Classic and Competition car 19

Transcription

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Cla Competition Car
Issue 19
April 2012
CONTENTS
News
Page 4
Ginetta Media Day
Page 12
Tasman Revival Series
Page 14
British Women Racing
Drivers Club 50th
Anniversary
Page 19
Masters Historic
Festival. Oulton Park
Page 22
Archive Photo of the
month
Page 27
HSCC Season Opener,
Donington Park
Page 28
Motoring Record
Breakers Exhibition,
Gaydon
Page 34
British GT Media day
Page 37
British GT Ginetta ride
Page 39
Jaguar Heritage
Museum
Page 40
Donington Historic
Festival Media day
Page 43
Britcar Silverstone
Page 45
Techno Exhibition,
Essen Germany
Page 49
Motors TV Live day,
Donington Park
Page 52
GT Cup Test day
Snetterton
Page 57
Historic Racing Drivers
Club (HRDC) Press day
Page 59
© Mick Herring
Tarrant-Willis/Hollings Ferrari 430 Britcar Endurance series
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 2
EDITORIAL
The season is finally underway and
various series and championships are
getting off to a great start. It is nice to
see that some famous teams are also
making a return. The photo below
shows the new Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4
GT3 which will contest the British GT
Simon Wright Series as well as the Blancpain
Editor
Endurance Series. Sixty years since the
team was first formed, the legendary
Scottish team is back in International Sports Car racing,
and it is great to see them back.
We look forward to seeing you during the season ahead.
Please say Hello when you see us.
© Simon Wright
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Front Cover
Sue Darbyshire Morgan Super Aero three wheeler leads the Talbot
Lago of John Guyatt and the Alfa Romeo 8C of Neil Twyman at the
Motors TV Live race day meeting at Donington Park © Simon Wright
The Historic Road Sports Ford Mustang of Martin Edridge at
Donington Park © Pete Austin
All content is copyright classicandcompetitioncar.com unless otherwise
stated. All photographs are copyright the original photographer and may
not be used for commercial purposes unless by prior approval of the
original copyright holder.
We try to ensure accurate and truthful reporting but if you spot an error,
please contact us and we verify and correct accordingly.
We do not organise any events which are mentioned and we are not
responsible if the event does not take place or is cancelled. Please contact
the event organiser before making a long trip.
PETE AUSTIN
Pete is the man for Historic
racing, with an extensive
archive of black and white
images covering the last few
decades of motor racing in
Britain. He also is keen on BRM
MICK HERRING
Mick’s first love is GT racing,
though Historic GT, especially
Lola T70’s are a favourite.
JANET WRIGHT
Janet
has
been taking photos for many
years but her real speciality is
Classic and Competition Car is published by simonwrightphotos.com High View Drive, Kingswinford,
West Midlands DY6 8HT E-mail [email protected] Tel 07905 435973
NEWS
ROSS
CLAIMS MSC
CROWN AT
PHILLIP
ISLAND
Dunedin driver
Steve Ross
(McRae GM1)
claimed the
2011/12 MSC
F5000 Tasman Cup
Revival Series
crown at Australia's
biggest and most
Steve Ross and Michael Lyons dispute track position at the start of the
prestigious classic Mobil1 feature at the penultimate round of the 2011/12 MSC F5000 Tasman
motor racing
Cup Revival Series at Christchurch's Powerbuilt Tools RacewayPhoto credit:
meeting at Phillip
Fast Company/Alex Mitchell
Island.
After finishing second to series super-vet Ken Smith (Lola T430) for the past two years
Ross crossed the Tasman with an 88 point lead over fellow McRae GM1 driver Aaron
Burson with Rotorua man Brett Willis (Lola T330) third.
2011/12 Series winner Steve Ross (centre) is flanked by runner-up Aaron Burson (left) and third
placed Brett Willis (right).Photo credit: Fast Company/Alex Mitchell
The number of celebrations being held at this years
Silverstone Classic continues to grow. As well as
celebrations for major anniversaries for AC Cobra,
MGB, Ferrari F40, Lotus Elan and Triumph Spitfire,
there will also be the first UK BMW Z-Fest.
It is expected that over 7000
classic cars will be on display
over the weekend at
Silverstone. There will also be
the finest classic historic
racing covering over 70 years
of motorsport history. With
races for Grand Prix cars, Le
Mans sports cars, GTs, Group
C, Formula 5000, Formula 2,
sports and Touring cars in 24
races, there will be something
for every car enthusiast.
www.silverstoneclassic.com
© Janet Wright
Motorsport returns to Crystal Palace for 2012.
Now in it’s third year, the popular sprint time trial promises to be bigger and better this
year. Run over the weekend of the 26th to 27th May 2012, the event uses part of the old
racing circuit located in the famous South London Park. The on track event features
classic and modern racing cars competing to set the fastest time, while for 2 wheel fans,
the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club will demonstrate a range of classic GP and racing
machinery. Prices have been held at 2011 levels with adults costing £10 per day and
children under 16 free if accompanied by an adult. More information can be found on their
web site http://motorsportatthepalace.co.uk/
THE MAC CLASSIC CAR RUN
On Sunday 22nd of April
2012 the Midland
Automobile Club (MAC)
have organised a big classic
car run across the Midlands.
There are several starting
points at Shelsley Walsh,
the Cosford Museum,
Gaydon and the Forrest of
Dean. Cars will be departing
from Shelsley Walsh around
9:45am and Cosford around
10am and it is expected that
the first cars will arrive back
at Shelsley Walsh around
1:30 to 2pm.
© Simon Wright
DONINGTON HISTORIC FESTIVAL
After 60 years Sir Stirling Moss will be reunited with the Jaguar C Type that he drove
to victory in the 1952 Reims Grand prix for
Sports Cars. On Sunday 6th of May 2012 at
the Donington Historic Festival, Sir Stirling
will drive some demonstration laps round the
circuit in the Jaguar, chassis No XKC 005
registration No MDU 212 which made history
as being the first victory of a car fitted with
disc brakes. This helped establish Jaguar as
an innovative engineering company.
© Janet Wright
Moss at Rheims in 1952.
Photo courtesy of Jaguar Heritage
2011 Ginetta Junior champion, Seb Morris took to the track to demonstrate the
Ginetta backed, Formula Renault, at the Ginetta media day, that he will race in 2012.
Seb Morris Formula Renault Prize
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 © Mick Herring
6
MG6 BTCC Challenger launch.
© Kary-Anne Jiggle
Jason Plato and team mate Andy Neate
unveiled the new MG6 GT BTCC car to the
worlds press at Silverstone during the recent
BTCC Media day. The car has been prepared
and run by Triple Eight Race Engineering, one
of the most successful constructors in touring
car racing.
The car is powered by the standard TOCA
NGTC turbo engine and Jason Plato reckons
the team could spring a few surprises in their
first season.
Photos by Kary-Anne Jiggle
© Kary-Anne Jiggle
GT5
Ginetta have also announced the re branding of their Junior category, following a tie up
with the Total Oil company.
The Ginetta Challenge will now be known as The Total Quartz GT5 Challenge, still
allowing the older G20s to compete with the G40s but also now with the establishing of a
G40 "Roadsports" class, for road-spec G40s running on treaded road tyres, within the
main races
© Mick Herring
BTCC Class of 2012
British Touring Car Championship 2012
The dates have now been confirmed for all ten rounds of the BTCC 2012. Visiting nine
different circuits during the year, the season will start and end at Brands Hatch in Kent. At
the recent media launch driver and team line ups were confirmed.
© Janet Wright
© Janet Wright
Above Left
Redstone Racing Ford Focus - Mat Jackson,
Aron Smith and Liam Griffin
Above
Welch Motorsport Proton Persona Daniel Welch
Left
Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 Rob Austin and Mark
Hazell
© Simon Wright
Classic and Competition Car April
8
© Janet Wright
MG KX MG6 Jason Plato and Andy Neate
Honda Yuasa Honda Civic Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden
© Simon Wright
Binz Racing Vauxhall Vectra Lea Wood
© Janet Wright
Team ES Vauxhall Vectra Dave Newsham and Chris James
© Janet© Simon
Dynojet Toyota Avensis Frank Wrathall
© Simon Wright
© Simon Wright
eBay Motors BMW 320si E90 Rob Collard, Nick
Foster and Tom Onslow-Cole
© Simon Wright
© Simon Wright
AmD Tuning Volkswagen Golf Mk5 Ollie Jackson
Thorney Motorsport Vauxhall Insignia VXR-R
John Thorne
© Simon Wright
Pirtek Racing Honda Civic Jeff Smith and Andrew Jordan
© Simon Wright
© Janet Wright
Team Hard Honda Civic Tony Gilham
Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis Adam Morgan
and Tony Hughes
© Mick Herring
31st March - 1st April Brands Hatch, Kent
BMW Turbo engine
© Simon Wright
NTGC Honda Turbo engine
14-15th April
Donington Park, Leicestershire
28-29th April
Thruxton, Hampshire
9-10 June
Oulton park, Cheshire
23-24th June
Croft, North Yorkshire
11-12th August
Snetterton (300), Norfolk
25-26th August
Knockhill, Fife
22-23rd September
Rockingham, Northamptonshire
6-7th October
Silverstone, Northamptonshire
20-12st October
Brands Hatch, Kent
Alan Mann 22nd August 1936 - 21st March 2012
Alan Mann will be best remembered as a part time racing driver and part time team
manager whose team ran a large part of the Ford works racing efforts in the mid 1960’s
across Europe. His team was famous for its Red and Gold colour schemes which
adorned many Ford saloons across Europe, achieving great successes. They were also
responsible for the
© Pete Austin
Ford F3L which was a
Ford backed attempt to
create a 3 litre sports
prototype for
endurance racing in
the late 1960’s.
His team achieved
many victories
including the World GT
championship in 1965
with Carroll Shelby and
the Daytona Coupe
Cobra. He had many of
the Worlds greatest
Denny Hulme Ford F3L Brands Hatch 1969
drivers race for his
team, including Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, Sir John Whitmore, Bruce McLaren,
Jacky Ickx and Frank Gardner. Many major victories were achieved including winning the
1964 Tour de France with a Ford Mustang, 1965 World GT Championship with the
Shelby Daytona Coupe Cobra, 1965 European Touring Car Chamionship with the Ford
Lotus Cortina, 1967 British Saloon Car Championship with a Ford falcon and the 1968
British Saloon Car Championship with a Ford Escort.
He died at the age of 75 after a long illness. Classic and Competition Car sends its
sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Robert Fernell
Robert Fernell was a key figure behind the scenes at Donington Park. He passed away
on the 2nd of March 2012 aged 57. He had spent many years working with Tom
Wheatcroft on restoring Donington Park. At the recent media launch for the Donington
Historic festival, Christopher Tate, the Managing Director of Donington Park paid tribute
to his friend of 20 years and a minutes silence was observed around the circuit at
1:15pm with a lone Alfa Romeo on the start line and people gathered around in his
memory. Classic and Competition car sends its sincere condolences to his family and
friends
© Simon Wright
Captain Jean-Luc Picard Explores The Space-Time Continuum,
Star Date 05/03/2012 By Mick Herring
© Mick Herring
© Mick Herring
Sir Patrick Stewart
A chilly and blustery Silverstone played host today today to a group of invited stars from the
world of stage, screen and television and some racing drivers too.
At the official Ginetta media day launch for 2012, Ginetta chairman Lawrence Tomlinson,
played host to an audience of stars including Star-Trek and Shakespearean actor Sir
Patrick Stewart, Emmerdale actors Chris Bisson and Kelvin Fletcher, dancer Brendan Cole
and his wife, Zoe, racer and rocker Rick Parfitt Jr. together with TV presenter Nick
Knowles.
© Mick Herring All of these and many more would experience the thrill of the
Ginetta G40 from both sides of the cockpit, the smiles and, in
some cases, disbelief at how fast they had just driven or been
driven, lit up the pitlane without exception.
However, the presence of former World Champion Nigel
Mansell ensured that the world of motor racing was not
outshone by television stars.
Nigel was on hand to support sons, Leo and Greg, both of
whom would drive the latest Ginetta G55 GT3 alongside works
development
driver
Michael
Simpson.
2011 Ginetta
Junior
champion,
Seb Morris,
couldn't resist
the chance to
Strictly Star Brendan Cole drive the G40
again with
passengers before taking to the track to
demonstrate the Ginetta backed,
© Mick Herring
Formula Renault, that he will race in
TV star Nick Knowles DIT SOS exits the car
2012.
© Mick Herring
© Mick Herring
Star line up for the test day
Several teams running Ginettas this year, across several championships, took the
opportunity to test their cars and drivers ahead of the season start and following a strong
showing last year, team boss Simon Mason of Piranha Motorsport came away pleased by
the speed of his three drivers, Ryan Ratcliffe, Rick Parfitt Jr. and JJ O'Malley.
Justifiably proud of the progress Ginetta have made with their Supercar G60, Lawrence
couldn't resist the opportunity to put several more laps under it's tyres. © Mick Herring
Lawrence Tomlinson does more miles in the Ginetta G60
© Mick Herring
© Mick Herring
Ex World Champion Nigel Mansell
Ginetta G55 GT3 leads Ginetta G50
ROSS KEEPS KIWIS ON TOP IN AUSTRALIA.
Tasman Cup Revival series
© Fast Company/Alex Mitchell
Kiwi Steve Ross (McRae GM1) leads Australians Andrew Robson (Lola T332 and Bryan Sala (Matich A50),
and fellow Kiwi David Abbott (Lola T430) during the first MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series race of the
weekend at Phillip Island Photo Credit: Fast Company/Alex Mitchell
Dunedin driver Steve Ross (McRae GM1) has so far proved the man to beat at the final round of the
2011/12 MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series at Australia's Phillip Island circuit this weekend despite the speed of
local ring-in James
Davison (Lola T332).
Davison, 25, who
races professionally in
the United States, set a
blistering pace to
snatch pole position in
qualifying from MSC
series champion-elect
Ross on Friday. But
it was Ross who won
the first two MSC
F5000 races on the
programme at the
annual Phillip Island
Classic meeting today,
Ross passes the stranded James Davison Lola T332 at the hairpin. Photo: Fast
Company/Alex Mitchell
the first from
Australian Andrew
Robson (Lola T332),
Kiwi David Abbott
(Lola T430) and
Australian Bryan Sala
(Matich A50), the
second from the Aussie
trio of Robson, Sala
and a resurgent
Davison.
The young thirdgeneration Australian
driver, whose cousin
Will won the second
V8 Supercar race at the
Clipsal 500 meeting in
Adelaide last weekend,
In Davison's absence, top Aussie race finishers, meanwhile, were Andrew Robson
conceded the start of
(Lola T332) and Bryan Sala (Matich A50). Photo: Fast Company/Alex Mitchell
the first race to fellow
front row starter Ross but was closing in for a pass at the hairpin on the third lap when a driveshaft
failed, leaving his car stranded in the gravel trap.
The car - which his father Jon used to race in Australian in the late 1970s - was repaired in time for
the second race, but because he hadn't finished the first the former Formula Atlantic and Firestone
Indy Lights series
front-runner had to
start it from the back
row of the grid,
meaning Ross went on
to win a second race
unchallenged.
Behind the leading four
- Ross, Robson, Abbott
and Sala - in the first
race came former MSC
F5000 series champion
Ian Clements, (Lola
T332) with a small gap
back to UK-based
series regular Greg
Thornton (Chevron
B24) and Aaron
Burson (McRae
Aaron Burson leads Sefton Gibb, James Davison and Brett Willis. Photo credit: Fast
Company/Alex Mitchell.
GM1) with similar
gaps back to Brett
Willis (Lola T330)
and Darcy Russell
(Lola T332), and
Sefton Gibb and
Russell Greer (both
Lola T332),
and Christchurch
series rookie David
Arrowsmith the first
of the Class A (for
earlier model cars)
category drivers
home in 12th place.
The big question in
the second race was
how far could
Davison make it
David Abbott leads Aaron Burson. Photo credit: Fast Company/Alex
back up through the
field before the
chequered flag came out, the answer, fourth place, his progress aided by the race's quickest lap, a
1.30.1503. Not as quick as the 1.29.6362 he set in qualifying, but still just over a second better than
Steve Ross' best in the race.
Behind Davison at the flag came David Abbott then a five car battle-pack consisting of Greg
Thornton, Ian Clements, Aaron Burson, Sefton Gibb and Brett Willis.
A little further back, American visitors Scott Drnek (Surtees TS8) and Eric Haga (Lola T190) were
enjoying their introduction to Australasia's fastest circuit, Drnek driving fellow American Harin de
Silva's ex Peter Revson Surtees TS8, 70-year-old Haga - who contested three of the New Zealandbased rounds of the 2011/12 MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series - the very same Lola T190 he
ran first time around in the United States in the 1970s.
Today's two races were the first of four for the MSC F5000 series cars at the big Phillip Island
Classic meeting with another two, including a feature series final, tomorrow.
ROSS WRAPS UP TITLE WITH FEATURE WIN IN AUSTRALIA
Kiwi Steve Ross (McRae GM1) wrapped up the 2011/12 MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series
title in style with a win in the feature eight lap final at the Phillip Island Classic motor racing
meeting in Australia on Sunday.
The series win is the Dunedin contractor's first in three year's contesting the MSC series and comes
after early career success at home in the Pre 65 and OSCA classes.
Heading into the weekend it looked like 25-year-old US-based professional James Davison (Lola
T332) would have the upper hand, but though the third-generation Australian racer claimed pole
position with a time a second-and-a-half quicker than Ross, it was Ross who won three of the four
races and set the fastest race lap in the feature final.
With two laps to go it looked like the Kiwi would finish second in the other race, too, until he
mistook the final lap flag for the chequered one and slowed down, allowing Andrew Robson (Lola
T332) to demote him to third before he realised his mistake.
Robson, driving the Lola T332 originally owned and raced in the 1970s with much success by
three-time MSC F5000 series champion Ken Smith, ended up best of the rest of the bumper MSC
F5000 field, splitting race winner Steve Ross and third placeman David Abbott (Lola T430) in the
first race of the weekend on Saturday morning then finishing second to either Ross or Davison in
the other races.
Abbott, in turn, was the best of the other New Zealand-based MSC series regulars, qualifying
fourth then finishing third in the first race, fifth in the second and fourth in each Sunday race.
Sunday's races were not just close run affairs up front either, Abbott leading home a tightlybunched freight train of cars in the 6 lap morning outing with UK-based MSC series regular Greg
Thornton (Chevron B24) fifth, eventual series runner-up Aaron Burson (McRae GM1) sixth and
former series champion Ian Clements (Lola T332) from Christchurch sixth.
A little further back Kiwi Russell Greer and Australian Darcy Russell circulated nose-to-tail in
their similar Lolas (Greer's the ex Graeme Lawrence T332, Russell's the ex Max Stewart/Kevin
Bartlett T330) with series newcomer David Arrowsmith again the first of the Class A (for earlier
cars) runners in his recently acquired Ford-powered Lotus 70.
For 2011/12 series runner-up Aaron Burson the fourth and final race was his best, the Aucklander
crossing the line four seconds behind Abbott in fifth with Brian Sala (Matich A50) and Ian
Clements (Lola T332) on his tail.
Greg Thornton separated Abbott and Burson for much of the race, but ran low on fuel in the final
lap, slipping back to eighth place and crossing the finish line just in front of Sefton Gibb (Lola
T332). Paul Zazryn (Lola T332) and the trans-Tasman duo of Russell Greer and Darcy Russell.
Series winner Steve Ross (#5) shares the front row of the rolling start with Andrew Robson as the MSC
F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series field lines up for a rolling start to the third race of the weekend on
Sunday morning. Photo credit: Fast Company/Alex Mitchell
That's it for the MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series for another year but the success
of that series has spawned a new one in Australia, the Australian F5000 Cup for which
the Phillip Island Classic meeting was the opening round.
Subsequent rounds of that series will be held at major historic motor racing meetings in
Australia during the year with the final at one of the early rounds of the 2012/13 MSC
F5000 (New Zealand) series meaning both series compliment rather than compete
against each other.
Race 1 (Sat 5 laps)
1. Steve Ross (McRae GM1) 7:40.812
2. Andrew Robson (Lola T332) 7:49.7320
3. David Abbott (Lola T430) 7:54.1416
4. Bryan Sala (Matich A50) 7:54.3979
5. Ian Clements (Lola T332) 7:55.2411
6. Greg Thornton (Chevron B24) 8:05.1892
7. Aaron Burson (McRae GM1) 8:05.3072
8. Brett Willis (Lola T330) 8:09.8070
9. Darcy Russell (Lola T330) 8:10.7555
10. Sefton Gibb (Lola T332) 8:15.7387
11. Russell Greer (Lola T332) 8:15.7606
12. Dave Arrowsmith (Lotus 70B)8:18.5075
13. Chris Hocking (Matich A52) 8:18.6269
14. Bill Hemming (Elfin MR8 AC) 8:30.9175
15. Scott Drnek (Surtees TS8) 8:30.9728
16. Philip Lewis (Matich A50) 8:35.5418
17. Robert Harborow (Elfin MR8)
8:47.2281
18. John Bryant (Lola T140) 8:54.4184
19. Jay Bondini (Lola T332) 8:58.2834
20. Timothy Rush (McLaren M22-3)
9:21.7907
21. Eric Haga (Lola T190) 7:52.5426
DNF Paul Zazryn (Lola T332) Graham
Smith (March 73A) James Davison (Lola
T332)
Race 2 (6 laps)
1. Steve Ross 9:16.3933
2. Andrew Robson 9:22.7601
3. Bryan Sala 9:24.4205
4. James Davison 9:27.0463
5. David Abbott 9:36.2926
6. Greg Thornton 9:41.7281
7. Ian Clements 9:42.0878
8. Aaron Burson 9:42.4318
9. Sefton Gibb 9:42.7369
10. Brett Willis 9:43.0950
11. Darcy Russell 9:47.3020
12. Russell Greer 9:48.3394
13. Dave Arrowsmith 9:56.7463
14. Bill Hemming 10:12.0688
15. Scott Drnek 10:39.1963
16. Robert Harborow 10:39.9125
17. Philip Lewis 10:40.5954
18. Jay Bondini 10:55.2706
19. Eric Haga 9:41.0418
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 DNF Chris Hocking, John Bryant, T Rush
Race 3 (Sun, 6 Laps)
2. Andrew Robson 9:23.6423 3 1:32.2720
3. Steve Ross 9:27.6461 1:31.2826
5. Greg Thornton 9:31.7545
10. Bryan Sala 9:45.4126
16. Paul Zazryn 10:18.2385
17. Scott Drnek 10:31.1048
18. Jay Bondini 10:33.7391
19. Tim Rush 9:17.0280
21. Eric Haga 9:38.7724
New category lap record James Davison
(Lola T332) 1:29.3062
Race 4 (Sun 8 laps)
1. Steve Ross 12:21.8589
2. Andrew Robson 12:39.3619
6. Bryan Sala 12:46.2175
8. Greg Thornton 12:49.4614 4
10. Paul Zazryn 12:53.2443
16. Scott Drnek 13:21.8009
18. Jay Bondini 14:08.4909
20. Timothy Rush 12:41.3054
21. Eric Haga 13:22.5337
18
© Pete Austin
British Women Racing Drivers’ Club celebrate their 50th Anniversary
By Pete Austin
The British Women Racing Drivers’ Club celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a Gala
Luncheon held at the BRDC Clubhouse, Silverstone on 3rd March. The 2011 trophies were
also presented to the winners later in the afternoon. Almost 120 guests attended the event
including 60s Mini ace, Lady Christabel Watson (nee Carlisle); 60s F3 driver, Natalie
Goodwin; Ladies Rally Champion, Louise Aitken Walker; the late Roger Clark’s’ co-driver
Tony Mason, Bruce McLaren’s widow and founding vice president of the Women’s Motor
© Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
Sarah Reader receives the Embassy BWRDC Trophy from Lady Christabel Watson (Carlisle) and in her
Juno CN LMP - images by Pete Austin
Racing Associates Club, Patty McLaren-Brickett; CEO of the MSA, Colin Hinton and former
BMC competition boss Stuart Turner.
© Pete Austin
The BWRDC was formed in
1962 by Mary Wheeler MBE
who took up racing at the
age of 49 in 1959. She felt
that women racing drivers
were treated in a derisory
way in those days and
thought that a club
representing women would
be a great help. The naming
of the club was significant in
that ladies at that time could
not be accepted as
members of the British
Racing Drivers Club. It
wasn’t until 1994 that these
views were relaxed.
Carolyn Hoy - winner of the Lord Wakefield Trophy for outstanding
life-long services to motorsport with Colin Hinton © Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
The aims of the club were, amongst
others, to observe and promote the
interest of women racing drivers and
encourage novices and newcomers
to the sport. From 1964 a BWRDC
Championship was organised with
points being awarded to the member
with the best 15 nominated race
scores. Natalie Goodwin was the first
winner in 1964 and completed a hat
trick by winning again in 1965 and
1966. She was allowed to keep the
trophy after that!
© Pete Austin
Jessica Hawkins winner of the
Kartsport Trophy © Pete Austin
Louise Cook receives the Gabriel
Konig International Trophy from
Stuart Turner © Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
Top to Bottom Left to Right.
Gail Hill receives the Anita Taylor
Trophy from Patty McLaren-Brickett.
BWRDC founder Mary Wheeler
Sara Williams receives the Louise
Aitken-Walker Rally Drivers’
Championship Trophy from Louise
Aitken-Walker MBE
Lorina McLaughlin with her ex
Schumacher Benetton
Right Sasha Heriot receives the Rally
Co-Drivers’ Trophy from Alan & Lynn
Jones
All images © Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
© Mick Herring
Masters Historic
Festival, Oulton Park
By Mick Herring.
Quality not quantity was the theme of the Masters Historic Festival at Oulton Park with four
very entertaining races filling the bill.
Split into six classes, wet morning practice mixed the grid somewhat for the Masters 70's
Celebration but the dry race would see the lower powered, more nimble cars refusing to give
up their morning advantage without a fight.
The race was split into six classes and, once he was able to get away, was won with a gap of
1min 13secs by Mark Wright's, rear wheel-lifting, Zakspeed replica Ford Escort RS1800.
The Bates' Porsche 911 RSR made much of the early running until it's handover to finish 5th
ahead of Tom Pochciol until he retired the Ford Capri at half distance.
Second went to the Escort RS Mk1 of Sean/Robert Brown ahead of the
1959 Aston Martin DB4 Lightweight of Nicholas King and these three would
lap the rest of the field.
Another DB4 Lightweight took fourth place in the hands of Martin Melling/
Peter Snowdon just 0.274sec of the Bates' Porsche with the giant killing
Mini Cooper of Christian Devereux in sixth.
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 © Mick Herring
22
© Mick Herring
Race 2 saw the
Masters Pre-66
Touring Cars take to
the track for a dry
race, after morning
qualifying on a damp
track.
The largest grid of the
day also witnessed
the largest attrition
rate amongst pack
with eight cars retiring
from the 1 hour race.
Split into four classes
it was always going to
be the hugely
Simon Hadfield takes the flag with Leo Voyazides in the Ford Falcon
powerful Ford Falcons
that occupied the first
four positions into Old Hall on the first lap with Leo Voyazides, in the Falcon he shared with
Simon Hadfield, heading into a lead they would maintain to the flag.
Holding second was
© Mick Herring
the Martin Melling/
Jason Minshaw
Falcon, although this
car would drop down
the order to an
eventual 13th place.
Third was Westley
Harding/Mike Jordan
Falcon and driving his
Mustang for the first
time was Simon
Garrad in fourth.
In fifth was the, in
comparison,
diminutive Lotus
Cortina battling with
Depth of Field. Mike Gardiner Ford
the Mustang in front of
Lotus Cortina heads Jaguar XK150
him, a battle that
would be continued when a determined Phil Keen took over the Cortina from Mike
© Mick Herring Gardiner.
The unrelenting battle between these two
resulted in them being caught and lapped by the
winning Falcon with Hadfield at the wheel.
To see Phil make repeated efforts round the
outside at Lodge as the race drew to a close
was a sight to behold in car control but he had to
settle for fourth and first in class.
William Ward Mini Cooper finished Driver changes and attrition rendered the order
12th after this ‘OFF’
© Mick Herring
at the end of the hour favouring the Voyazides/Hadfield Falcon with the similar car of
Harding/Jordan 54.5 seconds adrift in second place, ahead of the Mustang/Cortina battle.
The Ford Falcon of Rob/Ben Hall was fifth with the next three places being taken by the
Austin Mini Cooper S's of Phil Burgess, Glyn Swift and Christian Devereux respectively.
Split into seven classes, race three, for World Sportscar Masters and of 50 minutes
duration, was declared a wet race after a sudden shower.
Most drivers took advantage of the ten minute allowance to change to wet tyres.
Leo Voyazides was the exception as he sat at the end of the pit lane in his famous exFittipaldi Lola T70 Mk3B, the rain still falling but a brighter sky following from the west.
He would have to play the patient game in the race
Spins and Wins David Coplowe spins his Lola T70 Mk3B
© Mick Herring
knowing he would quickly lose his pole position advantage and so, despite leading the field
into Old Hall at the start, he would be hidden in the pack by lap 2, balancing that against the
fact that overheated wets on a dry track would never last the distance on the heavier cars.
Making maximum use of their wet tyres, the much nimbler open 2 litre cars, the Daren Mk2
of James Littlejohn/(Georg Kjallgren) and the Lola T210 of Charlie Kemp/Chris Fox
entertained the crowd with many changes of race lead per lap until their respective
handovers.
Voyazides' patience
brought him back into
the lead as the track
dried but as the race
progressed he began
to be caught by the the
similar car of David
Coplowe.
Still with a comfortable
lead it all went wrong
only three corners
from the chequered
flag when another car
spun immediately in
front of him, taking
avoiding action, he did
two revolutions of his
© Mick Herring
Marcus T Mussa McLaren M1B finished 8th
© Mick Herring
own thus relinquishing the lead to Coplowe, who would take the flag for his first ever race
win by 4.3secs from Voyazides. Third was Mark Bates' Porsche 911RSR ahead of the
Daren, with the Chevron B16 of Jamie Boot in 5th, ahead of the other early race leading
Lola T210 of Charlie Kemp/Chris Fox. David and Samuel Carrington-Yates were 7th ahead
of the vocal McLaren M1B of Marcus T Mussa. The final two places went John Bussey's
Elva Mk7 and Richard Howells Porsche 911RSR.
The final race of the Masters meeting
was for Gentleman Drivers Pre-66 GT
cars on a damp track, it would prove to
be an exciting race with many twists and
surprises even before the start of the 75
minutes of racing.
A trip across the grass on the sighting
lap, due to a misunderstanding when the
safety car short circuited at Fosters,
would later have disastrous
consequences for pole-man Jon
Minshaw in his Lightweight E-type
Jaguar. In it's first race since an equally
disastrous Spa Classic 6 hr race last
September, damaged rear brake cooling
ducts would cause the inboard calipers
to overheat and blow out their seals
when the brakes were used into Druids.
The result was a retirement from the
race and an unfortunate exclusion from
the results.
Having stepped straight out of the Lola
T70, Leo Voyazides took time to adjust
© Mick Herring
Fiery Minshaw Jaguar E-Type
© Mick Herring
Jaguar E Type battles with Diva GT - 3rd and 8th at the flag
and slipped down the field in his Cobra, the conditions proving to be a great leveler once
again.
The track began to dry and the bigger, more powerful cars began to assert their
dominance once again.
When the very experienced, Simon Hadfield took over the Cobra he had the task of
clawing back the huge lead that TVR Tuscan driver, Mike Whitaker had built up.
As the race drew to close, the sight and sound of these two similarly engined 4.7 litre
monsters charging past the start line was joyous as the gap narrowed from 42 secs to 9
secs at the flag.
These two and the third place E-type of Jeremy Welch/Mark Pangborn were the only cars
to remain on the lead lap.
In fourth place was the beautiful Low Drag E-type coupe of Mike Wrigley as he learnt
more about his new car.
The remaining places were taken by the smaller capacity cars, which were equally diverse
in their range and each enjoying their own battles throughout.
Fifth was the Marcos 1800 GT of Allen Tice/Chris Conoley ahead of the rare and attractive
Rochdale Olympic of Mike Youles, it's engine set so far back in the engine bay no doubt
helping the weight distribution.
Allan Ross-Jones/Neil Howe were 7th in their Triumph TR4 ahead of the Diva GT of
Aylett/Farrall in 8th, with Simon Edwards' Rejo Mk IV the final finisher in 9th.
After the hectic pace of Simon Hadfield's pursuit of the TVR, Leo Voyazides hoped that
there would be enough of the Cobra left for them to do it all again the following day at
Donington, where the Cobra/TVR battle would be re-enacted.
© Mick Herring
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 Pretty and rare Rochdale Olympic of Mike Youles
26
Archive Picture
By Pete Austin
"Elsewhere in this issue you can read about the 50th Anniversary of
the British Womens Racing Drivers Club. By way of a change I've
made this months archive photo into a bit of a quiz. There are no
prizes but how many of these ladies can you identify? To give you a
bit of a clue the photo was taken before the start of the ladies Ford
Granada race which took place at Brands Hatch in August 1972 when
it was a supporting race before the Rothmans 50,000. The lineup will
be revealed in the May issue. Good luck."
© Pete Austin
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HSCC Season
Opener
Donington Park
By Simon & Janet
Wright with
additional photos by
Pete Austin & Mick
Herring.
Robert Gate had a spin at the
chicane in his E-Type Jaguar
A two day meeting
at Donington Park
opened the Historic Sports car Clubs (HSCC) season for 2012. With a thirteen race program
covering ten different categories, the action covered all types of racing. The Historic Touring
cars had a big enough entry to warrant two separate races split at up to 1600cc and over
1600cc and the Guards Trophy
© Simon Wright
was also split into two races,
one for GT cars and one for
Sports Racing Cars. Finally the
Formula Junior races were split
with front engined and rear
engined races.
The opening race was for 70s
Road Sports and saw a thrilling
battle between Julian Barter in a
TVR 3000M and Paul Conway
in a Morgan Plus 8. Barter lead
Paul Conway Morgan plus 8 leads Julian Barter TVR 3000M
away from Pole position and
held the lead for the first half of the race before Conway hit the front and held first position
until the flag, winning by just 0.404 seconds. Both won their respective classes. Other class
winners were Alan Harper who finished 4th overall in a Lotus Elan S4, Bob Trotter in an Alfa
Romeo 2000 GTV, Nic Strong in a Fiat 128 and finally Brian Rides in a Clan Crusader
© Janet Wright
© Janet Wright
Next was single seater action with the Historic Formula Ford race. Callum Grant put his
Merlyn Mk20a on pole position and lead the first lap, then Robert Wainwright got in front in
© Simon Wright
his Elden Mk8. The order
remained static for
several laps until
Wainwright retired from
the lead. David Wild
driving a Lola T200
chose the same lap to
dive inside Grant at the
chicane in what was a
change for the lead. With
just two laps to go, Grant Andrew Mansell Merlyn Mk11A in front of Stuart Dix loosing control of his
Cooper Chinook under braking for the chicane Historic Formula Ford
got back to the front to
win by 0.56 seconds from Wild. Simon Toyne finished 3rd in another Lola T200.
Next up were the front engined Formula Junior single seaters built between1958 and
1963. New for 2012
© Pete Austin
is a series for the
front engined cars
within the Formula
Junior
championship. At
Donington there
were sufficient
entries for a
separate race for
the front engine
class. Stuart Roach
put on a dominant
performance to win
the race, leading
from pole to the
chequered flag
Stuart Roach Alexis Mk2 leads Jack Woodhouse Elva 100 Formula Junior Race A driving his self
prepared Alexis
Mk2. His father Keith finished 12th in a Condor S2.
We now returned to Historic Road
Sports which covers genuine
© Janet Wright
production sports and GT cars built
and road registered between 1947
and the end of 1969. The front of the
race was a Lotus benefit with Paul
Tooms winning in a Lotus Elan from
Paul Shaw in another Lotus Elan S1.
Class winners included Roddie
Feilden in a Morgan Plus 8, John
Shaw in a Porsche 911 and Paul
Latimer in an MGB.
The second Formula Junior race was
for the rear engined models and
provided a great battle between
Michael Hibberd driving his Lotus 27 Tony Davis in his 1300cc Austin Healey Sprite Mk1 in
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 the Historic Road Sports Race
29
© Pete Austin
and Sam Wilson in a
Cooper T59, both leading
the race at various points.
It all went wrong when the
two locked wheels at the
chicane. Wilsons Cooper
went over the wheel of
the Lotus, launched in the
air and landed heavily on
its front left wheel,
breaking the front
suspension and stranding
the car on the side of the
track. Michael Hibberd
Formula Junior race B Michael Hibberd Lotus 27 leads Sam Wilson was able to continue but
Cooper T59
had lost the lead but
managed to get to the finish and finished 3rd just ahead of his son Andrew in a Lotus 22.
After the incident, David Methley took the
© Simon Wright
lead which he held to the finish in his
immaculate Brabham BT6. Peter Morton
was second in his Lightning Envoyette.
The Classic Racing cars race was a Lotus
1-2 with Ian Jones winning from Anthony
Ross, both in Lotus 59s. The final race on
Saturday was for 500cc Formula 3 cars. It
was not a big field, but an interesting
selection of cars took part. Steve Jones
won driving a Cooper MkX from Jb Jones Ian Jones Lotus 59 won the Classic Racing Cars race
in a Cousy No.2. One of the more unusual
cars was the Revis 500
© Pete Austin
driven by R Bishop-Miller.
The car had a full width
nosecone which
enclosed the front wheels
like a sports car.
Unfortunately, the car
only completed 6 laps
and was not classified as
a finisher.
Sunday brought a whole
new range of cars to the
meeting, many having
travelled from the
Masters meeting held at
Oulton Park the day
Richard Bishop-Miller in the 1951 Revis 500
before. First out were the
Historic Touring Cars up to 1600cc. With practice having been held in the wet, the grid
was a little mixed up for the now dry track with two Mini Coopers locking out the front row.
Marc Earnshaw had claimed Pole position in his Austin Mini Cooper S from current
© Simon Wright
champion Roger Godfrey in
another Cooper S. In the
dry, it took less than a lap
for the Ford Lotus Cortina of
Mark Jones to take the lead,
which it was never to loose,
leading every lap to victory.
Roger Godfrey showed why
he is the current champion
by hanging on to second
place overall and taking a
Simon Benoy rolls his 1967 Hillman Imp onto its side at the chicane class win. Neil Brown took
3rd in another Ford lotus
in the Historic Touring Cars up to 1600cc race
Cortina winning his class
and Steve Platts won his class in a Singer Chamois finishing 4th overall. The other class
winner was Marc Earnshaw in an Austin mini Cooper S who finished 7th overall.
© Simon Wright
More problems at the chicane in the Guards Trophy race for Sports Racing Cars between 52 Neil and
George Daws Merlyn Mk6A and 95 Denis Welch Lotus 23B
The Guards Trophy is for Sports racing and GT cars built prior to the end of 1965 which
have an International competition history in period. For this meeting the Sports racing
cars and GTs had separate races. First up were the Sports racing cars. The Hugh and
Mark Coleman Chevron B8 took pole position but it was the Graeme Dodd Ginetta G16
which made the early running and it held the lead until the compulsory pit stop. This let
Steve Hodges into the lead in his Chevron B8 which he kept until he made his pitstop.
This allowed
© Janet Wright
Dodd back in
front, where he
remained, winning
by just 0.369th of
a second after 40
minutes of racing
from Steve
Hodges.
Chevrons filled
After 40 minutes racing Dodd Ginetta G16 is just ahead of Hodges Chevron B8
four of the top 5
places. Hodges
also had the pleasure of setting the fastest lap in the race. The other class winners were
Malone in the Elva Mk V 11S, Andrew Garside in a Lotus 23B, Michael O’Shea in a
Cooper Maserati Monaco and Brian Casey in a Lenham P69.
© Pete Austin
The Classic Formula 3 race
for F3 cars built between
1971 and 1984 was
amalgamated with the
Derek Bell Trophy race for
this meeting. The most
interesting car here was the
six wheeled March 2-4-0
Formula 1 car of Jeremy
Smith. In the very wet
Jeremy Smith took pole in the March 2-4-0 but was unable to start
practice, the March was
over 5 seconds faster than
the rest of the field which was led by Jamie Brashaw in the F3 march 793. Unfortunately
at the end of practice the March pulled in to the pits with mechanical problems and was
not seen on track again. This meant that Brashaw took pole position for the race from Ian
Gray in a Brabham BT30.
However, the race was run in the
© Janet Wright
dry, and on the second row of the
grid was Greg Thornton in his
F5000 Surtees TS11, just back
from the winter Tasman revival
series in New Zealand. The power
of the 5 litre engine showed itself
immediately in the dry conditions
and Thornton took the lead from
the start. Brashaw gamely held on
in the 2 litre March only losing
about 6 seconds after 13 laps,
This time the chicane caught out Rudolf Ernst in his Ralt RT1
when Thornton retired the Surtees
with mechanical problems. This left Brashaw to run out winner from David Shaw in
another F3 Ralt RT1. Michael Hibberd ran out first of the Derek Bell trophy cars in 4th
place overall driving a Formula 2 Brabham BT38. Other Derek Bell class winners were
Ian Grey in a Brabham BT30 and Keith Norris in a Chevron B49. The Classic F3 class
winners were Brashaw who won
© Pete Austin
outright, Amnon Needham in a
Van Diemen RF82 Andy Jones
in a Brabham BT38C and Jan
Langdon in a Palliser WDF3.
Next out were the Historic
Touring Cars over 1600cc. This
race contained a lot of American
muscle, all Ford. Leo Voyazides
put his Ford Falcon on Pole
position but Dan Cox tried to do
the David and Goliath act with
his small 1.9 litre Ford Lotus
Cortina as he chased after the
4.7 litre Ford Falcon. But Leo
had the race sewn up from the
Dan Cox Ford Lotus Cortina leads Westley Harding Ford Falcon
start and lead from start to finish, winning by nearly 20 seconds after 15 laps from Cox. Both
won their respective classes. Greg Thornton was the only other class winner, finishing 7th
overall in another Ford Falcon.
Leo had no time to collect his winners trophy though as he was immediately back out in the
Guards Trophy GT race at the wheel of his AC Cobra which was on the front row of the grid
next to Pole sitter Mike Whitaker in his TVR Griffith. The GT cars had a longer 40 minute
race, the same as the Sports Racing cars earlier in the day. However, it was Nick Fleming in
his nimble 1600cc
© Janet Wright
Lotus Elan that led the
first lap and he stayed
in front until his pit
stop. Leo lead the
chase in his AC Cobra
but was fighting hard
with Whitaker in the
TVR until he dropped
back with mechanical
problems. Fleming had
built up a massive lead
before his pit stop on
lap 17 which meant
that Jamie Boot in his
E-Type Jaguar only
held the lead for 1 lap
until he also came in
Al Fleming Lotus Elan 26R spins on the Dunlop straight during practice
for his pitstop. This put
Fleming back in the lead until the flag fell. He won by just over 16 seconds from Whitaker in
the TVR Griffith, both winning their respective classes. Leo Voyazides had dropped 3 laps
behind at the finish but was still classified 11th overall and second in class behind Mike
Whitaker. Other class winners were Jamie Boot in the Jaguar E-Type, Tom Smith at the
wheel of a MG B Roadster, Peter Aylett and Farrall in a Turnex Diva, and Karl Wetherelland
and Andy Somerville in a Triumph TR4.
The final race of the day was for Historic Formula Ford 2000 single seater race cars. James
Murray took pole position in his Reynard SF77 with Russell Love next to him on the front
row in his newer Reynard SF79. Russell Love had a close race with Andrew Huxtable but
slowly opened up a gap to win the final race of the day. Huxtable retired on lap 15 leaving
second to David Wild in another
Reynard SF79. David Clark in his
Dulon MP21 won class B and Jon
Randall in a Lola Supervee won class
C.
One incident that made the national
newspapers involved Derek Smith
who made a slight mistake at the
chicane at lap3, clipped the kerb
sideways and did a double barrel roll
© Simon Wright in his Delta T80. The car landed back
on its wheels. Derek hopped out with
Seamus Doyle Lola T580 FF2000
only bruising to his chest caused by his
HANS device. The meeting was a great success and points to an exciting season ahead.
MOTORING RECORD BREAKERS EXHIBITION at the HERITAGE MOTOR
CENTRE
By Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
The Heritage Motor
Centre near Gaydon,
Warwickshire is
currently hosting an
exhibition of Motoring
Record Breakers.
Forming the perfect
backdrop to the display
is the Heritage
Centre’s own collection
of MG record breaking
cars. MG EX135 is the
car in which Goldie
Gardner achieved a
speed of over 200 mph
on the Dessau
Autobahn in Germany
in 1939. This was the
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 MG EX135
34
© Pete Austin
MG Record breakers on display
first time that a 1100cc
car had broken this
barrier. Based on a
chassis from the MGA
project MG EX179 was
built for George Easton
and set several class
records at the Bonneville
Salt Flats between 1954
and 1957. Perhaps the
most famous of these
MGs’ though is EX181
driven by Stirling Moss
in 1957 and Phil Hill two
years later. The latter
recording a speed of
254.9 mph on the Salt
Flats.
A rare visitor to the
Midlands is the
Sunbeam which was the
first car to exceed 200
mph in 1927 with Henry
Seagrave at the wheel.
The venue for this record
was Daytona Beach in
Florida. This car is on
loan from the National
Motor Museum at
Beaulieu.
© Pete Austin
Other types of motoring records are also represented
(cheapest-Tata Nano, best selling – Ford model T) and
the smallest car ever to make it into production, the
Peel P50 built between 1962 and 1969. Be careful
when parking though, no reverse gear!
© Pete Austin
Bringing the
story more up to
date are two
cars both using
completely
different types of
fuel. The JCB
DieselMax on
display achieved
the diesel record
of 350 mph at
Bonneville in
2006 with Andy
Green driving.
The steam
driven
‘Inspiration’ set a
new record for
© Pete Austin
© Pete Austin
this class at the Edwards Air Force base, California in 2009 with Sir Malcolm Campbell’s
grandson Don Wales at the wheel averaging 148.308 mph. Yet another MG in the display
is EX 255 built to beat Phil Hill’s earlier record with an MG. With Andy Green at the wheel
this attempt was less successful due to technical problems. The fastest Jaguar in the
world is also featured having achieved a speed of 225.675 mph at Bonneville in the hands
of Paul Gentilozzi.
British GT and Formula 3 Media Day, Silverstone.
By Simon & Janet Wright with additional photos by Mick Herring.
© Janet Wright
The Avon Tyres
British GT and
Formula 3 series
had their media
launch at a bright
and sunny
Silverstone
circuit. The
British GT series
continues to go
from strength to
strength with a
wide variety of
GT and
Supercars
making up the
entry for the 2012
championship.
Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 lineup
Both series were
using the circuit for a test session as well as the media launch, with the Formula 3 cars
having track time in the morning and the GT cars were out during the afternoon.
There were 23 cars
© Simon Wright
announced at the
media launch
representing thirteen
different
manufacturers Aston Martin, Audi
BMW, Chevron,
Corvette, Ferrari,
Ginetta, Lotus,
McLaren, Mazda,
Mercedes, Nissan
and Porsche with a
selection of GT3 and
GT4 cars. The line
up of cars include
the Ferrari 458 GT3,
Oliver Bryant/Alastair McCaig Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3
run by Scuderia
Vittoria for Aaron
Scott and John
Dhillon. MTECH are running Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron in another Ferrari. A
Speedworks prepared Corvette Z06R will be driven by Ron and Piers Johnson, while
United Autosports continue with the Audi R8 LMS driven by Matt Bell and Charles
Bateman. Twenty teams are entered with 46 drivers confirmed.
Newcomers this year are the GT4
Mazda MX5 GT and the return of the
GT3 Chevron GR8 GT which will be
piloted by the experienced Anthony
British GT Calendar 2012
Oulton Park
Nurburgring
Rockingham
Brands Hatch
Snetterton
Silverstone
Donington
© Janet Wright
Owen Mildenhall and Mark Ticehurst with the GT4
Mazda MX5 GT
07/04/2012
17/05/2012
09/06/2012
23/06/2012
04/08/2012
08/09/2012
29/09/2012
© Simon Wright
Reid and Jordan Witt in the Invitation class.
The Championship is being run over 7 rounds with
a big overseas visit to the Nurburgring in Germany in May, and a 3
hour race at Silverstone in September. The series retains the same
format as last year, with the opening round taking place at Oulton
Park on Easter Monday.
New cars for this season include the BMW Z4, McLaren MP4 - 12C
and the Nissan GTR GT3.
The series has a female competitor in the shape of Zoe Wenham
driving a Ginetta G50 GT4 which she is sharing with current Welsh
Sports car Champion Dominic Evans. Zoe started racing Karts at 9
years old and switched to cars aged 14. In 2010 she became one
of the youngest competitors to race in the Volkswagen Cup. Her
switch to the British GT Championship is her first taste of Rear
Wheel Drive racing but she went well enough in testing to secure
the drive for Century motorsport.
© Simon Wright
Jim Geddie/Glynn Geddie Apex McLaren MP4-12C
Ginetta G50 Silverstone GT Media Day
By Mick Herring.
I would have liked a ride in the Beechdean
Aston Martin V12 Vanquish but time was
running short so I went for the Ginetta option
instead and at the end of it I'm really glad I did.
The Ginetta G50 has been around for a good
while now and the British GT Media Day at
© Janet Wright
Silverstone would prove the ideal opportunity
Benji Hetherington and Mick Herring
to see how the car has aged against it's peers
and it's newer siblings.
Still immensely popular in it's own section of the one make championship and just about
everywhere else, come to that, this ride, in the capable hands of Benji Hetherington would
prove to be another marvel of entertainment.
A few years ago I was lucky enough to be driven round Rockingham in a G50 but after the
slightly artificial, coned circuit, configuration and wet environment of that day, the chance
to relax and enjoy the long Silverstone GP circuit lap was to be savoured.
The familiar howl of the 3.5 litre V6 U.S. Ford truck based engine and the whine of the
straight cut sequential gearbox was still there as we left the pit lane and joined the track,
heading towards Maggotts ever faster with each clutchless gearchange.
Then the brakes dragged the speed off and settled the car on it's progress over, first the
left hand kerb and then the right hand kerb of Becketts before another stab on the brakes
and more kerbs launched us out of Church and onto the Hanger Straight at great speed.
There followed, much
more of the same stark
acceleration, braking and
kerb hopping, punctuated
by the high speed these
cars are capable of but
most entertaining on both
of my laps was the lines
that the car was allowed to
take with the required
corrective steering input
by the driver.
© Simon Wright
I've never before explored
that bit of the tarmac run off area in front of the new Silverstone Wing, but explore it we did
and even with very old rubber on the car it remained agile and responsive to steering and
throttle inputs with a healthy slide on the three parts of the Arena section. The
aforementioned Aston did come past us and then slowed to go in the pits after the end of
the Wellington Straight but I was no longer envious.
The speeds experienced on the three main straights at Silverstone coupled with the
hugely effective brakes guarantee that the venerable Ginetta G50 will remain a competent
and cost effective tribute to Lawrence Tomlinson's foresight in producing this car.
In many ways it reminded me of the Lotus Elan I had been round Brands Hatch in recently
but with so much more of everything built in, as befits the 45 year age gap between the
two. No wonder so many Ginetta G50s have been built, sold and are still racing.
There's so much life and fun left in this car yet, oh and for me, smiles aplenty. A complete
racing car.
Jaguar Heritage
Museum.
By Simon & Janet
Wright
As we mentioned in
last months issue, the
Jaguar Heritage
museum at Browns
Lane Coventry is due
to close later this
summer,so we made
a visit to the museum
to see some of this
unique collection of
© Janet Wright
British motoring
history. The museum
is a modern building, and while not being very big, it allows around 30 cars to be
displayed with unrestricted access. The cars are changed at certain times to allow all the
vehicles in the collection to be displayed. When the museum closes, the collection will be
put into storage until a new location can be found to allow the cars to be seen again. This
may take several years. During this period, parts of the collection may be made available
for display at other locations or events. If you have not been to see the collection, do not
put it off, we recommend
you go very soon.
When we visited, the
collection contained a
mixture of Jaguar/Daimler
road and racing history. As
soon as you enter, you are
greeted by a 2002 Formula
One Jaguar R3 and one of
the 1988 Walkinshaw Silk
Cut Jaguar XJR9 Group C
cars that won the Le Mans
24 Hour race. Everywhere
you look, you can see the
graceful lines of sleek
Jaguar cars from across
the decades.
Tucked away in the corner
was a 1903 Daimler 35HP
similar to the car that won
the first ever Hill climb
meeting at Shelsley Walsh © Simon Wright
1903 Daimler 35HP
in Worcestershire in 1905.
The Daimler was driven by
Ernest Instone and set a hill record of 77.6 seconds to complete the 992 yard course at
an average speed of 26 miles per hour. Next to that is a Jaguar XK8 modern GT racer.
© Janet Wright
There were several cars on display which preceded the Jaguar name but are early
examples of the companies designs. These included a 1929 Austin Seven Swallow
saloon, a 1932 Wolseley Hornet Swallow four-seater and a 1933 SS Coupe.
One of the more interesting models
on display was the 1974 Jaguar EType Group 44 racing sports car from
America. In 1974, Mike Dale of British
Leyland Motor Inc, the Jaguar
importer in the USA decided to enter
the E-Type in the Class B Production
Car Championship of the Sports Car
Club of America (SCCA). This car
was prepared by Group 44 founded
by Bob Tullius and Brian Fuerstenau.
After a few early problems, Tullius
scored 5 wins while another E-Type
prepared by Huffaker and raced by
Lee Mueller won another 3 races. In
1975 Tullius scored 7 victories and
took the SCCA championship. This
© Simon Wright
was the swansong of the EType in current sports car
racing as the model had
ceased production.
Another unique car on
display was the 1966 Jaguar
XJ13. This is the only one
ever built. Designed for the
Le Mans 24 hours race, the
car was never entered.
Changes to the regulations
meant that prototypes were
limited to 3 litre engines and
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 © Simon Wright
41
larger engined cars needed a production run of at least 50. The car had potential, the 5
litre V12 engine produced 502 bhp and in private testing on the banked track at Mira had
achieved over 161 mph driven by David Hobbs.
As well as all the
© Simon Wright
cars on display,
there are lots of
photographs,
documents and
memorabilia from the
history of Jaguar.
There is also a
balcony that gives a
nice view down on
some of the exhibits
as well as being an
art gallery, with many
famous artists work
on display depicting
Jaguars.
The Jaguar heritage museum, Browns lane, Coventry
Top: 1935 S.S.I Airline Saloon
2002 F1 Jaguar R3
Bottom: 1998 Jaguar XK180 Concept car
© Simon Wright
© Simon Wright
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 © Simon Wright
42
Donington Historic festival
media/test day
© Simon Wright
By Simon & Janet Wright with additional photos by Pete Austin & Mick Herring.
The first Donington Historic Festival was held in 2011 and this year promises to be bigger
and better, building on the success of the first event. New for 2012 is the first ever Martin
Hines Trophy historic kart meeting which will run on
a circuit on the Melbourne loop behind the paddock
for historic karts from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Barry
‘Whizzo’ Williams, Patron of the British Historic Kart
Club was present at the media launch for the
meeting.
The Festival will run over the weekend of the 5th and
6th of May 2012 and has a stunning selection of
© Janet Wright
Barrie Williams on Historic Kart
races already lined up for the meeting,
with a fantastic selection of cars and
drivers attending. Le Mans and Daytona
24 hour winner and ex-Grand Prix driver
© Pete Austin
Jackie oliver will be racing a ferrari 250
GT SWB with Rohan Fernando in the
Christopher Tate MD Donington Park
pre-63 GT race. This particular Ferrari
will be making its racing debut 51 years after it was built. The aluminium bodied car had a
short hill climb career half a century ago, but has never raced before. Jackie will also race
his more regular BMW
TISA 1800 in the Under 2
Litre Touring Car series.
The media launch was
presented by Christopher
Tate, the Managing
Director of Donington
Park and Duncan
Wiltshire, promoter of the
Donington Historic
Festival. Christopher was
pleased to announce that
© Mick Herring
Fire Breathing Porsche 956 Andy Meyrick
Donington Park had
increased the number of
days that racing can take place at Donington Park from 40 days to 60 days, but had
decreased the number of noisy days from 40 to 20. This allows 20 days unsilenced, 20
days of moderate noise and 20 days with the MSA approved
105db noise limit. Apart from various World Championship
events, the majority of the noisy days will be allocated for
historic racing.
Duncan then took over to give details of the festival. With the
great history of Donington Park, it was felt that the Historic
Festival should represent as much of that history as possible
and the races cover cars from the 1920’s right through to the
late 1980’s and possibly even some early 1990 vehicles.The
Mad Jack race, named after Jack Shuttleworth who won the
first British Grand Prix in 1935, is for pre war sports cars. The
HSCC are running two races for Historic Formula 2 single
seaters, the RAC Woodcote Trophy race is for pre 1956 sports
© Pete Austin
cars, the Jaguar E-Type challenge will also run a race on both
Duncan Wiltshire
days. Touring cars up to 1985 are catered for in various races,
which always prove popular with the spectators. Saturday evening will see a repeat of the
race last year for pre 1972 sports cars. Sunday will see the pre-63 GT race, the Stirling
Moss trophy for pre 61 sports racing cars, the pre 66 U2TC saloon race, and the headlining
Group C sports prototypes.
He also paid thanks to the
HSCC who are helping to
organise and operate the
event.
Away from the track, the
infield section will be
opened up to car clubs
who will display members
cars, and so far over 50
clubs have registered to
have display areas, well
up on the number that
© Pete Austin
displayed last year.
Gary Pearson Porsche 908-2
For more information go to
the web site at www.doningtonhistoric.com
© Mick Herring
Britcar
Silverstone
by Mick Herring
Britcar Production
Cup
Saturday
24th March
With the UK still in the
depths of recession it
Pole Position Seat finished 3rd with 4th places Clarke-Gibson BMW
was uplifting to see
twenty eight cars take the start at the opening round of the Britcar Dunlop Production Cup
championship. This year the format splits to running as a race in it's own right, rather than
a shorter race, within the Britcar GT
© Mick Herring
race.
And as the programme notes pointed
out, "New championship, new rules,
new competitors and free to battle
without compromising their positions
on track to the predatory GT cars".
Less than 2.7 seconds covered the
first six in qualifying with the Seat
Supercopa of Craig Davies/Adam
Jones on pole with two more Seats
joining them in the top six and
Toyota MR2 of Eugene O’Brien and Simon Phillips
several more examples of this
popular car spaced throughout the grid.
A pair of BMWs and a lone Toyota MR2, in the hands of former BTCC driver Eugene
O'Brien and Simon Phillips
© Mick Herring
completed the variety at the
front.
Complementing the BMW
and Seat "weight of
numbers" for the 90 minute
race were examples of
Ginetta G40, Honda Civic
and Integra together with
three Mazda MX5s.
At the end of the 90
minutes of intense racing,
victory went to the BMW
M3 CSL of Richard Abra/
Mark Poole by 14 seconds
from Mark and Peter
Cunningham's Seat Leon
Winning Abra-Poole BMW challenges for the lead
Supercopa with the pole
position Seat Davies/Jones a further 17 seconds adrift.
The more powerful Class 1 cars occupied the first ten places at the flag with the Class 2
Honda Integra of Nigel Ainge and Mike Jordan taking class honours in eleventh.
Class 3 victory went to Edward and Harry Cockill's Honda Civic Type R in fifteenth overall.
Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship March 24th
© Mick Herring
The Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship season-opening race was won by the
pole position Mosler MT900R but that condenses what proved to be a fascinating 3 hours,
full of twists and turns, on Silverstone's full GP circuit.
The twenty-one car grid boasted eleven different types of car and alongside the Morcillo/
Cintrano/White Mosler was the black Bailey/Shultz Ferrari 430. Row two had the familiar
but reliveried Millard/
© Mick Herring
Heward Rapier SR2
with the next three
places occupied by
different examples of
the venerable Marcos
Mantis.
Variety was further
enhanced by a Ferrari
458, a pair of Chevron
GR8s, a pair of
Ginetta G55s, a lone
Porsche 997, Lotus
Evora/Elite models,
BMW M3s and a lone
Lunn - Steward Chevron GR8 finished 12th
TVR Sagaris V8.
At the start of the race
it was the Bailey/
Schultz 430 that led
the field into Copse
and this was the
pattern of the first part
of the race.
The Ferrari and
Mosler remained
close, Rapier not far
behind, although both
Mosler and Rapier
© Mick Herring would lead the race in
Rapid Rapier SR2 eventually finished 11th
the first hour.
With the first of pitstops and driver changes coming into play as the first hour came to a
close the yet to stop, big tanked, Mosler still led the Rapier, which had stopped, now two
laps behind. The Bailey/Schultz Ferrari third, the Beighton/Finnemore Marcos fourth and
the new Ferrari 458 in fifth.
At seventy five minutes the Mosler pitted, Manuel Cintrano taking over, it would re-emerge
still leading but with
© Mick Herring
the Rapier gaining
rapidly.
At the end of the
second hour the
Mosler led the Rapier
by 39 seconds and
two laps ahead of the
Marcos Mantis of
Owen O'Neill/Neil
Huggins with the
Adams/Green/Byford
Lotus Evora in fourth.
The second hour was
Strata 21 Mosler of Morcillo/Cintrano took first Britcar victory
where most of the
twists took place with,
first the leading Mosler having to take a drive through penalty for pitlane speeding when
Cintrano handed over to Paul White. This handed the lead to the Rapier which suffered an
electrical problem causing it to stop out on the circuit thus giving the Strata 21 Mosler it's,
unchallenged, first race win.
The Rapier would re-join many laps down when the cut out switch repaired itself finishing
eleventh, as would the Bailey/Schultz 430 which was heavily delayed by a fluid leak.
As the sun set at the end of the three hours and 80 laps, Javier Morcillo brought the Class
1 Mosler home two laps ahead of the Class 2 O'Neill/Huggins Topcats Marcos with Toby
Tarrant-Willis/Charlie Hollings third in their Invitation Class 3 Ferrarai 430 Challenge and
Mike Donovan/Nick Dudfield Porsche 997 GT3, also Invitation Class 3, fourth.
Beighton/Finnemore (Marcos), Adams/Green/Byford (Lotus Evora) and Phillips/Storey
(Ferrari 458) taking the next three places.
The next round is at Donington on April 21st.
© Mick Herring
Arrowpak Euro Saloons and Sportscar Championship March 24th
The Arrowpak Euro
Saloons and
Sportscars provided a
pair of entertaining
races either side of the
first Britcar Production
GTN Championship
encounter with good
variety of cars from the
two disciplines battling
for honours.
The BRSCC-run
championship is to just
about any type of car
Suzuki Cappucino of Wayne Schofield won class D in race 2
and their welcoming
gambit is:- "If it's got a roof you can probably race it in the championship", with cars built to
the former rules and regulations of Super Touring, BTCC, WTCC, other similar one-make
championships and compliant, purpose built cars being eligible.
Race 1 was a close run battle between the Ford Falcon of Andy Robinson and the Darren
Dowling's TVR Sagaris with both of these V8 engined cars leading the next four
turbocharged racers home by nearly sixteen seconds after nine laps and twenty minutes on
the sunny Silverstone full Grand Prix track.
However the on track result would not stand as Robinson was adjudged not to have
respected the track limits as he sought to control the Australian car's power.
The nett result of
© Mick Herring
his on-track 1.4
second win saw him
demoted to 2nd
behind the TVR.
The following four
places were shared
between Mitsubishi
(3rd and 6th),
Subaru and Seat
turbo cars.
As well as these
cars, Renault Clio's
also shared the
race with some
unusual cars such
as a rare Harrier
LR9, Suzuki
Andy Robinson Ford Falcon finished 1st in Race 1 but won Race 2
Cappucino and a
British Leyland Mini.
Andy Robinson made no mistake in race 2, his Falcon winning by over 33secs from the
Mitsubishi Evo 9 of Barry Squibb, Derek Hale's Honda Accord Super Tourer was 4th with
V8 honours being upheld by Doug Elllwood's Marcos Mantis in 5th.The Falcon/ TVR
Sagaris(Paul Smith driving this time) battle was not re-enacted when the TVR retired after
six laps
Techno
Classica Essen
Photos by Trevor
Nobel.
The 2012 show broke
records with 181,400
visitors attending from
all over the world. In
its 24th year the show
had over 1,200
exhibitors including
some very rare
vehicles from across
Europe. One of the
rarest vehicles at the
show was the
Spanish built Pegaso.
© Trevor Noble
Pegaso Z-102 Spider Rabasada
The show had a record 21 vehicles on
© Trevor
display out of a total build of just 86 built in Noble
the 1950s. The car above is the Pegaso
Z-102 Spider Rabasada, built in 1953.
When the cars were manufactured they had
some advanced features for their time,
including 5 speed gearbox and
supercharged engines but they also lacked
disc brakes. The car was fitted with a
transaxle system of gearbox at the rear
connected behind the differential within a
reverse A frame. A fuel tank was fitted on
each side of the transmission for better
Pegaso Z-102B Tourig Berlinetta
weight distribution. The rear suspension
was of the De Dion type
but with an unusual feature
to help prevent side to side
movement. The tube had a
small wheel on its mid point
that moved in a vertical
channel on the front of the
differential instead of using
a Watts linkage or a
Panhard rod. Power came
from either a 2.5 litre, 2.8
litre or 3.2 litre V8 engine
with multiple carbs or an
optional supercharger with
power ranging from 175 to
360 BHP. The engine had a
© Trevor Noble
gear driven camshaft and a
5 speed gearbox.
© Trevor Noble
Audi had an interesting display
with the usual tribute to the Audi
Quattro and its motorsport
heritage. The car on display
was celebrating the success
that Audi have enjoyed at the
Pikes Peak hill climb event in
America. The Audi Quattro also
enjoyed a very successful
career in the World Rally
Championship.
They also had an Auto union
Type C single
seater on display.
Designed by
Ferdinand
Porsche, the V16
mid engined
Grand Prix car
claimed many
victories between
1936 and 1938. It
won six races in
1936 and made
Bernt Rosermeyer
World Champion.
This car was fitted
with 6 wheels. The
© Trevor Noble
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 © Trevor
Noble
rear axle had 2
wheels each side,
which was often
used by Auto
union after the
war for hill
climbing as it
allowed for a
more efficient
way to transfer
the power to the
road without as
much wheelspin
as with a single
wheel, giving
better traction for
hill climbing
events.
50
A fine example of the 1950 Cisitalia 202 Gran Sport was on display at the show. Built in
© Trevor Noble
Italy, this fastback 2 door rear wheel drive coupe was powered by a Fiat 1089cc 4 cylinder
in-line engine, developing 50 bhp and giving a top speed of 93mph and a 0-60 mph in 18.4
seconds. The model was built between 1947 and 1952. New York City’s Museum of
Modern Art selected the Cisitalia 202 Gran Sport one of the 10 best automotive designs of
all time in 1951 and put an example on permanent display.
A fine example
of a 1965/66
Bizzarini P578
fitted with a 5.4
litre Chevrolet
V8 engine for
the Le Mans 24
Hour race of
1966 and was
driven by Edgar
Berney and
Andre Wicky. It
retired after
only 8 laps.
Classic and Competition Car April 2012 © Trevor
Noble
51
Motors TV day Donington Park
By Simon & Janet Wright with additional photos by Mick Herring.
© Mick Herring
Donington Park was the venue for the first Motors TV live race day for 2012, with all the
races being televised live across Europe on the Motors channel. These meetings are
designed to give viewers a taste of all types of club racing, and this meeting was a mixture
of modern and historic racing to provide a variety of action. Each category got two races
during the afternoon. The meeting was organised by the British Automobile Racing Club
(BARC).
First up was the Kumho BMW Championship series, which is for production based cars
© Janet Wright from across the BMW range. They were
also out again for race 6 on the
programme. A large entry saw local
driver and defending champion Garrie
Whittaker from Nottingham dominate
proceedings in his potent BMW E36 M3.
He took pole position for the first race
and won both races without being
headed. His nearest rival was returning
driver Colin Wells from Shrewsbury in a
Everyones view of winner Garrie Whittaker BMW E36 M3 BMW M3. Behind the leading pair, there
was plenty of close racing and action for
the TV cameras to pick up
on. Tom Hibbert went off on
the first lap at Redgate, but
the biggest accident was by
Richard Marsh whose BMW
E36 M3 went off after the
exit of the chicane and hit
the tyre barrier very hard.
The tyre barrier was
destroyed but it protected
the car and driver well,
Richard getting straight out
© Simon Wright
and getting to safety very
quickly. It did take a while to move his car after the race and rebuild the tyre barrier though.
Darren Fielding BMW M3 won class B in the first race, with Neil Newstead BMW E36
taking the class in the second race, Mark Smith BMW E90 M3 won class I in both races ,
Roger Lavender BMW 3 Series won class C in both races and Matthew Fielding BMW
318 Coupe won class D also in both races.
There were four races for the Caterhams with the races split into two classes. The
© Simon Wright
Amison (4) spins off as Frost (centre) continues with a damaged nose cone after colliding under braking
second and seventh race were for the Mega and Classic classes, while the fourth and
ninth race were for the Super and Sigma classes. ll the races started with split grids, so
that each class started their own race, running about ½ a lap apart at the start. All the
races had a rolling start and provided close action packed events. With cars in each
class being equal, it means close, exciting racing with plenty of slip streaming and out
braking maneuvers as the drivers via for position.
The first race was won by Nick Frost from Martin Amison and Mick Whitehead. The
Classic ‘race’ was won by David Pearson from Amanda Black and Justin Cox after a
particularly tight
© Janet Wright
battle. In the second
race, Nick Frost
collided with Martin
Amison under
braking for the
chicane. Amison
spun off while Frost
then finished the
race with a bent
nosecone which
lifted up down the
Dunlop straight each
lap. The race was
Kim Rayment starts a multi car spin in the first Caterham race
won by Myles
Packman from Paul Allen and Mick Whitehead. Amison finished 4th and Frost 5th.
The Super and Sigma classes were combined into two races, the first of which was won
by Super Class Toby Briant from Martin Collier and Dylan Stanley while the Sigma class
went to Ian Anderson from Simon Pashley and Bill Scott. Showing how competitive
these classes of racing are the second race was won by Edward Benson from Dylan
Stanley and Jon Wolfe while the Sigma class was won by again by Ian Anderson from
Simon Pashley and Ian Dyble.
The third and
eighth races
were for the
Vintage Sports
car Club
(VSCC) which
were fielding
races for Pre
War Sports
Cars. Neil
Twyman put
his fantastic
2.6 litre Alfa
Romeo 8C on
pole position
Andrew Bush spun off on the first lap
in his Riley TT Sprite at the chicane
© Mick Herring by just 0.296
seconds from
Sue Darbyshire in her amazing 1260cc Morgan Super Aero 3 wheeler. The modern car
races were having rolling starts, but the VSCC field lined up on the grid for the normal
standing flag start. The little morgan was dwarfed by the large cars but was not intimidated.
Twyman made a terrible start, being passed by about 8 cars off the line. He put his foot
down on the accelerator and the car died, a fuel problem which he fiddled with in the car
and by the end of the lap it seemed to clear and the car was running great. The lead was
grabbed by John Guyatt in a Talbot Lago T150 C off the second row who powered down
into Redgate corner first, followed by Sue Darbyshire who was under pressure from Trevor
Swete in an Invicta S-Type. As they headed for the Craner Curves, Twyman had powered
his way back to 6th place. At the chicane Andrew Bush went off backwards into the gravel
trap and was stuck. Twyman was having problems with the Alfa and at the end of the first
lap he was down in 12th place. Sue took the lead into Redgate on the second lap and
opened up an enormous gap of over 7 seconds lead at the end of the second lap in her
little 3 wheeler. Twyman was up to 7th and cutting through the field with ease in his chase
of the leaders. Sir
© Janet Wright
Ralph Robins retired
his Delahaye 135 on
the third lap with
mechanical problems.
As they started lap 4
with Sue just in front,
the first three crossed
the line almost side by
side, but the fastest of
the three was Neil
Twyman who powered
the Alfa Romeo down
the start straight into
Neil Twyman Alfa Romeo 8C was
the lead which he
quite forceful with his overtaking
didn’t loose again right
through to the
finishing flag. Sue
Darbyshire did her
best on her birthday
to finish 2nd by just
3.229 seconds after
20 minutes of
racing, with John
Guyatt right behind
her in 3rd place.
Their second race
later in the day
started in the
finishing order of
the first race, as
were all the second
races at this
Neil Batchelor in his fire
© Mick Herring meeting. However
breathing Blower Bentley
Neil Twyman did
not take up his pole position as on the warm up lap on the climb up from Old Hairpin, he
dropped to the back of the field and retired after only 2 laps. This left Sue Darbyshire alone
on the front row of the grid in her Morgan 3 wheeler. But again it was John Guyatt who
made the best start in his Talbot Lago to lead through Redgate corner. Although he arrived
very late to the back of the grid, Neil Twyman did take the start in his Alfa Romeo from the
very back of the grid and on the first lap he had passed ten cars to be in 10th place. Sue
had grabbed the lead rounding Old Hairpin to lead at the end of lap one, but through the
Craner curves on lap 2 John Guyatt was back in the lead which he held to the finish to take
victory by just 0.863 of a second after 15 minutes racing. Again Sue Darbyshire finished
second with Trevor Swete taking the last podium place in 3rd in his Invicta S-Type. Neil
Twyman had got up to 5th place on the second lap in the Alfa Romeo but as he crossed
the finish lie his hand went up
as the car slowed and he
© Simon Wright
pulled off on to the grass to
retire. One of the more
spectacular cars was the
supercharged 4.5 litre Blower
Bentley of Neil Batchelor which
was shooting flames out of the
exhaust on every lap.
The final category racing at this
meeting were the Formula
Juniors. Having competed here
only two weeks before at the
HSCC opener, the competitors
were eager to improve on their
Michael Hibberd won both Formula Junior races at the wheel of his
previous lap times. This time
Lotus 27 leading the Lotus 22 of Denis Welch
the two races would be a
combined front and rear engined class event. Michael Hibberd took pole in his rear
engined Lotus 27 while Stuart Roach who took 2 wins at the HSCC opener two weeks
before in the front engined race had a problem with his Alexis Mk2. After practice, water
was pouring through the carburettors, probably indicating a blown head gasket. Fortunately
© Simon Wright
Stuart Roach (23) in the unfamiliar Condor S11 won the front engined class in both races.
his father Keith, who had improved his lap times from the previous meeting, also races in
the same class and gave up his race so Stuart could drive the Condor S11.
The first race was from a standing start, just like the VSCC race. Michael Hibberd led
from the start to the finish, but that does not tell what an exciting race took place. Hibberd
was under pressure from the Lotus 22 of Denis Welch and the Brabham BT6 of Jonathan
Hughes and the Lighting Envoyette of Peter Morton. The two Lotus cars pulled out a
slight lead on the others with Morton and Hughes having a tremendous scrap for third.
Even under pressure, Hibberd never put a foot wrong to win. Pete Morton finished
second and Denis Welch was third. Even though he was not in his usual car, Stuart
Roach took victory in the front engined class. Chris Drake won his class in his Elva 300
and the Elva 200 of Phoebe Rolt and the EFAC Stanguellini of Pat Barford took the other
class wins. The second race gave exactly the same results except that in this race
Stephen Bulling in a Sadler FJ won class B1 and Pat Barford failed to finish the second
race. Hibberd led from start to finish but again was pressurised all the way by Peter
Morton, often the two cars were side by side, Hibberd winning by just 0.175 of a second
at the flag.
© Simon Wright
Duncan Rabagiliati Formula Junior Alexis HF dives inside at the chicane
GT Cup Test Day 27th March
By Mick herring
© Mick Herring
Dhillon - Scott Ferrari 458
A beautifully warm Tuesday in late March at Snetterton on the full 300 circuit was the venue for the GT
Cup test day. Despite a buoyant grid expectancy for the championship's season opener on April 28th/
29th at Donington, the small turnout today did afford lots of track time. The Porsche 997 GT3 of
father and son, Nick and
Harry Whale were joined
by the much older, but
nonetheless potent,
Porsche 935 of GT Cup
returnee Richard
Chamberlain.
Today was infinitely
warmer and drier than
last time the 997 was out
and afforded me a
passenger ride around
Brands Hatch.
With the championship
opened up, this year, to
full GT3 cars, race
veteran Kevin Riley was
© Mick Herring determined to make the
GT Cup Chamberlain Porsche 935
most of his Mosler's potential and
acclimatise to the tyres of F1
supplier, Pirelli.
With Kevin's overwhelming desire
to race, the GT Cup gives him the
perfect opportunity to race his
powerful Mosler on the best UK
circuits without the need for a
professional co-driver or the long
haul to Europe.
© Mick Herring
Kevin Riley Mosler
An eclectic mix of other
cars filled the pitlane and
provided plenty of variety
on track.
The sight of a vintage 3
litre Bentley captured on
the aptly named Bentley
Straight shared sessions
with various Radicals,
Mazda MX5s, Lotus
Elise's, the British GT© Mick Herring bound Scuderia Vittoria
Ferrari 458 of Jon Dhillon
and Aaron Scott. Both drivers sampling this particular 458 for the first time after a change of team.
Scuderia Vittoria also fielded the Ginetta G40 that broadcaster/commentator Ben Constanduros will race
© Mick Herring
GT Cup Whale Porsche 997 GT3
this season.
Both of these cars would be welcome to join in the close racing that has personified GT Cup thus far.
The world of TV broadcasting was also represented by new F1 commentator Ben Edwards in the paddock,
hotfoot from having covered the Malaysian Grand Prix the previous Sunday.
Not to be outdone by the GT cars present, proper saloons honours were upheld by the fabulous exAustralian V8
Supercars, "Thor" of
Joss Ronchetti.
It's 7.2 litre engine
proudly doing battle
with the Ferrari and
Mosler for best
exhaust note until
the massive torque
of the monster
engine caused the
propshaft to cry
"enough" on the
Bentley Straight. Overall, an excellent
day in the Norfolk
sunshine with
Snetterton looking
great and ready for
Thunder from Thor
© Mick Herring the season ahead.
HRDC PRESS DAY
2012
By Pete Austin
The Historic Racing
Drivers Club (HRDC)
held it’s annual press
day at the Porsche
Experience Centre,
Silverstone on the 31st
March. The club
organises race meetings
and series for Touring
Greats (pre-‘60 historic
touring cars), Grand
Touring Greats (pre-‘66
sub 1500cc historic GT
cars), Pre-’64 Gp.2
© Pete Austin
historic touring cars and
Standard Vanguard on transporter next to Porsche 904
Pre-’66 historic sports
cars running to GT specification. In addition, to celebrate 50 years of the MGB, they will
be running the MGB50 series for pre-’66 FIA MGBs with historically interesting MGBs.
A selection of cars which will be racing in the various categories had been brought to the
centre and following a
welcome and presentation
by HRDC founder and
race director Julius
Thurgood the majority of
these completed circuits of
the Porsche test track.
Journalists and guests
were also given the
opportunity to passenger
in the cars.
They say variety is the
spice of life and this is
certainly true of the cars
which appeared at this
event. From a Rover 105
to an ex Bathurst
Studebaker. From
Speedwell Sprite to a
Porsche 904 and
everything in between.
© Pete Austin
Victoria Beever - Rover 105S
Race Calendar
Castle Combe
Snetterton
Mallory Park
Spa
9th April
5th-6th May
4th June
15th-17th June
HRDC Race Day
HRDC Races
HRDC TV Race (MGB50)
HRDC Races
Donington Park 28th July
Lydden Hill
18th August
Mallory Park
7th October
HRDC Race Day
HRDC Race Day
HRDC Race Day
As it said on the invitation - the drivers and organisers wanted to let us into one of historic
motorsport’s best kept secrets – the return to ‘Old School’ Club Racing!
© Pete Austin
MGB takes centre stage this year to celebrate its 50th birthday
© Pete Austin
Julius Thurgood (HRDC founder and Race Director) with Tony Dron

Classic and Competition car 19

Transcription

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