The heavens opened as Castle Combe hosted its seventh Autumn Classic on 6 October, meaning treacherous conditions for the morning’s qualifying sessions.
And it was still raining when the VSCC’s Formula Vintage grid lined up to start the day’s racing. Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Frazer Nash Saloon) fell back to sixth from pole, Tom Waterfeld (Frazer Nash Super Sports) into the lead from the front row, with Mark Gillies (Aston Martin Speed Model) and Christopher Mann (Alfa Romeo Monza) in hot pursuit.
Gillies took the lead at Bobbies on lap two, the Aston and Waterfield’s ‘chain-gang’ Frazer Nash switching places while tussling for the top spot several times over the opening laps, while pulling away from the rest of the field.
In the end, Gillies was able to get ahead and stamp his mark on the race, easing to a 6.4 sec lead over Waterfield by the finish, Mann 46.6 sec further back in a lonely third.
Next was the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club’s 30-minute Norman Dewis Trophy for pre-’66 Jags. With the rain still falling, Julian Thomas took his E-type into the lead from polesitter John Young’s Mk1 and Tom Butterfield’s Mk2.