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International Race - Syd Segal Trophy Race |
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Syd Segal Memorial Trophy Race - Thruxton 24 March 2008 Report and pictures by : Phil (scoop) Broster - email: phil_scoop@hotmail.co.uk or tel: 07912 537640
Easter
Bank Holiday saw the 40th anniversary of the first meeting at
Thruxton, the circuit which opened as a replacement to Goodwood. As part
of the celebrations, which included Historic F.2, F.J. and Saloon racing,
HDI were invited to field a grid of Big Healeys. Competition Secretary J Tales of Healeys taken out of mothballs, engines rebuilt and being fitted the day before practice and marathon rebuilds, not to mention de-rusting of drivers pervaded the paddock. Heading the list were Bruce Montgomery and Jeremy Welch, not seen much in U.K. racing these days. Then regular series racers Dave Smithies, Hugo Holland-Bosworth, Bill Rawles, Paul Campfield, Eric Woolley and Robert Rawe. Chris Clarkson, David Grace and Mark Potter (remember him?..Hippy, last seen going into hyperspace at Donington!) Mike Thorne had a sky blue car and had lent his 100M to John Todd, Steve Bicknell was here and John Levett-Princep too. Historic racer Julian Bronson was also out in a borrowed car last seen in the National series. Then we had the Le Mans cars, rebuilt DD300 in the hands of Karsten le Blanc, and TON 792 driven by Tim Rogers. The Dutch entry of Marc Schmidt, great effort that. Finally, Ian Montgomery in a freshly USA imported and largely unsorted 100S, a nice car.
Qualifying was scheduled for Easter Sunday with the race the following day
and with last minute fettling everybody took to the track to decide the
grid. Montgomery and Welch were soon in the groove sliding and drifting
through the Chicane. H-B and Campfield also looked smooth, likewise
Smithies Rawles and Grace. Schmidt was soon in the
When the dust settled Montgomery B. was on pole with Welch just under a second behind. H-B had a great session and was third from Campfield and Smithies. Grace, Bicknell, Rawles and Clarkson were all covered by a second. Woolley, Schmidt, Todd, le Blanc and Rawe were also closely matched. Thorne, Potter, Levett-Princep were next with Montgomery I, Rogers and Bronson completed the grid. There was a lot of activity in the Paddock after qualifying. The talk was how impressive Montgomery’s time was, and whether his tyres would last 45 min, which was how long the race was to be. Schmidt was wandering around with a distributor in his hands, Bronson was getting dual fuel pumps fitted, Bicknell was sorting his overdrive and Woolley was adjusting brake bias. But by late evening everyone was ready to meet and have some relaxation in the Holiday Inn, and a very pleasant night was spent by all eating, drinking and swapping tales, not always about cars either.
Next day
dawned dry and cold. Did I mention how cold it was? A biting wind
cutting acr The lights turned green and Montgomery and Welch took off as one into the complex, Welch was in third as they went onto the fast sweeps, there was a lot of place swapping on that first lap but as the leaders came into the chicane it was Montgomery in the lead from a hard charging Welch with H-B firmly in third. Campfield was into fourth and Smithies dived up the inside of Grace to take fifth. Rawles was ahead of Clarkson and Bicknell then a whole gaggle of cars led by Woolley, they were Rawe, Schmidt, Thorne and Le Blanc. Bronson had got ahead of Todd, Potter and Levett-Princep with Montgomery and Rogers completing the field.
Next lap
they were in the same order at the front but Schmidt had made up places
and was ahead of Woolley and just behind Clarkson he was on a charge.
Thorne had also moved ahead of Rawe and Bicknell had dropped back. Le
Blanc was harrowing Rawe. Levett-Princep was still ahead of Montgomery
who was having fun in a car more set up for rallying. Welch wasn’t letting Montgomery get away and these two were giving an excellent display of car control. Campfield had Smithies right in his boot with Grace and Rawles right with him, then a gap to Clarkson, Schmidt and Woolley. Bicknell was back ahead of Rawe with Le Blanc in touch. The two leaders came into view again, with Welch coming out of the fast sweep before the chicane much closer and as they came through to complete another lap there was definitely a fight on. H-B was lonely in third but a terrific fight was going on for fourth between Campfield, Smithies, Grace and Rawles. Then came Clarkson on his own before the next fight led by Schmidt. The rest were getting slightly spaced apart but the three fights developing had the crowd on its toes.
By now
Smithies was behind Rawles and falling back into Clarkson, Schmidt still
led the next group with a wheel locking Potter adding drama. Welch was
trying to take Montgomery again and then there was a huge bang and popping
from Smithies, the car was still running but it sounded like its timing
had slipped.
Next time around Smithies crawled into the pits as the six car mid field battle flashed by as the leaders were starting to lap the tail. Grace had got ahead of Campfield with Rawles just behind. Thorne was ahead of Woolley. Welch made another attempt to dislodge Montgomery and this time succeeded, although Montgomery was fighting back as they headed past the pits. Then on lap thirteen we had real drama as Clarkson’s car suddenly shed a front wheel coming onto the pit straight, the car slid to a halt but the errant wheel bounced into the crowd with what looked like horrific consequences. It hit a couple of spectators and matters looked bad when the medical team came around the track. It transpired that minor bruises were the only damage but it could have been a lot worse. Meanwhile the race carried on, a quick decision not to stop it being made and Montgomery was back in the lead. Potter pulled up to retire with failed electrics and Smithies was back out, but not for long, also something electrical proving terminal. Schmidt was still heading Thorne, Woolley, Rawe and Le Blanc.
Welch had
another spell in front and now we lost Bicknell, whose car developed a
strange cooling problem, blowing
Into the last quarter of the race the two leaders were still ‘hammer and tongs’, side by side through the very fast Church. H-B was a lonely but superb third, Rawles let Grace unlap himself and still the mid field battle was raging. Bronson made a quick call to the pits losing a lap.
As the
leaders went onto the final lap they were still fighting, but it was
Montgomery who took the flag just under a second from Welch, these two
having battled door to door all race. H-B took a deserved third and
Rawles took a splendid fourth from Campfield who dramatically ran out of
fuel on the very last lap! Then came Schmidt, who had fought race long
with Thorne, Woolley, Rawe and Le Blanc. Todd came home eleventh in the
100M from Bronson, a disappointed Grace and finally Montgomery snr in the
100S This had been an excellent showpiece race for Healeys, it was full of drama and we had all twenty cars running until the last third of the race. The Trophy was presented by Mrs Segal and her daughter to Bruce who commented that it was the finest trophy the club possessed. Medals were presented to all the runners as a souvenir. We also had three generations of the Healey family present and thanks were given to Joe for his organisation skills. Don’t forget, you can watch Healey racing throughout the season and I will keep you in touch with my reports. The see the full set of pictures from the event click here. To return to the International Race homepage click here.
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pits,
an electrical gremlin sidelining his effort. Bronson too came in early,
fuel pump problems curtailing his first Healey drive. Woolley had a
couple of hairy rides over the Chicane kerbs and had a brake imbalance
which would be sorted for the race. Everyone else seemed to set their
times without problem, although Bicknell complained of no overdrive, which
is an issue on this fast circuit.
oss
the circuit meant I had 5 layers of fleece and thermals, but at least it
was dry. By mid afternoon it was time to take to the track and after a
warm up lap the grid formed, they had made an impressive sight in the
assembly area, and as they filtered out of the chicane a good race looked
in prospect.
the
top of the radiator out and having a cold bottom hose! We also lost Rogers
to a puncture and a lap later Levett-Princep. Grace pitted and got back
out just behind Rawles who was now steady in fourth having passed
Campfield.