MG and Aston Martin share honours at Snetterton
John Wilson was victorious in the HGTCC Saturday enduro race in his MG BGT V8 on a very slippery Snetterton circuit. But on Sunday the bright conditions saw a win for the Aston Martin V8 of series boss, Roger Bennington and co-driver Boysie Thurtle.
Qualifying
A wet qualifying meant a topsy-turvy grid with some of the big muscle cars unable to unleash their full power in the conditions. The Ronchetti / Seaman Talbot Sunbeam Lotus finding the most grip and taking poll by almost 2 seconds from John Wilson (MGB GTV8). Next came the lightweight Aston Martin DB5 driven by Ian McCallum and Porsche Champ, John Bussell not too far in front of the DB4 of Daniel and Robert Brown. Then followed a mixture of Porsches, Camaros and Astons, with John Dickson’s Ram Cobra in 8th. The leading class A car was the Mini of Perkins and Burgess in 12th position.
Race 1
A mixture of wet and dry was the order of the day and the race started off in the rain. Poll sitter Joss Ronchetti took an early lead in the Talbot from John Wilson’s MGB GTV8 but John Dickson stormed through the field to take the lead by lap 5. He held the position until he pitted finding himself behind John Wilson when he re-emerged. He finally re-took the lead on lap 24 only to spin two laps later to hand the win to Wilson.
The Talbot also had an excursion and got caught by Oliver Bryant in the Morgan +8. A fast finishing Boysie Thurtle took the Bennington / Thurtle Aston V8 to 4th followed by the Group E winners, Daniel and Robert Brown in the DB4, at 18 and 21 years respectively becoming the youngest ever class winners of a Heritage race. They were 10 seconds in front of John Bussell in Ian McCallum’s DB5 with a recovered John Dickson in 7th.
Colin Voyce was the first of the 5 retirees going off having to take avoiding action to miss a spinning Hudd / Croft lightweight DB4, finding his throttle cable had broken when he tried to get going again. The Burgess / Perkins Mini Cooper failed to reach the grid due to an electrical problem, but they had a taxi
dispatched from Peterborough so they would have the part they needed
fitted in time for Sunday's race.
Class B was won by Mark Bates in his Porsche 911 ST and Pat Thomas brought his Lotus 47 home in 13th overall to take class A honours.
The great Jack Sears gave out trophies.
Results race 1
1 John Wilson (MG BGT V8) 28 laps in 41m 00.325 (79.97 mph); 2 Bryant / Bryant (Morgan +8) + 39.028s; 3 Ronchetti / Seaman (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus); 4 Bennington / Thurtle (Aston Martin V8); 5 Brown / Brown (Aston Martin DB4 Lightweight); 6 McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5). 7 John Dickson (Ram Cobra 427) 8 Mark Bates (Porsche 911 ST). Class winners: John Wilson (MG BGT V8); Brown / Brown (Aston Martin DB4); Mark Bates (Porsche 911 ST); Smart / Hancock (Aston Martin DBS V8); Pat Thomas (Lous 47). Fastest lap Bryant / Bryant 1m17.024s (91.23mph).
Race 2
Sunday’s grid formed in much better weather and a very big crowd were treated to a very entertaining race.
With the Bryant’s Morgan missing, Joss Ronchetti went into an early lead followed closely by yesterday’s winner, John Wilson (MG BGT V8).
It wasn’t long, however before the might of the John Dickson V8 took the Ram Cobra into the lead, which he held until the pit stops started. Just before the window opened, the Cooke Verschueren Mustang spun on oil left by Richard Masters ailing Jaguar XJS. This sent the safety car out. The early pitters got a good advantage from this, most notably Roger Bennington who was first in to hand over to Boysie Thurtle. Joss Ronchetti and John Dickson left it one more lap so when the positions were sorted, Thurtle was at the front where he stayed until the flag. The Ronchetti / Seaman Talbot gave chase but could only manage second. The Ram Cobra now in Cheng’s hands unfortunately had the breather lid come off and had to retire. John Bussell and Ian McCallum came third and were also Class E winners and John Shoesmith and Ray Barrow in their Chevrolet Camaro were a fine fourth.
Colin Voyce in his speedy Ford Escort had a great race and took Class B honours and overall 5th place from Mark Bates in his Porsche 911.
Results race 2
1 Bennington / Thurtle (Aston Martin V8) 21 laps in 30m 09.528 (81.55 mph); 2 Ronchetti / Seaman (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus) + 17.116s; 3 McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); 4 Shoesmith / Barrow (Chevrolet Camaro); 5 Colin Voyce (Ford Escort); 6 Mark Bates (Porsche 911 ST). 7 Phil Hollins (Morgan +8) 8 Hudd / Croft (Aston Martin DB4 Lightweight). Class winners: Bennington / Thurtle (Aston Martin V8); McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); Colin Voyce (Ford Escort); Smart / Hancock (Aston Martin DBS V8); Pat Thomas (Lous 47). Fastest lap Dickson / Cheng 1m16.163s (92.26mph).
Download full results
Photos: Jakob Ebrey
