The Bentley Drivers Club meeting is always one I look forward to as it seems to me to offer an insight into old style club grassroots racing and a great atmosphere all of its own. This year we did not provide the size of grid that we normally produce but it was nevertheless a most interesting collection of cars that took to our grid and truly representative of a period which had so much variety.

There were a number of returnees and very welcome they were too. Chris Guest entered in his RGS Atalanta, both car and driver sorely missed for a few seasons. Simon Gurney returned with his lovely MGA Coupe and it was so good to see Andy Shepherd return at last, with his AC Ace, after a couple of seasons absence. Nigel Winchester turned up with a really lovely original Lotus 7, and all in all it was a fascinating mix of cars to behold.

David Brazell had, as his co driver, one John Harper. Now those of you, like me, of an age that you would probably not wish to disclose, may well remember John from over 30 years ago as a pretty quick pedaller, no more so than when he was behind the wheel of the famous Ferrari 250GT Breadvan and taking on the late Mike Salmon in the Aston Martin Project 212 in historic racing. Ah, those were the days!

Qualifying

Qualifying produced a bit of a surprise when the Cottingham/King AC Ace Bristol took pole, ahead of the Brazell/Harper Jaguar C type. Jim Campbell took 3rd and less than half a second covered these first 3 cars. In fact the Shepherd AC Ace Bristol, 4th on the grid was just a tenth behind Jim so potentially, a great race was in the offing. 5th fastest was the big Kellison J4R of Tyzack and Taylor (NOT Peter Hiscocks as named in the programme and results - Peter was in his own MGA!) in stark contrast to the diminutive Lotus 7 of Nigel Winchester alongside. On the fourth row was the Connaught ALSR of a Paul Griffin, going ever quicker, and Alan House in his Morgan Plus 4. The fifth row was an all MGA affair with Peter Hiscocks alongside the father and son pairing of Glenn and Rory Tollett. A brace of AC Ace Bristols occupied Row 6, Justin Beckett just ahead of Mark Morgan, also sharing with his son, Alex. Row 7 had Chris Guest in the RGS Atalanta just ahead of Keith Hampson in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans and the final row was occupied by the Lancia Aurelia B20GT of Jason & Louis Kennedy with Simon Gurney’s MGA Coupe in the last slot.

Race

The quickest of the MGA qualifiers, Peter Hiscocks, failed to take the grid. At the start, John Harper surged the Jaguar C type into the lead, followed by Jim Campbell in the Austin Healey 100/4, both having overwhelmed poleman, David Cottingham’s AC Ace who found himself alongside fellow Ace pilot, Andy Shepherd (see photo at head of the page). Alan House made a cracking start in the Morgan to pull alongside both Nigel Winchester’s Lotus 7 and the Kellison J4R, although once the big V8 in the latter got into its stride, it soon annexed 5th as the cars streamed through Copse for the first time.

At the end of the first lap John Harper had a 1.5 seconds lead over Jim Campbell in the Austin Healey 100/4. Jim, in turn had a small gap over Andy Shepherd and David Cottingham, both in AC Ace Bristols and they were being pressed by the Kellison J4R, just 4 tenths covering the 3 cars. Nigel Winchester had the little Lotus 7 in 6th place a further one second back but pulling clear of Alan House’s Morgan which was challenged by Paul Griffin’s Connaught ALSR. Next up was Justin Becket’s AC Ace Bristol, but hard on his tail was Glenn Tollett in his MGA and Mark Morgan in his AC Ace Bristol . Already dropping back was, by his own admission, a race rusty Chris Guest in the RGS Atalanta, and behind him a good dice was brewing between Keith Hampson (Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans), Jason Kennedy (Lancia Aurelia) and Simon Gurney in his MGA.

As John Harper completed his second lap and consolidated his lead in the C type over Jim Campbell’s Austin Healey, there was plenty of action behind. Richard Tyzack used the V8 power of the Kellison to boom passed both Andy Shepherd and Adrian King in the AC Aces so that it completed lap 2 in 3rd place and went after Jim. At the same time, David had also been passed by the little Lotus 7 of Nigel Winchester who came round in 5th place. On the same lap, Paul Griffin took his Connaught passed Alan House in the Morgan for 7th place, and Chris Guest decided to play himself in by deliberately dropping behind the battling threesome previously mentioned which also allowed him to enjoy the spectacle now in front of him.

There were no changes of position during lap 3 and John Harper had the lead out to just under 3 seconds, the C type going beautifully, with Jim Campbell chasing, in his Austin Healey but beginning to come under pressure from Richard Tyzack in the Kellison. However, Jim, lapping as he so often does, at a quick, but equally important, consistent pace, not only ensured that John did not pull further away but pegged him back a little, the gap never going above 2.8 seconds until he pitted. He also held the Kellison at bay and these first 3 held a comfortable 6 - 7 second lead over the chasing Andy Shepherd in the Ace, who himself was pulling strongly away from 5th placed Nigel Winchester in the wonderful early Lotus 7. By the end of lap 4, Nigel was over 5 seconds down on Andy but strongly placed in 6th as his closest challenger, David Cottingham had pitted his Ace at the end of lap 3, followed in by Paul Griffin in the charismatic Connaught ALSR. David handed over to Adrian King whilst Paul, driving solo, remained in his seat! The only changes in position at this stage were those resulting from these two pitting, Alan House moving into 6th place in the Morgan +4 with Justin Becket (AC Ace) Glenn Tollett (MGA), and Mark Morgan (AC ACe) in close order, less than 3 seconds covering the four of them as they completed lap 4. Some way behind but also in close order were Keith Hampson (Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans), Jason Kennedy (Lancia Aurelia) and Simon Gurney’s MGA. Chris Guest continued to prop up the back in the RGS Atalanta clearly not prepared to unleash the true performance of the car.

The first 3 continued to circulate well within sight of each other, just over 5 seconds separating them at the end lap 6. On that lap, Justin Becket brought his AC Ace in for his mandatory pit stop and towards the back of the pack, Simon Gurney banged in what was to be his best lap of the race, a 1.20 which enabled him to take his MGA passed Jason Kennedy who was lapping in the 1.22s. In fact Jason was even more consistent in his lappery than Jim Campbell. His 4 laps between laps 5 - 8 being 1.22.185, 1.22.312, 1.22.227 & 1.22.312, suggesting that he was getting the absolute best out of this Italian classic.

On lap 7, Richard Tyzack ran wide out of Luffield, got onto the marbles, and spun the big Kellison. He recovered but it lost him the best part of half a minute and he immediately pitted to hand over to Nick Taylor. 5 more followed him in - Nigel Winchester (Lotus 7), Alan House (Morgan), Glenn Tollett (MGA), handing over to son, Rory, Mark Morgan (AC Ace) handing over to son, Alex and Keith Hampson (Sunbeam Alpine). On that lap, Adrian King, just getting into his stride in David Cottingham’s AC Ace, departed the race dramatically when the ‘car suffered a sheared front wheel hub at Copse, causing the front left wheel to part company and its driver to do a great job to stop without too much damage’ (quote from Andy Shepherd). All of this shook the order up, and as usual it would take a few laps for the true race order to reveal itself, particularly when the 3 more pitted on lap 9. Only 3 cars had yet to pit and one of those was the leader, John Pearson, in David Brazell’s Jaguar C type.

On lap 9, the fan belt on Andy Shepherd’s AC Ace Bristol failed and Andy coasted gently to a halt. He had never dropped below 4th and, of course, Murray was not to have his chance behind the wheel. The leader finally pitted on lap 10, John Pearson handing over to owner David Brazell. It would have been unreasonable to expect David to quite match John’s pace, so it was all to play for and the person best placed to capitalise was the closely shadowing Jim Campbell, going splendidly in the Austin Healey. Jim hit the front on lap 11 and long stinting Jason Kennedy was briefly 2nd in the Lancia Aurelia but was himself to pit at the end of lap 12. Only Chris Guest was yet to pit, in the RGS Atalanta, and at this point he was up to 3rd. Jim was just under 6.5 seconds ahead of David who was just getting into his stride in the C-type, and Nick Taylor, 4th in Richard Tyzack’s Kellison, was over half a minute behind the leading Austin Healey. Nigel Winchester was going extremely well in the super Lotus 7 just a couple of seconds behind Nick and Paul Griffin was circulating at about the same speed 3 seconds further back. Justin Becket was 7th in the AC Ace and Alan House, 8th in the Morgan.

Now well into the second half of the race, but still with plenty of laps to go, barring mishap, the first 3 were unlikely to be challenged, although in which order they finished was not so certain. Jim Campbell started to draw away from David Brazell in the Jaguar C Type and it appeared that Nick Tayor in the Kellison was more likely to present the stiffest challenge in the long run. Nick was now lapping over 2 seconds quicker than the Jaguar but needed not only to catch David but pass him in a hurry if he was offer any threat to the leader who each lap was increasing his lead. Richard Winchester was still going great guns in the Lotus 7 and very slowly pulling away from Paul Griffin’s Connaught in 5th place. Paul was unchallenged for that position as he was by now over 15 seconds clear of Justin Becket in the AC Ace. Justin on the other hand was coming increasingly under pressure from Alan House in the Morgan, determined to grab 6th away from the Ace in the closing stages. At the end of lap 17, Alan was the last unlapped runner in 7th place.

Jim Campbell continued to take his Austin Healey clear of David Brazell in the C - type, the lead up to over 14 seconds by the end of lap 18. The threat from Nick Taylor in the Kellison was now becoming more remote by the lap as Nick was not making anything like enough inroads into the gap to David who was driving very well, still established in 2nd to the tune of 10 seconds, and it was now a question whether Nick could even take that place. Paul Griffin was now up to 4th in the Connaught, having just passed Nigel Winchester in the Lotus 7, but Nigel wasn’t going to let him go and held on, until he lost time when they were both lapping the Tollett MGA, and the following lap Nigel brought the gallant little Lotus into the pits to retire. A very unfortunate end to a splendid run with just 3 laps to go. I cannot be certain of the cause but I have a recollection of a footwell full of oil! (If anyone knows please advise and I will amend this report). Alan House had finally managed to take his Morgan past Justin Becket’s AC Ace and started to edge gently away, and now in 6th. Alex Morgan had brought the Ace up to 8th. With the retirement of the Lotus, everyone bar the top 4 were promoted one position so Rory Tollett was now in 8th but Simon Gurney, 9th in his MGA was being reeled by Keith Hampson in the Sunbeam Alpine. Louise Kennedy and Chris Guest in Lancia Aurelia and RGS Atalanta were the last of the remaining runners.

Over the final 3 laps, Jim Campbell cruised serenely to a fine victory and was really untroubled over the second half of the race. The threat from Nick Taylor in the Kellison never materialised and Nick, in fact was thwarted by an excellent drive from David Brazell in the C type, holding off Nick by just 6 tenths at the flag. Lovely drives by both Paul Griffin, in the Connaught ALSR and Alan House in the Morgan netted them 4th & 5th respectively and Justin Beckett, 6th in the AC Ace was the last of the unlapped runners. A good drive by Alex Morgan brought his Dad’s AC Ace up to 7th with Rory Tollett, 8th in his Dad’s MGA (great to have these father and son teams) and Keith Hampson took 9th in the Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans. Simon Gurney, in 10th, had lost out to Keith by 6 tenths, having been passed on the penultimate lap. Louise Kennedy, sharing with Jason, brought the Lancia Aurelia home in 11th followed very closely by a subdued Chris Guest in the RGS Atalanta.

Notwithstanding the relatively low grid, 16 qualifiers became 12 finishers, this was both an interesting grid and race to follow, with some fine drives from all the participants. It was unfortunate, although understandable, that 5 FISCAR compliant Aston Martins which ran in the earlier Jon Gross Memorial Trophy race were not also entered. The entry of 4 AC Aces was impressive and they must have been disappointed with a finishing rate of 50% not representative of their normal reliability. Full results and photo Gallery to follow - JT

Gallery

All photos by Mick Walker (except where stated)

Tailpiece