Indholdsfortegnelse for 18/04/24 i Autosport

Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull started it. For very different reasons, they have made the Formula 1 driver market silly season far more interesting – and at a much earlier time – than usual this year. Having hit the paddock hard in recent weeks, Alex Kalinauckas digs through the various possibilities, some likely and some not so much, in this issue’s investigation into what the 2025 grid could look like (page 18). Fernando Alonso re-signing for Aston Martin last week locked one more piece into place (p4) and there are sure to be other announcements over the coming weeks and months. It certainly makes a nice change from not a single driver moving this winter! On-track, the big event in the UK last weekend was the Goodwood Members’ Meeting. British…

FORMULA 1 The Shanghai Formula 1 circuit has completed work to grind down some surface bumps ahead of the return of the Chinese Grand Prix this week. F1 will be racing in Shanghai for the first time since 2019, so its addition to the calendar this year means it will be the first time that the new ground effect generation of cars will drive there. The current crop of F1 machinery is more sensitive to bumps, which are a common feature at the Shanghai track built on swampland. Following an FIA track inspection at the end of last year, Shanghai worked with Herman Tilke’s engineering and architect company to grid down and reseal areas of the track that were of concern. F1 teams are still facing a great deal of…

Gerhard Berger was reunited with one of the Ferrari 640s he used during the 1989 Formula 1 season at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting last Saturday. The 10-time grand prix winner only finished three of the 16 races that season in the car that pioneered the semi-automatic gearbox in F1, but did win the Portuguese GP at Estoril. “When we finished, we finished in good positions, but we didn’t usually finish!” said the 64-year-old. Sadly, after smoking during its first demonstration, the 3.5-litre V12-engined machine was prevented from running on Sunday due to an oil leak. → P36 GOODWOOD REPORT…

GOODWOOD Five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Emanuele Pirro made his motorbike racing debut at the 81st Goodwood Members’ Meeting last weekend. The 62-year-old Italian contested the Hailwood Trophy for 250cc and 350cc two-stroke grand prix and Formula 750 motorcycles that raced up to 1983. Pirro qualified the Michael Russellentered Yamaha TZ250 20th in the 34-bike field, 9.7 seconds off pole. After making tentative starts, he finished 18th overall and 10th in class in race one, then 21st overall and 11th in class in the second encounter. That gave him 16th overall and ninth in class on aggregate, with both races shortened due to incidents. “Every metre I’m learning something,” said Pirro, who started 37 world championship Formula 1 races between 1989 and 1991. “It’s incredibly exciting. I’ve never ridden…

Four races into the 2024 Formula 1 campaign, with the stunning, true test of a racing car that Suzuka poses reached earlier than ever before, the trends of the new season are established. F1 has even progressed far enough into its 2024 offering that mini-trends within the main plots can be detected. And here we find two that are intriguingly intertwined. The first is just how close things are behind Red Bull, where small driver mistakes in qualifying or on car set-up can make a massive difference to grid positions and race results. The second is how F1’s current qualifying speed king – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – has surprisingly struggled of late against the clock. After qualifying three and four places behind team-mate Carlos Sainz in Melbourne and at Suzuka…

There’s no chance of Formula 1 heading into driver transfer dullness for next season. In 2024, for the first time ever, the same drivers that completed the previous campaign lined up in the same seats for the season opener. For 2025, we already know that won’t happen. Lewis Hamilton’s debut in Ferrari red tops the bill, but there is now set to be significant switching elsewhere too, with 11 other drivers facing an expiry of their current deals at the end of 2024. Add in the shock instability at Red Bull and the very real possibility that Max Verstappen could leave before his contract expires in 2028, and the 2025 silly season is instead seriously interesting. Thanks to Hamilton’s move, it’s unfurling at a surprisingly early stage too. “The driver…

The picturesque rolling hills and tranquil seaside resort atmosphere in which the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is located could not have contrasted more with the chaotic on-track action that Formula E provided on its first visit to the Adriatic coast. A post-race disqualification for the opening race winner five hours after the chequered flag; another driver losing a seemingly certain win on the final lap in the sequel; and a frenetic, even manic, style of racing that divided opinion – the Misano E-Prix double-header had it all. After seven races, and approaching the halfway point of the campaign, Pascal Wehrlein became the first driver this season to claim two victories and, with it, just holds onto the lead of the championship standings on countback. The Porsche driver’s outright success…

SUPER GT OKAYAMA (JPN) 14 APRIL ROUND 1/8 Toyota’s flagship Super GT team TOM’S opened its title defence with a straightforward victory in the first round of the season at Okayama. Sho Tsuboi and his new team-mate in the #36 Toyota GR Supra, Kenta Yamashita, took the first pole under the Japanese series’ controversial new aggregate qualifying format and were never threatened for victory over the course of the 82-lap race. Around a track where the GR Supra has often dominated, Toyota made it a 1-2, with SARD pair Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakayama beating the Team Kunimitsu Honda Civic Type R-GT of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino. Nakayama was forced to spend the entirety of his stint fending off Yamamoto, back in action after missing the final two races…

MOTOGP AUSTIN (USA) 14 APRIL ROUND 3/21 Maverick Vinales may be MotoGP’s most enigmatic rider. Once the paddock’s hottest prospect, in his 10 seasons in the premier class he had just nine grand prix victories to his credit – not to mention an acrimonious mid-season split with Yamaha in 2021. His career was thrown a lifeline by Aprilia, but all the winning was being done by veteran team-mate Aleix Espargaro. And, coming into 2024, it seemed that Vinales would continue to underwhelm on a bike that was clearly a strong contender, but upon which he had completely lacked confidence in pre-season testing. Aprilia has now been able to find the balance sweet spot for Vinales, however, and from the Portuguese Grand Prix in March he started winning again. A first…

BRSCC Formula Woman driver Steph Sore is planning a first full season of racing this year after making her debut in the Fiesta ST150 championship at Brands Hatch last weekend. Sore was one of four women selected to share two GT4 McLarens in the GT Cup in 2022, although the intended full-season programme was truncated to three events. Besides a one-off Birkett Relay outing last year, her only other race experience is in karting and Ministox on short ovals. “I’ve gone for something that’s more affordable to see where that leads,” explained Sore who, after engineering last year’s Ginetta Junior champion Freddie Slater, will perform a similar role at R Racing for his younger brother Alfie this year. Sore’s weekend was hampered by an engine blow-up in testing on Thursday…

RALLYING Osian Pryce made up for the disappointment of an early retirement on the North West Stages by taking a convincing win on round two of the British Rally Championship, the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages, last weekend. After scooping the BRC title in 2022, the Welshman returned in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 but was eager for redemption after a dismal start to his comeback and duly delivered in front of a home crowd, which had been attracted by a ‘Wales Rally GB flavour’ to the event. Classic stages such as Hafren, Myherin and Sweet Lamb made up the 62-mile one-dayer and it was Chris Ingram’s VW Polo that was fastest out of the blocks on the opening short, sharp Sarnau test. But, from there on, it was Pryce and Rhodri…

CIRCUIT RALLYING Circuit Rally champions Michael Igoe and Will Atkins signed off their season in the best possible way with another victory at Anglesey last weekend. Their all-conquering Citroen C3 Rally2 was quickest on each of the eight tests of the Altratech SMC Stages to win by two minutes. Malcolm ‘Tar’ Jones and Rhys Jones’s Darrian was five seconds down after the opening stage but, although they made it to the end of stage two still in second place, they were out of the rally having lost first gear. Paul Murro/Craig Simkiss’ Ford Fiesta R5 was therefore left heading the pursuit for the rest of the day. Murro had hit a truck tyre on the first stage, but his recovery left him a clear second, with 30s in hand over…

One month of the national racing season has already been completed and, while several clubs have yet to get their new campaigns going in earnest (the Historic Sports Car Club and Vintage Sports-Car Club are among those beginning this weekend, while the 750 Motor Club is hosting its first two-day fixture of 2024), there is now enough data to take a meaningful look at some of the early year entry numbers. The headline figures are certainly very encouraging. Almost two-thirds (64%) of the English club series with comparable data have either attracted a larger grid or one the same size as their 2023 average for their opening event. Considering all the preseason talk about rising prices having a negative impact, and there being plenty of doom and gloom in some…

SILVERSTONE MSVR 13-14 APRIL After a year of dominance by James Clarke’s Phantom last season, the 2024 Clubmans Sports Prototype campaign began with some of the closest lead battles of the Silverstone weekend. Steve Dickens prevailed in his Mallock Mk29 in the opener, holding off the immediate challenge of Ben Mallock’s slightly later Mk30PR model and Steve Collier’s Vision, plus the growing menace of Clive Wood in his Mk23 Mallock. Wood had a spin on lap one after some contact, but quickly scythed through the field and pulled past Collier on the final lap of the shortened race (see News) for third. Race two then went the way of Wood after a scrap with Mallock that lasted most of the distance, both of them having cleared Dickens early on. Dickens…

BOOK REVIEW FORMULA ONE: THE LEGENDS – CULT DRIVERS AND THEIR LEGACIES Tony Dodgins RRP £35.00 There are many resources that you can turn to if you want to learn about Formula 1’s most famous drivers, which left one key question when heading into this review – how is this latest offering different from the existing conglomerate? Formula One: The Legends – Cult drivers and their legacies is an engaging read, with the familiar format where individual drivers are given their own segments making it easy to dip in and out in a non-chronological order. As you would expect, the sections are informative, and Autocourse editor Tony Dodgins gives a good flavour of each of the 32 listed drivers’ careers and personalities across 235 pages. But, while this may sound…

Of far greater importance to Marc Surer than the results from his on-off partnership with Manfred Winkelhock between 1977 and 1985 is his friendship with the exciting German. The duo shared BMW, Ford and Porsche machinery in endurance racing, were team-mates in Formula 2 and rivals in F1. The choice of Winkelhock, who crashed fatally in 1985 at Mosport in their shared Kremer Porsche 956, as Surer’s favourite team-mate was never in doubt. The Swiss remembers “we became friends very quickly” when they joined the BMW Junior Team in 1977. Together, they won the two-litre class in the Nurburgring 1000Km and, with Surer based near Winkelhock’s Waiblingen home, they met up frequently. That continued when racing against each other in F1 from 1982 onwards. “We went out in the evenings…

FORMULA 1 Andretti Global aims to have a presence in both the Formula 2 and F3 championships whenever it eventually joins F1, so it can create a talent ladder for American drivers. Andretti has started moving into a brand-new facility at Silverstone (right) as it continues working on its F1 project despite not securing an entry for 2026. If it does prove successful on its second attempt to join for the 2028 season, the teams says it will create a full ladder with F2 and F3 teams so it can promote American talent. “It’s not just American drivers, but it’ll be a good ladder for American drivers,” said owner and 1993 McLaren F1 driver Michael Andretti. “We’re going to still be looking for the best talent in the world. “But…

OBITUARY Ted Toleman, who died last week aged 86, was the figurehead of what still contends to be Formula 1’s best-loved and most influential underdog team. Toleman and his older brother Bob ran the family car transportation business in Essex from the mid-1960s. Encouraged by managing director Alex Hawkridge, the Toleman Group became a familiar sponsor in club motorsport in the following decade, and the brothers and Hawkridge also began racing themselves. Tragedy struck in 1976 when Bob Toleman was killed when he crashed his Royale Formula Ford at Snetterton. Undeterred, Ted continued to race a Lola Sports 2000 on occasion while Hawkridge stepped up investment in motorsport as an entrant, the company backing South African Rad Dougall, who dominated FF2000 in 1977. The company then hired promising designer Rory…

NLS Preparations for the Nurburgring 24 Hours stepped up last weekend with two Qualifiers on the Nordschleife. Both counted for the NLS and were won by the same car, albeit with different drivers! Sven Muller and Tim Heinemann took their Falken Motorsports Porsche to victory on Saturday. Falken scored a 1-2 on the road, but a penalty for overtaking under yellow flags dropped the second car to fifth, and promoted Manthey EMA Porsche pairing Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Guven to second. Nico Menzel and Martin Ragginger took over the #44 Falken 911 GT3-R on Sunday and doubled its weekend tally, this time leading home the Rowe Racing BMW of Maxime Martin, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann. BARNARD GOES QUICKEST Formula 2 driver Taylor Barnard topped the rookie session for McLaren…

Having read Autosport almost all my life, I’m chuffed to have been given a regular column in a magazine/website that I respect. I am sure that I will return to what I know best before too long – running race teams – but for the moment, while I recharge my metaphorical racing batteries, I plan to tell a few stories about my 40-odd years in the sport. I’m going to kick off with Carlos Sainz, who has had a rollercoaster start to 2024. In February he learned that his Ferrari drive would be taken by Lewis Hamilton in 2025, and in March he underwent appendix surgery, causing him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. But, rather than moan about those two setbacks, his response was to win his comeback…

Cards on the table: this is purely what we’d like to see from the remainder of the 2025 driver market. Since Lewis Hamilton has already spiced up proceedings with his Ferrari move, we’ve decided to amp it up even further. Come with us, and gaze upon our crystal ball… Ferrari and McLaren are already locked in, so their respective Hamilton/Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris/Oscar Piastri line-ups will remain. The biggest piece on the chess board is naturally Max Verstappen, so let’s say that the Red Bull wrangling behind closed doors has pushed him towards the exit for a move to Mercedes. He’ll partner George Russell there, and take the hit for 2025 before hoping that the new power unit regs in 2026 trigger a Silver Arrows fightback. This leaves Red…

Goodwood Motor Circuit fell under the spell of rampant American V8 engines last weekend, with Ford Mustangs everywhere at the 81st Members’ Meeting – 10th of the modern GRRC era – celebrating the iconic pony car’s 60th birthday. Sunday’s tremendous Ken Miles Cup feature, for first-generation notchbacks motivated by 289 cubic inch (4.7-litre) power units, gave 2013 British Touring Car champion Andrew Jordan another consummate one-make Goodwood victory for his CV, and a first for car owner Michael Whitaker Jr, who started strongly. But as the warm sun set over the Chichester Corral on Saturday evening, the scene had been set in the Gordon Spice Trophy Group 1 saloon slugfest, the entry for which was equally peppered by superstars teamed with talented amateur throttle jockeys, hungry to learn from motorsport…

COOPER-BMC T72 Sixty years after his debut race win at Goodwood in John Penfold’s Lotus 7, five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell led ‘his’ 1000cc F3 field to the grid in Mike Cooper’s T72, which Jackie Stewart tested here in 1964. Signed by Ken Tyrrell, they won the British championship and three F1 titles together. PYGMEE-FORD MDB14 Heating engineer Marius Dal Bo’s Construction Mechaniques Pygmee built Formule France, then F3 and F2 in Annecy, SE France, from 1964 to the 1970s. Son Patrick and privateers achieved little, but Dal Bo Jr finished sixth at La Chatre in 1969 with a tubeframe MDB14. Swiss Ludovic Ingwiller contested the Derek Bell Cup in it and finished 11th. JAGUAR XK120 MISTRAL A unique special built by Californian Bob Dahl in 1953, on a…

NASCAR CUP TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (USA) 14 APRIL ROUND 9/36 NASCAR’s most popular driver Chase Elliott is once again a winner in the Cup Series, with a last-lap wreck in the second overtime of a crash-marred race at Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday bringing a dramatic end to his 42-race winless streak. Elliott’s drought dated back to his previous victory at Talladega in October 2022, and included several missed races for a leg injury and a one-race NASCAR suspension. After his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had grabbed the lead late on from Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) late in the regulation distance, Elliott had to fend off first Hamlin and then Ross Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing Chevy over three restarts, the last two of them in overtime. The victory was ensured…

BRITISH GT The Ferrari 296 GT3 will make its British GT debut at the three-hour Silverstone 500 next weekend as one of the Prancing Horse’s GT3 machines is set to compete in the series for the first time in four years. An AF Corse-run example of the previous 488 model contested much of the 2020 season, scoring points at Oulton Park and Donington Park. AF Corse will now oversee Tempesta’s use of the 296 for the latter squad’s first British GT race since contending the whole 2023 campaign with a McLaren. Last year’s Silver-Am runner-up Chris Froggatt and GT racing veteran Alexander West will be behind the wheel. “I’m very happy to be back in the British GT paddock,” said Froggatt, who is also competing in the GT World Challenge…

HISTORICS Formula 1 cars from the 1990s will return to competition this year in a new against-the-clock contest run by the successor of the AGS team. AGS Formule 1, which now runs a driving school and experience events, has launched the F1 ’90s Time Attack Mediterranean Challenge for F1 cars built between 1985 and 2000 and Formula 3000 machinery from the same period. Four rounds are planned, starting at this weekend’s Historic French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard. The entry for Ricard includes two AGS chassis, a 1989 JH24 and a 1991 JH25, driven respectively by Le Mans 24 Hours winner Eric Helary and former British Formula Ford frontrunner Geoffroy Horion. Ex-F3000 and IndyCar racer Laurent Redon will take part in a Jordan 197. Later machinery in the 11-car field…

NATIONAL The fledgling Nova Motorsport brand has acquired the Portuguese tyre firm Camac and its factory, which will enable Nova to restart manufacturing many of the old Avon and Cooper tyre ranges. Nova, which is owned by the SPC Group, has been created following Goodyear’s decision to close the Avon factory in Melksham last year, with the majority of Avon’s senior figures also moving to the new company. It has secured the licence to manufacture the old Avon product range and is targeting September for the first tyres to be constructed. Nova commercial director James Weekley described the Camac news as a “very, very significant milestone” and said the Portuguese facility was deliberately chosen. “We’ve acquired the Camac factory – we’ve bought that outright – and we will be moving…

BRANDS HATCH BRSCC 13-14 APRIL Adam Shepherd bounced back from a difficult start to score a triple podium in the TCR UK season-opener at Brands Hatch, while maiden victor Callum Newsham finished the weekend happiest as the early points leader. Shepherd’s Friday testing – his first time driving the Cupra Leon Competicion – and qualifying on Saturday were blighted by driveshaft dramas that left him starting eighth and 14th for races one and three. But in Saturday’s opener he immediately jumped to fifth before passing Joe Marshall’s Audi RS3. Shepherd opportunistically snatched third from Newsham when the latter’s challenge on reigning champion Carl Boardley (Cupra) – who had cut back inside the Hyundai driver for second earlier – was rebuffed. Newsham had planted his i30 N on pole position but…

CLUBMANS SPORTS PROTOTYPE Race 1 Steve Dickens (Mallock Mk29) Races 2 & 3 Clive Wood (Mallock Mk23) SPORTS 2000 Race 1 Colin Peach (Van Diemen RFS02) Races 2 & 3 Michael Gibbins (MCR S2n) UNITED FORMULA FORD Race 1 Jason Pribyl (Ray GR20, below) Race 2 Andrew Rackstraw (Spectrum KMR) MIATA TROPHY Race 1 Nicholas Stott Race 2 Daniel Parrans-Smith BERNIE’S V8s & HISTORIC OUTLAWS Races 1 & 2 Stewart Robb (TVR Tuscan) ENDUROKA Pro-Am Racing (Will Hillyard/Scott Thompson/Richard Jepp) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

Jacques Villeneuve’s Formula 1 return at Renault for the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in 2004 was a seminal moment in Franck Montagny’s career. Then a test driver for Renault, the Frenchman was a logical choice for the seat vacated by Toyota-bound Jarno Trulli – he had, after all, completed 14 days in the R24. Without the pressure of a full-time seat on the line – Giancarlo Fisichella had already signed for 2005 – race outings would likely boost Montagny’s test input too. Handing Montagny a debut was unlikely to impact Renault’s constructors’ championship ranking either. The struggles of Williams and McLaren meant third was secure. Although team boss Flavio Briatore harboured ambitions of beating BAR to second, it would require Trulli’s replacement to hit the ground running and immediately match…

FORMULA 1 The Australian Grand Prix will return to a season-opener slot for the 2025 Formula 1 season. Australia last hosted F1’s curtain raiser in 2019, with the 2020 edition cancelled on the eve of the event due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Bahrain has taken over the slot in recent years but, with Ramadan taking place throughout March next year, that has ruled out a start in the Middle East. Instead, Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit will begin the F1 campaign on 16 March. Japan will keep its current spring date but will form the first of three triple-headers with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, before a short gap to the Miami GP. F1’s European season kicks off in May, with the next triple-header including Imola, Monaco and Spain. Silverstone’s British…

WEC Ferrari and Toyota appear to be the biggest winners in the Balance of Performance issued for this weekend’s Imola round of the World Endurance Championship. They go into Sunday’s Italian round of the series with the biggest weight breaks in the Hypercar field. The Ferrari 499P and Toyota GR010 will race respectively at 34kg and 29kg lighter than at last month’s curtain-raiser in Qatar. At the same time, maximum power for the two cars has been increased by 7kW and 6kW (9bhp and 8bhp). Across the board weight reductions and power increases for all nine cars competing in the Hypercar class have been made, with the exception of the new version of Peugeot’s 9X8 LMH racing for the first time at Imola. The Porsche 963 LMDh, which blocked out…

FORMULA E The Abt Formula E team will use the new powertrain developed by Lola Cars and Yamaha for the 2025 season. The confirmation comes only weeks after it was revealed ahead of the Tokyo E-Prix that Lola would be returning to motorsport after more than a decade away, while Yamaha would be venturing into four-wheel racing again for the first time since 1997. Ahead of last weekend’s Misano E-Prix, Abt confirmed it will run the newly developed powertrain when its current partnership with Mahindra ends at the close of this season. “We are delighted to have found two renowned partners for our future in Formula E,” said Abt CEO and team principal Thomas Biermaier. “Of course, it will be a big challenge for a new manufacturer to enter and…

INDYCAR British racer Katherine Legge has secured a deal for next month’s Indianapolis 500, becoming the 34th driver on the entry list and ensuring the jeopardy of qualifying ‘Bump Day’ for the 33-car field. Legge will drive the #51 Honda-powered entry for Dale Coyne Racing that was campaigned by Colin Braun in last month’s St Petersburg season-opener. It represents a return to DCR for the IMSA SportsCar regular for the first time since 2007 for her fourth attempt at the 500. “She’s had a good career since she first drove for us and we can’t wait to start working with her again for this year’s Indianapolis 500,” said Coyne. Legge, whose best Indy 500 finish is 22nd in 2012, took part in last week’s Open Test (below) at Indianapolis Motor…

Shanghai Length 3.387 miles Number of laps 56 UK START TIMES Friday 19 April FP 0430 SPRINT QUALIFYING 0830 Saturday 20 April SPRINT 0400 QUALIFYING 0800 Sunday 21 April RACE 0800 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE TV Highlights CHANNEL 4 1230 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors SHANGHAI STATS Previous winners 2019 POLE POSITION Valtteri Bottas 1m31.547s POLE LAP RECORD Sebastian Vettel 1m31.095s (2018) RACE LAP RECORD Michael Schumacher 1m32.238s (2004) Podiums…

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10 VAUXHALL ASTRA COUPE BTCC WINS 62 The cut-price BTC Touring era tends not to attract the attention and kudos of the exotic Super Tourers that preceded it. The cars were slower and many of the star names had gone, but it’s hard to argue with the Astra Coupe’s record during the period. The Triple Eight Vauxhall was the class of the field for four seasons, taking 62 wins from 96 races – and that was despite not running at full throttle to help spice things up. Jason Plato (2001), James Thompson (2002 and 2004) and Yvan Muller (2003) took the drivers’ titles in the car and put on some fine battles, but four other drivers also scored wins in the Astra Coupe. It even launched the tin-top career of future…

Goodwood hosted only one motorcycle race meeting – for solo machines, on 14 April 1951 – so a sidecar shootout 73 years later was a novelty for most onlookers. Engaging eight teams, the contest provided a fascinating window on the sport 75 years after Eric Oliver and Denis Jenkinson won the inaugural FIM world championship on a Manx Norton outfit in 1949. Modern sidecars are very different animals, bespoke monocoque chassis evolved by specialist engineers headed by Louis Christen Racing in Switzerland and German rival Adolf RS. Powered by 600cc engines and enveloped in aerodynamic carbon-fibre shells, the 220kg machines can be geared for 170mph, but the quickest pulled 143.7mph on Goodwood’s Lavant Straight. Led by reigning double world champions Todd Ellis and French partner Emmanuelle Clement, the field embraced…

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES BARCELONA (ESP) 14 APRIL ROUND 1/6 Cool Racing claimed its first overall victory in the European Le Mans Series when Malthe Jakobsen fended off Alex Lynn and Ben Hanley to take honours with Ritomo Miyata and Lorenzo Fluxa at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race started after a minute’s silence in honour of Gerhard Freundorfer, the team manager of Le Mans Cup squad Proton Huber Competition who lost his life in a paddock accident during set-up earlier in the week. Once the race got under way, it was United Autosports’ Filip Ugran who started from pole and led the early stages. The Romanian, who has moved to United after a year with Prema in the World Endurance Championship, soon found himself in the crosshairs of LMP2 debutant…

MASTERS HISTORIC RACING The British Jota team’s first Le Mans 24 Hours car is returning to the track following a full restoration to its original specification. The Zytek 04S LMP1 has been bought by historics regular Jamie Constable for an attack on the Peter Auto Endurance Racing Legends series after being returned to the configuration in which Jota began its illustrious career at the French enduro in 2005. Constable will drive the car in this weekend’s Masters Endurance Legends event at Paul Ricard instead of racing his 2011 OAK Pescarolo-Judd 01 LMP1 as a precursor to his ERL campaign. Constable revealed he had been searching for an 04S for some time. His pursuit came on the recommendation of former MG factory driver Warren Hughes, who advises him. “I asked Warren…

LEGENDS Reigning Legends Elite Cup champion Connor Mills will defend his crown and is among the latest batch of drivers to be confirmed as racing in the series this year. Mills topped the British Touring Car-supporting Elite Cup contest last season and will again face the likes of regular frontrunners Chris Needham and Andy Bird. The 2000 Legends champion Robin Fountain is another driver who has pledged to race in the series again this year. “It’s fantastic news we’re able to confirm almost 30 cars entered for our 30th anniversary season,” said Legends Cars championship owner Phil Cooper. “We’re fortunate to have an excellent mix of experience, youth, frontrunning ability and raw talent, and we absolutely can’t wait to see how the first two rounds of 2024 unfold at Donington…

HISTORIC RALLYING Seb Perez was the star of Wales in last Saturday’s Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages when he took his Porsche 911 Carrera RS to British Historic Rally Championship victory on a truly tough event. Perez and Irish co-driver Gary McElhinney emerged with a narrow five-second win over the Ford Escort Mk2 of Joe Price and Chris Brooks. Rain, thick fog, slippery stages and a long day all made this a tricky event, but Perez scored a memorable victory to put the Porsche into contention in the third round of the BHRC. Perez said: “That was hard work! Challenging conditions: very wet and muddy in places and super dry in places. But it’s been a good day and finally we’ve had some luck with the car.” While early leaders Nick…

AUDI TT CUP RACING Former Renault UK Clio Cup and TCR Germany frontrunner Bradley Burns is the latest highly rated recruit to Audi TT Cup Racing, which began its first championship season with a capacity grid at Brands Hatch last weekend. Burns was a race winner in the 2018 Clio Cup before graduating to TCR Germany, where he recorded a podium finish at Most in the Czech Republic. The 22-year-old’s racing has been sporadic in recent years; he contested a part-season alongside Rob Baker in Club Enduro in 2023. Burns was also part of Baker’s Area Motorsport squad that finished second in the Birkett Relay at Silverstone, a team that included Luke Handley with his TT. That inspired Burns to build his own and run under Area’s awning in the…

TCR UK Race 1 Viktor Andersson (Lynk & Co 03) Race 2 Adam Shepherd (Cupra Leon Competicion) Race 3 Callum Newsham (Hyundai i30 N) CIVIC CUP Races 1 & 3 Max Edmundson (EP3) Race 2 Alistair Camp (FN2) FIESTA ST150 Races 1 & 2 Mike Blackburn Race 3 Sam Watkins MG METRO CUP Race 1 Dick Trevett (MG Metro Turbo) Race 2 Robbie Kenning (Rover Metro GTI) FIESTA JUNIOR Races 1 & 2 Jenson O’Neill-Going (Mk6 ST) Race 3 Finn Leslie (Mk7 Zetec S) FIESTA ST240 Race 1 Zach Lucas Race 2 Alastair Kellett (below) Race 3 Daniel Lewis CLUBSPORT TROPHY Phiroze Bilimoria (Volkswagen Scirocco) AUDI TT CUP RACING Races 1 & 2 Carl Swift For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

Simon Light’s heavily modified Ford Capri V8 has been nearly 40 years in the making. The Middlesex native has taken it from Road Saloons in the 1980s, through constant development – via a lengthy sabbatical – to its current monstrous form. And he’s done it all, with help from fellow Capri enthusiast John Hutson, in a single garage at home in Greenford. With no family racing background, the mechanical engineer was inspired to take to the tracks after watching Australian Touring Cars on television as a 21-year-old in 1985. Even the Capri’s #17 is a nod to Aussie legend Dick Johnson, who was entertaining the masses back then in a Ford Mustang GT. “The Aussies were first to put onboard cameras in the cars, weren’t they?” recalls Light. “They were…