TVR SEAC race results Oulton Park 26th April 1986
JDC Oulton Park
Over 100 miles, (43 laps) the JDC's Cheshire Cats Trophy is a race for sports
cars, which have to be road legal, taxed and tested and allows driver changes
but no refuelling. Indeed a pit stop is mandatory for all cars, even those going
the full distance with just one driver.
Run in sunny conditions, the race had the Mery Sherlock/Jeff York Porsche 911 on
pole with the Michael Phillips/Richard Chilton Porsche Carrera 0.3secs slower.
Completing the front row were Jez Coates and Simon Wheeler in their diminutive
Caterham. At the start, Phillips took an early lead from Sherlock, but on lap 2
Steve Cole through to second place at Lodge. Already, the Ferrari 512BB of
Greenhalgh/Millard was smoking extensively, heading for the pits and retirement.
Towards the back the Austin Healey of Nigel Grant was trailing its exhaust,
although this did not appear to compromise the driver's cornering brio! The
front runners circulated steadily until lap 15 when Cole made his pit stop and
Sherlock moved into second spot. Cole lost time in the pits and it was obvious
that all was not well with the TVR which did only one further lap before
retiring with maladies at the rear end — caused, perhaps, by the constant
bottoming at Deer Leap.
On lap 19 the leader pitted, but the Porsche had started to drop oil and the
smart 930 was wheeled back to the paddock. This left Sherlock in the lead from
the Coates/Wheeler Caterham and the similar car of Reg Price and John McLean,
this despite a quick spin for the leading Cater- ham at Island. The
Coates/Wheeler car went into the pits just after the lead changed and dropped
back to fifth overall. Jon Wrightson went straight on at Lodge in his Elan
Sprint, then headed for the pits. Nothing was damaged and he rejoined three
places down in eighth place. With the drivers changed in the leading Porsche,
York shot out of the pits still in the lead ahead of Price/McLean with the
Millard/Wenham 930 up to third,
Coates/Wheeler back in fourth and the Chester Wedgewood/John Morrison Giro-
flex Porsche running a strong fifth. Among the leaders little change occurred in
the second half, except that the pair of Caterhams made it two and three with
the Coates/Wheeler car getting past the 930 on lap 28 — at which point the
leader had lapped everyone else. The spectacular cornering antics of Morrison
kept him on the same lap as the second, third and fourth placed men to claim
fifth.
A further lap down was the Jim Deacon Morgan + 8 after a steady drive and early
pit stop, while seventh to ninth places were filled with Porsche variants, the
Quick/Taylor 911E, the Loades/Conoley Carrera and the Pattison Corbett 911 E,
all being on the same lap. Wrightson recovered from his 'almost' accident at
Lodge to finish 10th. From a grid of 23 starters, there were 15 classified as
finishers, two not classified were still running at the finish.
The 5th Cheshire Cats Trophy race (43 laps) — overall: 1, Mery Sherlock/Jeff
York (3.0 Porsche 911), 1h11m19.1s, 85.23mph; 2, Reg Price/John McLean (1.7
Caterham Super 7), 42 laps, 1h11m24.6s; 3, Jez Coates/Simon Wheeler (1.7
Caterham Super 7), 1h11m52.1s; 4, Chris Millard/Nick Wenham (3.0 Porsche 930),
1h12m18.3s.
Up to 1200cc: No finishers. Fastest lap: John Ridyard (791 Honda S800), 1
m58.8s, 71.39mph.
1201-2000cc: 1, Price/McLean, 83.14mph; 2, Coates/Wheeler; 3, Jon Wrightson (1.6
Lotus Elan Sprint), 38 laps. Fastest lap: Price/McLean, 1m37.9s, 86.63mph.
2001-3000cc: 1, Sherlock/York; 2, Chester Wedgewood/John Morrison (2.7 Porsche
911 Carrera), 42 laps; 3, Martin Quick/Nick Taylor (2.7 Porsche 911RS Carrera),
39 laps. Fastest lap: Michael Phillips/Richard Chilton (2.7 Porsche 911
Carrera), 1m33.5s, 90.71mph. 3
001-4500cc: 1, Millard/Wenham, 82.11mph; 2, Jim Deacon (3.5 Morgan +8), 41 laps;
3, Tim Sisson/Mike Tye (4.2 Jaguar E Type), 37 laps.
Fastest lap: Steve Cole (4.2 TVR Tasmin), 1m33.6s, 90.61mph
.
Over 4501cc: No finishers. Fastest lap: Ron Lea (5.3 Jaguar E Type), 1m41.4s,
83.64mph.