Pomeroy Trophy won by BMW

Known for speed as the “Pom”, this off-season bash gives the children something to do with their toys during the winter when any sensible player would leave them in the cup board. Instituted in 1948 by his son to commemorate Vauxhall designer Lawrence Pomeroy, and to detect the ideal touring car by comparative testing, the event has become a pre-season attempt to enjoy a day at Silverstone in whatever you bring, provided you don’t bring it on a trailer.

There are four high-speed driving tests, plus a 40-minute session on the track in which each car has to put in a number of laps appropriate to its age and capacity. This year’s crop ranged from Simon Diffey’s 1913 Humber tourer (with a target of 15 laps) via 14 Frazer Nashes, six Porsches, five Aston Martins and three Big Healeys to Geoff Moore’s 1993 5.7-litre Dodge Viper with 36 laps to do. Sam Stretton in his ergonomically hooded Westfield was the best scorer in the wiggle-woggle test, White’s Bristol-engined Frazer Nash the best braker, and Steve Roberts’ Chain-gang ‘Nash the most nimble in the acceleration tests after various factors (such as the state of the moon and the sea level at Newlyn) had been fed into the lap-top.

The ultimate computer-printed wisdom was that the Pomeroy Trophy had gone to James Diffey in his BMW 2002, the Densham trophy (second place) to Paul Bullett in his Chain-gang ‘Nash, and the Edwardian Trophy to Richard Barnett in his 1911 7-litre Knox, TJT