Indholdsfortegnelse for 29/07/21 i Autosport

Autosport has enjoyed producing special car issues before, but this one is a little different. Whereas the two previous subjects – the Lotus 72 and Porsche 917 – tend to come into any debate about the greatest racing car of all time, the Jaguar E-type is an icon for different reasons. As we show on page 24, the famous Jaguar had a mixed motorsport record during its heyday in the 1960s, and its fame comes largely from its remarkable looks and success as one of the great automotive designs. Nevertheless, it still makes for a fine racer, as Ben Anderson discovered recently in a special track test at Brands Hatch (p16). Top historic driver, preparer and Jaguar expert Gary Pearson also explains how the E-type has been improved in historic…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 has officially confirmed that Monza will stage the second sprint event in 2021, with an 18-lap race set for the Saturday of the Italian Grand Prix. F1 staged its inaugural 100km Saturday sprint race at the British GP at Silverstone as part of a shake-up of the race weekend format. While it was widely known that Monza would host the second sprint race, F1 had shied away from providing any official confirmation until last week when it unveiled the timetable for the event. As seen at Silverstone earlier this month, the introduction of the sprint race on Saturday has resulted in a number of other changes to the weekend schedule, including a late running of qualifying on Friday. Qualifying will again take place on Friday evening,…

There are plenty of people in Formula 1 for whom August cannot arrive fast enough. After 27 races in 55 weeks since the pandemic-delayed 2020 championship finally got under way, the 2021 summer break is being eyed hungrily. The schedule is punishing, with the run of 12 planned races over 15 weeks in the season’s second half (the 50% point won’t come until Saturday at Spa) still to come. The wisdom of replacing races that will inevitably fall to COVID’s claws later in the year is highly contentious given the stresses so many events places on team members, with the value of having a 23-25 race calendar and its impact on the championship’s quality concentration still be to measured. But, before the summer break arrives, there’s one more weekend to…

Verstappen displays disrespect Max Verstappen’s approach to racing involves aggressive weaving and blocking more extreme than any of his competitors. This was illustrated at the start of both the sprint and the Grand Prix at Silverstone. This behaviour is that of a bully, and displays more disrespect for his competitors than has ever been shown by Lewis Hamilton. Thus, one must consider Max’s comments to be laughable. Unfortunately, Christian Horner compromises his own credibility by supporting them. F1 has invested considerable resources and the teams are designing cars that are intended to race one another more effectively from next season onwards. This effort will be totally wasted unless the FIA and its stewards can come up with a framework of consistent decision-making that allows that to happen and includes some…

Jaguar E-types can be seen at many historic race events. MotorSport Vision has already held its big Donington Park Historic Festival and Legends of Brands Hatch Superprix meetings, but there is still another extravaganza to come in 2021. The Oulton Park Gold Cup began as a non-championship Formula 1 race in 1954, won by Stirling Moss in a Maserati 250F. It largely continued as a contemporary event for the rest of the century, being held for all manner of machinery at different times, including F5000, sportscars and British Touring Cars. But it is now one of the Historic Sports Car Club’s big meetings. E-types are likely to feature in this year’s Guards Trophy for GT and sports-racing cars, and the Dunlop Historic Trophy for pre-1966 Jaguars, which seems fitting given…

"THE SIX-CYLINDER ENGINE WAS MAED OUT, SO HAMILTON'S SEARCH FOR MORE POWER POINTED TO A V12" Ever since Graham Hill gave the brand-new Jaguar E-type a debut win at Oulton Park in April 1961, people have raced E-types. But none of them can match the fastest and most way-out of all: the 7.3-litre monster developed and raced by Malcolm Hamilton and affectionately known as ‘The Beast’ Hamilton’s car was the device that set the standard in the once highly competitive Aston Martin Owners Club Intermarque Championship. In its ultimate specification it ran a 7300cc Jaguar V12 pushing out around 700bhp and weighing in at 1275kg. It could do 0-150mph in around eight seconds and was clocked on an airfield at 185mph. The diff exploded on a second run when Hamilton…

Jake Dennis shares more than just scoring a popular home victory in common with Alex Lynn. He too is fighting to show the pitlane that he’s worthy of a Formula E future. Where the two Brits differ is in who they’re trying to impress. Lynn needs to find an all-new berth. Dennis, though, is trying to charm Michael Andretti and squad boss Roger Griffiths into retaining him as the Andretti Autosport race team becomes an effective privateer for 2022 after its partner BMW has exited the series. The case for retaining Dennis grows ever stronger. This is a driver who, this time last year, had never driven a Formula E car. He became the unexpected winner of an internal shootout with fellow DTM drivers Philipp Eng and Lucas Auer to…

RX2E BARCELONA (ESP) 24 JULY ROUND 1/5 The first FIA-sanctioned electric rallycross category, RX2e, made its debut at the World Rallycross weekend in Spain and it was Belgian racer Guillaume De Ridder who dominated in the 10-car, single-make field. Electric rallycross cars had been seen at World RX events before. But with FIA backing, and the governing body’s drive together with new rights holder Rallycross Promoter to transition World RX’s top flight to electric propulsion for 2022, the RX2e class is the first collaborative step in the next phase of the discipline. Developed between Spanish electro-mobility experts QEV and leading rallycross outfit Olsbergs MSE, the RX2e machines are of a similar tubular spaceframe construction to that of the class’s internal combustion engine predecessor, RX2. Still four-wheel drive, the new iteration…

EUROFORMULA OPEN IMOLA (ITA) 24-25 JULY ROUND 5/8 Jak Crawford turned in a performance at Imola last weekend that was little short of perfect. The Team Motopark racer earned a brace of wins and only missed out on a hat-trick by a smidge over a tenth of a second. With that emphatic display, he thrust himself into the title picture. The young American, who earned a brace at Paul Ricard in May, finally cemented himself in third place in the championship hunt – after missing Spa – behind points leaders Cameron Das and Louis Foster. As the rival pair scored only a podium apiece in Italy, Red Bull-back Crawford kicked off his dominant display by commanding the opener from pole, snaring the fastest lap as a bonus, on his way…

BRITISH GT A smaller than usual field made the journey to Spa for the British GT round last weekend, with the pandemic, finance and logistics cited as factors. GT3 entries from Paddock Motorsport and Enduro Motorsport, and GT4 teams Ciceley Motorsport and Fox Motorsport all stayed at home. Ciceley commercial director Norman Burgess said it had been an “ethical” decision made by drivers Jake Giddings and David Whitmore, “100%” due to COVID-19. With the Oulton Park British Touring Car round this weekend in which Ciceley also competes, Burgess was happy to support them. “A lot of my mechanics, they’re only young lads and they’ve only had one jab anyway,” he said. “I use a lot of them for both [British GT and BTCC], so I didn’t want to risk having…

BRDC BRITISH F3 Reigning US Formula 4 champion Hunter Yeany made his debut in BRDC British F3 last weekend when the series made its overseas trip to Spa. The 16-year-old, who currently races in the Formula Regional Americas Championship, had never previously competed in Europe ahead of his appearance at the Belgian circuit with Fortec Motorsport. Having finished the opening two races in eighth and 15th respectively, the American took third in the fully reversed-grid race having benefited when Reece Ushijima was handed a post-race penalty for exceeding track limits, promoting Yeany to the podium behind Fortec team-mates Roberto Faria and Mikkel Grundtvig. “The car felt really good and Fortec did a great job setting it up,” Yeany said. “After practice was over, we got challenged with some rain and…

SILVERSTONE CLASSIC Damon Hill will again be reunited with his 1996 Formula 1 title-winning Williams FW18 at the Silverstone Classic this weekend, while Freddie Hunt is also set to make his historic racing debut at the event. Hill completed demonstration laps in the Renault-powered FW18 at the British Grand Prix earlier this month and is now due back behind the wheel on Sunday at the Classic. “While it’s hard to believe that 25 years have now flown by, it’s always an amazing experience for me to get back into that Williams – so many special memories come rushing back,” said Hill. Meanwhile, Hunt – the 34-year-old son of 1976 F1 world champion James – is to race a twin-turbocharged Nissan Skyline GT-R R-32 in Motor Racing Legends’ Historic Touring Car…

BRSCC The BMW Compact Cup held its first double-length race with a 30-minute finale at Snetterton last weekend, and the revised format is set to be used again next year. The grid was set with a random draw of race two’s top 10. Four-time champion Steven Dailly, who earlier won the opening two sprint races and was starting fifth, had predicted beforehand that “it’s going to be about tyre management – the person who manages the tyres best is the person that is going to win in the last two laps”. But that prediction failed to ring true when a deluge of rain arrived with five minutes of the race to go, leading to a host of cars spinning off at Coram and Murrays. Leader Dailly went off at Murrays…

It’s safe to say that the McLaren 570S hasn’t enjoyed a successful British GT4 season so far in 2021. It has largely struggled against renewed competition from the upgraded Century Motorsport BMWs and others, but Balfe Motorsport’s Ashley Marshall and Jack Brown brought a ray of sunshine to Woking with a fine victory at Spa, even if they had to overcome a few obstacles to secure it. It came as little surprise that Century’s runaway championship leaders Will Burns and Gus Burton plonked their M4 on pole but, with an extra 20s to serve on their pitstop after winning last time out at Donington, a clear run in the first stint would be vital to their hopes. They didn’t get it. While Burns managed to avoid the chaos at the…

ST-XR CHALLENGE Races 1 & 3 Michael Blackburn (Fiesta ST150) Race 2 Chris Grimes (Fiesta ST) FIESTA JUNIOR Races 1, 3 & 4 Deagen Fairclough Race 2 Jenson Brickley FIESTA CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 2 David Nye (ST180 Turbo) Race 3 Jamie Going (ST180 Turbo) TRACK ATTACK RACE CLUB Race 1 Simon Tomlinson (VW Golf) Race 2 James Anderson (Honda Civic) CLUBSPORT TROPHY Zachary Lucas (Ford Fiesta) CITYCAR CUP Races 1, 2 & 3 Nic Grindrod (Citroen C1) BMW COMPACT CUP Races 1, 2 & 3 Steven Dailly ASTON MARTIN OWNERS CLUB GT/GT4/INTERMARQUE Roy Millington (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, below) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 24 JULY The heatwave continued at Kirkistown and, with temperatures in the mid-20s and only a light breeze to mitigate conditions, the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland’s third race meeting of the year was a steamy affair. In some cases, it got a bit overheated. As ever, Formula Ford – which rarely disappoints at the Northern Ireland venue – provided plenty of action, but in fact the Fiestas produced most of the excitement. Following their unruly display at the June meeting, their first appearance of the day was much anticipated, probably for all the wrong reasons. But, rather than a repeat of last month’s crashfest, the little tin-tops put on a great show with a five-car leading group swapping places for most of the race. The Stewart…

PRESCOTT BRITISH HILLCLIMB 25 JULY On a weekend when none of the top contenders could quite claim a perfect performance, Wallace Menzies was the best of the British Hillclimb Championship runners as he scored an important double victory at Prescott. In winning both run-offs, the defending champion added a critical three points to his slender championship lead over Alex Summers as the season reached rounds 17 and 18 of 28. “It’s absolutely nothing, really,” said Menzies of his title lead. “Speaking to the other guys, everybody seemed to be making small mistakes and I was over the moon to be so close to Sean’s record.” The Scot’s Gould came within five hundredths of a second of Sean Gould’s outright mark in the first of the two top 12 run-offs. As…

TV THIS WEEK WITH WILL BUXTON He’s here! For many, Will Buxton came to prominence as the lead TV commentator for GP2 and GP3, combining an almost limitless level of enthusiasm with an uncanny ability to pinpoint and correctly identify the miscreant in a spinning Trident machine at the back of a long-range, 30-car shot. Now he’s presenting a new weekly show on Motorsport.tv that goes under the ultimate ‘does what-it-says-on-the-tin’ title of This Week with Will Buxton, and which went out for the first time last week. If you’ve not clicked onto Motorsport.tv recently, then do it: Buxton’s show is part of an increasingly comprehensive line-up of material, from live coverage of the World Endurance Championship and Japan’s fabulous Super Formula series, to highlights from NASCAR and the World…

FORMULA 1 Valtteri Bottas has emerged as a lead candidate to switch to Alfa Romeo in Formula 1 next year if the Finn is not retained by Mercedes. Mercedes will decide over the summer break if it is to keep hold of Bottas as Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate for next year, or if it will take George Russell instead. The team insists no decision has been made yet, and Bottas is fully focused on convincing his bosses to hand him a fresh contract. But, if Mercedes does opt for Russell, then Bottas has been clear that he wants to remain in F1 rather than go and race in another category. There has been speculation that he could return to the Williams team, for which he raced between 2013 and 2106, as…

OBITUARY Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, who has died aged 84, claimed two Le Mans 24 Hours victories in very different circumstances. In 1978 he was arguably the support act at the Alpine Renault squad to Didier Pironi, but two years later it was his cool head that secured the local Rondeau team victory. Jaussaud took the finish in 1980 aboard the Cosworth-powered M379 he shared with team owner Jean Rondeau, who’d had to be hauled out of the car after his final stint – a few days later he’d be in hospital undergoing kidney dialysis. The Rondeau team had been coping with an ongoing starter motor problem in the final stages and opted not to bring in the car during a rain shower in the final hour. The veteran French driver spun…

So many were so quick to direct so much anger towards Lucas di Grassi and Audi when the Brazilian emerged from the short indoor pitlane at the ExCeL in London leading last Sunday’s Formula E race. But, by the letter of the law, the team delivered a strategy masterclass. Or at least it had in theory, were it not for a minor brake lock-up on the slippery surface that meant bullets were dodged. The precedent for the 2016-17 champion to gain seven places and jump the Mercedes of polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne was set in Berlin last season, when both Mahindra Racing cars gained places by heading for the pits during a full-course yellow period (think virtual safety car in other series). While the FIA closed that particular loophole, the amendment…

There is something so elegant about Jaguar’s E-type. It has style, grace and poise that still turns heads even now, 60 years on from its original release. Our Brands Hatch test day, in early July, wasn’t private, so we shared track time with Legends, Pickups, Mazda MX-5s, even a Trans-Am Ford Mustang – and the pit garages were full of Euro NASCARs, preparing for the coming weekend’s American SpeedFest. As I trundled up to the pitlane, taking the necessarily circuitous route around the back of the garages from our parking spot in the lower paddock, occasionally having to stop for ambling pedestrians or slow-moving recovery vehicles, I noticed countless NASCAR mechanics, who’d travelled in from Europe, reaching for their smartphones. This is one of the pure joys of driving special…

Two decades before the Hamilton E-type was created, another outrageous big-engined E-type was thrilling fans of national racing. After a very long hiatus, the Jaguar Egal is back in the UK and ready to run once more. Like its younger cousin, the Egal is a complete one-off with no period international racing history, so it has limited options to go racing again. But even if it only runs in demonstrations – as it did in the recent E-type 60th birthday bash at Shelsley Walsh – it will be a head-turner. The Egal was one of the ultimate club racing weapons of the mid and late-1960s, and was originally built by Geoff Richardson for owner Rob Beck. The E-type chassis came from a Semi-Lightweight that Beck had crashed at Castle Combe,…

DTM LAUSITZRING (DEU) 24-25 JULY ROUND 2/7 Mercedes claimed its first race wins in the DTM since August 2018 as Philip Ellis and Maximilian Gotz shared the spoils in the second round of 2021 at the Lausitzring. Daytona 24 Hours GTD class winner Ellis was arguably the star of the weekend, charging from ninth on the grid to take the top spot in the first race on Saturday. Having already jumped to fifth in the opening laps, the Winward driver judged the safety car restart to perfection, overtaking both Esteban Muth and Mike Rockenfeller at the banked first corner before passing Kelvin van der Linde into Turn 2, the first braking zone of the circuit. After the mandatory pitstops, the Swiss GT3 ace was able to reel in polesitter and…

DTM LAUSITZRING (DEU) Race 1 Philip Ellis Winward (Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) Race 2 Maximilian Gotz (below) HRT (Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) GT2 EUROPEAN SERIES SPA (BEL) Race 1 Peter Guelinckx/Bert Longin PK Carsport (Audi R8 LMS GT2) Race 2 Sahedi Samini/Stefan Rosina True Racing (KTM X-Bow GT2 Concept) WORLD RALLYCROSS BARCELONA (ESP) Kevin Hansen, Hansen WRX (Peugeot 208) RX2E BARCELONA (ESP) Guillaume De Ridder EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RALLY DI ROMA CAPITALE (ITA) Giandomenico Basso/Lorenzo Granai Delta Rally (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) POWERED BY For full results visit motorsportstats.com…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN SPA (BEL) 24-25 JULY ROUND 6/10 Of the six circuits visited by the Formula Regional European series in 2021, Swiss hotshot Gregoire Saucy has now tasted victory at no fewer than five thanks to his success at Spa last weekend. The Monaco double-header in May remains the only blot on his copybook as the ART Grand Prix racer converted his Belgian pole on Sunday into the race spoils by 0.745 seconds over Zane Maloney, the 2019 British F4 champion climbing from fifth in the spec Alpine series to finish runner-up. After a remarkable seventh win from the 12 races so far this term, Saucy dominates the title race with a 60-point cushion over Hadrien David – the R-ace GP driver chalked second and third over the two…

MINI CHALLENGE TROPHY Mini Challenge Trophy title contender Matt Hammond avoided significant injury after being airlifted to hospital following a serious crash at Oulton Park last weekend. After taking victory earlier in the day, Hammond was in the thick of the action in the partially reversed-grid second race, having made a strong start, when his car went off the road at the exit of Druids and crashed into the barriers. The race was red-flagged while medical crews attended to Hammond, and the remainder of the meeting was curtailed due to a time curfew, meaning the second Monoposto F3 race was unable to run. Hammond was airlifted to Stoke Royal Infirmary, where he remained as a precaution as Autosport closed for press on Tuesday, after having CT and MRI scans. “I’m…

BRITISH GT Ahmad Al Harthy will make a long-awaited return to British GT next month at Snetterton, the 2014 runner-up’s first showing since 2015. The Omani driver, who has focused on Pro-Am GT3 racing in Europe with Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup titles in 2017 and 2019 to his name, will share a TF Sport-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with factory driver Charlie Eastwood for the two one-hour sprint races. Al Harthy was due to contest the full British GT season with TF Sport alongside Jonny Adam in 2020 before the pandemic and travel restrictions led the entry to being withdrawn. “It is a very challenging year still with COVID-19 continuing to cause so many difficulties globally,” said Al Harthy, “but I’m very proud to be able to represent Oman…

FIESTA FRONTRUNNERS’ WOE Fiesta winners John Cooper and Luke Pinder had a torrid Saturday at Snetterton last weekend. Double Croft winner Cooper suffered a lower control arm issue on the left front in qualifying and missed the first race while repairs were carried out. Bad luck then struck again when the same problem occurred on the other side of the car en route to race two’s grid. Meanwhile, Pinder suffered a boost issue in the first race, which forced him out. He charged from 18th to seventh in race two and finished fifth in the finale. WILSON BACK TO CLASSIC Formula Junior racers will entertain Silverstone Classic early arrivals with races at 0900 on Saturday and Sunday. Cooper T59-mounted Sam Wilson, a 13-time winner over the years, takes on defending…

GT3 (47 laps) 1 Leo Machitski/Dennis Lind (Lamborghini Huracan Evo); 2 Michael Igoe/Phil Keen (Lamborghini) +48.603s; 3 Stewart Proctor/Lewis Proctor (McLaren 720S); 4 Andrew Howard/Ross Gunn (Aston Martin Vantage); 5 Adam Balon/Sandy Mitchell (Lamborghini); 6 Ian Loggie/Yelmer Buurman (Mercedes-AMG). Fastest lap Lind 2m20.872s (111.21mph). Pole Machitski/Lind. Starters 8. Points 1 Machitski/Lind 87; 2 Howard 85.5; 3 Loggie/Buurman 79.5; 4 Igoe/Keen 70.5; 5= Jonny Adam (Aston Martin) & Balon/Mitchell 67.5; 6 Richard Neary/Sam Neary (Mercedes-AMG) 52.5. GT4 (44 laps) 1 Ashley Marshall/Jack Brown (McLaren 570S); 2 Matt Topham/Darren Turner (Aston Martin Vantage) +16.362s; 3 Will Burns/Gus Burton (BMW M4); 4 Will Moore/Matt Cowley (Ford Mustang); 5 Chris Salkeld/Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke (BMW); 6 Richard Williams/Sennan Fielding (Audi R8). FL Scott McKenna (Toyota GR Supra) 2m33.494s (102.07mph). P Burns/Burton. S 10. Points 1 Burns/Burton…

OULTON PARK MSVR 24 JULY Matt Hammond experienced a day of vastly contrasting fortunes at Oulton Park last weekend, as he extended his Mini Challenge Trophy advantage with a win before a major crash put him in hospital. Hammond resisted pressure from a train of seven cars to take a lights-to-flag victory in the opening encounter. Charlie Mann led the charge behind but couldn’t create an opportunity to snatch the lead, while Hammond’s nearest championship rival Dominic Wheatley finished third. Louie Capozzoli came out on top in a fierce battle for fourth with Nicky Taylor as the pair made contact a couple of times, before a damaged exhaust caused Taylor to lose power on the final lap and tumble to eighth. Taylor started on pole for the partially reversed-grid race…

For the CityCar Cup, 2021 appears to be a year of firsts. That seems like a bizarre assessment for a category in its second season, but this year already marks its first with fully fledged championship status, and last time out at Donington Park was its first British GT support slot. Snetterton last weekend was the championship’s first visit to the Norfolk circuit, and a thrilling final race – which was arguably the highlight of the season – made it the first triple-header weekend and featured the first reversed grid. That final race comprised a random draw for the top-10 finishers in race two, and put runaway title leader Nic Grindrod in the pack. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say Grindrod’s year so far has been imperious. Coming into…

CADWELL PARK INTERMARQUE SILHOUETTES Races 1 & 2 Daniel Smith (Mercedes CLK) NORTHERN SALOON & SPORTSCAR Races 1 & 2 Jon Woolfitt (Spire GT-R) CLASSIC CHALLENGE Eike Wellhausen (Lister Knobbly) 500 OWNERS ASSOCIATION Tom Waterfield (Cooper-Norton Mk9) SUPER SALOONS/SOUTHERN TIN TOPS Races 1 & 2 Rod Birley (Ford Escort WRC) MODIFIED FORDS Races 1 & 2 Dave Cockell (Escort Cosworth, above) KING OF CADWELL SUPERKARTS Races 1, 2 & 3 Lee Harpham (MS Karts-Harvey VM) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com KIRKISTOWN FIESTA ZETEC Race 1 Megan Campbell Race 2 Colm Barrable NORTHERN IRELAND FORMULA FORD 1600 Race 1 Alan Davidson (Mondiale M89S) Race 2 David McCullough (Van Diemen RF01) GINETTA JUNIOR IRELAND Race 1 Ben McFall Race 2 Sean McGovern ROADSPORTS Races 1 & 2 Jim Larkham (Radical PR06, below)…

Riccardo Patrese (Williams-Renault FW14B) momentarily leads poleman and team-mate Nigel Mansell around Copse at the start of the 1992 British Grand Prix, followed by Benetton-Ford B192 drivers Martin Brundle and Michael Schumacher, the McLaren-Honda MP4/7As of Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert (Lotus-Ford 107), Erik Comas (Ligier-Renault JS37), Jean Alesi (Ferrari F92A) and Mika Hakkinen (Lotus), rounding out the top 10. Mansell, who’d had an advantage of almost two seconds in qualifying, was swiftly back in charge, dominating the race, setting fastest lap and taking the flag 39s ahead of Patrese, triggering a track invasion of ecstatic fans. For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/f1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 teams have been warned that they risk punishments in the future if team personnel speak to race stewards during live investigations without prior approval. After Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s clash at Silverstone, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Red Bull chief Christian Horner lobbied the stewards as they looked into the crash. Horner said that he did not think the stewards should be “interfered with”, and that he only went to see them upon hearing that Wolff had done so. FIA race director Michael Masi has now warned teams that unprompted visits to the stewards will not be tolerated, with access beyond necessary FIA officials only allowed with ‘prior approval’ or as the result of a summons. Horner has also stuck to his stance that Mercedes…

TASMAN/S5000 The Tasman Series has been revived through the new S5000 category, Australia’s modern take on Formula 5000. The V8-powered open-wheeler series (below) has confirmed that it will stage a seven-race Tasman Series across two separate meetings in 2021. Once a staple of a European grand prix driver’s winter, the original Tasman Series ran from 1964-75 and attracted some of the sport’s biggest names. The series was run to Formula 1-style rules before switching to F5000, and included events in Australia and New Zealand. Backed by Motorsport Australia and Motorsport New Zealand, the revamped Tasman Series will see the reintroduction of the famous Tasman Cup, previously won by Bruce McLaren (1964), Jim Clark (1965 and 1967-68), Jackie Stewart (1966) and Chris Amon (1969). This reincarnation of the Tasman Series will…

BTCC Leading British Touring Car Championship team Excelr8 Motorsport has launched a feasibility study into running a Hyundai engine in its i30 N Fastbacks in 2022. Excelr8 is teaming up with Swindon Powertrain, the existing supplier of the BTCC TOCA customer engine, to undertake a research and development project into Hyundai power, with the support of driver Tom Ingram’s backer Hansford Sensors. The move could mean Swindon remaining represented in the BTCC after all – shortly before the delayed start of the 2020 season, World Rally Championship team M-Sport was named as the new supplier of the TOCA engine, beginning in 2022. Ironically, a few months later Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 star Ash Sutton became the first driver to claim an overall BTCC title with TOCA/Swindon power. Prior to…

UK START TIMES Friday 30 July FP1 1030 FP2 1400 Saturday 31 July FP3 1100 QUALIFYING 1400 Sunday 1 August RACE 1400 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers 1 Verstappen 185 2 Hamilton 177 3 Norris 113 4 Bottas 108 5 Perez 104 Constructors 1 Red Bull 289 2 Mercedes 285 3 McLaren 163 4 Ferrari 148 5 AlphaTauri 49 RACE STATS Previous winners 2020 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2019 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2018 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2017 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2016 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2015 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2014 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 2013 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2012 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 2011 Jenson Button McLaren Best results Hamilton 1st x 8 Vettel 1st x 2 Raikkonen…

It’s been an interesting time. Winning the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award was quite high profile, with a lot of teams contacting me, and then I was offered a free drive in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, which I was looking forward to. We were looking to do a dual programme with GTs and single-seaters, so we’d have plenty of options available and then concentrate on whichever one we wanted to go into. I did one round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge in Malaysia and was getting ready for round one of the Carrera Cup Asia and then the pandemic hit. I wasn’t able to travel, and everyone was in lockdown. After winning the Award, racing at the Daytona 24 Hours, and being ready for…

The Jaguar E-type struggled to compete with the best Ferrari 250 GTOs in period, but it’s a different story now in historic events. Jaguars are invariably frontrunners in both pre-1963 and pre-1966 GT races. In the prestigious RAC Tourist Trophy Celebration at Goodwood for pre-1966 machines, E-types have won 10 of the 23 editions held so far. The tally in the Kinrara Trophy for pre-1963 cars is 3-1 to Ferrari, but the Stirling Moss Trophy for the same racers at last year’s SpeedWeek resulted in an E-type 1-2-3. As it proved during its long life, the XK engine is ripe for being pushed to squeeze out more power (see page 27). Gary Pearson estimates a good 3.8 now chucks out over 380bhp, but the biggest gains have been made in…

Jaguar produced some of the finest vehicles in the decades following the Second World War, but even more important was the engine that powered most of them. The work of William Heynes, Walter Hassan and Claude Baily, the straight-six XK engine first appeared in the XK120, which caused a sensation at the London Motor Show in 1948. While the XK120 established Jaguar as a major player in sportscar production, the 160bhp dual overhead camshaft engine was also used in the enormous MkVII saloon. Competition success with some lighter, mildly modified XK120s encouraged Jaguar to design a proper competition version, to become known as the C-type. Wins in the Le Mans 24 Hours followed in 1951 and 1953, the latter success by Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton being the first victory…

WORLD RALLYCROSS BARCELONA (ESP) 24 JULY ROUND 1/9 Kevin Hansen took his chance to win the opening World Rallycross round of the season, despite strong challenges from brother Timmy and Johan Kristoffersson. Triple World Rallycross champion Kristoffersson silenced any doubters that considered his title-winning success to be heavily down to racing Volkswagen Motorsport’s Polo by setting the fastest time in the opening free practice session. The Swede, now racing for the EKS JC squad and driving an Audi S1, continued that form through the four qualifying sessions at Barcelona. But, late on Friday evening, he was disqualified from Q1 after the FIA data logger in the S1 was been found to be unplugged. That left the reigning champion down in 15th overnight and handed the initiative to the Hansens. Making…

BRITISH GT Four-time British GT champion Jonny Adam was forced to miss last weekend’s Spa British GT round with COVID-19, which will also rule him out of the upcoming Spa 24 Hours. The Aston Martin factory driver was joint championship leader with Beechdean AMR team-mate Andrew Howard prior to Spa, but had to withdraw from the event while “observing COVID protocols” – according to a championship statement – after coming into contact with a COVID-positive individual. In his absence, Howard was partnered by 2015 GT4 champion Ross Gunn, who finished fourth after Howard was brought in too early for the mandatory driver swap. It was subsequently confirmed by Aston Martin that Adam would also miss this weekend’s Spa 24 while recovering from COVID. Adam leads the overall GT World Challenge…

BRITISH GT Richard Neary has vowed not to change his approach to starts after his Team ABBA Racing Mercedes was eliminated in a violent crash in the British GT race at Spa last weekend. As in the previous round at Donington Park, where he launched from 10th to second at the first corner, Neary reacted quickly from eighth when the lights went out and immediately passed three cars before a slight move left from Ian Loggie’s third-starting RAM Mercedes resulted in heavy contact. Neary’s car was out on the spot, along with two others caught up in the incident, while Loggie lost seven laps in the pits to repairs before finishing sixth (in GT3). The incident was investigated, but no action was taken. Neary hopes to be out for the…

TEAM ROCKET’S TOUGH TIME Team Rocket RJN endured a tough British GT weekend at Spa, with two of its cars eliminated in the startline chaos, having already lost James Kell’s GT4 entry after a testing crash caused damage that could not be repaired. Rival GT4 pair Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and Chris Salkeld (Century Motorsport) still lead the Pro-Am points despite being moved into the Silver Cup class, after the latter’s Bronze grading “was changed to reflect his FIA Silver status”. BROTHERS AT BRANDS Racing brothers John, Mike and Tony Davies will compete together at the same meeting for the first time, despite each having started racing over 40 years ago, at Brands Hatch’s Classic Touring Car Racing Club event this weekend. Twins John and Mike, 67, who returned to racing this…

BRSCC The British Racing and Sports Car Club has already committed to running a calendar of events for its new Supersport Endurance Cup next season ahead of the category’s inaugural round at Snetterton this weekend. The series was created following the success of the club’s mini-endurance Clubsport Trophy division, which has regularly attracted packed grids since its launch in 2019, and the BRSCC being asked if it would put on longer races. The first event is due to last an hour and 40 minutes and the BRSCC’s head of formulae development Greg Graham is encouraged by the initial interest. “It’s looking good – we’ve got a nice mix, from TCR cars to Mazda MX-5s and everything inbetween,” he said. “That was the goal – we’ve chosen not to target the…

SPA BRITISH GT 25 JULY Leo Machitski and Dennis Lind celebrated a crushing victory during British GT’s annual European foray to Spa – the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini duo stealing a march in the championship on a day when many of their rivals endured a different type of crushing. Eliminated on lap one last time out at Donington Park, Machitski and Lind were one of the only crews to emerge unscathed from a bruising Belgian encounter, one that became more about survival than outright pace before it even actually started. Even ahead of qualifying, there were casualties, with the guesting Leipert Lamborghini GT3 being withdrawn almost as soon as it arrived after Brendon Leitch’s crash in first practice. Then, in the wet second session, Scott Malvern caught standing water on the…

SPA BRDC BRITISH F3 24-25 JULY Despite not taking a win on BRDC British F3’s traditional visit to Spa in Belgium last weekend, championship leader Zak O’Sullivan did his chances of the title no harm at all. The Carlin driver took home two second places in the opening pair of races at the Belgian Grand Prix venue, as well as a fighting drive to seventh from 15th in the full reversed-grid race three on Sunday morning. He extended his championship lead in each race and, having entered the weekend with a 47-point margin at the top of the standings over Hitech’s Reece Ushijima, left the Ardennes with a 78-point buffer to the Japanese-American. The trio of races produced three different winners, two of whom claimed their maiden British F3 victories.…

SNETTERTON BRSCC 24-25 JULY Momentum in the ST-XR Challenge swung in favour of Michael Blackburn thanks to two victories in the category’s first visit to Snetterton since 2018 for the British Racing and Sports Car Club’s summer festival weekend. It should have been three from three as Blackburn had been leading the tense second race, which ended in a photo finish, just settled in Chris Grimes’ favour by 0.03 seconds. Simon Robinson in the XR class had been doing a superb job to hold off the ST charge behind, the XR class starting 20s ahead of the STs for the second contest, but pulled off with an issue on his XR2 on the penultimate lap. Biblical downpours prior to race three wet the track nicely, but Blackburn managed the conditions…

CADWELL PARK CMMC 25 JULY A varied programme provided plenty of interest at Cadwell Park, where Daniel Smith topped both incident-packed Intermarque Silhouette races to score his maiden victories in the series. Smith’s Mercedes CLK was gifted the lead in the opener when his brother Lewis clashed with Ray Harris into Park, allowing him to ease to a comfortable win from Malcolm Blackman’s Vauxhall Tigra. With the top three reversed for race two, Blackman and Smith quickly dispatched polesitter Dave York. Smith then passed Blackman at the Mountain but was chased down by Harris’s Ginetta G40R in the closing stages. After grass blocking the radiator thwarted his first-race recovery, Harris was in determined mood. He charged from the back of the thinner-than-usual grid to run second within three laps, then…

THE PRIZE This Limited Edition 1961 Jaguar E-type Scalextric Slot Car Twin Pack is a fitting tribute to the first race and first race win for the iconic Jaguar E-type. A great performance by both drivers saw the racing career of the legendary E-type get off to a fantastic start, with Graham Hill winning the 25-lap race and Roy Salvadori bringing it home in an impressive third place, beating the Ferrari 250 GTs. This fantastic addition to the Scalextric Legends Collection includes a beautiful limited edition collector’s display box with an incredible artistic impression of the legendary classic cars doing battle on the track at Oulton Park in 1961 on the box front. Limited to only 2000 units, this Scalextric collector’s piece is sure to go down as one of…

Two weeks after reigning Formula 1 champion Alain Prost won the final British Grand Prix on Silverstone’s ultra-fast layout in 1990 – after gearbox failure thwarted Ferrari team-mate Nigel Mansell, to the partisan audience’s dismay – the racing world bade farewell to a circuit still rooted on the one where Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart were victorious in front of home fans in the 1960s. Its last hurrah was an Historic Festival, showcasing the venue’s influence on racing through the decades, sponsored by auction house Christie’s. The 27-29 July weekend was something extraordinary, with 1964 world champion John Surtees saddling an Auto Union D-type in a Silver Arrows demo with Neil Corner’s Mercedes-Benz W154 (subsequently damaged in a race incident) and victories for past masters Sir John Whitmore (McLaren M8F),…

Kelvin Burt’s concussion in an Oulton Park British Touring Car Championship shunt in 1996 meant the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Volvo team needed a replacement for the next round at Snetterton. Its Formula 3 rising star Jamie Davies was a ready-made candidate, but didn’t race after a puncture in a pre-event test caused the biggest accident of his career. The 1994 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner had made a flying start to the 1996 British F3 season, before TWR’s call to take engine tuning in-house ruined his season. But two early victories had convinced the team hierarchy that it had the ideal stopgap for its Volvo 850. Despite his only touring car experience coming in a rear-wheel-drive BMW for an Autosport track test the previous year, Davies quickly found lap time…