The Silverstone International Trophy was awarded to American Duncan Dayton as the winner of Round 6 of the FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix World Championship on July 31st as one of the headlining events for the Silverstone Classic race meeting. Spain’s Joaquin Folch had started his Williams FW08/5 from pole position after sustaining minor damage following a gravel trap excursion in practice and fought off a determined Dayton for 7 of the 13 laps. However, Dayton and his Williams FW07 finished up the victor by 3.887 seconds over Folch, followed by Swiss Hubertus Bahlsen, some 24.5 seconds back with his Arrows A4. Interestingly, the first Grand Prix victory for Williams was scored by Clay Regazzoni in an FW07 at the British GP at Silverstone in 1979 and Dayton’s success brought back those memories to many observers.
Martin Stretton’s spectacular drive in a Tyrrell P34 six-wheeler was rewarded with 4th place overall and a Class B win, only 0.7 seconds behind Bahlsen. Richard Eyre’s Williams FW08/3 and Steve Hartley’s Arrows A6 (Class D winner) rounded out the top six. The 1978 Ferrari 312T3 of John Bosch was the only non-Cosworth runner and a popular 7th place finisher. Fellow American John Delane secured the Class A spoils in his Tyrrell 001, with his son Ryan running three places further back in the sister Tyrrell 002. The Delanes staged a popular display in the paddock with all three of their Tyrrells (006 being entered in the GP Masters FI race) lined up in front of the original team transporter.
Photo: Charlie Wooding
In addition to the TGP event, the Silverstone Classic weekend hosted a total of 14 races, including two rounds of the Group C/GTP series. The Nissan R90K of Charlie Agg and the Jaguar XJR11 of Gary Pearson ran in close company, with Pearson ending up the winner of the first counter by 3.55 seconds from Agg. Pearson was also the victor of race two after the early retirement of Agg’s Nissan. American entries in the Group C/GTP race included Peter McLaughlin in his Spice SE90, Jim Mullen in his Spice GTP and Nick Rini in a Jaguar XJR-12D.
Frank Sytner enjoyed three victories in the Masters Series races—with his Lola T70 Mk3B in the 60-minute Denny Hulme Trophy for World Sports Masters and then with his Penske PC3 in two rounds of the Grand Prix Masters for Historic F1 Cars, for which he claimed the James Hunt Trophy. Sytner was made to work hard in the first F1 race, overhauling Peter Williams’s March 761, which lost fourth gear, then fending off the fast-closing Wolf WR1 of Peter Wuensch to win by less than 1 second. Sytner’s victory in the second race was assured when James Hanson retired his Surtees TS9B and Wuensch ran on the grass on the pit straight passing a back-marker, spun and resumed, amazingly without harm. Pole-sitter Duncan Dayton and his Brabham BT33 were unlucky to retire on the first lap of Race 1 after avoiding someone else’s moment but secured 3rd in Race 2.
Submitted by Keith Booker
Photo: Keith Booker
