Despite enduring a 30 second success penalty, John Wilson in his MG BGTV8 took the honours in the HGTCC enduro race at Oulton Park on Saturday.
Qualifying
After a wet Friday, Saturday started fine and bright for qualifying. John Wilson used his local knowledge to pull out a time of 1:54.879 to secure poll.
Roger Donnan (Crossle 9S) was 1.6 seconds adrift and still pushing when he had an off which resulted in chassis damage putting him out for the day.An ever-improving Zoe North in her Sunbeam 'Tigress' took third spot just ahead of the DB4 of Robert Rawe.The third row was taken by David Falkingham in his Triumph TR7 and the Escort Mk 1 of Colin Voyce and Sean Brown in 5th and 6th.
Oil on the track from an earlier session accounted for some of the bigger V8's being a bit hesitant. A mixture of Astons and a Porsche making up the middle of the grid.Jackie Cochrane stopped early with a broken oil pump in his Sunbeam Tiger, a problem they were unable to cure in time for the race meaning a fruitless journey from Ireland.
It was good to see Joe Jackson bringing his De Tomaso Pantera out to play.
Race
Rain had held off and it was a dry race. Unfortunately unable to start were the Perkins/Burgess Mini due to mechanical damage - and the Ford GTD40 with suspension problems.After the lights went out there was a coming together between the Pyke/Paxman Ford Escort and Bob Searles' Aston DBSV8 resulting in the Aston spinning off. After a check in the pits, Bob did a lap but noises from the rear suspension forced him to retire.Meantime, poll-sitter John Wilson was pulling out a big lead in order to negate his success time penalty, some 33 seconds by lap 11. Second was held by Robert Rawe in his DB4 until he had an incident with a tyre wall on lap 7 and gave the place to Zoe North. Zoe was being tracked by her Father, Robin in the Mustang until he snatched second pace on lap 4. Meanwhile, having started at the back of the grid, John Taylor in his invitation Crossle 9S was making steady progress through the field eventually taking the nimble Crossle past the heavier Mustang into second spot. Robin finished his challenge in the gravel on lap 15, which sent out the safety car, after which most of the places were settled.
However John Taylor was still pressing and when John Wilson had re-emerged from the pits he was only 5 seconds adrift. After the safety car went in with 3 laps to go, Taylor was right up behind the leader. Wilson just held on and chalked up another win for the MGB GTV8.
Zoe took her Sunbeam to a well-deserved third place with the Voyce/Brown Escort in forth and class B winners. Class C went to David Falkingham in the Triumph in 5th spot and the Invited Golf of Richard Cooke and Simon Verschueren 6th. Mike Youles in his Mini Cooper was the class A winner and the Aston DB4 lightweight of Hudd/Croft took Class E.
Results�1 John Wilson (MG BGT V8) 20 laps in 45m 27.595 (71.06 mph); 2 John Taylor (Crossle 9S) + 0.597s; 3 Zoe North (Sunbeam Tiger); 4 Voyce / Brown (Escort Mk 1); 5 David Falkingham (Triumph TR7); 6 Cooke / Verschueren (VW Golf Mk11 GTI); 7 Pyke / Paxman ( Ford Escort); 8� Mike Youles (Austin Mini Cooper). Class winners: Wilson (MG BGT V8); Voyce/Brown; David Falkingham; Hudd / Croft: Fastest lap John Taylor 1m55.842s (83.65mph).
Next Rounds: 23rd - 24th October Brands Hatch Indy
