Following the week after the Oulton Park Gold Cup, the Historic Sports Car Club returned to the International circuit to give its core club racers the opportunity to race on this fabulous circuit (Saturday 6 August).
Continuing his rise to prominence, young Samuel Harrison took two consummate wins in the Historic Formula Ford races. The victories also added his name to the Paul Simms Memorial Trophy presented by Paul’s son Benn.
It was the first of the HFF races that started the days programme of races. A lap one incident when Scott Rawlinson had a brake pad pop out leaving him stranded, luckily without too much damage to his Merlyn. That resulted in a red flag with a full 20-minute restart for everyone else.
Off the line it was Harrison from Ted Pearson with Chris Porritt coming through in third place. Harrison gradually increased his lead over Pearson to a comfortable gap, which was fortuitous as a split rim on the rear wheel of his Merlyn resulted in a puncture towards the end of the race which Harrison nursed home to win by just 1.5s. The battle for third was more intense, with Rob Smith, Porritt, Ross Drybrough and Paul Unsworth all engaged in battle
In the second of the HFF races Harrison drove a conservative race to win by just over 12s. The focus this time was on the progress of Scott Rawlinson who, with his car repaired, started from the back.
Rawlinson soon got into his stride, setting fastest lap and mixing it with the train of cars fighting for second place. In the early laps second position had been held by Pearson, but his start had been deemed too quick and he was carrying a ten second penalty. But by staying with the five-car train contesting second place he only lost one place in the results, dropping from fifth to sixth. The train was eventually headed by Porritt who took second from fellow Over 50s class runner Smith, with Porritt also taking the fastest lap.
The second race was the first of the combined races with Historic Touring Cars being joined by the Historic Modsports and Saloons. Because of the differences between the classes the Historic Touring Cars were first away with the Modsports following after a 20s delay. For two laps Neil Wood in his Ford Anglia had the honour of leading the pack followed by Peter Smith (Lotus Cortina) but at the end of the second lap the leader was the TVR Griffith of eventual winner Nigel Reuben.
With Reuben in the lead a dominant win seemed likely but Myles Castaldini, who had to qualify out of session when a loose wire on the ignition prevented him from setting a time in his Davrian, had different ideas. Starting from the back Myles quickly scythed through the field to close in on Reuben. With three laps to go Castaldini had got within striking distance of the TVR but was unable to make a pass and finished just three tenths of a second behind.
Wood retained the lead of the Historic Touring Cars whilst holding third overall on the road until being passed with two laps to go by the Modsports Fiat X1/9 of Alistair Baptie. Smith finished second in the Historic Touring cars with third place taken by fellow Lotus Cortina racer Nigel Cox. The Historic Touring cars had a second race later in the day, this time without the Modsports. Wood claimed his second win of the day from Steve Platts and Cox.
The Historic Road Sports had one 25-minute race, won by Kevin Kivlochan in his repaired AC Cobra sporting the damage patina from his Cadwell Park incident. All of the excitement was in his wake and Peter Garland (Morgan Plus 8) kept Kevin in sight throughout the race, finishing 2.7s behind.
Mark Charteris was in top form and dominated both of the Classic Clubmans races to score two easy wins. In the Class B Kent engined Clubmans classes race one featured a great dice between Adam Paterson and Tom Muirhead and the day resulted in a double class win for Paterson. Stephen Barlow topped the Classic F3 runners from Neil Jenkins.
The 70s Road Sports contenders, like the Historic Road Sports, had a single 25-minute race. Charles Barter in the Datsun 240Z made a demon start from third on the grid, but he and Steve Bellerby (TVR 3000M) were awarded 10 second penalties for false start. John Williams (Porsche 911SC) ran second for much of the race keeping Charles within his sights but retired on lap nine with a broken drive shaft. With a 15s margin back to Jeremy Clark, Barter was able to claim the top spot despite the penalty.