VSCC Spring Start 12/13 April  Report and images by Peter Baker. Click to view gallery. 

The VSCC’s 80th Anniversary year continued over weekend with the two-day GP Itala Trophy Race Meeting at Silverstone, its roots going back to 1947. Although rather chilly on Saturday, the weather improved somewhat, and by Sunday lunchtime drivers and club members alike were enjoying pleasant sunshine. The 20-race programme was less ambitious than it first appeared as most outings were of the ‘sprint’, short duration variety, respecting the limitations of the older machinery.

That said, Race 8, the George Abecassis Trophy Race (Fifties Sports Car Racing Club) lasted 30 minutes and saw the Maserati 200SI shared by Steve Hart/Gordon McCulloch pull off a convincing victory, beating the Jaguar C-type of Nick Finburgh by some 13 seconds. Till Bechtolsheimer was a worthy third in his Allard J2, only a further two seconds in arrears. The 20-minute F3 (500) race was curtailed after an accident, with Ian Philips declared the winner, having covered four laps in 5m 30.07s, a smidgeon faster than Roy Hunt and Darrell Woods.


Race 11, the ERA 80th Anniversary Race, although just ten minutes duration and featuring only ten cars, provided a masterly lesson in car control by Mark Gillies who led from start to finish, and beat Nicholas Topliss by 4.91 seconds. Sadly, David Morris in the ERA R11B was forced to retire on lap 6 whilst contesting the lead. Mark Gillies also put in the fastest lap of 86.76mph.

Team Retro-Speed was represented in the Historic Front-Engined Formula Junior Championship race by Richard Pugh and his 1100cc, 1960 Stanguellini. Unfortunately, his main class rival, Martin Sheppard, has found some extra horsepower during the winter lay-off, leaving Richard to settle for second and 14th overall.

The 30-minute ‘1950s Sports and Sports Racing Cars Race’ on Sunday was full of drama, with Peter Horsman finally coming out top in his Lotus 15, beating the Wood/Wood Lister Jaguar by 3.9 seconds. Driver changes provided pit lane excitement while one-time leader, the Majzab/Ricketts Sadler Mk111, disappeared from the fray on lap 21 after being stuffed into the gravel at Becketts. Eight cars in all retired allowing Andrew Moore to go serenely about his business in the bright green MGA; he finished five laps behind the winner but a satisfying 17th overall.

Another exhibition of fine driving was given by Tony Wood, who stroked the unbelievably beautiful Maserati Tec-Mec to first place in the The Halford Trophy Race for front-engined racing cars, beating Marshall Bailey (Lotus 16) to the flag, after just fifteen minutes, by an almighty 39.53 seconds. Another highlight was the appearance of Helmut Gassmann in his slightly off-song, replica Lancia D50.

During the lunch break I caught up with South African Eddy Perk, who drives an immaculate 1960 Heron F1 with Alfa Romeo engine in the HGPCA Pre-1966 Grand Prix Cars Championship. Typical of these competitors, he works on as well as drives the car. He qualified fifth, and later finished fifth. “I could have gone faster,” he smiled. Where have we heard that before?

As is tradition, it was the 30-minute VSCC Regularity Trial that opened the meeting, attracting some 40 cars, from the 1922 GN ‘Thunderbug’ driven by Mark Walker, to the much later 1939 Lagonda V12 Le Mans Replica of Robert Lewis. Nobody wins this race. It’s all a bit of fun, proved by the requirement that, at some point, competitors have to return to the pits and change a spark plug. Eighteen cars failed to complete their allotted number of laps, so maybe ‘fun’ is not the right word.


And it was the VSCC that also closed the meeting, with a 10-minute outing for Standard and Modified Pre-War Sports Cars. In this instance, won by Andrew Mitchell in his 1937 HRG, beating the Talbot-Lago T150C of John Guyatt by a mere 2.64 seconds. Mark Brett came home third in the battle-ship grey Ballamy Ford V8 Special. Unusually, Simon Blakeney-Edwards failed to finish in his Frazer Nash Super Sports. Last car in the last race of the weekend to cross the line was the Riley Brooklands of David Furnell.

The next VSCC outing will be the Curborough Sprint on 4 May.