Strong grids, thrilling racing, warm sunshine and a great atmosphere: the Historic Sports Car Club’s Legends of Brands Hatch Super Prix meeting was an absolute winner over the weekend (July 13-14).
A core part of the weekend was Formula Ford with more than 50 cars competing across the SDC Classic Formula Ford Championship and the Barnett Racing Engines Historic Formula Ford Championship and it was a fabulous advert for the evergreen category, with thrilling racing and dramatic finishes throughout.
Cam Jackson made a hugely successful return in his Winkelmann WDF2 and won three of the four races but had to work every inch of the way for his successes. In the opening historic race, it was Benn Tilley who ran Jackson so close in Amanda Hadfield’s Merlyn Mk20 and as they raced side-by-side over the line, the winning margin was just 400th of a second with Benn Simms chasing hard in third.
With Simms missing the second Historic race due to a bent wishbone, the action was just as close at the front as Jackson and Tilley went wheel to wheel for lap after lap. This time Tilley pulled off a stunning move on the run to the flag and managed to slipstream up alongside and then nosed ahead for an even smaller winning margin after a glorious contest. Up from the back of the grid, after spinning out of the opening race, came championship leader Spencer Shinner with a mighty performance to grab third from Ross Drybrough and Cormac Flanagan.
Jackson claimed a double in the Classic category in the Winkelmann, winning the opening race by just a tenth of a second from Simms with Jordan Harrison tucked in behind in his Lola T540E. On Sunday in the second Classic race the finish was even tighter, as Jackson beat Simms by less than 300th of a second, making it three Formula Ford races decided by the tiniest of margins.
Another highlight of the weekend was the Derek Bell Trophy, which honoured the memory of racer Keith Norris who sadly passed away just before the weekend. Mark Charteris overcame weekend battery problems to win the opener from Henry Chart in the Hadfield team Modus with Christian Pittard the best of the Formula 5000s in third in his Chevron B28.
After a pit lane cackle-fest to honour the memory of Norris, the second race was another stormer and this time it was New Zealand visitor Steve Ross who got his McRae GM1 to the head of the pack and then fended off Chart in the ever present Modus for a fine victory.
The Historic Formula 3 pack was racing for both the King Hussein Trophy and the Nations’ Cup and a bumper grid delivered two superb races where, once again, winning margins were tiny. In the opener, Andrew Hibberd just pipped Jon Milicevic by a third of a second. Once Michael O’Brien had hit gear linkage issues, Ross Drybrough came up to bag third and his best HF3 result to date.
On Sunday, Hibberd led until O’Brien battled up to take over. But just after the places changed, the Hasu Racing Tecno spun at Stirling’s, and that left Hibberd with a bigger margin over the chasing Milicevic and Drybrough. Hibberd, Milicevic and Mark Carter also formed the winning team with the Great Britain A squad.
Alex Kapadia took two Historic Formula 2 wins in his March 762 despite a worsening misfire that threatened to stop him in the second race. Mark Charteris was twice out of luck as on-going battery issues halted his March 782. On Saturday it was David Thorburn and Keith White who wrapped up the podium while on Sunday Thorburn was an early retirement which elevated White to second from Mike Bletsoe-Brown’s Chevron.
The Guards Trophy was a real family affair, as fathers and sons took the top two places. A fine combined effort by Ross and Charlie Hyett worked their Chevron B16 through to a four second victory over the Lenham P69 of Robert and Ben Tusting with Neil Fowler and Mark Dwyer wrapping up the podium in their Lenham.
Darren fielding was the class of The Touring Car Allcomers contest in his BMW M3 as Shane Brereton brought his glorious Rover SD1 into second, just ahead of the BMW M3 of Toby Partridge.
Wrapping up Sunday’s racing was the Griffiths Haig Trophy, which delivered a commanding win for Oliver Llewellyn in the family Allard J2 from Malcolm Harrison’s Cooper Bristol second as Juerg Tobler completing the overall podium in his Lola Mk1.
joining the HSCC classes for the weekend were the Super 60s cars from the Netherlands and a wonderful grid of diverse cars delivered two fine races, both won by Michiel Campagne in his thundering Corvette Grand Sport. However, Jamie Boot ran him very close in his TVR Griffiths in the opening race and finished even closer on Sunday, when he was just seven tenths of a second adrift of the Corvette after 40 minutes of flat out racing.