A taste of 1950s Indy at Silverstone for VSCC opener

There was a flavour of 1950s Indianapolis at Silverstone at the annual Vintage Sports-Car Club Spring Start event as two mighty front-engined Kurtis Roadsters battled for the Patrick Lindsay Memorial Trophy.

The Lindsay race has more often than not been won by ERAs but this time it was Geraint Owen and Fred Harper who went wheel-to-wheel in their thundering mid-1950s Indy cars.

Harper typically got the drop from the start, but Owen chased hard and was able to overhaul his friend and rival to move ahead and win the famous trophy for the first time.

Though they were inseparable for several laps, Owen ultimately edged a few seconds clear but was quick to pay tribute to his rival on the podium. “My car’s only here because of the work Fred did on it last year,” said Owen after Harper had sorted out some engine problems on the Owen car.

“I just had to chase and chase, and it was great fun,” added Owen. “Going through Woodcote was quite a lot of elbows and one lap we were side-by-side. That’s about as close to Indy as you’re going to get at Silverstone!” Harper was also pleased with his result as his car coughed and ran out of fuel as it crossed the finishing line.

With echoes of Silverstone in May 1950, Peter Greenfield completed the podium in his wonderful Alfa Romeo 158 recreation, 74 years and 11 months after Giuseppe Farina won the inaugural world championship grand prix in a similar car.

Running with only a one-litre SCA engine in the newly restored 1965 Formula 2 Brabham BT16 from the Speedsport squad, Michael O’Brien thought he might run out of straight-line speed in the pre ’66 rear-engined racing car contest. However, such was O’Brien’s pace that he was able to out-distance the Formula Junior Cooper T59 of Jon Milicevic as Nick Topliss was the first of the grand prix cars with his Cooper T53 in third.

It was a very good day for Frazer Nashes and four significant victories fell to the marque. Patrick Blakeney-Edwards had to work very hard with his Super Sport in the GP Itala Trophy race for pre-war cars to see off Edward Williams in Julian Bronson’s Riley Blue Streak. Just four tenths of a second split them at the flag while Justin Maeers wowed everyone by oversteering the GN Parker to the final podium place. It was the fifth Itala win for Blakeney-Edwards in less than a decade.

Robert Beebee and Theo Hunt both took victories in their Frazer Nash TT Replicas with Beebee winning the Fox and Nicholl Trophy race for the first time against a spirited pursuit by Sue Darbyshire in her Morgan Super Aero. Adam Moody had made the early pace in his Riley TT Sprite before being hobbled by a misfire. Hunt was as exuberant as ever on his way to winning the VSCC Specials encounter while Jeremy Flann bagged a handicap victory in his Super Sport.

Despite an early red flag, the FISCAR contest was a cracker and the combined pace of David Cottingham and Scott Redding took their Ferrari 500 TRC to the head of a bumper pack. Maintaining the Frazer Nash starring role in the day were Martin and Theo Hunt who got their Le Mans Replica up into second place.

Cottingham/Redding Ferrari topped the 32-strong FISCAR field

Photo by: Mick Walker