Goodwood Revival 9-10th September
The highlight of weekend for Olly was winning the Sussex Trophy in the Lotus 15 from pole position. Olly set a blistering 1.24.1 second lap in qualifying to line up first on the grid. The race start was tricky and held on a drying circuit on Sunday afternoon. After an initially good getaway, Olly crossed a damp part of the circuit and suffered from some wheel spin dropping him to 4th position by turn 1. Olly set about retaking the lost positions, passing Myles Griffiths Lotus 15 on the second lap, before executing great passes on Roger Wills (Lotus 15) and Sam Hancock (Ferrari 246 Dino) in the St Mary’s complex. From there, he settled into a rhythm and finally brought home the Sussex Trophy race win. This car first competed in the event in 2007 , so it’s been a long wait!
Olly once again raced the 1966 Lola T70 Spyder in the Whitsun Trophy. He lined up P2 on the grid behind Stuart Hall. Initially dropping to 3rd after the start, Olly fought back past Stuart and set off after James Davidson in the leading McLaren. The pair traded fastest laps but ultimately Olly couldn’t close down the gap and he crossed the line just 3.3 seconds behind. Another fantastic Goodwood podium for the car.
Olly partnered with Marino Franchitti in the 2021 TT winning Cobra “GPG 4C”. Marino had never driven the car pre event, so after a learning qualifying session, the car lined up 5th on the grid on combined times across the sessions. Marino’s start on a damp track was electric, straight into the lead and then building a lead of 10 seconds from the chasing pack , it was exciting to watch. Unfortunately, another Cobra spun into the Lavant gravel trap causing a safety car which eroded the healthy lead. At the restart, Marino immediately re-established the lead before diving into the pits as the window opened. The stopwatch fell off the dashboard during the stop so the crew opted to release the car in second position as they had no way of timing the length of the stop accurately. Olly set off chasing the Cobra of Romain Dumas and he was closing the gap as the rain began to fell. Olly had a hairy moment as heavy rain hit the circuit, understeering into the gravel at Lavant before resuming safely. Two other cars were involved in heavy accidents as the rain fell, and the race director red flagged the race. Fortunately, the sensible decision was taken for a safety car restart. On the opening lap, Olly passes the Lister Coupe of Tom Kristensen and the Cobra of Dumas to take the lead. He built this lead for 10 minutes and it was looking good despite the wet conditions. However once the better suited E Types of Nic Minassian and Andy Priaulx got passed Dumas , the closed made their way passed Olly. He held on , to be best cobra in 3rd place and take another well deserved Goodwood podium for GPG , a car that first raced at Goodwood back in 1964!
Olly Bryant also shared the Historika Porsche 901 in the Fordwater Trophy with Andrew Smith. This was a two driver 45 minute race for pre 1966 SWB Porsche 911.
Olly qualified the car 6th on the grid. Unfortunately on lap 1 , the car developed a misfire so Andrew had to bring the car into the pits for repair. The Historika team did a good job and the car managed to resume on the lead lap, albeit in 27th place. The duo recovered to finish P6 at the flag, but much more was possible!
- Categories: 2023 Season, News
