Cobra and Tiger Triumph at Donington

 

The Heritage bought a healthy 20 car grid of Tigers, Cobras, Astons, Mustangs, escorts and Mini to a sun drenched AMOC meet at Donington.

 

John Dickson’s Cobra which had been suffering from faults relating to a vibration all season finally managed to convert a succession of Pole positions into a race win with the help of Oliver Bryant. Oliver normally a competitor was without a drive as the family Morgan was unusually unavailable with gearbox troubles.

 

Oliver who described the Cobra as, ‘ a lazy but rapid drive’ managed to put the car at the front with a time of 1.154 with Cochrane/Fildes Tiger along side and the Wilson MGBV8 and Taylor Crossle behind.

 

At the start of race one Wilson got in front of Dickson but was unable to hold the position and once the Cobra was clear managed to pass a healthy lead onto Oliver Bryant at the pit stop but a slow stop saw the car emerge behind the MGBV8 of Wilson and a charging Fildes in the Tiger.

 

With some very quick laps Bryant was catching the pair when Fildes pulled off with cooked brakes and when he caught the MGBV8 Wilson suffering in the heat had no answer and Bryant took the flag with Wilson second and Taylor third.

 

By only the third lap of race two we had the two front cars retire. Wilsons MG throttle cable jammed open and the Cobra pulled of smoking with a failed inlet manifold gasket, Dickson hoping that’s the end of the now cured vibration associated faults.

 

This left Wilson alone up front until Cochrane who had started at the back passed for the lead. Although these positions seemed unlikely to change there were battles all through the field with the Mk1 escorts fighting the larger engined Astons.

 

Third place was by no means certain and before the pit stops the beautiful BDG Escort of the Browns looked favourite if it could get in front of Bussell in Ian Mc Callums DB5. The pair had been nose to tail the whole of the first half of the race however a slick pit stop put the Orange escort of Tim Mashman in front of them both. He was not going to give away the place easily and managed to keep on the pace until the flag to take a well deserved final spot on the podium.