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1979 Silverstone GP 
1978 Mallory Park  Go 1980 Mallory Park 2 
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Mallory Park

Mallory Park, Leicester, Great-Britain

Date: 12/8/1979
Track length: 2.173 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted:
Starters:
Finishers:

Pole position: Percy (race 1); Woodman (race 2)
Fastest lap: Percy in 0.55,23 (race 1); Vandervell in 0.55,6 (race 2)

Distance: 30 laps
Average speed: 138,71 kmh (race 1); 132,40 kmh (race 2)
Weather: Dry (under 1600 cc); wet, but a drying track (over 1600 cc)
Ruleset: Group 1B
Car info: 1979 Cars

 

Under 1600 cc
After a delayed start whilst officials nervously eyed the dark skies, pondering whether to declare the race 'wet', the light eventually turned green with the pack scurrying away on slicks.
Lloyd made the smartest getaway from the middle of the front row, and dived into Gerards with Percy and the very quick starting Longman breathing down his exhaust. After just one lap, however, the Akai Golf burst into sight with a healthy margin from its pursuers, who had swooped into the close order Longman, then Percy - these two had tangled at Shaws in their furious battle.
Antagonized, Percy was quick to recover from the minor fracas, and it took him two laps to wriggle back up to second place, now chased by Minshaw as Longman slipped; down to fourth. Slowly but surely, Percy got his head down and started to reel in the leading Golf. Narrowing the gap by 0.2s per lap, it looked as though Percy could catch the leader with a few laps to spare. Then, suddenly, on lap eight, Lloyd rushed past the pits with his bonnet flapping. Ruffled by this distraction, his lead was now being slashed rather than whittled away.
The final blow for the leader came on lap nine, in the form of the black flag. But Lloyd wasn't ready to accept defeat yet, and after a quick stop to secure the bonnet he rejoined the fray, in fourth place. With a clear road and no pressures from behind, Win Percy was left to unreel the laps to a fine twenty seven second victory. Second home was none other than the charging Lloyd, whose gritty recovery back up the lap chart, aided by the demise of Alan Minshaw with a dead engine, was the highlight of the race. Richard Longman claimed a distant third overall, but walked away with the smaller engined class's honors, leading challenger Alan Curnow across the line with a substantial margin.

Over 1600 cc
Opting for wet rubber, and then certainly looking as though they had been wise were the Gordon Spice Capris of Spice and Chris Craft. Pursued by a pack which was very largely fitted with rain tires, Spice grabbed an early lead, with his team mate ousting Vince Woodman after an engrossing four lap scrap to shadow him five seconds in arrears. Woodman hung gamely onto third, harried by a very spectacular Jeff Allam, Colin Vandervell, and Stuart Graham, whose excellent start was quickly ruined by yet more clutch problems, eventually forcing his retirement on lap nine.
By mid-distance the proceedings smacked of an impressive Spice/Craft benefit, the leading duo hauling out almost half a second a lap on the rest of the field. But the cool display of dominance from the two red Capris was not to last.
With ten laps to go, the racing line had dried out, and Spice's pace was plainly faltering, whilst Craft was in even greater problems with his now unsuitable wet tires, visibly changing his line in an effort to find the remaining damp patches to conserve his ailing rubber. With just three laps to go, Craft limped into the pit lane with ruined canvasses. His race was run.
Spice, too, found his early competitiveness dissolving along with his rubber, and during the last three laps succumbed, to the charging challenges from Vandervell, Greenslade, and Barrie Williams (Vauxhall Magnum 2300), which had recovered well from a brief visit to the Gerards armco early in the race.
Vandervell submitted a meteoric rise up the placings from an early sixth place as the track dried, pushed hard in the closing stages by Greenslade's cheeky little Dolomite which was also enjoying the drying conditions on slick tires, having followed the advice of a certain spectator by the name of Gerry Marshall! 'Whizzo' Williams chased the Motor scribe home to pocket an excellent third overall and second in class, with Spice trailing home twenty five seconds later.
Vince Woodman drove steadily to fifth, shadowed by Chuck Nicholson (Dolomite Sprint) and a strangely off-pace Tom Walkinshaw. Jeff Allam's progress became increasingly spectacular but less and less effective as the track dried, and after a few exciting 'moments' he slithered home a hard-earned eighth.


Event 3: Touring Cars class C-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 42 Team Toyota Hughes of Beaconsfield
Toyota Celica GT
Win Percy, GB
1588 L4 C 30 laps, 28.11,643 1   0.55,23  
2 2 40 The Akai Golf
VW Golf GTI
Richard Lloyd, GB
1588 L4 C 30 laps, 28.39 2      
3 1 60 Patrick Motorsport
Mini 1275 GT
Richard Longman, GB
1275 L4 D 30 4   0.56,23  
4 2 63 Datapost
Mini 1275 GT
Alan Curnow, GB
1275 L4 D 30 9      
5 3 74 Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti
Jon Dooley, GB
1286 B4 D 30 13      
6 3 43  
Toyota Celica GT
Gordon Mayers, GB
1588 L4 C   10      
  4 47 S&L Engine Services
Talbot Avenger 1600 GT
Terry Watts, GB
1594 L4 C   14      
  5 45  
VW Golf GTI
Louis Parsons, GB
1588 L4 C   6      
  4 67 Stanfield and White
Talbot Avenger 1300 GT
John Spiller, GB
1295 L4 D   15      
  6 44 Morris Vulcan Ltd
VW Scirocco GTI
John Morris, GB
1588 L4 C   5      
    62  
Mini 1275 GT
Tom Pitcher, GB
1275 L4 D   7      
    64  
Mini 1275 GT
Jon Mowatt, GB
1275 L4 D   8      
    66 National Breakdown Recovery Club
Simca Rallye 3
Rodney Posner, GB
1294 L4 D   11      
    65 St. Andrews Motor Services
Talbot Sunbeam TI
Ian Stirling, GB
1598 L4 C   12      
    50  
Toyota Celica GT
John Tait, GB
1588 L4 C   16      
    70 Napolina Alfa Romeo Dealer Team
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti
Leo Bertorelli, GB
1286 B4 D   17      
DNF   46 Demon Tweeks Racing with Manchester Liners
VW Scirocco GTI
Alan Minshaw, GB
1588 L4 C   3     Engine

Event 5: Touring Cars class A-B
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 12 Aquabatten
Ford Capri III 3.0S
Colin Vandervell, GB
2993 V6 A 30 laps, 29.32,27 7   0.55,6  
2 1 23 Team Triplex with Esso and Motor
Triumph Dolomite Sprint
Rex Greenslade, GB
1998 L4 B   8      
3 2 26 London Sportscar Centre/Ego Computers
Vauxhall Firenza Magnum 2300
Barrie Williams, GB
2279 L4 B       0.55,31  
4 2 1 Gordon Spice Racing
Ford Capri III 3.0S
Gordon Spice, GB
2993 V6 A   3      
5 3 3 Equipe Esso
Ford Capri III 3.0S
Vince Woodman, GB
2993 V6 A   1      
6 3 22? Team Triplex with Esso and Motor
Triumph Dolomite Sprint
Chuck Nicholson, GB
1998 L4 B          
7 4 33 TWR Pentax
Mazda RX-7
Tom Walkinshaw, GB
2 x 573 R2 B   6      
8 4 11 Allam Motor Services racing with BP
Ford Capri III 3.0S
Jeff Allam, GB
2993 V6 A   4      
    2 Gordon Spice Racing
Ford Capri III 3.0S
Chris Craft, GB
2993 V6 A   5     Worn rain tires
DNF   5 FabergĂ© Racing Lee Jeans
Ford Capri III 3.0S
Stuart Graham, GB
2993 V6 A   2     Clutch