The mixed return of a historic racing stalwart

Celebrated a year late due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and rebranded Classic Silverstone, the 30th anniversary historic event at the home of British motor racing was another monster.

The international contingent that has flavoured it for so long was understandably very slim this time, ever-changing travel restrictions and testing criteria having made planning impossible for most. This largely narrowed the focus to UK-based combatants, but the overseas entries will be back given a fair wind. As ever the cream rose to the top over an action-packed Historic Sports Car Club-run 21-race card, centred on a relentless 12-hour marathon programme on Saturday.

As I arrived on Thursday afternoon, the sheer scale of the festival’s logistics was evidenced by the acreage of camping sites around the circuit. Behind the Heritage Pits at the opposite end to the Wing, the usual scrutineering scrummage frustrated teams and officials anew.

Over two hours, the queues for the bays on the inside of Copse Corner barely moved, and furthermore blocked the paddock’s spine as the last vehicles shuffled into the venue. This animated competitors who proposed that checking cars in grid order within pits or dedicated areas en bloc, and at set times, in 2022 would greatly improve the situation.

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My weekend was made when I was introduced to Colin Turner, the indomitable Formula Fordster who lost his lower legs following an accident in last November’s Walter Hayes Trophy. At 70, he cannot wait to compete in FF1600 again, subject to being able to regain his Motorsport UK licence, and is building up a replacement Ray.

Fewer than nine months on, and walking on evolving prosthetics, former RAF pilot Colin sprang from the cockpit of Nigel and Callum Grant’s Formula Atlantic March 79B in the pits quicker than many could have done. That he drove himself down from Scotland to meet the marshals, medics and rescue crews who extricated him was a very special moment for all.

Heavy rain made for tricky conditions for competitors

Photo by: JEP

The tragic news from Brands Hatch of the ghastly incident that claimed track marshal Robert Foote’s life on Saturday circulated quickly. It was another cruel reminder of the dangers of the sport we all love, and choose to be involved in.

On Sunday morning, as the Formula Juniors lined up for the opening race, a minute’s silence was observed. As the orange army on posts around the Grand Prix circuit congregated to honour their fallen comrade, I was standing with friends amid the single-seaters in the assembly area. Poignantly, the respectful throng could have heard a pin drop before engines were fired up.

A fortnight after the British GP ran in searing heat under a clear blue sky, Britain’s climate conspired against the Classic. While the rain was thankfully not of the biblical magnitude that forced the cancellation of Silverstone’s MotoGP round in August 2018 – or has devastated areas around Nurburgring and Spa recently – inevitably it took some of the shine off the event.

Racers and racegoers are used to it but, for the thousands of club members who congregated in marque displays around the campus, the sullen grey sky and regular precipitation was not what they ordered. At least it was dry on Sunday, when 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill unleashed his Williams-Renault FW18 to everybody’s delight.

While competitors would of course have preferred a glorious weekend for the comfort of their families and support crews, and to eke the maximum from their steeds, the slippery track for two and a half of the three days was not to every racer’s dislike. While some were mystified that half of the 3.63-mile circuit could be awash and the other half almost bone dry – a far from joyous cocktail – and others reported being caught out by surface changes, some stellar performances led to unusual results.

Martin O’Connell’s sublime skills need no introduction, but the 2018 Monaco GP Historique F1 winner – in an ATS! – was star of the show at Silverstone on Saturday night.

Hill completed demonstration in his title-winning FW18

Photo by: JEP

Floating a little Lotus 11 to victory in Motor Racing Legends’ ’50s sportscar race, beating rivals of the calibre of Sam Hancock, Gary Pearson and Chris Ward in snarling Lister-Jaguars, Roger Wills in a two-litre Lotus 15 and James Cottingham in the Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro-Jaguar, was magical.

As was Martin Stretton and Gregor Fisken’s last-ditch 0.465-second victory in the concurrent RAC Woodcote Trophy contest in finisher Fisken’s pristine HWM-Jaguar. A team performance to savour.

The Jaguar E-type 60th Anniversary race was also run on a treacherously slippery track and almost provided another enormous form book upset. That Ben Mitchell and Danny Winstanley – who humbled the establishment by fishtailing fixed-head coupes clear of the hot roadsters – were denied top honours by an arcane technicality was unfathomable to spectators, the masses watching live streams, commentators and pundits. For the second time in three seasons, I’ve witnessed a win in a foreshortened race being handed to a competitor whose team thought it a travesty.

Motorsport UK needs to review its rules of engagement urgently.

Father and son duo Martin and Alex Brundle raced E-Type capably

Photo by: JEP