National Novelties: Enderby's Karmann Ghia and Reynard colleagues reunite

Special Saloon returns to the track: Karmann Ghia

Special Saloon racing legend Doctor David Enderby’s Volkswagen Karmann Ghia – based on a Tiga SC79 Sports 2000 chassis – hit the track for the first time in almost 31 years at Brands Hatch on Tuesday.

The 1700cc Ford BDA-engined giantslayer, in which Enderby won the British Automobile Racing Club’s championship in 1990 and his class in the BHL Silhouettes series in 1991, was mothballed thereafter. Debuted at Brands in November 1982, with one-litre Chrysler Imp power, it carried the Doc to 85 wins.

“The old car felt surprisingly good,” enthused the multiple champion, who intends to race the Karmann Ghia next year following its restoration.

“It goes round corners quite well, but is very pointy so we’ll work on the front suspension geometry. I put the rear wing up at one point, which made it understeer like mad, so it felt pretty sensitive to adjustment.

“There was a misfire all morning, so we removed the rev limiter [which cured it], then altered the mixture on the fuel injection, but I’m thinking we’ll have to go back to the rolling road to set it up again.”

Reynard friends reunited: Trio race in FF2000

Photo by: Steve Jones

Reynard Racing Cars founder Adrian Reynard (above centre) and subsequent chief designer Malcolm Oastler (above left) raced together in Historic Formula Ford 2000 at Croft last weekend.

Australian Oastler, 63 – a successful hillclimber and racer – drove Reynard’s yellow spare, Jeremy Rossiter’s period SF78 in which Adrian won his first championship round in 1978, and Reynard an SF79 dressed as his EFDA Euroseries winner. Both were overseen by Simon Hadfield, who made period Reynard chassis at Sabre Fabrications.

Oastler last raced in the UK in 1985, contesting five FF2000 events in a Van Diemen run by compatriots the Farrell brothers’ Milldent Motorsport. British Touring Car engineer Steve Farrell has restarted this year in the black SF79.

Of the trio, it was Reynard who scored the best result, taking 11th place in race two.

Successful comeback: Alex Fores

Photo by: Steve Jones

Former GB3 racer Alex Fores made a successful return to racing at Croft last weekend in Historic FF2000, his first outing since a sizeable crash at Castle Combe.

Fores was left in hospital after crashing at Camp during the Magnificent Sevens race at the Wiltshire circuit in July but was back in action when the Reynard SF78 drive became available - Alex and his father Richard having coached its owner Graham Ridgway.

REPORT: All the best Croft action

Despite never having driven the car in the wet before, Fores finished second in the first race but retired from the finale when a wheel pin broke.

Old wets don't work: John Hayes-Harlow

Photo by: Steve Jones

John Hayes-Harlow's Croft event ended with a bang last weekend when he crashed his Formula Atlantic Ehrlich RP3/4, stopping Saturday’s wet opening Aurora Trophy race.

“It was among my better accidents,” he shrugged, having gone off exiting the Jim Clark Esses, spun and hit the tyre wall before Barcroft backwards “on 10-year-old wets”.

Initial inspection suggested that the monocoque is OK, thus the 72-year-old plans to rebuild the car.

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