2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - RAC TT
Father and son duo David and Olivier Hart claimed a convincing win in the 45-minute RAC TT Celebration thriller on Sunday afternoon.
The Cobra pairing scored from pole position, but their win was far from assured. Hart Sr led during the early running, heading a train of four Cobras plus Jon Minshaw’s Jaguar E-type, only to be given a five-second penalty for glancing the chicane. He continued to lead on the road until he pitted with 30 minutes left to run, handing the car over to his teenage son to drive to the flag.
Veteran racer Martin Stretton assumed the lead in the meantime aboard the Cobra he was sharing with Karsten Le Blanc, and was one of the last to pit. ‘Danger Mouse’ waited a further ten minutes before swapping seats with the car’s owner.
Once the driver changes were complete, there was no stopping Hart Jr, although Phil Keen – in for Minshaw – threatened, but ultimately had to settle for second place. Third place was only settled on the final lap, with the Mike Whittaker/Mike Jordan TVR Griffith just fending off a very determined Le Mans hero Roman Dumas in Bill Shepherd’s Cobra.
Report courtesy of GRRC.
2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - GLOVER TROPHY
Joe Colasacco emerged on top following an epic battle with Andy Middlehurst during the 20-minute Glover Trophy race.
The American, driving Lawrence Auriana’s Ferrari 1512, patiently sat in his Lotus 25-mounted rival’s wheel-tracks from halfway round the first lap to the penultimate tour before jumping him with a brilliantly-timed manoeuvre at Woodcote. It was a fantastic display of precision driving from both men who were rarely more than a fraction of a second apart as they left everyone else in their wake.
Third place fell to historics veteran Jon Milicevic in his Alan Baillie’s LDS-Climax at Woodcote on the final lap, the single-seater out-braking American Timothy De Silva’s white Lotus-BRM and just holding on the flag. Former Le Mans winner and Grand Prix driver Richard Attwood had starred earlier on, and had appeared set for a podium spot aged 77, only for his BRM to drop a cylinder at half-distance.
Report courtesy of GRRC.
2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - CHICHESTER CUP
Michael Hibbert claimed a sensational victory in the Chichester Cup race for rear-engined Formula Junior single-seaters on Sunday morning. Nevertheless, the pole-sitter’s victory was far from assured until the final tour.
Hibbert, whose father Michael won this race ten years ago, rocketed off the line at the start of the 20-minute encounter aboard his Lotus 22. He was chased hard by Cameron Jackson’s ex-Tulip Stable Brabham BT2 with Sam Wilson’s Lotus 22 in third, and Michael O’Brien keeping a watching brief in fourth in the similar car of Mike Flewitt. Just 0.9sec blanketed the lead quartet as they threaded their way through the chicane for the first time.
Former Formula Renault man O’Brien, who had never raced at Goodwood before, survived a lurid moment at Woodcote next time around. The lead battle was nullified, however, after the safety car was deployed on the third lap after another Lotus became stranded on-track. Once racing resumed, O’Brien endured another scare after his Lotus rode up over the back of Hibbert’s car exiting the chicane, but he survived to fight another day. The race soon descended into a battle for the lead between Hibbert and Jackson, with Wilson and O’Brien squabbling over third place a few seconds further down the road.
Hibbert and Jackson battled mightily in the closing stages, with the latter seeming to have the edge until Hibbert got past heading into Woodcote on the penultimate lap. On the final tour, the lead pair almost tangled with a backmarker in the run up to St. Mary’s, but held on to the flag. Hibbert’s margin of victory over Jackson was just 0.5sec. Wilson was third, with O’Brien virtually glued to his gearbox in fourth.
Report courtesy of GRRC.
2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - JACK SEARS MEMORIAL TROPHY
Veteran charger John Young emerged as king of the Jaguar tamers after a frantic 25-minutes of racing during the Jack Sears Memorial Trophy touring car encounter. Young blasted his Mk1 saloon into the lead from the front row, but Neil Brown almost bested him in his Austin A35, only for his good work to be undone as he was robustly squeezed out by his rivals. Pole-sitter Justin Law then glued himself to Young’s tail. Welsh tyre dealer Grant Williams made it a Jaguar 1-2-3 lead battle, the first lap witnessing a fair amount of paint-trading further down the order. Law assumed the lead on the third lap, but Young reaffirmed his role as pacesetter at Lavant on the following tour before stretching his lead to 3.7sec at half-distance.
The remainder of the race descended into an epic Law versus Williams battle, with both men steering their cars at increasingly lurid angles. Williams’ Jaguar was never knowingly pointing straight, its tail often wagging onto the grass. Despite heroic efforts, he was never quite able to get past Law. Young, meanwhile, also recorded the fastest lap of the race late in the day just to add to his glory.
Report courtesy of GRRC.
2018 GOODWOOD REVIVAL - WHITSUN TROPHY
Mike Whittaker claimed a convincing victory in the Whitsun Trophy race for pre-1966 unlimited sports cars on Saturday afternoon.
His open-cockpit, ex-John Surtees/Graham Hill Lola T70 was headed at the start by Rob Huff in the Tolman Motorsport Lotus 19 recreation in which he won this race two years ago. Darren Turner ran a close third in the purple Hamill-Chevrolet SR3 which he hadn’t so much as sat in until yesterday, the works Aston Martin star admitting that he had been a little apprehensive of driving the car prior to qualifying it on the front row.
Whittaker, a previous winner at Goodwood in his TVR Griffith, asserted his authority shortly before quarter-distance of the 25-minute encounter, and soon dropped Huff and Turner who were rarely more than a few metres apart for 15 laps. The latter finally pounced in a manoeuvre which started at Lavant and ended at the exit of the chicane. Fourth place went to James Cottingham in his Ford GT40 ‘MUF1’.
Report courtesy of GRRC.