The Gold Cup race meeting at
Oulton Park and Northern Centre had a stand. Regrettably there was no HDI
attendance as last year and, although the racing was enjoyable the Austin
Healey attendance was minimal. Fortunately for we enthusiasts the weekend
was saved by the rare appearance of Denis Welch and the 'Bulldog'. This
was the first appearance at a race meeting of the legendary racing big
Healey for five years and Denis had lost none of his spectacular cornering
style, much to the pleasure of the many onlookers and the announcer. Denis
admitted it felt different driving the car again after such a long break
and having become used to the handling of his single-seater race cars in
the interim.
Denis had also intended to race his successful Lotus 3b but blew his
engine in practice and went home to pick up his recently acquired Elva
Mk7s. He managed a class win despite a braking problem when he had to
utilise the gravel traps to slow down although the spectacular Connaughts
tended to attract most of the attention in his race.
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