My Favourite Race - Greater London Trophy 1969

The Greater London Trophy Race 1969 for Formula 3 cars.  Clockwise from top left - Barrie Smith in a Chevron B15, Roy Pike in a GLTL Lotus 59, Ulf Svensson in a Brabham BT28 and Alan Rollinson in a Brabham BT21B

In these difficult times where understandably most motor racing around the world is being cancelled, it is good to be reminded of better times, which I hope for most of us will be back soon.  Whenever, I am asked what was the best motor race I ever saw - the answer tends to be the May Bank Holiday Formula 3 race at Crystal Palace in 1969 - The Greater London Trophy.

In actual fact I was at first very disappointed that the annual Formula 2 race at Crystal Palace was cancelled because of money issues and replaced with Formula Three.  Perhaps, in the end it was a blessing is disguise.  The next year F2 was back at the Palace so I did get to see F2 racing at the Palace in the end.  Formula Three at the time used 4 cylinder 1 litre production derived engines - often modified Ford Anglia 105E motors with a 4 speed gearbox derived from a Volkswagen Beetle.  F3 was at the time a major stepping stone to Grand Prix racing.  Thus the F3 drivers at this meeting were hoping to emulate Jackie Stewart, Piers Courage, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jacky Ickx.

Thanks to Gerald Swan for these excellent photos from the meeting.  See more of Geralds photos on his excellent website click here for the link.   At this time I rarely took photos at race meetings.

Top - The start of Heat 2 with Mike Beckwith, Wayne Mitchell and Peter Hanson.
Bottom - The start of Heat 3 with Alan Rollinson, Ronnie Peterson, and Reine Wisell.

The format of the meeting was three 10 lap heats and a 25 lap final so we got to see four F3 races for our money.  Unlike today's single marque racing, at the Palace we saw ten different marques battle it out - Brabham, Techno, Chevron, Lotus, EMC, Titan, Merlyn, Matra, Alexis, Mclaren.  all of them the 1 litre screamers that F3 fans of the era remember so well.

Heat one saw the Australian Tim Schenken make his intentions clear in his Brabham BT28 as he beat off American Roy Pike's beautiful works Gold Leaf Team Lotus 59.

Heat two saw British F3 regulars Peter Gaydon and Peter Hanson battle it out.   Hanson won in his Chevron B15 from Gaydon in a Techno 69.

Heat three saw the Brit, Alan Rollinson in an older Brabham BT21B beat off the two Swedes, Ronnie Peterson in a Techno 69 and Reine Wisell in a works Chevron B15.

Top - The start of Heat 1 with Roy Pike, Tim Schenken and Tetsu Ikusawa.
Bottom - Reine Wisell in the works Chevron B15.

So the final was set for a battle royal between a number of drivers who would go on to have F1 careers and a number who were not so lucky.  The list of qualifiers for the final included Ronnie Peterson, Tim Schenken, Reine Wisell, Howden Ganley, Roy Pike, Alan Rollinson, Barrie Maskell, Bev Bond and Mo Nunn. Japanese driver Tetsu Ikusuwa and Canadian Wayne Mitchell were also amongst them.

The circuit map of the Crystal Palace circuit.   i used to stand on the exit of South Tower Corner.

At the end of the 25 lap race of this 1.39 mile circuit the top six runners were covered by just 2.4 seconds.  Schenken took victory from Peterson and Rollinson with Wisell, Bond and Pike also in the top six.   Tim Schenken took £550 prize money for his two wins and added his name to a famous list of winners of this race (Stirling Moss, Peter Collins, Jack Brabham, Roy Salvadori, Jim Clark, Jacky Ickx and Jochen Rindt amongst them) .   It had been a superb battle with a number of changes in position through out the race.  I left the race a fan of Ronnie Peterson and also the strange nostril nosed Lotus 59 F3 racing car.

For the full list of results visit this excellent site.

There were supporting races for the British Saloon Car Championship and Historic Sports Cars.  Frank Gardner and Gordon Spice won the tin top battles in their Alan Mann Ford Escort and Britax-Cooper-Downton Morris Mini Cooper respectively.   A Lister Jaguar won the historic race. 

For a full list of results of the saloon car races visit this excellent site.

Thanks to Gareth Rees for the programme.

Auto Vitesse Photos of Porsches

Chris McAllister and his Porsche 917 descend the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca during Porsche Rennsport Reunion V.

During this rather sad time when the world is devoid of motor racing, I will be publishing some remastered photos and ones I have not published before on my facebook page AutoVitessePhotos.  To access there photos, follow the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/autovitessephotos/

Some of my most popular photos published on my facebook page recently have been of Porsches.  Join in the fun by clicking on the link above.  Then like or follow the page to ensure you see more in the future.

Porsche 962 descending the Corkscrew at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion V.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

Porsche 550 Coupe PanAmerica as seen at Laguna Seca during Porsche Rennsport Reunion V.

From the Archives - 2010 Goodwood Revival

Grant Williams in a Jaguar Mk1 passing the Goodwood pits on his way to victory in the St Mary's Trophy Touring Car race.

For some reason, not even known to me, I have only been to the Goodwood Revival once.  Although, I did not have a good camera at the time, looking back at the pictures I took of the 2010 event makes me want to go back.  Everything from a sixties' Tesco store to the air display and the racing was great.  A trip to the paddock at the end probably produced my best pictures of the day.

The day started with an air display and then the Fordwater Trophy for small capacity GT cars for cars like the Mini-Dart, Mini-Gems and Sebring Sprites.  The Mini-Dart of Nick Swift seen leading here turned out the winner.

Next race was the Richmond Trophy for the front engined Grand Prix cars.  On the left Richard Attwood in a Ferrari 246 Dino leads eventual winner Gary Pearson in a BRM P25.   On the right Barry Whizzo Williams leads the field in the Ferguson Project 99 whilst a Scarab brings up the rear of the group in the chicane.

Later, I saw some of these fifties Ferraris and Maseratis in the paddock.

Particularly nice to see the Lancia-Ferraris in the paddock and in the race.

Maseratis - a 250F on track and a pristine A6GCM in the paddock.

The St Mary's Trophy and a 1958 Volvo Amazon 122S exits the chicane and is about to pass the pits.

Touring cars being driven hard including a Ford Anglia 100E and a Jaguar MkVII

Overall victory over the two days in the St Mary's Trophy went to Grant Williams and Derek Bell in this Jaguar MkI.   Behind is the Austin Westminster A95 that Tom Kristensen drove to victory on Saturday.

After lunch there were demonstrations of BRM and Surtees cars including John Surtees driving one of his cars.  Driving the pale Green BRM was Tony Brooks.

More BRMS

Main event was the RAC Tourist Trophy Celebration race.  On the left are two Ferraris and on the right is the AC Cobra of Hall and richards that finished fourth.

The winning Ferrari 250 GTO/64 of Hardman and Gounon.

The 1964 AC Cobra that finished second in the TT Celebration driven by Graham and Oliver Bryant

A Ferrari 250 GTO in the paddock.

The penultimate race on Sunday was for the Glover Trophy and the sixties 1.5 litre F1 cars.   It was very nice to see Riochard Attwood in the BRM P261 beat Frank Sytner's Lotus 24.

More Lotuses.

S

Lotus 24

Final race of the day was the Sussex Trophy for fifties sports cars and this brought out the D Type Jaguars.

Tom Kristensen in a Ferrari 246S Dino follows Gary Pearson's Lister Jaguar Costin.   They finished third and fourth.

Car No.15 - Jamie McIntyre in the Lister Chevrolet Knobbly ended up as winner.
A lovely Maserati 300S.
Brian Redman in an Aston Martin DBR1. 

The second placed Aston Martin DBR1 of Bobby Verdon-Roe leading the Lister Jaguar Costin.

Then it was time to go onto the start line and into the paddock.

Jaguar C Type XKC004.

1965 ex John Mecom Lola T70 Group 7 car.  It won Saturday's Whitsun Trophy.

Reconstruction of the Brooklands' pits.

View over a Jaguar C type towards a 1962 Lola-Climax Mk4.

Jaguar E2A.

1950 Aston Martin DB2 being loaded onto its transporter.

Aston Martin DB3S with the original type radiator grill.

Ford GT40s.

1965 Scuderia Filipinetti Ferrari 330 P2

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

Pre-war Alfa Romeos.

Le Salon Retromobile 2020 - The Best of the Rest

1998 Nissan R390 GT1.  This car finished fifth in the 1998 24 Hours of le Mans driven by Nielsen, Krumm and Lagorce.

My final post from Le Salon Retromobile covers the cars from the rest of the world that i haven't covered in my previous posts so cars representing Japan, USA and Czechoslovakia.  Particularly nice to see so many cars from Czechoslovakia this year.

The 1949 Skoda Tudor Sport 1100 in the colours in which Czechoslovakian Skoda competed at the 1950 Le Mans.

The 1933 Tatra V570 that inspired the Volkswagen Beetle.  It had a rear engined air-cooled motor just like the beetle and early Porsches,  Tatra cars were made in Czechoslovakia.  

Another Tatra, this one a Tatra 87 which was made from 1937 to 1950.

Some aircraft memorabilia.

1967 Ford GT40 Chassis P/1069.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

1974 UOP Shadow DN3-2A.  The car that Jean-Pierre Jarier came third with at the 1974 International Trophy at Silverstone.