NEWS
Rain unable to dampen spirits as Gillett conquers Cadwell
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Race Results, complete with full lists of award winners from the VSCC Cadwell Park Race Meeting on Saturday 7 June and Photos from the day are now available to view online.
Following a day of sunshine for Friday’s preceding Track Day, it was ultimately the expected downpour that greeted the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s annual event at Cadwell Park this past weekend. But whilst the heavy rain showers made for extremely testing track conditions for both morning Practice Sessions and into the early afternoon’s Race Programme, those hardy drivers and spectators alike were treated to another classic day of Pre-war and Historic motorsport at the Lincolnshire venue.
Celebrating 80 years of both the Club and Cadwell Park this year, the VSCC’s historic Shuttleworth and Nuffield Trophies Meeting served up an entertaining spectacle throughout with a number of standout performances. Hero of the day was undoubtedly Charles Gillett, who not only took victory in the Frazer Nash Car Club’s annual event for Frazer Nash/GN Cars but followed this with impressive wins in both the Geoghegan Trophy Race for Standard & Modified Pre-war Sports-Cars and the John Holland Trophy Race for Vintage Racing Cars. He was dominant in his 1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports all day, mastering the early wet conditions before taking advantage of a drying track to set the fastest lap at a blisteringly quick 1 minute 53 seconds, ahead of even some of the fastest Pre-war racing machinery in action. ‘Days like this don’t come around too often’ said the ecstatic Yorkshire native, following his third win, ‘and the car didn’t miss a beat all day’.
Other notable winners included Robert Cobden, who repeated last year’s victory in the title event for Pre-1961 Racing Cars and a clean-sweep of the Shuttleworth, Nuffield and Len Thompson Memorial Trophies. A fast start by Nick Topliss in ERA R4A saw the revered voiturette take an early lead but could not shake off the hard-chasing Cobden in the Riley Falcon Special who overhauled him on lap three and, despite being dogged by engine troubles in the closing stages, held the ERA pilot at bay to take the win by just 1.06 seconds; they were closely followed in third by Eddie Gibbs, enjoying a great campaign in his Frazer Nash Single Seater, also taking victory in the last Allcomers Scratch of the day. Tim Dutton celebrated his Birthday weekend in style by winning the Bugatti Owners’ Club’s prestigious Williams Trophy Race in the Bugatti T51A, ahead of like-models of the returning Stephen Shoosmith and Charles Knill-Jones, whilst Simon Diffey brought Richard Collier’s exquisite Type 51 home in fourth. There was also a first ever win for Luke Roberts in the Melville Trophy for Special Pre-war Sports-Cars in his Frazer Nash Sports, an Allcomers Scratch victory for Andrew Kellock in the Fiat AC and Handicap victories for Nick Hayward-Cook (Austin 7 Monoposto) and Roland Woodtli, travelling from Switzerland to compete in his Riley 15/6 Special.
The programme was boosted further by two entertaining invited grids. As the first race of the afternoon, the Morgan Three Wheeler Club braved the worst of the weather for a round of their Club Challenge Series, with plenty of standing water around the circuit to be negotiated. Despite a dominant performance by the Jap 8/80 of leading pair Hamish Bibby and Bill Tuer in Practice, it was father Greg Bibby and passenger Maggie Tuer who made the better start from the front row and led all the way to take the chequered flag by just 0.20 seconds. By the time the 500 Owners Association took to the track later in the afternoon, conditions had vastly improved, to the detriment of pole-sitter, Richard de la Roche, whose expertise in the rain was ‘null and void’ come race time. A blistering start from the second row saw young George Shackleton charge into the lead in his Cooper Mk 11, which he never looked to relinquish, cruising to a dominant win ahead of the squabbling trio of Darrell Woods (Cooper Mk 12), Simon Brown (Cooper Mk 4) and David Kingsland, who scored a first ever podium finish in father Xavier’s Staride Mk 3.
Visit the event page to download full results and to view some photos from the weekend (CLICK HERE); more photos will be uploaded to the gallery as they are received.
You can also read a Peter Baker's Cadwell report and view more photos at the Retro-Speed website (CLICK HERE).
Celebrating 80 years of both the Club and Cadwell Park this year, the VSCC’s historic Shuttleworth and Nuffield Trophies Meeting served up an entertaining spectacle throughout with a number of standout performances. Hero of the day was undoubtedly Charles Gillett, who not only took victory in the Frazer Nash Car Club’s annual event for Frazer Nash/GN Cars but followed this with impressive wins in both the Geoghegan Trophy Race for Standard & Modified Pre-war Sports-Cars and the John Holland Trophy Race for Vintage Racing Cars. He was dominant in his 1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports all day, mastering the early wet conditions before taking advantage of a drying track to set the fastest lap at a blisteringly quick 1 minute 53 seconds, ahead of even some of the fastest Pre-war racing machinery in action. ‘Days like this don’t come around too often’ said the ecstatic Yorkshire native, following his third win, ‘and the car didn’t miss a beat all day’.
Other notable winners included Robert Cobden, who repeated last year’s victory in the title event for Pre-1961 Racing Cars and a clean-sweep of the Shuttleworth, Nuffield and Len Thompson Memorial Trophies. A fast start by Nick Topliss in ERA R4A saw the revered voiturette take an early lead but could not shake off the hard-chasing Cobden in the Riley Falcon Special who overhauled him on lap three and, despite being dogged by engine troubles in the closing stages, held the ERA pilot at bay to take the win by just 1.06 seconds; they were closely followed in third by Eddie Gibbs, enjoying a great campaign in his Frazer Nash Single Seater, also taking victory in the last Allcomers Scratch of the day. Tim Dutton celebrated his Birthday weekend in style by winning the Bugatti Owners’ Club’s prestigious Williams Trophy Race in the Bugatti T51A, ahead of like-models of the returning Stephen Shoosmith and Charles Knill-Jones, whilst Simon Diffey brought Richard Collier’s exquisite Type 51 home in fourth. There was also a first ever win for Luke Roberts in the Melville Trophy for Special Pre-war Sports-Cars in his Frazer Nash Sports, an Allcomers Scratch victory for Andrew Kellock in the Fiat AC and Handicap victories for Nick Hayward-Cook (Austin 7 Monoposto) and Roland Woodtli, travelling from Switzerland to compete in his Riley 15/6 Special.
The programme was boosted further by two entertaining invited grids. As the first race of the afternoon, the Morgan Three Wheeler Club braved the worst of the weather for a round of their Club Challenge Series, with plenty of standing water around the circuit to be negotiated. Despite a dominant performance by the Jap 8/80 of leading pair Hamish Bibby and Bill Tuer in Practice, it was father Greg Bibby and passenger Maggie Tuer who made the better start from the front row and led all the way to take the chequered flag by just 0.20 seconds. By the time the 500 Owners Association took to the track later in the afternoon, conditions had vastly improved, to the detriment of pole-sitter, Richard de la Roche, whose expertise in the rain was ‘null and void’ come race time. A blistering start from the second row saw young George Shackleton charge into the lead in his Cooper Mk 11, which he never looked to relinquish, cruising to a dominant win ahead of the squabbling trio of Darrell Woods (Cooper Mk 12), Simon Brown (Cooper Mk 4) and David Kingsland, who scored a first ever podium finish in father Xavier’s Staride Mk 3.
Visit the event page to download full results and to view some photos from the weekend (CLICK HERE); more photos will be uploaded to the gallery as they are received.
You can also read a Peter Baker's Cadwell report and view more photos at the Retro-Speed website (CLICK HERE).
