RICHARDS UPHOLDS HONOUR FOR LOTUS
Dafyd Richards won the Equipe Pre-’60/’50s race from the pitlane in his Lotus 11, bringing his win tally to three in his first full season of racing.
The experienced mechanic was in one of two Lotus sports racers out on track, but James Wood’s 15 retired early on, leaving Richards with the Jaguar E-type of Frederic Laurent and Harvey Stanley as his main target. He kept things steady and left it quite late but passed the leading Jaguar in the last few minutes of the 40-minute encounter. Laurent appeared to be struggling with something and was then overtaken by
Mark Holme’s Austin Healey 3000 for second.
There was no such trouble for Lee Atkins and his TVR Grantura in the closing Equipe GTS race. Atkins, who has had a mixed season, was in control of the pack throughout, having eked out a decent lead off the start and maintained it during the mandatory pitstops. Rob Cull made it a Grantura 1-2, seeing off Mark Fisher’s MGB with a combination of better backmarker management, an earlier stop and ultimately, more speed. He had already prised himself free from a pack involving Andrew Wenman’s Morgan, among others. Holme, driving his MGB this time, was fourth. He benefited from the early exit of Jack Wilmott’s TVR, which had a rear-facing coming-together with a barrier at Copse late on but overcame a spin at Brooklands in the opening laps.
Matthew Moore and Mark Daniell only came out of the Equipe Libre race in their AC Cobra, but walked away with a win after being threatened by Laurent and Stanley in the E-type. The Cobra was rapid from the start and quickly built up a lead, but the E-type was gaining time when the safety car came out. However, once Benjamin Savill’s Porsche 911 had been removed and the pitstops had come and gone, Laurent had replaced Stanley in the E-type and the Cobra was able to pull away for the win. Laurent and Stanley were second, with Alexander Hewitson third in an Austin Healey 3000, the only other car still on the lead lap.
The BCV8 championship also came to a close at Silverstone, with James Wheeler taking the overall championship, winning twice. His closest rival, Neil Fowler, kept things close with two second places and two fastest laps.
Production GTi/Z Cars honours were shared between Henry Riley and Simon Hill.