News in brief, August 2002

What goes around, comes around. Forty years after Bill Blydenstein scored the first international outright win for a works Mini Cooper, his son Ben was victorious in the third round of the John Cooper Challenge, at Gurston Down.

Eagle T1G chassis AAR 103, (below) is to be sold by Christies at Pebble Beach on August 18. The car, one of the four built by Dan Gurney’s Rye-based Fl team, was raced in 1967 by Richie Ginther in the Race of Champions (third and second in heats, retired from the final), but he failed to qualify it at Monaco, and it was taken over for the race by Gurney himself. Dan also drove 103 in the Canadian GP, rather than his usual lightweight chassis, 104. The other driver of 103 was Ludovico Scarfiotti, who had a one-off outing in it at the Italian Grand Prix.

David Coulthard was presented with the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy at Silverstone on the eve of the British GE The trophy is presented annually to the most successful British or Commonwealth driver and was won for the third time by Coulthard for his runner-up Fl finish in 2001.

Stop press: Following the outcry regarding the change to the London-Brighton Veteran Car Run’s eligibility date, the RAC’s IMS has announced that the 2003 event will revert to the 2001 regs. This year’s event, however, will still let in Edwardian (1905-06) cars.