DAY 1: Starting at Chester, the teams headed North to Liverpool, to the
historic Aintree motor racing circuit, for the first timed stage. The entry was
split in to two main categories, Regularity and Competition, with an additional
two entry Targa class added to this years event for more modern cars to compete.
The event started in beautiful sunshine but on the return from Liverpool to
Oulton Park, for the first race meeting of the event, the competitors had to
endure a very heavy rain storm complete with thunder, lightning and hail. This
meant that the first race group had a wet practice and a damp track, but the
second group had much drier conditions. Sean Lockyear in his striking yellow
Porsche 911was quick from the start at Aintree, applying a touch of opposite
lock through County Corner. He also dominated the second race at Oulton Park to
take a clear lead in the competition class at the end of day 1. The first race
at Oulton Park had seen an early three way battle between the Shelby Cobra of
Mark Freeman/Andre Genillard the BMW 2002Ti of Richard Tyzack/Simon
Jefferies and the Ford Escort Mk1 Twin Cam of Chris Clark/Alasdair McCaig. As
the cobra and Escort eased ahead and swopped the lead many times, in an effort
to remain in front, Chris Clark even tried weight reduction on his Escort (The
bonnet flew off on the pit straight). It however was not enough and the Cobra
took the first race victory, with the Escort in second place. Regular Tour
veteran John Sheldon in his Lotus Elan was a very early casualty at Aintree with
mechanical problems, which side lined him for the rest of the day. Another car
in trouble at Aintree was the superb Jaguar XK150 of Richard Martin/Paul Bouch which
blew a block core plug on the first run, depositing alls its water over the
track. It then completed the second run as an air cooled engine!
So at the end of the first day there was a Porsche 911 1-2 in the competition
class, with Sean Lockyear and Chris Wood with a slight lead over the Porsche 911
of John Clark and Emma-Jane Gilbart-Smith. Third place was held by the mighty
Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 of Robert Hartley and Rupert Clevely. The Regularity
class lead at the end of the first day was held by the large Citroen SM of Bob
and Ann Linwood by a slim 3/10ths of a second from the more nimble Lotus Elan
Sprint of Graham Walker and Sean Toohey. Third was held by the Porsche 911 of
Howard Warren and Guy Woodcock. Another early causality in this class was the
Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ of foreign crew Marc and Stefan Vandendijk which suffered
mechanical problems and headed back to Europe. The Targa class was being
dominated by the powerful Aston Martin Rally GT of Jeremy Bailey and Philip
Dolby, who had a 5 minute lead on the much less powerful Mazda MX5 of John and
Duncan Freeman
Day 1 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Day 2. The teams headed West from Chester in to North Wales for the second day. They took in several timed stages at Stately Homes before heading across the water to the Anglesey racing circuit. Bright sunshine greeted the teams as they arrived at this out of the way, fantastic circuit located right on the coast, with a breath taking sea backdrop. After the Regularity cars had their run round the circuit, the competition class took to the track ready for their race. John Sheldon again had mechanical problems with his Lotus Elan and had to retire from the event. Sean Lockyear again ran away with the race, leaving the competition to admire the view. From Anglesey, the teams headed for the sea front at Llandudno for a quick break and a time control before tackling the Great Orme stage. This stage proved to be very popular with the drivers, though Stuart Scott and Steven Wood in the ex-Richard Lloyd Chevrolet Camaro did feel that the big car made the stage look more narrow than ever, the sea wall looked like the Great Wall of China and the drop the other side of the wall looked like the Grand Canyon! With one more stage on the way back to Chester, another regular, Mike Smith retired his Ford Escort with engine problems. At the end of the day, Sean Lockyear had extended his lead in the competition class to over a minute from the Shelby Mustang of Robert Hartley while Paul Hogarth and Darren Knutton had climbed up to 3rd in their Porsche 911 after John Clark also suffered mechanical problems with his Porsche 911.A Porsche also lead the Regularity class, with Howard Warren and Guy Woodcock in front of Bob Linwood in his Citroen SM. Graham Walker continued in 3rd in his Lotus Elan. The Targa classsaw an about face, when the Mazda MX5 took the lead of the category. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Day 3. The drivers headed south in to the Midlands for the
final day of this 6th Tour. A heavy shower made the stage at
the army camp at Swynnerton interesting, then everyone
headed for Mallory Park via a final stage at Arbury Hall.
With just one race for the Competition class, Sean Lockyear
was finally beaten on this Tour by Ian Flux in a Lotus Elan,
the tight confines of Mallory Park suiting the nimble Lotus
Elan. Sean Lockyear and Ian Reed still took overall honours
in the competition class from the Shelby Mustang of Robert
Hartley and Rupert Clevely, with the Porsche Carrera RS of
Paul Hogarth and Darren Knutton 3rd. Porsche also took the
Regularity class, victory going to Howard Warren and Guy
Woodcock, from the Citroen SM of Bob and Ann Linwood while
John Ruston and Jeremy Haylock bought their lovely green
Talbot 105 Alpine home third. Jeremy Bailey and Philip Dolby
won the Targa class in their Aston Martin Rally GT. The Index of Performance award went to the Gilbern GT 1800 of Michael Bell and James Paterson ahead of Chris Clark and Alasdair McCaig in their Ford Escort Twin Cam. Third went to Mike Thorne and John Todd in an Austin Healey 100. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Winner Competition Class Sean Lockyear/Ian Reed Porsche 911 |
Winner Regularity Class Howard Warren/Guy Woodcock Porsche Carrera 911 |
Winner Targa Class Jeremy Bailey/Philip Dolby Aston Martin Rally GT |
Winner Index of Performance Michael Bell/James Paterson Gilbern GT 1800 |
To View Official results on the Tour Britannia web site, please click here | |
All images copyright Simon Wright 2010. www.simonwrightphotos.com Please contact Simon Wright at simonwright57@hotmail.com
