Gillies continues his ERA of Shuttleworth Trophy victories
A fine day of racing at Cadwell Park from the Vintage Sports-car Club was topped by another Shuttleworth Trophy victory for Mark Gillies, who was sublime in his handling of ERA R3A. After a year’s Covid-19-enforced absence, the VSCC’S annual visit to Lincolnshire drew a fine entry and a healthy crowd – and the racing lived up to expectations.
A quarter of a century after he first won the Shuttleworth Trophy, Gillies was back to dominate the Pre-’61 Racing Car event in R3A. He was able to edge clear in the early laps as the rest of the field battled in his wake. A damp and slippery qualifying session was not what Fred Harper wanted in the Kurtis Indy Roadster, but the dry race allowed him to unleash the monster around the twists and turns of Cadwell to work up the order and take second place over James Baxter’s Riley ERA.
Alex Ames was a double winner at the wheel of the Halusa family-owned Bugatti T35C. The famous ex-works car from 1927 romped away in the Williams Trophy for Pre-’35 Grand Prix cars as a bumper field of Bugattis assembled thanks to the efforts of Tim Dutton. Ed Williams spoiled chances of a Bugatti clean sweep of the podium by grabbing second in his Frazer Nash from Duncan Pittaway’s T35, though there was barely half a second in it at the flag after a great contest.
Ames was back out at the end of the afternoon for the Allcomers racing car encounter, and took his second victory once Ian Baxter had a bizarre delay in his Alta. Seeing a black-and-orange flag on the startline, which appeared to show his race number, Baxter pitted to find out what the problem was. Unfortunately, the flag was not meant for him, and Baxter rejoined after a lengthy delay. He battled back up to fourth by setting easily the fastest lap of the race, but Ames was too far clear for Baxter to regain his lead.
The Frazer Nash/gn race was another highlight and fittingly went to marque expert Patrick Blakeney-edwards in his Super Sport. He coped with a chain drama that left only two gears to top a bumper field and finish four seconds ahead of young Ben Maeers in the mighty Parker GN. Maeers and Tom Waterfield had battled hard for second, and only later
in the race did Maeers edge out a couple of lengths’ advantage.
Garry Whyte was remembered in an all-riley race that went, for the second time, to John Reeve in his Brooklands, while Harry Painter (PA) was the best of the Triple M Pre-war MG field.
The closest finish of the day opened the racing in the Geoghegan Trophy for standard and modified pre-war sports. Jonathan Sharp (Riley) and Simon Blakeneyedwards (Frazer Nash) battled for the whole race and traded the lead many times. It all came down to the final sprint out of Barn to the flag, and Sharp somehow nosed ahead by 0.02s after a glorious contest.
The Melville Trophy for VSCC
Specials was almost as good, as Dougal Cawley in GN Piglet battled race-long with Rob Cobden’s Riley Falcon Special. It was nip and tuck as they dived through late-race traffic, but Cawley got to the line ahead by little more than 0.5s.