Silverstone Saturday 3rd/Sunday 4th November 2012

The first full weekend of Greenwich Mean Time can only mean one thing, it's time for the Walter Hayes Trophy! Always a highlight of the year this was the 12th running of the Trophy and the 10th with a weekend, multi-entry, knockout format. After what can only be described as a poor first year for the new generation Eco-Boost Formula Ford and a 13 car Duratec engined entry for the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch the weekend before, there were an outstanding 120 1600cc Kent engine cars in the Silverstone paddock over the weekend. Many fans still talk in awe of the Festivals at Brands Hatch in the 1980's and Formula Ford guru James Beckett's intention to recreate those festivals with the WHT has borne fruit. The Spectator's first Festival was in 1993, the first year of the new Zetec engine and I regret not being 5 to 10 years older so I could have witnessed some of those Festivals in the 80's!
Saturday saw qualifying and racing for all 6 heats of the WHT along with an Open-Wheel historic race and a Closed-Wheel historic race. On a bitterly cold day there was some excellent racing with all 6 heats being frantic affairs. Heat 5 was probably the highlight with Josh Fisher winning from Michael Moyers in 2nd-both having qualified lower down than expected.
Saturday was cold but the weather on Sunday was horrendous! The mornings activities were badly delayed with continuous heavy rain (sleet and light snow at times) that meant that after 3 qualifying sessions for the days support races, track action was suspended until just after 1.00pm. Thankfully the rain relented and all races were run albeit with reduced distances. Indeed the final ended at 4.30 in the gathering gloom just in time. The circuit never really dried out and with very low temperatures it looked like grip was at a premium out there!
After the Semi-Finals it looked like there would be an Irish winner of the trophy with Ivor McCullough representing the North and Peter Dempsey the South on the front row of the grid. However the trophy will be heading slightly further West with Tristan Nunez eventually emerging as a somewhat surprising winner after a tremendous race in the final. The Team USA scholarship driver finished 4th in both his heat and semi-final but got quicker and quicker as the meeting progressed. Dempsey and Joey Foster collided while battling for the lead but Nunez was closing in on the pair before the clash. After a somewhat trying day it was a hell of a race to end the meeting and was one of those races that will be talked about for a very long time in the future.
I have to say that towards the end of the season I had lost a lot of enthusiasm for motor racing. I still believe that a lot of the sport that I grew to love as a kid is now beyond repair both nationally and internationally. But just occasionally something happens to restore the faith and the Walter Hayes Trophy Final was one of those moments. Weekend admission was £15 (ticket bought for in May...) and programme £3.
That may be the last meeting report of 2012 unless the medication wears off and I go to Anglesey on December 2nd!!! Thanks for reading......

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