GROUP 1 TOURING CARS: CASTLE COMBE AUTUMN CLASSIC 2022
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR RACE WINNER
LUDOVIC LINDSAY
Ludovic Lindsay on his way to victory in the inaugural Group 1 Touring Cars Vince Woodman Trophy in his Ford Capri
CASTLE COMBE AUTUMN CLASSIC GROUP 1 TOURING CARS: LINDSAY WINS CLASSIC GAME OF LUDO
Competing at Castle Combe for only the third time in a successful career stretching back almost 40 years, versatile historic racer Ludovic Lindsay won Automobiles Historiques’ inaugural Group 1 Touring Car race at the Autumn Classic event on September 24. Named for Vince Woodman, the Bristolian Ford dealer who won 27 races here between 1965-2008, it was fitting that Lindsay was racing a Capri 3.0S, a model in which Woodman won seven British Saloon Car Championship rounds.
Ten cars started the 45-minute showpiece for the cars of 1966-’82, following a couple of late withdrawals and two unfortunate mechanical failures in qualifying, yet the quality of racing throughout the field was exceptional. When the quickest Rover SDI retired from their midst, four howling V6-engined Capris scrapped for victory, lapping within tenths of each other, while three diverse pursuers enjoyed a fine catchweight tussle. Lindsay’s pristine ex-Stuart Graham Fabergé Brut 33 Capri narrowly beat Neil Merry’s Capri to the chequered flag, with Jeremy Bailey third on his first outing in a Rover V8.
“Castle Combe might have been lighter on numbers than we would have liked, but at the end of a long season with many external challenges, it was a promising start. Competitors displayed great spirit and enjoyed the camaraderie and values for which the sister GT & Sports Car Cup is renowned,” said promoters Flavien and Vanessa Marçais. “We are committed to the series and are planning to run three races in 2023 at the same events as the GTSCC which enters its 17th year.”
QUALIFYING
The half hour session to decide the grid order on the challenging 1.85-mile circuit set the tone for the day, with the top four of the 12 subscribers blanketed by 1.324s. The order changed constantly before John Spiers (Hermetite Capri) unleashed three successive flyers, each good enough for pole. His 1m20.312s (82.92mph) penultimate effort snared it by 0.385s from Graham ‘Skid’ Scarborough - Gerry Marshall’s most feared on track foe - in his long-serving Track Marshall Capri.
Jack Moody shared Riorden Welby’s Daily Express-branded Rover SD1 - recently raced by legendary racecar designer and 1979 European Formula Ford 2000 champion Adrian Reynard - and qualified it third, his 1:20.903 a scant 0.733s quicker than canny Scot Lindsay achieved in just eight laps in his RW Racing-run Capri. “I decided to save the car, the tyres and myself,” grinned Ludo, who raced a Formula Ford Reynard here in the early 1980s and subsequently a Sports 2000 Royale, before he inherited the iconic ex-Price Bira ERA R5B ‘Remus’ from his father The Hon Patrick.
Adam Brindle’s Triplex Rover was fifth quickest on 1:22.085, with Merry’s Gordon Spice Motorcraft/Autocar tribute Capri, the Toyota Corolla 1600GT of David and Matt Green - an ex-works/Per Eklund rally car dressed to replicate Win Percy’s Hughes of Beaconsfield BSCC entry - and Alasdair Coates’ ex-Tom Walkinshaw Escort RS2000 Mk1 within 0.711s. Alas diff failure trailered Brindle’s car, precluding him from joining the pioneers.
Hot on their heels was Steve Jones in his Swiftune-built Mini 1275GT, a clone of Alan Curnow’s period Datapost car, on 1:23.403, shadowed by Bailey’s newly-acquired Rover, in striking Toshiba warpaint per Dane Kurt Thiim’s ’86 German championship contender. Pete Fisk completed the grid having driven his ex-Pete Hall ICS Opel Commodore GS/E from nearby Malmesbury.
David Clark’s Bastos Chevrolet Camaro - the Luigi Racing monster, which recently departed Swedish F1 driver Reine Wisell put on pole for the 1981 Spa 24 Hours, and the subsequent model to Woodman’s race winners of ’74-’75 - managed only one lap before mechanical gremlins intervened. Phil Perryman worked tirelessly to identify the problem, without success, so Clark and late signing John Young sadly took no further part.
RACE
Demonstrating his vast experience in a car which four decades on responds to his inputs almost by telepathy, multiple champion Scarborough got the jump on Spiers at the start of the 45-minute race. The ochre-hued Capri screamed over Avon Rise and dived for the apex of Quarry still ahead. ‘Skid’ led at the end of the first lap from Moody’s Rover, the Capris of Spiers and Lindsay, Bailey’s Rover and Merry’s red Capri, with Matt Green, Jones, Coates and Fisk line astern in hot pursuit.
Merry usurped Bailey on lap 2, when Coates repassed Jones. Outdragged initially in the 1600cc Toyota, Green also picked off Bailey as Moody ramped-up the pressure on leader Scarborough, setting an early fastest lap target. As the drivers found their equilibrium, Coates also moved his green Escort past Bailey’s Rover, but Moody headed his into the pits with a misfire. The crew peered under its bonnet, scratched their heads and twiddled leads for a few minutes, then sent owner Welby out. Alas exiting Camp at the end of his first flying lap the engine cut. With no other option he parked on the infield opposite the pits and alighted, a forlorn Stig-like figure stranded in the grass.
Without Moody’s Rover in his mirrors, Scarborough’s lead doubled to around three and a half seconds. But Spiers, Lindsay and Merry were running ever closer together, each digging deeper to lap quicker. As the induction roars and exhaust notes of the three V6 engines synchronised, Lindsay’s challenge became more menacing. He grabbed second on lap 12, leaving Spiers to Merry. Unbeknown to onlookers, John was without second gear, thus lapping in third and fourth and relying on torque to pull him through the Esses and Bobbies. When they went AWOL too, after the pit stop phase, the Hermetite car fell on lap 23, creeping into the paddock.
Lindsay and Spiers had been the first frontrunners to stop, followed a lap later by Merry. Scarborough went 18 laps, two more than Lindsay, who found himself six seconds adrift of ‘Skid,’ with Merry chasing. Neil set fastest lap at this point, but Lindsay had more up his sleeve, his 1:20.240 (83.00mph) standing as the inaugural lap record. It brought him within 1.5s of Scarborough and the race intensified.
Behind the ochre, black and red Capris there was plenty more excitement for James Crow (in Coates’ Escort), Bailey and Jones were scrapping over fourth and Fisk was still running strongly in the straight-six Opel.
Despite having to contend with an increasingly pendulous rear end, which encouraged Lindsay, Scarborough resisted the Brut car stoutly, cutting his best time on lap 29. After several laps in his slipstream, Lindsay got better drive out of Camp next time round and drew level in a closing gap at Folly. ‘The Quarry Massive’ [devotees of the corner] gasped as they hove into view over the brow still abreast, Ludo with territorial advantage.
Scarborough tried everything to retaliate, but did not have the traction to deny Lindsay. On the penultimate lap, he lost drive at the Esses and pulled of with gearbox or diff failure. Lindsay calmly reeled off the last lap to the chequered flag, making a little bit of history on home soil. “Running that close side-by-side from Folly to Quarry with Graham was fantastic. We were really trying. It was bloody hot work out there.”
Merry, more accustomed to V8 engined Sunbeam Tiger and Chevrolet Corvette, was overjoyed with a competitive second in his Capri, 6.187s shy of Lindsay’s. “That was hard going, but very clean,” he enthused. Bailey was amazed to finish third, a lap down, in the Rover he’d first driven in the morning. “It ran like a sewing machine, but the tyres were finished. You could have hooked them off with a spoon.”
Matt and David Green’s Toyota - which lapped in 1:21.704s (81.51mph), less than 1.5s from Lindsay’s - and Coates/Crow were classified fourth and fifth, and Fisk sixth in the Opel. After a fine skirmish with the RS2000 and Bailey, Jones’ Mini retired with gearbox failure. “I’ve not used the car for three years and was planning to sell it, but I’ve had such a good time that I think I’ll keep it,” said Steve.
Written by Marcus Pye
Neil Merry - Ford Capri
Credit: Kieran Bicknell
Jeremy Bailey - Rover SD1
Credit: Michael Stokes
Race Winner - Ludovic Lindsay - Ford Capri 'Brut 33 Faberge'
G1A Class Winners - David & Matt Green - Toyota Corolla
G1B Class Winners - Alasdair Coates & James Crow - Ford Escort
G1C Class Winner - Ludovic Lindsay - Ford Capri
"Driver of the Day" - Graham Scarborough - Ford Capri
