Polley puts Mini Marcos on top in Swinging Sixties
Sam Polley defied a success penalty to finish victorious in a close-fought Swinging Sixties Group 1 contest on the Silverstone National circuit.
Struggling with understeer in his Mini Marcos, Polley qualified only seventh but soon joined the lead battle in the 40-minute race. It was briefly headed by Ian Staines’s MG Midget, which lost time due to a Luffield spin, before polesitter Jack Smith led until relaying the MGA to dad Steve.
Richard Perry’s one-minute success penalty dropped his Austin-healey Sprite from contention, while the Smiths, Chris Watkinson (Mini) and Polley all served 30s so remained close and were joined by the BMWS of Tom Pead and Charles Tippet (in for daughter Claire Norman). Polley passed Smith Sr at Brooklands on three-quarter’s distance with Pead following through, but a spin for Pead’s 1600 Ti at Copse and fan-belt failure on the MGA eased Polley’s path to a 6.6s win over the Norman/tippet 2002 Ti. Watkinson completed the podium, with Pead recovering to fourth.
An attritional Group 2 race, for larger, faster cars, was won by Jon Wolfe’s TVR Tuscan V8. Wolfe spent the opening third of the race fending off Jamie Keevill’s Lotus Elan S2 for second behind Nigel Reuben’s TVR Griffith. Reuben, driving solo on this occasion, would have been hard pressed to overcome his 90s success penalty but that was rendered moot when he crabbed into the pits with a broken suspension pick-up midway through his second stint. Keevill’s own 30s penalty handed Wolfe the initiative and, when Keevill retired on the penultimate lap, the TVR cantered to a 45s victory over the Dean Halsey/scott Gillam Datsun 240Z.
Honours in the two 15-minute Special Saloons and Modsports races were split between Danny Morris and Andy Southcott. The opening tours of race one were led by Southcott’s Vauxhall-powered MG Midget clone before a moment at Brooklands let Morris ahead. While both were clocking nearly 100mph laps, Southcott’s increasingly loose rear prevented him challenging Morris’s Peugeot 309 complete with Cosworth turbo power.
Differential replaced, Southcott was set for a rematch, only for gearbox gremlins to sideline Morris. Southcott was thus untroubled, Clive Anderson dragging his wounded BMW E30 home 49s in arrears after an injector on its Rover V8 failed.
The V8-powered Morgan +8 of fatherand-son duo Bill and Howard Lancashire thundered to Future Classics victory. Polesitter Stephen Scott-dunwoodie’s lock-up at Becketts on the opening tour let Lancashire Sr ahead, but a quick pitstop for his Ford Sierra RS500 vaulted Scott-dunwoodie back in front.
It wouldn’t last as, with no third gear, the RS500 became easy prey for Lancashire Jr. When its manifold also started to loosen, Scott-dunwoodie called it a day. Returning from his heavy Anglesey accident in May, Stuart Daburn inherited second in his
TVR Tuscan, his deficit – virtually a lap – marginally more than the 60s success penalty he had served.
Success for a similar Tuscan came via Alex Taylor in Modern Classics. Having been hounded by Piers Masarati’s Porsche 964 Turbo in the opening stint, the pressure was eased by Masarati’s 20s success penalty. Masarati and Daburn also copped one-minute penalties for speeding under Code 60 conditions. But, with only four cars on the lead lap, and
Tom Mensley pinged for pitting his BMW M3 E36 Evo slightly before the window opened, they kept their podium places.
Nigel Mustill’s Solution F Volvo S80, co-driven by Craig Dolby, won a truncated Slicks/open Series race, which was restarted when a fire broke out on the Short family
Mosler shortly after Morgan took over from younger brother Marcus.
The New Millennium race was also restarted after an accident involving the BMWS of Matthew Sanders (E46) and Simon Baker (1 Series Coupe) and the Jackson family’s GT4 Aston Martin. It was won by Dominic Malone’s ex-andy Priaulx BMW M3 E90, despite a shortpitstop penalty.
In his first year of racing, Tim Davies scored a maiden win in Magnificent Sevens. Former Toyota MR2 racer Josh Brooks also took his first Turbo Tin Tops triumph on only the second appearance of his Japanese-import Toyota Starlet.
Giles Dawson’s Lotus Elan 26R never looked like being beaten in Classic K, winning the one-hour race by more than a lap over Alex Thistlethwayte’s
Ford Mustang.