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Historic Sports Car Club

HSCC 60th Summer Historic Weekend – Castle Combe

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Celebrating the organisation’s diamond jubilee, the Historic Sports Car Club (HSCC) would return to Castle Combe for a mid summer weekend of racing; the track where it all began some 60 years ago with the mid May running of the Griffiths Formula race.

Leading directly to the creation of the HSCC, The Griffiths Formula race had been organised to encourage 50s Sports Cars to continue racing and fittingly an excellent grid of these machines had been gathered for the headline event of the weekend, the 50 minute Griffiths Haig Trophy.

Indeed, not one but three fabulously turned out D Type Jaguars would head a high quality 24 car field into Folly on lap 1 with Christian Albrecht soon getting the better of pole sitter Gary Pearson to lead for the majority of the opening stint in the very same Jaguar D Type that claimed Griffiths Formula Race victory all those years ago!

However, Gary Pearson would deliver an excellent middle part of the race and find himself well clear of Kyle Tilley (taking over from Albrecht) once the pit stops had unwound; the long time Jaguar associate immaculate in traffic throughout the closing stages to claim a well earned 33 second victory.

Perhaps putting in drive of the day, David Alexander would spoil a potential big cat strangle hold of the podium positions with an fine drive to third. Managing to stay on the lead lap throughout the Lotus Elite man would quickly find a way past the 3rd D Type of Ben Eastick on lap 1 and never look back, comfortably defeating much more powerful machinery in the process.

Open wheel racing from the past would also feature heavily on day 1 of the meet with a special grid celebrating the 40th anniversary of Classic F3 coinciding with Saturday’s excellent free to the general public lunch time grid walk; thus providing a fabulous opportunity to get up close an personal with these fabulous cars from the 70s and 80s.

Chasing the Marcus Pye Trophy, so named after the popular journalist’s heavy involvement in the creation of Classic F3 back in 1986, Chris Hodgen would line up on pole (Chevron B38) with the March’s of James Hadfield and Ben Tilley second and third respectively. But, despite setting the pace in qualifying and indeed the early stages, Hodgen would soon start to suffer with what appeared to be a loose rear wing allowing Tilley to slip into the lead at Quarry on lap 6. Tilley had earlier picked off Hadfield (March 743) and despite the Leicestershire man also getting past Hodgen the victory never really looked in doubt as Tilley put in a brilliant debut drive aboard the March 803B.

Earlier Ben Simms starred in the Historic Formula Ford race with the Jomo JMR 7 pilot just coming out on top of a thrilling battle with Oliver Chapman and Robert Wainwright. Plagued by an underpower cylinder following a quick rebuild after Brands Hatch Simms would frequently lose position on the straights. Inventive lines and massive commitment would however give the man from Melton Mowbray the edge, taking victory by a mere 0.368 seconds in what turned out to be a red flag shortened encounter.

If possible the Classic Formula Ford race for slightly newer machinery was even more entertaining as Tom Gadd (Van Diemen RF81) showed why he tops the championship points table with an excellent drive to claim victory. Only 4th on the grid, the Lincoln man would take a back seat as Oliver Chapman and Cal Bennett battled for the lead early on. This proved exactly the right tactic however as the lead tussle would allow Gadd to first get the run on Chapman and then find a way past Bennett one lap later. In fact Chapman and Bennett would go at it hammer and tongs for the majority of the race with Bennett finally getting the better of Chapman before the latter suffered a late spin allowing a great drive by Grace Parkington to be rewarded with a debut podium.

2025 champion Peter De La Roche would once again prove to be the man to beat in Saturday’s Historic 1 litre Formula 3 encounter. Starting on pole the Alexis MK17 man was never really troubled as Jeremy Timms got the better of the inter cousin battle to claim second in his Chevron B15 whilst Jason Timms rounded out the podium positions aboard his Brabham BT21.

Ben Glasswell’s undefeated start to the Historic Formula Ford 2000 championship would come to a dramatic end with the 2025 championship runner up the cause of a race shortening red flag. Already up against it following the one off appearance of pole sitter Jordan Harrison (Lola T580) and a slow start, the Suffolk man was inching closer to the long time leader before perhaps pushing too hard and ending the day in the Gooch’s TECPRO. Harrison was however in a league of his own and would go on to claim victory by more than 11 seconds from the Reynard SF79 of Andrew Storer with the similar machine of Greg Robertson rounding out the podium positions.

Elsewhere Luke Cooper and Tom Hawkins would take a Castle Combe Racing Club FF1600 victory apiece. This after Cooper looked to be on for double victory after slipping past Hawkins in race 2 only to be forced into retirement shortly after. Meanwhile Dave Scaramanga (Ferrari 488) and Sacha Kakad would each take a CCRC Avon Tuning GT Championship victory.

Sunday’s HSCC action would see repeat victories for Jordan Harrison, Ben Simms, Ben Tilley and Peter De La Roche whilst Cal Bennett would buck the trend to claim Classic Formula Ford victory aboard his Van Diemen RF80, just defeating series leader Gadd by the narrowest of margins. Meanwhile Mark Godfrey (Lotus 7) and John Shaw (Morgan Plus 8) would share the Road Sports honours as Elliot Paterson topped a relatively poor Guards Trophy turnout aboard his Ginetta G16.

After a quite brilliant celebratory weekend in Wiltshire attention now turns to the Oulton Park Gold Cup, which, now back in it’s traditional August bank holiday weekend slot, looks set to be a cracker.

FULL RESULTS

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Boultbee-Brooks Bags Victory Double at Castle Combe Classic

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Thankfully, the Castle Combe Autumn Classic did not clash with the Trackrod Rally in 2017 and this was all the incentive I needed to make a first visit to the relatively little used Wiltshire Circuit.  Now in it’s sixth year the 2017 running of the Autumn Classic included 7 excellent races, headlined in many respects by the wonderfully diverse field of machinery taking part in the 1 hour long GT & Sports Car cup; 39 cars doing battle across many different classes around the 1.85 mile circuit a mouth watering prospect if ever there was one!

After a soaking wet morning, the clouds began to lift as midday approached; the damp track proving quite a challenge for the Formula Vintage Pre War Sports Car runners in the first race of the day.  Indeed, the safety car was required as early as lap 2 after Trevor Swete just failed in his attempts to keep his Invicta out of the Camp Corner tyre barrier.

Once the track returned to green however, there was really only going to be one winner; Patrick Blakeney-Edwards putting on a fantastic sideways display as he headed home a Frazer Nash Super Sports 1-2.  Mark Gillies in his Aston Martin had managed to jump both Blakeney-Edwards and the second Frazer Nash of Edward Williams at the re-start (illegally as it turned out) but was back in third by the end of the lap, such was the pace of the eventual front two.  Tim Kneller would in the end round out the podium positions in his Riley TT Sprite following a 30 second penalty for Gillies’ re-start infringement.

After a lengthy break for tyre wall repairs at Camp corner, the second race of the day for the 500cc F3 cars would commence in fully dry conditions.  And whilst Sir John Chisholm had been mighty in the wet to claim pole position he quickly fell behind the leading machines at the race start.  In fact it would be the 2 Starides of Xavier Kingsland and Darrell Woods who would break away from the field; Woods eventually passing Kingsland at Tower on lap 3 before going on to record a comfortable 10 second victory.  Stuart Wright in his Cooper MK11 would round out the podium positions.

Qualifying in very wet conditions had produced a topsy turvy Pre-66 Jaguar grid with Kevin Zwolinski in his XK140 finding himself sharing the front row of the grid with the Jaguar MK2 of Peter Dorlin.  It wasn’t long before the E-types rose to the fore during the race however as Grant Williams lead from Harry Wyndham by the end of lap 2.

In fact Wyndham, after starting on the fifth row of the grid, would find himself in the lead of the race by the end of lap 5 and whilst not able to break away from his local rival, a great performance from Wyndham saw him maintain the lead right up until a red-flag brought the event to a slightly premature end on lap 18.  Chris Milner in another E-type rounded out the podium positions whilst Richard Butterfield claimed the Saloon class win, in his Jaguar MK2, with fifth position overall.

In the John Gross Memorial Race for Aston Martins, Steve Boultbee-Brooks and Martyn Corfield would quickly break away from the rest of the field, with Boultbee-Brooks in his glorious DB3s just having the edge over Corfield’s Frazer Nash as he went on to record a relatively comfortable 5 second victory.  The front two really were in a class of their own however with Chris Woodgate in his DB MK3 almost a lap in arrears as he rounded out the podium positions.

The Formula Junior machines were in their element around the fast Wiltshire circuit and, having won for the first time at Oulton, Benn Tilley would again find himself standing on the top step of the podium.  Following an early safety car, Westie Mitchell in his De Tomaso, had looked a strong candidate for victory as he quickly passed Peter De La Roche and was on the tail on the leader.  A spin at the far end of the circuit put pay to Mitchell’s challenge however leaving Tilley to wrap up another victory in his Lotus 22; 3 seconds to the good of pole sitter Peter De La Roche in the BMC MK2 with Richard Smeeton in his Wainer 63 completing the podium.

Making it’s debut at the Autumn Classic, the 1 hour long, GT & Sports Car Cup centrepiece would be the penultimate race on a busy schedule and again the morning rain produced a somewhat unconventional grid.  Indeed earlier in the day Nigel Greensall had produced a stunning lap to place the GT3 spec E-type shared with Chris Milner on pole position but as anticipated Milner could not keep the higher specification cars behind on a dry track.  Instead it was Philip Walker in his Lotus 15 who lead the early running from 4th row starters Mark Williams in a Cobra and Ben Adams in his Lola MK1.

But after initially breaking away, Walker soon had the chasing two on his tail and sure enough on lap 7 both Williams and Adams had snook by.  Williams’ lead was short lived however as a mix up with a back marker would drop the Cobra pilot back to fourth; thus leaving Ben Adams to develop a reasonable lead before his pitstop.

Tackling the event on his own, Adams would find himself disadvantaged in pitlane (having to endure a 1 minute minimum stop) and this allowed Miles Griffiths, taking over the Lotus 15, to emerge in the lead as the race entered the second half.  In fact, the Chris Wilson/Nigel Williams Cobra had also managed to jump Adams in the stops but Adams’ superior pace soon saw him back in second.  There was absolutely nothing the Lola pilot could do about Griffiths though; the Lotus 15 man now setting the track alight as he and Walker went on to record a very comfortable 53 second victory.  Even without the pitstop disparity, Adams would have struggled to match the pace of Griffiths; second place and top spot in SP1 therefore a great result for the little Lola.

Elsewhere, Mark Williams was able to reel in the ailing Wilson/Williams Cobra to claim GT4 honours with third position overall whilst pole sitter Greensall just managed to hold off a late challenge from Patrick Blakeney-Edwards to claim an excellent fourth and top spot in GT3 for he and Milner.  Malcolm Paul and Rick Bourne meanwhile came out on top of the TVR Grantura battle to claim GT2 top spot with 16th position overall.

In the final event of the day, Steve Boultbee-Brooks would again take his Aston Martin DB3s to victory in the FISCAR Historic Intermarque race.  The win was a little less clear cut on this occasion however as the Aston Pilot was required to fend off not 1 but two very rapid Lotus Elite’s in order to claim top spot.

Indeed the Barry Dye / Richard Fores driven Lotus even had a spell at the front before slowing in the second half of the race.  And despite Boultbee-Brooks emerging from his stop with a healthy lead, he would find the margin evaporate over the remaining laps as Robin Ellis, in the second Elite, closed the gap to just over 3 seconds by the time the chequered flag was waved.  There was no stopping Boultbee-Brooks on the day though; 2 pole positions, 2 fastest laps and 2 victories from the 2 events entered represented a great day in the office!

There were many things to enjoy about my first visit to Castle Combe but what stood out the most was the sheer simplicity of the venue; the uncomplicated nature of the track (essentially just three corners with very limited run-off) creating some of the best racing witnessed all year, viewed from the excellent circuit wide spectator bankings.  It felt like a throw back to my childhood, even more so when the winners were taken on a lap of honour by the open top bus; something which I do not remember seeing in a long time!   I have a feeling this will not have been my final visit to the Wiltshire Circuit.

FULL RESULTS

All images © Paul Commons (Paul Commons Motorsport Photography)

 

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Smith Stars at Oulton’s Stellar Gold Cup

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Already an excellent event, the Oulton Park Gold Cup stepped up yet another gear in 2017 with the addition of both the Historic Touring Car Challenge and FIA Historic F2 International Series.  And, when considering the ultra competitive HSCC Historic Formula Ford and Pre-66 Touring Car championship events featured heavily on the Bank Holiday Monday undercard, the more than respectable crowd were in for a real treat.

The HSCC organised Historic F2 championship appears to have suffered very little from the emergence of Peter Auto’s rival series in 2017 with some 25 cars taking to the Cheshire track over the weekend.  And whilst Darwin Smith dominated proceedings in race 1 to claim victory by 17 seconds, he would have his work cut out in race 2 as the event quickly turned into a two horse race.

Donington winner, Richard Evans is regularly a front runner in this category and on this occasion refused to let the Northern Irishman out of his sights as the two bright yellow machines pulled away from the pack.  But, despite Evans’ best efforts he never really got close enough to challenge; the series returnee, in his formidable March 722, appearing unbeatable around the picturesque parkland circuit as he went on to record his second victory in as many days.  The Gold Cup, awarded to the aggregate winner of the 2 F2 races, just reward for Smith’s utterly brilliant drive.

The Motor Racing Legends organised Historic Touring Car Challenge was a very welcome addition to the Bank Holiday Monday schedule where, for a trial period commencing with the Gold Cup, Group A RS500s have been allowed to join the party.  And whilst Chris Ward claimed pole position for the 50 minute race with a late charge in the JD Classics Rover Vitesse (shared with Steve Soper), it was the Mark Wright piloted RS500 which leapt into an early lead; his pace over the opening laps as he pulled away from Ric Wood’s Capri and the pole sitting Rover possibly the reason why these machines had previously been off the menu!

Having dominated earlier in the season at Donington Park, Soper was not quite able to deliver the same level of performane at Oulton.  Ward on the other hand is rapid everywhere and an early stop to get the ex Silverstone Chief Driving Instructor behind the wheel would pay dividends as Ward found himself in the lead of the race as the mandatory pitstops unwound.

Had it not been for fuel starvation issues, Dave Coyne, in the RS500 started by Wright, may well have challenged for victory.  However the intermittent problem would play havoc throughout the second half of the race with the 1990 Formula Ford Festival winner doing well to salvage fourth 4th with a last lap charge.

As it was, despite suffering a braking issue, Ward was able to take a comfortable victory in the end, with the Capri of Ric Wood and the late stopping M3 E30 of Mark Smith rounding out the podium positions.  This had been a classy drive by the JD Classics man and Soper was the first to acknowledge that Ward was largely to thank for their top step of the podium appearance.

This wasn’t the only touring car action of the day however with the schedule also including 2 historic touring car races for the pre-66 machines as well as a second encounter for the end of millennium Super Tourers.

The Honda Accord is often the car to beat in the HSCC run Super Touring Car Trophy and the second race at Oulton provided no surprise in this respect; Stewart Whyte heading a 1-2 for the Japanese brand to register his second victory of the weekend.  Meanwhile, Gianfranco Brancatelli claimed 6th position overall to take class A honours in the very same RS500 he drove to Spa 24 hour victory in 1989.

Qualifying for the Pre-66 machines saw Ford Falcon pilot, Jack Drury, require just 4 laps to take pole position by a massive 1.4 seconds.  It was to no avail however as a broken oil pump, which cut short his qualifying session, also caused him to miss race 1 whilst the engine was changed!  This left the door open for the smaller engined marques to flourish with James Clarke leading home Richard Belcher to complete a Ford Cortina 1-2 and Jonathan Lewis in his Mini Cooper S registering an excellent third.

The Falcon was fixed for race 2 however and despite having to start from the back of the grid, Drury was in the lead of the race before the end of lap 4; his victory by more than 13 seconds underlining his total dominance of the category on the day.  With such a performance gap, a double race victory should have been a formality and the ex BMW driver will hope his championship push is not impacted by the unfortunate reliability issues experienced in qualifying.

As has often been the case in 2017 a healthy grid of Formula Ford machinery had been gathered for the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting and it was no surprise to find Richard Tarling and Callum Grant again battling it out for victory.  But whilst overtaking was plentiful at Croft, it was not so easy at Oulton and try as Grant might he could not find a way passed the Janum T2 of Tarling in either race; Tarling again showing his defensive skills to record a double victory despite suffering a broken exhaust in the days first encounter. And whilst Tarling’s two strong results kept him well in the title frame, a distinctly under the weather Grant (2016 champion) all but threw in the towel following another strong points haul for series leader Michael O’Brien.

Benn Tilley put in 2 strong Formula Ford performances to claim creditable 6th and 7th placed finishes but it was the Formula Junior category where the youngster truly excelled; the Lotus 22 pilot going on to record his first and second overall victories in the Silverline backed series as John Fyda and Peter De La Roche, on both occasions, rounded out the podium positions.

In the Second Derek Bell Trophy race of the weekend, a drive train problem with his March 79B denied Andrew Smith the chance of a double win.  Instead, Neil Glover powered his F5000 Chevron B37 to victory as the 2 litre F2 Chevron B27 of Mike Bletsoe-Brown and the March 712 of James King, fresh from his brilliant F2 performance to claim class A honours, rounded out the podium positions.  Behind, Julian Stokes came out on top of the Techno F2 battle to claim Classic Racing Car victory with race 1 winner, Daniel Pyett unfortunately ending the day in the Old Hall barriers.

And last but not least, there looked to be a huge shock on the cards in the Classic Clubmans race as John Harrison lead much of the early running.  Mark Charteris is very rarely beaten in this category however and would not be denied on this occasion either; the Watford man making the crucial pass at Cascades on lap 8 before going on to record a 3.6 second victory.

Was there a better way to spend August Bank Holiday Monday?  I think not.  Having absolutely loved the Gold Cup meeting last year I wasn’t sure it could be bettered.  I was wrong.  Witnessing historic F2 machinery lapping Oulton in sub 1.36 times is something else, as was the sound of many a V8 at full chat in the Historic Touring Car Challenge.  More of the same next year please!

FULL RESULTS

All images © Paul Commons (Paul Commons Motorsport Photography)