Reuben stars in a Griffith in special TVR anniversary race at Donington Park

One of the largest grids of TVRs in almost 20 years was among the highlights of MotorSport Vision Racing’s rain-hit Donington Park meeting last weekend, as Bernie’s V8s commemorated the TVR Car Club’s 60-year anniversary with a special shootout race.

Alex Taylor’s Tuscan briefly led the 20-car TVR contest on wet tyres before being dispatched by slick-shod duo Michael Caine (Sagaris) and Ollie Reuben (Griffith) on a drying circuit. Caine, the 2000 champion of the popular TVR Tuscan Challenge series, later suffered brake failure but still limped home second, with Reuben upstaging more modern machinery to take a spectacular win in his nimble 1965 racer despite having a hair-raising moment of his own at Hollywood.

“I don’t know if I caught [Caine] too quick, but I had to lift off and the inertia was enough to send it into a slide – I thought ‘I’m going round’ but, luckily, I held on!” Reuben revealed.

The preceding non-TVR Bernie’s V8s bout proved a battle of survival in atrocious weather. Steve Wells led following a late safety car but aquaplaned off into McLeans for the final time, and fellow MGB racer Phil Walker’s chances of a first outright victory in 23 years were also denied by a last-lap spin. Bernard Foley therefore profited to win despite wrestling an MGB “too stiff” for the conditions.

A combined field of 32 cars took part in Sunday’s finale, with Taylor taking victory ahead of fellow Tuscan runner Tony Blake and Wells. “When I was a kid, I used to love watching Gerry Marshall race Tuscans – he’s my favourite all-time driver – so to be driving one is fantastic,” Taylor enthused.

The Clubmans Register also celebrated its 60th anniversary, with several iconic cars taking part in a special track parade. Bob Yarwood’s stunning Ladybird Mk6B – which appeared in the formula’s 1965 inauguration – also entered the weekend’s Sports Prototype races.

Making a Clubmans return, Mark Charteris scored a double victory at the wheel of Clive Wood’s Mallock Mk20/21. Having suffered with no rear brakes in qualifying, Charteris recovered from fifth to third during a wet race one. After narrowly avoiding Michelle Hayward’s stalled Phantom P82TR, he then won a drier sequel, and fought back from a slow getaway and an excursion at Fogarty to also triumph in a slippery finale.

“It’s great to come back to Clubmans, which is my first love really,” said Charteris, who now races a March 782 F2 machine. “My first car was a Mk20. The cars are amazing to drive – bang-for-buck they are unbelievably fast.”

Hayward won the opener despite “nearly binning it at one point,” and then salvaged two thirds – having been stuck in fourth gear in the final contest. Steve Dickens (Mallock Mk29). scored a pair of second places to extend his points lead, while closest challenger Steve Collier (Vision V89) was runner-up to Hayward in race one.

“Really happy to get the win because we’ve had a torrid season with mechanical issues and yet the pace has been there,” said Hayward. “Considering a lot of these chassis were built back in the 1970s and ’80s, they are phenomenal even to this day.”

Hills Motorsport owner Aidan Hills denied team-mate James Cossins by 0.5 seconds in a close Miata Trophy opener. But his unbeaten start to the year was ended in race two, when he arrived at the Melbourne Hairpin backwards and miraculously avoided collecting Cossins, who went on to beat Will Morris.

This moment for Hills prevented him from extending his Miata Trophy victory streak

Photo by: Steve Jones