Mitchell claims Richmond Trophy amid the spray

Ben Mitchell bagged victory in the Richmond Trophy race for front-engined Grand Prix cars of a type campaigned from 1954-60. The BRM pilot’s winning margin of a whisker over six seconds belied the effort involved. At the start, it was Tony Wood’s stubby Tec-Mec Maserati that blasted into an early lead from the second row, with Miles Griffith second in Philip Walker’s Lotus 16 as Mitchell gave chase. Will Nuthall was also making his presence felt aboard his two-litre Cooper-Bristol.

Conditions were far from ideal, the Tec-Mec being bundled down to fourth by quarter distance of the 25-minute race, with Mitchell having by now assumed the lead with Griffith in close proximity. Nuthall also came into the fray, and it was only in the closing stages that Mitchell was able to make a break for it. Griffith and Nuthall were rarely more than a car length apart – were rarely pointing in a straight line, but they had no answer for Mitchell who had entered the final lap with a six second lead. Griffith and Nuthall drag raced to the line, the former just holding sway, with Wood a distant fourth.