Algarve Classic Festival Race Report

A thrilling GT & Sports Car Cup seasonal finale at the Algarve Classic Festival on October 26 boiled down to a photo finish in which Chris Chiles Junior (AC Cobra) prevailed over Olly Bryant in Kyle Tilley’s Lotus-Climax 15 by 0.834 seconds after two hours.  In an exemplary contest, the pair battled wheel-to-wheel for almost 50 minutes after a second brief caution period, initiated for a breakdown.

Following middle stints by Dutchman Bas Jansen and Kane Tilley respectively, the pacemakers on both sides of the entry traded the lead on countless occasions – “four or five times per lap,” enthused Chiles – while mastering the Portuguese F1 roller coaster. Last year’s victors Pedro Macedo Silva and Jose Monroy again flew the home flag patriotically, finishing less than 20 seconds adrift in their Cobra.

“One of the best weekends we’ve ever had,” reflected Chiles who, in adding to his Silverstone victory in May with father Chris, ended an eight-race run of different winners in the aspirational invitation series, founded by Flavien and Vanessa Marçais in 2007. With second place finishes at Thruxton [to Alex Thistlethwayte/Murray Shepherd’s ex-Leo Voyazides Cobra] and Castle Combe [to Tilley], GTSCC’s annual Portimao sojourn rounded off an outstanding season for the Chiles family team, managed capably as ever by Classic Racing Cars’ chief Gary Spencer. “This has always been a special place for us, but the battle with Olly at the end was absolutely incredible,” said Chris. “In a race which started on a wet track, but finished full dry it was tough trying to stay ahead. Exhausting, but fantastic racing.”

Fourth overall, best of four teams who completed the enduro a lap down, Nick Finburgh/Shane Brereton (Cooper Monaco T49) finished less than six seconds clear of Rhea Sautter’s Jaguar E-type, in which Andy Newall mid-stinted, Finburgh having repassed the German two laps from home. GT3 division winners Jack and Bill Rawles (Austin-Healey 3000) placed a splendid sixth, a similar margin ahead of the top Lotus Elan in the hands of Joel Hopwood/Nigel Greensall. Steve Jones/Chris Atkinson (Elan) repassed the Morgan Plus 4 SLR of John Emberson/Billy Bellinger for eighth in the last phase. Tony Wood completed the top 10 in the Elan started by wife Niamh, who relayed Ian Stinton mid-race.

The GT2 fight was extraordinary. Having snared class pole by 0.255s from Rick Bourne in Malcolm Paul’s sister TVR Grantura Mk3, Rob Cull set the early pace. Cull climbed from 13th on the grid to fourth in three laps, then ran consistently in the top six, humbling Elans from the hottest GT category, Cull’s steed fell to a broken distributor having ceded the advantage to soloist Marc Gordon’s Lotus Elite. Paul/Bourne TVR was gaining ground when it was retired with electrical problems. Gordon kept his focus, taking the chequer 26.143s before the Morgan Plus 4 Super Sport of Simon King/Will Plant, which had Mike Thorne’s Austin-Healey 100M on its tail. The MGBs of Brian Lambert and George Grant/Nick Rutter were also on the lead lap, with a minute and 33 seconds separating the top five.

From an expanded Touring Car entry embracing five 1293cc Austin Cooper Ss and the Mini-derived Broadspeed GTS coupe, GTSCC newcomer Nigel Fraser-Ker and Mighty Minis champion Olly Samways were made to sweat for a nine-second victory over Alice and Richard Locke in Warwickshire tuning wizard Ralph Broad’s intriguing brainchild.

The Royal Automobile Club family award was deservedly won by Niamh and Tony Wood, who are enjoying their Elan after many years of competing in Grand Prix cars of the 1950s. The Baltic Watches Drivers of the Race presentation reflected the unbreakable spirit and enduring sportsmanship of David Smithies and Chris Clarkson, whose buddies Mark Pangborn and Harvey Woods would not have enjoyed a run had not the offer of David’s Elan been extended to replace ‘Pangio’s sick Healey.

After a fabulous end of term weekend, we must say a big ‘obrigado’ to Diogo Ferrao and his Race Ready organisation, which stepped up to take over the promotion of the wonderful Algarve Classic Festival – following Paulo Pinheiro’s untimely death last year. We were looked after superbly, enjoying the event’s customary five-star hospitality. We also express our gratitude to insurance guru Bertie Gilbart-Smith & Emma-Jane, whose company has supported us for many years. From the entire GTSCC family, we wish you a long and happy retirement Bertie!

ENTRY & QUALIFYING:

Five weeks after a record turnout at Castle Combe, another superb field gathered in southern Portugal for the traditional sundowner, which joined the calendar in 2011 and was only interrupted by the covid pandemic in 2020. Thirty-seven cars arrived, including ERA Motorsport’s Combe-winning Lotus into which Kyle Tilley had drafted FF1600 racer brother Kane and Olly Bryant. Welcome GTSCC rookies were Ross Hyett – who brought sons Charlie and Nick to share his genuine US-export Elan 26R, expertly managed by Alix Sheriff – Mini racers Nigel Fraser-Ker, Tony Wrighton and Tina Cooper and the younger Tilley. Ross, incidentally, took the number of BRDC members to three, alongside Bryant and Greensall.

Following an acclimatisation session on Friday, qualifying took place from 11.40 on Saturday. The Tilley/Tilley/Bryant Lotus topped the time sheets with Kyle’s 2m06.979s (81.96mph) charge at the end. Chiles Jr – winner here in 2018 with Simon Garrad sharing the CRC Cobra – was 0.621s adrift on 2:07.599s (81.56mph), with Bas Jansen joining the family equipe. Hotfoot from winning the Spa Six Hours’ Touring Car division in a Ford Mustang, Jansen brought his own Cobra – on Avon tyres – to Portimao for the Iberian Historic Endurance races, sharing with Chiles, but settled into the Dunlops well. Home-grown heroes Macedo-Silva/Monroy were third on 2:08.519 in the open Cobra in which Pedro, dad Rui and rapid saloon car racer Joaquim Jorge won in 2017. The battle for outright victory was always likely to be between these three teams, given reliability and decent climatic conditions, but there was much to play for in the thick of the pack.

The Elans of the Hyetts and Joel Hopwood/Greensall sat fourth and fifth, 0.446s apart with Newall also in the 10s in Sautter’s turquoise E-type. Steve Jones/Chris Atkinson and posted a solid ‘12’ in the former’s grey Elan, half a second up on the Tilley/Bryant combo’s SP2 rivals Nick Finburgh/Shane Brereton in Nick’s Cooper Monaco, the best placed of six crews to be penalised three grid places for exceeding track limits. Truck racing champion Shane, more familiar with his ex-Stirling Moss Mike Keele-built coil-sprung Monaco, settled into the leaf-sprung car during the preliminaries. The fourth 26R-spec Elan, of Tony and Niamh Wood and Ian Stinton was comfortably in the 14s.

Billy Bellinger qualified John Emberson’s ex-Pip Arnold Morgan SLR 10th, best of the GT3s by 4.7 seconds, his 2:15.090 (77.04mph) shot more than three seconds swifter than ‘Meerkat’ Smithies and ‘Lord Borneo’ Clarkson in the thunderous Tour de France tribute AC Cobra Daytona Coupe. They shared row six with teammates Pangborn/Woods in the “Scuderia Sozzled Squirrel” [Scuderia Esquilo Bêbado] Elan, which Smithies also qualified.

The next six cars were in the 19s, Rob Cull/Hugh Lafferty’s GT2-leading TVR ‘Grannie’ and TC1 duo Ryck Turner/Bill Sollis’ Cooper S on 2:19.016 (74.86mph) and 2:19.224 (74.75mph) respectively. Paul/Bourne’s TVR, Gordon’s Lotus Elite, Australian brothers Michael and Paul Cruse’s MGB – the swiftest of six stablemates – the Triumph TR4 of father and son Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones with hurtling hack Mark Hales, and the Rawles family’s Healey 3000 were on their heels.

American Michael Boyle and Peter Barnard (MGB) completed the top 20, with Fraser-Ker/Samways just behind, a second and a half shy of multiple British Mini champion Sollis’ TC1 class pole. Americans Benjamin Tarlow/Mark Hamilton-Peters (Elite), the Clapham MOT MGB of Grant/Rutter and Rob Newall/Oliver Marçais (Jaguar XK120) were next, with the Lotus 11 Le Mans of Doug Muirhead/Jeremy Welch a scant 0.011s slower than the XK.

King/Plant’s Morgan and the Healeys of Joe Ward and Mike Thorne were locked together in the mid-pack. Ward found his relatively newly-acquired 3000 a little too understeery and softly-sprung for his liking, but the circuit’s relentless twists and gradients took their toll on his shoulder – on which he’d undergone surgery earlier in the year – thus Joe withdrew prior to the race. Fresh from squeaking GT2 victory at Castle Combe, Thorne was due to share his rorty 100M with wife Sarah Bennett-Baggs, but a motorcycling injury ruled Sarah out, leaving him to go solo.

Father and daughter Richard and Alice Locke gridded third in TC1 in the Broadspeed fastback, with the Minis of Tony Wrighton/Tina Cooper and Ellie Birchenhough/Nick Topliss/Peter Crewes within half a second. Brian and Barbara Lambert (MGB), Sharlie Goddard/Graeme Smith (Morgan Plus 4 SS), James Topliss’ MGB, co-driven by dad Nick, and the Cooper S of Richard Parsons/Alistair Pugh were close behind. The field was completed by the TVR Grantura of veteran Colin Elstrop and Ulsterman David Beatty and Jeremy Welch’s daughter Arabella (MGB).

RACE:

Rain earlier in the morning gave way to misty cloud, which left the circuit very wet and slippery for Sunday’s race start. After two laps behind a pace car, the release made an impressive spectacle with 36 cars in two lines writhing behind a safety car before it ducked into the pits and the signal freed them for 120 minutes on one of Europe’s finest and most challenging circuits. Veterans Chiles and Barbara Lambert decided they did not relish the conditions, thus Chiles Jr and Jansen were left to share the dark blue Cobra and Brian Lambert became a soloist in the black and cream MGB.

Chiles roared away from the front row to grab an early lead from Kyle Tilley before the dip into the right-handed first corner, before the first ascent into the hills. “It was all so ginger. I was feathering the throttle everywhere to limit wheelspin while looking for the best lines which are all different in the wet, but Macedo Silva was soon harassing me,” said Chris, as the lighter Lotus slithered around. Hopwood’s nimble Elan led the chase.

Nick Hyett, who had unfolded his six-foot three-inch frame within the family Elan’s cockpit, snatched fourth as Hopwood fell back on lap 2, but Cull’s TVR was making phenomenal progress from P13 and displaced Hyett next time round. Macedo Silva ousted Chiles for a moment of glory on lap 5, with SP2 rivals Tilley and Finburgh – up from the unrepresentative P8 – holding a watching brief. Another on the rise was young Jack Rawles, who gained 12 places in two laps from P19 and tucked in to fifth between Finburgh and Cull, whilst Oliver Marçais had moved up 20 places within 3 laps to put the white XK120 in 11th position overall!

The Hyett Elan was the first casualty. Having contested the twin 50-minute, Iberian Historic Endurance races as well to maximise the family fun, Nick pitted, reporting that “it sounds like a helicopter,” according to dad Ross. Senior took it out for a lap then retired it with diff failure. “After seven hours on track I think we wore it out,” he said. Next to fall was the Muirhead/Welch Lotus 11, which had run as high as 15th.

After the first stops, Monroy overtook Kyle Tilley and Jansen to go top before Tilley clawed back head, relaying his brother after 19 laps for a shorter stint after a precautionary fuel top-up. With a 60-litre tank in the 15’s tail and a 20-litre side tank in the left pannier it looked in good fettle. Brereton kept the Cooper running in a solid fourth until Andy Newall howled past in Sautter’s E-type. Staying out for the maximum period, Andy led for a lap after a safety car interlude for the retrieval of the unrelated Rob Newall, who had slithered Sir David Scholey’s Jaguar XK120 into the edge of a gravel bed up in the hills behind the pits, due to transmission problems.

The slugfest began in earnest as the 50-minute stint limit enabled Bryant, now in the Lotus, Chiles Jr and Macedo Silva to run to the end. With the circuit now dry, the trio was able to go balls out to the chequered flag. The Portuguese ace closed to within striking distance of the Britons before fading to an honourable third.

With the little Lotus ‘roller skate’ more agile under braking and quicker through some of the twiddly bits, but the Ford V8-engined Cobra outgrunting it on the uphill parts and along the long start chute, a compelling duel played out. After constant exchanges the tension built with Chiles holding a tenuous advantage through a second full-course caution, for a Mini parked in a tricky place. “Junior did a great job at the green, holding us back then launching a full Max Verstappen restart,” said Olly. “If I could stay within five lengths on the straight, I was able to get back ahead into the corners, before the engine started to fluff with a fuel pressure problem.”

“Unbeknown to me we’d been running on the side [auxiliary] tank since the first pitstop, but once I realised, I switched it back and all seemed ok. Chris and I continued to battle until the engine started to cut out again. About three laps from the end, I turned into the right handed hairpin before the big downhill sweeper, the tail snapped out and I found nothing to power it out until the exit when the fuel pressure came up. But the Cobra went past and all I could do was chase.” Nonetheless, the pair crossed the finish line together, Bryant having set fastest lap at 2:07.920. Almost 20 seconds later, Macedo Silva thundered through to cheers from partisan onlookers in the huge grandstand opposite the pit complex.

A late change, on the penultimate lap, saw Finburgh snatch fourth back from Sautter, while Jack Rawles displaced Greensall’s pupil Hopwood whose gallant Elan – another to do the Iberian Historic Endurance races – was first of the small-capacity GT4 finishers in seventh overall. Greensall’s mid-race 2:11.952 lap was more than two seconds quicker than the next best Elan time, set by Atkinson in Jones’s eighth placed example. Bellinger did not get to race with the younger Rawles as he was ranged against Jack’s father Bill in the middle stint, but the aerodynamic Triumph-powered Morgan ran well to ninth, second in GT3, clear of the Wood/Stinton/Wood Elan. Completing the GT3 podium, the Hales/Ross-Jones TR4 was 12th overall, behind the Smithies/Clarkson Cobra.

The demise of both pacy TVRs – Paul/Bourne’s due to electrical issues, Cull/Lafferty’s when its dizzy failed – changed the complexion of GT2. While Gordon celebrated his victory over King/Plant, Thorne, Brian Lambert and Grant/Rutter, perhaps more remarkable was how competitive the inter-marque posse was. Cull set fastest lap at 2:19.638, chased by Thorne (2:20.013), Gordon (2:20.297), Bourne (2:20.490) and Grant (2:20.745). Five of the 14 starters within 1.107s, and Tarlow (2:21.396) and Boyle (2:21.880) close behind must surely constitute some kind of record? Boyle/Barnard, the Cruse brothers at the end of their European tour, Topliss/Topliss, Elstrop/Beatty and Tarlow/Hamilton-Peters completed the top 10 on track.

The Touring Cars put on an excellent show, with Fraser-Ker/Samways hotly pursued by the Lockes and Parsons/Pugh repelling Wrightson/Cooper by 0.219 at flagfall. With Ryck Turner’s final lap of 2:20.228 eclipsing Samways 2:20.391 and three chasers in the 22s, the drivers certainly enjoyed themselves as much as anybody. To scrabble a Mini round the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve barely 12 seconds slower than past master Olly Bryant’s best in a bespoke Lotus sports racer and the podium-placed Cobras demonstrated bravery and commitment.

With the season’s circuit action over, the final lap of 2025 is of course a social one – the eagerly-awaited annual GTSCC prizegiving luncheon in the opulent surroundings of the Royal Automobile Club in London’s Pall Mall on Saturday, December 6. Book now for an unmissable pre-Christmas gathering with friends, by when next year’s landmark 20th season calendar will be finalised.

GTSCC Algarve Classic Festival Results Link Here

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