From The Driving Seat header. Classic Cars. Motor racing

STARS (AND THE SUN) CAME OUT ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Damon Hill celebrated the 25th Anniversary of his F1 World Championship win with a few demonstration laps in his title-winning Williams FW18

Photo © JEP

PART 2 - Sunday, August 1

Formula Junior was again the first race on the Sunday morning and with the same duo battling for the lead, this time resolved in favour of Cameron Jackson who managed the slippery conditions to bring his Brabham BT2 home 2.5 seconds in front of Richard Bradley in his similar car. The last podium spot was taken by Pierre Livingston nearly 26 seconds behind Jackson.

Misty persistent rain posed visibility problems for both drivers and spectators during  the Adrian Flux Trophy for MRL Historic Touring Cars, in which Paul Mensley’s Ford Sierra Cosworth leaped into an early lead, followed in the gloom by Simon Garrard (Nissan Skyline R32) and pole sitter David Tomlin in a Sierra RS500. After the compulsary pit stops the leader was Dave Coyne in the Sierra he’d taken over from Mark Wright with an almost 30 second advantage over the second placed man Mathew Ellis who'd replaced Mensley. It wasn't long however until Ellis retired the Sierra with mechanical problems, promoting Steve Dance’s Ford Capri into second, followed by Garrad in the Nissan which seemed to have recovered from whatever problem had slowed it down for a few laps.

At the flag Coyne took the win by 51 seconds ahead of Steve Dance’s Capri and the Sierra Cosworth driven by Steve Soper and Craig Davies. Garrard’s Nissan had slipped down to fourth at the end. The Tony Dron Trophy section of the race was won by the Marcus Jewel/Ben Clucas Ford Capri from the VW Scirroco of Morris/Shepherd.

With rain continuing the Historic F2 cars came out to play. Initially this looked like a replay of Saturday’s race just with added spray as Matthew Wrigley led from Andrew Smith, until on lap 4 Smith squeezed past going through the Loop and pulled out a controlling lead, winning at the flag by almost six seconds over Wrigley, with Mike Griffiths again bringing his Ralt home in third.

A full grid lined up for the 60th Anniversary E-Type Challenge, still under misty rain and leaden skies. Early leader Nigel Greensall, followed by Ben Mitchell until Mitchell found a way past Greensell on lap 4. Mitchell began to pull away from a battle for second between Greensall, Alex Brundle and Danny Winstanley, until Brundle began to drop back through the field looking as though he was suffering from lack of vision due to a misted screen and the loss of the driver’s side wiper.

After the pit window had closed the Spiers/Needell car was shown on top of the leader board but they had not taken the mandatory pit stop so were excluded from the race. I'm thinking that Tiff was not best pleased with that as he didn't even get a turn behind the wheel of the E-Type.

When the car of Graham and Alan Bull ended up beached in the gravel at Becketts the race was red flagged on lap 10 and not re-started, leaving Mitchell as the first over the line followed by Winstanley and Gary Pearson — however some black magic sorcery elevated Jon Minshaw to the first spot over Mitchell, even though he was shown in sixth place on lap 9 and had also collected a 30 second time penalty for pitting outside of the pit window!

A reverse grid for the Masters Historic F1, based on finishing positions in Saturday’s race, saw Lucas Halusa on pole in the McLaren M23 and the previous day’s winner Michael Lyons fifth on the grid. While not raining hard as for the previous E-Type race, the track was still wet enough for the pace car to get a bit sideways at Luffield as they led the cars round! From fifth place the rapid Lyons took the lead at Stowe on the first lap and began to build a commanding lead which he held to the flag. Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C) was 14.4 seconds behind with Steve Hartley (McLaren MP4/1) third.

Following Damon Hill’s demo laps in his 1995 title-winning Williams the pre-1966 GP cars took to the rapidly drying track for their second race of the weekend. Unfortunately Saturday’s winner Sam Wilson didn't make the grid as his car was withdrawn. Rudiger Freidrichs from second spot on the grid got the jump on pole man Will Nuthall  to get in front by Abbey and led for most of the first lap, while Nuthall slowed and pitted with a problem. By lap two Andrew Haddon in the front-engined Scarab-Offenhauser had muscled himself to first spot where he stayed in a dominant performance to the flag, eight seconds in front of Freidrichs in second place.

The sun began to break through the clouds at last as the Classic GT cars came out for their race. Michael Cullen stormed through from eigth on the grid to lead the field into Abbey in his AC Cobra Daytona Coupé but lost out to the Julian Thomas and Oliver Bryant Cobras at Brooklands.

A nasty incident at Copse when a spinning Lotus Elan was collected by an unsighted Porsche left the Lotus with its front end destroyed and parked just off the track which resulted in a long safety car period to recover the car

The threat of another safety car later when the Joebst/Willis Lotus Elan rolled at Aintree was averted when the driver managed to drive the car, now minus front and rear windows and passenger side door, to a place of safety – kudos to him after what looked to have been a really frightening incident.

Bryant‘s pit stop put him out alongside the Thomas/Lockie car, now in the hands of Callum Lockie, and Bryant muscled his way through as Lockie locked up on the way into Village, although the more aerodynamic Daytona Coupé of Lockie had the advantage down the Wellington Straight and took back the lead which he held to the finish.

The awesome Masters Endurance Legends cars saw Steve Tandy’s Lola B12/60 lead from pole until Francois Perrodo”s diesel-powered Peugot 908 blasted past down the Wellington Straight. Tandy faded away and a battle for the lead developed between the Peugeots of Perrodo and Shaun Lynn, with Lynn pulling away for top spot until Perrodo powered through with just over eight minutes to run and stayed there to the finish.

Concluding another fine weekend of racing at the Classic, the second running of the Mini Challenge started in bright sunshine unlike Saturday’s wet race. Bill Sollis led from pole but ran wide at club to let Nathan Heathcote through to be joined at the head of the field by Endaf Owens, and they finished in that order, with Bill Sollis in third. The final few laps were enlivened by a close battle for fourth between Jeff Smith, Aaron Smith and Chris Middlehurst with Jeff Smith taken fourth at the flag.

A fitting conclusion to another fantastic weekend of racing at Classic Silverstone – looking forward to next year.

Peter Osborne

RACE RESULTS:

 

Race 13: Historic Formula Junior

1. Cameron Jackson (Brabham BT2) 8 laps (80.71mph)

2. Richard Bradley (Brabham BT2) +2.515s

3. Pierre Livingston (Lotus 22) +25.746s

 

Race 14: Adrian Flux Trophy for MRL Historic Touring Car Challenge

1. Wright/Coyne (Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500) 20 laps 85.83mph)

2. Steve Dance (Ford Capri) +51.023s

3. Soper/Davies (Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500) +54.206s

 

Race 15: Historic Formula 2

1. Andrew Smith (March 742) 9 laps (92.34mph)

2. Matthew Arigley (March 742) +5.947s

3. Miles Griffiths (Ralt RT1) +6.394s

 

Race 16: 60th Anniversary E-Type Challenga

1. Jon Minshaw (Jaguar E-Type)) 10 laps 74.74mph)

2. Ben Mitchell (Jaguar E-Type) +33.314s

3. Danny Winstanley (Jaguar E-Type) +35.569s

 

Race 17: Murray Walker Memorial Trophy for Masters Historic Formula One

1. Michael Lyons (Ensign N180B) 10 laps (98.44mph)

2. Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C) +14.357s

3. Steve Hartley (McLarem MP4/1) +15.363s

 

Race 18: HGPCA Pre-1966 GP Cars

1. Andrew Haddon (Scarab Offenhauser) 8 laps (80.84mph)

2. Rudiger Friedrichs (Cooper T53) +7.902s

3. Justin Maeers (Cooper T53) +27.812s

 

Race 19: International Trophy for Classic GT Cars (pre-1966)

1. Thomas/Lockie (Shelby Daytona Cobra) 18 laps (78.31mph)

2. Oliver Bryant (AC Cobra) +4.313s

3. Alderslade/Jordan (AC Cobra Daytona Coupé) +14.722s

 

Race 20: Masters Endurance Legends

1. Francois Perrodo (Peugeot 908) 22 laps (115.99mph)

2. Shaun Lynn (Peugeot 908) +9.330s

3. Jamie Constable (Pescarolo LMP1) +46.028s

 

All photos © Peter Osborne