Spitfire wins dogfight

HSCC 70s Road Sports Championship

It was almost a perfect season for John Thomason in the HSCC’s extremely popular series for 1970s road-going sports cars. His superbly presented Triumph Spitfire topped Class D1 in every race bar the greasy season-opener at Donington on Easter Sunday.

That day former title contender Jai Sharma topped the class for 1600cc metal-bodied cars in his Lancia Fulvia, but otherwise Thomason was peerless. The fact that he drove the Spitfire from his Surrey home to each race earned him even more points.

At the head of the bulging grids some excellent contests were enacted, and it was Julian Barter who claimed the overall championship runner-up slot after a cracking season in his TVR 3000M. Like Thomason. Barter drove the TVR to all the races.

Outgoing champion Richard Thorne was a winner in his Morgan Plus 8 but didn’t contest a full season, while Alan Harper’s Lotus Elan was always quick. Charles Barter was another leading runner in his Datsun 2402 and enjoyed a couple of mighty battles with son Julian.