The Vintage Sports Car Club’s new Formula Vintage series enjoyed a second triumphant outing on the weekend of June 10-11, despite the weather’s best efforts to disrupt the track action throughout the afternoon at Oulton Park on the Saturday.
Following the great success of the Club’s inaugural Formula Vintage event at Silverstone in April, it was a highly anticipated return to Oulton Park, Cheshire, where the VSCC has held meetings since 1955. The Club’s prestigious Hawthorn Memorial Trophies headlined a packed 11-race program for Vintage, Post-Vintage, Historic and Classic Racing and Sports Cars, alongside additional AutoSolo and Concours features for Pre-war machinery.
Despite the rolling parkland being bathed in stunning sunshine for setup and scrutineering on Friday afternoon the summer weather was not to last, however, as heavy rain set in overnight, assuring a wet start to Saturday’s proceedings.
A long-standing element at VSCC Oulton Park events, the Cheshire Life Concours was won by the 1934 Lagonda M45 of long-time local club member Brian Green.
In a late change to the program, the Fiscar Blaster Bates Trophy had been cancelled and replaced with an additional Pre-war All-Comers Scratch Race.
In typical fashion, Tom Walker launched the mighty 12-liter Hispano-engined Amilcar into the lead from the second row of the grid as pole-sitter Justin Maeers gave chase in the GN Parker, also aero engine-powered. By mid-race, the Amilcar’s brakes had overheated, allowing the Cirrus-Parker through to take the opening victory, ahead of Walker and Christian Pedersen’s potent Austin 7 Monoposto.
Then it was the first Club’s Special Pre-war Sports Cars battle for the Oulton Park Trophy, accommodating the more modified of the Club’s road-going racing machinery. Having set the fastest time of practice, it was a somewhat inevitable victory for the GN/Ford “Piglet” of Longstone Tyres chief Dougal Cawley, who has been one of the leading exponents of this series for the past few seasons. A misfire during the morning resulted in a third row start for Andrew Mitchell, who seemed to have solved the issue by race time, making quick progress in the rapid HRG, eventually to claim 2nd ahead of Mark Gillies in Dick Skipworth’s Aston Martin.
The Bill Phillips Trophy race produced yet another busy grid of original Pre-war Sports Cars in action, with Mitchell enjoying more success. Again starting down the grid, the HRG pilot made another quick start, making up multiple places on the opening lap to find himself 2nd, but could not match the pace of young Eddie Williams, who powered clear in Charles Gillett’s Frazer Nash. However, there was more drama to follow as the Nash was adjudged to have jumped the start, with the subsequent 10-second penalty just enough to deny Williams a maiden victory, with Mitchell taking the silverware by just 0.63 seconds ahead of the youngster, and Tim Kneller a satisfied 3rd in his Riley TT Sprite.
Returning to Formula Vintage again, the AR Motorsport Morgan Challenge provided another thrilling feature, with a pair of the marque’s new ARV6 models on the podium in the hands of reigning champion Elliot Paterson and Andrew Thompson. It was, however, the Plus 8 of perennial frontrunner, Keith Ahlers that led the way once more, although brake issues deterred his dominance on this occasion as young Paterson hounded him all the way to the checkered flag.
The highly anticipated Boulogne Trophy was a repeat of the day’s earlier Walker/Maeers battle as the pair were joined by the fastest of the Club’s Pre-1931 Vintage Racing Cars for the headline feature, including trophy holder Tony Lees, who would start from pole in the ex-Ron Footitt AC/GN “Cognac.” A poor start left Lees dropping back as Walker and Maeers again streaked ahead. The earlier brake issues seemed to have been resolved as Walker’s Amilcar soon built a dominant lead he would not relinquish on his way to claiming victory and a semblance of revenge for his earlier defeat. He was followed home by Maeers — only discovering at the finish that he had lost both a chain and handbrake lever during the race — and Lees, who overcame his poor start and close battle with fellow “Chain Gang” representative, Charles Gillett, to take the final podium place.
Having set a searing pace during the morning’s wet qualifying, Mark Gillies was a hot favorite for the Hawthorn Trophies race in the sole surviving ERA, and proceeded to demonstrate his supreme ability in the deteriorating conditions at the wheel of Dick Skipworth’s R3A to win his 7th Hawthorn Spanish Trophy. While unable to keep pace with the flying Pre-war machine, Charles Gillett enjoyed an impressive competitive debut in his newly acquired Cooper T43 to take runner-up spot, relieved to bring the famed rear-engined racer home safely ahead of Fred Harper — the winner of the last round at Silverstone, he was happy to claim the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy as the first eligible Post-war finisher in his Kurtis-Offenhauser.
Always a highlight of a VSCC Race Meeting, the penultimate Vintage event saw another exciting edition of the ever-popular Pre-war Handicap format, with another eclectic array of Racing and Sports-Cars on the grid. As the rain continued, there was every chance that one of the early starters could stay out front for the duration and so it proved, as young Robert Moore kept his plucky Austin 7 ahead of all but a couple of the quicker challengers to claim a heroic podium finish. Ahead, it was the Morgan 4/4 Le Mans of Simon King who took a narrow victory over Alan Harpley’s Avon/Alvis Special, the pair separated by less than two seconds at the finish.
As regular supporters of the VSCC, the 500 Owners Association was another welcome addition to the program, bringing a strong entry of their F3 (500) Racing Cars. Renowned for his ability in the wet, Richard de la Roche proved a worthy winner, converting his pole position into race victory in his Cooper Mk 5. It was by no means an easy ride, however, as he was pressed by the fellow Coopers of Mike Fowler and Darrell Woods, the trio traded blows throughout and were never separated by more than a couple of seconds.
Those who braved the conditions to the end were treated to a fitting finale in the form of another of the Club’s All-Comers Pre-war Scratch races. A jump start penalty could not deter Mark Gillies who dominated proceedings once more in ERA R3A, ahead of yet another podium for Justin Maeers in the “whole again” GN Parker. There was somewhat of a surprise result for 3rd as Tony Seber, one of four from the family competing at Oulton, scored an impressive finish ahead of the battling Frazer Nash Norris Special of Julian Grimwade and Tony Lees in Cognac.
The next Formula Vintage round takes place at Cadwell Park on Sunday July 23, followed by events at Mallory Park (August 12) and Snetterton (September 17).
Full Race Results are now on the VSCC website www.vscc.co.uk/vsccMedia/22227.pdf
