FEATURE : ALAN JONES
70 at the time who later became the Chief for HSCC when they started organising race meetings .
Brenda ’ s son Neil had met us at a marshal ’ s club show in the Middleton Hall in Milton Keynes . We were exhibiting our photographs of the 1981 season . Neil marshalled at Donington and was part of the Donington Park Marshals Club .
Neil organised for us to have press passes for Donington race meetings and in return we supplied images to the marshals ’ club . This opened up a whole avenue for us . At the same show Lynn met with the ladies of the British Women Racing Drivers Club . she joined as a supporter member and for many years following we wrote their newsletter and established exhibitions for them .
It was this involvement that introduced us to Rod Tolhurst . For those of you who do not recognise the name , Rod had a company Lenham Storage . He was an avid race car collector and he , in many ways , preserved and kept racing a lot of the Formula Junior race cars . He also had Formula 1 cars too including
Ray Mallock in the Marsh Plant Lola T70 Mk3B
Porsches at Le Mans Classic , 2010
Mike O ’ Brien in his F3 days
the Durex-sponsored Surtees , while his wife Josie also had the beautiful little WSM-bodied MGB which she named Wossom .
At Donington I got to photograph at the FIA European Historic Race Meeting , which included a number of HSCC races . It was there I captured one of my favourite images , a typically sideways Denis Welch powering his Austin Healey out of the chicane . Denis was a lovely man and I can still remember the first time I spoke to him on the phone at the HSCC , the many conversations we had after that and breakfasts after the HSCC Awards Dinner at Whittlebury .
When the photography stopped , I became a marshal and Lynn started out in the paddock , and finally moved indoors to become a timekeeper . As a marshal my favourite duty was flagging . You are always busy following the race
“ Lynn and I exhibited at the first ever Race Retro at Stoneleigh ”
or qualifying . Blue flagging is great as you carry this mental lap chart and with many of the posts you can communicate with the drivers through simple signals .
I eventually had to join my wife indoors as a timekeeper when my joints used to swell with prolonged damp or wet . Not good when you are operating a keyboard daily .
Lynn and I married at the end of April 1989 . We had the wedding and reception on the Saturday and went down to Brands Hatch on the Sunday where Lynn was timing for AMOC . I spent the day enjoying the many historic cars in the paddock which included three of David Piper ’ s Ferraris .
In the 1990s Lynn and I became very involved with 750MC . Lynn was timing and I won their Marshal of the Year award . But as they say times were changing . Timing was becoming more automated ; teams were shrinking and it was time for us to bow out . We stopped racing for a whole year until our friend Vivien Ayres said you cannot not come to a race meeting , and our time as Club Stewards began for them . Viv is responsible for training two of our
Senior Clerks in John Smith who was followed by Julian Floyd . She did try to persuade me to be a Clerk but never having raced a car , I declined .
During those 750MC years I got to meet and know a number of people who are now very much a part of the HSCC , perhaps most notably Keith Messer who created the Historic 1-litre Formula 3
Association and the subsequent championship , along with Steve Wilkinson .
Lynn ’ s involvement with the British Women Racing Drivers Club took a slightly sideways jump and we found ourselves involved with their exhibitions . I cannot recall the exact years , but we did exhibit for at least one of the Christie ’ s / Coys race meeting . We had this large marquee and an ancient caravan organised for us to share with one of our friends Antonia Loysen . By this time we were encountering more people involved with historic racing as Judy Lyons loaned her Formula Ford Merlyn and Helen Bashford-Malkie brought along her Formula 1 Shadow .
Lynn and I exhibited at the first ever