Garland or Horsman to win 1997 Series

Silverstone National - 9 August 1997 (Bentley Drivers' Club)

The annual pilgrimage to Silverstone for the Bentley Drivers’ Club meeting was on Saturday 9th August. With an unusually early end to the season – to accommodate the unofficial round at Zandvoort on September 7th – it was the penultimate round of the Morgan Motor Company Challenge. At 8am the silent, deserted track belied the activity in the paddock and, as the smell of cooking bacon gave way to Castrol R, you might have mistaken the scrutineering queue for Sainsburys on Saturday morning. But what a queue! Bentleys, Lagondas, Alvis’ and the now customary superb array of 3 and 4-wheeler Morgans. Among them Christian Bock who had driven his car from Germany, Alan Biggar from Edinburgh and, new faces to Morgan racing, Brian Jenkins in the ex-Lew Spenser +4 and Phil Brown in his +8. Tony Howard was giving a first outing for many years to the John Sprinzel/Chris Lawrence SLR and Matthew Wurr had sacrificed a place on the Tuscan grid to be there. The 29 entrants for the Challenge race also included Kelvin Laidlaw and Jim Deacon; both appearing for the first time this season. Sadly Chas Windridge was to withdraw from all events after his son was injured in the paddock and required hospital treatment. Happily he is now recovering well.

Under clear blue sky and with temperatures climbing towards one of the hottest days of the year, 28 Morgans were on the track at 9.50am at the start of qualifying. Matthew was quickest in a time of 1:04.37 and alongside him on the front row would be Craig Jones and Peter Garland, whose car was sounding none too good. Grahame Walker had a serious engine problem which would mean an end to his season and the Class B Championship going to Malcolm Paul.

Racing began at 12.30 with the slow handicap. The result was a good victory for Iain Stewart in his 3-wheeler Super Aero. The third race was red-flagged after an MG flipped over at Luffield and the Bentley/Lagonda Handicap which preceded the Morgan Challenge was halted at 5 laps when a 4½ litre Bentley demolished the armco at the end of the pit lane. With these delays and a time curfew the Clerk of the Course felt it necessary to reduce all remaining races to 8 laps. As the Challenge competitors waited patiently in the sweltering heat a further delay was announced as the armco required a complete rebuild. When the cars finally took to the track I was summoned again to the Clerk of the Course to be told of the cancellation of two later races. Unfortunately one of these was the second ‘all Morgan’ race – the Morris Stapleton Trophy.

Shortly after 3.30pm the flag fell and Peter and Craig stormed ahead. By Copse Matthew was in front of them both and heading for a several cars length lead by the end of the first lap. Craig was second and Peter G third ahead of James Edgerton and Mike Fellows. Keith Ahlers was 6th followed by Malcolm Paul. In 8th and leading Class D was James Paterson but class rival Martin Kurrein was right on his tail. Chris Springall, Chris Acklam and Simon Orebi Gann were in front of Class E leader Colin Treble and Christian Bock and Kelvin Laidlaw behind. Second in Class E, Peter Horsman, was being hotly pursued by Mary Lindsay. Jack Bellinger, John Clarke, Barry Sumner and Jim Deacon were in front of Phil Brown and Class C leader Peter Sargeant. Alan Biggar, Tony Howard, Doug Taylerson and Brian Jenkins completed the field. By the second lap Peter G had passed Craig. Chris Acklam had recovered from a bad start and was sitting behind the Class D battle which was now led by Martin. Mary had thundered past Peter H to be lying second in Class E and with only Kelvin between her and class leader Colin and the SLR was just ahead of Peter S. As Peter G crossed the line for the third time his car was about to let him down, bringing to an end his brilliant run of success which nevertheless may secure him the Championship on August 31st. By mid-race James P was back in front of Martin but for much of the lap they were side by side. This was only one of four interesting battles. Peter S was again leading his tussle with the SLR and Keith was catching Mike Fellows – now lying 4th. Mary recorded her fastest lap on the 4th and when Kelvin passed Colin on the 5th her target was in sight! She continued to close the gap but as the laps ran out she was beaten to the line by Colin just ½ second ahead. As the squealing tyres of the leading Class D cars went through Woodcote for the last time it was James who was in front and heading for a Class win which would take that battle down to the wire at Silverstone on the 31st. After a really good race Peter S won Class C and Malcolm Paul secured Class B. Recording identical times Mike crossed the line just feet in front of Keith to take 4th and 5th behind James Edgerton and Craig Jones. A good return to the series for Matthew with an excellent first win of the year – in a Morgan!

Morgans triumphed later in the day when the Allcomers Handicap was brilliantly won by Chris Springall. Martin Kurrein was second and Simon Orebi Gann and Colin Treble 4th and 5th respectively. The final race was won by an AC Cobra after Matthew’s car developed engine problems. But a race long duel between Mike Fellows and Grahame Walker’s son Ian in his Westfield resulted in a 5th place for Mike and 6th for Ian. Craig Jones took fastest lap.