Heats
1971 Croft 
1970 Silverstone Wipac  Go 1972 Brands Hatch GP 
1971 Oulton Park GC 
Back to index page

Morlands Trophy Silverstone GP Support Race

Silverstone, Great-Britain

Date: 17/7/1971
Track length:
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters:
Finishers:

Pole position: Muir in 1.35,2
Fastest lap: Thomas and Gerry Birrell in 1.37,8

Distance: 25 laps
Average speed:
Weather:
Ruleset: Group 2/70
Car info: 1971 Cars

Pictures

"Everybody has their off-days," said Frank Gardner as, after less than two laps of the 25-lap Morlands Trophy touring car race, his SCA Freight Chevrolet Camaro, which had convincingly won pole position for this eighth round of the RAC series, was retired with an electrical 'short' in the engine. Naturally Brian Muir went on to win at a canter in the Wiggins Teape/Malcolm Gartlan Camaro, the thundering blue beast leading home the remains of what had been the best Group 2 field seen in Britain this year. There were two good scraps for class wins, Graham Birrell just nipping past at Woodcote on the last lap to commandeer his category from Mike Crabtree's Willment RS (John Fitzpatrick had a bodywork and plug problem in the Broadspeed 'screamer') whilst Dave Matthews came out ahead of Vince Woodman in the Escort 1300 GT battle, after a light collision when the pair were battling past a backmarker. The George Bevan Imp walked the tiddler class in Bill McGovern's hands, the Imp being the only class lap record breaker, trimming off 0.4s.

After the race, the winning Camaros were disqualified for using unhomologated parts in combination with the 5.7 litre engine. The mods not homologated for the 5.7 Camaro are simply rear disc brakes, a spoiler on the tail and the glass fibre bonnet, and although as the 5.7 motor is an option on the 5.0 Chevrolet, most entrants interpreted the regulations to permit these additions. It seemed they were wrong!


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,
remarks
1/DSQ? 1 46 Malcolm Gartlan Racing/Wiggings Teape Ltd.
Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Brian Muir, AUS
5736 V8 D 25 laps, 41.17,6 2 1.35,2?    
2/DSQ? 2 45 Ovaltine Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
Martin Thomas, GB
5736 V8 D 25 laps, 41.17,6 4 1.37,6 1.37,8  
3 3 40 Ford Motor Company
Ford Capri RS 2600
Gerry Birrell, GB
2940 V6 D 25 laps, 41.22,4 6 1.38,4 1.37,8  
4 4 43  
Ford Mustang Boss 302
Martin Birrane, IRL
ca. 5000 V8 D 25 laps, 42.24,8 30      
5 1 32 Wylie's of Glasgow
Ford Escort RS 1600
Graham Birrell, GB
1601 L4 C 25 laps, 42.25,8 8 1.41,0    
6 2 33 John Willment Racing
Ford Escort RS 1600
Mike Crabtree, GB
1605 L4 C 25 laps, 42.26,1 10 1.41,4    
7 3 34 Team Broadspeed Castrol
Ford Escort RS 1600
John Fitzpatrick, GB
1700 L4 C 25 5 1.37,8 1.38,7  
8 4 36  
Ford Escort RS 1600
John Bloomfield, GB
1800 L4 C 25 11 1.43,4    
9 5 30 Gerry Edmonds Racing
Ford Escort ?RS 1600
Lawrie Hickman, GB
1701 L4 C 24 31      
10 6 31 Mobil Racing
Ford Escort TC
Zekia Redjep, CY
1594 L4 C 23 14      
11 1 20 Melton Racing with Broadspeed
Ford Escort 1300 GT
Dave Matthews, GB
1298 L4 B 23 laps, 41.55,7 13 1.46,7    
12 2 19 Woodhead Shock Absorbers
Ford Escort 1300 GT
Dave Garrett, GB
1298 L4 B 23 17      
13 7 38 Jolly Club Milano
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm
Martino Finotto, I
1985 L4 C 23 15      
14 1 4 George Bevan
Hillman Imp
Bill McGovern, GB
998 L4 A 23 laps, 43.03,7 19 1.50,8 1.49,8  
15 3 15  
BMC Mini Cooper S
Jon Mowatt, GB
1293 L4 B 23 20      
16 8 37 Stirling Cooper
Ford Escort RS 1600
Dave Brodie, GB
1800 L4 C 23 9 1.41,3    
17 4 14  
BMC Mini Cooper S
Peter Baldwin, GB
1293 L4 B 23 21      
18 5 21  
Ford Escort 1300 GT
Richard Ellice, GB
1298 L4 B 23 22      
19 2 5 Anthony Charnell
Hillman Imp
Melvyn Adams, GB
998 L4 A 22 26      
20 6 18  
Ford Escort 1300 GT
Jeremy Nightingale, GB
1298 L4 B 22 23      
21 3 3  
Hillman Imp
Trevor Willcocks, GB
998 L4 A 22 24      
22 4 6 C.A.M. Potters Bar Ltd
Hillman Imp
Adrian Webb, GB
998 L4 A 21 25      
23 5 2  
BMC Mini Cooper
Jeremy Bean, GB
998 L4 A 20 28      
DNF   16 VMW Motors
Ford Escort 1300 GT
Vince Woodman, GB
1298 L4 B 13 16 1.46,9 1.46,9 Collision with Matthews
DNF   47 Lipton Picko Troberg Racing
Chevrolet Camaro Mk2
Picko Troberg, S
7500 V8 D 7 12 1.44,6   Oil leak
DNF   44 SCA Freight Ltd.
Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Frank Gardner, AUS
5736 V8 D 2 1 1.35,1   Burnt plug lead
DNF   41 Lipton Picko Troberg Racing
Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Bo Ljungfeldt, S
4956 V8 D 1 7 1.39,4   Gear selection
DNF   42 Castrol-Leechtune Engineering
Ford Mustang Boss 302
Dennis Leech, GB
ca. 5000 V8 D   3 1.37,3   Engine
DNF   10  
Austin Mini Cooper S
Mo Mendham, GB
1293 L4 B   27     Rocker arm
DNF   11 P. Dickson
Austin Mini Cooper S
Mac Ross, GB
1293 L4 B   29      
DNS   17 VMW Motors
Ford Escort 1300 GT
Ted Savory, GB
1298 L4 B   18     Engine used by Woodman
DNS   35 Luton Motor Corporation
Ford Escort RS 1600
Rod Mansfield, GB
1800 L4 C   -     Engine