Wood-Scott – Tour Britannia
Honouring Richard

In early September – with the CBT backed Racing Mustang back in the capable hands of Mike Jordan and Eurotech – Stuart Scott wheeled out his ex-Richard Lloyd 1970 Chevrolet Camaro for the Tour Britannia. Stuart and Steve Wood had debuted in this historic event in 2009 and had been looking forward to having another crack at it ever since. 

The event would start at Chester on the 7th and end in the Midlands on the 9th and would comprise approximately 850 miles of liaisons, races and speed tests, and the Camaro would again be competing in Class 6 – “FIA Period G & H 1/1/66 to 31/12/76 over 2000cc (except Porsche 911s)".

Last year’s event, although enjoyable, had seen the Chevy encounter repeated fan belt failure, which resulted in its finishing fifth in class and 23rd overall, having incurred five minutes of penalties along the way. In the interim, however, work had been carried out on this Achilles heel and the team arrived in Chester on the eve of the event confident that the squeal of the fan belt would not be heard this time around.

Despite its relaxed appearance, the Tour is a serious event and it was important to understand – and comply with – the regulations, both technical and sporting; something Stuart and Steve discovered on the first day.

The event began with two stages around a very sunny and scenic Aintree. The first was completed in a time of 56.9s, while the second saw an improvement of three-tenths. To their disappointment, however, these times were just outside the top ten – albeit first in class – and they proceeded to the first race at Oulton Park determined to make up places.

While practicing for the race, however, the Camaro was deemed to be too noisy (the limit being 105 dB for all races) and was told to get it sorted. With the practice session setting the grid for the race, this was potentially serious; but happily the necessary modifications were quickly and successfully made and the car made it to the grid for the start.

The race went really well and the Camaro crossed the line in sixth place overall and first in class, with the result that the day ended with those being the overall positions.

Day Two saw the Tour heading off into Wales, with the first two stages being on the bumpy and narrow Trawsfynyyd. As the stage didn’t really suit the big car, Steve and Stuart decided not to take too many risks; but after finishing the stages in 17th and 18th position, admitted that they had perhaps been a little too cautious.

The next two stages at Vaynol Hall suited the Camaro much better and a sixth and eighth overall brought Steve and Stuart to within a second of the fifth overall Lotus Elan of Marcus Pye and Michael Shryver ahead of the next race at Anglesey.

As it turned out, the Wood-Scott pair found themselves racing directly with the Lotus and had a whale of a time; crossing the line in seventh just 1.1s ahead of the Lotus after a 22 minute race and moving ahead up to fifth in the overall standings – by just 0.4s.

Next up were two stages at Great Orme, and what Stuart would later describe as; "The best stage of the entire Tour Britannia - narrow, very fast and with a wall on one side of the stage and a hill on the other side.

"The sea was the other side of the wall. Tremendous sound effects! On the first run there was oil, but we went for it on the second run."     

Two ninth places – and first in class again – meant that the Camaro was back to sixth overall, but there was still half of the event to run; but the two stages at Mostyn suited the small Lotus much more than the somewhat larger Chevrolet. The Wood-Scott car completed the narrow stages in eighth and seventh to end the second day still in sixth overall and leading Class 6.

With the days activities over, it was time to head back to the hotel in Chester for drinks and dinner before tackling the final day.

Day Three opened with two stages at Eaton Hall. Overnight rain meant that the course was quite slippery – especially under the trees – but the Camaro was able to pull back some time on a section of runway. A tenth and a sixth kept the class lead, but they had dropped to seventh overall.

On, then, to Cholmondely, where two more tricky stages awaited. The track was still damp in places, but the loose gravel and tight hairpins were the real challenge; and again Stuart and Steve reflected that they had probably been over cautious as they made their way to tenth and twelfth overall.

The Swynnerton stages should have suited the Camaro much better as it lent itself to speed much more than the preceding stages had. Just before they came up to the line, however, a shower left them facing a damp track, while the majority of the top ten had gone through while it was dry. The result was two 13th places. But while these finishes were not what they had expected, they had at least finished – something their old nemesis, the Lotus Elan of Pye/Shryver had failed to do after crashing out. This left them back in sixth overall as they headed to Arbury Hall.  

When they arrived to start the first of the two stages, the official on duty – on seeing the Camaro’s width – felt compelled to warn Stuart and Steve about the very narrow humped-back bridge that awaited them. They knew that the stage would be tight and this new information lowered expectations further. It was to their great surprise then that they completed the stages in fourth and sixth places.

The final event was a race around Mallory Park, which saw the Camaro fighting with the fourth-placed Class 5 Ford Escort Mk 1 of Chris Clark and Alasdair McCaig.

This was a fight every bit as close as had been the case on Anglesey, but at the end it was the Chevrolet that saw the chequered flag first; the Wood-Scott car coming home fifth overall, just 0.6 seconds ahead of the Escort.

All that remained was to drive back to the Leicester Marriott Hotel and take the finish, before celebrating their sixth overall and Class 6 win at the gala dinner.

"We both shared driving duties and we make a great team and have a lot of trust in each other's driving," said a very happy Stuart. "We wouldn't do this event with anyone else.

“Steve is very good with the road book and pace notes and we didn't make one mistake throughout the three days; and the Camaro was faultless. The belts stayed on and Richard's best finish was a 3rd in class in 2007 after 6th in class in 2006.

"So this class win was for Richard."