As much of the international racing fraternity turned to thoughts of summer holidays, Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona class winner Darren Turner couldn’t resist one more quick dash behind the wheel of the Ecurie Bertelli-prepared Aston Martin LM4 at Silverstone, last weekend.
Little more than a month had passed since the ultra-successful British sports car champion, and the car’s owner Jonathan Lupton, took overall victory in their Chapter of the coveted Le Mans Classic, before Turner found himself back aboard the pre-war Irish Grand Prix winner. This time, it was to participate in the Aston Martin Owner’s Club-run St John Horsfall Trophy race, held on Silverstone’s national circuit.
The annual event is held in honour of St John Ratcliffe Stewart “Jock” Horsfall, a prolific pre-war Aston Martin racing legend whose heroics extended beyond motorsport into the second World War. Horsfall served as a driver for the British Secret Service and played a role in the much-celebrated ‘Operation Mincemeat’ plot to fool the Axis into thinking the Allies would invade Greece rather than Italy in 1943.
Perhaps in the spirit of such adventure, Turner, outgunned for horsepower in the little 1.5-litre LM4 and surrounded by much bigger 2.0-litre Speed Models, managed to put the car on the front row – just 0.194 seconds away from pole position.
“I must admit I was following in the tracks of [poleman] David Freeman,” said Turner. “He was very fast and I just tried to make sure I got as much of a tow as I could down the straights. That was all well and good for qualifying, but it did mean I was surrounded by much faster cars for the start of the race!”
As an endurance driver used to starting behind the pace car, it’s not often that Turner makes a standing start. In fact, the Briton had never done one in a pre-war racing car until Saturday, not that it proved a challenge… he was leading by the time the field reached Copse Corner on the opening lap! Very quickly however, the extra grunt afforded to those cars around him meant that he’d lost the lead again by the time the cars all reached the National Straight.
Undeterred, Turner stayed in the fight and did his best to keep an edge in the corners using all the agility available to the LM4. He soon found himself in a fight for third with Edward Bradley in an Aston Martin Ulster.
“There was nothing I could do about the two guys in the Speed Models, they just disappeared,” said Turner. “But the battle with Bradley was great fun, until he ran into an ignition problem. I’d just got past him for third at Brooklands, and then he started to fall away in my mirrors. After that I didn’t really encounter any other competition.”
It meant another podium to add to the growing list of achievements for 2023, both for Turner, and for LM4. “Every time I drive this car, I fall in love with it just that little bit more,” he said. “The atmosphere at these events is so infectious and the people that race in this paddock are so lovely! I can’t wait to get in and drive it again!”
Having turned the clock back for much of the summer, Turner now travels back to the present day for his next racing adventure, when he returns to the Nürburgring Langstrecken Series and Dörr Motorsport’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on the mighty Nürburging Nordschleife.
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