Castle Combe Autumn Classic (2023)

FISCAR Inter-Marque

Castle Combe Autumn Classic – 23rd September 2023

Preamble

The Castle Combe Autumn Classic has always been our season finale, and this was our 12th year in succession that we had been invited to this great event. The meeting was always in early October with its attendant risk of adverse weather conditions but for the first 4 years we were blessed with unseasonably fine conditions. It couldn’t last of course, and 2016 was pretty wet and in subsequent years the weather was pretty unkind, culminating in the complete cancellation of our day’s racing in 2020 when part of the track was under several inches of water! 2021 was also wet and you could say that the rot had set in by then! It has been suggested that these conditions every year had influenced our downward trend in entry numbers at the event, although we were not alone in experiencing this. In 2022, the organisers brought the meeting forward a couple of weekends into the end of September. Although there were no guarantees, we did see a small uplift in entry numbers and indeed the weather held up.

The size of our grids, always of good quality, has been, pleasingly, on an upward trajectory this year and for this meeting we had 30 entries, our best for some years. 10 years ago, we would have considered a grid of that size at Castle Combe to be at best, average, if not on the low side, but these days a grid of 30 of these wonderful cars is truly excellent, bearing in mind that, in general, club racing grids have declined over recent years.  

30 entries on the day became 29, for whilst Glenn Tollett put in an appearance it was sans his 100M. The car has been displaying power loss issues most of the season and a strip down of the engine has revealed an amount of ‘development’ work in its former life in America not conducive to its well being, making Rory’s drive at Thruxton all the more remarkable. So, 29 cars headed out onto the track for their morning qualifying in bright sunlight and what an eclectic range of fabulous cars they were, representing the best of the 1950s sports car era.    

Qualifying

It’s sad to relate the fact that we lost two more cars during qualifying. Reuben Jacob was in with a good chance of taking the Whitehead Cup (the annual Index of Performance Cup) but it was not long into his qualifying stint that his Morgan +4 engine cried enough and he pulled off and parked up on Avon Rise. His closest challenger (just 1 point behind), Andrew Cox only had to start the race, in his TR3 Falcon to jump ahead of Reuben on the points tally and no-one else was quite close enough to benefit from Reuben’s misfortune. The other car destined not to form up on the grid was the RGS Atalanta of Peter Blanchett, who has lit up Class 3 this year with a couple of fine performances. It wasn’t his day either, since a sudden motor starter failure threatened to curtail his efforts even before he got on the track. Somehow he contrived to get it going and managed some qualifying laps before a difficulty selecting gears suggested that the clutch release bearing had decided that it was too worn out to want to play anymore. Unfortunately, no-one in the paddock had a replacement, and a very disappointed Peter had to reluctantly withdraw the car. Down to 27!

Qualifying

Andy and Murray Shepherd were always going to figure high up on the grid in qualifying but it was a bit of a surprise to see the AC Ace sitting on pole in 1.24.998, especially since it was 1.2 seconds quicker than the fellow front row car, the Kellison of Richard Tyzack and Nick Taylor, on a 1.26.229. Murray put in the pole time but Andy was very little slower which makes for a very formidable driver pairing. Another surprise, on row 2, was Scott Quattlebaum, qualifying 3rd in Dad, Alex’s little LECo2 with MG XPAG power. Alex, still not fully fit, is pretty quick in this car, and whilst we know that Scott is quicker still, to see it so far up the grid was an eye opener and potentially threw race predictions out of the window!  Alongside Scott, it was less of a surprise to see the Jaguar XK 150 of Marc Gordon who, in the programme notes, I had tipped as a potential overall winner, on 1.27.760. Marc doesn’t race with us as often as we would like but when he does he always goes well and has excelled before with us at Castle Combe. On row 3, qualifying his Lotus Elite on a 1.27.915, just a shade behind Marc, was Brian Arculus. Brian is always there or thereabouts towards the front and he was my other tip for the top. Alongside Brian was Alistair Pugh in the ex Tony Crook Cooper Bristol T24/25, entered by Peter Mann. This is a quick car and I expected Alistair to move forward in the first half of the race but as an invitation car, along with the Kellison, it had to serve an additional 15 seconds in the mandatory pit stop.  

Row 4 was occupied by the Geoff Turrall/Toddy Worthington Triumph TR3A/B, on 1.28.846 and David Reed in the quick Aston Martin DB2 on 1.29.937. This TR is another invitation car, because, although it is from 1958, it is updated to 1961 B spec, so not far short of a TR4 but with the TR3 body. If we were to maintain the current class structure it would go into Class 2, one higher than the compliant TRs. David Reed’s Aston Martin DB2 is already a Class 2 car, also one class higher than the other DBs since it is also slightly modified. In 9th, Justin Beckett qualified his AC Ace on 1.29.972, pretty close to David, and alongside Justin was the invitation Ginetta G4 of Mark Morgan and Andrew Mitchell on 1.30.424. Just a fraction behind, was Mark Hoble in his Morgan +4 on 1.30.430, sharing row 6 with Peter Baker in his recently restored  DB2, which we had first seen at Thruxton, on 1.30.764. Mark has raced with us before but not in the Morgan, but barring the Quattlebaum LECo was the leading Morgan +4 Class 3 challenger. Barry Dye in the second Elite was on 1.30.815 with Peter Blanchett alongside on 1.30.995 in the RGS Atalanta, but as mentioned above, Peter was not to take the start. Less than a second covered 8th to 14th in qualifying which boded well for the race.

On row 8, 15th place was occupied by Richard Thorne in his Morgan +4, almost inevitably the leading Class 4 qualifier on 1.31.729, but here he had a Class challenger in the form of Tristan Bradfield’s Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans alongside on 1.32.232. Could Tristan hold onto Richard? The next row was also occupied by Class 4 cars. Shaun Bromley qualified his MGA, 17th with a 1.34.124 and had Harry Naergar’s Jowett Jupiter alongside on 1.34.344, this time recorded by co driver, Chris Bates. Ed Shah was 19th on 1.34.467 in the Elva Courier with Simon Jefferies alongside on 1.35.410 in the Aston Martin DB MkIII. On row 11, the invitation Austin A105/6 of Andrew Davenall had recorded 1.35.589 with Mark Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan +4 alongside on 1.36.216.

The lovely little Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint of Richard Frankel, racing with us for the second time this year, qualified 23rd on 1.36.415, but alongside and a lot slower on 1.40.154 was Andrew Cox in his Triumph TR3 Falcon. Andrew, however, only did 3 full qualifying laps, so assuming no mechanical issues, he would be a good bit quicker in the race. He had merely to finish to take the Whitehead Cup, as Reuben Jacob, qualifying just behind him on 1.40.348 was unable to take his position on the grid in his Morgan, as previously stated. Alan House qualified his Morgan +4 on 1.40.777. On the penultimate row, Valerio Leone will get quicker in his Elva Mk5, but his time here was 1.43.122.with Stuart Dean alongside on 1.43.874 in the splendid MG DJS Coupe. On his own at the back, was Glenn Brackenridge in his Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans. Glenn expects to be at the back, his aim currently simply to improve his lap times and with a time of 1.54.325, it seemed likely that he would achieve that.

A number of drivers had had very little or no previous experience of this circuit, so lap times would hopefully, and probably, improve for them during the race, as indeed to a certain extent would for everybody else if the track stayed dry and rubbered in!

Race

27 fabulous cars emerged the ‘wrong’ way from the pit entry lane at Camp onto a dry track in cloudy but bright conditions. So many different marques and shapes represented and commented upon by Marcus Pye, our main commentator. It was the culmination of what has been FISCAR’s best season in years ……on the track, anyway.  What a splendid sight they made as they took up their  positions on the grid and were then released on their formation lap behind the safety car! You’d like to think that the many spectators were impressed with this field.   

There was a certain inevitability about Andy Murray’s AC Ace, on pole, being outdragged by fellow front row man, Richard Tyzack in the V8 Kellison, but Richard was followed through by Alistair Pugh in the Cooper Bristol, who made an absolutely stunning start from the 3rd row and Marc Gordon had the XK150 alongside the Ace even as they headed into Folly for the first time. It was to get worse for Andy as by the exit of Quarry, Geoff Turral had taken his TR3A/B around the outside to take 4th and Scott Quattlebaum was challenging him on the inside. He held off the LECo going into the Esses with David Reed’s Aston DB2 and Brian Arculus in the Lotus Elite in close attendance.

The whole field hurtled through Paddock and down Hammerdown into Tower which one of our drivers has described as ‘most intimidating ….. Wiltshire  rushing towards you at 100mph with no run-off’. All safely through there and down to Bobbies, the track rising slightly through Westway  and into sight they all came, charging down Dean Straight for the first time, the 3 leading cars, Kellison, Cooper Bristol and XK150 almost tied together as they braked for Camp, chased by the Turral TR and Andy Shepherd trying to keep the Ace in 5th holding the Quattlebaum LECo at bay.

As Richard Tyzack thundered the Kellison across the line to complete lap 1, the Alistair Pugh Cooper Bristol was just 3 tenths behind with Marc Gordon in the XK150 even closer to Alistair. Half a second later came the TR, just ahead of the Shepherd Ace and Quattlebaum LECo. It was all good frantic stuff. David Reed was in 7th just under a second behind Scott Quattlebaum with a small gap back to Brian Arculus in the Lotus Elite, Mark Hoble a fine 9th in the leading Morgan just holding off Justin Beckett in the second AC Ace, the only marque with 2 cars in the top 10!

What appeared to be an endless stream of great cars followed them through. It was all fantastic to watch as the last to complete the lap, Andrew Mitchell came through in the Ginetta G4, 31 seconds behind the leader. The G4 is a pretty light and also a later car, and its brakes are probably a bit more effective than most in this field. Going into Quarry, for the first time, Andrew was on the outside of the Davenall A105, and naturally inclined to give way to the heavier car alongside, braked early, and as a result, was lightly tapped from behind. It was enough to destabilise the car and he shot across the bows of the Austin, getting a clip on the way to an unexpected visit to the grassy infield. I have seen in car footage of the event front and rear from the Austin and still haven’t been able to identify the other car involved. It’s a mystery! In any event, Andrew gathered the car up and regained the track in last place and pressed on. Both he and the car’s owner Mark Morgan, seemed pretty sanguine about it after the race.

Into lap 2 and Richard Tyzack was now under intense pressure from Alistair Pugh and Marc Gordon and going into Quarry, Alistair passed the Kellison to take the lead.  Marc didn’t manage to follow him through though and over the next part of the lap as the Cooper Bristol started to edge away, the power of the Kellison opened up the gap a little to the 3rd placed XK150. The battle behind was still in full swing,  as Geoff Turrall held off Andy Shepherd who as well as challenging Geoff was watching his mirrors in order to fend off Scott Quattlebaum in the LECo. David Reed was pretty much with them and all the while, Brian Arculus was closing in with his Elite.

As the field completed the lap, the Cooper Bristol had opened up a lead of several lengths but Marc Gordon had closed up to the back of Richard Tyzack. Geoff Turrall was in 4th in the TR3A/B but Scott Quattlebaum had usurped Andy Shepherd in the Ace, to take 5th place, the little Class 3 LECo really mixing it with the bigger cars. Only half a second behind Andy, was David Reed, the DB2 extremely competitive but now with the Arculus Elite beginning to pose a threat. Just over 5 seconds covered this incredibly diverse range of 8 cars, an absolute visual feast for the enthusiasts. As a group they had started to pull away from the fine two car battle for 9th between Mark Hoble and Justin Beckett in Morgan +4 and AC Ace respectively. They in turn were 4 seconds ahead of a 3 car battle led by Richard Thorne in his Morgan +4, leading Class 4 and now split from his closest rival, Tristan Bradfield in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans by Peter Baker’s DB2 which had displaced Tristan during the lap. 5 seconds behind, in 14th place, Andy Cox had moved forward from his relatively lowly grid position and was now heading Shaun Bromley doing the same in his MGA Coupe and Chris Bates in the Jowett Jupiter, these three tied closely together.

Simon Jefferies in the Aston DB MkIII was engaged in battle with Andrew Davenall’s Austin A105 and they were a couple of seconds ahead of Ed Shah in his Elva Courier and Mark Shears in the Morgan +4 Flat rad. Ed had had a pretty poor start, losing a number of places off the line but was already making up ground and likely to pull away from Mark and close on those ahead of him. Richard Frankel in car no 21 was, appropriately, 21st in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, one second ahead of Alan House in his Morgan +4. Barry Dye was 23rd but also making ground in his Lotus Elite whilst Stuart Dean had the DJS Coupe in 24th but being closed down by the recovering Andrew Mitchell in the Ginetta G4. Andrew had just passed Valerio Leone in the Elva Mk5, and propping up the tail was Glenn Brackenridge’s  Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans, nevertheless enjoying himself, and why wouldn’t he?

Heading into Quarry for the 3rd time, Marc Gordon got a run on Richard Tyzack and the XK150 emerged ahead of the Kellison to take 2nd place behind the flying Cooper Bristol of Alistair Pugh, but Marc was clearly on a mission and as they completed the lap, the XK was less than two tenths behind. The Kellison had dropped away a little in 3rd, whilst there was no stopping Scott Quattlebaum as he had moved forward another position at the expense of Geoff Turral’s TR. Andy Shepherd’s AC Ace was on Geoff’s tail and David Reed in the DB2 was only a further one second back but now fully engaged trying to hold off Brian Arculus in the Elite. The gap between 1st and 8th was now a tad under 5 seconds after 3 laps. It was stirring stuff. In fact the gap to 9th was now 7 seconds, greater than the time covered by the first 8. Mark Hoble’s battle to hold off Justin Beckett’s Ace continued to rage despite the AC beginning to suffer from intermittent power loss, and the pair were now 5 seconds ahead of Peter Baker’s DB2 which had overtaken Richard Thorne’s Morgan +4 and thus allowed the Sunbeam Alpine LM of Tristan Bradfield to close back up to Richard in their great Class 4 battle.  

Shaun Bromley was also flying at this stage having got ahead of Andy Cox, with the Jowett Jupiter of Chris Bates doggedly hanging onto the pair. This MG, TR, Jowett battle did not look like abating anytime soon as just over one second separated them at the end of the lap, although the only one of the three that we could hear was that unbelievably loud flat 4 crackle from the Jupiter! They were 4 seconds clear of Andrew Davenall’s Austin A105 which had finally moved ahead of the Aston of Simon Jefferies. Ed Shah was in 19th but only a couple of seconds behind and going a good bit quicker was Barry Dye, having taken 3 places during the course of the lap, the Lotus Elite was now up to 20th. You may wonder why Barry was so far back and he explains that ‘I was in the previous race and had to refuel in a congested paddock, missing the grid and starting from pit lane. I even had to overtake the ambulance and safety car once I was released’. So, Barry was coming from a long way back, well behind the pack compared to his official grid starting position of 13th. Behind, the Ginetta had regained another place, but otherwise the remaining places were unchanged.   

Less than 2 tenths separated the leaders as they started lap 4, and they had begun to drop Richard Tyzack’s Kellison who now had Scott Quattlebaum in the LECo closing in and by the end of the lap Scott had the LECo sitting on the tail of the Kellison with Geoff Turrall’s TR and Andy Shepherd’s AC Ace in close attendance. Ahead of them, we had our third leader as Marc Gordon grabbed the lead to come across the line 8 tenths up on the Cooper Bristol. The pair had now broken away from the chasing group and in 8th place, Brian Arculus took to the pits, as usual, the first to do so and it signalled the opening of the pit window phase.  Behind the excellent battle between Mark Hoble’s Morgan +4 and Justin Beckett’s AC Ace continued. Barry Dye had made a further couple of gains at the expense of Simon Jefferies and Ed Shah, to take 18th place and Andrew Mitchell had also recovered ground, completing the lap in 21st. Brian Arculus had been followed into the pits by Alan House in his Morgan, albeit some 40 seconds later.

Alistair Pugh’s Cooper Bristol had edged back up to the XK150 so that they completed lap 5 separated by half a second. Scott Quattlebaum was now up to 3rd, 5 seconds behind the Cooper Bristol as first lap leader, Richard Tyzack brought the Kellison in to hand over to Nick Taylor in order to give them a chance of a good result by letting Nick, a bit quicker, take the longer stint to mitigate the effects of their additional pit stop penalty. Shortly after, Glen Brackenridge, already lapped by the leaders, pulled the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans in for his stop, and he was followed in by Andrew Davenall in the A105 and Simon Jefferies in the Aston Martin DB MkIII.

The long pit stop phase was now in full swing but the leaders charged on and at the completion of lap 6 Marc had opened up the gap to Alistair to almost one second and Scott Quattlebaum in 3rd had made no gains on them. The lapped Stuart Dean was now in the pits in the MG DJS Coupe, as was David Reed in the maroon DB2, dropping him down the order for the time being. The great battle between Mark Hoble and Justin Beckett was broken up when Justin brought the Ace Bristol in for his stop and Mark pressed on in the Morgan. Andy Cox also pitted at the end of this lap, so what with the stops and the lapped cars, both the field and some of the battles were now well broken up and it would be sometime before the true order was re-established. I know I say that every time but it’s a fact!         

Marc Gordon brought the Jaguar XK150 into the pits at the end of lap 7, handing the lead back to Alistair Pugh in the Cooper Bristol. 63 seconds later, Shaun Bromley brought the MGA Coupe in for its brief rest in the pits. Alistair’s lead was shortlived as he pitted the following lap, so that Scott Quattlebaum then hit the front in the LECo. As Scott completed Lap 8, Richard Frankel pitted his Giulietta Sprint and was followed in a short while later by Peter Baker’s DB2 and Andrew Mitchell, who handed the Ginetta G4 over to owner, Mark Morgan. The new leader pitted on lap 9, and 90 seconds later, and the last driver still on the lead lap, Mark Shears did the same in the splendid Flat Rad Morgan +4. It meant that at the end of lap 10, we had yet another leader; this time Geoff Turrall in the Triumph TR3A/B. He was still embroiled in battle with Andy Shepherd but on that lap Andy pitted to hand over to son, Murray, which meant with all the erstwhile leaders working their way back into contention after their pit stops, Geoff had a lead of almost half a minute over Mark Hoble’s Morgan +4, with Richard Thorne’s 2 litre +4 in 3rd a further 16 seconds back. As an anorak, I note therefore that the first 3 cars at this point were all powered by versions of the Triumph TR engine. Tristan  Bradfield, in the Sunbeam Alpine LM was less than 3 seconds behind Richard so the battle for Class 4 honours was still in the balance. Marc Gordon was back up to 5th, and he really did now look favourite to take the overall win. Just behind Marc, Barry Dye was continuing his excellent recovery drive, but was yet to pit, and Chris Bates, still out in the Jupiter was next up but with the rapid Quattlebaum LECo now on its outlap just a few seconds behind, Chris would shortly be taken by both Scott and Brian Arculus, back up to speed in the Elite. Valerio Leone in the Elva Mk5 and Ed Shah in the Elva Courier had now joined the Shepherd Ace in the pits for their stops. Sadly, we had lost Glenn Brackenridge in the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans. It had started to vent steam and with the water temperature gently rising he wisely pitted to retire. It was discovered that the filler cap neck seal to the header tank was split, so it will be an easy fix but a frustrating way to end the race. Glenn was to be the only retirement of the race.

The race swept on; the leader, Geoff Turrall completed lap 11, the TR going very quickly, lapping in the 1.28-1.29 bracket, 34 seconds ahead of Mark Hoble’s Morgan +4 and 50 seconds ahead of Richard Thorne’s Morgan’s +4. All three were going deep into the race before taking their mandatory stops and there was an unusual lull in pitlane activity at this point, since no-one took their stops although there were still half a dozen cars on track yet to do so. The TR3A/B continued to lead at the end of lap 12, extending the lead to the Hoble Morgan but Marc Gordon was on his way in the XK150 and had just overtaken the Thorne Morgan to move into 3rd place. Tristan Bradfield pitted the Sunbeam Alpine LM. Barry Dye still yet to pit, was in 6th but behind, a fantastic battle was brewing between Murray Shepherd in the AC Ace and Scott Quattlebaum in the LECo, disputing 7th but clearly both destined to move further up the leader board, lapping roughly at the same pace as the XK, in the 1.26s, but 16 seconds behind the Jaguar. A few seconds behind and lapping only a little slower was Brian Arculus in the Lotus Elite. The quick boys were heading back towards the front, as Chris Bates finally pitted the Jowett Jupiter to hand over to owner, Harry Naergar. Nick Taylor was charging hard in the Kellison ahead of David Reed in the DB2, and the Cooper Bristol of Alistair Pugh. They were 1 min 27 secs behind the leader, but more importantly, over half a minute behind the XK150, so would surely not figure now with 6 laps to go.

The TR finally pitted at the end of lap 13, Geoff Turrall handing over to Toddy Worthington, who, with the best will in the world was not going to be able to match Geoff’s lap times. It was unlikely to figure in the top 6 at the end but there was so much great racing taking place down the field with positions still to be resolved. Mark Hoble now had the lead but Marc Gordon was only 9 seconds away and going 6 seconds a lap quicker. Richard Thorne pitted and was therefore about to drop down the order as the brilliant battle between the Shepherd Ace and the Quattlebaum LECO passed him on track. However, they had dropped a further second behind the XK150, and there seemed no way back, but their dice clearly captivated both the commentators and spectators. The Arculus Elite lapped even quicker and Brian was now under 4 seconds behind the dicing duo. Barry Dye in the sister Elite pitted after his long and excellent recovery stint and he was now well placed to capitalise on it in the run to the flag. He had the quickest stop of all. In fact the brace of Elites had the best two stops of the race so full marks to Roy Gillingham who timed them out. It has to be said that others lost quite a bit of time during their stops. The Kellison and Cooper Bristol were still battling hard and had dropped the Reed Aston by a couple of seconds and the last car on the lead lap was Justin Beckett in the second of the AC Ace Bristols.      

Marc Gordon retook the lead on lap14 as Mark Hoble finally pitted, the last to do so. He had cut it pretty fine. Even the non starting fellow Morgan racer, Reuben Jacob was holding his breath as he was monitoring it all whilst heading north on his long journey to Scotland! Murray Shepherd was now up to 3rd but had Scott Quattlebaum glued to his tail as they crossed the line and both would now move up another place, passing the stationary Hoble Morgan. They had both lapped marginally quicker, in the 1.25s, than the XK150, but were still over 16 seconds behind. On the other hand, Brian Arculus had had a slower lap in the Elite and was now 7 seconds behind them, so now probably with little chance of a top 3 position. He was in fact vulnerable to the hard charging Nick Taylor in the big bellowing Kellison who was just under 7 seconds behind with the Cooper Bristol of Alistair Pugh another 2 seconds back. Both Nick and Alistair were trying to minimise the impact of their additional 15 seconds pitstop and doing so to good effect. David Reed was also pressing on, the DB2 well ahead of Toddy Worthington in the TR. Toddy was getting back up to speed but soon to come within striking range of Justin Beckett who, still on the lead lap, was hunting him down in the Ace.

Marc Gordon completed lap 15 dipping under 1.26 but Murray and Scott were still marginally quicker and had the lead down to under 16 seconds but it was all too late really, and they also had a number of cars to lap that Marc had already passed. Brian Arculus was 4th but the big Kellison was now only 3 seconds away, Nick having pulled away from the Pugh Cooper Bristol. David Reed was a lonely 7th in his DB2 but Justin Beckett was now just over 3 seconds behind Toddy and Mark Hoble back on track in his Morgan remained unlapped in 10th place.

In an excellent 11th place, Tristan Bradfield’s consistently quick pace after his stop in the Sunbeam Alpine LM had finally paid off as he passed Richard Thorne whilst the Morgan was emerging from his pit stop. This was another battle that would surely go to the flag. Barry Dye was up to 13th in his Elite and Peter Baker 14th in his DB2. Peter’s lap times suggest that he should have been a little higher up the order, but his pit stop was pretty slow and I reckon that he probably lost a good 14 seconds there. It is difficult to calculate the gaps between cars on the lap charts once they have gone a lap down but 15th was Andrew Davenall (A105), 16th Shaun Bromley (MGA), 17th Andy Cox (TR3 Falcon),  18th Ed Shah (Elva Courier), 19th  Mark Shears (Morgan Flat Rad), 20th Simon Jefferies (Aston DB MkIII), 21st Mark Morgan (Ginetta G4) and 22nd Alan House in his Morgan +4, the last few now 2 laps down. The Ginetta  should also have been higher up the order, but it had a particularly slow stop, even slower than the two cars serving the extra 15 seconds! Clearly, Mark and Andrew have taken my ‘don’t go too quickly’ request to heart but such a self- imposed time handicap seems a trifle excessive, particularly since they had already lost time at the beginning  of the race!   

The race might have been winding down but the racing certainly wasn’t. Battles through the field remained unresolved as Marc Gordon crossed the line for the 16th time, the battle for second, in particular, continued to thrill the crowd and had actually brought the dicing duo closer to the Jaguar, the lead now under 15 seconds. Murray Shepherd had the Ace dancing and a slender advantage over the Scott Quattlebaum LECo. Brian Arculus remained 4th even with the Kellison breathing down his neck and the Cooper Bristol of Alistair Pugh was 6 seconds behind them in 6th place. David Reed was 16 seconds behind in the DB2 but secure in 7th with a similar gap back to Toddy Worthington in the TR. Toddy’s place was certainly not secure as Justin Beckett was lapping his Ace a couple of seconds quicker and was now just 1.5 seconds away. There were now only 9 on the lead lap as Mark Hoble had been lapped by the leader, who then completed his 17th lap, having, this time, increased his gap which had gone back out to almost 16 seconds whilst Murray seemed to have gained the ascendancy over the LECo having pulled a gap of just over 1.5 seconds. Lapping had played its part here but could it have been enough to give Murray 2nd at the flag given how closely matched the two cars were? 

Seven seconds behind the Quattlebaum LECo, the sheer power of the Kellison had overwhelmed the Arculus Elite. Brian’s lap time suggests that he may have been hampered slightly by back markers. A few years back, he had given the Kellison a real run for its money losing out by half a car’s length, but that was at Silverstone with Richard Tyzack on board, and this was Castle Combe with Nick Taylor in full flow. The Kellison at this point in the race was an irresistible force, and now the quickest car in the field but with 3 laps to go it seemed unlikely that he was going to improve on 4th. Brian had to turn his attention to his next challenge which was to maintain the gap to hold off Alistair Pugh’s Cooper Bristol, which had got under 1.26 again and coupled with Brian’s slower lap had brought Alistair within 3 seconds of the Elite.

David Reed’s place remained unchanged, but Justin Beckett had snatched 8th place from Toddy Worthington and had a slender advantage over the TR as they completed the lap. Mark Hoble, one lap down was 10th whilst the fight for 11th was still very much on! Tristan was holding onto the place for all he was worth in the Sunbeam Alpine LM but Richard Thorne had the bit between his teeth and had taken almost 2 seconds back in a single lap. Barry Dye in the Elite was matching them but too far back to join in the battle brewing ahead whilst Peter Baker was also holding station in the DB2. He had the Elite well in sight but, frustratingly for him, was making no impression. Further back, Andrew Davenall was on his own in the big Austin in 15th place and lapping quicker than his pursuers, who were Andy Cox, 16th in the TR3 Falcon and Ed Shah in the Elva Courier. Ed was closing in gradually on the Triumph, so a change of place was a possibility. 18th was Shaun Bromley in the MGA Coupe and 19th, the Flat Rad Morgan of Mark Shears. Alan House had just gone 2 laps down to the leader and was 20th in his Morgan +4, and Richard Frankel was again 21st in his lovely little Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint and not that far away from Alan. Harry Naegar in the Jowett Jupiter and Stuart Dean in the DJS Coupe were 22nd and 23rd whilst Valerio Leone had gone 3 laps down in the Elva Mk5. The two missing cars? Well both Mark Morgan’s Ginetta and  Simon Jefferies Aston do not appear on the chart for lap 17, simply because they had gone a further lap down to the leader as the leader crossed the line for lap 18 and so reappear just behind him at the completion of that lap. They were actually ahead of a number of their fellow competitors!

At the end of that 18th lap Marc Gordon’s lead had dropped to 15.4 seconds to Murray and Scott but that gap was unassailable and actually went out again over the course of lap 19. Having dropped away slightly, Scott Quattlebaum had fought his way back onto the tail of the AC Ace with a lap to go and this battle for 2nd was surely to go to the flag. Nick Taylor had put in the fastest race lap at 1.23.540 to bring the Kellison within 6 seconds of the dicing duo. It was fully 2 seconds quicker than any other car in the race (hence the pit stop time penalty!) and a mighty charge. Brian Arculus now had Alistair Pugh’s Cooper Bristol to contend with as Alistair was now on the tail of the Elite going into the final lap so 5th was still unsettled. Justin Beckett had cleared off from Toddy Worthington but over 20 seconds behind 7th placed David Reed’s DB2 . Toddy’s 9th place was secure though and the TR was still on the lead lap.

Mark Hoble, a lap down, also seemed secure in 10th place but Tristan Bradfield’s Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans had finally been overhauled by Richard Thorne’s Morgan and they had both been caught by Barry Dye’s Lotus Elite, so we now had a 3 way battle on the final lap to the flag and Peter Baker’s DB2 was not that far away either. Andy Cox and Ed Shah had been dicing for some laps, too, and they were still together entering their final lap, so another to go to the wire. So much good racing right to the end.  All the positions behind Ed were now pretty much settled.  

Onto the last lap and there were to be some late changes of position behind Marc Gordon who took the flag, after a truly excellent drive in the Jaguar XK150. I don’t think he’d put a foot wrong and he won by the unusually large margin of almost 17 seconds. However, the gap was not to Murray Shepherd’s AC Ace! Murray had resisted the onslaught from Scott Quattlebaum’s LECo for lap after lap and yet, on that final circuit, what appeared to be a momentary lapse was pounced on by Scott who after applying constant pressure took his chance and scrambled ahead to cross the line in a superb second place. Murray took a few moments to recover being jumped by Scott and the Ace finished 3 seconds down to the LECo, a gap far larger than that which had separated them at any stage in the second half of the race. Murray and Scott had driven their socks off in a 10 lap duel that had drawn in both spectators and commentators to the extent that some fine driving and dices behind probably didn’t get the attention they merited.

The pace of the Kellison had been hugely impressive throughout and, as a result of Murray’s slow last lap, Nick Taylor brought the V8 across the line just 2 seconds down on the Ace, to take 4th place. Brian Arculus did a great job holding off the Cooper Bristol of Alastair Pugh long enough to take 5th place by less than a second. David Reed had a good race in the DB2 but in terms of racing his was a pretty lonely race, given the gaps before and aft of him, finishing a fine 7th! Justin Beckett continues to put in good drives and he finished 8th here in his AC Ace Bristol having pulled well clear of Toddy Worthington in the TR3A/B, who nevertheless had a good race to remain on the lead lap at the flag.

Mark Hoble had been in the thick of things early on, in a great battle with Justin Beckett, but his pit stop took 4 seconds longer and leaving his pit stop to the last minute may not have been the way to go as he definitely lost a bit of an edge when he had no-one to battle with, whereas Justin just got quicker in the second half of the race, despite the Bristol engine not being at its best. The difference was two positions and the completion of one lap less, in 10th place. It was still a good race however, and but for the meteoric LECo (now to be promoted with Scott driving!), Mark would have had Class 3 easily sewn up!  

The battle behind also saw changes on the last lap but I cannot help feeling, looking at Richard Thorne’s slow lap time in the Morgan +4, that he had a ‘moment’ somewhere out at the back of the circuit since the competitive Tristan Bradfield regained 11th to take a really hard earned Class 4 win in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans, and moreover Barry Dye, racing right up to the flag in the Lotus Elite had also taken advantage of the situation to pass Richard to take 12th. Another lap and he probably would have grabbed 11th as he was less than 6 tenths away at the flag. I think that this was probably one of Barry’s best drives to date, and given where he had started, he was pretty pleased with the outcome. I’m sure that the fresh gearbox, which he had, in effect, run in during the previous race, gave him the confidence to press on and it was a great effort. Peter Baker was 14th in the second of the Aston Martin DB2s (how good is to see 2 of this model out with us again!). He was sitting on the tail of Richard Thorne’s Morgan at the flag and but for his slow pit stop would surely have been at the head of this bunch of cars since 3.5 seconds covered 11th-14th.

Andrew Davenall completed 19 laps to finish 15th in the Austin A105 with a 7 second gap back to Andrew Cox in the Falcon bodied TR3. Andrew had held off Ed Shah in the Elva Courier, crossing the line ahead by 1 second. Shaun Bromley was another to have a pretty lonely race towards the end finishing 12 seconds behind Ed but his MGA had suffered from a misfire during the second half of the race so he would undoubtedly have been in the battle ahead otherwise. Shaun was the last to complete 19 laps.

Completing 18 laps in 19th was Mark Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan +4, doing so without his son, Jonny, on this occasion. Mark Morgan was quite a long way back in the Ginetta G4 but the first lap incident coupled with the slowest of all driver changeovers at their pitstop must have cost over a minute altogether and they would surely have been further up the field without these delays. Simon Jefferies brought the splendid DB MkIII home in 21st. He was unable to emulate his great drive here last year, as the Aston was down on power. Alan House was 22nd, just under 5 seconds clear of the lovely little 1300cc Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint of Richard Frankel. A further half minute behind, Harry Naergar brought the Jowett Jupiter across the line in 24th place whilst on 17 laps, Stuart Dean and Valerio Leone took the final spots in the MG DJS Coupe and Elva Mk5 sports racer respectively. The whole race had been a great watch and I think FISCAR did Castle Combe proud, bucking the trend and harping back to the early years of our presence at this track, so long may it continue.   

Summary & Annual Awards

Before I comment on the season and the annual awards, a brief reference to driving standards. Although I saw none myself, I am aware of a small number of incidents in this race, a couple of which led, unfortunately, to damage to cars but all went on to finish the race. FISCAR has acquired a well-earned reputation for high driving standards both inside and outside the club, and I suggest that it is as good as any club and better than most in this respect. Reflecting back on all our years of racing, I think that it would be fair to say that we have had more incidents at this technically challenging circuit than at any other. Errors of judgement can, and do, occur at all levels of motor racing, often as a result of a simple misunderstanding of what the other car is doing. Differences of opinion as to the cause, also inevitably arise, but I know that every member who races with us respects their fellow drivers and the value of their cars, so I’ll leave it at that.

This race was the culmination of what has turned out to be a very good FISCAR season on track with a substantial upsurge in entries and if we can continue to maintain this momentum into next season, it augurs well for what is one of the smallest racing clubs on the UK club racing scene. It has been particularly well supported by Class 3 & Class 4 entries. Here, at Castle Combe, we had the unusual sight of a lead battle that contained cars from classes 1 - 3 with their best lap times within tenths of each other. This would not normally make sense until we know that Murray Shepherd in Class 2 is an ARDS instructor, and that Scott Quattlebaum is clearly able to make a car with an old MG XPAG engine go better than we have any right to expect! In most of our races (wet weather excepted!) 1-2 seconds separate the best laps of each class in descending order. If we continue with the current class structure and Scott continues to support us, as I imagine Alex would like him to do, I’d have no choice but to promote the LECo to Class 1.

At the presentations, as well as the ‘on the day’ awards, we were able to name our annual award winners although not all of the recipients were on hand to accept them. The team Inter-Marque Trophy was well won by the Morgan team this year, having it all wrapped up even before this race, so well done to them. They have been a strong presence at all our races this year. More surprising is the fact that Aston Martin managed to snatch second from Lotus. They ran in only two of our races, but performed very well in both, scoring heavily.

The Whitehead Cup (Index of Performance) was won, comfortably in the end, after Reuben Jacob’s non start here, by Andy Cox in the unique Triumph TR3 Falcon. This was Andy’s first full season with us so many congratulations to him. Reuben, despite failing to get beyond qualifying here, had scored well throughout the season and held onto 2nd with Alan House, 3rd by a single point from Justin Beckett (last year’s winner) and Richard Thorne.

In our classes, Class 1 was won by Brian Arculus in the Lotus Elite beating Jonathan Abecassis by dint of entering one more race than Jonathan. Barry Dye was 3rd in his Elite.

Class 2 was won by Justin Beckett in his AC Ace Bristol by 3 points from Ed Shah. Had Ed not had to withdraw his Elva Courier following practice at Thruxton, it could have been closer still. Third was Paul Woolmer in his Elva Courier. Paul tended, as last year to have the pace of the Class 2 field but this season only managed to enter twice.

Class 3 was won by Andy Cox, so a clean sweep for him, proof that it pays to enter all the races and just press on! Alan House was 2nd, also having entered all 5 (but withdrew from Donington through injury). Peter Blanchett was 3rd in the RGS Atalanta and had he and Peter Baker (4th in the DB2) entered more races, they would have made life a lot harder for Andy.

Class 4 was won by Mark and Jonny Shears in the Flat Rad Morgan +4 by one point from Richard Thorne. Richard had the pace of the Class but entered one less event than the Shears and suffered a rare defeat to Tristan Bradfield in the final race, and it was enough to make the difference.

Congratulations to all our award winners. The full tables of results now appear on the NEWS page.

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