Woodcote Trophy at Spa: Stirling Takes Class Winissued 30th September 2008
 From the start, the battle for overall honours in the one-hour Woodcote Trophy race at Spa was between Marc Devis’s Maserati 250SI and Tony Bianchi’s Farellac Allard. These two cars, starting from 2nd and 5th on the grid respectively, went streaming off ahead of the Keen/McAlpine Kurtis 500S, which had qualified in a tremendous third place.
Sadly, after four laps, Bianchi’s Farellac dropped out with engine problems and the battle for second place fell to the pole-sitting Jaguar D-type of Lukas Huni and Gary Pearson - winners at Spa last year - versus the D-type of Ben Eastick. When the flag fell, Marc Devis scooped overall victory by a substantial margin while Eastick pipped the Huni/Pearson D-type to second place by just nine-hundredths of a second!
However, taking class victory in the under-1500cc drum-braked class was none other than Sir Stirling Moss, sharing the drive with Roger Earl, in what was Stirling’s very first race in his own Osca FS372. Moss bought the car two years ago and has just had it restored by Hall & Hall. The Osca raced unpainted, because Sir Stirling and Rick Hall couldn’t agree on the colour. “He wants it painted green,” laughed Rick, “and we think it should be red.”
"The Osca raced unpainted, because Sir Stirling and Rick Hall couldn’t agree on the colour."Sir Stirling not only took class victory but was presented with the ‘Spirit of the Woodcote Trophy’ award by Gregor Fisken, of the respected historic automobile dealership Fiskens. The award was presented in recognition of Sir Stirling’s perseverance in completing this extremely complex two-year restoration.
Also deserving an unofficial medal for gallantry was Chris Woodgate, who worked furiously to repair the damage sustained at Goodwood by David Bennett’s Aston Martin DB3/S, and fettled the car in just two days to ensure it made it to Spa. So, too, did Rick Hall repair Martin Melling’s Aston Martin DB3 in the two days following the Goodwood Revival, where the DB3 had sheared a hub. It was necessary for Hall to have parts machined in time for the DB3 to board the ferry. Spike Milligan also burnt the midnight oil to repair the sump of his HWM Jaguar, cracked at Goodwood.
All three cars finished the Woodcote Trophy race, a testament to the work of the respective preparers. The Melling/Hall DB3 came third in class. The Milligan/Hulbert HWM finished fourth in class, behind the D-type Jaguars; while the Bennett/Woodgate DB3/S was part of a spectacular battle involving, besides the Aston, three Austin-Healeys and the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa of David Cooke and Neil Twyman. a close-matched clutch of five cars which finished the race in 9th to 13th place.
Class winners not mentioned above included The Frazer Nash Mille Miglia of Philip Champion and Chris Chilcott, the Aston Martin DB2 of Chris Jolly, and the Lotus X of Adrian Hall and Nick Adams. |