GROUP 1 TOURING CARS RACE AT CASTLE COMBE’S AUTUMN CLASSIC STRENGTHENS CASTLE COMBE RACING CLUB TIES WITH AUTOMOBILES HISTORIQUES
Recognising the increasing popularity of Group 1 Touring Cars of the 1970s and early ’80s with today’s generations of racers and spectators, Automobiles Historiques is co-promoting an exciting new race for the machines at Castle Combe’s Autumn Classic on September 24. It will run alongside a fifth appearance of the Royal Automobile Club Historic Award-winning GT & Sports Car Cup series which has built its reputation for the finest of racing, sportsmanship and hospitality since 2007.
Focused on the cars of the British Saloon Car Championship’s Pre-1983 era, the Group 1 race will carry the Vince Woodman Trophy title in memory of the local hero, who won 12 races in the era, driving Equipe Esso Ford Capris. “We are privileged to have Dad honoured in this way at Castle Combe. He would be so proud that his name will be remembered in this way at the circuit he loved above all others,” said son James Woodman.
The 45-minute pit-stop race - giving the option of solo or double-driver teams - is intended to preview a proposed four to five event invitation series for the charismatically-liveried crowd-pleasers from 2023. It also cements Automobiles Historiques’ ongoing bond with the evolving Castle Combe Racing Club, which hosted the GTSCC for the first time in 2017.
“The Gerry Marshall Trophy touring car event at Goodwood [debuted at the 72nd Members’ Meeting of 2014, which bridged the gap from the contemporary circuit’s closure in 1966] always produce spectacular racing. Its following is growing [two grids last year, and cars in-build], but having made the investment many owners now want to compete more often, against cars of similar performance, with the same tyres on a level playing field. That’s what we are offering,” says Flavien Marçais.
“Group 1 was such a lovely era, but current car owners may not want to compete alongside slick-shod Sierra RS500s. There is definitely an appetite for stand-alone races and ours will put them in the spotlight,” says Lindsey Warren, who strengthens the Automobiles Historiques team working alongside founders Flavien and Vanessa [Finburgh] as series co-ordinator.
Lindsey brings vast experience to the role, having started with the Le Mans Legend race in 2001. “My first race meeting was at Brands Hatch with Production Saloons in the ’70s. Seeing Capris go wheel-to-wheel with Dollys [Triumph Dolomite Sprints] still fills my heart with joy,” said Warren, who organised MRL’s Tony Dron Trophy [for Group 1, within its Historic Touring Car Challenge] for several years.
All cars must run to period specifications used in FIA Group 1 and conform to Appendix J of the relevant period, or to period Group 1½ British Saloon Car Championship specs, conforming with the relevant regulations. All must comply with Appendix K, as well as the event organiser’s regulations. A valid Historic Technical Passport is recommended, but is not mandatory. Dunlop Post-Historic tyres are obligatory, regardless of weather conditions.
Entry to the Group 1 Touring Car race at Castle Combe is by invitation only. Car and driver selections are at the sole discretion of the organiser and promoters, who may accept cars from a later period provided that they are in the spirit of the series. Four classes will be run for cars from 1966-’82, split by engine capacity: up to 1600cc, 1601-2500cc, 2501-4000cc and over 4000cc. Per the GTSCC, organisers reserve the right to move cars into another class to balance performance. Contact is invited via email: competitors@group1tc.com
Group 1 Touring Cars and GTSCC will henceforth be registered by CCRC with Motorsport UK, alongside Castle Combe’s resident championships and series. “We’re changing it up a bit this year, opening the door to different ideas, but both fit our ethos to build the club,” said CCRC competition secretary Steve Weston. Chairman Ken Davies is delighted with this year’s Vince Woodman Trophy feature. “Vince and circuit owner Howard Strawford [1935-2013] were great friends. Vince enjoyed a huge fan following at Combe, so celebrating his life with a race at the Autumn Classic [which he attended as a spectator in his later years] will be very special.”
VINCE WOODMAN’S EQUIPE ESSO FORD CAPRI AT SILVERSTONE, 1979 © Collection Flavien Marçais
VINCE WOODMAN 1938-2021
The youngest Ford main dealer in Britain at the age of 33, Vince Woodman remains among the most successful drivers in Castle Combe’s history. All but one of his 27 outright victories at the Chippenham circuit were achieved in Blue Oval-badged cars - Lotus Cortina, Escorts and Capri - the exception being in the works Vauxhall Carlton V8 Thundersaloon he shared with Scot John Cleland, the double British Saloon Car champion in 2008, 43 years after he first raced there.
Woodman started competing in a Triumph TR3 at Dyrham Park, a hillclimb in the grounds of the stately home situated between Bath and Britol in the early 1960s, then graduated to a Jaguar E-type. His circuit exploits from ’65 in a Lotus Cortina Mk1, meticulously prepared at his garage in Frampton Cotterell, soon attracted the attention of Ford’s astute motorsport manager, former Formula 1 racer Henry Taylor.
Works support for the popular west countryman - who briefly raced a Chevrolet Camaro before the BSCC’s capacity limit was reduced, favouring Capris and Rover SDIs - led to considerable success in a fiercely-competitive class and third place in the ’77 Spa 24 Hours with his old friend Jonathan Buncombe in one of his immaculate Equipe Esso Capris. They repeated the feat in ’81, sharing with Pete Clark.
Vince raced a BMW GB 635 CSi in the ’84 BSCC - which he last graced in 1990 with a one-off appearance in a Ford Sierra RS500 - and finished second in the Donington 500km race, sharing the BMW with James Weaver. Woodman’s pride and joy was his beloved Ford GAA V6-engined Capri - an ex-Ford Cologne car acquired from Bo Emanuelsson in Sweden then rebuilt by Broadspeed - in which he set the Castle Combe saloon lap record on its pre-chicanes configuration in ’77.