Vintage Sports Car Club Silverstone
Saturday 12th April,
2003
Two
of the compulsory AFFF fire extinguishers failed to put out the fire.
Graham
Burrows - Cooper Bristol - Graham was unhurt
however
the Clerk of the Course who drove this new Invicta as the Course Car had to be
taken to hospital
Those attending the VSCC's season-opener at Silverstone (adopting a traditional April date once again) were confronted with usual major civil engineering works, which have become such an integral part of early-season racing at the home of the British Grand Prix. This year, "works in progress", which included building of a second access bridge to the paddock over the Club straight, and necessitated the use, for the first time, of the longer, 'International' circuit which veers away from the Club circuit at Becketts, across the infield and rejoins the GP circuit at Abbey.
In general, drivers seemed to be enjoying the novelty and added variety of the longer circuit although the fast downhill approach to the hairpin at Abbey was taxing on braking systems, particularly those of the heavier pre-war machinery.
Entries for some events were a little thin, such that the two principal single-seater races, for the Patrick Lindsay and Amschel Rothschild Trophies, were combined but even the reduction by one event failed to allow completion of the full programme following a number of hold-ups. The worst of which was a delay occasioned by the Invicta S1 course-car crashing heavily at Bridge corner while in the hands of clerk-of-the-course Colin Prest. Suffering a fractured vertebra, the careful extraction of the driver took some 45 minutes to complete, and from which the programme never recovered. It was doubly sad for the revived Invicta company as the car was making its public track debut and was the sole prototype on which all testing and promotion work has been concentrated.
Amongst TOPS representatives in evidence, it was good to see Graham Burrows out again after a year's sabbatical, and recovering from his arm injury following his motor-cycle mishap, but his return ended in the gravel at Brooklands whereupon the ex-Gerard Cooper Bristol burst into flames just after Graham had vacated the car. This caused reduction of the Lindsay/Rothschild Trophies to a mere five laps, the Rothschild win going, by a whisker, to Bill Kirkpatrick's Cooper T45 after a tremendous battle with Andrew Smith's T43. Third overall, and the Lindsay Trophy went, for the second year running, to John Ure with Peter Mann's ERA R9B, somewhat chastened after an 'oily' moment while sizing-up Smith's car for a challenge on the opening lap.
Barry Cannell gave another good account of himself with an excellent performance in his 2-litre Willment to humble a selection of far more potent machinery to take eighth amongst the '50s sports cars, John Harper taking overall honours here.
Richard Pilkington forsook Talbot-Lago to conduct the Pilkington 6c 1750 Alfa, and splendid sight it looked in the paddock ranged alongside the other 1750 Alfas of Alex Pilkington (Zagato), Nick Rossi and the blue version of Peter Shaw.
The delays had meant that it was touch-and-go whether the 50s Sports Cars would get a race, but they managed to complete their 8 laps just as the curfew fell, but the final 4-lap class Scratch race was abandoned leaving some disappointed runners, including Mac Hulbert, who had been generously offered the ERA 'E' Type by Duncan Ricketts as some consolation for R4D having suffered from oil-pressure problems in practice.
A.C TOPS_entry_list
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