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ALL THE NATIONAL RACING REPORTS
Half a century of the timeless Chevron B6/B8 design was honoured in fine style during the Oulton Park Gold Cup as a unique single-make race ran at the spiritual home of the late Derek Bennett’s beloved marque.
It was a day that may never be repeated and a typically healthy crowd was on hand to witness a very special occasion. “I think Derek Bennett would have been rather pleased,” said HSCC CEO Grahame White, who first conceived the idea of the race.
A stellar line-up of drivers in the 19-car grid featured some of the best historic racing talent, with Andrew Kirkaldy, Martin O’connell, Simon Hadfield, Nigel Greensall and Andy Wolfe as the key players.
Kirkaldy took first blood for Sandy Watson’s team by claiming pole with a margin of nearly a second over Wolfe. Hadfield topped the class for those running Dunlops, generally up to two seconds slower than the Avon option.
There was no surprise as Kirkaldy headed the field away, even though his
start took a toll on both first gear and the clutch. Nevertheless, he was able to hold off the chasing Wolfe and David Pittard, who was having a guest run in the B8 of David Smithies.
Pittard wrestled ahead of Wolfe before the stops and then had the leader come back towards him a little when Kirkaldy struggled to get his car rolling after his pitstop. Within a lap, the reduced gap was down to nothing as a safety car removed Kirkaldy’s cushion.
However, Kirkaldy got his head down and rebuilt a small margin as Pittard now had his hands full of Wolfe.
“On the last lap he missed a gear and I went by and then I missed a gear as well. He hit me up the back and that got me going again,” said Wolfe after taking the runner-up slot by half a second.
The Dunlop runners were headed for many laps by Hadfield, but he was forced to pull off from behind the safety car.
Instead, Dan Eagling moved up to win the section and take a share in the Gold Cup with Kirkaldy. It was Eagling’s first race in a B8, having been entrusted with
the car owned by Mark Halstead.
“To get the chance to race a Chevron B8 is a massive honour, and to win the Gold Cup is even more memorable,” he said.
As well as Monday’s race, a raft of former B6 and B8 racers were on hand to join in the celebrations, including local hero John Lepp and Digby Martland, the first driver to win in a B6 at Oulton Park during the 1967 season. Fittingly, Martland presented the awards at the end of the race. Alan Rollinson, Ian Skailes, John Burton, Tony Goodwin and Peter Lawson were among the other period names on hand for the celebration.
Several non-race ready cars were also there, including chassis CH-DBE-87 which has recently been repatriated from the USA. The ex-roger Heavens/ Tony Birchenough car was one of the last production B8s and has been in America since 1975 but will now be restored to full race specification.
Heavens was there to see his old car for the first time in decades and said he’d love to carry out the car’s restoration.