The Historic Sports Car Club’s 2023 racing season opened in fine style at Snetterton over the weekend (April 22/23) with a packed paddock and some great racing.
Despite the un-spring like weather on Sunday, the Autosport Three Hours was a great success as the HSCC brought this famous race back onto the historic racing calendar.
After 90 laps of the Snetterton 200 circuit, just 11 seconds decided the result as the Lotus Elan of Ben Snee and Nigel Greensall finished just clear of the solo driven Elan of Horatio Fitz-Simon with the Oliver Webb/Guy Ziser Porsche 911 also on the lead lap. There were six different marques of car in the top 10 and an impressive 22 out of 26 starters took the chequered flag.
The Three Hour race capped the opening weekend of the HSCC racing season and the Club officials would like to express sincere thanks to all the volunteer marshals who supported the event, including through Sunday’s less clement weather.
One of Saturday’s highlights was the opening round of the Historic Formula Ford 1600 Championship, which featured a mighty five-way battle for the lead and had four different drivers all taking a turn in the lead. The result was in doubt until the last lap when a mighty performance from Matthew Wrigley put him to the head of the queue. Having retired from the lead on Saturday with an electrical issue, Linton Stutely raced from the back of the grid on Sunday to cross the line almost alongside Benn Simms but missed victory by less than seven hundredths of a second.
In the early laps of the Historic Formula Ford 2000 race, Graham Fennymore faced a big challenge from series newcomer Jordan Harrison. But as the race developed and Harrison hit problems, Fennymore was able to edge clear although Marc Mercer and Ollie Roberts were never far adrift. In Sunday’s rain, Mercer edged ahead of Fennymore to win as they encountered a spinning backmarker late in the race.
Kevin Kivlochan started the Historic Road Sports season with another win in his mighty AC Cobra but had a constant threat in the form of Will Plant in his Morgan Plus 8. Later Plant got his victory when he won the 25-minute 70s Road Sports race in the Plus 8 as Anthony Ross kept his TVR 3000M just ahead of Kivlochan’s Morgan Plus 8 for much of the race before Kivlochan edged ahead to make it a Morgan one-two. On Sunday Kivlochan completed an HRS double but was only a second clear of Plant at the flag.
The opening SDC-backed Classic Formula Ford 1600 race was another stormer despite a restart after a red flag. In the dash to the line Joseph Ahrens just kept his Royale RP26 ahead Simon Toyne (Lola T200) by less than a hundredth of a second! In the rain on Sunday, Ahrens completed an impressive double as Ben Tinkler chased him home.
Horatio Fitz-Simon was the class of the season opening Formula Junior counter on Saturday and swept ahead in his Lotus 22 to win convincingly as Clive Richards gave chase in his similar car. Ben Stiles won twice in Classic F3/Classic FF2000 despite constant pressure from Jon Finch (Reynard SF79) in Saturday’s opener. Stiles had to cope with various challenges including the loss of third gear, second hand tyres and a fuel leak on Sunday.
Running alongside the Historic Road Sports was the opening race of the year for the new Historic Modsports and Special Saloons series, which featured an excellent 10- car entry. It was Paul Sibley’s MG Midget that was the class of the pack and scored two victories. Guest races from the Monoposto Racing Club added strong grids and more close racing to the weekend.
The HSCC season now continues at Cadwell Park on May 6-7 for the annual Wolds Trophy at the wonderful Lincolnshire circuit.