, 3rd.


Janine Payne took the distinctive Leyton House liveried 962C to 7th:-


A good dice was broken up when the Pearman/Wilds R90CK overcooked it out of Brooklands and the Mullen/Gillies Spice went onto finish 3rd. The Nissan recovered the track to finish 6th:-


The Rini/Law XJR12D was the only one of 4 Jaguars to finish; in 5th place:-


David Leslie on the Ford C100:-


12th and last of the classified finishers was Richard Bateman in the Tiga GC287:-

[terence]

Fabulous shots John,My dream cars,if only I had the budget!!

[krt917]

Nice to see you've almost finished your coverage of the meeting Dad. Honestly, anyone would think you had better things to do!...

Great to hear some of the extra bits of info, especially on Barazi. I thought that was a bit strange.

Anyway, a couple of clarifications:

Originally Posted by Gary Critcher

that's an 06 isn't it, John??

- Yes, Wareing's car was indeed a Williams FW06.

- Chamberlain's failure in th second Porsche race was, apparently, due to an oil pressure warning light coming on, indicating the pressure was low. He parked it, only to find it was a faulty gauge. That must have been very annoying.

Overall, it was a great meeting, but I would agree with those that have said there were almost too many races. It certainly made my job - and finding time to speak to people - very difficult!

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by krt917

Nice to see you've almost finished your coverage of the meeting Dad. Honestly, anyone would think you had better things to do!...

Yes, thanks for that ........ Son! Should just about finish this before heading down to Goodwood on Friday!

Right, as usual the FJs provided a great turn out and close racing, and being on the GP circuit allowed for 48 starters of which just 6 failed to make it to the chequered flag!

Great scrap for the lead for much of the race, with poleman Denis Welch in his Merlyin Mk5/7 (57) holding onto it for most of the time. He also put up fastest lap but unfortunately for him, he was one of the six who failed to finish. Thus it was Michael Hibberd (51 - Lotus 27) who took the flag after a great duel with Mark Woodhouse (84 - Lotus 20, lying 4th in the picture). They were separated by just 0.128 seconds at the end. 68 is Gavin Pickering (Lotus 20/22) who finished 3rd a further 8 seconds behind:-


A few of the front engined brigade. Paul Dixon (27 - Gemini Mk2 - 38th), Paul Hewes (10 - Lotus 18 - 34th), Geoff O'Nion (20 - Elva 100 - 35th) and William Coleric (18 - Elve 100 - 37th):-


George Cooper finished 23rd in his Cooper T59:-


Anthony Binnington (69) took his Cooper T67 to 8th place but was passed by both Simon Diffey (61 - Lotus 20) and Marcus Mussa (71 - Brabham BT2). They finished 6th and 7th respectively. 58 in the background is Simon Smith who came in 12th in Cooper T56:-


I've not included this for sometime. The Moorcroft Mk1 of William Grimshaw who finished 21st:-

[rbs]

The car is in fact a Moorland not a Moorcroft.

[John Turner]

Thank you; I did actually know, but was really rushed doing that post yesterday and didn't check what I had typed too closely. Apologies.

[John Turner]

I think it a great idea to remember Tom Delaney in this way although bearing in mind that he is forever associated with driving his LeaF, I'm a little surprised by the class of cars selected to commemorate him. However, the grid was made up of historic racing cars from the first 22 finishers from races 9 & 12.

John Harper, carrying appropriately the no1 on his Cooper T51 prevailed in a great scrap with Rod Jolley in his Cooper T45/51 to win by 1 second. Third, a further 5.5 seconds back was John Clark very closely followed by Nigel Bancroft, also both in T51s:-


Roy Walzer brought his Brabham BT11 home 8th:-


David Bennett was 26th in Maserati A6 GCM:-


I'll refrain from stating the obvious, since I'm sure it's been done to death, by simply saying that Richard Last was 29th out of 31 classified finishers, in his MG Parnell K3:-


So, we have finally got to the end, and whilst I apologise for the time this has taken, this is likely to be my pace for the future, as life gets in the way! Probably just as well that I didn't go to the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting! Later today, I'm off south to Goodwood and would hope to provide a few pics for that eventually, but I'm also hoping to catch up with the MOTUL Tour Britannia event next wednesday. I also intend to provide a few pics from the Heritage GT race that supported the British GT round at Silverstone about 3 weeks ago, so none of this is going to happen in a hurry!

[terence]

Excellent effort John,I,m sure everyone will agree. Many thank,s.

[johngee]

I second that!

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Later today, I'm off south to Goodwood and would hope to provide a few pics for that eventually,

Cant wait until Feb when we will see them!!. ..only joking John......im gonna miss this thread!!!!great work

May see you at Goodwood if you are still there sunday.

[JimW]

John

What a fantastic resource. Many, many thanks for all your efforts. Now if only I had all this information in front of me as I watched the three splendid days.

Regards

Jim

[John Turner]

Thanks for kind remarks, folks. Claire, I might just get a few pics up for Goodwood before Feb, but no promises!

[terence]

After such sarcasm,I think you should make Claire wait John-----------









Like I had to

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by terence bower

After such sarcasm,I think you should make Claire wait John-----------

If they are as good as the classics then they will be worth it Im sure!

Goodwood was lovely I thought, though was only there for the sunday and not helping out round race control, was nice to just relax although felt strange to be dolled up round a paddock!...but then everyone was!!
I stand by what I said in this tread when I posted it what seems like centuries ago now...the Classic is the Classic and Goodwood is Goodwood ...both seperate and can and should co exist

John , we didnt see you and I was meaning to say hello ...cant wait for the pics!

Take care
Claire

[John Turner]

Ok, Claire; I hope you don't mind, but I'm copying part of your post to the Goodwood thread, so that we can pick up from there!

[MartinSmith]

Not at all John feel free