Castle Combe Race Report
- CSCC Staff
- Aug 14
- 17 min read
Our Modern & Retro meeting on 2nd/3rd August was a memorable return to the CSCC's local track. It featured a pair of grid walks and 50th birthday race for the venerable 3 Series. Sit back and enjoy the following race report from Marcus Pye, crisp photos from David Stallard, results from TSL, whilst every race was live-streamed.
A big thank you to Larissa Coward, who took over our Social Media channels for the weekend. You can look back at her photos, comments and reels on the CSCC's Instagram and Facebook profiles.
Photos, divided by day and series/championship, can be found and bought on David Stallard's website.
Full results are on TSL, with the more detailed analysis, including pit-stop times, found by clicking 'pdf book' alongside each category.
Live Streaming: https://www.youtube.com/@ClassicSportsCarClub/streams
Pacy young bucks and racy veterans star at Castle Combe, by Marcus Pye.
Stellar performances from drivers of all ages in cars of all ages ticked every box as more than 280 entries (plus second drivers) subscribed to the CSCC’s Modern & Retro Race Meeting at a summery Castle Combe on August 2-3. The club last visited back in July 2022, this time the event saw wins for Alfie Jones (25) and Jack Robinson (26) in Tin Tops and Jaguars respectively, but an enthralling lead duel between seasoned veterans Kevin Bird (62, Ford Cortina Lotus) and Charles Tippet (76, BMW 2002ti) in the second Swinging Sixties race delighted onlookers. That they were overpowered by Ben Tovey (MGB GTV8) mattered not, for this was good clean fun, exemplifying the spirit of club racing at its best in the Wiltshire venue’s 75th anniversary season.
Driving his clockwork orange Honda Civic Type-R EP3, former short oval racer Alfie Jones earned the distinction of repeating his 2022 Co-ordSport Tin Tops victory over Danny Cassar, finishing Nigel Ainge’s Hillwood Autos Integra Type-R rather than soloing this time. When the chequered flag fell on the 32-minute restart, Jones enjoyed a greater (13.8 second) margin over East Londoner Cassar, saddled with expunging a 30 second previous winner’s penalty, who pipped Steve Simpson (Peugeot 208 RC) to second on the final lap.
Twenty seven cars - eight double-driven - set out into qualifying. Cassar topped the session, his final lap of 1m:14.409s (an average of 89.50mph for the 1.85-mile circuit) was almost a second inside 2022’s 1:15.296 pole time. Adam Brown (Fives Garage Ford Fiesta ST150), the other entrant obliged to remain stationary for an extra half-minute at the mandatory pitstop, shared the front row on 1:15.252, also under his previous best. Behind the friends and arch rivals, fellow class leaders Colin and Steve Simpson, recent Castle Combe Hot Hatch race winner Julian Fisher (Fiesta ST150), Jon and Tom Dee’s Integra - destined not to start - and Jones were packed into the 16s.
Following the Dees’ withdrawal, 12th placed Steve McDermid (Triad Motorsport MG ZR), the last combo inside 1:20, was left as sole class D starter. Between Jones and McDermid sat a diverse group of vehicles: Richard Bethell’s Renault Clio, Adrian Matthews’ Ford/Mazda-underpinned Volvo C30, Steve Papworth’s ex-Eric Boulton late-model Honda Civic Type-R, Stephen Reynolds/John Ridgeon’s EP3 version and David Bellamy’s Peugeot 106 GTi, proudly bearing its Baguette Bashers sticker. Harry Haylor led 16-year-old Jake Humphrey in Renault Clio 182s, split by David Hutchins’ Civic EP3.
Gareth Cotgrove topped the Puma Cup quartet on 1:24.234 (79.06mph) in his smart blue Scott’s Hire car. Jon Glover’s colourful Team Guroba entry was a second and a half adrift, chased by Neil Jackson/Nick Fulljames and Sammy and Frank Jackson, racing in memory of Mark Jackson.
Brown led the pack away from the lights and was leading Jones, Fisher and Colin Simpson when the race was suspended under a Code 60, then stopped, in reaction to Ridgeon’s Honda hitting Matthews’ faltering Volvo at Folly. Octogenarian Ainge - who started racing a 1293cc Mini Cooper S in the 1960s, stopped then returned to the fray at 50 - had settled into a solid lower top 10 spot when red flags flew.
The grid reformed and Brown again made the best getaway, leading Jones, Fisher and Bethell. Ainge relayed Cassar after two laps, a couple before the stops started to come thick and fast. After Brown pitted, Bethell, Humphrey and Glover’s sunny Brazilian-liveried Puma topped the lap chart as the stagger unwound. Jones led when the phase ended, pursued by Bethell (shortly to retire), Fisher, Papworth and Steve Simpson, with Brown and Cassar screaming after them, nine seconds apart.
Simpson climbed past Fisher for second, but remained around 15 seconds behind Jones as Cassar hounded them both down with a string of fastest laps, having deposed Brown at the Esses. But time ran out for the chaser and Alfie was chuffed to take the chequer for the first time this year - despite joining the 30 second club for Brands Hatch. With a 1:14.125 (89.84mph) best lap on his slate, Danny beat Steve’s Pug by 0.753s on the line, with Brown, Fisher and Papworth next home. Bellamy, Hutchins and McDermid also went the full distance, with class winner Humphrey first of the lapped finishers.
Three of the four Pumas led the division, but once Cotgrove returned to the front post-stop he set the pace. Glover was only five seconds adrift, with Jackson/Jackson and Jackson/Fulljames eight seconds apart after the former’s 30 second short stop penalty - also applied to Papworth and McDermid - was factored in.
The Adams & Page Swinging Sixties races were strongly supported and action-packed as ever. Group 1 drew an eclectic mix of GT and Touring cars from 14 marques, including Glenn Canning’s long-serving NSU TTS and John Leslie’s Reliant Sabre 6. Chris Watkinson started his 1380cc Austin Mini from pole with a 1:19.860 (83.80mph) shot and 40 minutes later its blue chequered roof flashed under the black and white flags 40 in P1.
Watkinson battled furiously with Malcolm Johnson (Lotus Europa) for 23 laps until a displaced throttle body gasket strangled his rival’s Ford twin-cam engine. Ben Gough (Marcos-Ford V6), Ben Tovey (MGB GTV8) and Surrey-domiciled Dutchman Marc Kniese (1380cc Mini, from P14) led the chase.
Disappointingly, Watkinson and Kniese were excluded post-race for using mobile phones as timers (a Motorsport UK rule, nothing to do with the CSCC) - decisions they accepted sportingly - rewarding the Bens and advancing Niall Sinclair (Lotus 7 S4) to third. Claire Norman/Charles Tippett (BMW 2002ti) and Charles Hyde-Andrews-Bird/Kevin Bird (Lotus Cortina) - from the back of the grid, without a Q time, after its radiator split on Kevin’s out lap - were reclassified fourth and sixth, separated by Mark Cloutman’s very rapid puce hued 1380cc Austin A40. Another notable retirement was the Dave Thomas’ Ford Capri Mk1 in which starter Rod Birley raced for the first time since they scored a class win at the Nurburgring in June 1999.
Group 2’s lead battle was incredible in its intensity. Having watched son ‘CHAB’ and initial leader daughter Claire [Norman] scrap behind Tovey through the mid-phase, Bird and Tippet took up the cudgels as the pitstop stagger unwound. Watched proudly by granddaughter Bella from the commentary box, Tippet - 76 the previous day and celebrating 50 years since his race debut in the Clubmans Formula in 1975 - remained glued to 2022 Combe GT champion Bird’s tail, but couldn’t squeeze the Laranca Engineering-prepared BMW past.
When Tovey growled up to split them, Bird, unaware he’d been fighting for victory, reacted to blue flags thus did not defend on the penultimate lap, believing the MG to be a lap down. “I could have made the Cortina very wide,” grinned Kevin afterwards. Kniese’s fourth stood this time, ahead of Cloutman and Tim Cairns’ Turner-BMC, with Simon Tinkler’s MGB GT in its wake. Ben Brain’s two-litre Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV, Clive Tonge/Jon Winter’s dramatically reliveried Cooper S, the pretty Ginetta G4 of Gwyn Pollard/Mark Hobbs and longtime Combe commentator John Moon’s Lenham GT-bodied Sprite also finished on the lead lap.
The Midland Classic Restorations Classic K (pre-1966) race ran between Swinging Sixties bouts and saw Alex Hewitson repeat his 2022 Combe victory in his Austin-Healey 3000, resplendent in period works Sebring tribute livery. The Vintage Riley convert qualified the Scottish-prepared car second, a scant 0.343s behind Tim Crighton’s 1:23.287 (79.96mph) in Bishops Stortford classic car specialist Hilton & Moss’ magnificent 1963 Jaguar E-type roadster, shared with race debutant Will Garrett.
Ford V8 power led the chase, Jerry Bailey’s 4.7-litre Mustang notchback and Neil Merry’s 4.2 Sunbeam Tiger heading off Neil Howe’s well-driven Triumph TR4. Andrew Moore (E-type), Allan Ross-Jones (Lotus Cortina), series sponsor Dominic Mooney (MG Midget Ashley Coupe), local Paul ‘Oggy’ Ogborn (Mini Cooper S) and veteran Brian Lambert (1.0 Ginetta-Ford G4) rounded out the top 10, with Russell Martin best of the MGBs. Fresh from a Shaun Rainford/CCK restoration to concours standard, the 1966 Plymouth Barracuda of Australian commuters Ernst Luthi - who partners Rainford in the project - and George Pethard caught everybody’s eye in the colours of its original supplying dealer, McConnell of Montgomery, Alabama, USA.
Crighton led to the stops, but while Hewitson - who has raced the big Healey for several seasons - rapidly deposed Garrett in the second half, the newbie was far from overawed and outran Bailey’s bellicose Mustang for second. Mooney doorhandled the special-topped 1293cc Midget, with its period F1 BRM-like orange lipsticked nose, through the corners to finish a superb fourth ahead of Ross-Jones’ ‘for sale’ Cortina and Moore. A lap down, Graham Brown (Lotus Elan), Neils Howe and Merry and Steve Spink (MGB) led the rest home. Fuel starvation stopped Lambert’s Ginetta, while CV joint failure stopped Ogborn’s immaculate sage green Mini. The Barracuda finished, its pilots with only third and fourth gears.
Sunday’s Alpha Lexis Law Firm Jaguar Championship rounds attracted a good-looking grid of 15 heavy-hitters. Despite an atypical mechanical glitch at Silverstone, points leader Jack Robinson continued to be the man to beat in the svelte Swallows Racing XKR. The Axbridge, North Somerset-based driver bagged pole at his local circuit with a cracking 1:17.261 (86.20mph) shot, 1.176s swifter than Silverstone victor Simon Lewis’ Motul-tribute XJS V12. Lewis bumped class C’s Mark Bennett to P3 in the charismatic Auto Reserve Jaguar Parts X-type Estate - shooting brake, surely? - by a scant 0.061s.
With defending champion Colin Philpott (Powerbell XJS), Michael Atkinson (XKR), supercharged duo Chris Boon (XK8) and James Wall (S Type R) and class C points leader Charles Jackson (XJ diesel) all in the 19s, and Tim Morrant close behind in his stately Daimler Sovereign, the stage was set for a fascinating double-header.
Robinson led the first race away and such was pursuer Lewis’ pace that he dipped down to 1:16.429 (87.14mph) - 0.8s inside his pole time - in stemming it. “Simon kept me on my toes. It was a bit nerve-wracking,” said Jack, who made no errors as the pressure from behind brought Lewis within half a second at mid-way. “A fantastic race. Jack was absolutely exemplary,” offered the gallant runner-up.
Third placed Philpott - managing a clutch problem manifested when he repeatedly missed gears - had class A winner Boon snapping at his heels at the chequer, while Wall’s attentions turned to repelling Atkinson and C standout Bennett, clear of rivals Jackson and Ronald Ferguson (X300). Morrant’s Castrol Daimler, David Ringham’s XJS and Damian Gray’s Becks/Swallows XJ40 weren’t far behind.
Second time out Lewis’ car - due to have been driven by Michael Seabourne - was missing having retired from Saturday’s Modern Classics showcase, which eased Robinson’s task somewhat. Despite starting from P5 on the partially-reversed grid, Jack was in front by lap three and stormed to his eighth victory from 10 rounds, to the delight of his passionate family team and posse of supporters trackside.
Philpott’s anticipated challenge fizzled when a wire came off the flame-belching XJS’ alternator, forcing retirement. Boon then moved up to shadow Wall - whose rasping blower was audible above the engine note - while Atkinson and Bennett paired off. Both battles were heady, but the second-placed joust ended when Boon, quicker out of Quarry, dived inside Wall at the Esses on the penultimate lap. Two into one did not go and Boon’s CovCats car sustained side impact damage, before they stopped on the exit.
Both protagonists picked themselves up and continued, but not before Atkinson, rear bumper corner flapping, and Bennett had zoomed past to fill the podium places after a fine dice. Having stalked the sleek grey XK8 Bennett did find a way past Atkinson briefly, then went herbaceous at the Esses, but lost out by 0.208s. “He’s got the power, but I’ve got the handling,” said the estate manager. Undeterred by tattered panels, Boon and Wall salvaged fourth and fifth, still fighting, ahead of Ferguson and Gray.
With a maximum 42 point haul from the day - matching Robinson’s in class A - Bennett advanced to just two points behind class C leader Jackson, equal with Ferguson. Twin races at Brands Hatch this month and Thruxton in September to decide divisional honours. Jackson could only finish fourth behind Ferguson and Gray in the Combe finale. Colin Porter (XJ40) found himself the only class D starter once again.
Also on the retro half of the 17-race bill, 3.9-litre Rover V8-motivated MGB GTV8s ruled the SuperPro Modern Classics and Advantage Motorsport Future Classics roost. Although 1:15.156 (88.61mph) polesitter Neil Fowler and fellow front row man James Wheeler were handed 10 second penalties for being out of position at the start, they were ahead of the Russ McCarthy’s sister car - started by B/C/GT V8 returnee Ollie Neaves - when Wheeler’s steed broke at three-quarters’ distance.
Papa e figlio Piers and Luca Masarati’s Porsche Boxster S claimed Modern gold, the Junior Saloon graduate bringing it in third overall, ahead of the Trevor Pickard/Kevin Willis BMW M3 E36. The Hamilton brothers, Roger and Nick, finished fifth and sixth, nose to tail in their remarkable Ginetta G20s, with William Curtler (Boxster) eighth. Australians Nathan Luckey/David Harrison (Porsche 964 RS), the fratelli Nardone, Luca and Cristiano in their beautifully presented ‘JPS’ tribute BMW E30 and Andrew Young’s rare primrose yellow MGC GT headed the rest.
Wailing BMW E46 M3s played a large role in Saturday’s programme, focused by a Ramair BMW Championship double-header. Regular sparring partners Jason West and James Card topped the timesheets on 1:08.438 (97.31mph) and 1:08.917 respectively, with Irishman Niall Bradley and championship leader Graham Crowhurst - from class B - bagging second row starts, ahead of Oliver Faller and Russell Dack in his unusual fat-arched Compact with similar 3.2-litre straight-six power. Charles Heatley bested Charlie Newton-Darby and Matthew Hibberd in the supercharged Mini Cooper S R53 division.
Bradley won both races in his strikingly-liveried machine, beating Card and Crowhurst in the opener, led by West’s Underscore car until head gasket failure stopped it steamily. Card, Bradley and Crowhurst duly powered ahead before Niall took control, beating James and Graham to the chequered flag by seven seconds. Faller and Ollie Neaves - banished to the back when his car was 4kg underweight after qualifying - were fourth and fifth, ahead of Kallum Gray. Hibberd marked his 40th birthday by winning the combative Mini class. Dack, Adrian Bradley (blown engine) and Heatley joined West on the sidelines.
Second placed Neaves inflicted a rare class defeat on Crowhurst later, Graham’s fly-by-wire throttle having glitched during a mid-race safety car period called triggered for marshals to collect Hibberd’s Mini, parked in the Esses escape zone at the end of a tell tale trail of oil. Following a reset, Crowhurst scorched back from eighth to third at the green, finishing on Neaves’ tail, with a 1:08.911 (98.64mph) fastest lap, just shy of Niall Bradley’s 1:08.797 (96.84mph) in the opener. Faller was fourth ahead of Ronan Bradley - Niall’s cousin - and Dave Avis’ well presented Drains Ahead car. Heatley beat CN-D by 0.324s for Mini honours as they rued Hibberd’s departure from their scrap.
Sunday’s BMW 3 Series 50th Anniversary race was thinned by the previous day’s unusually high attrition, but Ronan Bradley switched horses to share brother Adrian’s car as 11 starters came forward, with Niall Bradley and Russell McCarthy (starting Neaves’ car) at the front of the grid, ahead of Russell Humphrey in Mark Wyatt’s E92 and Avis.
Crowhurst started his stripey M3 E46 - liveried with the help of his wife in the style of the Jeff Koons-designed BMW ‘Art Car’ M3 GT2 raced by Andy Priaulx at Le Mans in 2010 - eighth, unsure as to whether Saturday’s problems were sorted. At the lights, Humphrey bustled the big treaded-tyred E92 between Bradley and McCarthy as they shot away, but Niall soon restored the status quo in his black and green car.
Having made “the worst possible start” when his engine lapsed into limp mode again, Crowhurst made meteoric progress. Third by lap seven, he hounded down Humphrey, howling past into Quarry. Leading when Bradley made his stop, Graham pitted two laps later, whereupon Faller led as Niall Bradley’s hat-trick hopes went up in brake smoke. Crowhurst ousted Faller, and Adrian Bradley grabbed second two laps later, only for Neaves to snatch silver at the flag.
The Fox Transport Turbo Tin Tops set boasted four 2025 race winners carrying 30 second pitstop penalties. Of them, Andrew Marson (Abarth Assetto Corse) and Richard Clarke (Renault Clio Cup) headed the 13 qualifiers, with Carl Chambers (Pugsport Peugeot 208 GTi) and CSCC chairman John Hammersley/Nigel Tongue (VW Scirocco R) fourth and 10th respectively.
Marson’s 1:16.088s (87.53mph) in the 1400cc Torinese tearaway was a tad over a second quicker than Clarke’s best, but Nathan Nicholls in his supercharged Helix Autosport BMW Mini Cooper S R53, Chambers, seasonal club debutant Adam Worgan in his very smart VW Golf GTi Mk4, Toby Harris/Lisa Selby (Partbox Ford Fiesta ST180), Tom Oatley - guesting in James Joannou’s Trinity Insurance Brokers Clio - and Chris Earle (208 GTi) were all in the 17s too, underlining both the variety of cars and depth of driving ability in the series.
Will Oatley (Clio) and Hammersley/Tongue’s Airconstruct VW - which had its best lap disallowed for a track limits transgression - were in the 18s, a second clear of Matthew Jackson’s Fiesta ST180, with Bob Hosier’s troubled Seat Leon and novice James Manning in a second Squadra Marson Abarth bringing up the rear.
From a scruffy rolling start, with Clarke slow away, Marson - missing cousins Richard and David in sister cars - Nicholls and Worgan made the early running, with Tom Oatley, Clarke and Chambers settling in behind, ahead of Lisa Selby. Clarke scrabbled back to second before making his stop, but leader Marson went five laps longer before ducking in off Dean Straight into the pit lane.
Unencumbered by penalties, Nicholls found himself ahead when Worgan completed the pit sequence, with towards 10 seconds in hand over the teal blue Golf, first seen at Oulton Park last year. As Hammersley and Tongue shot themselves in the foot by restarting 0.3s short of their requirement - thus were clobbered by a draconian 30.3s imposition - Worgan knuckled down to the job of reeling Nicholls in, with Marson hounding him down.
The verdict could have gone any way as the top three circulated ever closer, but when Marson passed Worgan on Avon Rise with time for almost six laps remaining on TSL’s clock, the rampant Abarth looked the strongest bet. But Nicholls was not to be denied - even when his exhaust fell off on the last lap - hung on by 1.801s after a gruellingly hot 30-lap encounter. “Brilliant. That 500 was so fast,” said Nathan before hot-footing it to his second stag night [of three!] prior to marrying Zoe in a fortnight’s time…
Marson was equally exhilarated. “That was the toughest race in a couple of years. It was baking hot and the car was moving and sliding everywhere, which was great,” said Andrew. Worgan finished a strong third, chased home by the French foreign legion, comprising Clarke, Tom Oatley, Earle, Will Oatley and Chambers. The Scirocco was classified ninth - Tongue’s 1:15.412 (88.31mph) fastest lap the veteran team’s only consolation - ahead of Manning, but the Toby Harris pulled the family Fiesta off a lap from the end.
A match race between the Tin Tops vs. Turbo Tin Tops vs. Puma Cup rounded out Saturday’s modern half of the programme. Ainge’s turquoise Honda Integra was seeded on pole, but P2 starter Marson led from the off, hotly pursued by Jones, Steve Simpson and Bethell. When Cotgrove’s Puma skated off at Quarry on its own coolant a Code 60 intervention was closely followed by a safety car. Stout work by the marshals and flatbed truck crew had the problem cleared with just sufficient time for a one-lap sprint to the chequer. Marson kept his cool despite Jones and Simpson filling his mirrors as he sizzled to the flag. Bethell and Fisher were fourth and fifth, ahead of the turbocars of Chambers and Worgan.
Saturday’s Liqui Moly Slicks Series/WOSP New Millennium race had Castle Combe GT championship leader Dylan Popovic on pole in his seven-litre Ginetta-Chevrolet G50. The Bosnian-born London IT guru’s 1:06.933s (99.50mph) pole time was two seconds beyond Jordan Billinton’s best in his ME7 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo. Archie Buttle, 17, was third quickest in his 3.7 Ginetta-Ford G55 GTA when he walloped the very effective Recticel barrier backwards at Tower, stopping the session. Amazingly, both car and driver were on the grid four hours later.
Best saloon, topping the New Millennium runners in fourth overall, was Interceptor Racing’s 4.0 BMW E92 with Russ Humphrey/Mark Wyatt up on 1:11.036, shading Danny Cassar/Adam Brown in Nigel Ainge’s red hot “digital” Honda Integra and Dutch-rooted Klaus Kooiker’s BMW M3 E46. Lurking behind them on its race debut was Hilton & Moss’ curvaceous factory-built turnkey Lotus Emira GT4 - its supercharged Toyota-based 3.6-litre V6 engine developing 460bhp - in the hands of race debutant Will Garrett and tutor Tim Crighton.
Billinton launched the 5.2-litre V10 Lambo hardest, and enjoyed three laps of glory before Popovic blasted past. Despite the frustration of the Ginetta’s traction control system cutting in intermittently, Dylan piloted it to victory over Billinton and young Buttle. The race finished behind a safety car after Kooiker’s BMW - previously a spinner at Old Paddock - went pop over the brow of Avon Rise and was parked at Quarry, whereupon John Cockerton’s M3 slithered off into the liquid and was arrested by the Recticel cushioning. ‘NewMill’ winners Humphrey/Wyatt, Cassar/Brown and Garrett/Tim Crighton completed the top six.
Starting fifth, Stephen Collins wriggled his 2.5-litre 420R through to win the all-Caterham Gold Arts Magnificent Sevens event opener in Saturday’s heat, having quickly passed Richard Carter for second, then ousted 1:11.758 (92.81mph) poleman Andrew Grant from the lead on lap 5.
As the top six paired off, Grant shadowed Collins to the finish, followed by Carter and Martin Leadbeater, then Simon Lanyon and Pascal Green. “It’s a great weight loss programme, but it would help if I was 25 years younger, and fitter,” chirped Collins.
Grant made his Combe debut more memorable by winning the second stanza from Carter and Leadbeater. Collins was second, trying to catch the leader, when he touched the grass on the outside of the kink at Hammerdown during lappery and gyrated hairily across the track before tagging the barrier approaching Tower. Grant was effusive after a Boss Racing 1-2-3. “The car was impeccable. I wouldn’t go racing without them.” Leo and Nathan Bell (310R) and Chris Awcock (270R) completed class doubles. Mention must be made of London-based Russian Aleksandr Dobrymin who arrived alone in his 1600 Roadsport for his first ever races and improved all day. A super effort.
Best of the Verum Builders Open Series quintet on both outings, incidentally, was Stephen Grove (Lotus Elise S1), the sole survivor in race two.
Paul Sibley was untouchable in the Lackford Engineering Midget and Sprite Challenge double-header, his ex-Chris Montague car polished to a gleaming finish by son Ayrton. With Tom Walker’s spectacular looking but recalcitrant Frogeye Sprite his only fully-modified class opposition, Sibley’s 1:16.282 (87.30mph) qually standard lap was more than two seconds better than that of James Hughes, the closest of three successive class leaders, with 22-year-old Connor Kay and Hugh Simpson next up.
Richard Perry, Mike Henny and Pippa Cow - sampling her Yokohama-shod T-car - joined Simpson in the 21s. Dean Stanton, Jonathan Taylor and Mark Turner rounded out the top 10. New to the field was ambitious Cornishman Wayne Twidle in the ex-Richard Sadd/Ian Hulett Sprite, mentored by Matt Thomas who was initially pencilled in to contest Sunday’s leg.
In Saturday’s race Sibley extended a 16 second advantage over Hughes and Kay. Perry finished fourth and Simpson edged past the fading Cow for fifth. Stanton’s engine sounded progressively rougher, but he coaxed his Sprite home eighth, behind Henney. Back in the paddock Dean discovered a sheared rocker post and set about rebuilding the valvetrain for Sunday morning’s breakfast bonanza, which it would not finish.
Run prior to the day’s qualifying sessions, it was an anti-climax, red-flagged when John Faux - in the Midget champion Ian Burgin retired on Saturday - spun at the Esses and poor Amelia Storer in her ex-Charles Marriott green machine could not avoid a head-on collision. Both cars suffered badly savaged front corners, but their drivers escaped injury. Also out at the scene was Nick Rose’s car, with a punctured rear tyre. Hughes and Kay chased Sibley in the four-lap restart. Cow got the better of Simpson and Henney for fourth after Walker’s steroidal frogeye Sprite - reminiscent of 1970s’ Modsports versions - retired again. Harry Rice, Ian Bryon, Turner and Bruce Burrowes completed the finishers.
Marcus Pye MAWP
Look out for Castle Combe video highlights in the coming weeks, from Marc Peters.
Next, we move on to Brands Britannia, in just over two weeks (30/31 August). If you've not yet entered, please do so, it's become a special event: https://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/brands-hatch
