Back to the future
Goodwood, March 29/30: the 72nd running of an old favourite proves genuinely innovative…
It wasn’t quite how Goodwood felt during the 1980s, when it was a sleepy test venue that happened to have a good café – the perfect rendezvous point ahead of a day testing road cars around the South Downs – but it was similar. The approach roads showcased Sussex at its tranquil best, with...
John Cleland wins a touring car race in a Vauxhall Vectra. Tiff Needell scores a dramatic Formula Ford victory in a Lotus 69… the very same chassis in which he notched up his first such success, and at the very same circuit, 42 years beforehand. Thruxton’s second Easter Revival was a masterclass in the art of time distortion.
While Cleland and Needell made headlines, star of the meeting was...
McLaren F1s plus record F1 parade headline programme at Silverstone’s huge historic event
Up to 40 iconic GT cars from the 1990s will run in high-speed demonstration sessions as a major new feature of the Silverstone Classic (July 25-27), the biggest event of its kind.
The GT Legends concept has brought together some of the most evocative cars of the decade, with the current entry list covering...
The growing race series for Super Touring Cars of the 1990s will run alongside the modern BTCC this summer, with two races for the HSCC-run category on the Oulton Park support bill on June 7/8.
Former BTCC stars Patrick Watts and John Cleland are due to be among a strong grid for the high-profile event.
The Super Touring Trophy schedule is Thruxton (April 19/20), Oulton Park (June 7/8), Brands...
Some journalists – no names, no pack drill – seem to think that the British Touring Car Championship is as good as over. It's true that Alfa Romeo stole all the early headlines and that Gabriele Tarquini put together a string of victories at the start of the season, but I'm only 30 points – which can be recouped in the course of a double-header race meeting behind him.
This championship is so...
Patrick Watts is the new star of historic rallying reports Paul Lawrence
Patrick Watts's press-on approach made him a star of one-make racing in the 1980s and a cult hero in the British Touring Car Championship in the '90s. Now, after a break from the sport, he's taken to historic rallying like a duck to water.
"I'm loving it," says Watts, who now has five events in the Armajaro MSA British...
BMW win, Jaguar star
Silverstone, September 9th THE 48th RAC Tourist Trophy was dominated by two things, the presence of the works Jaguars and the weather. The Jaguars, always a big box office draw at home, were doubtless responsible for attracting a good proportion of a crowd of over 15,000 who came not only to see them win, but also to see Tom \Valkinshaw clinch the ETC Drivers' Championship....
Escort service lifts Porsche driver
Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship
Going into the final stage of the season, the 2005 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship was still to be won and lost. Nine miles later Steven Smith and John Nichols emerged to claim the title.
For much of the season Smith/Nichols made the running in their historic category Porsche 911, but in the...
DESSIE NUTT
Britsh historic rally champbn
How good has 2004 been?
A perfect season. The car has been perfect. Geraldine McBride has read me over 500 pages of notes and we haven't had a wrong one yet. It's not a bad record!
What led to the car rebuild for 2004? It had done probably in excess of 150 events. It was a good friend, but it was tired. We took it over to Francis Tuthill's intending to...
Patrick Watts will return to racing in 2009 to campaign a Ford Mustang in Top Hat Masters races. The former BTCC ace has spent the past four seasons in historic rallying in a Sunbeam Tiger and will still tackle selected events alongside a programme in the historic saloon series.
The Killarney Historic Rally, a major historic event on the calendar, will not run in December as planned following a...