Give a petrol head a new camera to play with and he will find any excuse to take it to a race track. And there could be no better excuse than a Ferrari festival. And in this case the Ferrari Racing Days event at Silverstone – the British leg of the manufactures 60th anniversary celebrations.
A rather chilly and misty Silverstone welcomed competitors and spectators alike but this didn’t dampen the spirits especially as the early morning air was filled with the distant exhaust note of Ferrari’s pouring into the circuit.
First race of the day was the Pirelli Ferrari Formula Classic run by the Ferrari Owners Club of Great Britain and open to Ferrari’s from the pre F355 Challenge era. Thus the grid was full of 328 & 308 tipos as well as the odd 275 and a 250TR58 recreation. Rock star and well known tifosi Chris Rea could be found down in the mid field in his smart looking red & gold 308GT4. Up at the sharp end of the grid you could be for given for thinking that it was a 328 benefit with Gary Culver taking the win.
Next on the agenda was the first of two sessions for the FXX program with nine of the ultimate track day cars making the trip to the circuit. This was also the first time that the FXX had run in anger in the UK, and what a spectacular sight it was. And also international in flavour with Prestion Henn and Phil Backman from the USA, Lorne & Cody Leibel from Canada and Larry Kinch from the UK amongst others. Motoaki Saito from Japan was fastest and the only driver to post a sub two minute time on the full Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.
It was then back to the serious stuff with the first of two races for the Ferrari Challenge Europe – Trofeo Pirelli. Or in other words the F430 Challenge. The spoils were taken Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, who is carving out a nice career for himself in this part of the world and showing that he has talent. The race was marred by the actions of Oliver Morley who jumped the start and then proceeded to ignore the resultant drive through penalty. And then to add insult to injury ignored the black flag and was only persuaded to stop when he made his mandatory pit stop. He was last seen skulking down the pit lane, like a naughty school boy, in the direction of the stewards office…
The final race before lunch was the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge – Grid C. Although the field was full of 250SWBs the lime light was stolen by the big bruisers in the form of a brace of 512BBLM and a 312PB. Paul Knapfield lead the first lap in the blue European University 512BBLM before Irvine Laidlaw got the 312PB up to speed and made the rest of the field look a little silly as well as making the flat 12 sing all around the circuit. Another highlight of this race was Brandon Wangs’ NART 308GT4 which sadly retired. I believe that this was the first time that the car had run on British soil.
The lunch time entertainment started off with a parade to celebrate the Ferrari Owners Club of Great Britain’s 40th Birthday. This was done in style with forty F40s being lead around the circuit by the 599GTB Safety Car. This was a truly amazing sight. This was followed by a general parade for members of the club in their cars. In total, not including the F40s, 387 Ferrari’s were on the track at the same time.
With lunch over, it was time for Grid B of the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge. And it was that man Irvine Laidlaw who was dominant again, this time in a Maserati 250S, walking away with the win, although it had to be Nicolas Zapata from Mexico who was the star of the race in his Ferrari 625TR.
The FXX drivers came out to play next before the Ferrari Challenge Europe – Coppa Shell. Basically the F430 challenge, but for gentleman drivers as apposed to the professional drives who were out earlier in the day.
As the sun, which had finally come out, beat down on the circuit the F1 Clienti came out for their second session of the day. What a great idea this program is, especially as in this day and age you need to plug a computer into your modern F1 car to get it to work. Let the factory look after the car for you and you can concentrate on enjoying the car. And the drivers were certainly doing that. A few lurid slides and the odd spin showed that the drivers were not hanging around. Thankfully none of the spins resulted in trips to the kitty litter or any contact. Highlight for this fan was the oldest car in the group, the 1985 ex Alboreto car as well as the sight of three F2003-GAs running together.
The penultimate race of the day was an all Maserati affair – the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge Grid A. Although there were a couple of Alfa Romeo Tipo B’s listed in the program they failed to come out on track allowing the remaining six Maseratis to fight amongst themselves. This they did allowing Germany’s Stefan Schollwoeck to run off and hide in the lead.
The Pirelli Ferraris also formed the last race of the day. Again the win was taken by Gary Culver, but this time he was made to fight for it by the Gulf liveried 308GTB of William Jenkins until a brief off by the 308 saw Jenkins drop down the order.
It’s a tough job, but someone has to play with the safety car…
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F1 Clienti in action. Nathan Kinch peddles an ex-Michael Schumacher car.
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Turbocharged, Pietro Tognoli in the ex-Alboreto Ferrari from 1985.
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Larry Kinch plays with his ex-Alan Prost F1-91.
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Ferrari Deutschland duo Dennis Huebner & Roland Asch run together.
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This is as close as anybody to Gary Culver in the Ferrari Owners Club races.
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Music to the ears – Irvine Laidlaw makes a 312PB sing at Silverstone.
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First run in the UK for the NART 308GT4 ended in the pits.
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F40 Parade, there were another 38 F40s on track.
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Just two of the 387 Ferraris that made it on to the track for the parade.
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Carlos Vogele was going well in the Maserati A6GCS until picking up a puncture.
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Playtime for the big boys with their expensive toys – Dino Tabacchi has fun!
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British rock star Chris Rea shows that he can mix it behind the wheel in his 308GT4.
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David Cottingham recreated this 250TR58 from original parts.
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Nicolas Zapata came all the way from Mexico and brought a number of nice cars with him such as this rare 625TR.
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Sean Danaher finished a distance second in the Historic Challenge Grid A race in the Maserati 6CM.
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Irvine Laidlaw drifts the Maserati 250S to victory in the Grid B race.
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