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British Grand Prix Support Race - Automotive Touring Car Trophy Race

Silverstone, Great-Britain

Date: 14/7/1973
Track length:
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters: 33
Finishers: 22

Pole position: Gardner in
Fastest lap: Gardner in 1.34,6 = 176,26 kmh

Distance: 20 laps
Average speed: 170,22 kmh
Weather: Cloudy with bright spells
Ruleset: Group 2/70
Car info: 1973 Cars

Pictures

A horrific accident involving Dave Matthews' Capri, Dave Brodie's Escort and Gavin Booth's Mini knocked the stuffing out of the Automotive Products Touring Car Trophy Race, which was subsequently won with consummate ease by Frank Gardner's SCA Freight Camaro. Prompt action by the Silverstone fire marshals saved the lives of the crashed trio, who were trapped in their blazing cars.
Gardner's somewhat hollow victory gave him the lead in the British Touring Car Championship. Brian Muir with the Dealer Team BMW 3.0 CSL headed the field for one-and-a-half laps before Gardner hauled him in, and was beginning to make up ground again on the Camaro when the BMW's Alpina engine expired. The Camaro consequently had an easy run home to finish 1.18,2 ahead of David Howes' AMC Javelin, which was lucky to keep second place only 0.3s ahead of Jonathan Buncombe's 2-litre Escort RS, the only two cars on the same lap as Gardner.

Three lap records fell before the eighth-lap accident resulted in yellow flags cautioning progress between Abbey and Woodcote for the remainder of the race. At last Bill McGovern's 1973 luck changed: he knocked 0.5s off Les Nash's 1000 cc record while taking the Bevan Imp to a class win and 11th overall. Andy Rouse knocked 0.7s off the joint Brodie/Matthews 2-litre record with the VMW Motors Escort RS, but lost a lap repairing a puncture incurred in the big melee. Vince Woodman had a terrific run to fourth overall in the 1300 VMW Escort RS, shaving his own class record by 0.9s.
A race-long dice between Gillian Fortescue-Thomas' works 1300 Escort and Moto Kitano's Datsun GX Sunny Coupe proved a bright-spot in a clouded event, the Japanese driver giving Datsun a memorable European racing debut.

Touring Cars 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 46 SCA European Road Services
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Frank Gardner, AUS
 7000 V8 D 20 laps, 33.12,5 1 1.33,3 1.34,6  
2 2 45 Howes Motors
AMC Javelin		 David Howes, GB
 6390 V8 D 20 laps, 34.30,7 5 1.38,0    
3 1 31  
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Jonathan Buncombe, GB
 1974 L4 C 20 laps, 34.31,0 8 1.38,6    
4 1 20 VMW Motors - Team Esso Uniflo
Ford Escort 1300 GT		 Vince Woodman, GB
 1298 L4 B 19 laps, 33.15,1 9 1.42,2 1.42,3  
5 2 30 VMW Motors - Team Esso Uniflo
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Andy Rouse, GB
 1860 L4 C 19 laps, 33.15,1 4 1.37,4 1.36,5  
6 2 24 The Barbarians
Ford Escort 1300 GT		 Peter Hanson, GB
 1298 L4 B 19 laps, 33.41,4 10 1.42,9    
7 3 22 Ford Motor Company
Ford Escort 1300 GT		 Gill Fortescue-Thomas, GB
 1298 L4 B 19 laps, 34.08,0 12 1.45,9    
8 4 25 Nissan Datsun (Japan)
Datsun Sunny coupé GX		 Moto Kitano, J
 1295 L4 B 19 laps, 34.32,5 11 1.44,2    
9 5 26 Nissan Datsun (Japan)
Datsun Cherry 120A coupé		 Alec Poole, IRL
 1295 L4 B 19 laps, 34.34,3 13 1.46,9    
10 6 17  
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Jon Mowatt, GB
 1293 L4 B 18 laps, 33.40,3        
11 1 1 George Bevan
Sunbeam Imp		 Bill McGovern, GB
 998 L4 A 18 laps, 34.34,1 16 1.50,1 1.49,1  
12 7 28  
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Mick Osborne, GB
 1293 L4 B 18 laps, 34.34,8        
13 8 15  
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Gordon Dawkins, GB
 1293 L4 B 18 laps, 34.35,0        
14 3 47  
Ford Mustang Boss 429		 Dennis Leech, GB
 7030 V8 D 18 laps, 34.40,4 6 1.38,1   Engine cut-out
15 9 19  
Ford Escort 1300 GT		 Oli Thatcher, GB
 1298 L4 B 18 laps, 34.47,4        
16 2 4  
Sunbeam Imp		 Melvyn Adams, GB
 998 L4 A 18 laps, 34.49,3        
17 3 5 Stapleton Motors Racing Promotions
Sunbeam Imp		 Adrian Webb, GB
 998 L4 A 18 laps, 35.06,7        
18 4 3  
Sunbeam Imp		 Tony Charnell, GB
 998 L4 A 17 laps, 35.06,9        
19 5 6  
BMC Mini Cooper		 Jeremy Bean, GB
 998 L4 A 16 laps, 33.29,9        
20 6 8 Swiftune Engineering Ltd
BMC Mini Cooper		 Jim Burrows, GB
 998 L4 A 16 laps, 34.21,8        
21 10 11  
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Paul Burt, GB
 1293 L4 B 13 laps, 33.55,8        
22 11 12 Selhurst Business machines Ltd.
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Mike Drinkwater, GB
 1293 L4 B 12 laps, 34.17,9        
DNF   14 Gamshall Motors Co. Ltd.
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Bernard Bird, GB
 1293 L4 B 12        
DNF   18 Aldek Shopfitting & Joinery Ltd.
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Barry Johnson, GB
 1293 L4 B 12        
DNF   21  
Ford Escort 1300 GT		 Jeremy Nightingale, GB
 1298 L4 B 8        
DNF   33 Norman Reeves Ltd.
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Dave Brodie, GB
 1996 L4 C 7 7 1.38,3   Accident
DNF   41 Lindrick Finance Racing with Broadspeed
Ford Capri RS 2600 LW		 Dave Matthews, GB
 2999 V6 D 7 3 1.35,6   Accident
DNF   2 John Godfrey
Sunbeam Imp		 Ivor Goodwin, GB
 998 L4 A 6        
DNF   42 Dealer Team BMW
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Brian Muir, AUS
 3303 L6 D 6 2 1.34,1   Engine bearings
DNF   7  
BMC Mini Cooper		 Gavin Booth, GB
 998 L4 A 5 33? 2.06,1   Accident
DNF   23 Richard Pearson Ltd.
Ford Escort 1300 GT		 Tony Dickinson, GB
 1298 L4 B 5        
DNF   9 Commercial Credit
Sunbeam Imp		 Les Nash, GB
 998 L4 A 5 17 1.51,1    
DNF   10  
BMC Mini Cooper S		 Richard Piper, GB
 1293 L4 B