2020 Bristol Two Litre Cup Review

This might not have been the ideal year to start a new championship, but that didn’t dampen the quality of the field for the Bristol Two Litre Cup. Seven drivers entered the opening round, which ended up being the last event pre-Covid. Whilst the numbers were down, we had over 20 entries for the Great Western Sprint the following weekend at Castle Combe Circuit.

David Newman, 2015 Vincenzo & Sons Bristol MX5 Challenge winner, led the field from an intense battle between Rob Thomson and Donald Gay. Ryan Lock finished fourth ahead of Julie Clemow, returning from a decade-long absence, Phil Oliver, who was also returning from several years off, and Steven Lock.

We had to wait several months for round two of the championship but it was the next sprint in the country, the first sprint after lockdown, as we ran our summer event, the Dick Mayo Sprint. Twenty-two drivers competed in this round, many double-entered in the Vincenzo & Sons Bristol MX5 Challenge. This time, Peter Taylor took the top spot by just 0.15 from, you’ve guessed it, David Newman, and an absolutely storming drive by Matt Parr to come third in an almost completely standard Mk3 MX5.

After the last minute cancellation of the Llandow Sprint, we headed straight to Pembrey, where the championship leader, David Newman, was absent. Pekka Tulokas took the win by half a second from Peter Taylor and Nick Lear. Phil Oliver was showing consistency on his return to racing and finished fourth ahead of Mike Lear, Michael Bartlett and David Ashurst.

The championship was to be settled at the only hillclimb of the year, a double header weekend at Wiscombe Park. The event had moved from Manor Farm, due to a Covid shutdown of the venue. The weather was glorious and there were 6 drivers in contention. As a bonus, it was to be live streamed! David Newman was in fine form and stormed his way to a commanding win. Such was his dominance, that only Pekka Tulokas scored more than 19 points with 20 for the win.

On Saturday night, Phil Oliver was in the lead, but was the only driver to have to drop a score the following day. David Newman led the rest of the field ahead of Pekka Tulokas and a titanic battle between Michael Bartlett, Nick Lear and Mike Lear. The final day was another display of dominance by David Newman as he stormed to victory dropping just 0.04 points all season. Pekka Tulokas chased him hard but eventually rolled over and conceded defeat on the exit of Sawbench. Yes, he rolled the car coming out of Sawbench without harm to anything other than a few body panels and the electric mirror mechanism. Phew!

Michael Bartlett came home third on the day and third in the championship, followed closely by Nick Lear, Mike Lear and Phil Oliver. It was a brilliant finish to the inaugural season (Pekka’s mishap aside) and we’re keen to see what happens next year.

Do you have a <2000cc normally aspirated road car you’d like to compete with? Get involved in 2021!