HSCC Silverstone
May 20th/21st
`Whizzo’ makes Jaguar sing in the rain
Veteran showman gives a master class of car control during rain sodden HSCC birthday bash
The spring weather did its best to wreck the HSCC’s 40th birthday party at Silverstone, but when the sun came out late on Sunday afternoon Barrie Williams lit up the circuit with a mighty performance to win the BRDC Historic Sports Car Championship round.
With Dick Skipworth’s Tojeiro-Jaguar not ready, `Whizzo’ hopped into the XK120 (below) instead and his masterful display of car control left the crowd elated. As Graeme Dodd gave spirited chase in his Cooper Monaco, Williams chucked the XK around in powerslides and fended off the Monaco for a full 30 minutes.
The weather got so bad on Sunday afternoon that the Derek Bell Trophy race was abandoned, while the Historic FF1600 pack had to endure awful conditions. With cars spinning on the main straight, the race was red-flagged twice. Nelson Rowe held on to take the win in his Crosslé 20F.
The European F2 Trophy field had one reasonably dry race and one soaker, with wins going to Philip Harper and Christian Fischer. HSCC chairman Chris Sharples bagged a brace of class wins in his ex-Wheatcroft Chevron B29.
Jamie McIntyre clinched the Griffith Formula celebration encounter, his nimble Rejo proving ideal for the slippery track. Richard Trott (Classic F3) and Les Ely (Historic Saloons) took good victories, while James Schryver (Chevron B8) and Stuart Tizzard (Lenham Spyder) shared the wins in a Classic Sports double-header.
Ian Gray won an unpredictable Classic Racing Car round. Twice the ex-Watson Brabham BT30 spun, but Gray kept pushing hard while Michael Hibberd’s Lotus 27 was the class of the Formula Junior field.
Results
Historic Formula Junior
1 Michael Hibberd (Lotus 27); 2 Martin Woodhouse (Lotus 20); 3 Mark Gillies (Lotus 20).
European Formula 2 (race one)
1 Philip Harper (Ralf RT1); 2 Christian Fischer (Chevron B35); 3 Bob Juggins (Lola T240).
Eurpean Formula 2 (race two)
1 Christian Fischer (Ralf RT1); 2 Chris Alford (March 762); 3 Walter Hoffman (March 712M).
Classic Racing Cars
1 Ian Gray (Brabham BT30); 2 Ian Jones (Lotus 59); 3 Richard Kendle (Brabham BT21).
Classic Formula 3
1 Richard Trott (Chevron B43); 2 Keith White (Ralt RT1);
Griffith Formula Invitational
1 Jamie McIntyre (Rejo); 2 Mark Gillies (Maserati 300S); 3 Tony Bianchi (Farralac-Allard).
Historic FF1600
1 Nelson Rowe (Crosslé 20F); 2 Westie Mitchell (Merlyn Mk20); 3 David Wild (Lola T200).
BRDC Historic Sports
1 Barrie Williams (Jaguar XK120); 2 Graeme Dodd (Cooper); 3 Mark Gillies (Maserati 300S).