This season Mike and Michael have had the privilege to be involved with three classic race series. The first of which is the “Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge” contested between sixties and seventies sports and salons. To see their progress so far within the series you can visit their website www.heritagegtcc.co.uk

They have also competed in the “Master Top Hat Series” www.themastersseries.com and “Classic Sports Car Club Swinging Sixties” www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk

Sponsorship

Mike and Michael have also been delighted to receive sponsorship from one of their long-term customer’s and friend Tasso Papazoglou and his wife Yvonne. Tasso and Yvonne own a hotel, which is a celebrity hideaway, based on the small Greek island of Patmos. You could plan a perfect getaway by visiting www.patmosparadise.com

Latest Results

Fastest lap time: John Bussell 1 min 36.974 seconds.

A fortnight on and it was a second bite at the cherry for Mike and Michael at Silverstone. This time they were sharing both cars with John Bussell and Mark Wright. A good qualifying saw Michael and John on Pole and Mike and Mark in fourth. A delayed start due to oil on the track may have disrupted Michael’s concentration causing him to make a torrid start dropping down to fifth into copse. He managed thanks to Mike however to retake fourth then third out of copse and then latch onto the leaders with Mike in hot pursuit. The front three broke away and Michael was lap-by-lap gaining on the lead cars. By lap twelve Michael passed the lotus of John Rees moving up to second and then he was right on the tail of the leader Joe Henderson in the TR6. He went through copse and into the s bend, he broke late and dived up the inside to take the lead. Mike unfortunately had spun at copse dropping down the field slightly. Both Mike and Michael then pitted for the driver change. John took over but a slow pit stop had left them behind the Lotus by some 15 seconds. Mark in the blue car was well down the field and took it about him to start and claw his way through the field. On the second to last lap John had caught the lotus and down the start finish straight whilst overtaking a back marker made his move up the inside to take the lead and hold it to the finish for victory. Mark crossed the line just behind John finishing in tenth. Another great weekends racing in the final CSCC race for the team this year.

Fastest lap time: Michael Wilkinson Jnr 1 min 43.083 seconds.

Mike and Michael’s last participation in the Heritage GTCC was an eventful weekend involving many incidents. Qualifying saw Mike out brake himself into the hairpin and end up stuck in the gravel, stopping Michael from setting a time in the qualifying. This left them starting from 26th on the grid. Upon return to the paddock it transpired that Richard M & C Wilkinson’s star race mechanic had slipped on the hill at copse corner and injured his ankle. He was rushed to hospital and found to have fractured his ankle. So this caused great distraction and come the race Mike made slow progress after moving up the grid he had another incident causing him to leave the track and drop down the order. After the driver change Michael took over setting some quick times and gradually moved up the field losing out on the last lap due to a throttle problem to the Shelby 350GT by half a second.   

Fastest lap time: Michael Wilkinson Jnr 1 min 23.310 seconds.

This race and trophy was organised by Jonathan Palmer (former race drive and owner of Snetterton and other major race circuits) in memory of one of the original founders of the Classic Sports Car Club one Phillip Wolfe-Parry.  This was only the second time that father & son had competed together in the same car.  They both fought off strong competition from the likes of Andy Earl in a Jaguar E-type to romp home 1 minute and 4 seconds ahead of the chasing pack.

A top podium finish 

The Phillip Wolfe-Parry trophy

The winning car

Fastest lap time: Michael Wilkinson Jnr 1 min 47.612 seconds.

This was the first outing for Michael Jnr in his father’s car after nearly a year of driving his own E-type and not crashing it, his father had finally relented to let him join him in the Green E-type.

Fastest lap time: John Bussell 52.253 seconds.

This was the first outing in the swinging sixties series for both Mike and Michael along with their professional driver and race instructor John Bussell. Mike started from the front row of the grid alongside a Mini Cooper that had got pole in qualifying due to some treacherous conditions. From the start Mike led into the first corner. He lost his position to Mark Campbell in his Triumph TR5 but was always in close pursuit. When he handed over to John Bussell the lead was only four seconds and John took full advantage passing the triumph and going on to win the race from Mark by some twenty six seconds! Michael Jnr was further down the field finishing in a commendable 7th place out of the thirty competitors.

A podium finish for Mike and John

Michael Jnr at Mallory

Fastest lap time: John Bussell 1min 19.639 seconds.

The first of two races on the Saturday saw Mike and John struggle to cope with extra power of some of the front running cars leaving them to battle with the cars just in side the top ten finishing 9th. This was while Michael slightly further down the grid managed to battle his way from 29th on the grid to 13th overall.

Fastest lap time: John Bussell 1min 18.703 seconds.

The second race saw Mike and John starting from 9th and Michael starting from 13th following on from the first race on Saturday. Mike and John managed to battle their way to 7th and Michael was 12th hot on the heels of the two cars in front before overheating problems caused him to retire.

Fastest Lap time: John Bussell 2min 09.238 seconds.

This meeting started as a bit of a shambles as there were no timing beacons in place for qualifying, so with an element of first come first served to the grid, John started from the front row with Mike further back on the fourth row.  Five laps into the race John had managed to pull out a 12 second lead, before a fuel pump switch caused him to retire.

“The three E-types” at Silverstone. Car no 5 Mike Wilkinson Car 47 Chris Scragg & Car 15 Michael Wilkinson Jnr

A fabulous weekend supporting the A1 Grand Prix series with crowds of 80,000 saw a mixed set of results and absolute carnage on the racetrack. There were one or two incidents that could have been avoided causing Mike to retire in the first race.

Fastest lap time: 1 min 18.203 seconds.

In Race 1 John was on his own being a one-driver sprint race.  From the off John was pressing the lead Camaro of Andy Rouse and the Morgan of Rick Lloyd.  A loose wheel occurred causing John to settle for 3rd Place on the podium.

Fastest lap time: 1 min 18.725 seconds.

In Race 2 John was on the second row of the grid and immediately took the lead into the first corner but unfortunately down the final straight the E-type simply did not have the power of the Morgan and Camaro.  John was in 3rd place when he handed over to Mike, who brought the car across the finish line in 8th position.

Fastest Lap time: John Bussell 1min 18.791 seconds.

This was the first race of the season with Mike and John racing along with Chris Scragg in their E-type.  Mike and John qualified in 2nd place with Chris Scragg in 10th place.  From the start both cars were at the front and in the closing laps Mike was on for 4th with Chris in 5th, until a gearbox problem forced Chris to retire.