Oulton Park local Chris Needham (Altrincham) added two more wins to his impressive tally during the penultimate event of the Legends Cars Championship on Saturday, 22nd August, while series returnee Aidan Hills (Shoreham by Sea) charged to a superb maiden victory in the round 11 Final.
Running as part of the single-day US Autoshow festival at the picturesque Cheshire venue, the 5/8 scale Legends Cars produced maximum entertainment across their three races around the full International Circuit configuration – and also delighted fans during a special grid walk.
As Needham and Hills took their richly deserved plaudits for incredibly impressive performances, reigning Legends Cars Champion and recently re-crowned Elite Cup Champion Tyler Read (Daventry) departed Oulton as the new points leader by a very slim five points.
In the Masters Cup battle Peter Barrable (Dublin) has a lead of more than 315 points over chief challenger Andy Bird (Calne), although the latter did outscore his rival by 50 points this weekend and so it is all still to play for with two more rounds to go. They, of course, will take place at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in Leicestershire next month.
Hills hits the jackpot in Rd11 Final as Needham proves pace once again
Nick Price (March) was the early leader of the opening race of the day on Saturday morning, making the most of his front row start to get to the head of the pack as the cars blasted through Cascades and past Lakeside on the run to Shell Oils Hairpin. Into lap two he was coming under significant pressure from Bird with Hills having sliced through impressively from eighth to third.
Hills, in the No.52 Team Car, then grabbed the lead on the second tour before the advancing Read, up from 13th on the grid, moved through to the front on lap three. Bird was an ever-present at this stage in second, but he was shuffled further back the next time around as Hills redoubled his efforts.
All the while Needham had been making strong progress from 15th and into lap five he was fifth and held fastest lap. Hills swept past Read at Old Hall, but Needham then showed his hand and led into the sixth and final tour. At the finish it couldn’t have been closer, just 0.001 seconds in Needham’s favour with Read second, Aaron Cooke (Croxley Green) right there in third and Hills finishing fourth.
As is the way in Legends Cars, a driver drawing a low grid slot for the first Heat means a much higher slot for Heat Two and Needham lined-up third this time with Read right behind. Ross Marshall (Stirling) led from the outside of the front row, but after going wide he dropped down the order and Needham threaded his way through into first place.
Needham, Luke Simmons (Lingfield) and Hills, up from eighth and 10th respectively, made the early running but a small error by Hills on lap two proved costly. Needham and Simmons duked it out at the front, trading the lead on the fourth tour, and on lap five Read made his move past Simmons at Cascades to take second.
Onto lap six just a tenth of a second separated Needham and Read, with Cooke up into third place a tenth ahead of Simmons, and another grandstand finish was settled with Needham winning by only 0.026s from Read. Oli Schlup (Cuckfield) produced a superb final tour to leap two places into third, while Simmons just saw off Cooke – who set fastest lap – by a whisker.
Much was expected of the round 11 Final, although the early running was brought under Safety Car conditions following a lap one tangle. At the resumption on lap three, another series returnee Stephen Treherne (Islington) led the way from Masters duo Barrable and John Mickel (Copthorne) but it didn’t take long for Read, who originally started in 16th, to surge from fourth into the lead.
Needham, reeling off fastest laps as he stormed from 17th at the start, was into second on lap three and another titanic battle was in the offing. Into lap five it was Needham from Read, Hills, Cooke and Treherne but Cooke had to retire on lap seven. The top three of Needham, Hills and Read then broke away from the rest, but Needham dropped back to fifth on lap eight as he and Hills traded paint.
Into the ninth and final tour, Read was 0.2s ahead of Hills and they looked to be home free with Schlup, now into third, 1.7s shy. Hills picked his moment midway around the lap to slice past Read and then defended well to claim a sensational first Legends Cars victory by 0.067s. Fired-up Needham punched in fastest lap and climbed back into third, moving past both Schlup and Treherne.
Chris Needham – Rd11 Heat One and Heat Two Winner:
“We’ve shown we’ve got the pace again, two more wins shows that, and I’m really happy with the car and my driving – I think I’m driving really well and the results have shown that again today, continuing what we did at Snetterton. I’m a bit miffed with some of things that happened on track today, but we’re ready to go again now and fight for the championship at Donington.”
Aidan Hills – Rd11 Final Winner:
“It was a really good race, it’s been a great day and the Simmons boys have done a really good job with the car. I was chipping away all day, race one was good although race two was annoying as I made a mistake. The Final made up for that though, I think it’s only my 12th ever Legends race. I was pretty confident I could be on the podium, and during the race the car felt so good. To come in and win a race against these boys is fantastic, huge thanks to Luke [Simmons] and Will [Gibson].”
There are now only six races remaining in this year’s Legends Cars Championship battle. Rounds 12 and 13 of the season will take place at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in Leicestershire across the weekend 26th/27th September.
Provisional 2026 Legends Cars Championship Points (after Rd11)
1st Tyler Read, 5375pts; 2nd Chris Needham, 5370pts; 3rd Aaron Cooke, 4995pts; 4th Oli Schlup, 4910pts; 5th Peter Barrable (M), 4130pts; 6th Luke Simmons, 4085pts
Provisional 2026 Legends Cars Championship Masters Cup Points (after R11)
1st Peter Barrable, 4130pts; 2nd Andy Bird, 3815pts; 3rd John Mickel, 3095pts
