ROOKIE CAUSER BAGS A LOTUS DOUBLE
It’s a big step from a frontwheel-drive Ford Fiesta XR2 in the ST-XR Challenge to a skinny-tyred 1957 Lotus Eleven Le Mans sportscar. Nonetheless, Historic debutant Alex Causer exceeded his wildest expectations by winning two races at Brands Hatch as he learned Sandy Watson’s car and the Indy circuit at Equipe Classic Racing’s season opener on Saturday.
The reigning XR rookie champion, a short oval racer in his teens, has spannered diverse machinery in Historic F1 cars for 20 years, but O’C Racing’s stalwart proved equally adept at twirling the wheel. Following Friday’s call up he put the 1500cc streamliner on pole for the Equipe Libre race and didn’t look back over 40 minutes, to Watson and team manager Joe O’Connell’s delight.
Having weathered a lengthy full-course yellow, which wiped out his lead, Causer beat the Jaguar E-types of Nick Maton/ Jack Tetley (roadster) and Rick Willmott (low-drag coupe) to the chequered flag. Rob Cull’s TVR was fourth from the back of the grid, following a dramatic halfshaft failure at Paddock which ravaged the car’s tail during the preliminaries.
Causer passed the polesitting AC Cobra of 1970s Clubmans racer Nigel Winchester into Surtees to double-up in the Pre’63/’50s
event. Joe Willmott (Austin-Healey 3000) and Roberto Giordanelli (E-type roadster) were next home, chased by Formula Junior ace Sam Wilson, pedalling Sir John Chisholm’s ex-Lord Angus
Clydesdale 1220cc Lola-Climax Mk1 hard.
Tom Smith kicked off the MGB’s 60th anniversary year with a brilliant Equipe GTS win in MG Motorsport’s ‘works’ car. Smith inflicted defeat upon Lee Atkins by teetering imperiously round the Formula 4 champion and Radical racer’s TVR Grantura at Surtees, watched closely by Cull. Earlier, Simon Ashworth scored for the Blackpool marque, winning the GTS ‘B’race from an MGB sextet after a three-year sabbatical.
Now in its 46th season, the MG Car Club’s renowned BCV8 championship opened with a double-header in which the progress of the rampant Class D fully modified Rover-powered BGTs was spectacular. James Wheeler won both legs, but had to work extremely hard to get the better of pole time setter Neil Fowler and veteran Ian Prior in successive encounters. Both rivals retired with engine dramas alas.
Class C contender Jonnie
Wheeler, James’dad, had an equally tough time among the less-developed V8s, winning a wonderful scrap with Ben Tovey first time out. Wheeler wasn’t permitted to start the second stanza after his bonnet came adrift on its green flag formation lap. With Fowler and Simon Cripps (whose car refused to start) also gone, Tovey claimed second overall, with class rival Jim Bryan in his mirrors.