A weekend long dice between the monster Chevrolet Camaro V8 of Boysie Thurtle and the small but beautifully prepared Lotus engined Talbot Sunbeam of Joss Ronchetti and Julian Westwood highlighted the two Heritage Races at Brands this weekend. Honours were split with one win each.
QualifyingThe day started overcast and damp for qualifying, which evened out the field somewhat.
Pole was taken by the Ronchetti / Westwood Talbot Sunbeam just ahead of Boysie Thurtle's Camaro. Second row consisted of John Wilson�s very quick MG BGT V8 and the Crossle 9S driven by John Taylor. John Dickson and Cheng Lim found it difficult to lay down the power of their Ram Cobra, the Voyce / Brown Ford Escort giving them a close race for 5th and 6th. The three Astons consisting of the Cann brothers (V8 Vantage), Brown father and son (Lightweight DB4) and
Ian McCallum and John Bussell (DB5) made up the next 3 places.
More Fords followed, Andy Pyke and Tony Paxman (Escort), Richard Cooke and Simon Verschueren (Mustang) and Chris Lord (Escort).
Mike and Leigh Youles reached halfway up the grid in their Austin Cooper and the Ex. Dave Dennett Porsche 924 driven by Bob Searles, Dave McCutcheon and TV presenter Tony Jardine, made 14th spot despite a misfire. On the eighth row were Alan Hudd and David Croft (Aston Martin DB4) and Leigh Smart in his DBSV8. The rest of this interesting grid consisted of Escorts, Triumphs, a Morgan and Neil Merry and Christian Dick in their Corvette and the De Tomaso Pantera of Joe Jackson and Terry Gisbourne, both cars having mechanical problems
Race 1
Heavy rain in the morning meant the track was damp for race 1. Joss Ronchetti had a flying start from pole and led the pack round Paddock Hill. John Wilson got round Boysie�s Camaro which took a bit of time for the tyres to warm enough to unleash its awesome power. These three pulled away from fourth placed John Taylor (Crossle 9S) and stayed that way until lap 7 when the Talbot came in early for a tyre change effectively ending his challenge. John Wilson kept ahead of the giant Camaro until lap 11 when the majority pitted.
When the grid had sorted itself out the Camaro was a long way ahead, Wilson having more win penalty seconds added to his stop. Boysie was followed in second place by Chris Lord in his Escort who had gained a lap on the field due to the fortuitous timing of his pitstop. Despite a massive push the Lim Dickson Ram Cobra couldn't catch him and had to settle for third. John Taylor's Crossle came in 4th with John Wilson 5th, gamely trying to make up his success penalty. 6th was the Voyce/Brown Escort who were 2nd in class B to Lord. Class E winners and 7th overall were Ian McCallum and Porsche Champion John Bussell in Ian's Aston martin DB5.
The Youles/Youles Mini were 10th and winners of class A. 11th was the Aston V8 Vantage of the Cann brothers with the lovely Ford Mustang of Richard Cooke and Simon Verschueren 12th and winners of class C. The Ronchetti/Westwood Talbot Sunbeam made it up to 13th despite recording the fastest lap.
Results - Race 1 1 Boysie Thurtle (Chevrolet Camaro) 29 laps in 30m 36.114 (68.15 mph); 2 Chris Lord (Ford Escort) + 44.379: 3 Cheng Lim / John Dickson (Ram Cobra 427)� + 5.399s; 4 John Taylor (Crossle 9S); 5 John Wilson (MG BGT V8); 6 Voyce/Brown (Ford Escort); 7 McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); 8 Ken Culverwell (Mamba Lotus 23). Class winners: Thurtle (Chevrolet Camaro); Lord (Ford Escort); McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); Youles/Youles (Austin Cooper); Cooke/Verschueren (Ford Mustang); Fastest lap Ronchetti/Westwood 52.415 (82.32 mph).Race 2A lovely bright sunny day greeted the competitors for Sunday�s race. Boysie took off in fine style and soon built up a 5 second lead over the Lim/Dickson Ram Cobra with John Wilson (MG BGT V8) in third. However, Joss Ronchetti was carving his way through the grid in his orange and black Talbot Sunbeam flying machine and got up to 5th place before having to do a drive through penalty due to overtaking on a yellow. In fourth now was John Taylor (Crossle 9S). On lap 16 the Ford Escort of Brown/Voyce carried on down the hill from Druids across Graham Hill and up the hill on the grass to end their race adding to the retirements of the Dick/Merry Corvette, Youles Mini and Searles/ McCutcheon Porsche. More gravel seeking was to follow. On lap 19 both David John Falkingham (Triumph TR7) and Leigh Smart (Aston DBS V8) managed to avoid each other as they spun gracefully into the trap at Paddock bend which brought out the safety car. A gaggle of cars pitted in this period and by the time the cars had re-joined the train Boysie was still in the lead but very much closer was Julian Westwood in the Talbot Sunbeam.
When they Safety car came in, Westwood soon leapfrogged the cars between him and the Camaro setting up a thrilling last dozen laps. As Westwood got closer, Boysie was wringing the neck of the giant Camaro putting in his fastest laps of the race. But the nimble Talbot Sunbeam was shaving the time off by half a second a lap. To see the monster Chevy on the limit coming round Paddock with the little Talbot on his tail was quite a sight. Eventually Boysie had to take avoiding action not to hit a backmarker coming out of Druids and had a spin letting Julian through for a memorable victory. Behind these two there were other exciting battles John Dickson had powered his Ram Cobra past John Wilson�s MG BGT V8, then managed to turn his exhaust silencer at right angles to stop the MG getting back by. We lost the Morgan +8 of Phil Hollins on lap 36 and finally Wilson had a coming together with Rikki Cann on the penultimate lap which ended his race. The consistent Taylor brought his Crossle home to take fourth and the Browns Aston DB4 came 5th and class E winners. With another lightening pit stop Chris Lord was in 6th place securing Class B honours again. The Cooke/Verschueren Mustang were 8th with another class win under their belts.
Results - Race 21 Joss Ronchetti / Julian Westwood (Talbot Sunbeam) 40 laps in 40m 05.834 (71.74 mph); 2 Boysie Thurtle (Chevrolet Camaro) +6.535; 3 Cheng Lim / John Dickson (Ram Cobra 427); 4 John Taylor (Crossle 9S); 5 Brown/Brown (Aston DB4 Lightweight); 6 Chris Lord (Ford Escort); 7 Pyke /Paxman (Ford Escort); 8 Cooke/Verschueren (Ford Mustang). Class winners: Ronchetti /Westwood (Talbot Sunbeam); Brown/Brown (Aston DB4 Lightweight); Lord (Ford Escort); Cooke/Verschueren (Ford Mustang); Fastest lap Ronchetti/Westwood 51.786 (83.32 mph).
