Although, unusually, I did not roam abroad, 29 events, many strongly supported multi-day affairs – bookended by the Classic Sports Car Club’s Silverstone Grand Prix circuit experiment in late February and the Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford staple there in early November – kept me busy at the laptop reporting and on commentary duties.
Sadly, I could not make the pilgrimage to Francorchamps for the 30th Spa Six Hours historic showcase due to a family commitment, but it remains my favourite event and I’ll be back. Looking ahead, my wish list for 2024 includes a return to South Africa’s Passion for Speed historic events, a national hillclimb round and Santa Pod’s Dragstalgia, which old friends raved about in the summer.
Racing in the rain
Rain has always been a great leveller, and there was plenty for racers to contend with this season. The best always star when conditions get ultra-slippery and visibility is poor. At Snetterton in April, where the revived Autosport 3 Hours race highlighted the Historic Sports Car Club’s season-opener, Nigel Greensall’s ability to steer client Ben Snee’s Lotus Elan to victory opened a programme in which the veteran driver coach surpassed 100 starts! Youngsters Horatio Fitz-Simon (Elan) and Harry Barton (TVR Griffith) excelled that day too.
Greensall’s fingertip control of John Spiers’ Lister-Jaguar also made him peerless in the Oulton Park Gold Cup’s Stirling Moss Trophy race. Triple World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx’s RAC TT Celebration win at the Goodwood Revival in William Paul’s Jaguar E-type was in the same league.
Vintage Bentleys at Castle Combe
There is nothing like the thud of a vintage Bentley’s engine, so the spectacle of a full grid of Benjafield’s Racing Club members thundering round Castle Combe on May Day was joyous to behold. As at Donington Park’s previous event, the purpose for the ‘Bentley Boys and Girls’ – many novice racers – was to gain experience and licence signatures towards a dedicated race at Le Mans to commemorate the 24 Hours’ centenary and the marque’s six victories. Astonishingly, 73 cars took to La Sarthe!
At Combe, the camaraderie on and off track was outstanding and left an indelible mark on spectators. William Medcalf was uncatchable in the double-header, but young Louisa Getley’s fastest lap in race one and two top-six finishes opened eyes.
INSIGHT: A celebration of Bentley's story at Le Mans
CSCC Swinging Sixties at Brands Hatch
The Swinging Sixties races have been a staple of the CSCC since its debut in 2003, with continuous support from Adams & Page of High Wycombe, among the UK’s longest-established tyre distributors. For the customer-friendly CSCC’s 20th anniversary season, the grids of GT and saloon cars of the 1950s and 1960s were really strong.
I witnessed races in gruesomely wet conditions at Snetterton and Donington GP and on sunny days at Silverstone GP, Thruxton, Brands Hatch Indy and Castle Combe. The action was always superb, but pick of the crop was Brands, where a grid walkabout engaged spectators and competitors – a great bunch who provided excellent PA banter.
Thruxton Historic
Fifty years since I first visited Thruxton for the resident British Automobile Racing Club’s 1973 Championship Finals, it remains a firm favourite. My local circuit also played host to my fledgling marshalling activities and first visits to timing and commentary boxes as a teenager.
After a couple of shaky years when the Thruxton Historic event was hobbled by a partner’s poor grids, the circuit took back control this season to positive effect. That said, the feature Jochen Rindt Trophy race, promoted by Rob Manger – for which the BARC’s superb cup is awarded – has always been excellent. A capacity 36-car grid of 1600cc Formula 2 and Atlantic, two-litre F3 and FF2000 machinery is being targeted for 2024, and Minis are back, so put 22-23 June in your diaries.
One-litre Formula 3 at Brands Hatch
My abiding memory of 1000cc F3 ‘screamers’ in period was the 1967 British GP support race at Silverstone. Spectating at Stowe, my father, godfather and I witnessed leader Charles Lucas spin his Lotus 41, resume 11th and slipstream back to win from Tony Lanfranchi (Merlyn Mk10) and Chris Williams (Brabham BT21).
Attempts to rekindle it as an historic category have shown flashes of promise but, with its 60th anniversary coming up in 2024, it finally appeared to take flight. At July’s HSCC Brands Hatch Superprix, a 31-car field was sensational. Young Samuel Harrison won all 10 rounds he started this year, extending a fine CV.
Old-school Austin ‘A302’ amazes
When I was a lad, Special Saloons were a big draw for racegoers. While the best were superbly engineered, many were anything but special. Nonetheless, shoehorning an old American V8 engine – cheap ‘brute forcepower’ – into crude shells entertained crowds and tested the reflexes of intrepid pilots.
Birmingham commercial vehicle mechanic Andrew Willis’s self-built Austin A30, debuted at Brands Hatch in June, had a delightfully old-school vibe, yet under the skin its five-litre Ford V8 engine (from a 1960s Falcon) nestled in a steel tube-frame chassis. Running the same size wheels all round, and wet sump lubrication, sages reckoned it wouldn’t work. Yet, its success reflected great ingenuity, making it my Club Car of the Year. Watching Willis tame the ‘A302’ in the wet at Oulton Park was breathtaking.
Spitfire over Goodwood
Seeing Goodwood Motor Circuit from a driver’s eyeline contrasts dramatically with the view from commentary boxes atop the pits or on the bank overlooking the crucial St Mary’s complex. Seeing it from a Supermarine Spitfire, as courageous pilots did in WW2 when it was RAF Westhampnett, brought another perspective.
I have adored Goodwood since I went to sprints and countless test days in the 1970s and 1980s – amid that 32-year fallow period when it was closed to full-blooded racing – but to fly overhead in a magnificent warbird within three weeks of the 75th anniversary of its opening race meeting in September 1948 was perfect timing. This privilege, sponsored by my wife, is my pick as the magical moment of 2023.
Castle Combe Autumn Classic
The vagaries of the British climate can work both ways now the effects of global warming make it less seasonal, but T-shirt weather for September’s Castle Combe Autumn Classic made the 12th edition unforgettable. Packed paddocks and spectator banks brought great ambience to the occasion and Cafe Bar H did a roaring trade. Bigger grids than in recent years – including a Ferrari double-header – provided exciting racing across the board, meriting the Royal Automobile Club Historic Motoring Awards’ Competitive Event of 2023 title.
Next year the Castle Combe Racing Club has expanded the Classic to two days on 21-22 September, featuring new races. The GT & Sports Car Cup’s Saturday enduro has been extended to two hours and the Historic Racing Drivers Club joins the fray with three frenetic grids on Sunday. Unmissable.
Image Race Cars 50-year reunion
Hosted by Image Race Cars co-founder Alan Langridge and factory manager Robert Synge, October’s 50-year reunion took me back to Tangmere, where the first Formula Fords – three FF1s – were built in 1974. Attendees from Germany, India, Sweden and South Africa joined early drivers Mike Wrigley, Mike ‘Fulmar’ Taylor, David Wigdor and the much underrated Frank Bayes, employees, friends and weekend warriors.
For a manufacturing minnow, Image’s motorsport talent pool proved unexpectedly deep. Langridge subsequently engineered Damon Hill (F3000) and Dario Franchitti (Indycar), Synge’s Madgwick Motorsport team won FF1600, FF2000, F3 and F3000 championships, drivers Kenny Brack and Anthony Reid forged stellar careers, and apprentice Edward Turner became Audi’s chief mechanic in its Le Mans and IMSA glory days.
Not the same as FF1600, but sim-ilar
Like many enthusiasts, including stalwart marshals, I cherish memories of club racing’s golden days, when ‘men in sheds’, like the recently departed John Turner, created extraordinary hybrids. But I still enjoy its current landscape. In today’s world, I find nothing compelling in Formula E, but discovered sim racing by chance.
‘Driving’ simulators has always made me feel ill, so count me out, but I became fascinated by the Motorsport UK FF1600 Esports championship, which Henry Moore, 15, dominated, demonstrating skill, tenacity and racecraft. Other disciplines are available, but graduation to the British F4 headliner in virtual racing is no more costly. A very different experience to my Formula Ford days, when crash damage didn’t undo itself without hours of toil in cold workshops.
