HRDC series at Donington 19 October 2014 Report and images by Peter Baker. Click to view gallery
Masterclass by Mike Whitaker
After a Saturday of mixed weather there was a general all round sigh of relief when Sunday morning dawned clear, if somewhat windy.
HRDC AllStars: Of the 25 cars involved in the 15-minute qualifying session starting at 09:00 it was Mike Whitaker in the TVR Griffith who was most wide awake. He was 2.3 seconds faster than Matt Nicoll-Jones (Jaguar E-type), who in turn was a second or so quicker than the TVR of John Spiers. Andrew Bentley was pushing hard in his MGB as was Ding Boston (Riley 1.5) and Peter Alexander (Ford Anglia). Team Retro-Speed member Andy Harrison was 11th fastest in the red Mini, David Lillywhite was getting to grips with the 'Academy' Austin A35, while the pretty Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint of Richard Frankel made only a very brief appearance and qualified in final position, this was the last time we saw the car, until it appeared later in the Touring Greats outing.
The red Mini of Team Retro-Speed member Andy Harrison boxed in
The 30-minute race itself saw Mike Whitaker storm off into the distance, beating Matt Nicoll-Jones by 40 seconds. John Spiers trailed in 56.8 seconds behind the leader with John Young (Corvette Stingray) rolling across the line with a dead engine in 4th and Nigel Reuen (Ford Mustang) fifth. Andy Harrison had a rare non-finish when his diff blew up on lap 11, the only other non-finisher being Brian Small (Ashley Midget) who completed just six laps before coasting to a stop.
HRDC Touring Greats: 35 cars qualified for what promised to be a great race, that included everything from an Austin 40, shared between Touring car ace Andrew Jordan and Mike Jordan, to a pair of Lancia Aurelias, a Borgward Isabella and a stately Rover 105S. Front row of the grid was dominated by the Jordans with Neil Brown (Austin A35), Mark Dainell (Austin A40) and Matthew Moore (Austin A40) making it a BMC lock-out. The Jaguar Mk1 shared by Tom Butterfield and Rob Gravett, who also helped Alistair Dyson out in the Ford Zephyr, had to settle for 5th.
Last bend, last lap - the Jordan Austin A40 leads Mark Dainell
Subject to breakdown, it was always going to be the Jordan/Jordan Austin A40, but Mark Dainell was never far behind, and when the double yellows came out with ten minutes to go Mark was kissing bumpers, but car 77 made it across the line with a gap of 0.424 seconds. The Butterfield/Gravett Jaguar finished 3rd while drive of the race should have gone to John Polson for his fine 4th overall in the Riley 1.5. The Team Retro-Speed Lancia Aurelia shared by Louise and Jason Kennedy ran faultlessly to finish 13th, David Lillywhite was 20th, while Chris Gawne in Aurelia number 171 was 26th, just behind the Fiat Abarth of Barber/Thomas. Only four cars retired and fastest lap went to the Jordan Austin A40 that was a whole 4kms faster than the Butterfield/Gravett Jaguar.
Alan Wheelwright puts a wheel wrong at Redgate
No doubt, this is a very popular series organised by Julius Thurgood and with strong support, 2015 promises to be even better.
