News from the Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge

Morgan Plus 8s took both victories as a packed grid for the ODL Securities Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge thrilled the British F3/GT crowds at Brands Hatch over the Bank Holiday weekend (26/27 August).

While the Morgan of Peter Horsman/Phil Hollins won the first race on the awesome Grand Prix circuit, Oliver and Grahame Bryant won Sunday's race as First Choice Coffee supported the pair of races.

Qualifying

John Bussell planted Chris Scragg’s Aston Martin V8 on pole, but it was a close run thing as just a fifth of a second split the top two cars. “That was very close,” admitted Bussell. “I’m just thrilled to be on pole – I didn’t expect it!”

The Bryant Morgan +8 shared the front row, while the Arthur Thurtle/Roger Bennington Chevrolet Camaro headed row two after lapping within a second of the pole time. “We went out on intermediates and it should have been dries,” said Arthur.

In all, a fabulous 33 cars qualified, although head gasket failure would sideline the Ford Capri of Mike Youles/John Hindhaugh. Also in trouble was the Chevrolet Camaro of the Hall father and son team after Stuart popped it into the Hawthorn gravel on his out lap when the rear wheels locked on the downshift to third. “I think we can make the top six,” promised Peter before the race.

The Bryant Morgan +8 shared the front row, while the Arthur Thurtle/Roger Bennington Chevrolet Camaro headed row two after lapping within a second of the pole time. “We went out on intermediates and it should have been dries,” said Arthur.

In all, a fabulous 33 cars qualified, although head gasket failure would sideline the Ford Capri of Mike Youles/John Hindhaugh. Also in trouble was the Chevrolet Camaro of the Hall father and son team after Stuart popped it into the Hawthorn gravel on his out lap when the rear wheels locked on the downshift to third. “I think we can make the top six,” promised Peter before the race.

In the classes, Malcolm Young headed the invitation class in his Aston Martin V8 but was destined not to start after a fractured brake caliper was discovered before the race. Norman Ricketts led the saloons in class D with his BMW, having held third place overall at one point in the session.

Meanwhile, a great performance from Ciaran Butler topped class B with his MGB GTV8 but he was cruelly denied a race when the engine flooded on the grid and the car was pushed away. Racing newcomer Will Thornton topped class C in his Lotus Elan after the Pat Thomas/Mike Youles Elan 26R was inadvertently placed in class B for the opening race.

Race one

Scragg got a great start to fend off the hotshots into Paddock, but the Morgans were quickly on the attack and jumped the Aston around the opening lap as Grahame Bryant headed Horsman. "I was quite pleased with the start," admitted Scragg after leading the mighty pack off the grid.

By the end of lap four, Bryant had a five-second lead as Roy McCarthy moved into third and Scragg worked to fend off the Ford Mustang of Leo Voyazides. Meanwhile, Peter Hall was romping through the pack and was into the top 10 in less than four laps.

As some tremendous battles ranged down the pack, Richard Masters spun his Jaguar XJS at Paddock and the unfortunate Ant Scragg had nowhere to go as the Aston Martin V8 slid into the side of the XJS. Both cars were out on the spot, while the Bennington Camaro was soon to retire with the loss of second gear. Also out went the Jaguar E Type of Peter Lloyd after the car bottomed out and removed the sump plug.

Up front, Horsman stayed out as others made driver changes and took the lead, with the Bryant Morgan chasing and Stuart Hall now third in the Camaro after diving ahead of Bussell at Surtees. Still Horsman stayed out, but then pitted at the very last moment to hand over to Hollins for the final two laps. Although the Bryant crew never stopped chasing, the gap was still eight seconds at the flag. "That's great! I'm pleased to see Morgans first and second," said Grahame Bryant. "But I didn't know where they were due to their late pit stop," he said of the Hollins car.

After the race Horsman revealed that it had almost gone wrong for him at Stirlings. "I was up behind Olli Bryant and one of the Elans didn't see me. I went onto the grass and spun," he explained. "That was great fun!"

Hall/Hall claimed a fine third, while the Scragg/Bussell Aston was fourth from the McCarthy MGB. "I got past some of the big ones early on," reported Roy, although Spencer had a spin on his out lap at Hawthorns on oil from the blown engine of Robin North's Mustang.

Voyazides had a strong solo run to sixth from Bob Searles/Tony Jardine (Aston Martin V8) as Ricketts dominated class D in eighth overall. Series newcomer Steve Davis took class B in his Jaguar XJS, while Will Thornton/John Day struggled home to win class C despite major gearbox problems in their Lotus Elan. The invitation class fell to Gerard Coakley's Ford Escort.

Results – race one (17 laps)

1 Peter Horsman/Phil Hollins (Morgan +8) 30m04.442s (78.09mph); 2 Oliver Bryant/Graeme Bryant (Morgan +8) +8.615s; 3 Peter Hall/Stuart Hall (Chevrolet Camaro); 4 Chris Scragg/John Bussell (Aston Martin V8); 5 Roy McCarthy/Russell McCarthy (MGB GTV8); 6 Leo Voyazides (Ford Mustang); 7 Bob Searles/Tony Jardine (Aston Martin V8); 8 Norman Ricketts (BMW); 9 Steve Davis (Jaguar XJS); 10 Pat Thomas/Mike Youles (Lotus Elan 26R). Class winners: Horsman/Hollins; Davis; Will Thornton/John Day (Lotus Elan); Ricketts; Gerard Coakley (Ford Escort). Fastest lap: Bryant/Bryant 1m39.301s (83.41mph).

Race two

It was a case of family fortunes on Sunday as Oliver and Grahame Bryant won Sunday's race after a race-long struggle with the Chevrolet Camaro of Peter and Stuart Hall.

Pole-sitter Hollins got the drop heading towards Paddock on the opening lap, but was soon overhauled by the pack. Hollins, who had driven with Peter Horsman in race one had to go solo on Sunday as Horsman was away racing at Oulton Park. His pace couldn’t quite match that of Grahame Bryant who moved through into the lead with Peter Hall soon taking second ahead of Scragg and Russell McCarthy.

Hall started to push to catch Bryant, but the gap failed to come down after the first three laps, with the Chevrolet instead being caught by the flying McCarthy who had relieved Scragg of third. “There was some oil down on the back of the circuit,” explained Hall senior, “and I really had to be careful there and hang on. The Morgan could just scoot through it and so it pulled away.”

That left Bryant ahead with a charging McCarthy taking Hall just before the 10-minute mark and the opening of the pit stop window. Hall handed over to his son Stuart, who had just raced in the previous 30-minute Formula 3 race. That promoted McCarthy to second and then into the lead after Bryant stopped to hand over to his son Oliver, but it was a long stop for the Morgan, given the different stature of the drivers.

“We took our time and did the stop properly,” explained Bryant senior. “If you rush these things, they tend to go wrong, so we just made sure everything was right.”

When the Morgan rejoined it was third, behind Hall and Roy McCarthy who had taken over the family MG from his son, but the MG was soon overhauled by the two flying youngsters, with Hall being caught in turn by Bryant. Hall took the lead with the Morgan also moving ahead of McCarthy and with traffic interrupting the pace of the leaders, Bryant closed and made his move on lap 13 to secure the lead from Hall.

The F3 racer wasn’t giving up, though, and fought back, the Chevrolet's greater grunt in a straight line allowing him to close on Bryant, but the Morgan was better through the corners and hence was able to inch away. When Hall lost time in traffic, the result was secured in favour of the Bryants, with the Halls second, just over seven seconds adrift at the flag. “That was great,” said Bryant senior. “Oliver had to push after the pit stops but he drove really well. A great result!”

Third went to the Aston Martin V8 of Scragg and Bussell, which took third in the second stint when Bussell was at the wheel. The McCarthy MG took fourth whilst an untroubled performance from George Miller/Les Goble (Aston Martin V8) took fifth. Hollins was sixth and the first solo driver, while class D honours went to Norman Ricketts with his rapid BMW 1602 which took seventh overall. The other classes went to Peter Thornton/John Day (Aston Martin DB4GT) and Thomas/Youles after they were correctly moved back to class C for Sunday. However, the Elan struggled home with a front puncture, which has prompted increasing understeer as the race developed.

The top ten was rounded out by a gaggle of Aston Martins. Rikki and Joe Cann raced up from the rear of the grid to take eighth ahead of the similar DBS V8 of Bob Searles/Tony Jardine. “I am the picture of sobriety,” said Jardine, “but the car isn’t! We had to nurse the diff which gave us trouble yesterday, but we’ve had fun as ever.” Tenth fell to Malcolm Young’s invitation class Aston Martin V8, which started last after missing Saturday’s race.

Results – race two (18 laps)

1 Bryant/Bryant 31m31.211s (78.89mph); 2 Hall/Hall +7.153s; 3 Scragg/Bussell; 4 McCarthy/McCarthy; 5 George Miller/Les Goble (Aston Martin V8); 6 Hollins; 7 Ricketts; 8 Rikki Cann/Joe Cann (Aston Martin DBS V8); 9 Searles/Jardine; 10 Malcolm Young (Aston Martin V8). Class winners: Bryant/Bryant; Young; Ricketts; Peter Thornton/John Day (Aston Martin DB4GT); Thomas/Youles. Fastest lap: Bryant/Bryant 1m38.479s (84.11mph).

THANKS TO

The Paul Raymond Organisation, SGT, Cambrian Mining, Ballards Estate Agents, Chesterton Commercial Holdings, the Wood Motor Company, Malmaison, Hotel Du Vin, European Business Jets and Olive Communications for their continued support.