Silverstone 31st Oct &  1st Nov
The name of Walter Hayes might not immediately be recognised by some, but he was the man who persuaded Ford to take on Ferrari at LeMans, which gave rise to the iconic GT40. Hayes is also credited with being responsible for introducing Cosworth to Ford and of course this association brought about the famous DFV engine.
The rest, as they say, is history.

Hayes subsequently held various senior posts within the Ford empire and it is to honour his achievements that the HSCC put on the annual Walter Hayes Trophy Meeting where Walter’s widow kindly presents the awards.
As befits the name of the Trophy it is raced for by Formula Fords and so popular is it that over 120 of these cars entered this year and raced in six Heats, two Repechages, two Semis and the Final ~~ Phew !.

However, in addition to this wall to wall FF activity the HSCC finds room for two open wheel support races and one of these is the HSCC 50km/25 minute race with classes of various formulae and FJ was represented by David Abbott entered in your scribe’s Cooper T56.
The other classes included 2 litre F2 up to 1980 so the comparatively ancient Cooper was rather outgunned and David Gathercole won in his Chevron B25 with a best time of 1:00.580. Second place went to Ray Mallock in his Mallock Mk18B, in appearance broadly similar to the FJ version. Other names associated with FJ were Ben Simms
third in a March 803B and the inimitable Iain Rowley, who unfortunately retired his Delta T78 after just 6 laps of the National Circuit.

Practice conditions were wet and very treacherous, especially in the complex where much oil had been laid down during Friday’s test sessions. Your scribe reminded David that the Cooper had no grip in these conditions and afterwards David said he hadn’t realised that by no grip I really did mean no grip, until he went round Copse!

The Race was held on a drying track but still damp & slimy in places although better enough for the front row men to knock some 10 seconds off their lap times.
David improved by 20 seconds having found Gaz Oijeh in his Jamun T2 to dice with and these two swapped places many times.

After the race, whilst admiring the newly restored Crossle 22F, slicks & wings F2 rocket ship of Paul McMorran which finished fourth, I fell into conversation with
Joe Fairley, one of Paul’s crew, and Joe told me of his long term plan to restore the Condor FJ which was seriously crashed at Kirkistown in 1961. Joe believes that this may even be the very first Condor and he is intending to fit a Triumph Herald engine which was the type stated in Condor’s brochure.

Later in the afternoon came the HSCC 50km/25 minute race for closed wheel cars of various types and in this event Steve Smith brought out his trusty MGA, which he has raced for 32 years, having laid up his Cooper T59 mid season with engine damage.
Steve fought very hard against Bob Yarwood’s Crossle 9S Sports Racer but had to settle for a close 5th place, in the process of which he humbled exotic machinery including a Porsche 911, an E-Type and even a Lister-Jag.
The race was won by a TVR Griffith a model which Steve also raced some years ago, but which he sold in order to buy the Cooper.

So next year, after probably 16 UK races, 10 Lurani races and a half a dozen non championship races plus a few sprints, if any FJ driver wants to finish off his season in style then get an entry in for the Walter Hayes Trophy Meeting.

Peter Jackson, the Cooper Cockpit Correspondent.  31st Oct 2009