St John Horsfall Trophy

Thouroughbred amongst meetings

Difficult though it might have been to drag myself away from a paddock full of interesting cars at the 40th St John Horsfall Trophy Race meeting, the call of duty beckoned me to report the day’s proceedings on the Silverstone track itself.

First event of the day was the 15-lap Gordon Russell Inter-Marque race, dominated by Neil Bainbridge’s Porsche Carrera RSR which finished over 10 seconds ahead of Chester Wedgewood in the Autofarm example. Aidan Mills-Thomas in the singleton AC Cobra was the first non-Porsche home in fifth place while Aston Engineering’s DB5, driven by Stephen Wakefield, was the first Aston Martin home in eighth place.

The AMOC Thoroughbred Sports Championship has been in the doldrums for some time. Despite a change of rules this year to encourage virtually standard cars, the entry was still thin. Eight cars took the start and six finished, Roy Dudley leading a processional race all the way to the chequered flag.

The St John Horsfall Trophy race was an eventful affair even though Geoff Bishop in his green “Red Dragon” always had it in the bag. A spin on the fourth lap did allow David Taylor to close the gap in the blue Le Mans, the fastest of the 1.5-litre cars, but not close enough to challenge for the lead, the two finishing the ten-lap race 4.1 sec apart.

The ex-St John Horsfall 2-litre car, which has won the event for the last few years, was third in the hands of John Freeman, his son David having relinquished the drive for the occasion. Best scrap of the race was between Stephen Archer’s 1932 LM10 and Middlebridge Engineering’s 1935 Ulster with the younger car, driven by Mark Humphrey, coming in just 0.4 secs in front.

There may have been only seven starters in the Historic Car race, but thanks to the scrapping all the way down the field it was one of the most enjoyable of the afternoon. The lead was being continually fought for by John Harper’s 1960 T53 Cooper and Chris Mann’s 1959 Lotus 16. The front- engined car was quicker out of the corners, particularly Becketts, but it was never able to contain the Cooper into all the righthanders, with the result that Harper pipped Mann to the chequered flag by exactly one second.

After running in third place for most of the race, Sid Hoole’s Cooper succumbed to Peter Hannen’s 1954 Connaught and then pulled out of the race with one lap left to run. The final three finishers were Jeffrey Pattinson, who had a lonely race in his 1959 T45 Cooper once he broke away from his pursuers, and the Cooper Bristols of Graham Burrows and Jeremy Agace.

Were it not for the antics of Chris Adams in his DB2 and John Gross in his Mk III, the Feltham Aston Martin race would have been a dull affair. While Mike Gilson romped home in Ragnar Classic Engineering’s recently rebuilt DB2/4, lapping the eleven-car field up to sixth place in ten laps, the battle for second place raged on. Gross simply did not have the power to get by Adams, despite some late bids into corners, and had to concede by the end. Mark Coleman was fourth in his DB2/4 while Ian Stowe threw away a certain fifth place when he spun his DB2 at Becketts.

The Improved Road Sports Championship race was full of interest all the way down the field. Roger Connel’s 1965 TVR Griffith seemed to have everything under control from the start and had a slight advantage over Mills-Thomas’ AC Cobra and the two Elan S4s of Gerry Wainwright and Chris Holland.

While the two Elans slipped away, Mills- Thomas kept the pressure up on Connel and benefited on the penultimate lap when the TVR spun at Becketts. The Elan challenge was taken up by Phil Cooper’s S1, which was a constant shadow of the Cobra, but having been handed the lead, Mills-Thomas was not about to give it away.

Other impressive drives included that of Julian Dodd in his 1147cc Fairthorpe Electron Minor, snapping like a terrier at the heels of the Chevrolet Camaros of Chris Pring and Richard Lewis and the DB4 of Ron Dudley and finally overhauling them. Dodd’s reward was to finish tenth.

Way down the field in 15th and 16th places, but nevertheless hard fought into each and virtually every corner, was the duel between the 791 cc Honda S800 of Malc Best and the 948cc Mark 2 Turner of Jon Nix with the latter finally getting the advantage.

The entry for the Sytner Classic Cars race was first-class, and the contest itself was very exciting. Following a poor start from poleman Don Orosco in his 1958 Reventlow Scarab, David Beckett in his 1959 Lister Chevrolet grabbed the lead and looked to have the race sewn up. On the first lap, Orosco was stuck down in fourth place, but he worked his way up to second by the third lap and the two lead cars inexorably pulled away from the rest of the field.

On the ninth lap of the 15-lap race Orosco had closed up enough to grab the lead, but lost it three laps later in traffic. It was a temporary blip though, because he was soon back in a lead he was to hold to the finish. Beckett’s car dropped away dramatically on the penultimate lap with a rough engine, but kept going to finish second.

Clive Richards in the HWM Jaguar had an unchallenged run in third place, while fourth was taken by Willie Green in the D-type Jaguar.

The interesting aspect of the ten-lap Aston Martin scratch race, won by David Heynes’ DB4, was the debut of the Aston Martin V8 Zagato in the hands of Peter Millward. This standard car just managed to remain unlapped by the end to finish halfway down the field in ninth place.

The 16-car field in the Pre-War Sports-Car race was almost entirely made up of Aston Martins, but it was Chris Drake’s 8C Maserati which almost stole the show until he gave it to Geoff Bishop by spinning out of the race at Becketts. The Allcomers Scratch race was a fight between Don Wood’s Lola T294 and David Ellis’s Aston Martin V8 with the latter just getting the upper hand. WPK

RESULTS 40th St. John Horsfall Race Meeting, June 17

Gordon Russell Inter-Marque Championship………Neil Bainbridge (Porsche)………………………..95.43 mph

AMOC Thoroughbred Sports Championship………Roy Dudley (Aston Martin)………………………..73.27 mph

St. John Horsfall Trophy Race………………………………Geoff Bishop (Speed Model)………………………71.41 mph

Historic Car Championship…………………………………..John Harper (Cooper)……………………………….88.62 mph

Feltham Aston Martin Race…………………………………..Mike Gilson (DB2/4)………………………………….78.81 mph

Improved Road Sports Championship………………..Aidan Mills-Thomas (AC Cobra)………..83.25 mph

Sytner Classic Car Race…………………………………………Don Orosco (Reventlow Scarab)………..85.50 mph

Post-War Aston Martin Race…………………………………David Heynes (DB4)…………………………………85.45 mph

Pre-War Sports Car Race……………………………………….Geoff Bishop (Speed Model)………………………71.45 mph

Allcomers Race……………………………………………………….David Ellis (Aston Martin)………………………..100.40 mph