The VSCC usually manage decent weather for their Bob Gerard Meeting at Mallory Park and this year the day was quite hot and sunny, although ominous clouds formed late in the afternoon but came to nothing.
Despite record entries for the meeting there was space for the FJ contingent to spread out and the Wilson family, amongst others, took up overnight station on the lakeside.

The vintage bric-a-brac and jumble stands are always fascinating to browse and probably discover a wondrous item, but if you have to ask what it is then you may expect to be politely told that you don’t need it.
Many of VSCC’s voiture ancien are absolutely fascinating and this year we were treated to a truly extraordinary machine, its massive single cylinder engine sporting a horizontal exhaust system of about 6” diameter which carried to the back of the car way above the drivers head even were he to stand up.
The sight & sound of this device “chumping” round the paddock with the intrepid pilote peering round the side of the engine was a real spectacle. This must surely be the only car in which the driver needs to be cognisant of low bridge warning signs.

However on to matters FJ and scrutineering was well staffed so that our twenty cars were efficiently processed well in time for qualifying at 10.25 am.
Unfortunately a couple had had to withdraw ~ Clive Temple discovering only the previous evening that his Cooper CWP was damaged and very sadly John Arnold had to abandon driving Justin Fleming’s green class B1 Elva just before qualifying because of a sudden family tragedy.
The FJ cars were split roughly 50/50 front & rear engine, plus the 1100 V-twin Cooper of Oliver Llewellyn, which unfortunately spluttered round for just one very slow lap in qualifying before being pushed into the paddock for investigation.

Predictably it was Jon Milicevic and Sam Wilson who made fastest progress in their Cooper T59s and Jon put up a 51.01 on lap 5 but Sam kept his foot in and made 50.69 on the penultimate lap 8 to bag pole position, while Jon admitted that, pre Goodwood, his was a “make do and mend” engine on this occasion.
The front engine cars were led by Brian Mitcham’s U2 Mk2 with 54.49 fractionally faster than Jack Woodhouse in the family Elva 100 on 54.55, these two starting 7th & 8th respectively.
The entry list was notable for the first appearance of the just completed restoration second (and last) Bond FJ in Andrew Tart’s experienced hands, whilst Gil Duffy raced Andrew’s usual car.
Also notable was the debut of Simon Diffey’s son George in the familiar gold Lotus 20/22. George having a pretty fine week of it first receiving confirmation of a university place to study dentistry followed by his first ever motor race.

Apart from Llewellyn’s Cooper already mentioned, the only other casualty after qualifying was Brian Jolliffe’s Cooper T56 hoping to complete its first race, having run only in the qualifying session as a reserve at the Silverstone Classic. However this was not to be because some oil traces were found lurking in the coolant header tank and so the car was prudently withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Bill Grimshaw changed the radiator in his Moorland as a precautionary measure and Milicevic altered a gearbox ratio in his Cooper.

So all was set for a cracking race in prospect as the cars roared out of the assembly area. Unfortunately Diffey wasn’t quite ready and was late away meaning that he was ushered onto the back of the grid instead of being able to take up his extremely good 12th place, whilst Llewellyn’s Cooper refused to go at all.

The Union flag twitched and the pack rushed off towards Gerards with Wilson and Milicevic neck & neck ahead of Simon Armer’s Cooper T59 but next time round Milicevic just led Wilson followed by Armer then Paul Smeeth’s Lotus 22, these four having broken clear from the pack.
The start had created winners & losers and it was a few laps before normal order was resumed. Steve Smith’s Cooper T59 stuck behind both Tony Simmons’ Brabham BT6 and Woodhouse but by lap 2 he had regained his 5th start place and set off in pursuit of Smeeth. Most unfortunately Sir John Chisholm’s Gemini Mk2 expired after just one lap and he rumbled into the pits then straight back to the paddock.
Woodhouse had made a terrific start and lay 6th on lap 1 only to lose out to Mitcham in short order. These two then battled closely until most unfortunately the U2’s differential broke after 7 laps and Woodhouse pelted on to take the front engine race win very comfortably from Tart debuting Bond 2 and Gordon Russell’s Gemini Mk2, who were themselves but half a second apart after the 12 laps. Tart made typically good work of the front wheel drive Bond and although behind Russell and Justin Fleming’s white Elva 100 on the grid he had got past both of them within a few laps.
Meanwhile up at the front Milicevic held off Wilson before bowing to the inevitable and lap 3 saw Wilson take the lead which he never relinquished, receiving the chequered flag some 6 seconds clear ahead of Milicevic.
Smeeth didn’t manage to catch Armer but he did split the Coopers with Smith finishing 4 seconds behind him, these five cars well ahead of next placed man Simmons.
Roger Dexter’s Elva-DKW continues to be on good form, as does Roger of course, but he was gradually consumed by faster cars as the race progressed, despite making a really good start. Grimshaw had a steady race, having now reverted to a less radically tuned BMC engine in the hope of more reliability than of late.
Following his back of the grid start Diffey settled down to put in a couple of steady laps before passing firstly Peter Fenichel on first time out in the ex Chaz Jones Cooper T56, then Duffy in Bond 1 and finally Richard Ellingworth’s Gemini Mk2 ~ a very impressive showing indeed by this clearly talented teenage driver at his racing debut. Ellingworth, too, already a race winning 500 Driver, was making his FJ debut in the ex-Ian Bankhurst Gemini Mk II.

John Taylor’s widow Irene presented the magnificent silver Trophy to winner Sam Wilson and after thanking Irene, Jeremy Bouckley announced Jon Milicevic and Simon Armer as 2nd and 3rd respectively before briefly explaining the importance and connection that this race has to John Taylor, to Coopers and to himself as a contemporary racing friend of John.

Front engine race winner Jack Woodhouse received his award from Peter Jackson as did 2nd and 3rd placemen Andrew Tart and Gordon Russell, all being Class B2 cars.

Some of the front engined Juniors also ran in the Bob Gerard Trophy Race, with poleman Mitcham expiring on lap 4, leaving a Cooper-Bristol to victory, but John Chisholm was lying second until the very last lap exiting Devil’s Elbow when the Gemini faltered, just making it across the line behind Andrew Tart in Bond 2. Justin Fleming (Elva 100) came home 5th.  Brian at least had the honour of fastest lap.

Peter Jackson ~~ The Cooper Cockpit Correspondent