Chichester Cup 2022
Despite the very sad passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Revival went ahead as scheduled, and after a somewhat quiet covid-affected 2021, the crowds and entries were back in full-force with many foreign tongues to be heard around the paddocks and grandstands.
For Formula Junior it was the turn of the drum-braked cars. There had been 70 drivers who had put themselves forward for one of the 30 grid places, not including those with a direct line to Goodwood, and the lucky 30′ represented 11 nations and no less than 21 marques (Alexis, Britannia, Caravelle, Cooper, de Tomaso (2!!), Elfin, Elva, Emeryson, Envoy, Gemini, Jolus, Kieft, Lola, Lotus, Lynx, RAM, Swebe, Tojeiro, Wainer and Wren).
Of special note were the newly restored De Tomaso 61 of Martin Sheppard and the much refreshed RAM 04 ex David Drew, now owned by Laurence Auriana for Joe Colasacco. The RAM only had a few laps at Lime Rock under its belt before being airfreighted to Luxembourg, and a nail-biting customs delay, before being released for Goodwood.
Martin’s De Tomaso was a completely different story, the first and only known survivor of the 61 model, rescued as an almost unrecognisable FA V8 engined special ex USA by Pat Barford. It was the subject of detailed research, with Martin finding original plans and photos, and then countless hours of work by David Abbott and Chris Beaumont right up to the Revival, and only a shakedown at Turwestonto prove that everything worked.
All were present and correct for qualifying on Friday afternoon and it was good to learn that those travelling from the Continent with trailers had experienced no difficulties with Customs. Although there had been a sprinkling of rain earlier, the track was fully dry, as it was to be on Saturday and Sunday when a warm sun gave wonderful weather for the whole event. Peter de la Roche (Lola 3) set the best initial time with 1’28.630 (for comparison the unofficial drum-braked lap record is Peter’s 1’25.583 set at last year’s Members Meeting). Second was Stuart Roach (Alexis 3) on 1’29.700. Over the next few laps Peter did not improve but Stuart whittled his time down lap-by-lap until he went to the top of the list with 1’28.448 on the sixth tour. Next time through Peter was back on top (1’28.105), then Andrew Hibberd popped up with 1’27.346. Final attempts were, however, aborted when Mike Gregory (de Tomaso) hit the bank at St Marys and brought out the red flag and, as there were only a few minutes left, the end of the session, so we didn’t see the full potential of de la Roche and Roach, who were both faster than Hibberd on the first sector of that final lap. The front row would therefore be Hibberd, de la Roche and Roach. Row 2 held Chris Drake (Elva 300), who was one of several to have spins, and Joe Colasacco (RAM-Fiat). Others in the “rotation club were New Zealander Phil Foulkes, at the wheel of Robin Longdon’s Lola 3, Phil performing a spectacular 360o at Woodcote, John Hutchison Jr (Envoy) and Ivo Gockmann (Jolus), racing for the first time since 2019.
The race was at 9.35 on Sunday morning. The front row got away cleanly but further back the Caravelle of James Hicks was already out, due to finding there was no 2nd gear away from the line. As the cars streamed back down the straight towards Woodcote, the first three had opened a gap, with Hibberd leading from Roach and de la Roche, but the Lola dived ahead of the orange (what else!) Alexis under braking. On the next lap Peter had taken the lead whilst Stuart had to pull-off at Woodcote with engine trouble. Next up was Chris Drake, then Colasacco, Gockmann and Sir John Chisholm (Gemini 3A), followed by an endlessly varied field, each engaged in their own tussle. Lars-Goran Sjoberg had made the lengthy drive from Sweden to Goodwood to race his often troublesome Swebe-Cooper and it was good to see that he had gained places from 26th on the grid to 21st but, sadly, it did not last as the car went on to 3 cylinders on the second lap.
Then the safety-car boards came out as the Lola of Phil Foulkes broke its suspension and gave Phil a wild ride across the grass before coming to rest in a dangerous position. It took three laps to deal with this, the restart being given on lap 7. Andrew had a very quick spin at Lavant when he put a wheel on the kerbing but, remarkably, this cost him less than 10 although dropping him behind Drake, a loss he very quickly restored. However, it meant that de la Roche now looked unassailable. It was therefore particularly unfortunate that rear wheel of Peter’s Lola clipped the front wheel of Bill Hemming’s Tojeiro when lapping, sending both into the bank and the red flag to be waved. Although the flag was shown on the eleventh lap, count-back declared the results after 9 laps and, of course, de la Roche was excluded from then as he was not running at the time of the red. This left Hibberd first from Drake, Colasacco, Gockmann and Chisholm. In the mid-field there was a great scrap between Christian Lange (Envoy), Trevor Griffiths (Emeryson), Clinton McCarthy (Lotus 18) and John Hutchison (Envoy), ending in that order with only 1.5 covering the four of them. Other than those already mentioned, only Keith Pickering fell by the wayside, due to a misfire after one lap.
So, Andrew Hibberd was a happy recipient of the Chichester Cup, driving the Lotus 20-J-892 this he had started his career with in 2002 and with which father Michael had won the Chichester Cup in 2001 and the Hibberds had subsequently reacquired it, Michael having raced it at the Classic. This was Andrew’s third win in the Chichester Cup, and completed the “set: of wins in Fronts, Discs and Drums. The only thing he missed out on was the lap record by 0.112. The car had originally been sold to Irish motor-cycle racer Reg Armstrong, whose career included 2nd in both the 500cc and 250cc world championships in 1953.
by Richard Page
FOOTNOTE – CHICHESTER CUP ROLL OF HONOUR
1998 Jean-Michel Farine (Lotus 20/22 20-J-820)
1999 Martin Walford (Lotus 22-J-02)
2000 Ian Scott (Elva 100/59A)
2001 Michael Hibberd (Lotus 20-J-892)
2002 Martin Walford (Lotus 22-J-02)
2003 Robin Longdon (Lola 2Â BRJ 3)
2004 James Hicks (Caravelle III)
2005 Edwin Jowsey (Lotus 22-FJ-61)
2006 Robin Longdon (Lola 2 BRJ 3)
2007 Sir John Chisholm (Gemini 3A Mk3/2/61)
2008 Michael Hibberd (Lotus 27-JM-32)
2009 Derek Walker (Terrier T4 LT4-03)
2010 Benn Simms (Elva 200/017F)
2011 Sam Wilson (Cooper T59 FJ-38-62 PMF02)
2012 Joe Colasacco (Stanguellini 00169)
2013 Chris Drake (Elva 300/003)
2014 David Methley (Brabham BT6 MSA/FJ/63/1)
2015 No race
2016 Andrew Hibberd (Lola 2 BRJ 18)
2017 Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk3 HF 302)
2018 Andrew Hibberd (Lotus 22-J-32)
2019 No race
2020 No race
2021 Peter de la Roche (Lola 2 BRJ 4)
2022 Andrew Hibberd (Lotus 20-J-892)