Turner battling to keep third place
A big nudge from a BMW could have ended Nick Swift's St Mary's Trophy race at the first corner, just yards from the start, but the white Mini held on to its lead until the power of the bigger cars told.
Third place overall was a remarkable result for Swift and Aston Martin works driver Darren Turner who had a race-long dice with Anthony Reid's Jaguar MkII and Le Mans-winning Tom Kristensen's Lotus Cortina in race one on Saturday. He was ahead of them both at one point and after some frantic place swapping went on to net fourth place.
Darren Turner was delighted to swap his Aston Martin LMP1 for a Mini. "The car handles tremendously well, there is no power so it is all about keeping the momentum." To prove the point he achieved a breathtaking 1 min 33.8 sec fastest lap with a little help from the Cortina's tow on the straights.
Feeling a little pressure from his team-mate Nick had to summons up all of his Mini racing skill to post a 1 min 33.9 sec fastest lap in the second race.
A very pleased Swift summed up," This third place was probably more satisfying than winning the all Mini historic race at Goodwood in 2009 because then we were the favourites, this weekend I thought sixth would be the best we could hope for."
As always the crowd loved the little Mini taking on the bigger machines, cheering as it nipped back past into Woodcote or Lavant. Mike Cook emailed Swiftune," Watching your mini racing this weekend made the 800 mile round trip to the revival worth it. Fantastic and thanks."
"You kept the crowd really fired up during your race on Sunday, so thanks for making it a memorable day and the best race of the day," said Brian & Sandra Kingsnorth's email.
Winning team, Nick(with the hat), Darren and the Swiftune lads
Swift at Woodcote corner heading for third place
21 September 2011