Late entrant Jon Milicevic was glad he decided to join the Vintage Sports-Car Club fun at Cadwell Park last weekend as he emerged the clear winner of the Flockhart & Nuffield Trophies race.
Milicevic powered his Cooper T59 from third to a commanding lead over Tom Waterfield’s Cooper T43/51 as only backmarker negotiation allowed Waterfield to bring down the margin. Mark Gillies upheld the honour of older cars, following the two leaders through in ERA R3A and demoting Ian Baxter’s Brabham BT16 to fourth.
Patrick Blakeney-Edwards had started from pole in his Frazer Nash, but the changing track conditions left him stuck in the pack, eventually finishing ninth after a lengthy tussle with Ben Fidler’s ERA. They and their mid-pack rivals did well to avoid a spinning BT16 driven by Mike Painter.
The John Cooper Challenge, another cross-genre race that was a match-up between three-wheeled Morgans and 500cc Formula 3 cars, proved to be an entertaining contest won by Waterfield in a Norton-engined Cooper. Hamish Cameron-Eveleigh’s Cooper-JAP was the only car to get anywhere near him, echoing his sideways bravado on the Mountain. The leading Morgan came third, a 1926 Aero driven by Sandford Andrews in equally flamboyant style. Bill Tuer kept him in sight in another Morgan.
The sole Morgan in the Spero and Voiturette Trophies bout was the winner, driven by Finley Cameron. He was four seconds a lap faster than his closest rival, Austin 7 Special driver Richard Carter.
Simon Blakeney-Edwards won the Owner Driver Mechanics’ race in his Frazer Nash Super Sports. His was the quickest car on the circuit, and he capitalised immediately when Jeremy Flann’s Super Sports had to retire with a choke that had pulled itself out. Mark Brett was second in the Ballamy-Ford.
Patrick Blakeney-Edwards was typically spectacular to watch as it was a successful event for the family
Photo by: Mick Walker
Blakeney-Edwards’ brother Patrick avenged his defeat in the opening race with victory in the Joe Frazer Nash Trophy for ‘fast’ Frazer Nashes. It was a shortened race due to a red flag; both Louis McNair in the rebuilt GN Katipo and Archie Bullett’s Super Sports had stopped on track. The Blakeney-Edwards clan gained another trophy in the last race of the day, when Patrick’s son James took second in the Young Persons’ Scratch, driving a Frazer Nash TT Replica. The winner was Wilfred Cawley in the GN-Ford Piglet, who led the whole race.
The ‘slow’ Frazer Nashes contested the Curtis Trophy, which was also curtailed by a red flag. David Johnson won in a Super Sports, after fastest qualifier Mark Groves’s TT Replica developed problems and had to pull off the circuit.
The MGs of the Triple M Register provided some of the closest on-track action. Steve McEvoy in his NA seemed just safe from James Goddard’s PA/PB, but neither counted on James Painter in the MG Kayne. He sneaked up the grid and passed Goddard quite late in the closing laps, before challenging McEvoy for the win. McEvoy held firm to finish just 0.271 seconds ahead of Painter with Goddard third.
Elsewhere, the Len Thompson Memorial Trophy went the way of James Baxter and his Riley/ERA TT Sprite, which led almost the whole race after starting from pole. Baxter’s only challenger was Jeremy Brewster in the Frazer Nash Maurice Geoghegan Lightweight Special, which had to retire due to a bad case of “Frazer Nash clutch”.
The Pre-War Handicap was won by Rupert Mann in a Riley Special after George Allen-Elbourn, whose Riley 12/4 was the fastest car on track, was unable to overcome a hefty handicap.
Mann’s Riley prevailed in the Pre-War Handicap
Photo by: Mick Walker
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– The Autosport.com Team
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