Five star Leo back on top
Leo Voyazides and Simon Hadfield snaked the Greek’s AC Cobra to victory in the season’s second GT & Sports Car Cup race on June 17, making it his fifth win in the HSCC’s International Trophy celebration, the series’ 10thappearance.
Once 2009 winner John Clark’s redoubtable co-driver and last year’s runaway poleman, British GT ace Phil ‘Lambo Rambo’ Keen, had parked the Scot’s Jaguar E-type with gearbox failure it fell to Donington winners the Pearson brothers to spearhead the challenge in John’s semi-lightweight E-type, with Gary also sharing Mark Donnor’s under the Pearsons Engineering banner.
If the Grand Touring contingent expected to have things all its own way on the flat out expanses of the 3.63-mile Grand Prix circuit it discounted last autumn’s Castle Combe-winning Lotus 15, in the skilled hands of Philip Walker and Miles Griffiths, at its peril. With its lithe tubular chassis and two-litre Coventry-Climax FPF four-cylinder engine the sole sports racer was well equipped to carry speed through the turns. Rivals could not miss its ‘clockwork orange’ warpaint as it came home third overall!
The battle for GT3 class honours was a straight fight between early Jaguar E-types, less developed than the younger ‘full-house’ derivatives, and a raft of Austin-Healey 3000s. Once again the big “squealeys” prevailed, Jeremy Welch – flying race sponsor Denis Welch Motorsport’s flag – and Martyn Corfield landing gold by a lap.
GT2 was wide open until the dying embers of the 90-minute contest when, with Tim Jacobsen bearing down rapidly on Malcolm Paul’s faithful TVR Grantura, forged ahead by Rick Bourne, the Scot’s MGB’s drivetrain wilted without warning on the Hangar Straight.
QUALIFYING
Like last year, Keen posted the best qualifying time on Saturday afternoon, his 2m26.013s (89.73mph) not as quick as before on the resurfaced circuit, but enough to nick pole by a very narrow margin. The next three teams were within 0.401s when the chequered flag brought the dramatic half hour session to a close.
Hadfield was a scant 0.158s shy in the Cobra – back to its venomous best having been out of sorts at Donington – and 0.193s beyond Griffiths’ compromised 2:26.364 (89.51mph) final salvo which demonstrated huge potential. Miles pushed early list-toppers the Pearsons back to fourth by a mere 0.050s.
Martin Melling/Jason Minshaw (E-type low-drag coupe) and the Cobra of Chris Chiles Sr and Jr, shared with former HSCC Historic Touring Car champion and TVR Griffith wrestler Simon Garrad, rounded out the top six, less than half a second apart in the 2m27s. The GT4 Jags of Martin O’Connell (O’C Racing’s crew attempting to find its sweet spot between stops), Stefan Ziegler/Ben Shuckburgh and Mark Donnor/Gary Pearson were bracketed in the 29s with the quicker Lotus Elan 26R Shapecraft coupé of Andrews Garside and Newall.
Nigel Greensall did minimum lappery in Chris Milner’s white GT3 Jaguar to give its capable owner more seat time. They headed the class on 2:32.029 (86.18mph), a second up on the quickest of five Austin-Healey 3000s, the silver blue ex-Sebring example of Alex Bell and local ace Julian Thomas. Between them sat the blue Shapecraft Elan of Mark Midgley and Rob Wainwright (2016’s Formula Ford winner here), Martin Hunt’s E-type – with promising 20-year-old son Theo joining dad and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards for the first time – and the glorious Cobra of Gavin and Rory Henderson.
A fraction behind Bell/Thomas, Lotus 11 graduate Jason Yates’ splendid ex-Derek Ridler Lec/AVS Racing Cobra was making its GT&SCC debut with the rapid Joe Twyman sharing driving duties. Martyn Corfield/Jeremy Welch in SMO 746, the former’s Healey 3000 long raced by the late John Gott, petrolhead Chief Constable of Northamptonshire (where Silverstone has hosted racing since 1948) was in touch. Also in the 2:35s, Richard and Michael Squire’s rorty Sunbeam Tiger Le Mans was sidelined when its clutch diaphragm ripped out, thus they fetched their Ford Mustang notchback from Richard Walbyoff’s workshop nearby and started from the back for fun.
Flying the flag of his Crown Colony of North Borneo birthplace (Sabah since 1963), Chris Clarkson’s green Healey 3000, shared by David Smithies, headed the second half of the imposing grid. In its wake sat the GT2-leading TVR Grantura Mk3 of Malcolm Paul/Rick Bourne, the ex-Pip Arnold Morgan Plus 4 SLR of John Emberson/Bill Wykeham, the ‘conventional’ Elan of Stephen Bond and preparer Keith Fell and Crispin Harris/James Wilmoth’s Healey, split by half a second.
Chasing the TVR, 1.7s adrift, was the MGB of Scots Tim Jacobsen and former Group C2 racer father Laurence, separated from the rival ‘Grannie’ of Rod Begbie/Nick Lees by the Healey of Mark Pangborn/Harvey Cook. Ross-Jones pere-et-fils, Alan and Daniel, were next in their faithful Triumph TR4, chased by Simon Orebi Gann/Mike Bell (ex-Gordon Spice Morgan Plus 4 SLR) and the 1216cc Coventry-Climax FWE-engined Lotus Elite of Marc Gordon/Nick Finburgh on 2:42.344 (80.70mph).
The familiar gunmetal hued Healey 100/4 of Mike Thorne/Sarah Bennett-Baggs lay fourth in GT2 after the preliminaries, pursued by the MGBs of Edward Stone (co-driven by the ever busy Nigel Greensall) and the Phillips family – husband and wife Chris and Beverley with son Olly – and the sole Porsche 911 of marque specialists Peter Tognola/Steve Monk.
Between them sat the hairy wheel-spinning 6.5-litre Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray of Bentley boys Clive, Stuart and James Morley, Neil Merry’s Sunbeam Tiger and Sandy Watson’s E-type FHC which – like Ziegler’s car, sadly crashed heavily in Saturday’s Jaguar Classic Challenge, and the Drabbles’ Reliant Sabre Six which broke in testing, was destined not to start.
Able to join the party, was the Elite of Paul Bason/Darren Green which, with seized brakes rectified, qualified out of session on Sunday morning.
RACE
Sunday’s 90-minute enduro got under way cleanly from the rolling start, Voyazides thundering his Cobra past polesitter Clark on the opening lap, taking John Pearson and Philip Walker with him. With Super-fast trump card Keen waiting in the wings, 2009 race victor ‘Clarky’ was also content to let Chiles Sr and Martin Hunt past in the early stages, tracking them comfortably as the race rhythm settled down.
Milner had shot up from 11th to seventh on lap one, with Garside’s nimble Elan, Melling, Rory Henderson (from 14th), Donner and the subdued O’Connell in the chasing pack.
As so often there were early dramas aplenty. Orebi Gann’s red Morgan aerodyne survived a massive spin into Farm on lap 3, but continued. Less fortunate were Bell, whose Healey conked out after only four laps with coil failure, and Melling whose E-type was sidelined when its long-dormant spare engine ran a main bearing three tours later.
Out front Voyazides’ strong 2:28.422 in the fuelled-up Cobra clearly demonstrated his intent. Diligent work soon saw the Greek’s cushion to Pearson plumped up to 2.3s, which is how it remained until they pitted together after 14 laps, Leo installing Hadfield and Gary jumping into Brother John’s car, with Donnor’s red E-Type arriving ahead of Garside and Corfield in the GT3-leading Healey, who sent Newall and Welch out respectively.
Chiles, running fourth, had already installed Garrad and Griffiths had taken over Walker’s third placed Lotus after eight and 10 laps. Greensall had taken the tiller of Milner’s E-type long before Henderson, Hunt and O’Connell stopped on successive laps, but ahead of them Clark was another of the 14-lap stinters, back to third through stoppages when he relayed Keen.
Quickly into his stride, Begbie led GT2 initially, engaging in an entertaining scrap with Emberson’s Morgan, but their was bitter disappointment in the British Racing Green TVR pit when a wheel bearing collapsed, forcing an early bath. Earlier, a great tussle had raged in mid-pack with the Healeys of Corfield, Clarkson, Harris and Pangborn snorting round Bond’s Elan.
After a couple of laps in the lead, having emerged from the pits ahead, Gary Pearson surrendered it to Hadfield who pulled clear, before handing the Cobra back to Voyazides with a half-minute advantage. Griffiths almost halved his deficit to the silver Jaguar before owner Walker clambered back into the Lotus. Gone, though, were the Jaguars of Clark/Keen and O’Connell, after what became a test session to ascertain that previous maladies were sorted.
Star of the mid-part of the adventure, though, was Theo Hunt. Far from overawed in greatly more experienced company the youngster knuckled down to the task with aplomb, cutting his father’s Jaguar’s best lap before handing the baton over to Blakeney-Edwards in a tremendous fourth place, first of the triple-driven cars.
With the top three places essentially sorted, PB-E was hounded down by Chiles Jr, but held on to fourth by 0.725s with the tyre-frying blue Cobra filling his mirrors. A lap behind the leaders, the Garside/Newall Elan finished a giant-slaying sixth, having outrun Donnor/Pearson and repeat GT3 victors Corfield/Welch, in their gallant Healey. Rivals Milner/Greensall were sidelined by electrical problems in their Jaguar, incidentally.
Behind Martyn and Jeremy, who finished eighth overall, the Yates/Twyman Cobra was ninth on 34 laps, ahead of Bond/Fell and the Hendersons. Behind the white Cobra, the fight for second place in GT3 was a cracker, Clarkson/Smithies claiming it by 1.214s from the nippy 2.2-litre Triumph-engined Morgan of Emberson/Wykeham, their order having swapped several times. Harris/Wilmoth and Pangborn/Woods took the minor placings in their rorty Healeys, ahead of the Orebi Gann/Bell SLR.
As previously described, the GT2 fight so nearly went to the Jacobsens, the Scots’ heartbreak letting Paul/Bourne off the hook. The Tognola/Monk Porsche and Phillips family MGB completed the class podium, neither able to match the Gordon/Finburgh Elite, GT1’s sole-survivor.
The GT & Sports Car Cup roars back into action after its summer sojourn on October 6 at the popular Castle Combe Autumn Classic where it made a triumphant debut last year and will end the season in the Algarve for the Algarve Classic Festival in Portimao, taking place over the 19/20/21 October.
Editor : As for our race, we got up to 2nd in class after 89 mins when sadly we finished our run parked up down the hangar straight with a puncture! Thanks to Charlie Wooding for this pic. (Left)
Leo Voyazides & Simon Hadfield in their AC Cobra
SP2 Philip Walker & Miles Griffiths, Lotus IV
GT1 Marc Gordon & Nick Finburgh, Lotus Elite
GT2 Malcolm Paul & Rick Bourne, TVR Grantura Mk III
GT3 Martyn Corfield & Jeremy Welch, Austin Healey 3000
GT4 Leo Voyazides & Simon Hadfield, AC Cobra 289
GTSCC Family Award – Martin & Theo Hunt, Jaguar E-Type
GTSCC Driver of the Day – Tim & Laurence Jacobsen, MG B
