VSCC Opener at Silverstone 2013

For competitors the weekend offered great value for money as most of the cars were raced several times over each day. The race program was made up of everything from a short 5 lap scratch race and ‘Tortoise and Hare’ style handicapped races to full fat 40 minute races with mandatory pit stops. There was even a 30 minute regularity trail for prewar sports cars. It made me think that this is how things must have been way back in 1948, when racing resumed after WWII at places like Goodwood and of course Silverstone, which was home to the first Championship Grand Prix in 1950. The races themselves were full on blasts from flag to flag, the drivers being drawn from the cream of historic racers. To watch Neil Twyman in his Alfa 8C and Geraint Evans in his Type 35 Bugatti steering their mounts on the throttle around the Brooklands’ corner was worth the cost of admission alone.

In addition to the various VSCC groupings of cars, the HGPCA ran a race each day for pre-1966 Grand Prix cars, lots of Coopers, Brabhams, Lotus and even Peter Mullin’s ex Graham Hill 1962 BRM 261. This car took Graham Hill to second behind John Surtees in the 1964 F1 World Championship. The Formula Junior club was out in strength with its pre-1961 front-engined cars so we were treated to a lot of “etceterini” racing with Stanguellini, Bandini and Volpini fighting it out with their British, French and American counterparts.

Another large group of competitors came from the ranks of the 500 Formula Three Owners Club who raced each day. I am told that their grids were the largest ever assembled in the modern era, in fact since 1955. Most cars were rear-engined but I did spot a few front-engined examples as well. I cannot help seeing some of the cars as being like miniature Auto Union GP cars. Watching them race I can certainly understand why some of the great racing drivers of the 1950s cut their teeth driving them.

One of the highlights on Saturday was the Patrick Lindsay and Amschel Rothschild trophies for pre-1961 front-engined racing cars. Whilst nobody could ultimately catch Phillip Walker, last year’s winner, in his Lotus 16 to win the Amschel Rothschild Trophy as first across the line, the battle between Julian Bronson in his 1960 Scarab and Tony Wood in his 1959 Tec Mec was epic. Julian eventually finished second with Tony not far behind in third. The Patrick Lindsay Award for the first pre-war car home went to Mark Gillies driving Mary Smith’s ERA R3A, this being Mark’s eighth Patrick Lindsay Award.

One major theme of the meeting was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Abecassis, the well-known pre and post war British racing driver and co-founder with John Heath of the HWM racing team. On the Saturday race 10 was the George Abecassis centenary trophy – a 40 minute race.

The Fifties Sports Car Racing Club pulled out all the stops to assemble a large grid of cars, either raced by George himself, or cars that would have raced against him in period. Thus we were treated to a grid of Altas, HWM Jaguars, Austin Healeys, Healey Silverstone’s and Aston Martins (George was a Works Aston and Austin Healey driver). To continue the Aston theme on Sunday race 7 was for the Aston Martin Centenary Trophy for prewar Aston Martin cars.

The grid was made up of various Ulster, International and Speed models. To add even greater variety to the meeting the Historic Racing Driver Club was invited to form a grid of their All Stars class of cars. This is probably the only race where I have watched a 1962 Fiat 1500 Abarth gun it out (not for long) against a 1963 project 214 Aston Martin replica and a 5000cc Ford Galaxy in a 30 minute sprint to the checkered flag. As a season opener this event takes some beating.

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Garage

Maseratis

Bugattis

Formula Juniors

Other