The 2025 HSCC season started with a trip to the wide, open spaces of East Anglia. Competitors who descended on the former wartime airfield of Snetterton and original home of the Jim Russell Racing School were greeted to a weekend of great racing and two days of warm spring sunshine.
A capacity grid of Classic & Historic Formula Fords headlined the event, and veteran Rick Morris (Royale RP29) dominated the opening SDC Classic Formula Ford race of the year, seizing the lead from Brazilian Adriano Medeiros (Van Diemen RF79) at the first corner and pulling away after Medeiros and newcomer to the championship Tom Gadd (Van Diemen RF81) tangled at Chapman, causing Medeiros to spin and Gadd to lose ground. Gadd fought back to finish second, passing Simon Toyne (Winkelmann WDF2) late on, while Jordan Harrison (T540E) charged from the back of the grid to take fourth.
In race two, Harrison initially led before a mechanical issue forced him to retire, handing the advantage to Gadd. The former F1000 champion kept his cool to overtake early leader and race one winner Morris, taking his first Classic Formula Ford victory in only his second ever race after only testing the car once previous to Snetterton. Morris held on to second despite a 5 second penalty for track limits, while Adriano Medeiros had an equally hectic second race, recovering from an early spin to complete the podium after starting in ninth.
2024 Classic FF champion Benn Simms made a winning return to the Historic Formula Ford Championship and dominated the 29 strong field in first race in his Jomo JMR7, with a lights to flag victory. Ben Powney finished second in his Jamun T3, keeping Simms honest but never close enough to challenge, while Neil Hose (Titan MK6) took third after a track limit penalty dropped Sam Mitchell (Merlyn MK20), who had charged through from 19th on the grid, down to fifth. In race two, Simms again proved unstoppable, building an early lead, but this time Mitchell worked his way into second place after battling past Christian Goller (Lola T202) and Hose. Goller ultimately secured third, after Hose’s late moment at Coram cost him a podium.
The Alfa Romeo and Italian Intermarque series joins the HSCC roster this season, sharing grid space at six events. In race one 2021 champion Barry McMahon (Alfa Giulia) overcame a slow start against the rapid starting rear engined Alfa Romeo 4C of Jack Berry to win, lapping the entire field except Berry, with last year’s champion Tony Broome (Alfa 147 GTA) completing the podium. Race two, without McMahon, saw Berry take an early lead from inherited pole, briefly lose it to Broome before getting back past to win, while Stacey Dennis (Giulietta) rounded out the overall podium in third. In the Twinspark class, brothers James and Richard Ford (both Alfa 156s) were never more than a second apart, with James just edging out Richard in both races.
The fiftieth anniversary season of Historic Formula Ford 2000 began in fine style for Ben Glasswell (Reynard SF77), who took his first ‘proper’ wins with two commanding drives. Glasswell’s winter set up changes unlocked some serious pace, qualifying almost a second clear of multiple champion Graham Fennymore (Reynard SF81) and converting pole into a 25.6s win in race one, with Fennymore battling an overheating car to fend off the quick Michael Moyers (SF81) for second. Race two saw Fennymore, after a frantic late night trip back to Oxfordshire to change engines, struggled with failing brakes but managed to hold on to a podium spot, while Glasswell once again stayed clear out front, this time chased by Jonathan Hair (Reynard 78) who grabbed second from the ailing Fennymore.
Kevin Jones thundered away from the line in his turbocharged ex-Janspeed TR8, (the very car that went to Le Mans in 1980 but failed to qualify!) dominating the season opening Historic Modsports & Special Saloons race. He built a commanding early lead before backing off slightly to manage the car’s immense power, which allowed Myles Castaldini’s Davrian to close the gap to just 0.6 seconds by the flag. Castaldini had spent much of the race locked in a fierce scrap with Andrew Willis (Austin A30) and Martin Reynolds (Mk1 Escort) for the final podium places. The second race didn’t go as smoothly for Jones, the recalcitrant TR8 pulling off out of a comfortable lead as the oil pressure plummeted, leaving Castaldini and Willis to have an almighty scrap for victory, the Davrian throwing in a series of brave moves around the outside at Coram. After a winter of “extensive development” – namely adjusting the pedal box so he could actually fit properly, Willis eventually broke free to take the win, with Castaldini again forced to settle for second and Reynolds rounding out the podium in third.
The Guards Trophy split the GT category and prototypes into two separate races at Snetterton, the first of a three planned this season, with the GT grid an enticing mixed entry of 1960s machinery. Taking the inaugural win of this new stand alone series was Peter Thompson in his Griffith, ahead of his co-driver Charlie Allison in a Cobra, though to confuse matters both drivers were sharing each other’s cars, meaning a well coordinated pit stop was crucial. The ex-Marcos racers handled it neatly, with Thompson emerging from the pits with a comfortable lead. For a time, ex-McLaren GT3 driver Mia Flewitt interrupted the V8 procession in her Shapecraft Elan, but Allison’s Cobra thundered past on the Senna Straight to reclaim second, relegating Flewitt to third as Thompson stretched his advantage to win by 45 seconds. Behind them, there was an early back and forth scrap for the lower capacity class honours between two father and son teams, with the Picketts (Dan & Dennis) and the Thompsons (Nick & Chris), with the battle going the way of the Thompsons’ after pulling clear following the pit stops.
The Sports Racing (SR) side of the Guards Trophy Championship saw reigning champion Ben Tusting (Lenham P69), partnered as usual by his dad Robert, make up a 20 seconds deficit after the pit stops, setting purple sector after purple sector to gradually reel in first Callum Grant, who was sharing early pace setter Ted Pearson’s ex-David Purley Chevron B8, and then catching and overtaking Graham Moss’s Lola T70 Spyder. It turned into a race of attrition, with multiple mechanical failures thinning the field, including early leader and last year’s event winner Dan Balfour, who dropped out of contention early on in his Chevron B8.
In Historic Formula 3 there was another double race winner, with Jason Timms building nicely on his front running pace of last season. In the first race, Timms, Peter De La Roche (Alexis MK17) and Ross Dryborough (Merlyn MK14A) ran nose to tail for much of the race, before Dryborough eventually slipped back due to slight contact with Timms, cracking his steering rack. The second race followed a similar pattern, although this time Timms and De La Roche ran even closer, swapping places on multiple occasions, with the Ron Tauranac designed Brabham BT21 of Timms coming out on top after some brilliant racecraft in the closing stages. Dryborough would again complete the podium, albeit some 15 seconds adrift of the lead battle.
Former F2 racer and reigning Historic Roadsports champion Fraser Gibney kicked off his title defence in style with a pair of lights to flag victories in the combined 70s & Historic Roadsports . In race one, Frazer was shadowed early on by Robert Rowe’s Elan S3, but as the laps counted down, Mark Godfrey (Lotus 7) and 70s race winner Andrew Long (Morgan Plus 8) closed in, eventually passing Rowe to round out the podium behind the untroubled Gibney. Mid grid featured an entertaining battle between the three Porsche 924s of Gavin Johnson, Simon Baines and Peter Hore who managed to hold sway in both races despite constant pressure, the trio separated by a fraction over one second after 20 minutes of close and entertaining racing.
The second race was more of the same at the front, with Gibney never headed, while a rotating cast of drivers battled behind. Anthony Ross broke free of the scrap in his TVR 3000M to take second, with Long again making the podium in third, just ahead of Rowe and former 70s Roadsports champion Howard Payne, who was busy recovering after struggling with gearbox issues in race one. In the guest Historic saloon category, Mark Watts hustled his Mustang to two victories, keeping the tail happy but very entertaining Ford V8 just about pointing in the right direction whilst spending a lot of the time traveling sideways.
Rounding out the meeting was the Griffiths Haig Trophy for 1950s sports cars. In race one, Tony Bianchi kept clear of the squabbling pack behind to take a win in his Farrelac-Allard MkII, finishing over ten seconds clear of the chasing pack. Behind, there was a fierce battle between Paddins Dowling’s HVM, Robin Tuluie’s Kellison, and Avery Baker’s Cooper Bobtail, with Dowling eventually claiming second and Tuluie inheriting third after Baker retired on lap seven. The second race played out at a slightly more measured pace, Dowling made a strong start, while Bianchi was left playing catch up after starting from the back. Despite a spirited effort, the Farrelac-Allard had to settle for second, unable to bridge the gap to the leader. Malcolm Harrison brought his Cooper Bristol T25 home in third to complete the podium.
A very successful meeting with much entertaining and close racing, pleasing both the competitors and spectators.
Next meeting: Cadwell Park Wolds Trophy, 24/25 May
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