The Equipe 6 Hour race at Silverstone last weekend was suitably gruelling, and came down to a clerk’s decision in the end. Nick Sleep and Alex Montgomery in the ‘Hairy Canary’ Shelby Cobra had seen off the challenge of Mark Hales and Guy Grant in their Jaguar E-type, with a lap in hand over the rest of the field, when the Cobra stuttered and stopped at Chapel. Hales and Grant took the flag first but, as more than half of the race had passed, the winner was decided on distance travelled and the trophy therefore went to the Cobra crew.
Only seven cars were running at the end of the afternoon marathon, the second edition of the contest and first on Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit after the inaugural event was held at Donington Park. Hales and Grant were classified second, and George and Richard Frankel in a Ford Falcon third. The Frankels had started slowly, but their steady approach paid off, while many others were less fortunate.
Round three of Equipe’s new Historic Championship went to the TVR Griffith of Oliver Reuben. He was briefly caught by John Caudwell’s AC Cobra, but the challenge was fleeting. Caudwell was over a minute behind at the end of the race, after Reuben had completed his 24 laps like clockwork.
Caudwell’s brother Brian was third in his Shelby American Cobra while fourth-placed Chris Ryan’s TVR Grantura slipped past Pim Remijn’s Lotus Elan late on. Mike Thorne retains the championship lead with a class second in his Austin-Healey, seventh overall. Joseph and Jack Wilmott, sharing another Healey, won the class and were sixth.
Equipe GTS and Libre joined forces to create a big, combined grid. The Libre contenders led the way, providing winners Bruce White and Ed Keen in their Lotus Elan. A sudden late charge from Keen meant that the duo were able to win by half a minute, after a steady start where White kept the car inside the top 10.
White and Keen were Equipe Libre winners
Photo by: Jonathan Mills
Paul Unsworth was second in his new Elan and did initially emerge from his late pitstop in front of Keen, but was soon overtaken. Early leader Neil Armstrong was third in his yellow Ginetta G4R, pipped by Unsworth by just 0.065 seconds on the line. The leading GTS car was a mint-green TVR Grantura, shared by the Caudwells, in 10th overall.
A small Equipe Sports Racing grid gave plenty of action. Winner Graham Moss in his ex-John Surtees Lola T70 sparred with the Chevron B16 of Tony Purbrick and David Brise in the early stages, but he steadily pulled out a gap, using the Lola’s superior straight-line speed to keep the more maneuverable Chevron at a distance. Even a mistaken pit visit after misreading a penalty board could not stop him. A late burst of speed from Harry Rice, sharing a Chevron B8 with Robin Tuluie, netted him third.
Small grids became the order of the day for the Sports Prototypes, too. Scott Mittell won both times, although his Mittell MC-41 was running low at the front and chewing through front splitters. He was pushed hard by Nigel Redwood’s Revolution and Max Windheuser’s Norma in race one, after the rapid Jenvey-Gunn retired with a loose wheel. Mike Jenvey’s car had started at the back due to the same problem in qualifying.
Mittell’s rivals had problems all around him in the sequel. Redwood took the lead but promptly retired with flaming brakes, then Jenvey and Windheuser tangled trying to pass Eitan Zidkilov’s Revolution, which had joined from the pits. Windheuser spun, lost some bodywork and had to retire, while Jenvey chanced a stop to replace a different wheel, which had been broken. He eventually finished fourth, behind Clinton Newman (Praga) and the Chiron of Jonathan Edwards.
Steve Dance’s Equipe 70s victory was straightforward on paper, but his Ford Capri came close to being passed by Rob Cull’s Ford Escort after the pitstops. Fellow Escort driver Philip Walker was third after capitalising on Nick Matthews (Capri) incurring a penalty for speeding in the pitlane. The 70s cars shared the grid with the MG Cup contingent. MG winner Ian Staines was up with the bigger cars in his Midget, finishing seventh overall.
Dance made all the right moves in Equipe 70s to win as Fords led the way
Photo by: Jonathan Mills
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– The Autosport.com Team
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