MONTAGUE BURTON TROPHY - Harewood Hill History

Mainly Personal
The two classes for Special G.T. cars contain a
number of great characters, and also promise some
very good scraps for top honours, usually with rather
assorted types of vehicle. In the larger capacity section
the 1600 c.c. Lotus Elans of “ Spotty Smith” , Chippy
Stross and present record holder Robert Speak are up
against the 2 litres of Teutonic power which propel
Jim Hall’s trim Porsche Carrera coupe with the ever
present 4.7 litres of American V.8 which lurks in the
engine compartments of Malcolm Dungworth’s familiar
T.V.R.200 and John Cussins’ mouth watering Ford
G.T.40.
Jim Hall actually provides the very potent meat in
a c.c. sandwich as in the past the big V.8 brigade
have dominated this class but, at present, the smaller
Elans are in the ascendent. Jim is however one of the
most regular competitors we have, his “ 5 HOT”
Porsche being equally at home on the circuits of
Rufforth, Croft and Cadwell as well as the hills at
Harewood, Scarborough & Castle Howard. By
profession Jim is a Finance Company wizard who has
been a solid supporter of Yorkshire Centre events for
many years.
jlM HALL
Photo: John Netvton
30
RICHARD SUTHERLAND Photo: John Newton
Getting back to the “ Heavy Gang” , John Cussins
G.T.40 is really a sheep in wolves’ clothing. Despite
its highly competitive appearance, and performance,
it is really one of the most docile of machines and if
you happen to be near Paddock Bay No. 84 you will
see that it is quite luxuriously equipped. It does
however have the disadvantages that passengers find it
almost impossible to disembark in a decorous, ladylike
manner and that when parked outside fish and chip
shops it gives rise to dark mutterings about bloated
capitalists.
The smaller G.T. group is largely made up of limited
production, fibreglass bodied cars, usually propelled
by hot Mini units although at present these are having
to admit the mastery of what is basically a much more
“ cooking” machine, the A.H. Sprite of Richard
Sutherland. Sprites are, of course, usually found in
the “ Marque Y" section, but Richard and his friend
Chris Green have simplicated and added lightness to
their coachwork so as to be competitive in Club racing
and, as a result, are no longer eligible for the more
standard production classes. Despite the handicap of
more weight and having the engine and driven wheels
at opposite ends, Richard’s mastery of Sprite driving
technique, coupled with his skill as a tuner of engines
and suspensions has kept him in front of all the others
by quite a handsome margin.
Much has been said in the past about the very
stirring battles waged between Jeff Goodliffe and Peter
Kaye in their Cooper “ S” projectiles and in this
welter of words the claims of some of the other
Issigonic aimers tend to get overlooked. In particular
Dr. Barry Ford from Mexborough who regularly swops
his stethescope for a crash helmet and puts up some
most impressive performances. Last week-end at
Baitings Dam he was by far the fastest saloon.