Lloyd banks another winner

Silverstone National - 7 August 1999 (Bentley Drivers' Club)

As long as I can remember, the Bentley Drivers meeting at Silverstone (the Jewel in the crown of the Morgan Race series) has always been a guarantor of spectacular and fine weather. So when it rained all day for the Bentley’s 50th Anniversary bash, the bedraggled T-shirt and shorts wearers were as surprised as I was.

An enormous registration of 37 entrants (including 4 reserves) for the race reflected the ‘affection which Morgan Drivers have for this meeting’ and even the inevitable and now customary withdrawals meant a not inconsiderable grid of 32 assembled in the persistent rain for the 2 o’clock start of race No 4, the Tony Morgan-Tipp Memorial. Matthew Wurr led the weaving field round to the grid on the green flag lap, bringing them to a standstill in the complex before the pit straight. As the damp Union Flag was waved from the bridge above the start line, Wurr got his customary terrible start as Peter Garland and Rick Lloyd passed him on the drag to Copse. By the time the leaders reached Brooklands, Wurr was past Lloyd and chased Garland over the line at the end of the first lap then Garland spun at Copse corner and dropped to 4th while Wurr began to eke out a bit of a gap to James Edgerton who had passed Lloyd for 2nd. By lap 4, Garland was on the charge again and took Lloyd for 3rd place but lost control again into Becketts. On lap 5, while Wurr consolidated his lead, Edgerton closed and posted the race’s fastest lap but on the next lap he was forced to retire when an oil pipe split. By lap 7, Wurr had a healthy lead over the scrap between Lloyd and Garland but, as he charged down the Revitt straight, his engine dramatically exploded throwing oil at the seasoned veteran who manhandled what remained of his car round Brooklands and the complex into retirement.

With water flooding across the circuit, the oil from Wurr’s stricken motor had made its way onto the racing line and as the tail-enders twitched their way round Brooklands, David Sherman tiptoed into a tank-slapper. Then when Lloyd and Garland tried to squirt past the semi-retired property manager’s transverse vehicle, Garland and Sherman’s car met so Garland, his bodywork now scraping against his tyre, headed for the pits - spinning once more for good measure. Once there, fearing team aid Mike Duncan was not coming to the rescue, he undid his belts and prepared to jump out of the car, but Duncan was there, he sorted out the bodywork and the two then struggled to re assemble the seat belt losing considerable time in the process. Garland’s problems left Lloyd who kept his head (and car) on track while all around him (Garland) were losing theirs, and held a 7 secs cushion to the flag and a surprise win, maintaining his slender lead in the championship.

Second on the track and first in class C was James Paterson. He made a cautious start and lost ground to Grahame White who he chased hard, eventually slipping by at Becketts on lap 6 while White struggled on the treacherous circuit. Behind them, Martin Kurrein made his season debut in his 1996 championship winning car and made an impressive start from 15th place taking advantage of others’ caution through Becketts overhauling 4 cars by the end of lap 2 and passing Keith Ahlers on his way to an impressive 4th place. Ahlers meanwhile was also impressive. Following his demolition job at Mallory, Ian Grimes had worked hard to rebuild the car during the 4 week interval and Ahlers, nursing a ‘box of neutrals’, caressed his unfinished, 3-toned car round Silverstone to a Class win which amazed him and left him re-assessing his normally aggressive strategy.

Paul Burry was having a great time in the wet. The ex-cart racer had axle tramp as he tried to get off the line and was passed by Malcolm Paul then Kurrein and Ahlers so he tracked Simon Orebi Gann who was elated to be back and thrilled with his car but, on lap 8 Orebi Gann spun at Becketts and let both Burry and Horsman by. Mark Baldwin was next. With factory support from the big chief, Baldwin ran well in 7th place in the ‘works’ car but on lap 6 he had a huge spin exiting Luffield demoting himself to 11th but re-passing Jack Bellinger who had himself passed 5 cars (most importantly Mary Lindsay) en route to 10th.

Barry Sumner had a curious race in his Class A ‘funny car’. Having spun into the gravel trap on lap 4, it took him nearly a complete lap to recover and he rejoined the field in virtually the same position as he had left it. This obviously caused some confusion to the timekeepers who, although Sumner had disappeared for an entire lap, still credited him with 11th place just ahead of Peter Garland and Chris Acklam. Nineteen-Eighties winner Grahame Bryant managed to keep ahead of John Clarke who made the worst start of all. Having posted 14th fastest time in qualifying in his Super Sport, Clarke bogged down and went backwards on the grid then staged a dramatic recovery from 23rd at the end of lap 3. Once he realised there was oil on the track he said ‘yyyyyesss’ and on his way to 15th, took van de Kroft then Stephen Lockett round the outside through Luffield.

Mary Lindsay kept her car on track but had a luckless time as she had to back off twice to allow others to spin in front of her. Consolation was found later in the paddock when some cheesy hack from The Times interviewed and photographed her for his chip wrapping.

Kelvin Laidlaw finished 19th but thought he’d finished 17th having got by Lindsay and van de Kroft but when the chequered flag was brought out in front of the wrong car, the result was backed up 1 lap and taken from the end of the ninth lap. Chris Springall spun 4 times on his way to 20th followed by Daniel Ward and Reiner Vierling who didn’t enjoy the conditions and was rather more exited about his forthcoming trip around the Morgan factory.

Peter Sargeant pipped Philip McKelvey and Doug Taylerson to the line, both of whom were just pleased to have finished in the appalling mire.

The final three places were taken by David James, who had spun at Copse, Stephen Wheatley who was boxed at the start by his ‘best mate’ McKelvey, and Leigh Sebba who had a torrid time spinning on the oil at only 5mph.

Malcolm Paul erred on the side of caution and retired early from what he later found out to be 9th position.

Jonathan Suffolk