Philpott roars to double Jaguar Championship spoils
As the Brands Britannia event celebrated the best of British, Colin Philpott proved to be top cat in the Jaguar Championship with a pair of wins that take his XJS closer towards a maiden title.
Philpott led the opener from start to finish but came under increasing pressure from Jack Robinson’s XK as they negotiated traffic, while a rebuilt V12 in his XJS helped James Ramm into third. From a partially reversed grid, Philpott hit the front within two laps of the sequel but had both Ramm and Robinson looming in his mirrors as he managed a tired gearbox. Robinson couldn’t make a move stick on Ramm as the pair reversed their previous positions.
A terrific drive from Andy Southcott took him from the rear of the grid to the win in Special Saloons and Modsports, which were racing in memory of series stalwart Ricky Parker-morris. Southcott had also started the opener from the back after missing qualifying following differential failure on his Lenham Midget in the earlier
Slicks Series race.
He had reached third before an early finish but completed the job later – diving past Thomas Carey’s Bdg-powered Honda CRX silhouette on the penultimate lap. Carey himself had risen from row six after winning the opener, passing
Simon Allaway’s Lotus Esprit clone just before Southcott’s ambush.
Pippa Cow and James Hughes split Midget & Sprite Challenge honours, as each hit trouble in the other race. Paul Sibley’s Modsports-spec Midget looked set to dominate before expiring in the opener, by which time Hughes’s Austinhealey Sprite had pulled in with a fuelpump problem. Two-time champion Cow’s similar car marched on to victory as Ian Burgin bested Connor Kay in a fantastic duel for second – and class honours.
Cow and Hughes exchanged the lead four times in the opening half-lap of race two, but their battle was cut short when Cow pulled up on the third tour. Kay’s Midget snatched second after a Code 60, while Burgin held third despite a half-spin on oil.
Paul Tooms’s Lotus Elan GTS dominated Classic K, winning by over a lap from
Allan Ross-jones’s Triumph TR4. Malcolm Johnson (Elan) may have tested Tooms without an 80-second success penalty, but set fastest lap en route to fifth.
Split across two grids, Swinging Sixties wins went to Stephen Pickering and Steve Hodges. Pickering’s V8-powered Sunbeam Tiger saw off the challenge of Ray Barrow’s Chevrolet Camaro. Barrow initially hung on but a super-quick pitstop extended Pickering’s advantage, with the entire field later penalised for Code 60 infringements. For Hodges, a well-timed Code 60 helped his Lotus 7 overhaul Connor Kay’s pacy
TVR Tuscan.
New octogenarian Nigel Ainge celebrated the start of his ninth decade by relaying Danny Cassar to Tin Tops victory. The pair’s Honda Integra jumped Richard Wheeler/ Danny Harrison’s fifth-gearless Ford Fiesta ST in the pits, then Cassar charged past those who’d gained under a safety car. Harrison’s challenge ended when a loose exhaust manifold caused a Fiesta firework display, attracting the clerk’s attention.
Niall Bradley took two dominant BMW Championship wins, while Graham Crowhurst may have secured repeat runner-up finishes but for a cracked gearbox casing. That promoted the duelling Bryan Bransom and Jason West to the podium. Concurrent Slicks Series victories went to Nathan Luckey (Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup) and Tom Walpole (Ariel Atom) as a success penalty and then a puncture
thwarted pacesetter David Harrison’s 991.2.
Alongside a crushing Modern Classics success for Tom Mensley’s BMW E36, James Dennison took an MG Trophy win on his seasonal debut. Having diagnosed an ECU wiring problem, Andrew Rogerson charged to victory in the sequel, but second and sixth places leave James Cole on the brink of securing the crown. Tom Butler (BMW E30) scored a maiden Future Classics victory as the chasing Nick Rinylo’s smoky Porsche 911 SC expired at the conclusion.
John Cutmore’s Spire held off Christian Pittard’s determined challenge to win the combined Open Series and Magnificent Sevens race, having moved ahead in the pitstop sequence. Cutmore had earlier scrapped with BOSS Racing duo Colin Watson and Tim Davis before a misfire and fuel-pump failure claimed both.