Photos by Dave Brown Photography
The winners have been announced for this year’s Cataclean Southport Speed Sprint Revival.
The return of this exciting event saw thousands of spectators packing the seawall as they watched a series of cars racing along Marine Drive in time trials.
Michael Ashcroft, Chairman and Director of Aintree Circuit Club which organised the event said:
“The families watching the racing all had an enjoyable day at the Seaside… with lots of fresh sea air, lovely warm afternoon sunshine and a panoramic clear view across the Ribble Estuary of Blackpool and the Liverpool Bay windfarm!
“The event was also broadcast on Liverpool Live Radio with the excellent TV Motoring Programme voice man, Andy Talbot, providing wall to wall commentary from their Outside Broadcast Unit to thousands of spectators and hundreds of thousands of listeners across the North West.
“The awards presented were as follows:
- FTD – Laurie Hatchard
- Best ACC – Laurie Hatchard
- Best MG – David Coulthard
- 1st in Class 3B – Scott Bradley
- 1st in Class 6A – Terry Deare
- 2nd in Class 6A – Paul Clare (please contact to arrange postage or collection of your award)
- 1st in Class 8B – David Coulthard (and also winner of the MG CC Ted Lund Trophy for the fastest MG competing in the event)
“I would like to say big thanks to our long-term sponsors, Cataclean Global Ltd, who as well as helping underwrite part of the staging costs, provide goody bags and content for participants and marshals at our events, event support and are just really great people to work with.
“Further thanks to our new Media Partner Liverpool Live Radio and their team – M.D., Rod Keay, Tara Keay and Paul Laing, who have helped facilitate essential services for Southport to stage the event and again, great people to work with.
“Finally, my thanks to our “orange army” of volunteer Marshals, most of whom are members of our ‘Corp’ as well as race marshals from across the UK, our friends in the MG Car Club NW Centre and to our Officials, who ensure that the event is both safely and efficiently organised and managed as well as being fully compliant with our obligations to Motorsport UK.
“I must also mention our thanks to Sefton Council for their permission to use Marine Drive and the Esplanade Car Park to host the event.”
With the Coastal Jam music festival and 24 Hour Dinghy Race also taking place on the same day, there was a steady stream of people between the events with a number of Sprint VIP tickets still being sold throughout the afternoon session.
Between them, they brought a huge boost to local restaurants, cafes, shops, bars, hotels and guest houses.
Once again, the sheer variety of cars entered ensured that there was something for everyone. The Rileys of Andrew Briggs and Simon Thorpe upheld pre-war honours and did so in style, mixing it with much more modern machinery on the timed runs. The mid 20th century was well represented from classic Triumphs and Aston Martins via hot versions of 1970’s family hatchbacks to cars from the 1990s. A number of more modern entrants ensured that those whose interests lie in the 21st Century were also catered for.
High Sheriff of Merseyside, Billy Hui BEM attended the event as a VIP guest and performed the ceremonial ‘flag drop’ at the start line. He was then treated to a ride along the course by Hamish Roscoe in his immaculate Triumph TR3a during the parade run.
In the end it was Laurie Hatchard who retained the title with his Dax Rush Quadra by posting a time of 66.14 seconds, followed by Anthony Adams’ Porsche Cayman with 66.22 seconds and Adrian Kermode who took his 911 to a personal best time of 67.6 seconds. A potential 3rd timed run was discarded to ensure the road would be re-opened on time with Roger Grimes a little too keen to help with straw bail removal, using his Vauxhall Corsa to redistribute them in the middle of one of the afternoon runs.
The Cataclean Southport Speed Sprint Revival continues to go from strength to strength.
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