British Cars take honours at Snetterton
A large crowd who enjoyed two days of Touring Car action at the Norfolk Circuit were treated to the sights and sounds of the past as the Heritage Cars ended both days with a two driver enduro race. John Wilson in his MG BGTV8 took the Saturday race with Phil Hollins and Peter Horsman winning on Sunday in their Morgan Plus 8.
Qualifying
The day started fine and bright for qualifying, allowing the big muscle cars to unleash their full power. The awesome Ram Cobra of John Dickson and Cheng Lim took poll by a second from Phil Hollins and Peter Horsman in their Morgan Plus 8. John Wilson (MGB GTV8) was a half a second back in third. Next came the Camaro of John Shoesmith and Ray Barrow followed closely by the V8 Aston of the Cann brothers, Rikki and Joe. 6th and 7th was John Taylor and Ian McCallum and John Bussell in their Aston Martin DB5. Eighth spot went to the beautifully prepared Mustang of Richard Cooke and Simon Verschueren. A mixture of Astons, an MG, Jaguar and Porsche followed.
The Aston Martin V8 driven by Roger Bennington and Sean Brown slipped an alternator belt, which was the first of a weekend-long series of mishaps. Rob Perkins and Jason Burgess had the speedo-mounting break off their Austin Mini Cooper that caused an oil leak and Kevin Hancock’s Triumph Dolomite Sprint broke the water pump.
Race 1
Heavy rain stopped before the race and most competitors changed back to dry tyres, which was the right decision as although the track was slightly slippery the weather brightened up as the grid formed.
A great start from John Wilson in his MG BGTV8 saw him come round in the lead after lap one followed by the poll-setter Cheng Lim in the Ram Cobra. Rikki Cann took his Aston V8 into 3rd from 5th on the grid, soon to become 2nd when Wilson had a moment on lap 2. He soon recovered however, and re-took Cann and started to hassle Cheng for the next 6 laps until re-taking the lead on lap 8. Meanwhile, John Taylor in the Crossle 9S lapped steadily in fourth. John Shoesmith (Camaro) and the two Lightweight Astons of Alan Hudd and Ian McCallum followed.
Roger Bennington had to retire on lap 7 because the belts had come off his Aston V8 again. The Burgess/Perkins Mini Cooper was going well in front of Richard Cooke’s Ford Mustang. Finally Bob Searles, swapping his 5.3 litre Aston Martin V8 for one of 1.9 litres sharing the Porsche 924 with Dave McCutcheon, was having a great battle with the Jaguar XK120 of John Burton. Several times they swapped position, the Jaguar powering past on the straight with the Porsche going round the Jag at Coram.
The pit stop window opened and amongst the frantic activity, the Cheng / Dickson got stuck in reverse and lost time. When everyone had pitted and positions were sorted, the leader was still John Wilson, followed by a fast chasing John Dickson and Peter Horsman in the Morgan Plus 8. Although they managed to overhaul John Taylor they couldn’t catch the MG and these three took the top three spots in that order. Taylor was 4th, the Cann brother’s Aston 5th, almost caught by John Bussell in the DB5. Phil James and Andrew Riley were stuck in 3rd gear in their MGB, eventually calling it a day on lap 13. The Burgess / Perkins Mini Cooper retired on lap 15.
Results race 1
1 John Wilson (MG BGT V8) 18 laps in 26m 26.861 (79.70 mph); 2 Cheng Lim / John Dickson (Ram Cobra 427) + 5.399s; 3 Hollins / Horsman (Morgan Plus 8); 4 John Taylor (Crossle 9S); 5 Cann / Cann (Aston Martin V8 Vantage); 6 McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); 7 Shoesmith / Barrow ( Chevrolet Camaro); 8 Cooke / Verschueren (Ford Mustang). Class winners: Wilson (MG BGT V8); McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); Cooke / Verscheren (Ford Mustang); Searles / McCutcheon (Porsche 924). Fastest lap Hollins / Horsman 1m16.056s (92.39mph).
Race 2
A large crowd that had enjoyed a great day of Touring Car action in lovely sunshine stayed on to watch the different sights and sounds of the Heritage classics.
With the belt situation hopefully resolved the Bennington / Brown Aston V8 went to the collection area only to be forced to pull out with a broken front upright, ending a miserable two days for them.
Poll man John Wilson found that after the start his temperature went off the clock so retired after one lap. This left the Cheng / Dickson Cobra in the lead followed by John Taylor. Phil Hollins was third and these positions were kept for 8 laps until Phil was passed by John Shoesmith in his Camaro. The V8 Aston of Leigh Smart followed the two lightweight Astons of Alan Hudd and Ian McCallum. Andrew Riley (MGB) was having a battle with Richard Cooke in his Mustang, and the Searles / Burton David and Goliath battle resumed from yesterday.
Unfortunately the Perkins / Burgess Mini failed to get going despite spending most of the previous night doing a total engine re-build.
First to pit was Phil Hollins handing the Morgan over to Peter Horsman, closely followed by Ian McCallum who handed his Aston DB5 to ex Porsche Champion, John Bussell. The next few laps saw the remainder of the grid pitting and when the dust settled, Peter Horsman was in the lead with the Cheng / Dickson Cobra trailing by some 5 seconds. John Taylor was third with Ray Barrow in the big Camaro breathing down his neck.
Down the road however was the fast approaching John Bussell in the Aston DB5. The first five stayed in that order to the flag, John Bussell failing in his bid for fourth by .3 of a second. Simon Verschueren kept the Mustang ahead of Kevin Hancock in the Aston DBS V8 to take 6th and 7th respectively. The Hudd/Croft Lightweight Aston came 8th followed by Andrew Riley (MGB). Dave McCutcheon kept the Jag/Porsche dice going after taking over the car even doing a similar cross country route as the Camaro to avoid Russell. He couldn’t catch John Burton until on the last lap the Jaguar broke a driveshaft and lost a rear wheel.
Results race 2
1 Hollins / Horsman (Morgan Plus 8) 29 laps in 40m 00.322 (84.89 mph); 2 Cheng Lim / John Dickson (Ram Cobra 427) + 5.399s; 3 John Taylor ; 4 Shoesmith / Barrow (Chevrolet Camaro); 5 McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); 6 Cooke / Verschueren (Ford Mustang); 7 Hudd / Croft (Aston Martin DB4 Lightweight); 8 Smart / Hancock (Aston Martin DBSV8). Class winners: Hollins / Horsman (Morgan Plus 8); McCallum/Bussell (Aston Martin DB5); Cooke / Verschueren (Ford Mustang); Searles / McCutcheon (Porsche 924). Fastest lap Hollins / Horsman 1m15.562s (92.99mph).
Download full results
Photos: Jakob Ebrey
