NEWS
Vintage Sports-Car Club Crown their Trials Champions for 2013
Tuesday 10 December 2013
Following the final Trial of 2013, the Cotswold, the season’s standings have been finalised for the Club’s prestigious Annual Trials Trophies. The Annual Trophy for our Short Wheelbase (Class 1) – originally awarded across both classes – is traditionally supported by the Club’s Insurance Associate Routen Chaplin whilst a second Trophy for our Long Wheelbase (Class 2) was introduced eight years ago, donated by Frost Auto Restoration Techniques.
The VSCC Trials season comprises seven events from February to November, located in Exmoor, Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Scottish Borders, Wales, Lake District and Cotswolds. Trophy Points from a maximum of six events are counted towards the Annual Trophies – the Club’s annual Welsh Trial has always been restricted to Vintage & Edwardian cars only (i.e. Pre-1931) and therefore would put those drivers of Post-Vintage Thoroughbred (PVT) cars at an immediate disadvantage.
Recent winners of the two Annual Trophies include:
Coming into this year’s final event, last month’s Cotswold Trial, erstwhile Trials Champion Don Skelton had already secured the Routen Chaplin Trophy for the Short Wheelbase cars for a fourth time in the last five years in his Austin 7 and it only remained to see how close Runner-Up Richard Houlgate (also Austin 7) could push him in this final event. But scores were high and Richard had to settle for a rather distant second place. David Golightly saw a change of machinery halfway through the season, swapping his recognisable Ford Model A Special for another from the American marque in the form of a 1927 Model T. A consistent performance in the Class in both cars saw him take an impressive third place at year’s end.
In contention for the Frost Trophy for Long Wheelbase cars were Jonathan Miller (Chrysler) and John Higgs (Morris Cowley). The contest was very close coming to the last event with Jonathan still required to drop one result (having already completed six events) and John needing only a good score to snatch the annual victory. Surprisingly, for conditions were very favourable, neither had a sparkling day and scores at the finish had Jonathan winning by only seven points over the whole season’s competition, his third victory in the Trophy’s eight year existence. The sight of Paul Jeavons’s Vauxhall 30-98 in third place will be most welcomed in this the Centenary year for the revered model.
Numbers in brackets indicate total events counting. Trials included are: Exmoor, Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Scottish, Welsh, Lakeland and Cotswold.
In the Standard classes, both Charles Gillett in the short chassis Bugatti Brescia and Dennis Bingham in the long chassis Model A Ford won their sections with ease, each competing in two more events than their nearest rivals.
Note: Jon Rose split his entry between different cars in classes 2a and 2b
Again, we thank member Peter Livesey for his detailed event reports and for collating the Trophy Points throughout the 2013 Trials season. Peter has also found time to act as a Section Chief at a number of our Trials events this year and is a regular competitor at the Club’s Prescott Speed Hill Climb in August each year in his 1924 Bugatti T13.
Recent winners of the two Annual Trophies include:
| TRIALS TROPHY WINNERS | ||||
| Year | Short Chassis Cars | Long Chassis Cars | ||
| 2012 | Donald Skelton | Austin 7 | Jeremy Brewster | Lea-Francis |
| 2011 | Mags Diffey | Bugatti | Stuart Cooke | Morris |
| 2010 | Donald Skelton | Austin 7 | Gareth Graham | Bentley |
| 2009 | Donald Skelton | Austin 7 | Jonathan Rose | Morris |
| 2008 | David Dye | Austin 7 | Jonathan Miller | Chrysler |
Coming into this year’s final event, last month’s Cotswold Trial, erstwhile Trials Champion Don Skelton had already secured the Routen Chaplin Trophy for the Short Wheelbase cars for a fourth time in the last five years in his Austin 7 and it only remained to see how close Runner-Up Richard Houlgate (also Austin 7) could push him in this final event. But scores were high and Richard had to settle for a rather distant second place. David Golightly saw a change of machinery halfway through the season, swapping his recognisable Ford Model A Special for another from the American marque in the form of a 1927 Model T. A consistent performance in the Class in both cars saw him take an impressive third place at year’s end.
In contention for the Frost Trophy for Long Wheelbase cars were Jonathan Miller (Chrysler) and John Higgs (Morris Cowley). The contest was very close coming to the last event with Jonathan still required to drop one result (having already completed six events) and John needing only a good score to snatch the annual victory. Surprisingly, for conditions were very favourable, neither had a sparkling day and scores at the finish had Jonathan winning by only seven points over the whole season’s competition, his third victory in the Trophy’s eight year existence. The sight of Paul Jeavons’s Vauxhall 30-98 in third place will be most welcomed in this the Centenary year for the revered model.
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TRIALS TROPHIES 2013 – FINAL SCORES
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The Routen Chaplin Trophy
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The Frost Trophy
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| 1 | Donald Skelton (6) | 1888 | 1 | Jonathan Miller (6) | 1604 |
| 2 | Richard Houlgate (6) | 1800 | 2 | John Higgs (6) | 1597 |
| 3 | David Golightly (6) | 1763 | 3 | Paul Jeavons (6) | 1545 |
| 4 | Kraig Mycock (6) | 1757 | 4 | John Chilman (5) | 1477 |
| 5 | Keith Dobinson (6) | 1717 | 5 | Jonathan Rose (6) | 1471 |
| 6= | Simon Price (6) | 1712 | 6 | Simon Bowyer (6) | 1432 |
| 6= | Stewart Rich (6) | 1712 | 7 | Dennis Bingham (6) | 1407 |
| 8 | Keith Hill (6) | 1694 | 8 | Tim Kemp (6) | 1272 |
| 9 | Phil Longhurst (6) | 1689 | 9 | Michael Power (5) | 1186 |
| 10 | Alan Bee (6) | 1684 | 10 | Ben Shepperd (4) | 911 |
| 11 | Stephen Jones (6) | 1663 | 11 | Graham White (3) | 840 |
| 12 | Simon Blakeney-Edwards (6) | 1590 | 12 | Andrew Craven (4) | 772 |
| 13 | Clive Press (6) | 1586 | 13 | Marcus Creaser (3) | 761 |
| 14 | Mark Powley (6) | 1556 | 14 | Gaynor White (3) | 750 |
| 15 | Terry Gosling (6) | 1440 | 15 | Michael New (3) | 745 |
In the Standard classes, both Charles Gillett in the short chassis Bugatti Brescia and Dennis Bingham in the long chassis Model A Ford won their sections with ease, each competing in two more events than their nearest rivals.
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TRIALS SCORES 2013 – Standard Classes
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| Class 1a | Class 2a | ||||
| 1 | Charles Gillett (5) | 1115 | 1 | Dennis Bingham (6) | 1163 |
| 2 | Tom Walker (3) | 627 | 2 | Andrew Craven (4) | 772 |
| 3 | Nick Topliss (3) | 596 | 3 | Marcus Creaser (3) | 761 |
| 4 | David Johnson (4) | 716 | 4 | Jonathan Rose (3) | 708 |
| 5 | Trevor Corner (3) | 377 | 5 | Roy Newton (3) | 703 |
| 6 | Graham Carr (2) | 342 | 6 | Steven Smith (3) | 637 |
Again, we thank member Peter Livesey for his detailed event reports and for collating the Trophy Points throughout the 2013 Trials season. Peter has also found time to act as a Section Chief at a number of our Trials events this year and is a regular competitor at the Club’s Prescott Speed Hill Climb in August each year in his 1924 Bugatti T13.
