Velocity Invitational at Sonoma, one of the two biggest historic race meets in the USA, north of San Francisco. Group 1’s Feature Race on Oct 6, 2024, for 1947-1955 sports racing cars was won by Jenson Button in his ex Fangio Jaguar C-Type Le Mans despite starting at the back; the organisers wanted him to entertain the crowd and the cameras rather than check out which he did in the qualifyihng race the previous day. Charles McCabe (1956 Cooper Bobtail) did not start (head gasket) so John Buddenbaum (1952 Parkinson Jaguar Special) was on pole with Marcus Bicknell from the UK alongside him driving Rob Manson’s 1952 Streets Manning flathead-V8 Special. Jonathan Green, the commentator (the same feed on the live stream as round the circuit), declared these cars his favourite group of the event.
At the flag, Marcus chased John up the hill and was able initially to match the pace; John’s best lap in the race was a quarter of a second better than Marcus’s best.
Nick Price in Jaguar C-Type and Lars Mapstead’s XK 120 were followed by James Alder’s white Jaguar XK 120 and 20 other fabulous motors from 1948 to 1955.
At the end of the first lap Marcus was hanging onto John despite going very wide at the double-apex 180° turn on the way back to the start finish. Nick Price was on his own in third and Jim Alder worried for fourth by Gilbert Hakim, guesting as the driver of Rob Manson’s red Kurtis Dodge 500 S and Lars Mapstead. Behind them John Mote Senior had his beautifully restored black Sorrell Kurtis blasting hot exhaust and noise out of his six smokestack exhausts, Steve Schuler in the Hagemann Chrysler Special, Rob Manson getting onto the pace in his newly acquired von Neumann special MGTD and Steve Schmidt in his 1953 Denzel roadster in 10th.
Up the hill for lap 2 suddenly Jenson is in 7th; that’s 13 overtakes in a lap. Between turn 3 and the carrousel he takes the three cars just mentioned and moves to fourth. The live stream homes in on the extraordinary car control by the 2009 F1 World Champion, the big steering wheel being worked left and right to keep the car on the racing line. Jim Alder is momentarily distracted by the bronze bolide and Gilbert overtakes him on the inside on braking for the double apex 180. A graceful wave from Gilbert to Jim as the big red Kurtis leads into the Esses. Gilbert Hakim is a seasoned Mustang and Porsche racer living close to the Del Monte group steward Rob Manson who has asked Gilbert to drive his Kurtis; after qualifying and race 1 being sensible, Gilbert gets Rob’s exhortation to step on the gas. That’s what’s Gilbert is now doing, dancing the two ton machine through the Esses on the throttle.
Ahead of Jenson still, Marcus Bicknell has recovered from two moments of over-driving and has caught up with John Buddenbaum. The two California road race specials are battling for first place. Indeed, at the end of lap 4 Marcus is leading the race having got a better run out of the carousel. John takes a breather then puts the white Parkinson with its sweet-sounding Jaguar 6 cylinders onto snapping at the heels of the aluminum and yellow Streets Manning flathead V8.
At the end of lap five, Bicknell leads Buddenbaum by just 0.044 seconds; they cross the line together add Buddenbaum races into the lead up the hill. Button is catching them both, six seconds behind. The top 10 is completed by Price, Hakim, Alder, Mapstead, Schuler, Mote and Manson. Steve Schmidt in the Denzel has got past Ben Wysard in his Porsche Glocker with Kevin Adair in the family Elva and Tim Barnes in his Jaguar XK 120 lurking. Presently Mapstead is past Alder and Kevin Adair has pipped Schmidt into 9th and Wysard is taking the fight back to Schmidt into the carrousel. Schuler has got the Hagemann on the move and is past both Alder and Mapstead.
Just as Jonathan Green says he does not think Button is going to get all the way to the front, by lap 7 there he is, at the top of the leaderboard; short work of John and Marcus. Several drivers who know the racing line at Sonoma comment that Jenson appears not to bother with taking the wide line to the right after turn 1 but straight lines it; less distance. The live stream pictures confirm.
Ben Wysard has dropped off the back of Steve Schmidt and Tim Barnes is on the tail of the Porsche.
Now Marcus‘s friends and those same experts noticed that he’s dropping back significantly and glancing down into the cockpit. Given the problems with overheating earlier in the weekend, they know that those six laps chasing the experienced John Buddenbaum have got the engine overheated. Marcus confirmed later that oil was over 280° with water at 235°. “As any fule know” (Molesworth; School Days), water boils at 212°, so it’s a miracle that the hose connectors and the pressure cap hold. Marcus nurses it home at half throttle looking in the mirrors to ensure his third place finish and the joy that comes with sharing the podium with a world champion.
Jenson Button does not ease off and he turns in a best lap of 1:55.757. By comparison John Buddenbaum’s best is 2:05.440 and Bicknell 2:05.686.
On the last lap, the cameras pick up Kevin Adair in the Elva, a lonely race but smooth in handling and profitable in kudos for ninth position. He laps the #76 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Berline of David Olsson without hesitation.
The gaggle for 10th-that is Schmidt Barnes and Wysard in a pack of three-have the excitement of seeing Jenson Button scream up behind them in the run down to turn 11 for his last time. He does two gentlemanly things. He eases off the throttle and allows the three boys to continue for another lap then he winds the steering wheel coming into turn 11 like a rally driver and showboats the Le Mans Jaguar round the hairpin with the back hanging out and opposite lock on the front. Enjoying himself? You bet.
John Buddenbaum finished in second, 17 seconds behind Button and 38 seconds ahead of Marcus Bicknell. Nick Price had a lonely run to 4th followed by Gilbert Hakim and Steve Schuler. Lars Mapstead and James Alder continued their paddock and track friendship by finishing 0.02 seconds apart, with Kevin Adair ninth and Steve Schmidt 10th.
11th was Tim Barnes with Ben Wysard on his tail. John Mote’s Allard in 13th, Uwe Biegner in his terrific Porsche 356 in 14th then the aforementioned David Olsson in the Alfa Romeo. Jonathan Kitchen had managed 5 laps in the Aston Martin and John Mote driving the Sorrell Kurtis 6 laps. Rob Manson declared his newly-acquired Von Neumann MG TD special a fine racing car with great set up. Once again the cooling system let him down and after six laps knocking on the door of the top five he had to retire with water pouring out of the front. He will be back and he will be quick. Charles McCabe had not started because the Cooper had popped a head gasket. Similarly Dave Zurlinden had not raced the Tatum because of oil pressure warnings in the Saturday Race.
The festivities did not end on track. The top three cars and drivers were ushered to the Velocity Invitational trophy ceremony podium where glamorous personnel of both genders presented a trophy to each and a glass of Napa Valley sparkles for the thirst. 20 photographers were jostling for position to give the impression of a Formula One celebration. John and Marcus were happy to be in on the act and waved thanks to the supporters and crews who had turned up as well. An elbow each appears in Jenson’s official podium pic. Jenson was heard to ask whether the British national anthem would be played. It appeared not to be the case so Marcus sang the first line anyway, “God save our gracious queen“ at which Jenson quite rightly retorted “it’s a king now you ass.” An hour later Jenson and his team were kind enough to bring the Jaguar round to our paddock for a group photograph of the top three cars and all the Del Monte trophy race group drivers and crews. A very warm hearted day both in the sport and in the camaraderie in the paddock. Thank you Jenson for participating in both so fully.
Details gleaned from the stream available on YouTube.
[Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from 2000 to 2017, and won the World Drivers’ Championship in 2009 with Brawn GP.]