Silverstone Sunday 22nd October 2017


For the first time since May, The Spectator made his way to Silverstone for the Historic Sports Car Club's Championship Finals meeting. For many years the HSCC finale was a 1-day affair but due to the ever-growing Historic scene, the meeting is now held over 2 days on the National circuit layout.
Sunday dawned cold but sunny and after a couple of qualifying sessions for Historic Roadsports and Classic F3 it was time for the first of 12 races scheduled for the day.
Classic Formula 3 lining up ready for Qualifying

The Historic Formula Ford 1600 championship has seen some fantastic grids and races in 2017 and the pair of races on this day definitely didn't disappoint! With three drivers vying for the title...Michael O'Brien, Callum Grant & Richard Tarling...the action in both races was superb. With the National circuit having 3 long straights, slipstreaming was everything and the lead battle seemed to consist of 10 cars at one point in race 1! With 4 and 5 abreast on the Wellington Straight there was always going to be action at Brooklands and on the final lap, leader Tarling was tagged into a spin by Cameron Jackson which meant O'Brien took the flag first.
Race 2 continued in the same vein as race 1 but this time it was O'Brien who had the bad luck, a puncture seeing him retire and out of the hunt for the championship. Tarling hung on to win not only the race in his Jamun T2 but also the overall crown. The Fordsters put on a great show and for pure racing there is nothing better than Formula Ford...roll on the Walter Hayes Trophy!
                                                                                                                                 
Historic Touring Cars head to the grid
The couple of Historic Touring Car races were the slowest races of the day but were always entertaining. While 3 wheeling Minis around Brooklands kept the crowd happy it was the muscle car Ford Mustang's of Pete Halford and Alex Thistlethwayte  who finished 1-2 in both races.
Thistlethwayte leads Halford early in race 2 before positions were reversed at the flag
A very healthy grid of 29 Historic Formula Ford 2000's saw Andrew Park in his Reynard SF81 win both races on Sunday. The second of which was red-flagged and re-started following 2 cars crashing at Brooklands and not being able to move. More single seater action saw 27 starters for the pair of Classic Formula 3 races. Gaius Ghinn's Ralt RT3 triumphing in both. Interesting to see Richard Trott in second and Ian Flux third in race 1.Both drivers who have returned to the cars they once drove back in the day, chasing the dream. Proof that motor racing is certainly addictive!                
Slightly less entertaining were individual races for front-engined and rear-engined Formula Junior cars. With 14 and 20 starters respectively, it would have been better to combine the grid in my opinion. Mark Woodhouse (Elva 100) winning in the Fronts...Cameron Jackson (Brabham BT2) taking the spoils in the Rears.
With only 13 starters the Derek Bell Trophy saw easily the smallest field of the day but probably provided the spectacle of the day with Michael Lyons thunderous Gurney Eagle Formula 5000 taking the spoils...vibrating the ground under the feet whilst watching at Copse!
Last but not least was a single race for Historic Roadsports. A race that was red-flagged on the first lap due to Barry Davison's Lotus Elan catching fire at Becketts after being hit up the rear by Andy Sheperd's Lotus Seven. With smoke billowing into the sky, visible from Copse, Davison baled out and the the fire was quickly extinguished by the large marshalling presence. William Plant's Morgan Plus 8 taking the flag in the re-start.
A very enjoyable day this was at Silverstone. The HSCC ran the meeting excellently and despite a couple of stoppages the last chequered flag fell at 5.00pm...unheard of at Donington that's for sure! To say it was cold is a slight understatement...it was freezing but the racing warmed the soul. The HSCC were the original organisers of Historic racing in the UK and it's good to see, despite the plethora of other Historic organisers arriving on the scene, that the club still provides owners of Historic cars a fantastic platform on to race them. Admission on the gate was £12 (still good value for a clubbie...again take note Donington) and a programme was purchased for £3
                                                                                                      


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