REVIEW : 70S ROAD SPORTS
A typical mid-field pack at Brands
William the conqueror
As 2020 rolled into 2021 it went barely unnoticed that 25 years had passed since the 70s Road Sport Championship was formed . Cars are being passed to eager new owners , younger than the cars they are racing , whilst sons join fathers in family teams to share the challenge of competing against each other . Jim Nairn reports .
William Plant embraced his father ’ s passion for the big rumbling V8 Morgan , securing the 70s Road Sport Championship title at his first attempt . William ’ s easy relaxed style disguised his talent , as the combination of race wins and fastest laps flowed seamlessly from one race weekend to another . He was supported all the way by his father Richard who stole a couple of fastest lap points from William on his way to second in Class A .
Adam Bagnall , continued to fly the flag for the championship ’ s traditional values and even increased his Road Sport credentials further by towing a small teardrop caravan to each event behind his Jaguar E-type and finishing third in class . With eight point scorers it was a good year for the big engine cars .
Dave Karaskas was the dominant challenger in Class B with his TVR 3000M although John Williams put in a late charge with his Porsche 911 , collecting an overall win at Mallory Park and class win at the Silverstone Finals , snatching second in Class B by a single point from the TVR of Steve
Bellerby . Over the season ten different competitors raced in Class B .
Second overall and winner of Class C Jim Dean had a dominant season , his Lotus Europa falling short of the overall championship by just six points . Nigel Armstrong was second in Class C in an Elan also prepared by Jim . Mark Leverett had a few mechanical issues with his Elan and finished equal third on points with Steve Skipworth who enjoyed a drama free season with his Europa .
Class D Champion Gary Thomas constantly fought mechanical issues with his bright pistachio green
Adam Bagnall and his splendid E-type
Lotus 7 cross-flow . Resilience and determination kept Gary in contention for the championship until the final race , although hanging on to finish third overall was a creditable result .
After many years in the 70s Championship Dave Erwin combined improved pace with reliability from his Alfa GTV to take a strong second place in Class D . Tim Child was hindered by a catalogue of woes although a class win at the Silverstone Finals allowed him to share third in class with the vivid orange TVR Vixen of David Tomkinson . Meanwhile the pace of Chris Fisher in his Class E MG Arkley kept the drivers of larger engined cars on their toes .
Forty five competitors took part in the 2021 championship and , as always , there was a constant search to find a balance between performance and reliability . Equally constant after all these years is the 70s Championship philosophy : race fast , race well , talk , laugh and go home after a race weekend with a smile on our faces , eager to share tall tales about the fastest lap that got away .
Lotus versus Morgan
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