Tag Archives: Guards Trophy

Historic Sports Car Club

HSCC – Donington Park – June 2025

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Dan Pickett and Dan Eagling land thrilling Guards Trophy victory in their Chevron B16 whilst Sam Mitchell and Jordan Harrison claim respective double Historic and Classic Formula Ford victories and Graham Fennymore and Ben Glasswell share Formula Ford 2000 spoils at the HSCC Summer 2025 Donington Park meeting.

Headlining day 2 of the meeting were the Pre 72 GT and Pre 70 Sports Prototypes of the Guards Trophy which although a little light on numbers (Possibly impacted by running on the same weekend as the Thruxton Retro) saw an eclectic starting grid that was full to the brim with quality.

Indeed just 14 cars would head into Redgate on lap 1 of the scheduled 50 minute pitstop race headed by Murray Shepherd after a storming start from 6th on the grid in his GT40! A trip through the Old Hairpin gravel trap for the Ford man would however leave Andrew Hibberd to lead the early running in his Lotus 23B with the Lenham P69 Spider of Rob Tusting and Chevron B16 of Dan Pickett in hot pursuit.

The race action would really heat up on the opening of the pit window 15 minutes in however as Pickett and Tusting headed to pitlane at the first opportunity to allow their quicker co-pilots the largest possible amount of seat time. And having entered the pits nose to tail the two machines would exit almost alongside with Ben Tusting just keeping the Lenham in front of the now Dan Eagling driven Chevron.  

Meanwhile Murray Shepherd was clearly getting to grips with the Stephenson family Ford GT40 and was making his way back towards the front.  In fact Shepherd was past Hibberd and back in the lead of the race as the pit window drew to a close. But, having been lapping much quicker through the middle part of the race, it would be Tusting and Eagling that would hold a large lead as the pitstops unwound, with absolutely nothing to separate the very rapid duo.  

Following an excellent first half of the race, Rob and Ben Tusting’s race would soon start to fall apart though as Eagling eventually found a way past Ben Tusting’s defences on lap 26 just as the Lenham P69 was also hit with a time penalty for track limits. And things would get worse still as, possibly unaware of his time penalty and with just a couple of laps remaining, Tusting junior would mis-judge his braking at the Roberts chicane and collide with the back of Eagling’s Chevron, forcing the P69 Spider into instant retirement.

Thankfully Eagling escaped relatively unscathed and was able to bring the stunning Chevron B16 home to claim a hard fought and well deserved victory.  Hibberd meanwhile would cross the line second in his Lotus 23B after a consistent drive whilst Chris and Freddie Lillingston-Price would top the Chevron B6/8 runners to round out the podium positions in their B8 as the Ford GT40 of Henry Stephenson dropped back after the stops.

As always there was single seater action aplenty and the second Historic Formula Ford race of the weekend would prove to be a cracker as Sam Mitchell aboard his Merlyn MK20 claimed a second victory in as many days. 

It was far from plain sailing for the Merlyn man however as fellow front row starter Ben Simms made a great start and held a relatively comfortable lead at one point before his Jomo JMR 7 developed a misfire in the closing stages.  This allowed Mitchell, who had dropped back to third early on, to close in on the erstwhile leader and snatch victory on the penultimate lap.  Frenchman Gislain Genecand meanwhile was well in the lead battle throughout and came home a very close third, in turn taking top spot in the over 50s class in his Crossle 16F.

Sunday’s Classic Formula Ford encounter (for Pre 82 machinery) would prove a little more straightforward as Jordan Harrison dominated proceedings aboard his Lola T540E to claim his second victory of the weekend.  The battle for the remaining podium positions was less clear cut however as Tom Gadd, Rick Morris and Roy Alderslade fought it out with Gadd, aboard his Van Diemen RF81, eventually claiming second and Roy Alderslade (Merlyn MK20) completing the podium as Morris dropped back before being forced into retirement.    

Rainfall and delays would push the Formula Ford 2000 race back to after lunch where on a drying track Graham Fennymore looked to be heading for a second victory of the weekend before being the cause of a red flag as a result of his Reynard SF81 expiring on the exit of Redgate.  This resulted in a re-grid for a final 5 minute blast that saw Ben Glasswell (Reynard SF77) claim a fine victory having originally lined up 9th!  Behind, Adrian Reynard (the man responsible for designing ¾ of the grid) would claim an excellent second after a delightful last lap pass at Redgate whilst Paul Allen aboard his Delta T78 would have to make do with third.

The combined 70s and Historic Roadsport races produced the largest grids of the weekend and it would be John Williams aboard his Porsche 911 SC who would top a fine field of 30 plus 60s and 70s machinery during Sunday morning qualifying. The pole sitter largely had things his own way in race 1 too as Williams went on to claim a relatively comfortable victory.

Race 2 would be a different story altogether though as Mark Godfrey, aboard his Lotus 7, seemed to find pace as the day progressed and, along with Race 1 winner Williams, put on a great show in race 2. Indeed the duo would swap positions on multiple occasions before the Lotus 7 man went on to claim a 2.6 second victory to go with his earlier podium. Meanwhile George Daws (Datsun 240z) looked to be heading for a double podium after claiming the race 1 runner up spot only to be denied by a late charge from Anthony Ross aboard his TVR 3000M.

Earlier in the day Jack Berry claimed a second Alfa Romeo and Italian Intermarque victory of the weekend after an action packed, red flag shortened, race 2. Starting third Jamie Thwaites claimed victory on the road in his Alfa Romeo Giuilietta after passing the MiTo 404 of Berry mid way through the event; but, after being hit with 15 seconds of time penalties for multiple track limit violations would find himself back behind the race 1 winner on the final time sheets. Barry McMahon meanwhile would claim an excellent third in his Alfa Romeo Giulia after starting from the back row of the grid.

Elsewhere, Jas Sapra and Paul Cook would share BMW Car Club Racing Championship victories whilst disappointingly the Griffiths Haig Trophy races turned into more of a demonstration as just 4 cars made the start of both races! A real shame as the 4 cars that did enter were of the highest quality and included Graham Moss’ original Lister Jaguar Knobbly. But with FISCAR included on the Thruxton Retro schedule numbers were always going to be a problem.

Numbers hopefully won’t be a problem for the inaugural running of the Equipe 6 hours at the Leicestershire circuit in just under 1 weeks time. What a prospect, would wall to wall sunshine be too much to ask? I CAN-NOT WAIT!

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

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Cracking Racing at Croft Nostalgia

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Although racing is Croft’s primary motorsport discipline,  I had previously only managed to witness Rallying and Rally-Cross at the North Yorkshire venue.  Racing at Croft had long been on my agenda though and the opening day of the Croft Nostalgia Festival would fit nicely into my 2017 plans.  Now in it’s 8th year this event definitely has more of a festival feel than other fixtures on the HSCC calendar, with many a military, aerospace and general motoring related display on offer to compliment the usual array of car clubs.  Not to mention the large groups of people attending in period dress.

It is the on track action that essentially drew me in however and in particular the 60’s Sports Prototypes and GT machinery taking part in the 40 minute Guards Trophy race.  Qualifying had seen 2 Chevron B8s in the hands of Phillip Nelson and Charles Allison top the time sheets and the race for outright victory would soon develop into a great battle between the front row starters.

Running second in the early stages, Allison is already a double Guards Trophy winner in 2017 and by lap 4 he was again at the head of the field.  Any thoughts he had of disappearing into the distance were soon dispelled however as the Chichester man could not break away.  Nelson was well on the pace at Croft and the pole sitter remarkably re-took the lead with an excellent move down the inside at Clervoux on lap 8.  But much like Allison earlier, Nelson was unable to shake off his rival; Allison remaining in his wheel tracks before making his mandatory pitstop on lap 14.

And it would be this early pitstop that proved decisive as Nelson emerged from pit lane 2 laps later in second position.  A slow lap 21 was then the final blow for the chasing Chevron pilot, thus gifting Allison the cushion he required to, in the end, take a comfortable third victory of the season.

The GT battle also proved highly competitive, however, no one could quite match the pace of Mike Gardiner and Dan Cox in the TVR Griffith.  Indeed, had it not been for Ben Mitchell’s excellent recovery drive in the Elva MK7S, an overall podium may well have been on the cards.

The Historic Formula Ford action has been brilliant in it’s 50th anniversary year and that trend most definitely followed suit at Croft.  In the earlier qualifying race, Max Bartell had taken victory from Sam Mitchell, rewarding them with a respective 7th and 8th on the championship race grid.  However, neither were a match for Callum Grant, Michael O’Brien and Richard Tarling as the trio headed by pole sitter and 2016 champion Grant edged away from the field.  Grant would in fact maintain top spot for much of the early running before O’Brien eventually managed to sneak passed at Tower on lap 5.  But, as is the nature of Formula Ford racing, O’Brien would not maintain the lead for long; with he and Grant appearing to take it in turns to top the time sheets over the coming laps.

Meanwhile, Tarling appeared happy to sit in third.  Up until lap 9 that is when he stole 2nd from O’Brien; a move which put the Henley on Thames driver in pole position for victory when Grant was forced off track at Sunny-in following an altercation with a back marker.  And having survived the chaos, Richard Tarling now found himself in the lead of the race with just over 1 lap to run; the Janum T2 pilot defending well to record a quite brilliant second victory of the season from the chasing Merlyn of Michael O’Brien.

A wide variety of machinery had turned out for the Historic Touring Car race where the Ford Cortina proved to be the car to beat.  Surprisingly however it was the Class B, out of period, 2 litre machine of Richard Belcher who took pole position from the more conventional class C Lotus Cortina of James Clarke.  And once Clarke was forced into retirement on lap 3, there was only ever going to be one winner as neither the Mustang of Peter Halford or the Falcon of Jack Drury had the pace to challenge.  And so whilst Belcher went on to record the most unlikely of victories, the championship battle roared on behind.  It would however be Halford who grabbed the all important maximum class K1 points with Drury struggling with setup at the North Yorkshire venue.

Towcester man Jon Milicevic is usually the man to beat in Historic F3 and whilst he would eventually take the category top spot with 4th overall the final result masks the story of the race.  In fact Milicevic, in his Brabham BT21B, was involved in an almighty battle with the Merlyn MK14A of Jonathon Hughes in the early stages; the pair swapping positions on more than one occasion before Hughes disappointingly fell out of contention with a spin at the chicane on lap 8.  Upfront meanwhile, Julian Stokes, in his Techno F2 machine, claimed overall victory in the combined Classic Racing Car/Historic F3 race.  But having built a large lead at the start was almost caught by a fast charging Nick Pancisi in his March 712 Atlantic.

The Formula Junior entry may not have boasted the same level of entry as the Historic Formula Ford event, however, it did feature a, Formula Ford like mid-race duel.  Following a short safety car intervention, pole sitter and early leader Benn Tilley came under attack from Jonathon Hughes.  Where, fresh from a starring performance in the Historic F3 event, the local man managed to squeeze his Brabham BT6 into the lead at Tower on lap 7.  But whilst Hughes would fall back behind Tilley before the lap was out, he would be back in front before the end of the next,  with Tilley this time not able to respond;  Hughes instead managing to maintain the lead over the remaining laps and record victory by just over half a second.

A longer safety car period in the combined Historic/70s Road Sports race would unfortunately ruin the race as a spectacle.  It was however relatively surprising to see the Historic machines hold an advantage over their younger counterparts, with John Davison leading home a Lotus Elan 1-2.  Meanwhile Charles Barter just about claimed the 70s Road Sport victory with third overall; The Datsun 240z pilot out-dragging the Lotus Europa of Will Leverett having initially looked to have lost the position at the final hairpin.

Sunday’s highlights included a first championship victory of the season for Michael O’Brien in Historic Formula Ford and a return to form of Jack Drury in the second Historic Touring Car race.  Meanwhile Andrew Park and Mark Charteris claimed double wins in the respective Historic Formula Ford 2000 and Classic Clubmans events, whilst Jonathon Hughes, Jon Milicevic, Julian Stokes, John Davison and Charles Barter also claimed a second victory of the weekend.

FULL RESULTS

This had been another thoroughly enjoyable day out following the HSCC brigade and for an admission price of just £14 it represented great value for money.  With this in mind I am already looking forward to my next slice of HSCC action; the Oulton Park Gold Cup at the end of August.

All images © Paul Commons (Paul Commons Motorsport Photography)