Silverstone Classic July 27-29th July, 2007

[PaulCherry]

Originally Posted by rogerwills

The car ran great in the race and I was happy with my finish – 11th I think. At a very fast circuit like Silverstone the big V8s are always going to have a huge advantage and again there were lots of "hot rods" - Cortinas with 4 wheel discs, big engines, etc. I won my class but no championship points unfortunately as it didn't count for the series. I had some great dices and drove pretty well I think.

The highlight of my day was watching you go round Copse sideways, lap after lap. The more sideways the better. Great stuff!

[rogerwills]

Thanks Paul, very kind!

[terence]

Excellent report Roger,thanks for that.I must say it makes mine look a bit brief. I wonder how much time was lost carrying all the extra weight of the cameras though!

[Peter Mallett]

Speaking of time, what's happened to the mst site? I tried to get some times from this event and I can't get to it.

[JimW]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Speaking of time, what's happened to the mst site? I tried to get some times from this event and I can't get to it.

http://www.msttiming.com/meeting.asp...ttype=hsccclub works for me.

Jim

[Marcus Mussa]

You have to click on "PDF booklet"
Marcus

[Peter Mallett]

Yeah,

The link I have on my site has been changed, couldn't get to it from there or through google.

Thanks.

[LC driver]

Originally Posted by rogerwills

Thanks Paul, very kind!

You are a quick student Roger

[John Turner]

I haven't forgotten this thread; just been busy and will be at Silverstone over the weekend (if there is one class of moderns that I really do like, it's the GTs); maybe monday before I get any further on here!

[terence]

Welcome back John,can,t wait till monday.Enjoy Silverstone ,I was going over but last minuit change of plans.

[John Turner]

This was a 60minute race with a compulsory pitstop, with driver changes, although some drivers went solo, for Pre-War Sports cars.

The Bill Ainscough Alfa Romeo 8C Blackhawk (excuse my ignorance but what is the significance of the 'Blackhawk' bit - bet John R can tell us!) was on pole but although he converted that to a lead it was shortlived as he succumbed to the battling duo of Peter Neumark (Alfa 8C) and Luke Stevens (Alta Sports). Great dice this, lasting until the driver changes, with Stevens grabbing the initiative before heading to the pits to hand over to Gareth Burnett. A lap or so later the Alfa also pitted and by dint (I presume) of a quicker change over, emerged in the lead with Hope (sorry first name unknown!) at the helm. However, Burnett is a quick driver and within a couple of laps regained the lead and pulled away to take victory by 18 seconds:-


A pair of Frazer Nash BMW 328s. The 66 car, driven by Stanton and Smith finished 33rd, whilst the 39 car of Parr and Mitchell finished 27th:-


Peter Dubski, indicates his intention to pit. Driving solo he took his Aston Martin Ulster to 9th:-


Bill Ainscough also driving solo (wrong! see John R post below - JT), passed the Neumark/Hope Alfa (4th) to finish 2nd:-


According to both the programme and MST the 47 car was an MG C type to be driven by Singer/Singer. However, unless my eyes deceive me, this is clearly a very early 3 litre Bentley. It was 38th and last of the classified finishers:-

[john ruston]

Well done John
Bill A shared car with James Baxter who did the majority of driving
The two driver cars stopped for 1 min with the single driver cars having to stand for an extra 30 sec
Simon Hope is the man behind HandH and a very good bloke and fast driver.Peter and Simons Alfa Monza had a slight problem at the end which allowed the Monza and the Nash of Charlie Gillett/Patrick Blakney Edwards to take 2/3rd places behind the Alta that also won the race the previous with Jim Diffey sharing with Gareth.The tiger in the race was the Nash which was superb.Rachel and Adam Singer shared the Bentley which is absolutely original.
The great thing about the race was that we had the best three Alfa Monzas in one race.Thanks Bill.Hubert and Peter

[John Turner]

Thanks, John; I knew that I could rely on you for some extra info. and clarification. It also highlights once again the fact that we cannot rely entirely on MST for total accuracy regarding the drivers and the cars. Of course, it's not their fault if they are not advised of changes and/or additions. They can only publish what they have been advised. Agree about the Monza Alfas as well; terrific stuff!

[John Turner]

I gave up trying to post this yesterday, as our area had a whole series of mini (ie just a few seconds!) power cuts.

A 90 minute race with compulsory pitstops for driver changes, this was, for me, potentially one of the most interesting and exciting grids of the meeting since it was for sports cars and GTs from the 1965 -1975 period. However, coming at the end of a very long day, and with the weather deteriorating fast, a lot of spectators had gone home. I took the opportunity of 'retiring' to the media centre with my son, who was reporting the event. Thus, a shortage of pics, I'm afraid.

The rain started almost at the same time as the race started, and a number of cars were back in the pits to change to wets within just a few laps. Thus they had already turned their races into 'two stoppers'. However, there were many courageous and skilled drivers who, in the hope that they could lap at sufficient pace, stayed out long enough to get to the driver change pit window to secure an advantage. Personally, for some of them, I think they they could have made that strategy work. Unfortunately, a few stayed out too long and allowed those who had gone onto wets early to eradicate that advantage. It is perhaps invidious to pick out individual drivers for praise in these circumstances, but I'm going to anyway! Ollie Hancock, was frankly, nothing less than stunning in the Lola T212. He took a grip on the race from the start and in the increasingly wet and difficult conditions drove away from the field to establish a very substantial lead. However, as soon as the Lola T70mkIII well driven by Cummings, who had changed onto wets on lap 8 moved into 2nd place on lap 18, and was taking 12-15 seconds a lap out of him, both Kev and I were mentally urging him to pit! As it was Ollie stayed out until lap 23, by which time he had been caught and passed. When he did come in, and although with nothing apparently wrong with the car there was a very slow and nonchalant check around the car, wets put on and eventually Anthony Hancock went out to do just 4 laps (the race end about 15 minutes early due to the appalling conditions). However, when I tell you that their pitstop took something like 5-6 minutes longer than anyone else, and that Anthony's last lap (lap 27) was a 2.48 whereas Martin Birrane who took over from Cummings did a 3.03, I'd take a bit of persuading that the Hancock's couldn't have won this race. Certainly their on track performance merited it. As it was, they finished 10th, 1 lap and 1.03 mins (so let's say 4 minutes) behind the winner. Do the maths. Even had the winning Cummings/Birrane car not been penalised a minute for Cummings staying out beyond the pit window, and Birrane (presumably) not been easing down, the Hancocks would have taken some beating. Just my opinion, of course. Just for the record the winning Cummings/Birrane Lola is a continuation car, but any discussion on that issue is probably better addressed on the appropriate 'other' thread.

Similarly, an excellent drive by Simon Hadfield who also stayed out and had the little Chevron B6 up as high as 3rd at one point, I thought possibly could have come in a little earlier to hand over to Michael Schryver. I even told him so, but Simon, now becoming tolerant of this opinionated old codger, whilst unimpressed with my view, was courteous in his response! It was a great result, anyway, because they finished 7th overall, against some pretty quick machinery. Another fine drive by Peter Hardman in the Leventis Ferrari 250LM (3.3 litre, so to differentiate between the prototype, and the only one fitted with the 3 litre engine, I thought that 275LM was now the accepted designation) who also stayed out in the wet and briefly had this glorious, and probably the oldest and most valuable, car in the race, up to 9th (40 car field, note!). He handed over to Nick Leventis on lap 20, and the latter by no means disgraced himself over the last few laps to bring the car home 16th. I think that he and his father, Harry, also deserve our grateful acknowledgement for allowing this car to run.

There were many other great cars and other terrific drives in this race, but I think that I have gone on long enough, so here are the only 3 pictures that I took (and through glass!). I claim that they are 'atmospheric' but you will no doubt simply describe them as blurred!

Peter Hardman brings the Ferrari in:-


The John Grant B16, which came a fine 2nd:-


Nick Leventis takes the Ferrari back out; note the conditions!:-

[John Turner]

Sunday was run at a relatively more leisurely pace than Saturday, but still started early, and this was the first.

Michael Schryver put the Lotus 18 on pole by a second from John Harper (Cooper T51) with young Will Schryver (Lotus 27) a further 2+ seconds behind, qualifying 3rd. However, in the damp conditions it was Rod Jolley (Cooper T45/51) who from row 3 rose to the challenge of taking on Schryver senior. The two of them gradually drove away from the pack and they swapped the lead several times in a fine dice before the drying track conditions started to favour the Lotus driver. Nevertheless, Jolley was still only 1.8 seconds behind at the flag. Here early on the pattern is established with Jolley challenging Schryver. Just behind is Schryver junior who went on to take 3rd albeit under sustained pressure from Nigel Bancroft (Cooper T51- 4th - not yet with them!) and John Clark (51 - Cooper T51 - 5th). The other car in the picture is that of John Harper who pulled into the pits to retire at the end of lap 4:-


Bob Woodward, exiting Bridge, in his Cooper T79. He finished 26th:-


Chris Dinnage (LDS 03) outbraked Brian Jolliffe (47 - Cooper T45 - 17th) into Priory and went on to finish 15th. Note the classic cars in the background, particularly the red Piper GT:-


The funfair provides a backdrop for the cars in Priory. 32 is Malcolm Ricketts in Lotus 32B (12th), followed by an unidentified Cooper and Philip Walker who finished 11th in the ATS:-

[John Turner]

The grid was lined up in the order in which they had finished Race 1, the day before. Paul Conway's Morgan +8 was on pole but in the driver's seat was Ed Mercer. Although his best lap time during the race was within a second of Conway's from the day before, he finished 22nd, and my (vague!) recollection is that he had a first lap brush with Andy Shepherd, and came through at the end of the first lap in last place! Shepherd was also delayed (please correct me if I have this completely wrong!) so the usual protaganists, Paul Anderson (67 - Porsche 928) and Charles Barter (24 - Datsun 240Z) found themselves in their accustomed positions dicing for the lead (here!). They were later joined by Julian Barter who had pulled his TVR 3000M up from 26th on the grid, and he passed his Dad to take second place and harry Anderson and in doing so posted fastest race lap. However, Anderson was equal to the task and held on to win by half a second:-


A contrast in shapes and sizes! Headed by Julian Barter who was to pull away and join the leaders as described above, here he is closely accompanied by Alan Harper (43 - Elan - 10th), Robert Barrie (2 - 911S - 11th), Hugo Dixon (55 - Camaro - 13th), and Chris Holland (54 - Lotus 7 - 9th). In the background is Rory Stockbridge (11 - Lotus Europa) who also came through this pack to finish 8th and since he does not appear on the results sheets for the day before, I'm assuming that he also drove through the field from the back of the grid:-


Andy Shepherd (69 - Lotus 7) and Paul Toombs (46 - Elan) had a great dice and were soon to be joined by Howard Bentham in the blue Europa (but entered as a red/white Elan in the programme and remains so on the MST results!), so that we had a real ding dong between 3 very different Lotus models. Unfortunately, Bentham hit problems and completed only 7 laps, whilst Toombs just got to the flag in front of Shepherd by less than half a second to finish 4th:-


Making up for the misfortune of the previous day, Mark Hoble brought his Morgan Plus 4 through from the back of the grid to a fine 24th (Note 48 starters!):-

[terence]

Glad you had time to watch John, somehow my day became very full,I think the only race I saw was the one I was in!.Excellent reports though,it,s always nice to know what else was happening.

[HRSTR5]

John,

Ed Mercer failed to get off the line at the start - one of those unnerving moments when we've all just floored the throttle, dropped the clutch and got away, to see cars diving each way in front of you and manic yellow flag-waving. The same thing had happened when I had to start from the back at Brands, so thankfully I was alive to it - but it always puts the wind up!

Rory Stockbridge had been a reserve, and I don't think he got a race on Saturday, hence started from the back on Sunday - didn't hold him up for long though!

Great circuit, good weekend, my best day out this year - although it's not been a great year for me... Roll on Spa!

John - any photos of me and my TR5...?

James Owen TR5 HRS#31.

[John Turner]

Thanks, James; it was a bit of guesswork about Mercer. I'll have a look for a pic of you.

[John Turner]

Another which I believe used the finishing positions of the previous day's race to form the grid. Another Graeme Dodd benefit with Jamie Mcintyre giving game chase but finishing nearly 11 seconds down after 10 laps.

Gary Pearson (16) did his usual charge, up from 19th on the grid to finish 4th. Here he has just taken Tony Bianchi's Farallac (41) which finished 6th. Behind is Rupert Wood who failed to finish in the Widi Mk2 (36), and Bob Gilbert (9) who finished 13th in his Lister Jaguar:-


Good drive from Shaun Lynn who started one place ahead of Pearson and stayed there, finishing 3rd with a best lap that suggests a higher starting position might have netted him 2nd. Gilbert (9) and in the background, 95 is William L'Anson's Rejo Mk4 (20th):-


There was almost an inevitability that once he had sorted his recently acquired Lola Mk1 out, David Leslie would be the class of the small car field. Starting from near the back, he took the Lola through to 8th, with a best lap that put him, potentially in the top six. Behind is Gilbert (again!), Phil Bennett's Lister Jaguar (10 - 16th) and Gareth Williams (25 - Lotus 11 - 17th):-


Andrew Garner took the Costin bodied Lister Jaguar to 10th, whilst John Clark (18 - Lola Mk1) followed him home in 11th. Adrian Beecroft was last of the classified runners in his DB3S (note, not the DBR1/300 listed in the programme and not corrected in the MST results list) and Williams again appears in the background:-

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by HRSTR5

John - any photos of me and my TR5...?

James Owen TR5 HRS#31.

Briefly back to Race 13! Ok, James, I do have one of you on your own but thought that you would prefer this one, since it shows the great dice that you had with the MGB GTV8 and Datsun 240Z. The cars finished in the order shown in 17th, 18th and 19th places with just over 1.5 second covering them. The GTV8 was driven by Ralph Harwood-Penn and the 240Z, by Paul Stafford:-

[terence]

Ah Race 13 eh! Only two to go then

[John Turner]

How do you think I feel, Terence? I feel trapped inside this thread forever. I have to fit this in around my life!

Sponsored by Classic & Sportscar, a 40 minute race with stops although quite a few drivers went solo. I can honestly say that I cannot recall too much about the race itself, other than that Ollie Bryant tried to make a race of it against the hordes of Fords (of all shapes and sizes) but his Plymouth Barracuda only managed 9 laps. The winner was John Young in one of several Mustangs on the grid, from poleman Leo Voyazides in a Falcon.

Since I can't remember much about it (over 2 weeks ago, now!), I'm going to tackle it with a slightly different slant (or more appropriately 'angle'). All taken from the outside of Luffield from roughly the same position, I'm attempting to illustrate the cornering styles of a number of car/driver combinations. I cannot be certain in cases where there were two drivers which is being shown, but I guess some of you will know! Incidentally, they will also illustrate why these historic saloons are so much fun for drivers and spectators alike. Although we already have a fine picture of Roger Wills on this thread, I'll start with him to put the location in context for the rest. Roger finished 11th:-


Displaying less oversteer but definitely there, is the Alfa Guilia Sprint GT of Roz Shaw and (David?) Leslie which finished 18th. The Stephen and Joey Beale Abarth 1000TC appears to take a neutral stance. It finished 30th:-


Unsurprisingly, and carrying on where he left off with the Anglia, Dan Cox was able to match Roger for sidewaysness (is there such a word?) and took a very fine 3rd place in this Lotus Cortina:-


Also displaying oversteer, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to hang it out too far in this (although if it's Whizzo, maybe you can), the Galaxie of Michael Steel and Whizzo Williams took 6th. Inevitably, but in stark contrast the Mini of Roger Godfrey shows typical understeer to finish 7th:-


BMWs can do it too! The Ralf Stockbrand/Rolt 1800Ti finished 21st:-


And there's something wrong here, and this wasn't a one off since I have at least 3 pics showing this; the Peter Ergis Lotus Cortina displays understeer. A set up problem, or does he like it like that? He finished 17th, so you could say it wasn't terminal! Behind is the Ford Falcon of Don Salvage and Harry Wyndham who finished 13th:-

[terence]

Only winding you up John.Excellent shots as usual,do you think Roger knew where you were shooting from

[rogerwills]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Although we already have a fine picture of Roger Wills on this thread, I'll start with him to put the location in context for the rest. Roger finished 11th:-

Thanks a lot John - great pic!