Tom Waterfield triumphs at Castle Combe

13th Oct 2021

For the 2nd year running, Tommy Waterfield drove to victory in the Freddie Giles Memorial Trophy at Castle Combe on October 2nd.  Following a frustrating practise in which he had to retire his mother's Super Sports due to a bad misfire, he started in 7th place on the grid but managed to get himself up into 2nd by the first corner, wherupon he and Dougal battled for the lead for 4 laps.  Both cars shed chains, Dougal lost top gear & Tommy 3rd, and on lap 5, Tommy pounced, revelling in the wet track conditions and taking the lead from the Captain, who eventually retired Piglet on lap 11.  Another driver enjoying the wet was David Wylie, in his AC-engined Super Sports, who qualified alongside Dougal on the front row, and maintained his position,  taking a comfortable 2nd place. Simon B-E had also had a difficult earlier practise session for his other race, with apparent loss of oil pressure which forced him to retire (it turned out it was nothing more than a faulty gauge) so he was obliged to start from the back of the grid, but he worked his way quickly up the field to take 3rd overall.  It was great to welcome three 'new to racing' Nash men - Dominic Hall, Craig McWilliam and Archie Waterfield, driving Hamish Monro's kindly lent Super Sports. An extremely wet and windy day was rounded off with a fabulous party hosted by Jan Giles, where we enjoyed plenty of Wriggly Monkey beer, a delicious buffet and speeches & the customary awards presentation for the winners.  All in all, a fantastic day's racing.