Indholdsfortegnelse for 17/08/23 i Autosport

McLaren, with 183 world championship grand prix wins, is the second-most successful team in Formula 1, behind only Ferrari. Like any team that’s been around for six decades, it’s had its ups and downs, but there can be no doubt that the British squad has produced some of the greatest racing cars of all time, often piloted by the sport’s finest exponents. And in this issue we celebrate McLaren’s 60th birthday, with help from the orange team itself. Three of McLaren’s F1 winners headed to Pembrey recently and Autosport was lucky enough to tag along. As you’ll see on page 12, all were impressive but there’s still something about those old V10s… McLaren’s roster of drivers over the years is impressive and includes 20 GP winners. Seven have won world…

On the final lap of the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz made a do-or-die move. The driver upon whom he sold a beautiful dummy into a corner that no longer exists at the Yas Marina track? Nico Hulkenberg. “[Sainz’s dive] cost him what might well have been his final point in F1,” stated the 12 December 2019 issue of Autosport magazine. Well, we were wrong about that – just five races into the 2020 COVID-19-impacted season. A combination of factors played against Hulkenberg in 2019 and led to his temporary exit from F1. The first was that his Renault team was targeting the first phase of morphing into the current Alpine arrangement. The second was that Hulkenberg had gone from being Renault’s established leader to trailing team-mate Daniel…

M7 Years 1968-69 Wins 4 Less than two years after Bruce McLaren gave his eponymous marque its first Formula 1 world championship start with the M2B, the 1968 M7 made McLaren serious players. The work of Robin Herd and Gordon Coppuck, the M7A was powered by the Cosworth DFV that had revolutionised F1 with Lotus in 1967. The orange cars scored a 1-3 on the M7’s debut at the Brands Hatch Race of Champions, before Denny Hulme led McLaren in a 1-2 at Silverstone’s BRDC International Trophy. Bruce got McLaren off the mark in the world championship with victory in the 1968 Belgian GP, while Hulme went to the finale still in with a chance of the crown after taking two wins. McLaren was second to Lotus in the constructors’…

It was a car that wasn’t designed to race. And when it did get turned into a racer, it was under the express intention that it wasn’t to be taken to the Le Mans 24 Hours. That decision was reversed, too, but no one expected that the thing could win overall at the French enduro. Yet that’s just what it did, and at the first time of asking. This is the story of arguably the most unlikely Le Mans winner of all time – the McLaren F1 GTR. The F1 was billed by its maker as the ultimate road car, the fastest production machine in the world. Of racing there was no thought, insisted its creator, Gordon Murray. And besides, when it was being conceived at the dawn of the…

There’s a motto among top sporting athletes and teams that you learn far more about yourself in defeat than in victory, and that a difficult run of form puts things into a greater perspective. For a period of nearly three months, Jake Dennis had plenty of time for reflection while a Formula E campaign that had begun so well, and which looked like a genuine assault on the title, was on the brink of collapsing. The record books will show that come the end of last month, Dennis clinched his maiden Formula E title with a race to spare and by a healthy margin of 30 points after taking more podiums than any other driver, including two wins. But it was far from easy, and arguably the Andretti Autosport driver’s…

The consensus in the British Touring Car Championship is that Ash Sutton is a staggering talent – as good as any who starred in the peak Super Touring era – but that he’s prone to the odd case of overreaching, the occasional mistake. But at Knockhill last weekend, he was almost literally walking on water. This time, two race wins went begging but arguably neither of them was the three-time champion’s fault or down to any shortcoming. It was purely thanks to bad timing and circumstance in a dry-then-wet-then-very-wet opener that Sutton should have won, Josh Cook could have won, Tom Ingram did win before having it taken away, and Jake Hill finally claimed despite never being in front. Hill subsequently doubled up in a thrilling second-race battle with Sutton…

NASCAR CUP INDIANAPOLIS (USA) 13 AUGUST ROUND 24/36 Michael McDowell’s NASCAR Cup career features few wins but they are certainly impressive ones. The 38-year-old out-duelled Chase Elliott and cleared him by 0.937 seconds to win last Sunday’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. McDowell’s only other Cup win came in the 2021 Daytona 500. He was running third late in that race when the two drivers ahead of him wrecked, which paved his way to victory. His win at the Brickyard was much more dominant. McDowell won the first stage and led 54 of the 82 laps, including the final 30. The Front Row Motorsports Ford driver was in contention to make the 2023 playoffs based on points, and his win locks him into the 16-car field with…

OBITUARY Britain’s greatest Mini racer, Peter Baldwin, died in Cambridge’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital last Saturday, COVID-19 having weakened his lungs. He was 82 and had competed in Sir Alec Issigonis’s mighty machines from 1967-2021, winning several hundred races and many titles. Newmarket-born Baldwin’s phenomenal success was underpinned by immaculate preparation and supreme driving skill. He won the National Mini Miglia Championship seven times between 2000 and 2013, aged 59-72! Heading Marshall of Cambridge’s special tuning division for years, Peter became the revered master of rolling road work. On his retirement from the group, he provided the best service for customers independently, focusing the same expertise and energy on their engines as he did his own. From debuting an 850cc Mini in November 1967, Baldwin soon tasted success, winning the 1969 Janspeed…

MSVR Nigel Jenkins won both the Ferrari Club Classic races that headlined the Brands Hatch Festival Italia, which was being held this year for the eighth time. His F355 languished eighth on the grid for both races but quickly moved up the order as he beat Tristan Simpson’s similar car and then Gary Culver’s 328 GTB model for each win. New-for-2023, the Bell Sport Challenge is for more recent Ferraris and their ‘gentleman’ drivers, and returned to Kent after a grand prix circuit outing last month. Darren Goes, best known for many successes in MSVT Trackday events, steered his 488 to victory in the first of two races after passing Colin Sowter. A late driver change added Snetterton winner Peter Smith to the field for race two, and he wasted…

BRITISH HILLCLIMB British Hillclimb points leader Wallace Menzies says it will be a race against time to have his Gould GR59 ready for the next round of the championship following a sizeable accident at Shelsley Walsh last Sunday. Menzies was pushing hard in the day’s second run-off when the Gould got out of shape through the kink before Bottom Ess and speared into the barriers on the left before spinning up the track. The triple champion was thankfully unharmed, but the front-left corner was taken off and considerable damage was done to the left-hand side of the car. The Gould is prepared and run by Tom New’s team in the New Forest and they will now work flat-out to have the car ready for Loton Park on 26-27 August for…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB James Kellett and the returning Gus Burton shared the Porsche Carrera Cup GB wins on a weekend when Adam Smalley slightly extended his already healthy points lead. Team Parker’s Smalley arrived in Scotland with a 32-point advantage over Kellett (Century) and outscored his rival thanks to a pair of podium finishes. The interloper of sorts in each of the 32-lap bouts was Porsche Supercup regular Burton who, after joining JTR to replace the Team Parker-bound Hugo Ellis, took pole by a comparatively hefty margin of a tenth of a second. Burton fended off Smalley at the start and maintained his lead either side of a safety car period – caused when Jake Giddings spun off exiting the chicane – despite appearing to move before the lights…

SNETTERTON 750MC 12-13 AUGUST Debuted in 2009, the feline-profiled Eclipse SM1s designed by Cosworth engineer Clive Hudson and Paul Boyd are prolific 750 Motor Club Kit Car and Sport Specials winners. On Saturday, Hudson and Boyd charged their Ford-engined versions past poleman Paul Collingwood’s Honda-powered evolution for a marque podium lockout in the race of the day. Multiple champion Andy Hiley split them, before a broken throttle pedal caused his Chronos to falter exiting Murrays on the penultimate lap. Boyd, directly behind, could not avoid clipping it, yet finished only 2.97 seconds behind Hudson. Spinner Collingwood was third. Hudson and Boyd again demoted Collingwood on Sunday morning. Hiley was third, but a jumped-start penalty dropped Lewis Ward (Westfield) from fourth to fifth behind Collingwood, who rotated again. Boyd’s glory came…

BDC TIMES TROPHY/PRE-WAR CHALLENGE Benjamin Eastick (T-Type) BDC CLASSIC & MORGAN TT Jack Smith (MGA) AMOC PRE-WAR ST JOHN HORSFALL TROPHY Alan Middleton (Aston Martin Speed Red Dragon) ECURIE CLASSIC RACING Christopher Edmunds (Morris Mini Cooper S) FISCAR Adrian King (AC Ace) MORGAN CHALLENGE Race 1 Billy Bellinger (+4R, below) Race 2 Tom Andrew (+6) BENTLEY HANDICAP David Ratcliffe (Speed Model) BDC OPEN & ALLCOMERS Simon Ray (ADR Sport 2 Hayabusa) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

CROFT BARC 12-13 AUGUST Two dramatic Classic Thunder races at Croft last weekend, both hit by rain showers, were won by drivers starting from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid. BMW M3 E36-powered locals Mike Cutt and Kirk Armitage led the opener but, as they thundered towards Clervaux to start lap three of 10, Nick Vaughan tried to squeeze his turbocharged Audi A3 between Armitage and the pitwall. The gap was already closing and Armitage’s M3 was turned heavily into the barrier, sidelining both. Cutt, meanwhile, lasted less than another half lap before a broken suspension arm stranded him. Pre-’93 regular Ian Bower (M3 E36) inherited the lead before Neil Philpotts’s Mitsubishi Starion powered past and withstood Bower’s pressure until the Evo engine’s throttle body snapped virtually within…

CADWELL PARK BRSCC 12-13 AUGUST Steve Foden scored another brace of wins during three thrilling Mazda MX-5 Championship contests at Cadwell Park last weekend. Foden led from chief rival Adam Sparrow initially on a slippery circuit but, struggling with a rear-shock issue, Sparrow was picked off by the chasing pack and finished 10th. Luke Pullen briefly snatched the lead before losing out to Foden and Ted Bradbury, with Jason Greatrex making a better exit from Charlies to take fourth from Pullen, who retired with gearbox issues. Greatrex then inherited second when Bradbury slid off at Chris Curve in a battle with Foden, who eventually broke clear of his pursuers for his 11th win of the season ahead of Greatrex, while Oliver Graham climbed from 11th to third. Conditions improved for…

ROUND 23 1 Alex Summers (2.7 DJ-Cosworth Firestorm) 23.10s; 2= Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59) & Scott Moran (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59J) 23.19s; 4 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59JB) 23.34s; 5 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth GR59M) 23.45s; 6 David Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 23.63s; 7 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59JB) 23.66s; 8 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS 28-RTE) 23.97s; 9 Zach Zammit (1.3t Empire-Suzuki Wraith) 24.81s; 10= Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) & David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 24.94s. ROUND 24 1 Ryder 22.57s; 2 Moran 22.78s; 3 Summers 22.80s; 4 Hall 22.83s; 5 Uren 23.55s; 6 Willis 23.77s; 7 Zammit 24.22s; 8 Haimes 24.46s; 9 Gould 24.57s; 10 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ-Cosworth Dallara) 24.62s. POINTS 1 Menzies 204 (above); 2 Moran 186; 3= Ryder & Summers 163; 5 Hall 117; 6…

YOUNG DRIVER AWARD The final 10 candidates for the 2023 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award have been selected. The Award, which started in 1989, aims to find and assist the best junior British racing drivers. The prize for this year’s winner includes £200,000 and a Formula 1 test drive with Aston Martin. Finalists have to primarily compete in a category below FIA Formula 3 or be an FIA F3 rookie, and be 16 years old by the time of the Award assessments at Silverstone in October. They must also be under 24 at the start of the year. F3 race winner Taylor Barnard, GB3 title contenders James Hedley, Joseph Loake, Matt Rees and Callum Voisin, Italian F4 points leader Arvid Lindblad, British F4 frontrunners William…

FORMULA 1 Charles Leclerc is ready to commit to a long-term Formula 1 future at Ferrari, even though other F1 options exist. The Monegasque’s current contract runs out at the end of 2024 and there has been no rush from either his side or Ferrari’s to get an extension sorted out. That delay, allied to a frustrating campaign with Ferrari in which he currently lies fifth in the points, triggered speculation about other teams vying for Leclerc’s services. Frontrunners Mercedes, Aston Martin and Red Bull have all been viewed as potential options for him as there could be vacancies by 2025. But Leclerc has made it clear that his priority is to fulfil his dream and win the F1 championship with Ferrari. “Of course, I think every driver has considered…

Trying to express my emotions on winning the Formula E world championship is always going to be difficult. It’s not just this year, it’s so many years of hard work that have gone in to try and become the best in the world at something. It just means the absolute world to me and the whole Andretti Autosport team. Seeing the emotions of everyone in London at the finale was something that I never expected, just how much it meant. It was an incredible feeling and it still gives me goosebumps now thinking about becoming world champion. Being the best in Formula E is something so special. I’ll definitely never forget it. It’s hopefully something I get to experience again, but you only ever become world champion for the first…

AS PART OF ITS 60TH anniversary celebration, McLaren adopted a special ‘Triple Crown’ livery for the Monaco and Spanish Grands Prix. It split the colour scheme in three – each nodding towards the McLaren cars that have won the Monaco Grand Prix, Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indianapolis 500. The result was somewhat forgettable viewed head on – where the F1 GTR’s black livery allowed the modern McLaren F1 team to save weight, leaving more of the MCL60 running in bare carbon. But the back was something else… This area took the full papaya orange of the M16C Indycar Johnny Rutherford raced to victory in the 1974 Indy 500 and combined it with the pattern applied to Alain Prost’s MP4/2 from the 1984 Monaco GP. But it’s the orange…

McLaren has made much of its triple crown of victories at the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours in this, its 60th anniversary year. Its 2023 Formula 1 contender is called the MCL60, and there was a special livery for the Monaco and Spanish GPs. It counts the newly restored M16C Indycar in which Johnny Rutherford took victory with the works team at Indy in 1974 as its first winner at the Brickyard, not Mark Donohue’s with Penske two years before. Is that an admission that the 1995 Le Mans-winning F1 GTR was run by the factory? It was a controversial point at the time. Ray Bellm hit out at McLaren, suggesting that it had violated a promise not to run a works car and having…

Not many would have predicted two points-scoring finishes this season for Rob Huff in the British Touring Car Championship, but such are the strange ways of the series’ mid-season driver changes. The 2012 World Touring Car champion stepped in for Nic Hamilton at the wheel of one of the Team Hard Cupra Leons and was pretty much in at the deep end. There was no testing for Huff before his first outing in an NGTC car since 2017, and he didn’t get out on slick tyres until halfway through Q1 – he was one of the first to get off the wets, and showed everyone that the crossover was arriving. Ex-Dynamics technical director Barry Plowman was tempted back into the Hard fold to be on engineering duties for Huff. He…

INDY NXT INDIANAPOLIS (USA) 11 AUGUST ROUND 9/12 Andretti Autosport’s Hunter McElrea scored his first Indy NXT win of the season at the Indianapolis road course by 0.4 seconds from team-mate James Roe, but a collision with another team member, Louis Foster, clouded his success. The LA-born Kiwi led by almost seven seconds after the clash with Foster at Turn 10 on lap 28 of 35, which broke his team-mate’s left-front suspension. Foster had looked poised to pass him, with McElrea later admitting “I had nothing for Louis” until the contact forced the Briton to retire from the race. “I hate to see that,” McElrea added. “It’s tough, man. I respect him a lot. It’s hard racing.” Foster countered: “It’s the second time it’s happened with that driver [referring to…

GB3 Leading National Formula Ford team Ammonite Motorsport intends to join the GB3 Championship from next season having purchased two cars. The team has recently acquired the pair of Tatuus-MSV 022 machines and has commenced a comprehensive testing programme ahead of a 2024 campaign in the single-seater series. Having started out in FF1600 racing after taking over the successful Cliff Dempsey Racing outfit back in 2020, Ammonite has continued that run of glory with victory at the 2021 Walter Hayes Trophy and 2022 Formula Ford Festival with current GB3 driver Max Esterson. GB4 frontrunner Colin Queen was also the runner-up in last year’s National Formula Ford Championship with Ammonite, and the team’s move into GB3 has created a pathway for its young drivers. “We are extremely thrilled at the opportunity…

SILVERSTONE FESTIVAL The Mercedes and Williams Formula 1 teams will be present at the Silverstone Festival later this month, with both squads set to run cars around the circuit. The British Grand Prix venue will be celebrating its 75-year anniversary at the festival, which is due to be held on 25-27 August. Mercedes will bring six of its cars to the event, including an MGP W01 as raced by Michael Schumacher in 2010 and the most recent W14 model currently raced by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. The team’s development driver Esteban Gutierrez will also take to the track in a W04 used during the 2013 season. Williams, meanwhile, will have on display Alain Prost’s 1993 title-winning FW15C, while an FW19 used during the 1997 season will also be demonstrated…

BARC The Caterham Graduates Championship is set to use performance equalisation measures to combine its Sigma 150 and Sigmax categories into a single class next year. The championship currently has three classes that cater for Caterham Motorsport’s 270R (Sigma 135) and 310R (Sigma 150) models, as well as the older Supersport (Sigmax), and is independent from Caterham’s own series. Sigmax attracts the fewest entries and shares a grid with Sigma 150 cars, which boast variable valve timing, providing a top-end power advantage of around 8bhp and a different power curve. Peter Godfrey, who has run several drivers to Caterham Graduates titles and now works with Ian Anderson’s Alpha 7 squad, is collaborating with Surbiton-based SBD Motorsport on the project. It will lead to Sigmax cars running updated ECUs with a…

LEGENDS ELITE CUP That the Legends Cars Elite Cup title battle went right down to the wire was hardly a surprise, but the manner in which Connor Mills secured the crown was a scenario few could have predicted. Having suffered a dramatic, fiery barrel roll earlier in the year at Brands Hatch before taking a win at Croft, Mills entered the final pair of rounds in Scotland with a slender 30-point lead over Robert Barrable in the standings. Barrable outscored Mills in the first heat on Saturday but the latter fought back to prevail amid an almost biblical downpour in the final. A further win in the penultimate race, also in wet conditions, plus a charging drive to seventh in the last encounter meant Mills emerged as champion. “Both of…

BRITISH F4 By Saturday evening, Hitech’s Will Macintyre had won the opening British Formula 4 race at Knockhill and lost it. By Sunday morning, he’d won it again and this time he got to keep it. Having successfully appealed a five-second penalty for cutting the pit exit line before Duffus Dip, the championship leader coming into the weekend then managed to extend his advantage to 26 points with second in the final race behind winner Dion Gowda. Macintyre grabbed pole for the opener and maintained his lead into Duffus for the first time, as his main title rival, Rodin Carlin’s Louis Sharp, fended off an attack from team-mate Gowda at McIntyres. The race was then red flagged not once, but twice, leaving Macintyre the eventual winner. Both Sharp and Macintyre…

MONDELLO PARK MPSC HISTORIC FESTIVAL 12-13 AUGUST The Mondello Park Historic Festival was a huge success last weekend, with fantastic racing and huge crowds packing the circuit on both days. Despite not competing regularly in recent times, the spectacular Dave Griffin starred, taking the St Brigid’s Trophy honours as he blasted his Crossle 9S to the front after a tardy start. In his wake, Jackie Cochrane came out on top of a hectic scrap with Billy Crosbie, with the latter having to take to the grass on a number of occasions in his efforts to clamber his way past the flying Sunbeam Tiger. Despite his Saturday night celebrations, Griffin was untouchable in Sunday’s race two, carrying the live TV camera as he eased away, crossing the line well clear of…

DONINGTON PARK BARC 12-13 AUGUST The Pickup Truck racing stole the show at the Convoy in the Park meeting at Donington Park last weekend. Four drivers battled for the lead in race one, with Matt Simpson taking Allen Cooper for the top spot on the second lap. As Simpson edged clear to claim the win, Cooper retained second on the road, but a track-limits penalty dropped him to fourth behind Dale Gent and Mark Willis, who had swapped positions on the last lap. Gent made an escape in the second race, which was the replacement for the Thruxton contest that had been postponed. Paul Tompkins, Reece Jones and Jamie Liptrott made it four for the lead, but track-limits abuses ended in disqualification for Liptrott. Jones and Tompkins exchanged places, taking…

Nigel Mansell looks in contemplative mood amid the activity of the Team Lotus crew in the makeshift Detroit pitlane ahead of the city’s 1983 grand prix, perhaps pondering the fact that he’s driving a Cosworth DFV-powered Lotus 92, while team-mate Elio de Angelis (in the background swapping footwear) has a 93T packing a turbocharged Renault motor. That disparity was reflected in qualifying, de Angelis lining up fourth on the grid and Mansell 14th. But in the race the Italian failed to make it further than five laps (broken transmission), while ‘Our Nige’ plugged away to score a point in sixth place. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

INDYCAR IndyCar champion Alex Palou has sparked another summer of courtroom drama by apparently breaking his agreement with McLaren and seems set to stay with Chip Ganassi Racing next year. The 26-year-old was set to transfer to the Arrow McLaren IndyCar squad for 2024, having signed a contract in July 2022. Ganassi contested that by launching a lawsuit against its own driver, which resulted in a mediation settlement whereby Palou raced for Ganassi in IndyCar but took up his reserve F1 driver role with McLaren. That involved an FP1 outing at the 2022 United States Grand Prix and three tests in its TPC programme (testing of previous cars) at Barcelona, the Red Bull Ring and the Hungaroring. But news of Palou’s U-turn broke last Friday when a letter from McLaren…

WEC/IMSA Lamborghini’s new SC63 LMDh prototype is up and running. The World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship challenger underwent its first proper test last week. The first SC63 chassis based on the spine of the next-generation Ligier LMP2 completed 1500km (950 miles) over two days at Imola with Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat driving. It was run by a combination of the in-house Lamborghini Squadra Corse motorsport department and the Iron Lynx team that will exclusively race the car from next year. The test followed a shakedown for the hybrid prototype at Vallelunga at the start of this month. It means that Lamborghini has got the car on track on the schedule it outlined on its launch at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last month. Lamborghini has…

SEEING FORMULA 1 CARS ON TRACK, PARTICULARLY IN AN unusual environment, is always special. And the chance to join McLaren Heritage while it runs three of its grand prix winners at remote Welsh track Pembrey was too good an opportunity to miss as Autosport geared up to celebrate 60 years of the famous British squad. The day brought together Mika Hakkinen’s 1999 title-winning MP4-14, one of the MP4-23s used by Lewis Hamilton on his way to the 2008 crown, and a victorious MP4-25 driven by Hamilton and Jenson Button in 2010. That means we have McLaren’s two most-recent championship winners, as well as a runner-up. On hand to drive the cars is ex-sportscar racer Rob Garofall, who has been McLaren’s trusted driver for its impressive array of historic machinery for…

10 DAVID COULTHARD A hard-working team player, Coulthard is the longest serving McLaren driver and is fifth on the team’s all-time wins list. He finished third in the drivers’ championship three times with the squad, and was runner-up in 2001. Coulthard joined from Williams for 1996 and formed a strong line-up with Mika Hakkinen. The Finn scored more points in 1996, while DC finished ahead the following year. More importantly, the Briton took McLaren’s first wins in more than three years when he triumphed at Melbourne and Monza. New rules and the MP4-13 leapfrogged McLaren to the front of the Formula 1 grid in 1998. Hakkinen rose to the opportunity, beating Michael Schumacher to the crown as Coulthard scored just one victory, though he helped McLaren take the constructors’ title ahead…

They say that you never really own a classic car, even if the V5 form reads otherwise. Instead, you’re more of a custodian, someone who is tasked with preserving a small slice of history so that it may one day be enjoyed by the next generation. Thanks to his appreciation and enthusiasm for the past, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown – himself a collector of significant road and race cars – manages the papaya race teams under a similar mantra. The American businessman considers himself “the number one McLaren fan”. He is, in essence, the kid who grew up to be given the keys to the sweet shop. As such, on his watch, more and more of the back catalogue of championship-winning machines are being restored, displayed and driven at…

NICK CASSIDY 1 Put in arguably the drive of the season en route to dominating the wet London finale. His three wins prior to the final race all came from eighth or lower on the grid, showcasing his sublime racecraft and energy management. JAKE DENNIS 2 Eleven podiums were the backbone to his campaign and ultimately key to his title success, despite a run of four races without scoring points. Brilliantly went up against, and beat, the dominant Jaguar powertrain in the latter part of the season. MITCH EVANS 3 Sluggish start put him on the back foot, but brought a 66-point gap down to almost nothing after strong mid-season form. Won in London 1 to make Dennis work for the title, but missed out on the crown at the final round for…

INDYCAR INDIANAPOLIS (USA) 12 AUGUST ROUND 14/17 In the rich tapestry of Indianapolis racing folklore, the ‘spin and win’ is owned by Danny Sullivan, who completed a 360 at Turn 1 in the 1985 Indy 500, then fought back to beat Mario Andretti. But now another IndyCar great – Scott Dixon – has his own claim to that legend. Unlike Sullivan, who recovered from his rotation in second place, Dixon fell to the very back of the field at Turn 7 on the opening lap of last Saturday’s race at Indy’s road course. But Dixon has faced adversity before and found salvation from calamity. The opening lap was wild, as Devlin DeFrancesco pulled the move of the season to lead at Turn 1. From fifth on the grid, he lunged…

The last Monteverdi Onyx ORE-2 Formula 1 car was the star of the demonstration programme at Brands Hatch’s Festival Italia, exactly 33 years since the team folded after failing to qualify either car for the 1990 Hungarian Grand Prix. Chassis 007 was driven at Brands by Henry Pearman and traces its origins to the West Sussex workshop run by Mike Earle, the driving force behind the Onyx name and who had already won the F3000 championship but was no longer involved at the time of the team’s demise. Other cars in action were the Suzuka-winning Benetton B190 of John Reaks, Lorina McLaughlin’s ex-Schumacher B192, an ex-Emerson Fittipaldi 1978 Copersucar F5A handled by Robert Spencer and Mark McAllister’s 1987 Arrows A10.…

SILVERSTONE FESTIVAL The Acura ARX-04b LMP2 that raced only once in period will return to competition in Masters Endurance Legends at this month’s Silverstone Festival. Series frontrunner Steve Tandy, who has sold the second-generation Peugeot 908 LMP1 turbodiesel in which he was a race winner last year, will drive a car that has been restored by BBM Sport. Bob Berridge’s operation has purchased two of the cars designed by Wirth Research for the 2015 season and has undertaken a nine-month rebuild of the first chassis. The car was given a shakedown at Donington Park last week with Tandy and Richard Bradley driving. The P2 Le Mans 24 Hours class winner lapped the national circuit just below the one-minute mark. “It was a successful test after quite a complex rebuild –…

MINI CHALLENGE Excelr8 Motorsport’s Dan Zelos cemented his reputation as the most successful driver in the Mini Challenge as he took his 2023 win tally to eight last weekend. Something of a Knockhill specialist, the 2021 champion demonstrated his skills to take victory in race two, his 13th triumph breaking the record for wins in the series. That came after a “damage limitation” fourth in the opener despite starting from pole, but it was in the reversed-grid finale that Zelos produced his best, vaulting from fifth to the lead inside eight laps. Knockhill’s capricious climate produced an unwelcome curveball before the start of race one; a wet but drying track meant most drivers started on slicks, with Marlo Cordell the highest-placed frontrunner electing to fit wets. Cordell was effectively a…

SILVERSTONE BDC 12 AUGUST The Bentley Drivers Club’s Silverstone meeting’s flagship race, the Times Challenge Trophy, resulted in a predictable but enjoyable win for Benjamin Eastick’s Bentley T-Type single-seater. A post-race 30-second handicap did not prevent his victory, as Oliver Llewellyn finished second in his Bentley 3/8. Christopher Mann’s Helle Nice tribute Alfa Romeo Monza won the concurrent Pre-War section. The BDC’s Classic Challenge & Morgan TT contest went the way of Jack Smith in his MGA after an effortless-looking victory, finishing 15s clear. He charged past poleman Jack Bellinger’s Morgan 4/4 off the line and was never bothered again, but a furious battle for second and third ensued. Roy Chamberlain (Triumph TR250) and James Bellinger in his 4/4 were the chief contenders, with the latter being passed at the…

HISTORIC RACING CAR ASSOCIATION Races 1 & 2 Dave Griffin (Crossle 9S) FORMULA FORD Race 1 Callum Grant (Merlyn Mk20A) Race 2 Adrian Langridge (Reynard SF81) HISTORIC RACING CAR ASSOCIATION PRE-’55s Race 1 Chris Chilcott (Frazer Nash) Race 2 Shane Houlihan (Riley 12/4) FUTURE CLASSICS Race 1 Raymond Melia (Toyota Celica, above) Race 2 Brian Sexton (Mazda MX-5) GUARDS TROPHY Race 1 David Forsbrey/Andrew Newall (Chevron B8) Race 2 Robert/Ben Tusting (Lenham P69, below) For full results visit: timing.ie…

CROFT CLASSIC THUNDER/BOSS Race 1 Ian Bower (BMW M3 E36) Race 2 Nick Vaughan (Audi A3) PRE-’66/PRE-’83 TOURING CARS Races 1 & 2 Will Davison (BMW E30) SUPER TOURERS/PRE-’93 & PRE-’03 TOURING CARS Races 1 & 2 Stewart Whyte (Honda Accord) JAGUAR CHALLENGE Races 1 & 2 Colin Philpott (XJS) CATERHAM GRADUATES – SIGMAX/SIGMA 150 Races 1, 2 & 3 Will Stilwell (Sigma 150) CATERHAM GRADUATES – SIGMA 135 Races 1 & 3 Ben Wheatley Race 2 Richard Groom JUNIOR SALOONS Races 1 & 2 Daire Flock (below) DONINGTON PARK PICKUPS Races 1 & 3 Matt Simpson Race 2 Dale Gent Race 4 Paul Tompkins BRITISH TRUCK RACING Races 1, 2 & 3 Ryan Smith (Daimler Freightliner) Races 4 & 5 Simon Reid (Iveco Stralis) CNC HEADS SPORTS/SALOONS Race 1…

SHELSLEY WALSH BRITISH HILLCLIMB 12-13 AUGUST Fortunes turned around in the British Hillclimb Championship title battle as, while Alex Summers and Matthew Ryder both scored wins, Wallace Menzies left Shelsley Walsh with a badly damaged car. After 21 largely faultless performances, Menzies faltered at Wiscombe Park with a harmless overshoot last month. But at Shelsley his mistake was far more serious with a high-speed shunt in his Gould GR59 on the rush through the Kink and up to Bottom Ess. In contrast, fabulous drives from Summers and Ryder bagged the big scores. This one weekend is unlikely to change the destiny of the 2023 title, for Menzies still has a useful lead, but it certainly changed the form at the head of British hillclimbing. The mid-summer assault on the slopes…

“The Rover was a special car and a special time in my career, from doing the British Touring Car Championship to the European Touring Car Championship. To do it with Tom Walkinshaw, travelling to places like Monza, Anderstorp, Estoril and Brno – it was the heyday of my career. I did the Spa 24 Hours many times, and Bathurst. I had a colourful time with Tom and was very fortunate.” Jeff Allam was part of the famed Super Touring era of 1990s tin-tops, but it is the earlier Group A Rover V8 that is the favourite car of his career. The 17-time BTCC race winner helped end the Ford Capri domination and took the 1982 Class A crown, in the final year of Group 1, with a TWR 3500 S,…