Heritage GT racers thrill WTCC crowdsTwo races for the Charterhouse Heritage GT Car Challenge provided some stunning action during the World Touring Car Championship meeting on the demanding Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit over the weekend (22/23 September). Fittingly, on such a high profile programme, the HGT contenders turned out in force with 40 cars lining up for Saturday’s race. Rick Lloyd and Peter Horsman won an    incident packed race in their Morgan Plus 8 but only after a titanic battle with the Chevrolet Camaro of Andy Rouse and Stuart Hall. But Rouse and Hall turned the tables in style to score a commanding win on Sunday.QualifyingFriday’s session produced a familiar look at the sharp end of the grid with Rouse/Hall on pole while Lloyd/Horsman shared the front row. "Very happy," said Rouse, while Lloyd signalled his intentions for the race by fitting some new tyres. "Hoosier told me my old ones wouldn’t do 40 minutes," said a smiling Lloyd. The Camaro of Arthur Thurtle/Boysie Thurtle/Roger Bennington (the last named due to share with Arthur on Sunday) was third fastest, whilst the George Miller/Les Goble Aston Martin DBS V8 was fourth quickest. Chris Scragg (DBS V8), driving solo this weekend, was fifth fastest with the father and son pairing of Roy and Spencer McCarthy rounding out the top six.The Andrew Chalmers/Colin Davids Porsche 911 was best of the Class B cars (tenth fastest) while Malcolm Young (DBS V8) was the leading Invitation class runner in his DBS V8 with Class A top spot falling to the Harvey and Clive Death in the family Mini Cooper S.However, there were also some tales of woe after qualifying. Alec Hammond’s engineer faced an unexpected repair job after the Chevrolet Camaro fell off its axle stands overnight! The offending stand jammed under the car putting a large dent in the sump.The John Shoesmith/Ray Barrow Camaro went one better, blowing its engine during qualifying and prompting Barrow to fetch his Cosworth turbo-powered Ford Escort Mk1, which was moved into the Invitation class.The Tim Glover/Andrew Knight TVR V8-engined Escort never even made it onto the track after an oil cooler pipe split in the pit lane. But things got worse, for it boiled on the grid of Saturday’s race causing the ECU to go into 'limp home' mode.Another with overheating dramas was the Jaguar XJS of Richard Masters, which split its header tank. Masters was already using his second car after crashing his favoured XJS at a Brands test day! RAM Cobra driver John Dickson had a scare in qualifying when a bolt dropped out of the sump of his newly rebuilt engine, resulting in oil on his tyres and a spin at Stirlings.Race oneRouse and Lloyd were neck and neck on the run to Paddock where both sat it out side-by-side. But third place man Arthur Thurtle got out of shape going down the hill and the Camaro plunged off the circuit and into the barrier on the inside of the corner with some force.The passenger side of the car bore the brunt of the impact and while Arthur was thankfully okay, the car was out of action for the rest of the weekend. With Mark Forster’s Mini in the gravel on the outside of Paddock, the safety car made an early appearance to allow recovery of the stricken cars.Thurtle’s demise elevated Roy McCarthy to third but it wasn’t to be a good weekend for the Banstead family with Roy spinning at the exit of Stirlings once the action got under way again. Unsighted, it took him some time to get going. Son Spencer completed their misery by beaching the car in the Druids gravel trap.Meanwhile, Lloyd harried Rouse for the lead, eventually grabbing it when Rouse ran wide at Dingle Dell on lap 11. Pit stops would soon follow and though the front two stopped a lap apart, they were soon back dicing for the lead with Horsman making the race winning manoeuvre around the outside of Hall at Paddock on lap 15."I took my 60th race win at Castle Combe last week and I’m 60 years old, so that was a landmark but my first ever win over Andy is something special," exclaimed an elated Lloyd. "It was a shame about the red flag but I must say that Peter drove very well," said Hall.Sadly, the race was red flagged on lap 18 when Les Goble had a brush with Gordon Streeter (Ford Anglia) while lapping him at Clearways and despite heavy braking, Goble couldn’t avoid the Anglia as it turned in. They clashed and with Goble’s car stuck in the gravel in a precarious spot, the race was red flagged. Despite having missed qualifying in their Morgan Plus 8, the Bryants were third after Oliver charged magnificently from the rear of the grid, leaving father Grahame to maintain their placing. Soloist Scragg was a very fine fourth ahead of Aston Martin DB4 duo Peter Wheeler/Ben Samuelson.Sixth was the Hammond/Jenkinson Camaro, which was good reward for their engineer’s efforts, while the Ian McCallum/John Bussell Aston Martin DB5 was seventh, clear of Invitation class winner Young who had fellow soloist Phil Hollins (Morgan Plus 8) between himself and the Class B winning Porsche of Chalmers/Davids. The Death brothers threw their Cooper S around in style to win class A.Results – race one  1 Rick Lloyd/Peter Horsman (Morgan Plus 8) 17 laps in 30m53.396s (76.46mph); 2 Andy Rouse/Stuart Hall (Chevrolet Camaro) 30m54.816s; 3 Oliver Bryant/Grahame Bryant (Morgan Plus 8); 4 Chris Scragg (Aston Martin DBS V8); 5 Peter Wheeler/Ben Samuelson (Aston Martin DB4); 6 Alec Hammond/Andy Jenkinson (Chevrolet Camaro); 7 Ian McCallum/John Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); 8 Malcolm Young (Aston Martin DBS V8); 9 Phil Hollins (Morgan Plus 8); 10 Andrew Chalmers/Colin Davids (Porsche 911). Class winners: Lloyd/Horsman; Rouse/Hall; Young; Chalmers/Davids; Harvey Death/Clive Death (Mini Cooper S). Fastest lap: Lloyd 1m38.203s (84.84mph).Race twoSunday’s race saw a few absentees, notably the Thurtle Camaro and the Miller/Goble Aston Martin which had suffered rather more damage than initial checks had shown. Also out was the Williams family Rover SD1 with oil pressure problems, while there would be a new winner in the Invitation class as Malcolm Young was unable to be there.Hall started the Camaro this time and though Lloyd led initially, Hall soon put blasted past on the run up to Hawthorns. When Rouse later took over, he continued the domination, easing off towards the end with a winning margin of 12.8 seconds.The Bryants took another third place while Scragg was again fourth but only after a scrap with Roy McCarthy who completed a forgettable weekend by plunging off the circuit into the tyre wall at Clearways.The McCallum/Bussell pairing, with Bussell charging on the second stint, almost caught Scragg in the closing stages. Sixth fell to another Aston Martin, this time the Wheeler and Samuelson car, which was clear of the Hammond/Jenkinson Camaro.Hollins went one better than earlier in eighth while Bob Searles/Tony Jardine (DBS V8) were ninth just ahead of the Conor O’Brien/Charlie Kemp DB4. Just outside the top ten, Laki Christoforou (Ford Escort Mk1) took Class B while the Barrow/Shoesmith Escort bagged the Invitation class honours and Streeter came back from his race one dramas to win class A in the mighty Ford Anglia.Results – race two   1 Hall/Rouse 18 laps in 30m48.340s (81.17mph); 2 Lloyd/Horsman 31m01.236s; 3 Bryant/Bryant; 4 Scragg; 5 McCallum/Bussell; 6 Wheeler/Samuelson; 7 Hammond/Jenkinson; 8 Hollins; 9 Bob Searles/Tony Jardine (Aston Martin DBS V8); 10 Conor O’Brien/Charlie Kemp (Aston Martin DB4). Class winners: Hall/Rouse; Lloyd/Horsman; Laki Christoforou (Ford Escort Mk 1); Ray Barrow/John Shoesmith (Ford Escort Mk 1); Gordon Streeter (Ford Anglia). Fastest lap: Hall 1m38.065s (84.96mph).Final round: Spa-Francorchamps, 12-14 October.