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International Trophy Meeting - International Saloon Touring Car Race

Silverstone, Great-Britain

Date: 14/5/1966
Track length: 4.710 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted: 36
Starters:
Finishers:

Pole position: Whitmore
Fastest lap: Whitmore in 1.45,0

Distance: 35 laps
Average speed: 156,2 kmh
Weather: Dry
Ruleset: Group 5
Car info: 1966 Cars

 

The Alan Mann Ford Falcon driven by Sir John Whitmore walked away with the disappointing 35-lap saloon car race, which lacked the spectacle of former years. Sir John set a new lap record of 1.45,0 to be the first saloon to lap in excess of 100 mph.

At the start Whitmore had led the pack into Copse, his car conspicuous in its Alan Mann colours. Behind the red and gold Falcon came the Willment 7-litre Galaxie, Brian Muir driving with great verve. Muir passed Whitmore, but Whitmore retook the lead at the first part of Woodcote and was never challenged again. The pair were chased by Mike Salmon in Lord Downe's dark blue Mustang and Sir Gawaine Baillie in his supercharged Falcon - Gawaine won last July here. Close on the Falcon's tail came the works Lotus Cortinas of Peter Arundell and Jacky Ickx, the latter standing in for Jim. Then came the first of the 1300s, Mike Young in the Superspeed Anglia having to go for all he was worth to stay ahead of John Rhodes and Tony Lanfranchi. Very early on John Handley came into the pits with his works Min Cooper to change plugs. Markey in one of the two Paul Emery Imps also came in to replace the fan belt. Chris Craft's Anglia had broken its crankshaft on the second lap, leaving the responsibility of the class win with Young. Judging by the antics of Rhodes and Lanfranchi, Mike could have done with Chris's moral support. The 1300 Minis are ideally suited to the Silverstone circuit.

Meanwhile, John Whitmore had been steadily pulling away, his task being made all the more simple when Muir retired the big Galaxie with a blown head gasket. Alan Brown's supercharged fuel injected Ford Mustang driven by Jack Brabham had suffered piston failure in practice and was a non-starter. This left Salmon's Mustang in a comfortable second place for he had a 7 second lead over Baillie and the two Cortinas. But Salmon was out of luck, a battery lead chafing through, igniting the rear seats; he stopped on the Hangar Straight, put the fire out and continued 8 minutes in arrears.
McGovern, in the other Emery Imp pulled out quite a lead from the "works" Alan Fraser Imps with John Fitzpatrick snapping hard at his heels in the Broadspeed Anglia. Then on the 6th lap at Copse, these two touched, spinning wildly and McGovern retired; Fitzpatrick toured round to the pits to change a punctured tyre. Anita Taylor, to the delight of the majority, took the lead in the 1-litre class on lap 6 ahead of the Fraser Imps of Ray Calcutt and Nick Brittan and Paul Webb's Superspeed Anglia.
There had been other dramas at Stowe when Gordon Spice in a Downton-prepared Mini-Cooper S got mixed up with Keith Greene's BMW - both spun and somehow nobody hit them. Club corner saw John Lewis shunt his Mini Cooper S in a big way without personal injury.
At half distance, the progress of the red and gold Falcon still continued, Whitmore further extending his lead. Sir Gawaine Baillie had at last got the better of the works Lotus Cortinas, Arundell and Ickx now occupying third and fourth places overall and leading their class. Arundell, in fact, had been in second place on odd occasions but the Falcon had fabulous acceleration and would pull away out of the corners. Ickx made an ultra-rapid stop to have his steering checked and was off again without losing a place.
The Anglia-Mini Cooper duel had cooled a fraction. Tony Lanfranchi falling back slightly with valve trouble, leaving Rhodes to make life as difficult as possible for Mike Young - something he was succeeding in doing with a fair degree of success, the pair for ever swapping places. Rhodes led until the 10th lap when Young slipped through for just part of a lap, but they switched back and it was only on the 17th of the 35 laps that Young again led the Mini. He managed to stay in front until lap 29 when Rhodes played the same trick and passed him for a short spell, but from then to the flag the Anglia held a half second lead.
Anita was doing a great job in the Broadspeed 1000 Anglia still leading her class by a long way - her pit were actually slowing her down. The Fraser Imps of Calcutt and Brittan just did not seem to have the necessary steam.
Towards the finish, Whitmore visibly slowed, confident of success and Gawaine Baillie, going faster and faster, closed up to finish 16 seconds behind. Peter Arundell set a new lap record equalled by team mate Ickx with a time of 1 min 48 seconds, which is moving for a 1600.
The Young-Rhodes battle was the best duel of the race, with Young winning the class for Superspeed by a couple of lengths. Anita, despite being slowed down by her pit, still finished 30 seconds ahead of Ray Calcutt's Imp to win the 1-litre class for Broadspeed - although Fitz set the new class lap record.
Source: Autosport, Autocar and MotorSport

Class A-D
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out
1 1 53 Alan Mann Racing
Ford Falcon Sprint		 John Whitmore, GB
 4728 V8 D 35 laps, 1:03.19,0 1   1.45,0  
2 2 51 Gawaine Baillie
Ford Falcon Sprint		 Gawaine Baillie, GB
 4728 s/c V8 D 35 laps, 1:03.35,4        
3 1 41 Team Lotus
Ford Lotus Cortina		 Peter Arundell, GB
 1594 L4 C 35 laps, 1:03.41,2     1.48,0  
4 2 42 Team Lotus
Ford Lotus Cortina		 Jacky Ickx, B
 1594 L4 C 34 laps, 1:03.45,4     1.48,0  
5 1 29 Superspeed Conversions Ltd.
Ford Anglia Super		 Mike Young, GB
 1298 L4 B 34 laps, 1:04.59,6        
6 2 21 Cooper Car Co.
Austin Mini Cooper S		 John Rhodes, GB
 1293 L4 B 34 laps, 1:05.00,2     1.53,0  
7 3 26 Alexander Engineering Co.
Morris Mini Cooper S		 Tony Lanfranchi, GB
 1293 L4 B 33 laps, 1:03.33,2        
8 3 44 Alan Foster
BMW 2000 TI		 Keith Greene, GB
 1990 L4 C 33 laps, 1:05.09,2        
9 1 2 Team Broadspeed
Ford Anglia		 Anita Taylor, GB
 997 L4 A 32 laps, 1:03.37,2        
10 2 5 Alan Fraser Racing Team
Hillman Imp		 Ray Calcutt, GB
 998 L4 A 32 laps, 1:04.03,6        
11 4 22 Vitafoam Developments
Morris Mini Cooper S		 Harry Ratcliffe, GB
 1293 L4 B 32        
12 3 4 Alan Fraser Racing Team
Hillman Imp		 Nick Brittan, GB
 998 L4 A 32 laps, 1:04.03,6        
13 3 55 Viscount Downe
Ford Mustang		 Mike Salmon, GB
 4728 V8 D 31 laps, 1:04.13,0        
14 4 3 Team Broadspeed
Ford Anglia		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
 997 L4 A 31     1.56,0  
15 5 11 C.B. Mynott
Morris Mini Cooper S 970		 Mike Clarke, GB
 999 L4 A 30        
16 5 28 Gordon Spice
Austin Mini Cooper S		 Gordon Spice, GB
 1293 L4 B 30        
17 6 20 Cooper Car Co.
Austin Mini Cooper S		 John Handley, GB
 1293 L4 B 30        
18 6 9 Radbourne Racing
Abarth 1000 TC		 Andrew Mylius, GB
 982 L4 A 29        
19 7 1  
Ford Anglia		 Paul Webb, GB
 997 L4 A 28        
    24  
Austin Mini Cooper S		 David Buckett, GB
 1293 L4 B          
    27 Higham Advertising
Austin Mini Cooper S		 Bill Cooper, GB
 1293 L4 B          
    43 W. Bradley
Triumph 2000		 Bill Bradley, GB
 1998 L6 C          
DNF   7 Paul Emery
Hillman Imp		 John Markey, GB
 998 L4 A         Accident
DNF   56 Race Proved by Willment
Ford Galaxie		 Brian Muir, AUS
 6997 V8 D         Head gasket
DNF   30 Superspeed Conversions Ltd.
Ford Anglia Super		 Chris Craft, GB
 1298 L4 B         Crankshaft
DNF   6 Paul Emery
Hillman Imp		 Bill McGovern, GB
 998 L4 A         Accident
DNF   31  
Morris Mini Cooper S		 John Lewis, GB
 1293 L4 B         Accident
DNS   54 Alan Brown
Ford Mustang		 Jack Brabham, AUS
 4728 s/c V8 D         Piston