The weird and the wonderful from national motorsport this week

Rare Hornet sighted: McArthur's Wolseley

So often in racing at every level, the intensity of action down the order is as compelling - sometimes more so - than that for outright victory. In the second Historic Sports Car Club Historic Touring Car race at Brands Hatch on Sunday, the progress of Neil McArthur in his unusual Wolseley Hornet was spectacular.

Lapping the Indy circuit inside the ‘magic’ minute for the second successive race, McArthur headed a superb ‘red dice’ between the Mini Cooper Ss of Tim Brook and Steve Youle, who finished a second apart having circulated as if tied together.

An RS500 birthday treat: Scott-Dunwoodie's Sierra

 

Photo by: Richard Styles

Stephen Scott-Dunwoodie had a memorable 60th birthday last weekend as he debuted his Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 in the Future Classics race during the Classic Sports Car Club meeting at Snetterton.

REPORT: The best of the action from Snetterton last weekend

“First lockdown we were twiddling our thumbs and it was a car we kept threatening to build,” he said, having put the new machine on the front row despite some issues. “We broke the differential in qualifying, the pinion came off coming out of the hairpin, so we’ve changed the rear-axle and the rear diff. They are fragile when you push them and things do break.”

A loss of drive when running third just four laps from home took the icing off his birthday cake.

Hero to zero: Phil Jenkins

 

Photo by: Mick Walker

The Caterham racer had done all the hard work in the second 420R contest of the 7 Race Series at Donington Park. Having won the opener, he worked his way from 10th on the partially reversed-grid into the lead of race two. Only for a late safety-car period to undo his hard work. While warming up his tyres in the cold conditions, he spun off and had to settle for 10th.

Unusual M535: Sturges’s BMW

 

Photo by: Richard Styles

A rare BMW M535 hit the track at Snetterton in the hands of Jamie Sturges, having acquired the 1987 built-machine nine months ago. “Someone else had prepared it but that was for trackdays,” he said. “It was an M535 road car to start with, it’s still the original motor and everything else is fairly standard.”

It made its race debut at Silverstone last month, and at Snetterton placed fifth in class. Sturges added: “It’s the most fun I have had in a race car. It’s the slowest but also the most fun.”

Unique car: Formula Atlantic BM12

 

Photo by: Ollie Read

Ford engineer Brian Martin is remembered for his eponymous sports-racers of the 1970s, less so for his two single-seaters. Built on a tubeframe chassis stiffened by sheet alloy panels, the unique Formula Atlantic BM12 carried Pinch Plant-supported Martin to sixth in season-ending BP championship rounds at Brands Hatch and Snetterton in October 1973.

After an outing with Peter Williams in 1974, the car was sent to the US. Expat Briton Bob Yarwood ‘vintage’ raced it in the 1990s, then brought it home. Classic Clubmans regular Antony Denham bought it four years ago. Restored by Tom Smith, the head-turner suffered engine problems at Brands Hatch last weekend.

Taming a TVR beast: Douglas's Griffith

 

Photo by: Richard Styles

Christian Douglas took to the wheel of an older model TVR Griffith 400 at Snetterton for the first time, as his newer model is still undergoing a rebuild following a crash at Knockhill last year.

He qualified fourth and finished in the same spot during the Classic K race, but won his class. “I’ve still got to get my head around the tyres and the brakes,” he said. “I’m just really pleased to bring the car home.”