The St Mary’s Trophy race at the Goodwood Revival 2015 was held 11-13 September at the 2.4-mile Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex, England.
The 2015 edition of the St Mary’s Trophy featured cars from the 1960s – the genesis of touring car racing. A thrilling and close-fought battle between diverse and classic cars took place, including icons such as the Mini Cooper, BMW 1800, Lotus Cortina, Jaguar Mk2, Ford Anglia, Ford Galaxie and Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA. As ever, the format remained a celebrity race on Saturday, featuring a line-up full of touring-car legends, ex-Formula 1 racers and even ‘Mr Le Mans’ himself, Tom Kristensen, with the car owners taking their turn on Sunday, and the result declared on aggregate.
This year’s race has to go down as one of the finest in the history of the Goodwood Revival. Yet none of the leading trio, who were covered by the proverbial handkerchief for much of the contest, were to win.
Having started from the back row of the grid following a troubled practice – in which he drove for just 400 metres – nine time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen inexorably blasted past the rest of the field in a Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt that he had seen for the first time that week. With less than five minutes remaining he was into the lead and a great victory. “It was a bit like an artillery piece against a water pistol as he came past me,” said second-placed Gordon Shedden.
The spectacle up to this point had been all about British Touring Car Championship rivals Shedden and Andrew Jordan in their Lotus Cortinas, and the aggressive Frank Stippler in his Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA. For the full 25 minutes, there was hardly any clear air between the three. Jordan blasted off the starting grid first before he was taken by Shedden and then Stippler, the latter twice leaving the circuit during the race. For the rest of the race there was little between them although it was usually Shedden or Stippler who led. Shedden tried to stay with Kristensen once the Dane had gone past but it was in vain thanks to the power of the big American V8. Stippler, sideways as ever, stayed ahead of Jordan to the finish despite his second excursion.
The job was far more straightforward for Kristensen’s co-driver Henry Mann – son of Alan Mann – in part two. He started from the front row and was soon into the lead and on his way to claim overall victory for the pair.
While Mann cleared off, the Cortinas of Matt Neal and Mike Jordan battled away for most of the race, the latter never managing to get past, despite all his efforts. Richard Shaw finished a lonely fourth in his BMW 1800 TiSA. However, all the excitement of the race was not for the lead, as it had been on Day One, but for fifth place. Nick Swift’s cheeky Mini Cooper harried Alex Furiani’s hectically-driven Alfa Romeo 1600GTA, even managing to get past at one point although the superior power of the Italian car won out in the end.
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Similar to RAC Tourist Trophy, Sussex Trophy, Lavant Cup, Freddie March Trophy and Whitsun Trophy, Senior Photographer Tim Scott also documented the St Mary’s Trophy race at the the 2015 Goodwood Revival. We split up Tim’s pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery and race results can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Tim, visit fluidimages.co.uk.
Goodwood Revival 2015 – St Mary’s Trophy Photo Gallery
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Goodwood Revival 2015 – St Mary’s Trophy Photo Gallery Page Two
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Goodwood Revival 2015 – St Mary’s Trophy Photo Gallery Page Three
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Goodwood Revival 2015 – St Mary’s Trophy Photo Gallery Page Four
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Goodwood Revival 2015 – St Mary’s Trophy Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)
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The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
[Source: Goodwood; photos: Tim Scott / Fluid Images]
