Masters Historic Festival 2024: Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars

Defending Masters Pre-66 Touring Car champion Sam Tordoff notched up another win as he got his 2024 campaign off to the best possible start. Around a Brands Hatch circuit basking in the spring sun, the polesitting Ford Falcon held off Michael Whitaker Jnr’s Ford Mustang for a repeat of his 2023 win. John Spiers and Nigel Greensall ended up third in their chase of Whitaker Jnr’s rival Mustang, with John Davison fourth in another Mustang.

“It was good, I really enjoyed that”, said Tordoff. “I think I got lucky with the safety car, because if it had happened before my pit stop I’d have been in trouble, but just after basically gave me the lead back more or less, albeit just Mike in front. We’ve done a bit of work on the car over the winter and it seems to be driving a bit better and just could have done with it being about 15 minutes shorter at the end there, I was getting a bit tired in the heat. But it was important we came here and started as we finished last year and we’ve done that now, so looking forward to Zandvoort in three weeks’ time.”

“I’m not sure I could have done anything about Sam”, said Whitaker Jnr. “The only thing we could have hoped for was not to have had that safety car. But on raw pace I’m not quite there. It was just bad timing on the safety car, obviously he gets the time penalty, but it’s great to be out there driving with the pros and and being in amongst them.”

“We had a pretty good start and I was following Mike for a while and pulling away from John

Davison and feeling pretty good about that”, said Spiers. “Then after about 10 laps I suddenly realised I didn’t see how much the brakes went too good, and I realised my inexperience with this car means you can’t push them as hard as I was, so from there on it became a bit of a management issue.”

Victor Cullen drove a storming race to fifth overall and the Cortina class, with the Cortinas of Roy Alderslade and Paddy & Julian Shovlin ending up eighth and ninth overall after the leading Cortina of Darren Burke/Tim Abbott faltered early on.

Nick Swift produced a similar barnstormer to be the dominant Mini class winner in sixth overall. Phil Bullen-Brown had an entertaining race fighting with Michael Cullen for second place in class, but when Cullen was a late victim in a gruelling race, Ollie Streek was there to pick up third in class.

In bright sunshine, the big grid for the Masters Pre-66 Touring Car race positioned itself for a 60-minute race that had reigning champion Sam Tordoff on pole in his Ford Falcon. Alongside him, John Spiers lined up on the outside front row, fresh from his drive in the Masters Sports Car Legends race. Michael Whitaker Jnr was soon up into second, though, with John Davison and Darren Burke lurking right behind.

Five laps into the race, Tordoff’s lead over Whitaker amounted to ten seconds, but the fastest of the Mustang was chased by Spiers, Davison and Fred Shepherd who had demoted Burke’s Cortina to sixth. Victor Cullen was in the second of the Lotus Cortinas, and he wasn’t even chased by a pack of more Cortinas, but in fact the two fastest Minis – Nick Swift and Joe Ferguson – were up into eighth and ninth overall. Abbey Eaton in the ‘Brustang’ was tenth, chased by Roy Alderslade and Geoff Letts in the third and fourth Cortina.

15 minutes of the race were run when Tordoff completed his eighth lap, and his advantage had gone out to 14 seconds, while five seconds adrift of the lone Whitaker Jnr, a group consisting of Spiers, Davison, Shepherd, Burke and Cullen all contested third place. Eaton had jumped the pair of Minis, the second of which was soon into the pits, Ferguson forced to give up his chase of Nick Swift. This allowed Alderslade into the overall top ten, with Jack Ruddell and Andrew Haddon in two more Mustangs in 11th and 12th. In 19th overall, Harry Barton’s sole THB-class BMW 1800tiSA was chasing a gaggle of Cortinas and Phil Bullen-Brown who now sat on board of the second-placed Mini. Meanwhile, Geoff Letts was another one to drop out, his Cortina retiring to the pits.

On lap 11, Tordoff’s lead had augmented to 20 seconds but then the champion had to counteract his elite-driver time penalty. In the Spiers, Burke’s leading Cortina was back ahead of Shepherd’s Mustang. Outside the top ten, former teammates Paddy Shovlin (Lotus Cortina) and Michael Cullen (in another) were embroiled in a highly entertaining fight for 14th overall as they both chased Bullen-Brown’s Mini.

With the pit window just one minute away, Tordoff was in front by 23 seconds, but he would have sit still for another 20 seconds at his stop. Spiers was the first to come in to hand over to Nigel Greensall (another one with a longer stop), with more cars following straight in. The next time around, the leading Ford Falcon was in for his stop, followed by Abbie Eaton who would hand over Steve Alvarez Brown. At the same time, Burke in the leading Cortina went missing, handing the class lead to Victor Cullen.

In the next few laps, the entire field cycled through its mandatory stops, with Whitaker Jnr making his stop on lap 17. In the meantime, Henry Mann trundled to a halt at the top of Paddock Hill Bend in the Mustang he had literally just taken over from Jack Ruddell. On lap 19, a new picture of the race emerged, especially since the stalled Ruddell/Mann Mustang had caused a safety car. Whitaker Jnr had rejoined in the lead but his five-second lead now looked set to evaporate. Davison was third ahead of Shepherd, Cullen (V.) in the leading Cortina, Greensall and Swift in the leading Mini. Alderslade, Alvarez Brown and Andy Wolfe in the Mustang started by Haddon rounded out the top ten for the moment. Alderslade and Julian Shovlin (in the car started by Paddy) were the two Cortinas chasing young Cullen while Bullen-Brown and Cullen (M.) still disputed second place in the Mini class.

The green flag was waved with 17 minutes remaining on the clock, and within moments beyond the point from where he was allowed to, Tordoff blasted past to reclaim the lead from Whitaker Jnr. Davison held third but soon had Nigel Greensall breathing down his neck as another elite driver who had profited from the safety car bunching up the field. Victor Cullen was a very strong fifth overall in the Cortina, having passed Shepherd, with Swift, Alderslade, Alvarez Brown and Wolfe all following.

Going into the final quarter of our race hour, Tordoff had handed himself a two-second breather to Whitaker Jnr while Davison was inevitably swamped by Greensall. Six seconds further down the road, Shepherd had retaken Cullen who now had to deal with Swift, with Alderslade hanging on at the tail of the group. Just outside the top ten, Bullen-Brown and the elder Cullen continued their argument over second place in the Mini class. However, Cullen was then slammed with a pitlane-speeding penalty, which would give Ollie Streek a look-in for third in class.

On lap 25, two Mustangs dropped out of the chase, both Shepherd and Wolfe reporting to the pits, and this elevated Alvarez Brown into seventh, followed by Alderslade and the battling Minis of Cullen (M.) and Bullen-Brown, the latter now also handed a five-second penalty, meaning that the two were even again. At the front, Tordoff’s lead had augmented to 5.5 seconds while Greensall made some inroads on Whitaker Jnr’s lead over him. But would it be enough in the five remaining minutes?

As the final minutes ticked away, Tordoff had done enough to get his title defense off to a successful start, the Ford Falcon crossing the line six seconds ahead of Whitaker Jnr, who in turn had six seconds in hand over Greensall. Davison was a distant fourth, while Victor Cullen chalked up the Lotus Cortina class win in fifth and Nick Swift won the Mini class in sixth. The Eaton/Alvarez Brown Mustang was seventh ahead of Roy Alderslade and the Shovlins who took second and third in the Cortina class. Mark Drain ended up tenth in another Cortina while Phil Bullen-Brown conquered second place in the Mini class, with Streek in third, as Michael Cullen’s Mini proved to be the final retirement of the race.