Brands Hatch hosted AMOC Racing’s third meeting of the season and with the sun shining on the Kent circuit the five races covered decades of different race cars and provided the usual high standard of competition.

Opening the afternoon’s racing was the Pre-War Team Challenge, which saw the grid released in a staggered start, slowest cars from the morning’s qualifying session first. That saw Keith Piper’s Aston Martin flagged away first, with the Bentley of Stuart Morley last car to be released 45-seconds later.

With cars running with laps in hand as well as time, there was plenty of overtaking on every lap, with Piper holding the overall lead until lap 11 when Guy Northam went past in his Bentley, but the quicker cars were closing in. Stuart Morley had been climbing through the order, overcoming his big disadvantage, and was into third by lap eight and closing rapidly on the duo ahead.

Stuart Morley passed Piper for second at Graham Hill Bend on lap 12, and then went ahead later that lap passing Northam. Attention then was on the Aston Martin 15/98 of Peter Dubsky which was into second with two laps to go and despite setting quickest race lap on its final tour was still three and a half seconds back at the chequer flag as Stuart Morley took the win, Clive Morley, father of the race winner, coming through for third in the Bentley usually raced by Duncan Wilshire.

“This is my dad’s car,” explained Stuart Morley, “In the week we had both cars in bits but managed to get one back together, though we had a leak in qualifying and had to fix that.”

The AMOC Intermarque race went into a safety car period on lap one after the Porsches of drivers’ points leader Bob Searles and Don Lamb both ended their races in the Paddock Hill Bend gravel. Racing resumed at the start of lap five, Rob Hollyman looking inside race leader Edward Leigh at Paddock Hill Bend but Leigh’s BMW Evo M3 held on.

From then on Leigh started to ease away, James Hilliard taking second from the Porsche of Hollyman on lap nine. The gap on the front two stayed constant until they started to hit backmarkers, Hilliard getting the better of the passing opportunities and closing to within two seconds before Leigh pitted at the end of lap 23, Hilliard following him a lap later to hand over to Matthew Dietz.

Leigh blasted past to retake the lead as Dietz was heading for the pit lane exit, and once the order had settled, the BMW had a useful lead, Dietz demoted by the similar Porsche 968 CS of Peter Mangion to third. On a charge was James Guess, having taken over his 968 from David Norton, who was into third on lap 29 and starting to close on Mangion, while Hollyman retired when looking good for a strong finish with a misfire.

Leigh was unchallenged in the final laps on his way to win by forty seconds, Mangion taking second as Guess had to back off near the end, circulating in fifth gear to save fuel but still

able to take third place, these three cars a lap clear of the rest of the field.

“That was hot and hard work and I was glad to see the end of the race” said Leigh, “but I’m happy to have taken the win!”

Tony Ditheridge had his Cooper Monaco on pole for the AMOC ‘50s Sports Cars incorporating the Vredestein Jaguar XK Challenge race, but came under pressure at the start of the 30-minute race from the Turner Sports ‘Gurney Special’ of Steve Watton which sat it out alongside through Paddock Hill Bend. Ditheridge held on to lead at the end of lap one, from Watton with the Cooper Bobtail of Robi Bernberg in third.

The lead three stayed in that order until lap 11 when Watton pitted, a plug lead loose on the Turner, the yellow car rejoining but now a lap down. That saw Ditheridge well clear at the front, Bernberg ahead of the battle for third which comprised of the Lister of Stephen Bond with Mark Ellis’ MGA less than a second behind.

In the final laps Ditheridge had a good lead and took his second win in a row in the series, Bernberg making it a Cooper one-two less than a second clear of Bond, who had Ellis right with him through Clearways on the final lap but was just able to use the power of his Lister to take third over the line.

In the Jaguar battle Andrew Wenman led to take fifth overall in his XK120, lapped by Ditheridge just a few laps before the end, while Rob Newall had Paul Kennelly within half a second in the final laps but held on to take second.

“This is a two-litre car but I have learnt that you can’t give these guys an inch, they are very competitive,” said Ditheridge. “It was hard work, you can’t make a mistake.”

The longest race of the day was the Aston Martin GT Challenge, and the race lost a potential front runner early on as the Ferrari 458 Challenge that was second on the grid had ECU problems. Pole man Gavan Kershaw duly led away and immediately pulled clear, as the next six cars were covered by under seven seconds in the early running.

With Kershaw’s Lotus Evora, running in the Invitation class, well ahead, the battle for second was a close one as Robin Marriott’s Aston Martin GT4 led the Ginetta of Chris and Ross Everill and the Aston Martin shared by Peter Montague and Zac Mercer. The first of the lead cars to pit was Kershaw’s Lotus, the Everill Ginetta also stopping at that point.

Last car to pit was the Aston Martin of Matt Bird and Andy Palmer, which duly led for much of the middle part of the race, Kershaw eating away at their lead, only for Bird to go off at Paddock Hill Bend right at the end of the pit window, bringing out the safety car. Kershaw was a lap clear of the field, Marriott second from Tom Black, up from eighth on the grid, and Ross Everill now in the Ginetta.

When racing resumed Ross Everill was quickly past Black, but spun at Clearways when right with a backmarker, allowing Black back into third overall, and with Kershaw running in the Invitation class effectively second. With Kershaw taking the overall win, Marriott held off Black in the final laps to take his first GT Challenge race win.

“After the safety car I knew Tom would be right with me,” said Marriott, “and he was snapping at my heels. I pushed hard and did a couple of quick laps and it was a good hard race, my first win after three years!”

Closing the day was the Innes Ireland Cup, which saw Mike Thorne lead early on in his Austin-Healey 3000, Allan Ross-Jones second in his Triumph TR4 from the Lotus Elan of Stephen Bond.

After being troubled by a misfire in qualifying, Bond was on the move in the race and was soon right with Ross-Jones, finally finding a way past on lap 11 and setting a quickest race lap right away in his pursuit of Thorne in the lead. Less than a second behind, Thorne kept him at bay until the end of lap 14 when the Elan was quick through Clearways and went past as they reached the pit straight.

Bond began to ease away with Thorne pitting the Austin-Healey on lap 24 to hand over to Sarah Bennett-Baggs, Bond pitting two laps later for his compulsory stop. After the stops Ross-Jones was charging and took second, and was closing on the leader when the chequer flag waved at the end of the 45-minutes, but the win was Bond’s.

“The car ran beautifully,” said Bond. “The race was good fun and the Elan is a great car for Brands Hatch but that was hot and hard work, I’m looking forward to a beer now!”

Next AMOC Racing meeting is at Silverstone on September 30th where the AMOC Racing team will also be hosting the Equipe GTS 3-hr Classic Relay event.

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