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The rain held off to see 41 sports-racers of the pre-1956 era take the grid on the Saturday of the Silverstone Classic, at the start of the one-hour, two-driver Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy. Jaguar C-type and D-type, Aston Martin DB3S and OSCA MT4, Ferrari 750 Monza and Austin-Healey 100M… the spread of genuine, period machinery was a stirring sight, and the sound of those 41 engines pulling away from a standing start brought the crowds piling into the stands.
Sitting on pole position was the 1954 HWM Jaguar of Michael Steele and Barrie Williams, with a cracking lap-time more than a second quicker than the 1955 Jaguar D-type of Ben Eastick and Neil Cunningham. Predictions that it might be an easy romp to the finish for the HWM pairing were dispelled as soon as the race began… with the lead being taken, lost, and retaken by the D-type, lap after lap. When Eastick came into the pits to hand over to Cunningham, he was ahead of the HWM, and by the end of the race Cunningham had built a convincing lead to win by six seconds. In third place overall was the Jaguar C-type of Nigel Webb and Gary Pearson.
Other class winners included the Lotus 9 of Richard Ashmead and Peter Colborne-Baber; the Bristol Sports T20 of Adrian Van der Kroft; the Gordini 23S of Eddie McGuire and Mark Hales; Adrian Hall and Nick Adams in their Lotus X; and the Ferrari 500 TRC of David and James Cottingham.
A great honour was bestowed on all the winners when their trophies were presented by none other than Le Mans-winner Tony Rolt, who co-drove a Jaguar C-type to victory in 1953, teamed with Duncan Hamilton. It was a particularly moving moment for Peter Neumark, who finished fifth overall in Saturday’s Woodcote Trophy in his Jaguar D-type… since this was the very car in which Rolt finished second at Le Mans in 1954!
Meanwhile, the prestigious ‘Spirit of the Woodcote Trophy’ award, presented by series sponsor Fiskens, went to Richard Frankel who – along with his motoring journalist brother Andrew, shared two cars in the race – an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and a fabulous Ferrari 750 Monza, which finished 12th overall. One minor disappointment came from the fact that Gregor Fisken’s own mount for the race, the Maserati 300S of Burkhard Von Schenk which qualified a splendid third on the grid, was withdrawn for mechanical reasons. We hope to see both car and drivers back for the third and final round of the Woodcote Trophy, on 5th to 7th October at the Six Hours Meeting at Spa.
Pictures of all the competing cars are available from Tim Scott of Fluid Images
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