Rick and Joe Willmott proved to be the fastest family pairing in the first-ever Generations Trophy contest at Silverstone during last weekend’s Motor Racing Legends meeting in an event that included former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond.
The new series required two generations of the same family to share a 1960s MGB, with Hammond partnering his daughter, Izzy, but the duo struggled in qualifying. They were 15 seconds adrift of the fastest family of James and Harvey McBrien, the Hammonds qualifying 19th of the 20 teams. However, a flurry of track-limits penalties across the field meant that the McBriens started 13th while the Willmotts inherited pole despite only being sixth fastest in qualifying.
The slowest driver in each pairing started first, with Aimee Watts taking the lead on the opening lap. Willmott Sr slipped to third behind Nick Whale, who began to reel in Watts before grabbing the place a couple of laps later.
Fifth-placed 16-year-old James Blakeney-Edwards was the first to retire after the team had to pit following smoke in the cockpit. Asked what had gone awry, he suggested that a blown gasket led to their retirement and explained: “I had a massive power loss, so I thought there’s no point ruining the car.”
Former tin-top star Patrick Watts replaced his daughter Aimee in the pitstops – during which the crews had differing minimum stop times depending on the combined age of the pairing – and briefly retook the lead after the Whales retired from the race. The Willmotts had a longer pitstop while Joe took over and he had to work hard to catch up to Watts. Once he had, Willmott made light work of the leader and went on to take the win by half a minute.
Willmott Jr did believe that more “lenience” was needed for track limits in qualifying as it added “a lot of confusion because there’s a lot of laps deleted.”
He continued: “They’re old cars, they slide too much to be able to warrant half a tyre off the line. You’ve got to pump the brakes instead of just slamming on.”
Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond shared an MGB with his daughter Izzy
Photo by: Mick Walker
While the McBriens rounded out the podium, further back, the Hammonds finished 16th but remained happy with the result. “I was on my own for quite a lot of that race, so I thought everyone else had gone and it was just me,” Hammond Jr admitted.
“I overtook a couple [cars] so that is more than I could have asked for. It was really good fun and I got around in one piece.”
John Davison and Mike Whitaker won the Pall Mall Cup in a TVR Griffith after a thrilling finish to the two-hour race, beating Olly Bryant’s AC Cobra by just 0.081s.
The safety car was brought out on the first lap after two cars retired; sensing an opportunity, many took their first pitstops and various penalties during this period, which jumbled up the field.
Bryant initially had the aggregate lead after the first stops but he was 20s longer than Davison and Whitaker in the second round of pitstops, which meant he had to overcome a huge gap if he wanted the win.
Catching the TVR in the final laps, the two cars entered a titanic battle for the lead, which ended in a drag race to the line, but Bryant narrowly missed out.
Bryant fell just short in his attempts to defeat the leading TVR in Pall Mall Cup
Photo by: Mick Walker
Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Eddie Williams’ Frazer Nash Super Sports secured pole in the Pre-War Sports Car event while Edward Bradley was less fortunate in his 1935 Aston Martin Ulster during qualifying. Suffering from selector problems, the Aston became stuck in fourth gear, which led to Bradley completing the minimum required laps before pitting to fix the problem ahead of the race. Starting 18th, Bradley lamented that there was “nothing we could do”.
Built alongside the Ulsters that would later race at the 1934 Le Mans, the car was bought by a private owner at the time, Bradley explained: “It didn’t race at Le Mans before the war, but we’ve taken it to Le Mans several times.
“It was owned by a single family for 50 years and I used to race it in the Vintage Sports-Car Club; I always thought, ‘What a great car.’”
Blakeney-Edwards and Williams went on to narrowly win the race, besting Rob and Josh Beebee by half a second while Bradley made a valiant effort through the grid and finished 10th.
“I’m not used to leading from the start; I’m normally sort of midfield,” Williams said. “I didn’t get a very good start, I think I was in the wrong gear.”
The Historic Racing Drivers Club Allstars & Classic Alfas field took to the track during a heavy downpour on Sunday and the race was eventually won by Nigel Reuben’s TVR Griffith after polesitter John Davison was one of several drivers to decide it was too wet to compete after the opening lap.
The weather curbed the speed of large muscle cars, such as Tom Sharp’s Ford Falcon, which gave the likes of Mike Jordan in his Mini Cooper a chance to slip through.
Reuben splashed his way to HRDC Allstars victory
Photo by: Mick Walker
Jordan made miraculous progress in the first laps to progress to fourth after starting 17th but his best performance came in the Jack Sears Trophy where he drove the Mini alongside his son, Bradley, into the lead before finishing fifth.
Saturday’s Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy featured several key competitors retiring due to a litany of issues; this included race leaders Max Lynn and Andy Wolfe in their AC Cobra and John Spiers and Nigel Greensall in their 1958 Lister Costin after they inherited the lead from the Cobra.
Gary and John Pearson were next in line and went on to bring their Lister Jaguar Knobbly to the win, followed by last-place starters Ollie Crosthwaite and Nick Finburgh. Having had every single qualifying lap deleted for track-limits abuses, Crosthwaite dragged the Cooper Monaco T49 up 15 positions during his stint before Finburgh stepped in.
Overtaking Rick Bourne’s Lotus for second, Finburgh attempted to chase after the Lister in the closing stages, but it proved too late and finished 1.4s off the leader.
On the qualifying penalties, Crosthwaite admitted: “I just didn’t pay attention; Nick and I are just a bit stupid and you’ve got to listen. I was lapping regularly around two seconds quicker than I normally do, so I thought I just found a bit of speed.”
The Pearsons prevailed in an attritional Woodcote and Moss Trophies race
Photo by: Mick Walker
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– The Autosport.com Team
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