THE MUTTON GRAND PRIX, SILVERSTONE, NOVEMBER 01/02
Revived by the HSCC at this year’s Walter Hayes Trophy, The Mutton Grand Prix provided a thrilling season finale for both competitors and spectators.
In September 1947 a group of friends set up an impromptu race around the runways of the deserted RAF Silverstone airfield, without an appropriate warning flag or track limit regulations for drivers or farm animals, local resident Maurice Geoghegan had an unfortunate collision with a sheep. During the post-race celebrations, (most likely in the White Horse pub, Silverstone village), the group declared the most appropriate name for their event should be The Mutton Grand Prix.
Revived by the HSCC at this year’s Walter Hayes Trophy, The Mutton Grand Prix was held in the spirit of the original (without an errant sheep), providing a thrilling season finale for both competitors and spectators. A wonderfully eclectic grid featured the Nissan GTR of Charlie Kennedy and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Pecora Nera at the loud end. Slightly quieter but as equally interesting was the Austin A35 of Steve Dunne and in-between were historic Lola and Tiga Sports 2000s, a delightful Lotus 6 resplendent in unpainted aluminum, assorted Minis, a swarm of Alfa Romeos, a ‘cruise’ of hot-hatches and David Farrow’s beautifully presented BMW Series 1.
From the rolling start the Nissan, piloted by Charlie Kennedy, wasted little time in putting some distance between himself and everyone else. Even the mighty Lambo of Pecora Nera was 3.5sec behind the Nissan by the end of the first lap which Charlie completed in 59.6sec. The Nissan GTR and Pecora Nera’s Lamborghini were the only competitors to drop under the magic 1 minute lap in any race over the entire weekend: 57.064s and 59.630s respectively. With Charlie Kennedy spiking the speed trap counter at over 150mph and cars towards back of this very busy 40 car grid car grid barely reaching 100mph, the race was remarkably incident free, a testimony to the awareness of all the competitors who we also involved in their own personal on-track battles. Incredibly by the end of the 25-minute encounter David Farrow had managed to keep his BMW 1 Series on the lead lap to finish third and did a good job of keeping Nera in sight throughout, if not within overtaking range.
Fourth place went to Dave Williams Lola T492. He had spent the middle part of the race scrapping with the other Historic Sports 2000 on the grid, Charlie Besley’s Tiga SC82. Both William’s and Beasley had passed the quick Honda Integra of Russ Hird early in the race, but after Charlie Beasley received a track limit penalty Russ claimed an impressive fifth in his very standard looking Honda. Retired lumberjack Tom Owen was seventh in his remarkable Peugeot 205 the hottest of the ‘hot hatches’ finishing in front of a trio of Lotus having grabbed a couple of places in the first half of the race, including a move on Seamus Doyle’s ‘track day dominator’ Lotus 2-11. Behind eighth-placed Doyle, was the Lotus Super 7 driven by John Muirhead and the Mk6 of Charles Angrave, who squabbled over ninth for the duration of the race, honours going to the newer Lotus of Muirheadon ahead by just a couple of tenths as they crossed the line.
First of the Alfas was the GTV6 of West Sussex Alfa Romeo specialist Chris Snowdon who enjoyed a good race with the nippy Alfa Romeo 33 of Nathan Bignell securing eleventh place by just four tenths. The rare Reliant Sabre Six of John Leslie was the meat in a Renault Clio sandwich with Mark Witherington ahead and Wayne Bowcock behind, hotly pursued by ‘snapper’ Jakob Ebrey in his Porsche 944. He would like to find the time to race more often but finds his talents behind the camera are in greater demand than his skills as a wheel jockey!.
Ben Brain and Antony Ross brought their classic Alfa Romeos home in seventeenth and nineteenth, Ben’s GTV finishing ahead of Antony’s charismatic Duetto Spider sandwiching the Mini R53 of Ben Heywood. Incorrigible enthusiast Nic Strong qualified in his regular Marcos 3000GT eighteenth but having recently imported a classic Opal Manta GS/E from Norway just couldn’t resist the temptation to race it. Content to start from the back of the forty-car grid the V6 powered car sounded glorious as Nic negotiated his way smartly through the field to finish an impressive twenty third.
The ’66 Mini Cooper S of Jamie Marriott (2024 Simon Diffey Heritage Motorsport Apprentice Award winner) was able to enjoy a moment of TV glory when picked up by the Safety Car, initiated to remove a vehicle stranded on the exit of Brooklands. The growling Nissan towered over the miniscule Mini before Jamie was released and set about efficiently and confidently joining the back of the crocodile tail followed by the TV cameras. Emilia Brown (2022 Apprentice winner) was back on the grid in her MGB-GT hoping for a better result than in 2024 but unfortunately mechanical issues forced her retirement on lap nine.
Whilst Charlie weaved through the cars down the Wellington Straight with the youthful enthusiasm of a slalom racer on Ski Sunday, Pecora was slightly more circumspect, lapping almost two seconds slower than his qualifying time, although still impressive at around sixty seconds, a pace he might later have regretted as the race held a sting in its tail for Charlie Kennedy, Holding a tight line around the outside of Tim Hendrie’s Alfa Sud the Nissan was tagged into a half spin, in an exuberant application of power to bring the wayward Nissan back into line the track was swathed in a dense cloud of rubber smoke and 20sec disappeared from the Charlie’s lead over the charging Huracan although he quickly re-established a comfortable advantage.
As the laps wound down hidden amongst the colour and excitement were some great performances, Steve Dunne’s tiny little Austin A35 climbed from 40th in qualifying to finish twenty seventh ahead of the equally compact Fiat 127 of Martin Riman. Regular Walter Hayes All-Comers competitor Nicola Burnside brought her MG Midget home twenty ninth after qualifying forty second. The remarkable Adele Hunt whose motor racing adventure only began in September held her nerve whilst giving all she had got, lapped five times, both car and driver emerged unscathed from the experience with a great result from the diminutive Mini and it’s determined novice driver.
Whilst not quite as wild as the Formula Libre races from the 1970s which allowed a mix of saloons and Formula 5000 cars to racing in the same event, the overall view was that the HSCC had created a terrifically fun event providing a great paddock atmosphere and some exceptionally entertaining racing.
Report edited from original text written by Rachel Bichener Images: Motorsport Classics Media
HSCC 2025 Calendar
25-25 APRIL: HSCC SNETTERTON SPRING TROPHY
30-31 MAY: HSCC DONINGTON PARK RACE WEEKEND
13-14 JUNE: HSCC CADWELL PARK WOLDS TROPHY
11-12 JULY: HSCC LEGENDS OF BRANDS HATCH SUPER PRIX
25-26 JULY: SCL SILVERSTONE CLASSIC
08-09 AUGUST: HSCC 60TH ANNIVERSARY CASTLE COMBE
29-31 AUGUST: OULTON PARK GOLD CUP
10-11 OCTOBER: HSCC SILVERSTONE FINALS
31-01 NOVEMBER: BRDC WALTER HAYES TROPHY