Tag Archives: Castle Combe

4th Autumn Classic – Castle Combe

Last Saturday saw the 4th action packed Autumn Classic at Castle Combe which saw large numbers of fans entertained with nine races and several demonstrations most notable for this observer of which were a pair of BRM P160’s from 1972 and a 1973 which regaled the Wiltshire countryside with the awesome sound of a couple of unsilenced V12’s.

Patrick Blakeney-Edwards had a moderately successful day as a driver, above he is seen scampering away from a delightfully varied field to win the VSCC Sports Car Race aboard his Frazer Nash Super Sports.

The JEC Norman Dewis Trophy for Pre 66 Jaguars was won by Martin Hunt driving a Blakeney Motorsports prepared E-type Jaguar while one of the most entertaining battles of the day was fought by Grant Williams and Richard Butterfield both in Mk 1 Jaguars and Peter Dorlin in his Mk2 after Andy Wallace also in a Mk2 retired from third at the half way stage, Grant hung on to finish first saloon home in the #12 seen above.

David Grace driving the #17 Austin Healey 3000 Mk1 won the first of the two Healey Driver International Challenge 25th Anniversary races from second on the grid beating pole sitting white and blue #46 driven by Healey Specialists Bill and Jack Rawles by just under 4 seconds.

Steve Brooks starting from third on the grid in the #34 Aston Martin DB3S is seen above about to go into the lead on the opening lap of the Fiscar Historic Intermarque race, he looked set for a win until the race had to be called on lap 12, before the compulsory pit stops had cycled through, which meant Stephen Bond in the #95 Lister Bristol starting from 8th on the grid was declared the winner after an accident involving three cars without injury to the drivers blocked the track at Quarry.

Andrew Turner in the white and red #2 Cooper Mk VI led the opening 8 laps of the BAC Motor Sports Club Challenge for F3 500’s race from 3rd on the grid until he was caught and passed by Xavier Kingsland in the silver Staride Mk 3 two laps from home, pole sitter Darryl Woods in the Cooper Mk XII kept the two race leaders honest and finished 3rd just less than 1 second behind the winner !

Michael Squire easily won the HSCC/HRSR Historic Touring Cars race from pole driving a flame spitting Ford Mustang, but second place finisher Chris Clarkson had a very busy time keeping eventual third place finisher Chris Saunders in the white #77 Ford Cortina and Bob Bullen in the yellow #69 Ford Anglia behind.

Jack Woodhouse made a great start from 2nd to lead the opening 9 laps of the FJHRA/HSCC Millers Oils Formula Junior race in the white #84 Lotus 20/22 before yielding to the faster #53 Lotus 20/22 driven by 3rd place starter Sam Wilson seen in third place at Quarry above. Sam however tripped up behind a back marker on the final lap to let Jack back into the lead which was just .2 of a second over Sam at the finish line.

Having been unlucky in the Fiscar Historic Intermarque race Stephen Brooks easily won the Jon Gross Memorial race in his DB3S leaving Sean Kukula and Jonathon Loader to squable over second place in their #149 and #46 Elva Courier Mk4T’s respectively, Sean won the Elva battle which was fittingly once raced by American Jon Goss.

Finally the Healey’s came out for a second race which again provided plenty of thrills with third place starter Marc Campfield making the running for the opening 8 laps until his car ground to a halt which left pole man David Grace to claim a 4.5 second victory over the Healey 3000 shared by 5th place starters Jack and Oliver Chatham, above as in the first race the Healey Sebring of Sprites of Richard Woolmer #38 and Gordon Elwell #33 kept spectators entertained further down the field on their way to 9th and 10th place finishes less than 2 seconds apart.

Thanks for joining me on this “4th Autumn Classic” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a six cylinder Plymouth. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Mud Plugger And Speedway Rider – Alexis Mk 1 #HF101

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In 1953 Alex Francis set about buiding Trials car, mud plugger, to replace his Flathead Mercury V8 powered HRG, over the following years he built two more such cars before meeting Australian former speedway rider Bill Harris, in 1959, who had designed and been driving the 2nd Flather 500 Formula 3 car for Sheffield steel merchant and founder member of BRM Dennis Flather since 1954.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Alex, a building contractor by day, and Bill set about building the Mk 1 Alexis to meet the new Formula Junior regulations from a premises in Birmingham.

Alexis Mk 1, Duncan Rabagliati, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

The Mk 1 features a space frame and somewhat behind the curve front mounted 1 litre / 61 cui BMC A series engine and Austin A35 rear axle with a Triumph Herald based independent front suspension.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

The body for the car was in polished aluminium and the plan was that Alex and Bill would share the driving. I believe the car was raced just once by Alex and at Oulton Park, and I have seen a photo of it apparently competing on the short hill at Prescott, before it was bought by an American customer.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Over 20 years ago chairman of the Formula Junior Historic Racing Association Duncan Rabagliati bought the Mk 1 which had returned to the UK, there is only one chassis #HF101, and has been regularly racing it ever since.

Alexis Mk 1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Duncan, seen at the wheel above at last years Castle Combe Autumn Classic meeting, and the Alexis hold the distinction of being the only driver and car combination to have competed in all previous editions of the Silverstone Classic meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Mud Plugger And Speedway Rider” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a US Formula One car. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Great Western Sprint – Castle Combe

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A couple of weeks ago I popped along to help out the Bristol Motor Club marshall there annual freeze fest better known as The Great Western Sprint at Castle Combe, mercifully it was a dry sunny day but as ever the persistent freezing wind out at Bobbies where I was stationed meant that humour had a very tough fight on it’s hands.

Ford Fiesta, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

My responsibilities precluded taking any photo’s of the action so here are a selection of arbitrary shots taken in the paddock shown in running order, first up from Abergavenny Martyn Davies’s Ford Fiesta with which he won the A1 Roadgoing class for cars with motors up to 1400 cc / 85.4 cui.

Suzuki Swift, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

Phil Tuckers 1989 Suzuki Swift, which finished second in class behind Martyn, caught my attention because the model was also sold as a Subaru Justy like the one Robert Solarski drove on the recent Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Farm Targa Rally.

Ford Escort Mexico, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

On my way over to Castle Combe I observed Rowland Turner was wearing ear protectors at the wheel of his 1975 Mk 1 Ford Escort as he made steady progress on the motorway, Rowland finished 8th in the up to 1800 cc / 109.8 cui class.

Audi S4, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

One of the more powerful cars in the paddock was Roger Banks’s Audi S4 powered by a twin turbo 4.2 litre / 256 cui 40 valve V8 said to produce over 700 hp. Roger recorded fastest time in his all wheel drive beast with a NASCAR sized rear spoiler in the C3 modified class on the practice run but broke down on his first timed run, leaving Keith Murray in his old school Audi 80 to take class spoils as he had done on this event in 2013.

Leastone F5, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

6th in the up to Racing Cars up to 1100cc / 67 cui E1 category was Nick Mizen in his Irish built Leastone F5 fitted with a 900cc / 54.9 cui Suzuki Motorcycle engine.

Jedi Mk 1, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

Martin Pickles qualified for the top 12 run offs and finished with 7th best time of the day with his 1 litre / 61 cui Jedi Mk1.

The larger engined Reynard DB Mk 1 shared by Mark Smith and Craig Sampson recorded first and second fastest times of the day respectively.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Great Western Sprint” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1931 Chrysler. Don’t forget to come back now !

Bob’s New Era – Cooper Bristol #CB/4/53

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Severely short sighted Frederick Roberts “Bob” Gerard was born in 1914 into a family who business, Parr’s, a company that evolved from bicycle manufacture into the haulage.

Cooper Bristol T23, Russell, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

Bob’s first motoring event was the MCC Lands End Trial which he completed driving a Riley Nine an was awarded a Premier Award, Bob continued to successfully compete in trials and races at both Donington and Brooklands until the outbreak of war in 1939.

Cooper Bristol T23, Russell, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

After the war Bob continued competing, now with ERA R4A and later ERA R14B, in 1950 he finished the British Grand Prix in 6th with the latter and 6th at Monaco with the former.

Cooper Bristol T23, Russell, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

For 1953 Bob bought today’s featured Cooper chassis #CB/4/53 which was fitted with a six cylinder Bristol motor and designed to compete in 2 litre / 122 cui Formula 2 races, some of which were part of the World Drivers Championship in 1953 and 1954. Bob finished 11th in the 1953 French Grand Prix and 10th in the 1954 British Grand Prix diving this car, but experienced a good deal more success in British Formula Libre (all comers) events with it.

Cooper Bristol T23, Russell, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

On August 28th 1954 Bob drove this car to victory in the Hastings Trophy Formula Libre race at Castle Combe and beat a mighty V16 BRM in the process.

Cooper Bristol T23, Russell, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

Bob continued to race #CB/4/53 until 1956, with a slightly enlarged motor fitted he finished 11th in the 1956 British Grand Prix. His final British Grand Prix appearance was in 1957 when he drove a Cooper T43 to another 6th place finish.

CB/4/53’s second owner had a 2 litre supercharged ERA motor fitted and the car was later restored to it’s original condition as seen here at Castle Combe, with Steve Russell at the wheel, by Dick Crosthwaite.

Thanks for joining me on this “Bob’s New Era” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again for Maserati Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Amaranto P/W and A/C – Ferrari 330 GT #7023

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Today’s featured Ferrari 330 GT, chassis #7023 was built in 1965 and sent to Luigi Chinetti Motors, Inc.

The car was originally painted Amaranto, Dark Red and came fitted with power window’s and air conditioning.

Ferrari 330GT, Anthony Moody, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe,

It would appear a Norman H. Silver of North Carolina traded in his exisiting 330GT chassis #6509, which is listed as the 400th of the 814 330 GT’s built and no more than six months older than chassis #7029, along with his 810 Cord convertible in order to relieve Luigi Chinetti of today’s car and become it’s first keeper at the end of August 1965.

18 months later Mr Silver traded #7023 back with Chinetti in exchange for a 1951 Ferrari 212 Export and a 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Cabriolet.

Ferrari 330GT, Anthony Moody, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe,

In November 2007 #7023 was reportedly withdrawn from an e-bay auction with the highest bidding price being US$60,000.

Hong Kong based financier Anthony Moody bought the car in February 2011 and kept it in the UK.

Ferrari 330GT, Anthony Moody, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe,

Mr Moody is seen competing in #7023 in these photo’s which were taken at the Castle Combe check point on the 2011 Tour Britania.

Paul Barber subsequently bought the car in January 2012 for a smidgen over US$ 180,000.

Ferrari 330GT, Anthony Moody, Tour Britannia, Castle Combe,

Mr Barber had the car painted silver and by April 2013 it had changed hands again having been offered for sale since June 2012.

The current owner of, #7023 the 527th 330GT to be built, is unknown, but the car is believed to be in the UK.

Thanks for joining me on this “Amaranto P/W and A/C” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a vintage African adventurer. Don’t forget to come back now !

CAD/CAM Body – Mitchell Special MkII

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The last in the current series of Bristol Special blogs features the Mitchell Special Mk II concieved by Andy Mitchell of Mitchell Motors in Wiltshire as the ultimate Bristol.