Holme run in GTSCC for Gott’s Healey
THRUXTON HISTORIC BARC 15-16 AUGUST
Sensational cars and superb driving characterised the postponed Thruxton Historic event and, joy of joys, spectators and car club members were welcomed back to the banks if not the paddock.
Mark Holme’s surprise GT & Sports Car Cup victory in the famous ex-john Gott Austin-healey 3000, in which Jeremy Welch middle-stinted, was but one highlight of a weekend that featured British Touring Car star Rory Butcher and past master Dave Coyne among the winners.
Holme bought SMO 746 – dormant for 46 years following Gott’s death – recently, but had not driven it until qualifying. Gearbox failure then prompted an overnight dash to Newmarket to remove his other race Healey’s ’box. Keith Ahlers (Morgan +4 SLR), Holme and Crispin Harris (Healey) made the early running in the 90-minute two-stop feature, before James Hanson bustled Paul Pochciol’s Jaguar E-type from last to the lead. Poleman Ben Adams, meanwhile, was conserving fuel in his little Lola Mk1, its tanks brimmed with 39 litres at the start.
Butcher (in William Paul’s E-type) went ahead handsomely after the first round of pitstops, effectively presenting his car owner the lead when Adams made his second pit call. But there was a sting in the race’s tail. Adams had hounded down Billy Bellinger (in Ahlers’s Morgan) and repassed Paul on lap 49, with 11 minutes remaining. Two laps later the Jag was parked having drunk its 90 litres, and Adams appeared to be cruising for gold, almost a minute clear of Holme but, with three minutes until the chequer, the black Lola’s engine ran dry. “We didn’t even warm the engine up to save fuel, but it was fantastic fun,” he said.
Holme thus led the final three laps for a remarkable success, 49 seconds clear of Ahlers. Third over the line was perennial double agent Welch, in Doug Muirhead’s Healey, having robbed Nick Sleep/joel Wykeham’s GT4 class-winning Shelby Mustang GT350 at the chicane. But a three-second penalty for Muirhead’s speeding in the pits reversed their order, with Harris/james Wilmoth a fine fifth, 2.473s adrift. Malcolm Paul/rick Bourne (TVR Grantura) aced GT2 from Laurence and Tim Jacobsen’s MGB.
Local man Adams had outrun the Lister-jaguar Knobblies of Gary Pearson – racing at Thruxton for the first time in 20 years – and Jon Minshaw to win Saturday’s one-hour RAC Woodcote/ Stirling Moss Trophy 1950s sportscar showcase. Bellinger was in the hunt in
Ahlers’s Lola Mk1 Prototype until halfdistance when a half-shaft let go at Allard.
In the concurrent Pre-’56 set, Martin Stretton/richard Wilson (Maserati 250S) narrowly beat Steve Boultbee Brooks, who piloted his Jaguar D-type through from the back, and Gordie Mutch/john Clark (Cooper T39 Bobtail) after the Mike Grant Peterkin/ Patrick Blakeney-edwards Cooper-jaguar T38 expired. When his tow vehicle’s ignition key snapped, preparer David Brazell drove the Maserati back to Northampton!
The Historic Racing Drivers Club Jack Sears Trophy encounter was fantastic. After a gearbox change, Coyne started Adrian Miles’s immaculate Mustang – built by NASCAR legends the Wood Brothers to replicate their period racer – from sixth, but dived inside John Spiers’s Lotus Cortina (planted on pole by Tiff Needell) to lead at Allard on lap two. A broken oil pump drive ended Spiers’s challenge, but two other Cortinas joined the fight at the front before pit setbacks. Neil Brown traded the lead with Coyne, but fudged refastening his harness, while Fortec boss Richard Dutton knocked his ignition master switch off. The old pals later wagged their steeds’ tails to lurid angles in their battle for second.
Four Jaguar E-types – two hooded roadsters and two fixed-head coupes – made the running in Saturday’s Pre-’63 GT opener. James Cottingham’s prowess in the ex-merle Brennan US racer, newly restored by DK Engineering, was awesome to behold as he deftly drifted it through Allard, pulling ever further clear of Jon Minshaw, Olly Bryant and Hanson.
Hanson grabbed second, but both pacemakers hit trouble with their second drivers installed. Harvey Stanley retired Cottingham’s E-type when its distributor’s internals disintegrated, and Paul Pochciol his car when a brake seal popped. Butcher thus went ahead in Minshaw’s machine and won by 48s from Bryant, whose engine occasionally went off-song. Blakeneyedwards was third in Gregor Fisken’s E.
A lap down, newcomer Muirhead led the ‘Healey class’ – an impressive first race without a novice cross – before relaying Welch. Karsten Le Blanc in
DD300, started by fellow Dutchman Christiaen van Lanschot, made up almost a minute to shadow Harris/wilmoth, but they were gifted fourth when their rivals were docked 23s for a short stop.
When the chasing Ford Sierra RS500S of Sean Brown (wiring loom) and David Tomlin (fuel fire, see News) fell and rain intensified, Ric Wood was grateful for his Nissan Skyline’s four-wheel drive in Saturday’s Historic Touring Car Challenge leg. After a caution, the contrasting Rover V8s of Fisken/blakeney-edwards (Gp2) and Ken and Tim Clarke (GPA) put up one hell of a fight in his wake, power telling. Wood broke a wheel against a kerb while well ahead in Sunday’s sequel, leaving PBE and Ken Clarke wrestling with gearbox issues out front.
Thruxton’s first Pre-war race in decades rewarded the versatile Blakeney-edwards in his Frazer Nash ‘Spam’. He converted Grant Peterkin’s start to victory over early leader Rudiger Friedrichs’s Alvis Firefly. “It’s scary out the back, it’s got two thirds of a turn of steering lock and my arms are knackered from holding on,” smiled Blakeney-edwards.
Michael ‘Rubinho’ Birch (Talbot AV105) just staved off former World Endurance Championship racer Richard Bradley (Aston Martin Ulster) for third. Watched by Peter Morley (86), winner here in the Bentleynapier in 1974, son Clive and grandsons Stuart (sharing with Richard Hudson) and James upheld family honour by heading the hallowed marque’s finishers.
David Smithies blasted his AC Cobra Daytona Coupe evocation clear of Coyne’s Mustang in HRDC Allstars, but driver of the race was James Colburn, who finished third from last on the grid after his Lenham’s alternator packed up in practice. Richard Merrell won the Alfa Challenge, while Chris Snowdon – who arrived from Silverstone and qualified Richard Melvin’s Napolina GTV6 out of session – reached second before its head gasket failed.