A special race celebrated the 60th birthday of the famous Ford, and it also racked up a Gordon Spice Trophy victory thanks to Sutton and Davies
MARCUS PYE
Goodwood Motor Circuit fell under the spell of rampant American V8 engines last weekend, with Ford Mustangs everywhere at the 81st Members’ Meeting – 10th of the modern GRRC era – celebrating the iconic pony car’s 60th birthday. Sunday’s tremendous Ken Miles Cup feature, for first-generation notchbacks motivated by 289 cubic inch (4.7-litre) power units, gave 2013 British Touring Car champion Andrew Jordan another consummate one-make Goodwood victory for his CV, and a first for car owner Michael Whitaker Jr, who started strongly.
But as the warm sun set over the Chichester Corral on Saturday evening, the scene had been set in the Gordon Spice Trophy Group 1 saloon slugfest, the entry for which was equally peppered by superstars teamed with talented amateur throttle jockeys, hungry to learn from motorsport royalty. Outnumbered two to five, the Blue Oval’s reps came out fighting. Saddling monstrous 520bhp Boss 302 Mustangs, Craig Davies/Ash Sutton and Timo Bernhard/Fred Shepherd duffed up arch-rival General Motors’ well-matched Chevrolet Camaro Z28 posse. Six seconds covered the top five at the chequered flag!
As the British Automobile Racing Club – which masterminded the first 71 MMs from 1949 to 1966 – dropped the Union Flag, Porsche ace Bernhard dumped the clutch on the polesitting Bill Shepherd Mustang entry and led the stampede to Madgwick. James Thorpe (Camaro) reached the double-apex right-hander second from P6 – but attracted a 10s penalty for bolting as the starter raised the flag – displacing Ric Wood’s Ford Capri, on the front row of the 3-2-3 grid by courtesy of Jake Hill’s ability.
By the end of the lap, GT racer James Cottingham had forged David Clark’s Bastos Camaro – on pole for the 1981 Spa 24 Hours with Reine Wisell up – through to third, with Davies up from eighth to fourth in his Alan Mann Racing-built Frank Gardner tribute Mustang, in which NASCAR fanatic (hence excited V8 debutant) Sutton’s qualifying stint was thwarted by an oil down. Up front, Bernhard couldn’t shake off Cottingham, tracked by Davies, who had overcome Thorpe on lap four.
A safety car deployed midway around lap 13, three laps into the pit window, helped early stoppers. The top three had all made their driver chang
