Andrew Willis

Gallery: Noise, noise and more noise from the RAC TT Celebration

Bringing Goodwood SpeedWeek presented by Mastercard to a gloriously competitive close was the RAC TT Celebration. The hour-long, two-driver event which celebrates closed-cockpit GT cars that would have raced at RAC TT events in 1963 and ’64 is always a Goodwood favourite. With the light fading on this mid-October Sunday evening, the race action was more dramatic than ever.

The new addition of a two-minute driver change-over period this year created plenty of new problems and timings for the teams and world-class driver pairings to concentrate on. A number of the beautiful machines on display would be under investigation for their pit routines, and following a long first stint behind a safety car, the race really came alive during the second stint as darkness loomed.

Last year’s winner and Sunday’s pole sitter André Lotterer was a man on a mission, blasting through the field in the 1963 Lister-Jaguar coupe after a troubled first stint to chase down the lead. The TVR of Mike Jordan was battling AC Cobras all evening in his attempt to will the diminutive Griffith 400 back towards the front and Lotterer, who was slowly pulling away with nine minutes to go.

With brakes fading towards the end and fatigue setting in, the running order of the busy race started to settle, drivers perhaps concentrating on self-preservation rather than glory. With headlights glaring, the chequered flag was waved for Lotterer in first position in the 1963 Lister-Jaguar coupe, Jordan in second driving the 1965 TVR with Oliver Bryant in third in a 1964 AC Cobra, with a possible penalty looming over their heads.

Congratulations must go to the entire field, for providing over an hour of joyful GT racing to round off a very fine weekend in West Sussex.  