UK National Races Highlights from a Mixed 2021 Campaign

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The 2021 season marked a return to a semblance of reality in the club and the historic motorsport arena. Unlike its COVID-lashed predecessor, which started three months late, a full schedule of events has been run.

For me, however, it was different. If chronicling Goodwood’s Revival or reuniting members from a comment box for the first time hasn’t changed its dynamic, missing a long-haul overseas trip and the recovery of Spa Six Hours – which I had attended from 1997 to 2019 – due to the logistics of the trip was disappointing.

Nonetheless, a comprehensive national program has shown how fortunate we are to have so many great sites at our fingertips. British events and a European surprise provided a lot of enjoyable action.

Bryant Cobra lands TT celebration

Olly Bryant’s victory at the RAC TT Celebration at Goodwood is the sporting highlight of my year. Time and time again, I’d seen Olly and various partners make their way to Revival’s blue stripe GT race, only to have the gallant AC Cobra stolen by late drama or mechanical breakdown. Three seconds – the first with daddy Grahame and Bill Shepherd in 2004 – were as close as Roy Salvadori’s 1964 retiree TT, but in September the stars aligned. Darren Turner passed a healthy snake to Bryant Jr, who thundered to the checkered flag. Fifteen days later, his Spa Six Hours GT40 duck was also broken …

Colin Turner visits Silverstone Classic

Eight months after losing his lower legs in a horrific accident at the 2020 Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford event, veteran Scot Colin Turner returns to thank the marshals and medics at the Silverstone Classic was the defining moment of my season. The determination of the septuagenarian to run again is remarkable, based on unwavering Christian faith and staunch independence. Driven by Nigel and Callum Grant’s early offer of a tryout in their historic Merlyn, the indomitable Colin began building a replacement Ray this summer. Its Facebook updates constantly inspire many challenges and will surely lead brilliant prosthodontists to develop ever better artificial limb features, making motorsport as accessible as any other.

Colin Turner prepares to return to racing after terrible crash

Photo by: Marcus Pye

Formula 2 cars screaming with thrills

Standing at the end of the traditional Silverstone pit lane watching Historic F2 cars qualify for the Historic Sports Car Club International Trophy meeting in May was a treat for anyone lucky enough to have competed in the World Championship. ‘Europe in the late 1970s. A fleet of iconic and distinctive cars – five March 782 leading the local Bicester brigade, an assortment of Chevrons from B42 to B27, a trio of Ralt, as well as Brabham chassis, GRD and Motul – was different from the current frontline categories. Add in the 1600cc F2s and the now on the rise Formula Atlantics and the show was superb. If only the weather had been nicer …

Harrison and Fitz-Simon to the beat of FF1600

The exceptional young driving skills emerging through historic Formula Ford are nothing new – witness 2008 champion Michael Lyons, who added all three races of the Monaco Historic F1 GP to his resume this spring – when contemporary traditional roads are not available. This quarter Samuel Harrison and Horatio Fitz-Simon proved they can run with anyone in their first full seasons. Harrison’s pursuit of Elden Mk8 of three-time champion-elect Cam Jackson (Winkelmann) at Cadwell Park was mind-blowing. Fitz-Simon, in Mike O’Brien’s Classic Team Merlyn Mk20A, kept Jackson and Tom McArthur (Titan Mk4) in sight until the end. After trials and wins, Harrison replaces Fitz-Simon for 2022.

Horatio Fitz-Simon leads to Silverstone, Historic FF1600

Molly Dodd’s FF2000 Breakthrough

Like most of her Historic FF2000 rivals, I hadn’t heard of Molly Dodd until her slick and wing championship debut at Snetterton in a smoky Royal RP27. But I immediately saw the tenacity and potential in leading this young 18-year-old Junior Saloon graduate. Stolen – by a transponder problem – from what would have been her first victory in a tough round of the Brands Grand Prix, her hunger intensified. At Oulton Park, the combative nature of apprentice iZone Dodd fueled another charge. Ask former champion Benn Simms, who worked really hard to pass her. Fourth in points was an impressive opening bet. A future competitor of the W Series?

Monaco 500 back at Goodwood

The dominant victory of young Stirling Moss in the 500cc at the first Goodwood meeting in September 1948 demonstrated supreme talent. The 78th October Members’ Meeting was the first without the Maestro, who often celebrated his birthday at the Revival, but passed away last April at the age of 90. The stunning Don Parker Trophy race field included the tiny Monaco-Norton – built in Watford by a company run by John Wyer – in which George Hartwell finished seventh in 1948. With its five-foot wheelbase, the Monaco took Hartwell and Claude Tipper at the Brighton Speed ​​Trials 30 mile victories in 1948 and 1949. He was retired in 1953, then resuscitated by David Baldock. Angus Frost led him this time.

Angus Frost, Monaco-Norton

Photo by: Gary Hawkins

Classic Special Lounges in Donington

Club racing has been close to my heart since the 1960s, and my favorite fix of 2021 was the dazzling Donington of the Classic Sports Car Club in May, which drew almost 500 registrations, including a handsome Special Saloons & Modsports pack. The Castrol-style showdown between Joe Ward in Baby Bertha – Chevrolet’s V8-powered Vauxhall Firenza in which Gerry Marshall was rarely beaten with Australian power Holden Repco F5000 in the mid-1970s – and the Ford Escort Zakspeed tribute from his veteran colleague Malcolm Harding was a joy to see. The wide variety of machines at CSCC events is impressive. Unknown territory? Discover one in 2022.

Formula 750 Race at Mallory

The evolution of on-board cameras over the 20 years since GoPro joined racer jargon has been staggering, especially in terms of stability and resolution. Discreet and inexpensive, a large portion of club runners now rely on them for post-race analysis. 10-time Formula 750 champion Mick Harris, who has driven his wife Sue’s Darvi 597 this season, proves that you don’t need the fastest cars to have a lot of fun. Mick’s run with 2021 champion Peter Bove (Darvi), former title winner Bill Cowley (Cowley MkIV) and Chris Gough (CGR2 Evo) at Mallory Park in October made an informative view of Facebook as the meisters at Fiat 1100cc engine jostled each other throughout the race. Magic!

Formula 750 in action at Mallory Park

Photo by: Steve Jones

Walter Hayes Trophy matures

The absence of the 50th British Racing & Sports Car Club Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in October, which loyalists called a classic, was disappointing. However, I arrived at Silverstone the following week – coincidentally for the fourth weekend of five! – for the 21st Walter Hayes Trophy. James Beckett’s original idea, launched in 2001, culminated the Kent engine season in style. American teenager Max Esterson triumphed in a Low Dempsey Racing Ray, withstanding immense pressure in a super clean final. The Team USA scholarship, founded by my former Autosport colleague Jeremy Shaw, and funded by many partners, now has four WHT gold medals in its quiver.

Baby Van Diemen reminds me of 1981

It’s been 40 years since I started racing at Thruxton in 1981, driving Clive Wood’s Pine City Racing Van Diemen RF80. When my teammate Richard ‘Pink Panther’ Twinam told me that F1 model maker Matt Chinn mastered a 1/20 scale RF80 as the first version, I ordered one to reflect a wonderful day in my life. After arranging for Chinn to visit an RF80 owner for dimensional checks, I took delivery last month and the attention to detail, under the removable body panels, is breathtaking. For the price of a current, fanatically adapted and canceled to spec race entry, this is something to cherish.

Van Diemen RF80

Photo by: Marcus Pye

The highlights of the national Autosport races

Spectacular Ginetta Junior action, thunderous Ford GT40s and a very special Saloons & Modsports race provided some memorable moments of the season for National Autosport staff.

Stephen Lickorish, Group National Editor

Some races come to mind for all the wrong reasons, but the one to remember in the best possible way is the third Ginetta Junior race at Donington Park this year. It was one of the most exciting head battles I have seen in a long time, as title rivals Aston Millar and Liam McNeilly were inseparable, continually swapping places. But, more importantly, the respect between the two was evident – MM. Verstappen and Hamilton could learn a thing or two from these teenagers. And, despite the intensity of their bickering, they still managed to build a gigantic lead of 10 seconds over the rest of the peloton. Just awesome.

Stefan Mackley, Deputy National Editor

My favorite moment of 2021 is near between the Amon Cup at Donington Park Historic Festival and the 50th edition of the Formula Ford Festival. The first – which was coincidentally my most anticipated event – just takes its place – watching people like three-time British touring car champion Gordon Shedden slide out of Redgate behind the wheel of a Ford GT40 with spitting flames and a Rumbling V8 engine was magic. The event ended with a discussion with Alex Amon, son of former Formula 1 driver and 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Chris, and what his father would have done with the race named in his honor.

Mark Paulson, special contributor

A record 40-car entry of special sedans and Modsports cars for the Ricky Parker-Morris Memorial Race at Brands Hatch paid a fitting tribute to the series’ main actor, who tragically passed away after contracting COVID-19 earlier in the year. ‘year. The terrifically varied entry put on a moving spectacle on the Grand Prix circuit and produced an exciting race with multiple changes of head. Sam Wilson moved up from sixth place on the grid to win in Rikki Cann’s Aston Martin V8 Vantage, but there was barely a dry eye in the paddock after Ricky’s brother Danny Morris had a great run at the second place in the Spirit of RPM Peugeot 309 Cosworth that the pair had previously shared.

Gordon Shedden, Amon Cup, Donington Park 2021

Photo by: Richard Styles

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