Heats
1974 Oulton Park 
1973 Thruxton Esso  Go 1975 Thruxton 
1974 Silverstone Martini 
Back to index page

Thruxton BARC 200

Thruxton, Great-Britain

Date: 15/4/1974
Track length: 3.792 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters:
Finishers:

Pole position: Graham in 1.30,2
Fastest lap: Lloyd and Graham in 1.30,2 = 151,32 kmh

Distance: 25 laps
Average speed: 145,27 kmh
Weather:
Ruleset: Group 1B
Car info: 1974 Cars

 

At the front of the grid, predictably, it was the familiar Camaro dispute between poleman Stuart Graham and his big rival Richard Lloyd. Once more Graham just pipped Lloyd for pole position, the unsponsored machine lapping in 1.30,2 compared to the Simoniz machine's 1.30,8.
The hotly contested 2500 - 4000 cc category is warming up into a terrific duel between Ford and Opel, Tom Walkinshaw's Shellsport/Boreham 3-litre Capri tying on 1.34,0 with Peter Hanson in the Dealer Team Opel GSE Commodore.

From the start Graham just managed to get his wheelspin under control first, sliding ahead of Lloyd as the field jostled and bumped its way into the Campbell-Cobb-Segrave complex. Up through the chicane to complete their opening lap, the two Camaros burbled through in nose to tail formation. With just five laps completed, Lloyd grasped his chance to slip by Graham, just as yellow and white flags appeared all round the circuit to signify that Denis Thorne had crashed his Firenza heavily at Goodwood while racing in close company with Rob Mason and Tim Stock. The car was very seriously damaged, but Thorne escaped with a broken arm from the wreckage.
Up at the front there was plenty of excitement, for Graham was stepping up his counter-attack against Lloyd and was looking for a place to regain the lead. Rouse and Hine were untroubled in the 2-litre class, but John Lyons was having a big sort out with Dron and Blackburn was still there, although gradually dropping away. On lap 11, Graham found his gap and forced a way back to the front of the field, holding the lead until lap 16 when a huge moment on the grass at Campbell-Cobb saw him career back on to the track and lightly brush Lloyd's car door to door. In the ensuing drama, Lloyd had picked the right line and, despite the slight tap, outran the brown Camaro down towards Segrave and retook the lead. Pressure from Walkinshaw forced Nash to step up the pace, but the big Chevy's oil pressure was now faltering and, when the engine showed the first signs of tightening up on lap 18, Nash prudently decided to call it a day before blowing the fragile V8 up. This allowed Walkinshaw a clear road in front of him on his way to a class win, but two laps later Hanson started to close in and, to Tom's frustration, the Capri's gear lever came away in his hand - the second time in one weekend! Hanson roared past, Walkinshaw coasted to a halt and jammed the wretched thing into third before setting off to trail round to the finish.
At the head of the field it seemed as though Lloyd had things taped up at last, and the Simoniz car kept ahead by dint of some hard driving and neat lappery to stretch out a winning advantage of 2.2 seconds by the time the chequered flag was waved. Hanson was lapped just before the two Chevy's burst out of the chicane for the last time, so Lloyd and Graham were the only ones to complete the full 25 lap distance. Spread out neatly in the next five places were Rouse, Hine, Dron, Lyons, and Rob Mason, while Gerry Marshall spurted past the duel for the small class lead with two laps left to run. The dice between Unett and Stan Clark reached unprecedented ferocity in the closing couple of laps, the Avenger and Alfa cornering side by side to the accompaniment of such screeching of metal that would make a panel beater beam. Despite the unruly advances of the Chrysler Corporation, Stan Clark kept the Alfa ahead for Italy and the Common Market until Club Chicane on the very last lap when the Avenger came barging up and virtually knocked itself and a perplexed Clark right off the track. Both cars scrambled round the corner, but we doubt whether Unett's prize money will go very far to righting the damage on this particular Avenger!

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 1   A.J. Rivers Simoniz Racing
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Richard Lloyd, GB
 5736 V8 D 25 laps, 38.09,0 2 1.30,8 1.30,2  
2 2   Castrol
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Stuart Graham, GB
 5736 V8 D 25 laps, 38.11,2 1 1.30,2 1.30,2  
3 1   Dealer Opel Team
Opel Commodore GS/E		 Peter Hanson, GB
 2784 L6 C 24 laps 4 1.30,4 1.33,0  
4 1   Team Broadspeed Castrol
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Andy Rouse, GB
 1998 L4 B 24 laps 5   1.34,4  
5 2   Bill Shaw Racing/Shellsport
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 John Hine, GB
 1998 L4 B 24 7 1.34,6    
6 3   Team Broadspeed Castrol
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Tony Dron, GB
 1998 L4 B 24        
7 4    
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV		 John Lyon, GB
 1962 L4 B 24 8 1.35,8    
8 5   Shellsport Arden
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 Rob Mason, GB
 1998 L4 B 24        
9? 6?    
Vauxhall Firenza Magnum 2300		 Gerry Marshall, GB
 2279 L4 B 24        
  2   Hermetite Products
Ford Capri 3000 GT		 Holman “Les” Blackburn, GB
 2993 V6 C 24 9      
  3   Shellsport
Ford Capri 3000 GT		 Tom Walkinshaw, GB
 2993 V6 C 24 3 1.34,0   Gear lever
  1   Chrysler Dealer Team
Hillman Avenger 1600 GT		 Bernard Unett, GB
 1594 L4 A 24 laps 10      
DSQ     Roger Clark Cars/Esso Uniflo
Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior		 Stan Clark, GB
 1570 L4 A 24     1.37,8 Dsq: Oversize inlet manifold
  2   Chrysler Dealer Team
Hillman Avenger 1600 GT		 Roger Bell, GB
 1594 L4 A 24        
       
Ford Capri 3000 GT		 Ivan Dutton
 2993 V6 C         Slow puncture
DNF      
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Les Nash, GB
 5736 V8 D 18 6 1.34,6    
DNF      
Vauxhall Firenza Magnum 2300		 Dennis Thorne, GB
 2279 L4 B 5       Accident
DNF     Roller Chain Distributors Ltd
Triumph Dolomite Sprint		 John Handley, GB
 1998 L4 B         Engine
DNS     Glazepta Products Ltd.
Chevrolet Camaro Z28		 Jon Fletcher, GB
 5736 V8 D          
DNS     Team Castrol
Mazda Savanna RX-3		 John Burbidge
 2 x 491 R2 B         Car did not fire up