O
nce again Brands Hatch
provided the perfect setting
for another weekend of action-
packed racing on the historic
and challenging Grand Prix circuit. This
time round, it was the Historic Sports Car
Club who held their 23
rd
Super Prix at the
end of June and beginning of July this year.
As anticipated, adrenaline and excitement
were central to the weekend as all manners
of sports cars from the mid-1950s to the
early 1980s took to the track for the 16-
race programme.
After thoroughly enjoying the racing at
the Masters Historic Festival back in May,
I was looking forward to another exciting
weekend of racing. The atmosphere was
absolutely amazing and I was already
filled with expectations. I was especially
eager to see the historic Formula 2 racing
champions in their open-wheel racing cars,
a category that has grown since it came
under the wing of the Historic Sports Car
Club.
The sounds of the 1970s came alive
on the tracks in the Evans Waterless
Coolants 70s Road Sports Championship
that kicked off the weekend in fine style.
As usual, competitive vibes were in the air
with reigning champion John Thomason
looking good in his 1970 Triumph GT6.
Among the 19 fellow racing drivers were
competitors Charles Barter in his ex-Win
1971
Percy Datsun 240Z and son Julian
in his 1979 TVR 3000M, Paul Conway in
his 1970 Morgan Plus 8, Peter Shaw in his
1969
TVRTuscan and Ian Jacobs in his 1974
Mercedes 450SL. In the final 11
th
lap, Paul
Conway won with an overall timing of 20
minutes and 10 seconds and the fastest
time of 1 minute and 40 seconds in the
2
nd
lap.
After the highlights of last year’s
Historic Super Prix, drivers from France,
Switzerland, Monaco and Italy came against
the UK once again in the HSCC Classic
1978
Ralt RT1, Richard Trott in his 1978
Chevron B47 and Tom Bradshaw in his
1980
Argo JM6 to win the race. Coming in
eleven seconds behind, Italian racerValerio
Leone took second place while Brit Keith
White came in third.
When I saw the words ‘Junior School’
in the racing programme, I could not help
but picture little children parading around
in the playground in their toy racing
cars. However, the Lurani Trophy for the
Historic Formula Junior Championship
Race, that has a seven-event programme
across mainland Europe and made its only
visit of the year to the UK at the Super
Prix, is a category that was initially set up by
Italian Count ‘Johnny’ Lurani over 50 years
ago to cater for younger drivers of single-
seater racing cars. Fresh from a recent race
in Dijon in eastern France, drivers in this
race included Italian PierreTonetti and Brit
David Methley in similar 1963 Brabham
BT6s, joint drivers Callum Macleod and
Richard Utley in their 1961 Caravelle Mk2,
The race I was most looking forward
to, the HSCC Historic Formula 2
Championship, finally hit the Grand Prix
circuit. As the grid of
1960
s and 1970s cars
with 1600cc and 2-litre
engines lined up at the
starting point, I waited
with anticipation for
the action to take place.
And off they went with
powerful engines roaring
round the first lap of the
20
minute race. With
noses reminding me of
Lamborghinis,the array of
racing cars including Chevrons, Brabhams,
Pygmees and Ralts driven by racers from
the UK, Germany, Switzerland, France,
Austria and Belgium careered round each
lap with heart-rendering adrenaline power.
JADA BROOKES
ENJOYS ANOTHER EXCITINGWEEKEND
OF RACING AT THE HSCC SUPER PRIX ONTHE
BRANDS HATCH GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT
Historic Racing
Historic Sports
car club super prix
PHOTOGRAPHER: IAN GILLETT
Formula 3 Championship. With a range
of 1600cc cars from the early 1970s and
2-
litre cars from the early 1980s on the
track, the competition was a challenging
one as defending champion Jamie Brashaw
in his ex-Kenny Acheson 1979 March
793
fought off competition from former
champion Benn Simms in his 1980 March
803
B, David Shaw in the ex-Nelson Piquet
James Murray in his
1963
Lola Mk 5A,
Stuart Roach in his
1962
Alexis Mk4,
Andrew Hibberd in
his 1962 Lotus 22,
and Swiss Philipp
Buhofer in his 1963
Lola Mk 5A.