Martin O’Connell and Nick Fleming starred as 280 cars took to the tarmac for the first Thruxton Easter Revival, which was organised by the Historic Sports Car Club on 30-31 March.
During a weekend that marked the 45th anniversary of Formula 2 racing at the Hampshire circuit, it was Fleming who just had the edge in the Jochen Rindt Trophy for F2 cars, with O’Connell finishing close behind.
O’Connell made amends, though, winning Sunday’s race ahead of Andrew Smith, collecting the Jochen Rindt Trophy from Murray Walker, who had commentated on the earliest motorbike race meetings at Thruxton in 1950.
Fleming and O’Connell secured a win apiece in the Martini Trophy races, too. The latter took the opening race in a contest dominated by Chevron B36s, while Fleming won Sunday’s event. The youngsters didn’t have it all their own way, though. Ray Mallock took second overall in his invitation class Mallock Mk18.
Nelson Rowe bagged his second victory of the season in Historic Formula Ford, followed by Benn Simms and Tiff Needell, who was competing in his original car for the first time in four decades.
The Historic Touring Car race was a battle of Fords in which Richard Dutton’s Mustang scooped the laurels from the Falcon of Mike Gardiner, who made a heroic effort having started in the pits. Third place went to the Cortina of Tim Davies.
