REVIEW : HISTORIC ROAD SPORTS
Kivlochan and Davison in traffic at Brands
Davison on top
It was another fantastic season for Historic Road Sports and after 10 races , no one could come close to the consistent speed of overall champion John Davison .
By any measure , this was a fine year for the pre-1970 movement with fabulous grids of varied cars delivering close , competitive but respectful racing and a great atmosphere on and off the track . In total , almost 50 drivers scored points and another 30 took part during a bumper season . Former champion Davison was always the man to beat and scored almost a perfect score in his faithful Lotus Elan on his way to another title . Only at Mallory Park in September did his run of success hit a temporary glitch when the Elan shed a wheel in the second race . But by then the title was already secure , and no one was going to catch him . Just to prove a point , Davison was back to take his ninth maximum score in the Silverstone final round . In terms of overall pace , Kevin Kivlochan was the man most likely to rival Davison with his AC Cobra .
But business commitments and then Goodwood commitments kept Kivlochan away from four of the season ’ s 10 races . He invariably maxed out on points in the others , but his total left him only third in the final standings behind the consistent TVR Tuscan of Johan Denekamp .
For his efforts , Denekamp was also Class B champion , while other category champions included Brian Arculus in his FIA Appendix K Lotus Elite . Sadly , he hit trouble over the second half of the season and was unable to build on a fine first half , but still won class in the lovely little Lotus .
Chris Reece ( MGB ), Rupert Ashdown ( Lotus Elon ), Alan House ( Morgan Plus 4 ) and James Owen ( Triumph TR5 ) all finished well up in the overall standings to show the wonderful diversity of the HRS grid .
Other cars of note included several rapid Morgans although none of them mounted a full season . Former champion John Shaw traded up from his faithful Porsche 911 to run an ex-Keith Ahlers Plus 8 for the first time and had a great season , getting quicker and quicker and only failing to finish after a spin and a stall at Oulton Park .
Peter Garland , Simon King and Phillip Sinclair Tisdall , as well as Robin and Tim Pierce all flew the flag for the Malvern marque . Paul Tooms was as quick as ever , but only mounted a couple of Elan outings while Chris Merrick joined from Formula Junior and became an increasingly competitive front runner in his ex-Barry Davison Elan . His second overall to Rupert Ashdown at Mallory Park in September was a season highlight .
With Sunbeam , Porsche , Turner , MG , Ginetta , Ford , Gilbern and more all represented in the HRS , the grid never lacked for diversity and variety .
Silverstone variety John Shaw in his Morgan Plus 8
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