Photos: P Korkus : pkphotomedia@btinternet.com
Glorious October weather, fabulous cars, some cracking racing and a lovely period atmosphere, all came together to make the ‘Autumn Classic’ a day on Sunday.
The locally made Bristol cars made the biggest impact, both numerically and physically. A whole section of Combe’s ‘Westway’ car park was devoted to them and it was easy to see why it was the biggest ever gathering of the marque’s many models.
Event sponsor, Julian Bronson of Bristol Forklifts, couldn’t resist pushing his 1960 Scarab Grand Prix car almost to the limit and admitted he had been driving ‘about nine tenths’. The sound from its four cylinder Offenhauser engine enthralled the crowd every bit as much as Bronson’s mastery of his local circuit and showed why he is one of the world’s top historic race car drivers.
Similarly impressive was Mark Hales’ demonstration of the 1957 Maserati 250F Grand Prix car owned by Pink Floyd drummer and petrol head Nick Mason from nearby Corsham. The Mason family and a valuable part of its car collection was on show and in action, with the unique sight of Annette Mason racing against her two daughters, Holly and Chloe in the ‘Historic Aston Martin’ race. Their trio of cars from 1934 and 1935 were a sight in themselves and whilst the ladies were not the quickest in the field, they certainly added to the ‘feel good’ factor of the event. Somewhat faster at the front was Simon Hadfield, who, admitting his beautiful DB3S was by far the best car, drove off into the distance, finishing a minute ahead of second placed David Reed in a DB2.
There were a number of other West Country drivers and it was a big day for the Bristol Healey contingent who featured strongly in the eight, well supported races. Flax Bourton’s David Smithies secured a narrow win over last year’s victor David Grace, in the first of the two double header races for ‘Big Healeys’, but had to settle for second in race two, after Grace made a perfect start. As always the race had a very strong representation of Bristol drivers, including a couple of significant pairings. Brothers Oliver and Jack Chatham, son of Combe Healey legend, John Chatham, made a great impression. Oliver took their 3000 to 6th in race one, his less experienced brother, Jack, driving a superb race two to claim third. The Westbury on Trym pairing of Chris Clarkson and Ted Williams notched up a 5th and 6th respectively with Bristol’s Mike Thorne winning his class in both races in his Healey 100M. Sharing the same car with Auto Addicts editor Sarah Bennett-Baggs, the couple also took a class win and 7th overall in the Fifties Sports Car club’s inter-marque race, Thorne having run as high as 4th overall in his stint, prior to the pitstops. Bath’s Nigel Fender took second in class in the same race in his Triumph TR2.
1988 Le Mans winner Andy Wallace was an enthusiastic pedaller of the sole D Type Jaguar in the packed race for pre 1966 Jaguars. Wallace ran in a strong 3rd for most of the race but was unlucky to lose two places as a result of an incident which brought out the ‘Safety Car’.
The Vintage Sports Car Club’s race for pre war sports cars saw some close racing up front but also an opportunity for many owners to enjoy their cars. Tim Wadsworth from Minety was one such, his Lagonda 2 litre SML, more sedate than fast, but another lovely sight amongst its contemporaries.
A highlight for many was the ‘BAC Challenge Trophy’ for 500cc Formula 3 cars. This was the first race at Combe since 1955 for these diminutive machines and it proved to be a belter. Whilst the Coopers of Steve Jones and George Shackleton dominated at the front, the variety and ingenuity of the rest of the field was stunning. With almost 300 different types of 500cc F3 car built in their heyday, the 15 or so marques which took part on Sunday were a great representation in the impressive 23 car field.
Similarly diverse was the opening Formula Junior race, even more well supported, the full grid being headed by John Milicevic in his Cooper T59.
