Great Goodwood Revival Races: 2005 Brooklands Trophy

With a Riley Dixon Special and an Alfa Romeo Tipo B starting from the front row, the race was already off to a good start before the flag dropped, and it didn’t take long for the drama to unfold as a plume of smoke erupted from the rear tyres of Chris Williams’ 24-litre aero-engined Bentley-Napier, a stunning one-off creation that evokes the engineering ambition of those 1920s racers.

But it was the spritely Alfa driven by Thomas Bscher that took the lead from Duncan Ricketts’ Riley, as this lithe pair made an early breakaway from the chasing pack. The race for the win was quickly reduced to a two-car battle by the end of the first lap, and after two laps it looked as though Bscher had the pace to cruise to victory at the front.

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If nothing else, those early laps were a great opportunity to enjoy the talents of Bscher as he wrung the neck of his Alfa Romeo and quickly began to catch up with the tail end of the field. One of those drivers was Tom Delaney, who quite extraordinarily was still racing at the age of 94 in a Lea-Francis that he had first driven way back in 1930.

Slowly but surely however, as both drivers navigated the traffic, the Riley was gradually making its way back into view. Ricketts was able to clear the slower cars more effectively than Bscher, and his looming presence was keeping the leader honest as he followed around four seconds back.

With four laps to go the gap was noticeably reduced, and you could see from the outside just how hard Ricketts was pushing as he threw the Riley into the Chicane to begin lap ten only 1.5 seconds behind.

After a huge scare at Madgwick as Ricketts was very nearly wiped off the road by a trailing Mercedes-Benz, taking to the grass on the inside to avoid contact, he continued to charge down his prey who was now just barely out of reach.

Both drivers were now visibly on the limit, and Ricketts set consecutive fastest laps to close right up onto the tail of the Alfa at the start of the penultimate lap.

Another gaggle of backmarkers stifled the leaders’ progress as they stormed into Fordwater, and Ricketts was right underneath Bscher’s rear axle as they powered out of Lavant and remained inseparable as they moved onto the final lap.

Both drivers were just barely keeping their cars on the tarmac in their desperation to claim victory, and as they set out onto the Lavant Straight for the final time a gaggle of cars appeared ahead, which made for a frantic approach into the braking zone for Woodcote.

Bscher appeared to hesitate as he attempted to navigate the penultimate corner, but Ricketts, now well and truly with the bit between his teeth, kept his foot in to try and audacious move around the outside.

The Riley’s tiny dimensions proved decisive as Ricketts was able to brilliantly weave his way between the sea of cars, leaving Bscher to rue his luck at the end of a race that he had dominated to that point.

Ricketts powered away from the Chicane to claim a memorable victory at Goodwood, reminding us all that the race is never over until the chequered flag falls. Here’s hoping for more drama excitement when the Brooklands Trophy returns to the Revival.

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