Scarab and Lotus take fraught F1 victories
The Revival’s F1 races proved dramatic, both being decided in the closing stages.
Tony Wood put the unique Tec-mec on pole for the front-engined 2.5-litre Grand Prix cars encounter, but events conspired against him.
Former C2 sportscar champion Nick Adams launched the fourwheel-drive Ferguson P99 into the lead from row two, but was overpowered by Julian Bronson’s Scarab exiting Madgwick. As Adams kept Wood behind approaching St Mary’s, Rob Hall’s slow-starting Ferrari 246 Dino swept around both of them into second.
Wood was soon on the move, rising to third before the end of the lap, then engaging in a fierce duel with Hall. The Ferrari fought hard, but ran wide at Lavant, handing Wood second. The Tec-mec flew up to Bronson and dived by into the St Mary’s left-hander on the next tour.
The race seemed over, but an increasingly greasy track made things treacherous and Bronson stayed close. Too close, in fact, as he hit the rear of the Tec-mec when Wood slowed early for Woodcote. The Scarab’s nose flew off, striking Bronson on the head and he backed off, falling briefly to fourth before pressing on again.
At half distance Wood, the recovering Bronson, Adams and Andrew Willis (Dino) were running nose to tail at the head of the field. With two laps to go, Adams spun at Madgwick, forcing Hall to take avoiding action, and Wood – already spewing liquid – spun at St Mary’s before retiring. Bronson’s nose-less Scarab thus took an unlikely victory, with Willis and Hall making it a Ferrari two-three ahead of Adams.
Nick Fennell has come close to winning the Glover Trophy for 1500cc 1961-’65 cars before and finally made his Goodwood breakthrough, making it six Lotus 25 victories in successive years.
Fennell was third early on behind the Lotus-brm 24s of polesitter
Martin Stretton and leader Miles Griffiths. But when Stretton moved ahead and started to edge away Fennell had to attack. He finally made it by into Lavant on lap five and closed on Stretton. The two swapped places several times before Stretton appeared to secure victory with a great move down the inside into Woodcote on what seemed like the last lap. But then Stretton struggled to get a gear start/finish straight, allowing Fennell to scream past, crossing the line one second remaining on the clock. Stretton tried to respond, but another gear issue sent him off at St.Mary's.
Griffiths completed the podium, ahead of period F1 racer Richard Attwood, American James King having his Brabham BT7 after annexing the place.