On the August Bank Holiday our drivers took part in two days of racing, under blue skies, in front of a large crowd on Monday. This is a look back at the second ever Brands Britannia.
As always, Marc Peters has done an excellent job at capturing both atmosphere and action, in two short highlights videos.
Sunday:
Monday, Brands Britannia, including Jaguar XJR Demonstration:
Full results can be found here: https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/243464
Fabulous photos can be found and bought from official CSCC photographer, David Stallard. Please contact him for a driver offer, containing every image David has of your car at that meeting. Photo galleries:
Every race across the two days was live streamed, you can watch these back in their entirety.
Monday's full days of racing is here:
Race Report by Mark Paulson
Brands Britannia has quickly grown to become one of the highlights of the Classic Sports Car Club’s season, and this year’s edition didn’t disappoint, held in late-summer sunshine over the August bank holiday weekend.
Mintex Classic K and Mike Hawthorn Jaguar Challenge grid walk photos, by Joseph Perry
The MotorSport Vision team laid on a wealth of off-track entertainment on Monday’s race day, with car club displays, vintage buses and taxis, live music and ‘village green’ activities all adding to the fun. But surely the non-racing highlight was the appearance of three glorious Jaguar Group C cars for a raucous lunchtime demonstration on Monday. The Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust brought its V12-powered XJR-9 – the 1988 Le Mans winner, no less – and Geoff Page Engineering ran two privately-owned machines. The fourth-place finisher from 1988’s twice-round-the-clock race was driven by Page himself, while one-time British GT Calum Lockie revelled in the chance for his first run in the later, V6 turbo-powered, XJR-11.
CSCC Group C Series anyone?
With Monday being the main day for festivities, all qualifying sessions took place on Sunday, which therefore featured only four races.
Sunday 25th August
First on track were the Co-ordSport Tin Tops and Puma Cup, which had a compacted schedule to allow for double use of the pitlane garages.
With a safety car for much of the second half of the 20-minute qualifying session, two-driver teams had little opportunity for their second drivers to set quick laps. But that didn’t prevent Danny Cassar setting a blistering pace with only two flying laps in Nigel Ainge’s Honda Integra Type R to claim pole position. Likewise, Danny Harrison in Richard Wheeler’s Ford Fiesta ST, which he had newly built. Harrison was three tenths down on Cassar but nearly 1.7s faster than Andrew Windmill had managed earlier in the session in his super-lightweight Honda Civic. Garry Barlow was joined by Alfie Jones aboard his Integra, with the pair qualifying fourth, ahead of Adam Brown (Fiesta) and Steve Papworth (Civic FN2). Seventh overall, and setting the Class E pace, was Mark Alexander-Williams’s little Citroen Saxo. But he wouldn’t start the race after an off at Druids caused by brake failure while also suffering a sticking throttle.
The 40-minute race began just 90 minutes after qualifying finished, and it was Wheeler who jumped into the early lead from Windmill and Barlow, with Ainge slipping to fourth. But Harry Haylor’s crash at Paddock Hill Bend required a safety car to clear up. The pit window opened during the resulting caution period – in fact, just as the crocodile of cars was passing the pit entry. The leading cars were unable to stop until next time by, but Shaun Ely and James Wilson seized the opportunity with perfectly-timed mandatory stops that they could complete during the safety-car period. That catapulted them from 10th and 11th into first and second when racing resumed at around half-distance.
But it didn’t take long for Cassar and Harrison, in for Ainge and Wheeler respectively, to charge back ahead. Ironically, Windmill and Brown were just in front of them on track, albeit virtually a lap down after their longer stops for being previous winners this year. The pair were lapped before Windmill pitted to retire with a sticking throttle that had caused his brakes to wear out.
Cassar’s searing pace edged him clear of Harrison, who had been hampered throughout by losing the Fiesta’s fifth gear. But the Brisky Racing car wouldn’t even score a conolation podium, as its exhaust manifold worked loose. It created some spectacular illuminations under the car, which was subsequently shown a black-and-orange flag. The one-time Britcar champion pulled into retire, disappointed with the result but pleased with the promise his creation had shown.
Cassar was therefore untroubled en route to victory by almost a whole lap, a fine 80th birthday present for Ainge. Behind the leading Integra, Ely’s Class F Peugeot 205 GTi slipped back to ninth, but Wilson grimly hung on to his podium position. He faced stern pressure from Peter Parkin’s Peugeot 306 in the closing stages but managed to keep it behind, both drivers delighted with their class-winning podium finishes.
The top six was completed by Stephen Reynolds/John Ridgeon (Civic), Adrian Matthews (Volvo C30) and David Bellamy (Peugeot 106 GTi) who took the honours in Class E. Despite his 30s pitstop penalty, plus a 5s track-limits censure, Brown managed a class-winning seventh overall.
Puma Cup racers James Clare and Gareth Cotgrove were two of four racers disqualified from the results for going through a red light exiting the pits. That handed the Puma Cup win to Luke Johnson from Neil Jackson and Nick Fuljames.
The Ramair BMW Championship was paired up with Liqui Moly Slicks, with both their sprint races taking place on Sunday. Among the relatively small field of Slicks entries, it was David Harrison’s Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup that set the pace, going fastest overall with an 89.34mph lap. Harrison’s running mate, Nathan Luckey in the 991.1, was third in Slicks, nearly half a second back. The pair were separated by Special Saloons and Modsports regular Andy Southcott, making his series debut. Switching from his Vauxhall-powered Lenham Midget to the even-more-potent Millington-engined version, and running a paddleshift system, Southcott edged Luckey by just 0.02s. Tom Walpole was fourth fastest in his Ariel Atom, with his repaired KTM not quite being ready in time.
One BMW driver managed to get among the top three Slicks cars: Niall Bradley’s Class N M3 E46 was only 0.3s slower than Harrison in second overall. Graham Crowhurst’s Class B version was next, almost a second back, ahead of Class A quartet Jason West, Michael Vitulli, James Card and Bryan Bransom.
The two categories started from separate grids, with the BMWs off first. On the outside line, Vitulli and Bransom each made up a place, slotting into third and fifth behind Bradley and Crowhurst, with West running fourth. But it was Adrian Bradley, from eighth on the grid, who was making most progress. Quickly into sixth, he then got inside Bransom and West with moves at Paddock Hill Bend around half-distance, before also demoting Vitulli. The top five BMWs’ order remained unchanged after that, but they also had to deal with the leading Slicks cars working their way through the pack. A quick getaway (deemed too quick) vaulted Luckey to the lead of that group, but Southcott and a slow-starting Harrison were more adept through traffic and soon found their way past.
In clean air, Southcott had the quickest car and he carved through to second overall in the race by half-distance. The Modsports car survived contact with a BMW at Graham Hill Bend and passed Niall Bradley for the overall lead with a third of the race still to run. But just a lap later, his race was over. Southcott slowed at Druids and pulled off the circuit, with differential failure the suspected cause. That put Bradley back in front; he’d briefly been headed by Harrison when the Porsche dived ahead at Paddock, only to run wide on the exit. Admitting he “shouldn’t really have been racing with him”, Bradley held off Harrison to the flag, pipping the Porsche by just 0.055s. But with the Slick series running two sprint races instead of its standard 40-minute format, Harrison had a 40s winners’ penalty to be added to his time. It dropped him to seventh overall and second in Slicks behind Luckey.
Niall Bradley had finished more than 12s clear of Crowhurst in the opener but the Irishman was worked harder in their second bout. He was able to edge away by around 0.5s per lap until Crowhurst began falling further back in the second half of the race. The ‘art car’ then started smoking heavily and Crowhurst was forced to pull up, a cracked gearbox casing the cause.
Bradley maintained his pace to record a victory of nearly 15s when the race was stopped some three minutes early with Cavan Grainger’s Class D 330ci in the Paddock Hill gravel. “Graham’s in a different class to me, so he shouldn’t be hanging on to me,” admitted Bradley in praise of pursuer. “It wasn’t easy – these boys do make you work!”
Crowhurst’s demise promoted a terrific duel between Bransom and West to be the battle for second. Bransom felt the pressure of championship leader West looming large in his mirrors but managed to hold firm, crossing the line half a second to the good. Adrian Bradley could only manage fourth, while former MGB racer Ollie Neaves won Class B as the fifth BMW home after enjoying scraps with Vitulli and James Card, both of whom failed to finish.
Card’s exit came after a clash with Nathan Luckey at Graham Hill Bend. The Porsche was also sidelined, and with Harrison having already retired (puncture) and Southcott a non-starter, it was left to Walpole to take the series win from Peter Challis (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup).
The only other 40-minute race of Sunday featured a first for the CSCC: a split finish. While Modern Classics ran the full distance, the MG Trophy’s sprint format meant its ZR hatchbacks would contest only the first half of the duration before peeling off into the pits.
On his first outing of the season, Tom Mensley set the pace in qualifying, putting his BMW M3 E36 Evo on pole position by just 0.05s from Roger Hamilton’s giant-killing Ginetta G20. An all-Porsche second row comprised Adrian Clark’s 5.4-litre 928 GTS Cup and the 911 of Paul Winter/Timothy Speed. A number of Jaguar Championship cars joined the fray and were topped by the two-car Powerbell team of XJSs piloted by Rodney Frost and Colin Philpott in fifth overall, marginally quicker than the Aidan Farrell/Dave Whelan Porsche 911 RSR.
Among an MG Trophy entry comprising only Class B ZR 170s, fastest was James Dennison who was making his first appearance in the championship for a couple of years. Jack Woodcock, on another guest appearance, was second quickest, ahead of Tylor Ballard. Championship leader James Cole, on a circuit that isn’t his favourite, would have to make do with fourth, ahead of chief rival Matt Harvey.
The race became a Mensley demonstration. The Leicester driver was almost completely untroubled en route to a repeat of his 2023 success, even while getting reacclimatised with the Amspeed-prepared car.
The rest of the upper order was more hotly contested. Hamilton initially dropped behind the mighty Porsches of Farrell and Clark before fighting back. But Clark established himself in second, only to face a new threat in the second half of the race. Michael Russell, in another M3 E36 Evo, started only 17th in qualifying but was on a charge up the order. He picked off Hamilton for third after the pitstops, then set his sights on Clark. Russell slashed a gap of what had been well over 10s and was right on the 928’s tail in the closing laps. But the Porsche’s power helped Clark fend off the challenge and secure second position, albeit nearly a lap behind Mensley. Russell was delighted just to have reached the finish, let alone score a podium. Hamilton finished a class-winning fourth overall.
In the MG Trophy, which started from a secondary grid, Dennison held sway, with Cole quickly climbing into second. The gap between the DC Motorsport duo narrowed as they negotiated slower Modern Classics cars, with Andrew Rogerson also closing in after starting from the back following qualifying problems.
Cole nearly lost out to Rogerson in traffic, which gave Dennison the breathing space he needed to complete a 2.5s victory. Rogerson’s challenge ended when his gremlins – eventually traced to a degrading ECU wire – returned in the closing stages and he pitted before rejoining. So Cole held onto second from Ballard, the pair well clear of James Blake and Harvey.
BH Monday 26th August
MG Trophy’s second race came the next day, alongside the Advantage Motorsport Future Classics. Dennison was again fastest in qualifying, but with his car now fully on song, Rogerson managed to go second quickest, ahead of Cole and Ballard. Rogerson immediately jumped ahead of Dennison, and the pair then proceeded to enjoy a thrilling scrap throughout the race. They exchanged the lead a number of times while working through the Future Classics field to lead the race overall. But one-time MG Owners’ Club champion Rogerson finally managed to get a break by putting a car between the pair and take his first win in the championship.
A track-limits penalty meant that Dennison only just held onto second by 0.23s from Harvey, while Woodcock gained fourth when Ballard was also hit with a 5s penalty. Cole could only manage to finish sixth after pitting to have his flailing rear bumper removed, a legacy of contact with Ballard at the start. The result looks to have kept the championship just alive until Snetterton’s final round next month, although Cole has one hand on the trophy.
Among a thin Future Classics field, Darren Clayden (Porsche 944 S2) was fastest in qualifying from Tom Butler (BMW E30), Nick Rinylo (Porsche 911 SC) and Simon Spooner/Joshua Smith (E30). In the race, Clayden held sway and enjoyed some on-track action with the MG Trophy leaders – both before and after his mandatory pitstop – before he was forced to retire shortly after half-distance.
Butler inherited the advantage but faced pressure from Rinylo until the big 911 began smoking in the latter stages. Rinylo had to give up the chase and end his race in the pits, leaving the way clear for Butler to secure a maiden win in just his second race meeting. Smith brought his similar car home in second, some 25s adrift.
Behind them, Theo Bridgeman-Williams was setting a searing pace in the Rothmans-styled 944 started by his father Piers, and set the race’s fastest lap en route to a podium finish (and class win). Fourth place went to Jack Stewart (Mazda MX-5) for a win in Class F after Jack Brownlie’s Rover 216 GTi was another casualty.
Opening the action on Monday was the first of two races for the Lackford Engineering Midget & Sprite Challenge. Paul Sibley’s fantastic ex-Chris Montague Midget was untouchable in qualifying and the first half of the race before expiring, while Mike Chalk in the only other Class A car also hit trouble. Veteran racer Chalk was having a run out in the ex-Richard Bridge car but found that three cylinders don’t give as much power as four!
So it was left to the leading cars from Classes E and C to contest the honours. James Hughes’s Austin-Healey Sprite edged Pippa Cow’s similar car by just 0.1s to be best of the rest behind Sibley in qualifying, while Ian Burgin’s Sprite topped class C from the Midget of Connor Kay.
A fine start to the first race put Hughes ahead of even Sibley (briefly, as the latter’s slicks came up to temperature), with Cow left to fend off Burgin and Kay. But with Adrian Moore in the Paddock Hill gravel trap, an early safety car was required, during which Hughes retired with fuel-pump failure. So when racing resumed and Sibley later retired, Cow found herself in front. The ever-spectacular two-time champion duly raced to her first overall win in two years.
Burgin and Kay played out an enthralling duel for the remaining podium places, which each thoroughly enjoyed. Kay spent almost the entire race trying to find a way past before finally doing so at the Druids hairpin on the penultimate lap. “I lost the rear end,” explained Burgin. But the title contender wasn’t done and launched a last-of-the-late-brakers challenge at Paddock Hill Bend on the final lap. Burgin somehow managed to make the move stick without running too deep, securing second overall and class victory in the process. “I just didn’t see him coming,” admitted Kay. “I should have defended it but he came from a long way back.”
Reigning champion Hugh Simpson headed another good contest for honours in Class D, holding off Dean Stanton for fourth overall, with championship sponsor Robin Lackford running strongly to finish sixth.
Race two’s grid, based on second-fastest qualifying times, put Cow and Hughes together on the front row in Sibley’s absence, with Burgin and Kay filling row two. The action exploded into life with Hughes hanging on around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend and edging ahead, but Cow managed to keep an overlap to squeeze in front into Druids. Hughes successfully cut back on the exit to move in front, but Cow immediately responded at Graham Hill Bend. Hughes dropped into line but kept up the pressure on the silver Sprite, but sadly what looked set to be a cracking battle didn’t last long, as Pippa’s car let go at Druids on lap three of 20. She quickly pulled off and parked up in a safe place.
So in a reversal of fortunes from the earlier encounter, Hughes was able to canter to victory – his first overall win since the season-opener at Donington Park in March – and earn the beautiful Steve Everitt Memorial Trophy in doing so.
Burgin and Kay picked up from where they left off earlier. Kay briefly got ahead but again spent most of the race applying pressure to Burgin’s car, which was thankfully repaired after retiring from the earlier Swinging Sixties contest. This time, a Code 60 period would prove decisive. Burgin’s car bogged down as green flags signalled a return to racing speed, and Kay flashed past. Burgin then had a half-spin on oil at Clearways but rounded Simpson to reclaim third overall and second in class.
Stanton’s pressure on Simpson had been relieved when he also spun but the pair still scored a repeat result of first and second in Class D. A little further back, Mark Turner continued his strong form to complete a pair of comprehensive Class H wins in his Sprite and keep himself in contention for the overall crown, which will go down to the wire at Snetterton on 28/29 September.
Also contesting two sprint races on Monday were the JMC Racing Special Saloons and Modsports, racing in memory of former series stalwart and driver representative Ricky Parker-Morris – Brands Hatch being his local circuit. Sadly, a cracked piston in the Spirit of RPM Peugeot 309’s Cosworth YB meant that Ricky’s brother Danny Morris would be unable to contest the event. But a fine 24-car entry, including a rare appearance from Doc Enderby’s VW Kharmann Ghia and John Pugsley’s Davrian Mk6 joining for only a second time, did them proud with two terrific races.
With Andy Southcott heading home to replace the differential in his Midget after its failure in the Slicks series race, it was left to Oulton Park winner Simon Allway to set the pace in qualifying. His Chevrolet-engined Lotus Esprit silhouette was a quarter of a second clear of Thomas Carey’s Honda CRX clone with BDG power. On his series debut, Steve Goldsmith put his wild Ecoboost-powered Ford Anglia on row two, alongside Rikki Cann’s Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Paul Dolan (Lotus Elan) and Andrew Willis (Ford V8-powered Austin A30) were next.
Southcott returned with his Millington-motivated Midget in full working order (and converted back to a stick-shift, as per series regulations) and was able to start from the back of the grid.
Photo by Joseph Perry
After Bailey-D Parker-Morris, Ricky’s daughter, waved the cars away on their green-flag lap, local man Carey fired his CRX past Allaway to take the lead at Druids on the opening tour. Allaway kept up the pressure over the following laps, as Goldsmith held third and a strong start from Willis catapulted him into fourth. Meanwhile, Southcott’s inexorable progress had taken him from 24th to sixth inside five laps. He then picked off Cann, Willis and Goldsmith over the next three tours to run third, some 13s down on leader Carey.
In the mid-pack, contact between Craig Percy’s V8-powered Morris Minor and the little Suzuki SC100 of Paul Turner exiting Druids led to a safety car, with the Minor left stranded and Turner also out with a damaged wheel. With the field closed up, albeit with some lapped runners separating the top three, Southcott became favourite for victory. But unfortunately, the race did not resume. The cars were stopped on the grid to allow for Percy’s rescue, but some began overheating, leading to a red flag and premature finish.
It wasn’t the way he wanted it, but Carey was “pretty chuffed” with a first win at his local circuit. Allaway admitted he had been “on the limit” in his pursuit, while Southcott was more than satisfied with third after only nine laps of racing.
Carey’s win earned him the series’ standard 10-place grid penalty for the sequel, meaning Allaway and Southcott were due to fill the front row. But with his blue Mike Johnston-built Lenham Midget even more potent than the usual grey version, Southcott elected to start from the back once again. It made for plenty of excitement as he and Carey both worked their forward.
Carey had made fifth within a lap, then found his way past Martin Reynolds’s fast-starting Anglia on the next tour. Clean moves at Clearways took Carey past Willis and Goldsmith, and he began homing in on Allaway by a second per lap. The Lotus driver upped his pace in response and rebuffed a couple of passing attempts from the Gravesend man. But Carey finally made a move stick with a fine around-the-outside pass into Graham Hill Bend on lap 12 of 15.
Meantime, Southcott’s progress had once again been rapid and he joined the lead pair out front before getting slightly delayed in traffic. Quickly back on terms, Southcott demoted Allaway and then dived past Carey for a decisive lead into Paddock Hill Bend on the penultimate lap.
Denied his double, Carey quipped: “Who invited him along?!” The podium trio had all put in fantastic drives, well worthy of the commemorative trophies that Bailey-D later presented to them.
Kent man Goldsmith again impressed in his Anglia en route to fourth ahead of Willis’s yellow peril, and Dolan who got the better of Cann for sixth, as Reynolds slipped back to eighth.
A typically large Adams & Page Swinging Sixties entry required two grids, split by class to maximize capacity. Race 1 brought Classes A, C, E and V together, plus a number of cars set to race with the second group that were keen for another go. Ian Burgin’s hard-worked Austin-Healey Sprite set the qualifying pace, just edging the much larger cars of Stephen Pickering (Sunbeam Tiger) and Ray Barrow (Chevrolet Camaro). Tom Pead’s BMW 1600 Ti completed an eclectic top four.
In the race, Burgin’s A-series power couldn’t live with the V8 grunt of Pickering’s and Barrow’s steeds and his chances were further hit by having to serve an additional 20s at his pitstop as a result of winning at Anglesey last time out. A fuel-pump issue (which turned out to simply be a loose wire) later ruled him out altogether.
Barrow clung on to Pickering through the first segment of the race, but lost time with a slow pitstop, despite some quick laps in the meantime. A later Code 60 period caused some confusion and led the entire field being penalised for not slowing sufficiently, but Pickering kept hold of victory – his third this season – with Barrow second. Pead finished third, despite being reeled in late on by Simon Benoy’s Class A-winning Hillman Imp, which passed Dean Halsey (Datsun 240Z) for fourth. Two laps down, Simon and Thomas Tunnard took their Fairthorpe Electron Minor S2 to Class C spoils.
Matching Burgin’s busy-ness – but in his case doing it in two cars – was Connor Kay, whose three-litre TVR Tuscan took pole position for Adams & Page Swinging 60s race 2, featuring Classes B, D, F and L (plus others doubling-up). Steve Hodges (Lotus 7 S2), Chris Watkinson (Austin Mini) and Geoff Taylor (TVR Griffith) were all within a second of Kay’s pole time, doing their best to match Group 1 for variety at the front.
Kay looked to have the upper hand in the race as he opened an advantage approaching 10s before pitting. But Code 60 straight after he stopped helped Hodges, Taylor and Watkinson vault the Tuscan during the pitstop phase. Kay set a series of incredibly consistent pacy laps as he caught and passed Watkinson, but could make no further progress and also received a 1s penalty for excess speed during the Code 60.
Hodges wasn’t far off matching Kay’s pace in the ‘Impudent 7’, and the same was true of Taylor after he “woke up in the second half of the race”. The pair were separated by 9.4s in the official results after a slightly early halt was called with Andrew Hall’s three-wheeled Triumph TR6 stranded at Druids. “It was hard work,” admitted Hodges, adding: “I love being here on the Indy – it’s a nice little circuit and it suits the car so well.”
Behind Class F winner Kay, Watkinson won Class B in fourth overall, while Pickering managed fifth despite his 20s success penalty for winning the earlier race. Pead beat Claire Norman and father Charles Tippet’s BMW 2002Ti to Class D laurels in eighth overall.
The Gold Arts Magnificent Sevens were joined by a handful of similar cars taking advantage of the more open tyre regulations in the Verum Builders Open series. Perhaps unsurprisingly it was those who set the qualifying pace, Christian Pittard bettering John Cutmore’s low-line Spire RB7 by a quarter of a second, with Colin Watson another second adrift. Jeremy Adams was fastest of the Mag Sevens, his Caterham 420R fourth overall but nearly 3s down on Pittard’s near-90mph marker.
The quartet remained in that order, chased by Stephen Collins and Tim Davis – from 10th on the grid after fuel-pump dramas in qualifying – when a very early safety car was called. Once racing resumed, Watson picked off Cutmore, only then to pull off with a misfire aboard his newly-installed engine after blowing the previous one at Spa. BOSS Racing team-mate Davis would also suffer, forced out by more fuel-pump woe after enjoying a dice with Cutmore for second.
So it was left to Pittard and Cutmore to contest victory. A slightly faster pitstop, combined with strong in- and out-laps, helped Cutmore gain a 3s advantage once the stops were complete. Pittard responded with a series of fastest laps to get back on the Spire’s tail in the last five minutes. But he could not find a way past and Cutmore clung on to win by just 0.19s as they crossed the line after 40 minutes’ hard racing.
A lap down on the leading pair, Tim Ralph and Adams both passed Collins to take third and fourth, Ralph less than a second in front as his Caterham R400 almost ran dry. While he just missed out on an overall podium finish, Adams’s consolation was Magnificent Sevens victory.
A rather depleted entry took part in two Morgan Challenge sprints. With none of the most powerful Class 1 cars present, Louis Ruff annexed pole position in his +4, from Andrew Thompson (+8), John Emberson (+4 Babydoll) and Alexander Lees (+8).
Luff converted pole into the first race lead but it lasted for only two laps before he slowed to retire. From then on, Thompson was never headed, winning both races by just over 10s from Emberson, despite ageing tyres that were past their best. Lees finished third in the opener ahead of former TR7 regular Martyn Adams. Making his first Morgan appearance for five years, Adams was at the wheel of Thompson’s newer ARV6 model and improved to third in race two.
Among the lower-powered classes, Philip St Clair Tisdall (+8) and Jim Mountain (4/4) split Class 4 honours, while Will Bibb (+8) twice won Class 5 in fifth overall. In Class 3, James Sumner’s title challenge was dealt a blow when his 4/4 retired from the opener and failed to start race two.
Enjoying the limelight of the ever-popular Brands Britannia lunchtime public gridwalk were Mintex Classic K and the Mike Hawthorn Jaguar Challenge.
Inevitably, the cars of Paul Tooms (Lotus Elan GTS) and Allan Ross-Jones (Triumph TR4) would attract most attention as they sat proudly on the front row of the grid. Two more Elans, those of Malcolm Johnson and Graeme Brown, were immediately behind, followed by the Mini of Alice Hughes/Liam Sullivan and the leading Hawthorn entry – Nigel Webb’s beautifully turned out Lister Jaguar Mk1.
Tooms was nearly a second faster than anyone else in qualifying, and that was a telling forecast for the race. The long-time Elan racer was 2.5s to the good after a single racing lap and would go on to win by a full lap. It wasn’t quite as easy as it looked, though. “All I was focused on was how I could get to the end without my battery running out,” explained Tooms, who spotted that his alternator wasn’t recharging the battery early on in the race.
Already a multiple winner this year, Johnson’s similar car kept Tooms honest in the opening laps and might have been more of a victory threat at Brands but for the 80 additional seconds he had to serve at his pitstop for all that prior success. In reality, finishing fifth was still an impressive result, and included passing both Brian Arculus (Elan) and Tim Greenhill (MGB) in one move on the exit of Druids. Johnson fell just 3.5s short of catching Sullivan’s class-winning Mini.
A slow start dropped Ross-Jones down the order but he steadily worked his way forward to win Class D in second overall, a few seconds clear of Brown. Greenhill took Class M, having enjoyed a tussle with Steve Spink’s similar car early on, before Spink had a spin at Surtees when things got a bit too close for comfort with Tina Cooper’s Mini.
In the Hawthorn Challenge, Guy Connew – who won last year’s Jaguar Championship aboard his V12-powered XJS – made the early running in his Mk2, but slowed to retire at one-quarter distance. Modern GT racer Aston Millar had already retired his father Richard’s Mk1 by that stage with carburettor failure. So Webb took a comfortable victory in ninth overall, well clear of Mk1 men Toby Smith and Patrick Doyle, who were the only other finishers.
Photo by James Wall
Last, but by no means least, to appear on track was the Berkshire Jag Components Jaguar Championship. Enjoying having the circuit to themselves, three drivers – each in differing cars – set the pace all weekend. Championship leader Colin Philpott continued his fine form by planting his straight-six XJS on pole position, 0.23s faster than Jack Robinson’s V8-engined XK. James Ramm, with V12 power snarling underneath his XJS’s bonnet after a successful rebuild by Gary Davis, completed a trio separated by 0.5s. Fourth fastest was Michael Holt, impressing in Chris Boon’s XJ40 after crashing his own mount at Anglesey. Fifth, and fastest in Class C, was one-time champion Tom Robinson on the debut of Swallows Racing’s latest XJS (a complete rebuild of a former Boon car). Another previous champion, Rodney Frost completed the top six having a guest outing with his Powerbell XJS, in which he usually focuses on Modern Classics.
The opening stages of race one where enlivened by the ever-spectacular Mike Seabourne, second fastest Class C qualifier in his XJR-14 tribute XJS. Having run side-by-side with Frost through Graham Hill Bend, Seabourne then had to fend off Auto Reserve stablemate Mark Bennett, piloting the supercharged S-Type R that he built for Andrew Harper. Having done so, Seabourne latched onto Tom Robinson, who’d been passed by Frost. Unfortunately, Seabourne’s challenge at Surtees left him in a spin and broke Robinson’s gearbox mount – leaving his car stuck in fourth gear for the remainder of the race.
While Frost picked off Holt for fourth, Powerbell boss Philpott was coming under pressure from Robinson Jr as they dealt with traffic. The young challenger got within 0.5s before Philpott extended that to just over a second as they crossed the line, with Ramm another 9s back.
“He kept me honest there, didn’t he?” admitted Philpott. “The first couple of laps were just about trying to get James off my tail,” added Robinson. “I caught up, but I didn’t quite have enough to get past.”
The rematch brought down the curtain on the weekend and featured a top-six grid reversal, handing Ieuan Spooner’s XJS pole position, with Holt alongside. Spooner led for a lap, chased by Frost, but Philpott had already risen to third before dispatching his team-mate and powering past the West Midlander. Philpott had Ramm his wake, but Robinson found it a little harder to demote Frost, monstering the kerbs with XK as he tried.
Robinson did snatch third shortly before half-distance, then closed up to Ramm. The Essex racer was in turn pressuring Philpott, whose gearbox was starting to play up. But as Ramm’s attention turned to defence, it gave Philpott breathing space to record his seventh win of 2024.
Robinson tried to squeeze the Swallows Racing XK past Ramm’s big XJS at Druids, but Ramm held on, with Robinson left bouncing over the grass at Graham Hill. The pair finished in that order, Ramm delighted to reward Gary Davis’s efforts with two podium finishes.
Frost again beat Holt to fourth, while Tom Robinson worked his way forward to sixth and Class C victory as chief rival Seabourne had a big spin at Paddock Hill Bend in his efforts to get past Boon’s supercharged XK8. Boon gave best to Bennett for Class A honours in both races, while Class D laurels – for the least modified cars – were split between Charles Jackson’s and Colin Porter’s XJ40s.
After a fine weekend’s racing, with credit due to all involved for putting on a great display for the large crowd, attention turns to the season run-in. While Mintex Classic K and Adams & Page Swinging Sixties head to the Spa Six Hours meeting at the end of September, the rest of the categories travel east to Snetterton, on 28/29 September. That will be the decider for all our championships except RamAir BMW, which joins CSCC series, for a finale at Oulton Park on 19th October. Mark Paulson
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