GT & Sports Car Cup Race Report: Castle Combe Autumn Classic 2024
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR RACE WINNERS
John Spiers & Chris Ward - Lister Jaguar Costin
Autumn Classic - Castle Combe
21st September 2024
Spiers and Ward are Kings of Combe
John Spiers and Chris Ward - subbing for Castle Combe’s pre-chicane outright lap record holder Nigel Greensall, competing at Road America in the USA’s Wisconsin dairy belt - emerged first time GT & Sports Car Cup winners at the Wiltshire circuit’s 13th Autumn Classic event on Saturday, September 21. Driving Spiers’ CKL Developments-run Lister-Jaguar Costin BHL135, the last chassis to leave the Cambridge factory in 1959, which Ward raced successfully in previous custodianship, the dynamic duo won a gripping two-hour contest in which the outcome was not decided until the closing stages.
Long-time leaders Nick Finburgh/Ollie Crosthwaite, on top form in their diminutive 1216cc Lola-Climax Mk1, outran the gruff blue Lister and a strong Grand Touring pack for much of the way. Just as the prospect of the two sports racers finishing first and second was sinking in to spectators and the GT contingent, transmission failure forced the Lola’s retirement. Thus, the Lister became our first Castle Combe winner from the Pre-1963 sports divisions since Philip Walker/Miles Griffiths’ Lotus 15 on GTSCC’s maiden visit in 2017.
Winners for the past two years, the AC Cobra of Chris Chiles père-et-fils started from pole and they gave it everything, finishing 50 seconds adrift after a single safety car interlude in the second hour. The Lotus Elan 26R of Steve Jones and Classic Formula Ford champion Ben Tinkler was classified third, pursued by the big Healeys of GT3 class victors Doug Muirhead/Jeremy Welch, Christiaen van Lanschot/Welch in DD300 and evergreen locals David Smithies/Chris Clarkson.
Tenth overall, Malcolm Paul and Rick Bourne (TVR Grantura) won a GT2 thriller by 1.721s - after breathless 77 laps! - from the Lotus Elite of Marc Gordon/Guy Harman/Nick Finburgh. Alice Locke/Matt Green claimed Touring Car honours in the ex-works Mini-based Broadspeed GTS coupe. Twenty four of the 29 starters covered sufficient distance to be classified as finishers.
In addition to the overall and class trophies, several special prizes were presented after the big race: The Royal Automobile Club Family Award honoured Triumph TR4 stalwarts Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones. The Baltic Watches Driver of the Day Award [two Baltic timepieces] went to Beverley, Chris and Olly Phillips - a team which has contested all seven GTSCC Combe events. The Terry Sanger Trophy, named for the local V8 saloon ace turned Formula 5000 racer, and awarded for the fastest lap of the race, was presented to Chris Chiles Jr by Cat Dall’Occo of event organiser the Castle Combe Racing Club.
A superb entry, the best since the Covid pandemic of 2020-2021, arrived at Combe for the third of four stops on the invitation series’ programme. In its 18th year, competitors had already enjoyed a first visit to Enna-Pergusa in Sicily for May’s Settimana Automobilistica Ennese showcase and a return to Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit. Many were already looking forward to the traditional end of term party at Portugal’s Algarve Classic Festival at the end of October.
It was great to see cars joining us for the first time and to welcome new drivers - and, of course, loyal returnees - to our social hub in The Strawford Centre, where the ever-supportive Dunlop distributor John Pearson of HP Tyres generously sponsored the excellent catering and hospitality throughout the day. The Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica for sale with Automobiles Historiques, as shown below was stationed outside the race office manned by Cat and Shirl Davis in colourful classic frocks, attracted plenty of attention from the racing fraternity at the multi-faceted annual Historic motoring and motor sport showpiece.
Unfortunately, we lost a couple of entries in the run-up to the event. Relieved as we were to learn that Healey racer Harvey Woods was safe following a road accident, it was unfortunate that team-mate Mark Pangborn - dubbed “Pangio” by his pals David Smithies and Chris Clarkson - then suffered a trailer tyre blowout en route from Suffolk and decided to turn back. Sometimes there are messages in the stars.
Others to fall by the wayside included Joe Ward/Neil Howe (TVR Grantura ‘Fred’) and Alistair Dyson/James Dorlin (Jaguar E-type), but we were delighted to accommodate Germany’s Christian Albrec, based nearby, to share Gary Pearson’s E-type, the Dodd family’s similar machine, winner at Silverstone in June. An interesting debutant was Bob Binfield’s 1962 Marcos GT on its first UK post-restoration appearance, close to its birthplace, having been to the Nürburgring for August’s Oldtimer GP. Some shuffling of cars and drivers - five leap-frogging between two bolides - resulted in a final entry of 31.
After a lovely autumnal week, the weather turned on the eve of the meeting, overnight rain presenting a damp 1.85-mile circuit for Saturday morning’s 40-minute qualifying session. It didn’t dampen many spirits, however, particularly since the meteorological forecast proved spot-on for our 15.55 race. Following further precipitation, the cloudbase lifted and glorious sunshine reigned over the weekend’s sporting centrepiece.
QUALIFYING
A battle royal for pole embroiled James Dodd and Gary Pearson in E-types, Ward in the Lister and Chiles Jr, whose penultimate 1m19.373s (83.90mph) shot snatched P1 from Ward, proving 0.386s beyond Chris’ final 1:19.759 salvo. Pearson/Abrec and Jason Minshaw in Martin Melling’s svelte low-drag coupe made it an all Jaguar second row on 1:20.836 and 1:21.079 respectively, with the Dodds (1:21.681) and Tinkler in Jones’ Elan (1:22.784) in close company.
Row four comprised the GT3 and GT2 pacemakers, Jeremy Welch’s 1:23.059 (80.18mph) best in Doug Muirhead’s Healey 3000 ‘The Chairman’s Car,’ and Rick Bourne’s remarkable 1:24.422 (78.88mph) in Malcolm Paul’s red TVR Grantura MkIII throwing down gauntlets to their rivals. The small Lola of Nick Finburgh/Ollie Crosthwaite on 1:24.706 (78.62mph) ranked the SP1 class starter ninth, with Crispin Harris/James Wilmoth’s Crispy Moth Racing Healey 3000 - replete with James’ St Lucia flag - alongside.
The TVR Grantura of Guy Grant and veteran Mark Hales headed the middle third of the grid, Mark’s effort just a second shy of Bourne’s GT2 class standard. The rival Lotus Elite of GTSCC debutant Michael O’Sullivan was next up, qualified by mentor Olly Bryant. Fresh from two wins at the Goodwood Revival and a close second in the RAC TT Celebration, Bryant was enjoying his first visit to Combe since 2005 when he raced the Morgan Aero British GT Championship contender.
Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones’ Triumph TR4 gridded third in GT3, four tenths quicker than triple Le Mans 24 Hours starter DD300 in the hands of Christiaen van Lanschot/Jeremy Welch. The Healey, then Sebring blue, and the Windmill & Lewis MGB 222 WAE, previously raced with us by the Locke family, were event programme cover and branding co-stars in a Brian James painting based on a 1966 image. Fifty-eight years on, drivers John Chatham and Roy Ashford were at the circuit to enjoy the action and the MGB featured in a marque display!
Quickest of six MGBs competing, five in family teams, was Dennis and Daniel Pickett’s, which the latter qualified 15th, a tenth ahead of Peter Tognola/Steve Monk’s well-travelled Porsche 911, with the Jaguar XK120 of Olivier Marçais/Rob Newall in tow. Marc Gordon in his Elite, shared by Guy Harman & Nick Finburgh, sat 18th in a tight midfield pack where a second would have moved it up five places.
Alice Locke headed the seven-strong ‘Coupe des Dames’ entry, her TC1-leading Broadspeed GTS co-driven by Matt Green gridding 19th on 1:28.625 (75.14mph) alongside the GT2 Healey 100M of Mike Thorne and Sarah Bennett-Baggs, feeling under the weather. Brian and Barbara Lambert’s MGB was fractions slower, ahead of the displaced Healey 3000 of enthusiastic Bristolians David Smithies/Chris Clarkson, the last crew to lap inside 90 seconds.
Simon King and Richard Plant’s Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports headed the rest, but Joe Ward’s TVR Grantura ‘Fred,’ driven by son Piers and Neil Howe, was withdrawn following a half shaft UJ failure. The remaining MGBs were interspersed with the Sebring Healey 3000 of Richard Locke/Matt Green and the Dorset Racing Mini Cooper S of Ellie Birchenhough and Nick Topliss, joined by the latter’s son James. The MGs qualified in the order of the Phillips family, Nick and Chris Thompson [sidelined by gearbox failure], busy double drivers Guy Harman/Marc Gordon/Ollie Crosthwaite and the delightful Welch sisters Arabella and Emily.
Completing the field was Bob Binfield’s plywood monocoque Marcos GT, a sister gullwing car to John Hine and Dick Prior’s 1962 Le Mans starter, powered by a 1500cc Ford pre-crossflow engine. Although there were exhaust silencing issues, restorer Dominic Mooney got it into the race where the plan was to start before relaying Bob and son Sam.
RACE
Twenty-nine starters came under orders and as the bank of red traffic lights on the gantry went out Chiles Jr led the pack through the right kink at Folly, then up over Avon Rise before the tricky right-handed Quarry Corner. The midnight blue CRC Cobra bottled pursuers up through the Esses, then stretched its legs through the fast right at Old Paddock, accelerating through Hammerdown, before turning right again at Tower, threading the needle into the right-left Bobbies chicane and hurtling towards the deceptively quick right at Camp with the timing line on its exit.
Spiers led the chase at the end of the opening lap, from Pearson, Minshaw and James Dodd, with Jones’ dove grey Elan singing along in sixth. Harris made a superb start from P10 to head the GT3 Healeys, coming round seventh with Finburgh’s Lola in his slipstream, then Muirhead’s black-topped Healey, Allan Ross-Jones’ TR4 up from 13th, van Lanschot’s green Healey and GT2 leader Paul’s TVR shaping the rest of the top twelve.
As Chiles plumped out a cushion over the chasers, Spiers slipped back behind the Jaguars, unsure of his brakes in constant traffic. In the iconic XK engine’s 75th anniversary year the spectacle of three E-types howling round together, their distinctive engine notes harmonising, was sensational as Pearson, Minshaw and Dodd slugged it out. Alas it was over too soon, for Gary was black flagged for excessive noise after 15 laps. “We’re disappointed,” said the 2018 winner, “but it has a voracious appetite for silencer wadding.” The semi-lightweight roadster was thus pushed back to the paddock.
Minshaw and Dodd had moved to the top of the lap charts a lap earlier, when Chiles relayed his father into the middle phase of the mandatory two-stop race. Their order remained until just before the one-hour mark, when Jason installed car owner Melling, then James handed over to father Graeme after two laps in the lead. The larger capacity GT4 reshuffle advantaged Finburgh in the Lola, Nick having passed Spiers on lap five and progressed in a solid fourth. He stopped initially after 30 laps, but partner Ollie Crosthwaite was newly into Harman’s MGB, thus he continued apace.
Finburgh went ahead after 41 laps, by which point the Dodd Jaguar was back in the pits. After just one lap Graeme crept in to retire it with diff failure. The Lola retained P1 until lap 57, when as a full course caution was called for the retrieval of the Morgan and Marcos, Crosthwaite clambered aboard. Ward, long second in the Lister, had trimmed more than 10 seconds from a 32s deficit in the course of 15 laps before going top, with Chiles Sr towards half a minute adrift when his lad climbed back into the Cobra on a mission to land their Combe hat-trick.
Ward, and Tinkler in the Elan, were ahead of Crosthwaite who went second again when Jones returned to the Lotus’ cockpit in the seven-lap safety car interlude, during which Spiers took over the Lister, effectively getting a free stop. When the circuit went live again, Spiers held a 35 second lead over Crosthwaite, with Jones third. But Chiles Jr was gaining ground hand over fist. Chris annexed a podium place when the Lola, which had lost fluids at its previous stop, crawled into the pits after 73 laps. Transmission failure ended a gallant run.
Chiles, whose 1:17.165 (86.30mph) fastest lap was close to his previous record, eroded the last 15 seconds of his deficit to Jones in six laps, then thundered after Spiers. When the chequered flag fell the Cobra was 50.217s short, having made both stops before the safety car effectively gifted rivals a free pass. Thus, the new Spiers/Ward combo won first time out and a Lister-Jaguar joined the illustrious GTSCC roll of honour. Jones and Tinkler also drove the Elan superbly to finish on the lead lap.
The battle for GT3 gold was no less compelling, indeed victors Muirhead and Welch finished fourth overall, a lap clear of pursuers van Lanschot/Welch, Smithies/Clarkson and Harris/Wilmoth in a Healey rout. Harris growled ahead at the start but dropped almost to the back with an unscheduled pit stop to secure his car’s flapping hardtop 12 laps in. Muirhead took up the initiative until Welch was put into bat and Smithies and van Lanschot went to the top of the class.
Smithies, running sixth overall, put Clarkson in after 32 laps, but van Lanschot took a penalty for double-stinting as Welch - on duty for Doug - was due to switch horses and finish DD300. Amazingly, the Harris/Wilmoth #207 had regained its 10th place starting position just after its rivals’ routine stops. The safety car episode helped Muirhead, already back aboard for four laps, gain one on Welch’s second steed after Smithies had led it into the caution period. Van Lanschot/Welch and Smithies/Clarkson were separated by 14 seconds at the finish, a lap ahead of Harris/Wilmoth, catching Melling’s eighth placed GT4 Jag. Fifth in class, the Ross-Jones TR4 broke the Healey monopoly with Richard Locke/Matt Green’s 3000, in the wars early on, sixth.
The GT2 fight went to the wire. Marc Gordon’s Elite and Mike Thorne’s gunmetal Healey 100M overhauled Malcolm Paul’s TVR in the early stages, before Harman and Bennett-Baggs took over. Rick Bourne guided the Grantura back to the top of the form in his middle stint - setting the best class lap at 1:22.225 (80.99mph), before Malcolm took over in the caution. Despite Harman and Finburgh’s best efforts in the Lotus, Paul beat it to the chequer by a few cars’ lengths, finishing a brilliant 10th overall. Thorne/SBB were 12th, a lap down and one clear of the Grant/Hales TVR and the Harman/Gordon/Crosthwaite MGB, split by the Locke/Green GT3 Healey. Despite a couple of spins, O’Sullivan/Bryant completed the GT2 top six.
Brian Lambert - driving solo - was lying third in GT2, 15th overall, at the one-hour half-way mark, but had a shock when his MGB’s front propshaft joint failed after 44 laps. Mercifully it was retained by a crossbrace, but the transmission tunnel took a beating.
The GT & Sports Car Cup will close the season at the Algarve Classic Festival over the 25/26/27 October. Entries are still being invited to include a 30-minute Free Practice session on Friday 10.55 - 11.25, 40-minute qualifying session on Saturday 12.10 - 12.50 and a 2-Hour race on Sunday 10.05 - 12.05, as well as Three Nights hotel accommodation and VIP Driver hospitality. Please see below the Entry Form link below.
MARCUS PYE
1st Place John Spiers & Chris Ward - Lister Jaguar Costin
2nd Place Chris Chiles & Chris Chiles Jr - AC Cobra 289
3rd Place Steve Jones & Ben Tinkler - Lotus Elan 26R
2nd Overall - Chris Chiles & Chris Chiles Jr - AC Cobra 289
3rd Overall - Steve Jones & Ben Tinkler - Lotus Elan 26R
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE RACE WINNERS
John Spiers & Chris Ward
SP1 Class Winners - Nick Finburgh & Ollie Crosthwaite - Lola Mk 1
SP2 Class Winners - John Spiers & Chris Ward - Lister Jaguar Costin
GT2 Class Winners - Malcolm Paul & Rick Bourne - TVR Grantura Mk III
GT3 Class Winner - Doug Muirhead & Jeremy Welch - Austin Healey 3000
GT4 Class Winners - Chris Chiles & Chris Chiles Jr - AC Cobra 289
TC1 Class Winners - Alice Locke & Matt Green - Mini Broadspeed GTS
Royal Automobile Club 'Family Award' - Allan & Daniel Ross-Jones - Triumph TR4
GTSCC Baltic Watches 'Drivers of the Day' - Beverley, Chris and Oliver Phillips - MG B
SP1 Class Winners - Nick Finburgh & Ollie Crosthwaite - Lola Mk1
SP2 Class Winners - John Spiers & Chris Ward - Lister Jaguar Costin
GT2 Class Winners - Malcolm Paul & Rick Bourne - TVR Grantura Mk III
GT3 Class Winners - Doug Muirhead & Jeremy Welch - Austin-Healey 3000
GT4 Class Winners - Chris Chiles & Chris Chiles Jr - AC Cobra 289
TC1 Class Winners - Alice Locke & Matt Green - Mini Broadspeed GTS
Royal Automobile Club Family Award - Presented by Head of Motoring Jeremy Vaughan to Allan & Daniel Ross-Jones - Triumph TR4
Baltic Watches 'Drivers of the Day' Award - Beverley, Chris & Oliver Phillips MG B
Photography Copyright: Charlie B Photography
FINAL CALL FOR ENTRIES
GTSCC Algarve Classic Festival, Portimao - 25/26/27 October
ENTRY INCLUDES:
3 Nights Hotel Accomodation
Free Practice, Qualifying, 2-Hr Race
VIP Driver Hospitality
ENTER HERE
GTSCC END OF SEASON AWARDS LUNCH
Saturday 7th December at The Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London, SW1
E-Mail - cars@automobileshistoriques.com for entries