Silverstone Sunday 5th November 2017

Remember remember the 5th of November goes the saying...and I did remember the date as it was Walter Hayes Trophy Day! The "Walter" as the meeting is affectionately known is always a highlight of the season and the perfect way to end the year on a high note. The annual knockout format for Formula Ford 1600 Kent engined cars is now in it's 17th year...hard to believe and this was my 14th viewing of it.
Due to working on Saturday I only attended on the Sunday so on a very cold but sunny Sunday morning the first race of the day, on a damp but rapidly drying circuit, was the Progression race. With only the top 6 finishers progressing to the next stages, this race is always a slightly strange affair as the fast runners that suffered problems in their heats start at the back of the grid and try to cut through the field of what are usually much slower drivers. The race was won by Westie Mitchell's historic Merlyn and there was a big surprise when one of the Team USA scholarship drivers, Aaron Jeansonne, who had technical problems in his heat finished 7th after contact on the first lap and falling agonisingly short of going further in the trophy.
After a couple of qualifying sessions for the support races it was time for the Last Chance race which sees the top 18 make their way into the Semi-Finals. Dave McCullough's Van Diemen winning this one from second on the grid.
Semi-Final 1 was red-flagged following a shunt at Brooklands which saw last year's winner, Niall Murray eliminated after spining out and being collected heavily by an unsighted car. The 7 lap restart was won by Josh Fisher from an impressive Oliver White who had started 7th on the grid.
Semi-Final 2 saw previous WHT winner Joey Foster triumph from Michael Moyers to set up the grid for the final.
There were 2 other FF1600 races before the main final. The first was a Non-Historic Consolation race that saw Dutchman Jaap Blijleven take the flag and the second was a truly fantastic Historic FF1600 race. It's difficult to describe how much passing and re-passing there was at the sharp end which saw Richard Tarling follow up his HSCC title win at the circuit 2 weeks previously with victory in this race. Michael Mallock driving his family built Mallock U2Mk9 looked like he might hang on for the win but Tarling edged him at the flag.
The support races on Sunday saw a very interesting grid for the Closed Wheel Allcomers race. No less than 3 Le Mans prototypes were in action and it was Martin Short's Dallara LMP3 from the year 2000 that won a frantic 25 minute race that also saw a Rover Vitesse, a Rover 216 and a Mini Cooper take part.
There was also a Ladies only race that saw the very talented Sarah Moore dominate proceedings in her Ginetta G50. Moore won the Ginetta Junior championship several years ago but didn't get the chance to further her career in the sport sadly.
So to the Walter Hayes Trophy Final and with all the usual F.Ford suspects at the sharp end of the grid, it was anybody's guess to who would win. Joey Foster was on pole but retired from the race about halfway through with engine problems. Leader for most of the way was Oliver White, mainly thanks to yellow flags waiving at the main overtaking point (Brooklands) for the majority of the race following a roll for Tom McArthur. When the flag was withdrawn with only a couple of laps to go there was minor contact between White and Fisher at Brooklands which put Moyers into the lead. poor White then spun off with damage at Luffield leading to more yellow flags which meant that on the final lap there wasn't a chance for overtaking to happen in the last couple of corners. Moyers hanging on for his first ever Walter Hayes Trophy win from Fisher in 2nd and James Raven in 3rd.
The days action wasn't quite yet over as, for the first time ever, there was a Britcar Endurance race that would start in sunset and end in darkness prior to a Firework display and stunt show. Silverstone had certainly promoted this heavily so having watched about 1 hour of the 2 hour race it was time to head home after a cold day and not hang around for evening's entertainment! 18 started the Britcar race which was eventually won by the Ferrari 458 of Witt Gamski & Ross Wylie after early leader Rob Wheldon's fantastic looking Radical RXC Coupe suffered an electrical problem.
So that was the Walter Hayes trophy concluded for another year. Put simply there is nothing better than a cracking Formula Ford race and this meeting hardly ever disappoints. It just needs to be a touch warmer next year please! Admission was £12 on the gate and a very good programme was purchased for £5.