BDC Silverstone

The pleasantly informal but efficiently run Bentley Drivers Club annual Silverstone meeting took place on a fine, late August day and as usual attracted a varied entry from within its own membership and those of the invited clubs — something to suit the taste of every sports car enthusiast from a 1910 Napier through Lagondas, Aston Martin, ACs, MGs, and vintage machinery in general to the latest in Morgan hardware. The racing too was varied, with individual handicap races for slower and faster cars, one-make scratch races, to the finale of the Al!comers Scratch.

The drama started during the practice sessions as various competitors grappled their way around the new FIA approved Copse corner, with the result that some of them spent their practice session in the greatly increased gravel trap going nowhere. Of the Bentleys present, the most effective proved to be Spencer Flack’s 3/8 which won the Bentley, Vintage and PVT Scratch Race at an average of 72.74 mph but set its fastest lap in the Bentley/Lagonda Handicap Race at 75.11 mph (1m 18.7s). The fastest winner of the day was Klaus Nesbach driving a Morgan Plus 8 in the Morgan SCC and AC Cobra Scratch Race at an average of 88.18 mph. This race also produced three entrants with identical fastest laps of the day at 90.38 mph (1m 5.4s) namely the aforementioned Klaus Nesbach, Andy Shepherd in an AC Cobra and Peter Garland in another Plus 8. One cloud appeared on the horizon when Phil Spencer overturned his Morgan Super Sports in the early stages of the Vintage race, which had to be re-started. He was taken to hospital, patched up and happily is now well on the way to recovery with every one’s good wishes. R.C.B.S.