The Dave Simpson Memorial Trophy was presented to the North Western Centre by Margaret Simpson in honour of her husband Dave. It remembers a man who was a pioneering member of the North Western committee many years ago. Dave was our Chief Marshal and put a lot into his official activities as part of that bedrock of motor racing made of totally devoted, enthusiastic and skilled amateurs.

Dave used some of his business skills to improve the race official’s lot, being the first to use a photocopier for reproduction of paperwork and one of the group in the North West that were first to bring along a computer to deal with the organisation and administration of the meetings. He is therefore a significant figure in the history of the growth of the BARC. The presentation of the trophy was made, as is always the case, by his wife Margaret who has reflected his enthusiasm for many years in her role as our present Chief Marshal.

The trophy is fought out by all the class winners at a specific race meeting each year, usually the July/August meeting at Oulton Park, this year was no exception. In the past the winner was the CNC Heads driver who won their class by the greatest time margin at the relevant meeting. However it was agreed last year that because of the problem when lapping occurs and there is difficulty in working out the actual winner the process would change. Now it is decided by the greatest difference in average speed between first and second in each class. The result is the same as with greatest distance but it is much easier to calculate!

This year it was slightly complicated by the fact that the large entry was split into two grids, one of the modified cars and one for the specials. The modified cars went first and at the end of the race the overall winner of the race, Garry Wardle won his class in this race by the greatest speed differential (88.42mph - 85.54mph = 2.88mph). However he had to wait until the specials had run their race. Further complications were added in that race in that the safety car was deployed which closed up all the cars which would have given the trophy to Garry. However, with time in short supply the race was red flagged and thus the result taken from before the incident. As a result of this and the demise of Joe Spencer it meant that Dave Harvey won his class by a considerable margin and a time differential of 88.85mph - 80.21mph = 8.64mph. This was considerably more that all other classes.

In the photographs, provided by John Leck, Dave can be seen receiving the trophy from Margaret Simpson and celebrating with his two sons.