The Colin Pool Memorial Trophy 2019

Gordon Spices Up Colin Pool Memorial Trophy Presentation at the London Classic Car Show

The prestigious Colin Pool Memorial Trophy was awarded to the Ginetta Le Mans team at the London Classic Car Show at Excel, in the presence of Gordon Spice, renowned endurance and touring car racing driver and constructor.

Ginetta’s Charlie Robertson received the award, also known as the ‘Spirit de la Sarthe trophy’ on behalf of the team, piloted #5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 car across the finishing line in the 24 Hrs, securing an impressive debut finish of 5^th place in class, sharing driving duties with teammates Mike Simpson and Leo Roussel.

Gordon, who was on the podium twice at the French circuit, said:

“Le Mans holds a very special place in my heart. I never won it, I came third twice and won my class several times. But the most satisfying was to be the last finisher in a prototype car.

We celebrated afterwards as though we’d won! Just to finish is really quite a good feeling.

I congratulate Charlie and Ginetta for that, particularly in the LMP1 class. To take a car to Le Mans for its maiden outing, I think that’s absolute madness! …well, anyway you finished – which probably disproves my point!”

Charlie Robertson, who received the trophy from Colin Pool’s son Charles, replied:

“To race there was an honour, something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid really. I’ve been going there since I was 12.

The race was hard, with a few issues along the way. We were still learning the car. We’d only done four or five test days before the race. To go into the race pretty ‘blind’ not knowing what to expect was pretty crazy, but we got to the end. To finish fifth in class was pretty cool, probably the coolest moment was to drive from 5.30 am and watch the sun rise.

It was an epic experience and I’m really proud to pick up the trophy on behalf of Ginetta.”

The award, in memory of former Le Mans driver Colin Pool, was instigated in 2014 by Michael Scott (Scottie), founder of the 96 Club and TIGOSE, to be awarded ‘for the most meritorious British performance in the 24 Hours’.

Scottie commented:

“This confirms what I’ve always said: to run at Le Mans is an amazing thing.

We offer our warmest congratulations to the Ginetta team on their successful debut with their all-new LMP1 car and their achievement is testament to British motorsport engineering at its finest. At TIGOSE we are striving the help develop the race-winning engineers of the future through the promotion of apprenticeship programmes.”

Gordon Spice

Gordon’s successful racing career spanned 37 years, (with his first race at Goodwood in 1962 and his last at Le Mans in 1989), most notably in endurance racing: four times winner of the C2 class, World Endurance Championships, with 26 class wins.

Gordon was the winner of the 1978 Spa Francorchamps 24 Hr race and the was almost a ‘resident’ of Le Mans, competing 14 times at the French circuit and picking up four class wins and twice gracing the third step of the podium.

Colin Pool

Colin raced primarily in Historic GTs, Historic F1, Sports 2000 and Thundersports in the mid to late 80s. In 1989 he competed in the Le Mans 24 Heures with Ian Harrower in the ADA 03 Group C2.

 Colin was both a member of the 96 Club and Soixante Douze du Mans. He was also the secretary of Le Club des Pilotes (Brittanique), before he sadly passed away in 2014, following a short illness.