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NATIONAL RACING HIGHLIGHTED BY OULTON GOLD CUP MEETING
The most amazing finish in the second Historic Formula 3 race was one of the highlights of a scorching weekend at the Oulton Park Gold Cup.
The plain facts of Sunday’s doubleheader for the one-litre Formula 3 pack show a commanding brace of wins for Andrew Hibberd in his ex-chris Irwin Brabham BT18 but the battling in his wake was outstanding. As the circuit curfew approached at the end of the second race, a blanket finish put Christoph Widmer, Andy Jarvis and Peter Thompson over the line three a breast in the space of just over a tenth of a second.
As Jarvis struggled with fading tyres, Widmer somehow managed to get the nose of his Brabham up alongside Jarvis’s March as Thompson went to the left of the track in his Brabham. With only inches between the cars, Widmer won the sprint to the line to finish his 100th race in style.
“It was incredible,” said the Swiss racer of his favourite UK track. “I was in the middle with a blue nose either side!” Mutual congratulations and hugs after the race showed that this race had been as sporting as it was competitive.
Hibberd was 13s to the good at the flag to back up his earlier win when Enrico Spaggiari (Lotus 41X) and Jarvis shared the podium after more tremendous racing in the pack.
Not to be outdone by their younger cousins, the Formula Juniors also turned it on with a mighty second race. First time out, Andrew Hayden took his first Junior win by a useful margin once Peter de la Roche parked his front-engined Lola Mk2 with failed driveshaft bolts. The similar car of Michael Hibberd made it a 1-2 for the Hibberd team.
After a frantic dash to local workshops, de la Roche made it to the grid for the second race with two minutes to spare and joined Robin Longdon (Lola MK5A) and Hayden in a glorious lead contest that went to Longdon as 0.9s split the trio at the flag.
The half-hour Historic Road Sports race was a nail-biter as Kevin Kivlochan’s AC Cobra faced its biggest challenge yet as Will Plant took over his father Richard’s Morgan +8.
Kivlochan edged Plant back to second on the opening lap and duly pulled a couple of seconds clear as Plant gave his tyres and brakes a mid-race breather. However, the young pretender was not spent yet and, as the Cobra struggled for grip and stopping power, closed back in again to harry Kivlochan over the final couple of laps. Under a second settled it in Kivlochan’s favour as Roger
Lee’s Lotus Seven S2 completed the podium party.
The 70s Road Sports pack also had a half-hour race in the scorching heat and it proved to be a race of attrition. Kivlochan was first out with a blown head gasket on his Morgan +8, while early leader Will Leverett parked his Lotus Europa a lap later. Championship leader Adam Bagnall (Jaguar E-type) was out after collecting the spinning Europa of Howard Payne, as through it all came Jim Dean (Lotus Europa) to fend off the persistent challenge of Charles Barter (Datsun 240Z) and the invitation class Escort RS2000 of Jason Minshaw.
Mark Charteris took another Classic Clubmans double but newly-married Alan Cook ran him close second time out. After his customary driveshaft preserving steady start, Charteris was still second when a mid-race safety car arrived. Only on the third of a four-lap dash to the finish did Charteris edge ahead and Cook pressed all the way to the flag. With his car struggling on old tyres, Charteris readily admitted that the safety car had rescued him.
Stewart Whyte topped two entertaining Dunlop Saloon Car Cup races in his Honda Accord as Mark Wright gave spectacular chase in his Ford Sierra RS500. In both races the cars of Ric Wood featured; on Sunday Jake Hill was on a mission in the Nissan Skyline until a misfire developed and Wood charged his Holden Commodore up the order to second despite losing the power steering fluid.
Andrew Smith was the class of the Classic F3/classic FF2000 pack and took a brace of wins despite some downshift problems on Monday.
Having lost the engine in his Formula Ford 2000 Delta on Sunday, Callum Grant went back to Bolton to fetch his Merlyn Mk20 for Monday and took a double win in Historic Formula Ford over Pierre Livingston.
The stunning ex-alan Jones Williams FW06 claimed a popular Gold Cup victory across the pair of XL Aurora races. In the opener, Jamie Brashaw (March 73B) saw off friend and rival Mark Dwyer (March 742). However, at the start of the second race they contrived to eliminate each other at the first corner, so Bullock set the pace under constant pressure from the Chevron B25 of James Murray.
A late safety car set up a dramatic final lap for the 40-minute Guards Trophy race as a one-lap dash decided the result.
In increasing brake dramas, Benn Tilley led into the final tour in his Lotus 23B but could not repel the flying Chevron B8 of Charles Allison. Up to third after two spins and a wild final lap came Ben Rushworth in Paul Ugo’s B8, while Dan Eagling drove the doors off Mark Halstead’s Ginetta G4 to win the GT division after leading the race overall in the early stages.
For most of the opening Historic Formula Ford 2000 race Andrew Park fended off the advances of Benn Simms. However, on the final lap the leading Reynard succumbed to clutch failure and Simms, in clutch dramas of his own, swept ahead. Simms called it a day but Park started the second race from the back and scythed through to chase Ian Pearson as they hunted down early leader Jason Redding. However, Park pulled off at Cascades and left Pearson clear. Pearson then hit gear selection issues and Redding went back ahead.
Peter Hallford (Ford Mustang) won the opening Historic Touring Cars thrash despite a determined chase by Roger Stanford’s Lotus Cortina. In the second race, Hallford made a torrid start but was rescued by a red flag. From the re-start, Hallford made short work of taking control from Stanford and Bob Bullen (Ford Anglia).