Peter de la Roche’s Guards Trophy title aspirations may have dwindled alarmingly when his Lotus 23B spun into the Luffield gravel bed and was hit by Dan Balfour’s Chevron B8, damaging its steering. With joint second-placed John Davison absent, a class win for Stephen Nuttall would equal de la Roche’s score, but his B8’s engine blew spectacularly, reprieving Peter, one of five Historic Sports Car Club champions crowned on its Silverstone finals weekend.
Four Lenhams in the top six at the flag was unprecedented, Simon Jackson winning from Rob and Ben Tusting. Ross Hyett’s Ginetta G4R topped the GTs. De la Roche had won Saturday’s pre-1961 Formula Junior race from Ray Mallock (U2), Andrew Hibberd (Lola Mk2) and new double champion Nic Carlton-Smith (Kieft). Graham Barron (Gemini Mk2) led the front-engined championship into Sunday’s decider, but diff failure at the start meant ‘Il Barrone Rampante’ could only watch as Mallock (71) used his guile to defeat de la Roche and snatch the title.
