HSCC MEMBERS TOP GOLD CUP ACTION: REPORTS MARCUS PYE
Sensational Roadsports lead battles and an epic Historic Formula 3 scrap topped the racing at last weekend’s annual Oulton Park Gold Cup event. Inaugurated as a non-championship Formula 1 fixture in 1954 – when Stirling Moss (Maserati 250F) scored the first of his five victories – the Cheshire pilgrimage has been a pillar of the HSCC calendar for over 20 years, honoured with the Historic Gold Cup title since 2016.
Viewed in depth, the Charles Barter Trophy Roadsports double header, a melange of closely-matched cars across 70s and Historic timelines, provided superb entertainment. It resonated especially with the hundreds of classic car owners whose cherished machines were neatly parked in sets across the grassy escarpment in front of Motor Sport Vision’s imposing Fogarty Moss Centre, enjoying a majestic view of Cascades and the Hislops to Knickerbrook sections of the undulating 2.692 mile parkland track.
Seventies newcomer Elliot Paterson underlined his intent on Friday by qualifying the Morgan Plus 8 in which father Russell would contest the second race on pole with a 1m58.826s (81.55mph) lap. Jonathan Rose led the Historic posse on 2:01.463 (79.78mph) in his pristine Lotus Elan S1, a fifth of a second quicker than the increasingly rapid George Daws in his Datsun 240Z, breathed on by Dave Jarman. Mark Godfrey (Lotus 7) joined Daws on row two, balancing the 70s/HRS equation, with John Williams (Posche 911SC), Jim Dean (Elan S4) and local hero David Tomkinson (TVR Vixen) next up from the younger side.
Australian Justin Murphy’s stunningly voluptuous Aussie-built Bolwell Nagari – powered by a Ford V8 engine – was third of the Historics, eighth overall, ahead of Will Bibb’s Morgan Plus 8 and Julian Barter’s faithful TVR 3000M, the five-time Oulton winner out for the first time this season. Engine problems did not defeat Julian for the car was whisked to Iain Daniels’ Tamworth base for remedial work. The Ford V6’s sump and cylinder heads were removed and the sleepless Barter headed back north for the programme’s opening race on Saturday.
With 70s’ points leader Simon Baines (Porsche 924) and Brands Hatch winner Antony Ross (TVR 3000M) on holiday, 924 chasers Peter Hore and Gavin Johnson, defending champion Howard Payne (Lotus Europa) and Mervyn Selwyn missing Oulton, this was a golden opportunity for class rivals Daws and Williams to capitalise from second and third in the standings. The Historic title race was without three of its top four, with table topper Frazer Gibney (Elan S1) plus Ant Reeley and Robert Rowe (Elan S3s) missing, thus there was much to play for throughout the dovetailed pack.
Unfortunately, the first race lost Mark Bennett’s MGB GT V8 (clutch) and Scottish veteran Jim Grant’s Elan S3 (distributor) on the grid and when Dean bounced off the tyre barrier at Old Hall seconds later, aggravating an old skiing injury, a two lap safety car interlude ensued. Paterson rumbled clear at the green and took the chequer 3.728s ahead of Rose, who outbraked Godfrey into Hislops on lap 6 but could not shake him off. Williams and Daws squabbled over fourth, the former prevailing by a second, with Barter – sixth having lunged past invitee Gianluca Bardelli’s Lotus Eclat at Cascades when the track went green.
Bibb and Tomkinson also jousted once past the Italian, Tomkinson cutting a brilliant 2:01.543 (79.73mph) lap in securing a class winning seventh. Murphy and Bardelli rounded out the top 10, chased by invitee Ben Brain’s Alfa GTV, Nic Strong’s Marcos 3000GT and the Historic Elans of Simon Haughton (ex-Peter Shaw) and Peter Micklewright.
Saturday evening’s entertainment centred around a hog roast and an ‘International’ croquet tournament in which teams representing Roadsports and Historic F3 exchanged fireproof playsuits for fancy dress and highly fettled machinery for wooden mallets. As ‘Sunny Jim’ Nairn recounts, a spiffing time was had by all. After the merry making there was plenty of time to refocus on the business of racing.
Sunday’s round was splendid, Rose charging past Paterson Sr into a lead he’d extended to three seconds over Godfrey within a lap. Williams’ Porsche hunkered down to shoot off the line, but John was thwarted initially by Paterson. While Godfrey set about reeling in Rose – the contrasting Lotuses were nose to tail after seven tours – a battle royal raged behind with Paterson, Barter, Bibb, Williams, Tomkinson and Daws locked in combat, Williams emerging with third overall.
Barter jostled to the front of the train before outbraking himself and falling to fifth on the road behind Paterson, delighted to have lapped a second quicker than before. Russell did, however, pick up 15 seconds of track limits penalties, which saw him reclassified eighth. Barter was duly promoted to fourth ahead of Bibb – accorded class victory on Paterson’s drop – Tomkinson, Daws (with a five second imposition). Murphy and Mark Leverett (Elan S4) were ninth and 10th, ahead of Bardelli and Micklewright, with Adrian Gilbert (Elan S3) on his tail.
Both championship leads changed at Oulton, John Williams moving past both George Daws and Simon Baines in 70s’ Roadsports and Mark Godfrey ousting reigning champ Frazer Gibney atop the Historic table. Gibney’s team mate Micklewright has climbed to fourth in HRS as competitors look forward nine weeks to the deciding double-headers at Silverstone in October.
Historic One-Litre F3 was back on the bill, the penultimate double-header of the championship for the Sir Jackie Stewart Trophy, commemorating the Scot’s dominance of the contemporary category’s inaugural season, 1964, with Cooper-BMCs run auspiciously by Ken Tyrrell. These days downdraught-headed Ford MAE [Modified Anglia Engine] power rules the roost as they did for most of the regulations’ seven year reign through 1970.
A 17-car field arrived, showcasing Alexis, Brabham, Chevron, De Sanctis, Lotus, March and Merlyn chassis. An additional Lotus – the immaculate ex-Mo Nunn Astrali Accessories 41 of 1967 joined the line-up for the free public pit walkabout. Proud owner Paul Durban is a racing newcomer who intends to join the fun next season once he gets some mileage under his belt with an expert mentor. We look forward to seeing the combo on track.
Cheshire ace Peter de la Roche (ex-Ken Sedgley Alexis Mk17) snared pole position, his 1:48.917 (89.06mph) best lap 0.906s quicker than Brands Hatch’s second race winner Enrico Spaggiari in the unique Gold Leaf Team Lotus 41X in which its developer John Miles finished second to Australian champion-elect Tim Schenken (Chevron B9) at Oulton in September 1968. Jason Timms (Brabham BT21) also broke the 1m50s barrier in qualifying.
Scot Ross Drybrough (ex-Patrick Champin Merlyn Mk14A), Charlie Martin (ex-Tony Re De Sanctis 69) and Josh Sharp (ex-Sedgley Chevron B17) led the chase, with Steve Seaman (BT21) and Simon Armer (ex-Tom Walkinshaw March 703) in hot pursuit. The Chevrons of Jake Shortland (B9), Steve Nichols (B17) and 2023 champion Samuel Harrison (B7 – the marque’s first single-seater, debuted by Peter Gethin in 1967, fresh from a Speedsport restoration) sat in midfield, interspersed with the Scandinavian-rooted Brabham BT28s of Richard Trott (ex-Erkki Salminen) and Swede Leif Bosson (ex-Sten Gunnarsson), the last competitor inside two minutes.
Although the lap chart might not suggest it, Saturday’s scintillating stanza was the pick of the crop. Spaggiari clawed his way ahead of de la Roche on the opening lap and stayed there, Enrico’s stout defence spurning every probe Peter launched as they ran wheel to wheel throughout. Over 11 laps the widest advantage the Italian held over the timing line was 0.381s, the narrowest 0.101s. Four times inside 0.15s, the average arbiter was 0.208s. Spaggiari’s back-to-back success, following Brands, was his second victory at the Gold Cup for he triumphed in a 2013 HGPCA race in Giorgio Marchi’s F1 Cooper T53.
“That was a proper race, but I just didn’t have the grunt,” said de la Roche, who nonetheless was quickest through all three speed traps in the Lotus’ slipstream. A gallant second secured him the title, rival Drybrough having finished fourth, behind Timms, following a spin at Lodge which dropped him behind Martin in the improving De Sanctis. The top six showcased different chassis marques, Sharp’s Chevron completing the roster. Between the Brabhams of Trott, Milicevic and Seaman, ninth placed Armer’s March added another to the list.
Nichols and Bosson also went the full distance, but Martin Whitlock (Brabham BT21), Wallen (ex-Carlos Pace Lotus 59), Gil Duffy (BT21) and Simon Etherington (ex-Manfred Mohr BT15) finished a lap down. The early Chevrons of Shortland and Harrison fell early, while engine problems stopped Andrew Tart’s ec-John Fenning Merlyn Mk9.
Sunday’s race – from a grid decided by best lap times the previous day – was more straightforward. Dryborough joined champion de la Roche on the front row, with Spaggiari and Timms behind, all having chalked 1m49s onto their slates. The orange MRE Merlyn of Drybrough led the first lap from de la Roche, Timms and Spaggiari, with Trott, Martin, Sharp and Milicevic ganged up behind. De la Roche dived ahead into Old Hall on lap 2 and Timms also deposed Drybrough there three laps later, deciding the podium places.
Spaggiari, Trott, Martin, Sharp, Milicevic and Armer were leading the chase, with Bosson Nichols and Seaman enjoying a personal tussle when Wallen looked to overtake Whitlock on the outside of Knickerbrook on lap 6. The gold Lotus tagged the outside kerb and gyrated, collecting the Brabham lightly as it went. The race was red flagged and results declared at five laps, with Shortland the other retirement. De la Roche – whose 1:49.034 (88.88mph) lap eclipsed his pole time – also won the Julia O’Brien Trophy presented in memory of Speedsport boss Mike’s late wife, mother of its inaugural winner Michael.
Derek Bell Trophy action brought a typical 1970s’ Formule Libre vibe to the parkland circuit, with F5000, F2, FAtlantic and F3 cars to the fore. Graham Ridgway planted his March-BDG 742 – Gabriele Serblin’s period BMW-powered Trivellato F2 entry, subsequently the basis of Jim McGaughay’s Renault 5 Turbo-bodied Donington GT contender – on pole with a fine 1:37.382 (99.51mph) effort in just five laps. His nearest rival, 0.689s adrift, was recent Brands race winner Marc Mercer, who preferred dentist father David’s ex-Bill Brack March-BDA 78B to the newly finished 79B-15 shaken down in Friday morning’s test sessions.
Third on the grid was Ben Stiles (Wella Lola-BDG T360) on 1:40.578, chased by Neil Glover in the quickest of the stock-block V8s, the unique ex-VDS Chevron-Chevrolet B37 in Bruce Allison’s Australian Bill Patterson Ford battledress – and with brakes restored by reverting to the previously efficacious pad material since Brands’ hairy experiment – on 1:41.430. Dan Pyett snared fifth in his wingless Tecno, suppressing Mike and Calvin Bainbridge to sixth and seventh in ex-Joe Sposato F2-spec Chevron B29 and FA Brabham BT35 respectively.
Paul Campfield (ex-Skeeter McKitterick F5000 Chevron B24 with a transponder glitch), Steve Barlow (ex-Neto Jochamowitz F3 Ralt-Alfa Romeo RT3, destined not to start) and Mike Bletsoe-Brown (F2 Chevron B24) completed the top 10, with Robin Lackford (ex-Dolly Indra FA GRD 272) and Mike Coker (ex-Gus Hutchison F5000 Lola T300) close behind. A wild card to consider was Chris Porritt (ex-Divina Galica F2 Chevron-BDG B40), who started from the back having broken a driveshaft in testing, then returned home to Stratford to fetch a spare.
Former Radical SR3 racer Ridgway knew that bolting out of the starting blocks and carrying speed through Old Hall was key to outrunning the F5000s which, should they blast ahead, would be difficult to repass. He did so and drove a beautifully-controlled fault-free Saturday race to keep Mercer and Stiles at bay. Glover gave chase until “the oil temperature went off the scale’ and he backed off, whereupon Campfield, Porritt and Pyett sped past. Now a lap behind, Neil pitted as the chequered flag fluttered, but was classified seventh, ahead of Lackford and Coker, then Bletsoe-Brown. Frank Lyons (F5000 Eagle FA74) and Steve Futter (ex-Manfred Winkelhock Ralt-BDG RT1) also completed 11 laps.
Steve Connor’s Senna-esque FF2000 Van Diemen RF82, Jago Keen’s misfiring early FA Palliser WDB2 and Neil Jenkins’ pristine ex-Beppe Gabbiani F3 Chevron-Toyota B38 also took the chequer. The Bainbridges were both casualties. Calvin touched the outside kerb exiting Cascades which flicked the Brabham across the track into the barrier on Lakeside. Contact sent Mike off at Druids on lap 8, damaging the Chevron’s gearbox.
The 15 survivors formed Sunday’s grid, but two of the top three were out inside a couple of laps. Poor Stiles’ throttle cable snapped exiting Old Hall within seconds of the rolling start, while Ridgway suddenly slowed with a misfire on lap 2 and spluttered back to the pits – fragmenting foam in the March’s fuel tank the probable culprit. Mercer thus found himself with a handy lead over Campfield who topped 142mph through the TSL’s Lakeside speed trap and 121mph cresting Clay Hill as Porritt caught him. Under increasing pressure, Paul fell off at Druids on lap 12, promoting Chris to second and Glover to the podium, with Pyett fourth.
Lackford just staved off the feisty Coker and Bletsoe-Brown to claim fifth. Futter clawed his way past Lyons as the lapped Keen and Connor completed the finishers. Jenkins was the other retirement, a cloud of oil smoke as he braked turned in to the Hislops chicane heralding a conrod puncturing the Toyota 2TG’s block. Neil pulled off immediately and helped the marshals on the inside of Knickerbrook push the car out of harm’s way.
The Guards Trophy race celebrated 60 Years of Chevron Cars at the circuit where – alongside Aintree in nearby Liverpool – genial marque founder Derek Bennett shook down GT cars in the later 1960s. Ironically, despite populating almost half of the 21-car grid, Chevron representatives were outgunned in both qualifying and Saturday’s 50 minute race by Ben Tusting in the family Lenham P69 Spider.
Despite ongoing gearbox maladies, following Brands Hatch’s retirement, Tusting annexed pole position with a 1:47.190 (90.41mph) shot, lapping 1.697s swifter than local man Steve Nuttall in his Chevron B8, a former road car converted to race spec for the late Andrew Hill. The period B8s of Westie and Sam Mitchell (ex-Nikolaus Killenberg) and Ted Pearson/Callum Grant (ex-David Purley) and B16 of Dans Eagling and Pickett filled the next three places, the latter slowed by a mysterious ignition timing issue.
Scots Dan Balfour (ex-Gary Dunkerley/Nick Fleming B8) and Russell and Elliot Paterson (ex-George Douglas Ginetta-BMW G16) – a sister to James Dodd’s 2012 winner, the last combo to defeat the Chevrons at Oulton – followed on, ahead of Brands winner Andrew Hibberd’s early class-leading Lotus 23B. Hugh and Mark Colman’s ex-David Good B8, Andrew Wareing/Adam Sykes’ Nickey Chevrolet McLaren M1A completed the top 10. The Chevrons of Nick Thompson/Shaun McClurg (ex-Alan Harvey/Chris Skeaping B6) and Joel Hopwood (B8) shadowed the big banger.
First of the GTs was Alistair Dyson’s Jaguar E-type on 1:58.856 – but destined not to start – ahead of Katsu Kubota’s Swedish historied Lotus Elan 26R, shared with Andy Middlehurst. Previous HSCC Classic F3 and Classic Formula Ford champion Benn Tilley added another string to his bow meanwhile, co-driving Chris Thompson’s MGB.
Nuttall reacted rapidly at the start lights, tearing round the outside of Rob Tusting at Old Hall to lead by almost three seconds at the end of the opening circuit. Sam Mitchell deposed the silver Lenham next time round and, setting a couple of fastest laps, went after Nuttall. The gunmetal Chevron slowed and retired after seven laps, however, promoting Mitchell, but chaser Tusting was able to dive into the pits as the window opened for his son to take over. Balfour, Pearson and Elliot Paterson thus took up the chase. The Ginetta driver went second when Ted pitted, a lap before a safety car was deployed with Nick Thompson’s pale blue Chevron in the gravel at Druids.
The five lap caution enabled everybody else to make their stops, but advantaged Tusting Jr who, from the back of the queue found himself ahead of Balfour, Grant and Westie Mitchell. Nobody could catch Ben, but Grant outbraked Balfour into Old Hall for second on the penultimate lap. Balfour, Eagling – shining in the B16 which Pickett had spun luridly but harmlessly at Hislops early on – and division winner Hibberd with Mitchell in tow rounded out the top six.
The Colmans, Hopwood and Hibberd’s Lotus 23 rival Ashley Hudson chased them in, ahead of Sykes who finished the deep-throated McLaren-Chevrolet after owner Wareing’s solid opening shot. The Patersons and the Hamiltons – dad Peter and lad Sam in their Lenham – continued the family trend, finishing on the lead lap. Charles Cook (Merlyn Mk4) was 13th, ahead of GT winners Kubota/Middlehurst who headed Chris Reece and Tilley/Thompson. Welcome visitors Francois Derossi/Christoph Widmer (Elva-BMW Mk7S) and Colin Elstrop/David Beatty (B8) also covered 23 laps.
The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association carried the Gold Cup mantle this year. Appropriately, given the majestic BRM ‘75’ celebrations, Andy Willis claimed the prize at the wheel of the 2.5-litre four cylinder P48#5 which Graham Hill drove to fifth place on its race debut in 1960’s contemporary F1 event here.
Willis qualified third, within half a second of poleman Tom Waterfield (in Tim Ross’ ex-Roy Salvadori Yeoman Credit 2.5 Cooper-Climax T53) and 0.095s from Sam Wilson in the ex-Dave Charlton South African F1 spec Lotus 20/22 with 1500cc Ford twin-cam power. Germany’s Rudi Friedrichs – last year’s winner exercising Jack Brabham’s 1960 World Championship-winning 2.5 Cooper-Climax T53 with customary panache – gridded fourth.
Wilson won Saturday’s leg by six seconds from Friedrichs, with Willis a further 16 seconds adrift in the first BRM. Peter Horsman (ex-Tony Shelly 2.5 Lotus-Climax 18/21), James Denty (1.5 Lotus-Climax 21) and Philip Buhofer (1.5 BRM P261 V8) were next back, ahead of Tom Dark (T51) in a seven-strong train of Coopers. Alas hard-charger Waterfield retired mid-race when its engine ran a bearing, which trailered the car for the balance of the event.
Wilson retired smokily at Island on the third lap of Sunday’s decider, leaving Friedrichs odds-on favourite to win it. But a lap later he too was out when a throttle linkage snapped, leaving h FisPF engine breathing through just one twin-choke carburettor. Rudi pulled off immediately at the foot of Cascades and watched Willis motor on unchallenged in the BRM. Horsman and Dark joined Andy on the podium, with the T53s of Geoff Underwood and Rod Jolley fourth and fifth. Stopped by a puncture in qualifying, Mark Daniell finished a spirited sixth, top of his class, in his ex-Alec Mildren two-litre Cooper T43.
As at Brands Hatch a fortnight earlier, nobody threatened the combo of Callum Grant and John Sykes’ ex-Denis Welch Merlyn Mk5/7 in the Jim Clark Cup Historic Formula Junior races. On pole by two and a half seconds in Friday’s qualifying session, the Boltonian screamed clear in Saturday and Sunday’s races. Richard Wilson and past master Jon Milicevic landed a second and a third apiece in their Brabham BT6s, chased by Philip Buhofer (Lotus 27) in the opener.
Reigning triple champion Nic Carlton-Smith topped the drum-braked class both days in his distinctive Lotus 22. With his Lotus 18’s engine rebuilt since its debut at Thruxton, Chris Porritt also scored a double. Forty five years after he finished third in Oulton Park’s 1980 Gold Cup feature, an Aurora British F1 championship round, in the unique Surtees TS20+, the evergreen Ray Mallock was uncatchable among the front-engined brigade in the U2 Mk2. brainchild of his late father Arthur. Condor S2 pilots Alex Morton and Adrian Russell finished closest.
Following his Thruxton hat-trick, sometime Lola T70 racer Gary Culver’s Superformance Ferrari Club Classic Series supremacy continued with another pair of victories in his well-sorted 328 GTB. Saturday’s Chris Amon Trophy bout – named for the Kiwi, runner-up to Jackie Stewart in the 1968 Formula 1 Gold Cup for the Scuderia – was foreshortened when Philip Connell, running a strong fifth, spun his 355 Challenge exiting Cascades and sideswiped the barrier at Lakeside. Tristan Simpson and Tim Mogridge chased Culver home in similar cars.
Colin Sowter, who qualified his intriguing F355 Spider a promising second, fluffed Saturday’s start but salvaged fifth behind Wayne Marrs. From P5, Sowter grabbed third on the first plunge through Cascades on Sunday, but his race was over by Island where he skated off to avoid a rival who braked earlier than anticipated. Accompanied by belches of flame from his modified F355’s twin exhausts, Marrs progressed to second, giving Culver a run for his money. Simpson, Mogridge and Chris Butler (328 GTB) were next home.
Remembering Doncaster rover Tony Sugden – remembered at Oulton for his championship-winning exploits in a fire-breathing Skoda-Cosworth turbocar in the 1980s – the CSCC Special Saloon & Modsports races were won by his old adversary Simon Allaway in his Lotus Esprit-Chevrolet V2. The bold Tom Carey (Honda CRX-BDG) made Allaway work hard before sheer grunt told. Tim Bates’ gorgeous Brumos-tribute Porsche 911 RS and Rod Birley, reunited with the Honda Prelude-Cosworth turbo he last raced here in 1994, led both pursuits.
The HRDC’s Saturday races saw victories for Michael Cullen and Roy Alderslade in Ford Cortina Lotuses. Transmission failure thwarted recent HSCC Historic Formula Ford convert Alderslade while harassing Cullen in the Jack Sears Trophy bout, leaving well-matched father and son Justin and Oliver Law to chase the Irishman home. Cullen’s son Victor was first past the post in Dunlop Allstars, but a jump start penalty advantaged Alderslade. HSCC’s racing vet Ben Brain won the Classic Alfa section in his two-litre GTV. Sunday’s Gerry Marshall Trophy fell to Adam Brindle (Rover SDI), who went ahead of Alex Taylor (Mazda RX7) at the mandatory pitstops. When the raucous rotary rocket wilted, Peter Fisk (Chevrolet Camaro Z28) resisted a resurgent Paul Martin (Ford Capri 3.0S) for second. Longtime HSCC Sunbeam Tiger tamer Neil Merry prevailed in a Capri duel with Reece Cannell for fourth.
Sunday’s Vintage Sports-Car Club’s Egerton Cup races rewarded the Beebee family, father Robert and son Josh, in their Frazer Nash TT Replica. Senior was led initially by octogenarian Christopher Mann in his rasping straight-eight Alfa Romeo Monza who pipped young Rufus Flann (FN Super Sports) to second. Junior and Archie Waterfield (FN SS) traded the lead spectacularly in the event’s finale before Waterfield’s clutch failed. The race was red-flagged by an incident on the exit of the cambered Shell Oils hairpin triggered when James Painter spun the supercharged MG Kayne Special. Finley Hope-Cameron swerved his Morgan three-wheeler into the Recticel barrier to avoid contact, but the similarly mounted Sue Darbyshire could not miss the stationary MG. Marshals and medics handled the situation superbly and, with the drivers uninjured, the meeting concluded a few minutes before the curfew.
Report: Marcus Pye
Images: Motorsport Classics Media
