"The hottest August Bank Holiday weekend on record saw a capacity grid take to the one mile Indy circuit with plenty of fluids on board. A warm welcome to the club and Future Classics for #87 James Slaughter in his Ford Capri and #147 Chad & Raymond Donner in their Ford Escort and quickly established themselves as credible contenders within the field. #79 Mark Chilton in his Nissan Skyline set the pace early having rebuilt one of his turbo’s from Trac Mon. The damage was caused after an actuator failed, the turbine span up uncontrollably and threw a nut holding together the shaft in to the air filter! Perry Waddams initially took second only a few tenths off from pole until the dying stages when last year’s overall winner #4 Martyn and Matthew Ellis in their Talbot Sunbeam Lotus snatched the front row spot, qualifying #77 Waddams to third overall. Given the short lap and sub minute times, only tenths separated competitors up and down the with 7 cars qualifying within a second. Well done also to #55 Antony McEvoy in his Porsche 944, long time competitor #191 Rikki Cann’s Aston Martin V8 Vantage and #147 Chad & Raymond Donner in their two litre Ford Escort for all qualifying first in their respective classes. Sadly after racing the Nurburg Ring Classic 3 Hour earlier this year, #470 Louise and Jason Kennedy’s Nissan Skyline pulled in the pits after a few laps with dropping oil pressure and power, ending their weekend early.
The race began in raucous style with rumbling V8’s smooth V6’s and screaming inline six and four cylinder cars barreling up the start finish straight in to Paddock Hill bend. #79 Mark Chilton took an early lead with the considerably lighter and less powerful Talbot Sunbeam Lotus giving chaise with a chain of cars right behind. What followed was 13 laps of cat and mouse with the gap never being much more than two seconds and regularly nose to tail across the start/finish line. Unfortunately the heat was too much for the twin turbo Skyline and Chilton retired with sky high engine and oil temperatures, persevering his engine for another day. The pit stops saw the order shake the pack up once more with winners penalties hurting #77 Waddams and #75 Lewis all stopping for lengthy and no doubt frustrating periods. The #99 Ford Escort of Simon and Chris James had an unfortunate mechanical issue with the throttle becoming stuck open, only to return when it was free and getting stuck on full throttle again. Not something you want around Brand’s that is for sure. In the dying stages, the beautiful sounding DTM replica #146 Audi V8 of Martin Johnson and Andy Woods-Dean was chasing down the #4 Sunbeam Lotus with the gap around 10 seconds, sadly only to drop back to 6th with tyres and temperatures all suffering given the conditions. This left the #4 the Ellis’s to build and hold a commanding lead to take the overall win and another Talbot Lotus Sunbeam of #63 Geoff Beale from Martinstown to finish second overall. Topping off the podium was father and son #7 Martyn and Rob Adams in their Triumph TR7, with this being Rob’s first race driving dad’s car! For the 80’s race, #77 Waddams finished as overall winner with #146 Woods-Dean & Johnston second and #39 Hardy third. A special mention also to long time Tin Top competitors but first time Future Classic runners #205 Nick Mellor and Peter Hutton in their aptly numbered Peugeot 205 1.6 GTi for dominating class D80 and beating considerably faster cars on paper to take the class win." - Richard Thurbin, Driver's Representative.
