Pleasant End-of-Season Brands
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Another season’s racing at Brands Hatch ended on a pleasant note with the B.R.S.C.C.’s meeting on October 4th. Under almost heat-wave conditions, two new class records were set up, and the saloon car event provided one of the best-ever races on this 1.24-mile circuit.
Graham Warner won the opening race (10 laps for series production sports cars) with his Elite, after Chris Lawrence’s Morgan had been in front for five laps. Another Elite, driven by Edward Lewis, was third.
Fifteen laps for Formule Libre and a close dice for the lead ensued between David Piper’s 2.2-litre Lotus and Mike McKee in Jim Russell’s F.2 Cooper. They passed and repassed for twelve laps, then McKee spun at Druids, restarting too far behind Piper to challenge him. However, in the course of their duel both lapped in 50.2 sec.– beating the existing F.1 lap record. But McKee’s being a F.2 car, it meant that only Piper could claim the record. Brian Whitehouse kept his F.2 Cooper in third place throughout, having duelled earlier with Keith Greene’s similar car. Twisk’s F.2 Cooper was fourth.
By winning the 15-lap F.3 race that followed, Tom Bridger takes this year’s World Sports Trophy. Leading on points before the race, Don Parker retired on the 11th lap. Pitcher was also out after two laps.
McKee and de Selincourt fought out the lead in the Formula Junior race, the former winning by a small margin after 12 laps. Both drove Elvas, as did most of the rest of the field, including Chris Lawrence (third) and Peter Jopp (fourth).
Graham Hill drove a nice race to win the 1,100 c.c. sports car event with a wishbone-suspended Lotus XVII. For once his opposition didn’t come from Lola, but from Mike McKee’s Elva, which kept within a second of him for nine laps and then spun, letting Alan Rees into second place on his first Lola drive. McKee managed to get past the Lola again, but could not catch Hill. Peter Gammon’s Lola and Alan Stacey’s works Lotus unfortunately non-started.
Words cannot do full justice to the 15-lap saloon car event which followed. Hutcheson (Riley 1.5). Leston (Riley 1.5) and Hill (A35) were principally involved. Dicing hard with Pilsworth’s Riley, Blydenstein’s Borgward and Kingham’s Zephyr in the earlier stages, they managed to detach themselves in the end. When they came on to the bottom straight for the last time the two Rileys touched, wavered, and Hill was through to an incredible win. It will be a long time before a better race is seen at Brands. Blydenstein put up a new 1,301-1,600 c.c. record with a lap in 70 sec.
Last event of the day paired the seven fastest F.3 and Formula Junior cars. Bridger won yet again, from Rohinson’s Stuart Cooper Norton, with de Selincourt first home of the F.J.s, some 10 sec. behind the winner. So the 500s have still got it over the Formula Junior boys, but the Anglia engine might alter all that.D.J.R.