GT & Sports Car Cup Race Report: Donington Park 2023
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR RACE WINNERS
Donington Park Circuit - 8th July 2023
Chris Chiles Jr
AC Cobra 289
Clever pit call sees Chiles Jr top family favourites
Speed, consistency, mechanical reliability and team work have always played their part in deciding endurance racing on the international stage, yet through the course of history inspired strategical calls have often been the ultimate arbiter. Thus, it proved at Donington Park on July 8 when a long full-course caution on a damp track - some laps after David Smithies’ Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe had exited stage left in the Craner Curves, hit the tyre barrier backwards and rolled onto its roof, mercifully without injury to its pilot, who clambered out unaided - threw a curved ball into the mix at the crucial mid-point of our second event of the season.
Chris Chiles Junior, who had clawed his way past top qualifier Jonathan Mitchell’s Jaguar E-type to lead from lap eight, brought the family AC Cobra in to hand over to father Chris after 22 laps, as yellow flags were thrown for what became a nine-lap safety car intervention. Finding Senior not ready, quick-thinking team manager Gary Spencer opted to leave Jr in the snarling monster, take the 45 seconds stationary soloists’ penalty and send him on his way to a fifth GTSCC victory since 2018’s Algarve finale.
John and Gary Pearson, winners last time out on Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit, made their customary slick change a lap before the hiatus, their E-type going top when Matt Walton installed Nigel Greensall in his GT3 spec Fixed Head Coupe version two tours after the Chiles Cobra’s pit visit. Chiles’ found himself little more than six seconds behind Gary P in the crocodile, ironically helped by the drama, and quickly expunged the deficit when the circuit went green.
Clear of Mitchell’s battleship grey Jag, the gunmetal Pearsons Engineering machine finished second, 3.076s behind Chiles but 13.854s ahead of Jonathan’s Valley Motorsport entry. Robin Ellis’ Lotus Elan Shapecraft coupe was classified fourth, on the lead lap.
Walton/Greensall and the diminutive Lola-Climax Mk1 of Nick Finburgh/Ollie Crosthwaite, class winners both, completed the top six. The GT4 E-type FHC of Guy Grant and driving coach Mark Hales [Spa Six Hours winner in 2004], the Austin-Healey 3000s of Crispin Harris/James Wilmoth and Mark Pangborn/Harvey Woods - whose splendid squabble for GT3 runner-up honours was resolved in the closing minutes - and local Jamie Boot (E-type) rounded out the top 10.
The MG B battle for GT2 gold initially saw Mark Colman ahead of Oliver Marçais and Brian Lambert, but Colman sustained terminal rear end damage, when the apologetic Grant outbraked himself into the chicane, Marçais retired broken transmission failure in the Craner Curves and Lambert lost out by 2.480s to Jason Minshaw, finishing Mark Hope’s car having started Martin Melling’s GT3 Jaguar. First Touring Car home was the Lotus Cortina of the Tilley brothers, Kyle and Kane, 12th overall. ERA and Cooper T53 racer Nick Topliss and Ellie Birchenough won the baby division in Ellie’s Dorset Racing Mini Cooper S, a result which soothed memories of Silverstone’s engine failure.
QUALIFYING
Long underpinned by strong family roots, the GTSCC fraternity excelled itself at Equipe Classic Racing’s Donington event with an unprecedented 12 dynasties on the 28-team roster. New to the fray was Emily Welch who, at 18, was making her long-craved racing debut alongside older sister Arabella, a debutante last season, in a Denis Welch Motorsport MG B. The third-generation competitors were overseen by proud parents Mel and Jeremy. The Tilley siblings - Historic F1 racer Kyle, Formula Fordster Kane - were equally welcome, aided by father Charles, a Formula Super Vee combatant alongside such alumni as Keke Rosberg in the 1970s.
The one-day programme’s administrative centre and social hub was a very atmospheric pit garage from which Vanessa and Flavien Marçais distributed series gilets, assisted with admin duties and hospitality. Once again, the indispensable Abbots Catering Services team did us proud, sustaining competitors, crews and guests royally with pastries available all day and delicious picnic lunches sponsored by Automobiles Historiques.
Straddling the Leicestershire/Derbyshire county border, the pre-war Donington Grand Prix venue, remodeled in the 1970s by Leicester house builder and racing nut Tom Wheatcroft, is immortalised by its only World Championship race in 1993. Thirty years on, a decade after Ayrton Senna made his F1 test debut at the venue in a Williams-Cosworth FW08C, the Brazilian future world champion’s mesmeric wet opening lap in his McLaren still defies enthusiasts’ comprehension.
It was dry and bright as competitors lined up for qualifying on the GP loop, but dark clouds were looming as passenger and DHL freight aircraft followed the line of cars on their descent path into the adjacent East Midlands Airport. A half hour session decided the grid order and every team completed at least 12 laps, with the Crispy Moth Racing Healey 3000 of Harris/Wilmoth furthest travelled on 18.
Quickest out of the blocks were the Pearsons, but once the bit was between his teeth series rookie Jonathan Mitchell - an accomplished Caterham and Chevron racer - seized pole as the only driver to break the 1m20s mark. His 1:19.749s (89.33mph) lap beat Chiles Jr’s Cobra best of 1:20.475s by 0.725s, with the Pearson Jaguar 0.037s shy in third on 1:20.512s.
Wolfe cut 1:21.339s for fourth in Ellis’ Elan fastback, with Hales 0.043s adrift in Grant’s E-type. Bristolians David Smithies/Chris Clarkson bagged sixth with a stout 1:22.249 in the Tour de France clone Cobra Daytona, owner Smithies having returned to the paddock to tweak the engine’s fuel pressure prior to the off. The GT3-leading E-types of Matt Walton and pro coach Nigel Greensall on 1:23.510 (85.31mph) and Melling/Minshaw sat seventh and ninth respectively, split by 1.057s with the little SP1 Lola of Nick Finburgh/Ollie Crosthwaite on 1:23.603 (85.21mph) in their midst.
Boot’s British Racing Green E-type roadster was the first of four cars in the 25s, pursued by the big Healeys of Harris/Wilmoth, husband and wife Mike Thorne/Sarah Bennett-Baggs and Mark Pangborn/Harvey Woods, the rorty trio blanketed by 0.051s despite the odd-booted Pangborn’s machine finding the edge of a gravel trap. The brothers Tilley were next, their 1:26.279 (82.57mph) a good effort without TC2 class rivals to spur them on. Father-and-son Paul and George Ingram (A-H 3000) were in the 27s meanwhile, chased by father and daughter Richard and Alice Locke with Matt Green in the leading Mini on 1:28.015 (80.94mph) and dad and lad Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones (Triumph TR4).
Best of the seven GT2 MG Bs which faced the Morgan Plus 4 of Simon King/Peter Cole, was Mark Hope’s “Betty B”, in which Minshaw recorded 1:28.603s, 0.127s swifter than Hugh and Mark Colman’s black example. Another father and son combo, Nick and Chris Thomson ranked 20th, with Oliver Marçais a scant 0.031s slower.
Chris Scholey - sharing his ivory Jaguar XK120 with multiple XK champion Rob Newall, whose racing career spans more than 50 years to a Jamun Formula Ford - shaded husband and wife Brian and Barbara Lambert’s B [from which Barbara stood down] and the natty King/Cole Moggie. The Locke’s delightful Mini Broadspeed GTS - unique among the short run built by engineer Ralph Broad as a works racer - mother and son Beverley and Oliver Phillips (MG B), Birchenough/Topliss (Cooper S, running-in a fresh engine) and the Welch sisters completed the line-up.
RACE
Following a rainy start to the afternoon, the track was drying when the 28-car field lined up at around 16.35 for the race start. Mitchell got away well, establishing a 1.7 second lead on the opening lap as immediate pursuers Chiles and John Pearson played themselves in. Ellis stayed fourth until Walton, who had made two places immediately, growled past on lap three.
The big loser on lap one was Smithies, who launched the bellicose Cobra towards Redgate, arrived third or fourth then found himself in the Meerkat litter where the grip level disappeared. Fortuitously - or at least it seemed so at the time - David had the momentum to escape, but he rejoined the tarmac 19th and made up only three places before the timing line, by which the last of the accumulated shingle was probably dispersed.
Others to slide included Grant, who slipped three places from Hales’ Q position, and Richard Locke, whose Mini was inevitably gobbled up by larger capacity cars, having excelled itself in the morning. He fell by seven slots to 23rd, finding Topliss and daughter Alice for company. Conversely, Harris gained four places, Kyle Tilley three, with Thorne among a number who improved by two. But Newall was on an early charge, urging the ivory Jaguar XK up five places from 22nd to 17th, clearing the MG B pack in the process.
The first major drama occurred on lap 2, when Alice Locke arrived at the chicane a little too quickly, whereupon the Broadspeed GTS did a neat swizzle and ended up backwards in the gravel adjacent to the left-hand apex’s tyre stack. Unable to scrabble her way out, and looking straight into the eyes of oncoming drivers, Alice had to wait and until a meaty four-wheel-drive tow vehicle arrived to extricate her. A two-lap safety car covered this operation, which of course cut Mitchell’s lead from 4.3 seconds to just over one. Once the maroon coupe was back on ‘terra firma’ it continued on its merry way.
Chiles stormed past Mitchell three laps out of the caution, with Pearson and Walton third and fourth ahead of Ellis’ blue Elan fastback. Smithies’ incident on lap 15, having recovered his qualifying position was efficiently dealt with by marshals and - considering its magnitude - did not cause much of a hiatus. It wasn’t until GT2 leader Colman parked his crippled MG B in a cloud of tyre smoke past the end of the pit wall, its right rear wing pushed into the Dunlop by Grant’s Jag, that the long yellow was introduced. The only routine driver change stoppers prior to that point were Alice Locke, dad Richard - three places behind the royal Dorset Racing Cooper S since lap three - Newall, Topliss, and Finburgh’s Lola and Minshaw’s E-type from sixth and seventh. Marçais’ MG B’s half-shaft failed in the crocodile, thus the brief GT2 leader was also returned to the paddock, the race’s third and final retirement.
The safety car period provided a haven for competitors to make their mandatory pitstops, but reduced the impact of the longer ones to be served by soloists Mitchell, Chiles (after Sr had given the nod to CRC team manager Gary Spencer’s quick decision!), Boot and Lambert, Brian chasing GT2 honours with vigour. But Lambert came in a lap before Hope, whose partner Minshaw - nicely warmed-up for the task ahead - resumed two places behind, the pale blue B separated from the black one by Paul Ingram’s Healey. Ten laps from home, Jason slipped ahead of Brian and, while both lapped inside 1m30s in the closing stages. Minshaw held on to claim the class, and 15th overall, by 2.480s. Two laps down, the Thompsons were third in GT2, a second adrift of the ultimate pace. Cole/King’s Morgan and the Phillips and Welch MGBs completed the class top six.
Walton and Greensall had made GT3 their own meanwhile. Matt was the penultimate pit stopper after 25 laps, indeed was leading overall when Nigel took over and brought the car home an excellent fifth. Only Ellis’ Elan ran longer, by a lap. It finished 11 seconds ahead of them. Peripatetic pacy pedaller Greensall had the legs of the Healey opposition as the track improved - his best lap of 1:22.787 set against Wilmoth’s and Wood’s in the later 25s, and the 27s of Ingram Sr and Thorne. The latter set his time just before the long caution, which he took as a cue to strap his wife in. The top half dozen in GT3 was rounded out by Equipe Ross-Jones, Allan ceding to Dan, in their Triumph TR4.
Up front Chiles thundered ahead of Gary Pearson to retake the lead on lap 38 and counted down the laps to the chequered flag in a car which didn’t miss a beat. Mitchell was happy with third in GT4 ahead of Wolfe, finishing Ellis’ Elan. The E-types of Grant/Hales and Boot took the minor placings. For Chiles, fastest lap in 1:20.095 as he chased down the Pearson car was icing on the cake.
Touring Car stars the Tilley boys put on a fine show in their Cortina, finishing between the Healeys of the Ingrams and Thorne/Bennett-Baggs. Topliss/Birchenhough beat Locke/Locke/Green - Alice having driven a four-lap stint under the safety car post musical chairs with dad Richard. already aboard the Broadspeed GTS - by a lap for the TC1 trophy.
After the race, a lot of exhilarated drivers enjoyed a convivial prize giving party in the pits, exchanging anecdotes and ‘what ifs’ in time-honoured GTSCC fashion. The Pearsons received the Coveted Royal Automobile Club family award, but the biggest round of applause greeted Emily and Arabella Welch who - with a combined age of 38, half that of some of their most experienced track mates - stayed out of trouble, thoroughly enjoyed their first race together and were cheered by the assembled throng as they were named Drivers of the Day.
Next stop for the GTSCC circus is The Autumn Classic at Castle Combe on Saturday 23rd September.
Report by Marcus Pye.
GTSCC WINNERS
Chris Chiles Jr
GTSCC CLASS WINNERS
GT2 Class Winner - Mark Hope & Jason Minshaw - MG B
GT3 Class Winner - Matt Walton & Nigel Greensall - Jaguar E-Type
GT4 Class Winners - Chris Chiles Jr - AC Cobra 289
SP1 Class Winners - Nick Finburgh & Ollie Crosthwaite - Lola Mk 1
TC1 Class Winners - Ellie Birchenough & Nick Topliss - Austin Mini Cooper S
TC2 Class Winners - Kyle & Kane Tilley - Lotus Cortina
GTSCC 'Driver of the Day' - Arabella & Emily Welch - MG B
Royal Automobile Club ‘Family Award’ - John & Gary Pearson - Jaguar E-Type
1st Place Chris Chiles Jr
2nd Place John & Gary Pearson
3rd Place Jonathan Mitchell
GTSCC Donington Park 2023 Results HERE
The next round of the GT & Sports Car Cup takes place at the Autumn Classic Castle Combe - Saturday 23rd September
30-minute qualifying session
90-minute, 2-driver endurance race
VIP Driver Hospitality
E-Mail - cars@automobileshistoriques.com for entries