April 17, 2023

The Gordon Spice Trophy for Group 1 Touring cars from 1972 to 1980 contained five Mini's, four of which were Swiftune powered. In the Longman Replica there was our very own Nick Swift. The Datapost GT was hauled by 2022 Miglia Champion, Rupert Deeth. Mr. SU, Mark Burnett piloted the unique 1275GT Estate and the iconic Jon Mowatt GT, previously owned and raced by the late great Glyn Swift was driven by Larry Warr.

Qualifying got underway on a beautiful sunny afternoon and yielded some equally fine results.

P2 - Nick Swift 1:31.542

P5 - Rupert Deeth 1:32.675

P9 - Mark Burnett 1:35.619

P10 - Lawrence Warr 1:35.695

There were two heats for the Gordon Spice Trophy, with the top 15 from each heat securing a place in Sunday's final. All the Mini's were in Heat 2 up against the likes of the VW Golf, Scirocco and Ford Escort RS2000. With all of the Swiftune powered cars classifying inside the top 10 it was a full house for the final.

P1 - Nick Swift

P6 - Rupert Deeth

P9 - Mark Burnett

P10 - Lawrence Warr

Sunday's final introduced the big boy Mustangs and Camaro's to the mix but with Nick starting from POLE we had it all to play for. 

Following that barnstorming performance in the first race, Nick held his own against the muscle cars to cross the line in an outstanding 6th place (1st in class, and a fastest lap to boot).

Rupert Deeth brought the Datapost GT home in 14th (2nd in class) following a huge save on the opening lap while Mark Burnett secured 19th (7th in class) with the GT estate. Unfortunately Larry wound up with a DNF in the final but a top 10 finish in the earlier race kept morale high.

You can watch the races in full in the videos below. Keep an eye on our socials for in car footage and more coverage from the weekend.