Silverstone Classic 2008 (25-27 July)

[John Turner]

Mark, as I said earlier, my pics of this race are much depleted but this one was taken closer to the end than the beginning (I think) so is it you?:-

[Mark Griffiths]

That's the owner, Peter Neumark. My crash-hat is painted.

[simon drabble]

Adrian Hall's Lotus 10 is a possible contender for the Goodwood evening race. A Bristol engined car it is a quick car. Drain is well known for taking the chequered flag in his twin cam Anglia back in 60's at Combe on its roof - it made the front page of Autosport and makes a great picture in his cloakroom. These days he is more well known as head of Dad's Army as his group of "more advanced" helpers are known!

[John Turner]

Lovely bit of background stuff there, Simon, thanks!

A splitting headache saw me retire to the shade of the stands near Copse for this race so few pictures taken and even fewer survive, and yes, I am getting mixed results from my new camera this year but it's me, not the camera! Anyway, the following pics are pretty much all that survive:-

Peter Sowerby was the class of the field, putting the Williams FW07C-14 on pole and pushing off to win by 10.9 seconds. Even when Joaquin Folch established himself in 2nd with the Brabham BT49C-10, he could not match the pace of Sowerby:-


Half the field is seen spread out between Copse and Maggotts:-


Frank Sytner didn't seem to be able to get into his stride in his Hesketh 308-2 and finished 11th. He was to go much better in a later race:-


Peter Dunn failed to finish in the March 761/4:-

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

Adrian Hall's Lotus 10 is a possible contender for the Goodwood evening race. A Bristol engined car it is a quick car. Drain is well known for taking the chequered flag in his twin cam Anglia back in 60's at Combe on its roof - it made the front page of Autosport and makes a great picture in his cloakroom. These days he is more well known as head of Dad's Army as his group of "more advanced" helpers are known!

I remember it well...the Autosport cover, not the car. It was sellotaped to my bedroom wall as a kid, red Anglia yellow stripe. Again the good old days when real racing made the front cover.

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally Posted by john ruston

Donohue was probably ,with Gurney ,the best driver to venture out of the States since the war and to have a race named after him with that motley crew was nonsense.

Agree John. Rory Byrne once told me he thought Donahue was the greatest race engineer and sorter of a car that ever lived after he had read his book.

[John Turner]

Sponsored by Motors TV and for cars built 1957-66, this was a big grid of great cars.

Mainly heavy metal at the front, but, of course, Peter Horsman was there in that 1220 cc Climax engined Lotus 17 to upset the big boys at the front ... as usual. Here on lap 2 or 3 we see Rob Hall (sharing with Rick) with AC Cobra with the early lead and pursued by John Young in Andy Jenkinson's E -type, Roger Will's Bizzarini 5300GT, and yes, Peter's 'roller skate' as Marcus Pye calls it. It was not long before Peter had taken the Lotus into the lead. In fact it was the only car of this group that was to finish high on the leader board, but more of that anon!:-


I always try to feature 10-tenthers, and there were quite a few in this race. I never tire of seeing the little Alfa Romeo Guilietta SZ of James Wiseman, which he was sharing with Nick Savage. They finished 40th (48 starters, 43 finishers):-


John Minshaw in the E-type low drag coupe kept it well in contention during the early part of the race. He was to hand the car over to Martin Stretton!:-


Another Alfa! The Ross Warburton/Andy Newall TZ1 which finished 28th:-


The other Lotus 17 in the race; that shared by Jim Woodley and Iain Rowley. This has the smaller 1098cc engine. It finished down in 41st, which in no way reflected its pace which should have seen it in the high midfield, so clearly a problem which I'm hoping they will let us know about! (actually they may have already done so, it's some time since I went back through this thread, so apologies if they have):-


The Rod Begbie/Roy Stephenson TVR Grantura and Gabriel and Don Kremer Morgan Plus 4 dice going into Maggots. Unfortunately, the TVR did not finish but the Morgan finished 30th:-


Robert Barrie and Steve Monk finished 23rd in the 2-litre Porsche 911:-


It has to be said that Peter Horsman is quick in his Lotus 17 and having built a lead, and handing over the car to its former owner, Jac Nelleman, you would not have bet against it maintaining the lead to the flag. However, Nelleman was not as quick as Peter, and Martin Stretton in full flow is a pretty irresistible force. In a competitive car, there are not many in Historic racing that will match his pace. He hunted down the unfortunate Nelleman, who spun the Lotus in Beckett's trying to stay ahead but to be fair, once caught, there was only going to be one outcome and Martin duly took the chequered flag with the game Lotus 2nd:-


The Peter van Hoeppen/Alexander Weavers attempts a novel way of negotiating Maggots. No damage done; the car continued to finish 20th:-


Roger Wills dropped out of the front running group fairly early on; no doubt feeling the heat of the exhaust flames licking far too close to his posterior, he pitted to have the flames quelled and returned to the fray. I have better shots of the car, but I thought Roger might like to see that even after the pitstop, the old unburnt gases were still merrily burning away in the sidebox. Note the singeing to the cill and door! Sharing with Joe Twyman, they finished 37th:-


The Christien Van Lanschot/Karsten Le Blanc Healey 3000 which finished 33rd:-

[Tim the Grey]

What a superb shot of the Bizza!

May I suggest a visit to Kwikfit, Mr.Wills? That exhaust keeps falling apart!

[John Turner]

Actually, I was wrong; the car is a left hooker so Roger would not have been feeling the heat. Still, it made a good story!

[Peter Horsman]

Not only did the Jenkinson E Type come in a lap too late, thus mssing the pit window (between 20 and 40 minutes) and thus incurring a penalty of an extra one minute's stop in the pit lane, but also the pit crew had been frantically trying to pit John Young for about the eight preceding laps because the owner (Jenkinson) had to do more than 50% of the drive under GD rules. They would have had a very good shout at a podium (at least) if those issues had not have occurred.

[John Turner]

Yes, now that you've reminded me, Peter, the commentators were getting quite worked up about that. Sounds like JY had a bit of tunnel vision - a great shame.

[John Turner]

This race (and race 8, on Saturday) was for the Stirling Moss Trophy! Odd choice really, since a) they are road cars, and b), with 2 exceptions, this massive grid of 48 cars were built after the accident that led to his retirement from top flight racing! Just doesn't feel right!

Anyway, 39 cars finished this 20 minute race, and they were a diverse bunch, although only 1 car represented the pre 1961 part of the era covered! James Paterson thundered into the lead with the multicoloured Morgan Plus 8 chased hard by Paul Anderson's Porsche 928, and these two V8, albeit very different, powered machines, eased away from the field. Try as he might Anderson could not hold the Morgan who went on to win by 8.5 seconds:-


The battle for 3rd was closer, as Julian Barter's TVR 3000M held on to the well driven Elan of Alan Harper, but failing to pip him at the flag by just 8-tenths:-


Just 1.6 seconds covered these two at the finish. Mark Bennett was 12th in his MGB GTV8 and Colin Sharp, 13th in the TR5:-


Granddaddy of the Milano GT, this is the 1955 JWF Italia of Daniel Wood on one of its rare but welcome outings. Based on an Austin Healey chassis, and the oldest car in the race by some margin, it failed to finish this race although had done so in race 8:-


The Triumph GT6 of Luke Clark-Bagnall's was 4th reserve but still got into the race and finished 20th. The Porsche 911 of Peter Tognolla was 21st:-


Rachel Watts (50 - Lotus Elan) finished 37th, whilst Andy Someville got ahead and finished 35th in his Triumph TR4 (88). David Marshall also passed the Elan to take 36th. Latched on at the back is Nick Savage in James Wiseman's Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ (a full pic of which appears in the previous race review) but, he unfortunately failed to finish:-


David Kirby took his TR6 to 27th:-


Paul Tooms finished 9th in his Elan, Steve Cooke was 10th in his Series 4 Lotus 7 and Oliver Philips, 11th in his Morgan Plus 8:-

[Peter Horsman]

Oliver Phillips is the young son of historic racers Chris and Beverley Phillips, and did rather well in what I think weas his first outing in his old man's Moss Box Morgan.

[SZRacer]

Thanks for the photos and write-up, John.

A small correction - Was actually me driving (again!) in my car. Had a great time trying to catch up with the Beta. Unfortunately, in the process I cooked my tyres, and your photo caught me a split-second before a mega spin!

James

Originally Posted by John Turner

Latched on at the back is Nick Savage in James Wiseman's Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ (a full pic of which appears in the previous race review) which finished 38th:-

[John Turner]

Thanks, James. Not a small error, but one I can blame on the results sheets which have Nick in the car. Mind you, they also have the car race number as 62, whereas, I think it was 12, was it not? I'm amazed that I have no recollection of your spin; that would normally have registered, and I certainly would have wanted to 'capture' it!!

[John Turner]

Ok, a complete screw up by me! The pictures above are from race 12, not race 8, which would explain why I didn't see your spin, James, and why the car carried 62, so it was Nick Savage in the car, then? I'm about to amend the captions although the results at the front were not a great deal different!

I didn't take any pics of Race 8, then, or race 9, the James Hunt Trophy for F1 cars, 1966-78. Probably decided to have a pad round the display stands. Anyway, it means that the next pics will be of the Pre War cars in Race 10.

[John Turner]

This race was for the BRDC 500 Trophy Race over 60 minutes with a compulsory pit stop. 48 cars, every one of which I'd be delighted to have sitting in my garage.

Favourite for the race was the Neuman/Hope Alfa Romeo 8C Monza, a car with a performance advantage not easily overcome even with some good driver pairings in the other cars. Peter Neumark, who owns the car, took the start and was clearly intent on building as a big a lead as possible to hand over to his co-driver, Simon Hope:-


One of those in the group trying to hang on to the fast disappearing Alfa was Sam Stretton in the Alta. He posted 2nd fastest lap of the race but it was fully 4.5 seconds off the Alfa's best, giving the pursuers a mountain to climb. The Alta, which, despite what the results sheets say, I think was driven throughout by Stretton, finished 5th, having been delayed in the pits:-


Sadly the Clark BMW 319 failed to finish. You can see the genes that later produced the superb 328:-


This is John Ruston's Riley MPH (2nd at Le Mans in 1934) in the hands of John Polson. Another non finisher, it completed just 11 laps, so I don't think Maggs Diffey got to drive it. Note the 10-Tenths sticker on the tail:-


The Justin Maaers/Charles Gillett Frazer Nash Supersports was in the top half dozen cars early on but, in my ignorance, it was not one I had picked as a top 3 contender at the end. However, it was this car that following the driver changes emerged in 2nd place and so very nearly ran down the Alfa. It was taking masses of time out of the leading car and got to within 7 seconds at the flag. In this pic, immediately behind, is, I think, the Will Mahany/James Baxter Delage D6 Course which came 4th, and at the back the distinctive green helmet announces the presence of Martin Stretton in the BMW 328, which shared with Patrick Blakeney-Edwards took 8th:-


This is the Green/Taylor MG K3 which came in 28th. Note the big SU on the front, sitting atop the supercharger housing:-


I can't help feeling that the Trevor and Peter Swete Low Chassis S -type Invicta should have finished in the top 20, rather than 35th. I believe the car behind is Nicholas Lees Riley Sprite which despite (if the result sheets are to be believed) having a best lap fully 16 seconds off the Invicta's best actually finished 34th through consistent lappery:-


A car with incredible presence! Mark Butterworth's Lagonda V12 Le Mans which finished 13th:-


The Morley Bentley 3-litre takes to the grass, on its way to 26th. Tim Llewellyn was down to drive this but, apparently, did not do so:-


A lovely pair of Astons, which diced together for quite a while during the early part of the race. 54 is the Scott-Mackirdy/Millicevic Le Mans Special which unfortunately failed to finish. On its inside is a car with a lovely provenance, the Ulster of Hubert Fabri. This car raced at the 1935 RAC TT, the 1936 Spa 24 hours, where it won its class, and the 1937 Donington 12 hours. Here it finished 19th:-


Gareth Burnett was down to drive John Ruston's Riley MPH carrying the number 18, sharing with John Polson and the Riley Sprite, 19, Julian Bronson sharing with Maggs Diffey. However the Sprite was not ready so John substituted it with the Talbot 105 which acquired the Sprite's number. John also changed the driver pairing so that the strongest pair were in the Talbot, so that Julian joined Gareth in this car. In the hands of Gareth (seen here) it held down 2nd although pressed by the Alta (see above). John perhaps can tell us whether the pit stop went according to plan but in any event it was over a minute behind the 2nd place Frazer Nash at the flag but took a strong 3rd. Again, please note the 10-Tenths sticker:-


This is the other Alfa in the race. The 6C of Alex and Tania Pilkington. The raised hand tells the story. It failed to finish:-

[john ruston]

Sorry about this but it was MPH as the Sprites engine was not rebuilt.Mph driven by John Polson and Mags Diffey.JP did not remember to tell Mags at the pit stop how to get over gearchange issue with car so rather than do damage she decided to park it

The 105 was holding second place but the track detoriated with oil and muck so after the pit stop asked Julian to bring it home in one piece and let the FN of Charlie have second place as surface was ideal for them and the boy drove extremely well and got within 8 secs of Monza .We could not have stayed with him

The Alta was driven by Sam throughout

[John Turner]

Yes, it should be me apologising, John, and I knew that so why I have said otherwise is completely beyond me. I think I was having a senior moment - I really DO know the difference between the two Rileys - I'm clearly not firing on all cylinders this morning. In confusing everyone, I've confused myself even more. I've made some alterations to my above post because I couldn't leave it with all that incorrect drivel. I'm not really doing very well for the Classic am I, but then I wasn't on my best form at the actual event, and I've carried that through to the review!

Hope that looks better, John, and thanks for the additional info., too.

[Tim the Grey]

I'll have a nose for anything from your blank spot, JT?

See if I can remember anything!!!

[simon drabble]

John you are allowed the occassional misfunction given the normally high quality of reporting!

[John Turner]

Simon, kind and supportive words thank you, particularly as I made such a pigs ear of the last couple of races. I'll hope to do better with Race 11 - the sports racing cars 1963 - 73; stunning cars at a stunning time of the day for viewing and photographing - I want to do them justice!

Tim, if you have anything on races 8 & 9, yes, please, go for it.

[Mark Griffiths]

Simon Hope started in the Alfa, not Peter.

[Peter Mallett]

Don't be picky!

[John Turner]

I'm happy to be corrected, Peter. It's not the first and won't be the last. Thanks, Mark; my recollection was that commentators had referred to Peter for the first stint, but they can get it wrong, too, or maybe I'm just deaf!