The Historic Sports Car Club’s return to the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire was a resounding success during the Croft Historic Festival (August 10-11).
With a busy programme of racing from some excellent grids, great weather, lots of attractions both on and off track and a bumper crowd, the Croft Historic Festival was a success on all levels. On track, the HSCC categories delivered fine grids and close racing as championship battles headed into their closing stages.
The HSCC would like to record its gratitude to all the volunteer officials and marshals who supported the event and helped make it such a success, and also to the hard working management team at Croft for delivering an excellent weekend for all visitors.
On track, Benn Simms was the star of the weekend as he clinched three Formula Ford 1600 victories in his Jomo JMR7. Simms set the seal on the SDC Classic Formula Ford Championship with two clear victories, and then added a third win in the non-championship Northern Lights Formula Ford race, which rounded out a busy weekend for many of the Classic and Historic Formula Ford racers.
In both Classic races, Simms stretched clear of a strong pack as Andy Gosling led the chase in the opening race. However, Gosling had to work hard to fend off the challenge of Swiss visitor Gislain Genecand in his Crossle 16F.
In the second race, Simms went away and Gosling lost several places due to confusion over light signals as William Liston came through for his best result to date in his Royale RP24, just holding off Craig Currie (Crossle 30F), Rick Morris in his Royale RP29 and the recovering Gosling.
Historic Formula Fords were out in strength for two rounds of the Barnett Racing Engines championship and there was a clear double win for series returnee Callum Grant in his Merlyn Mk20. In a busy weekend, Genecand bagged second in both races and was close to Grant in the second race. Neil Hose, Christian Goller and championship leader Spencer Shinner were all in the mix.
Finally, on Sunday afternoon the Northern Lights Formula Ford 1600 race brought competitors together from both championships for a non-championship race and Simms made it three from three, even though he was struggling in the final stages with failing transmission and Genecand was able to close in over the final laps. Grant was forced to miss the race with engine issues and so it was Gosling who moved up to take third place.
It was a fine weekend for the Historic Modsports and Special Saloon Series with a 22-strong field marking the biggest grid yet for the series. After a popular grid walk on Saturday lunch time, Jack Harper moved his Triumph Spitfire ahead in the opening race when Andy Robinson spun his mighty Ford Falcon out of the lead. From a midfield start, Joe Ward had a great race to bring the ex-Gerry Marshall ‘Baby Bertha’ up to second place.
On Sunday, Ron Cumming brought his AC 3000ME back into racing after a long gap to race on an invitation basis and was able to pull clear as Ward took another second place to make certain of the Peter Baldwin Trophy for the best of the Special Saloons. The trophy was presented by Peter’s widow June, who had travelled up from Cambridgeshire for the event. Others to feature near the front of the pack included Andrew Willis in his mighty Austin A30 V8 and the rapid MG Midgets of David Morrison and Stephen Watkins.
It was a mixed weekend for Historic Formula Ford 2000 Championship leader Samuel Harrison who went clear in the opening race as Graham Fennymore chased hard and Ben Glasswell completed the podium.
However, on Sunday both Harrison and Fennymore failed to finish. Harrison was sidelined by suspension issues and Fennymore by a carburettor problem and so Glasswell moved through to score his first race win with a handy margin over the battling trio of Richard Coleman, Stephen Glasswell and Andrew Storer.
Both Road Sports Championships featured excellent grids for double-header events and in the historic division, which shared a grid with the Historic Touring Cars, Rupert Ashdown (Lotus Elan) and Mark Godfrey (Lotus 7) claimed a win each. A strong 70s Road Sports field was always headed by John Williams in his Porsche 911SC and Will Leverett in his Lotus Elan and there was an appropriate result as they scored a win each after two excellent races.
Finally, the Guards Trophy provided another victory for father and son Robert and Ben Tusting in their very effective Lenham P69. They were able to move well clear of the Chevron B8 of Ted Pearson and Callum Grant, while Benn Tilley was a class winning third in his Lotus 23B.