JustBritish

This weekend the Saturday night around Silverstone will be filled with the varied engine noises of some 50 cars during the middle portion of the 2011 running of Britain’s most grueling race.

The Britcar 24 Hours is Britain’s only true 24 hour challenge and this year is fittingly run on the Arena circuit, the latest iteration of the home of the British Grand Prix. The challenge of the 3.66 mile circuit is compounded by the endurance test of men and machine and the time of year.

Just like the twice-around-the-clock event at Daytona in January, and very unlike the French midsummer benchmark for 24 Hours as much as half the race is run under the cover of darkness, with little or no artificial light around the track. Thankfully, for anyone who has braved previous editions the vagaries of the British weather appear to have delivered the 2011 race from the rain that blighted the 2010 weekend. Whether the ubiquitous Britcar 24 fog can be avoided remains to be seen.

The field – with over 50 cars expected – is split into four classes, spanning cars from bespoke racing machines to production based Renault Clios and MG ZRs with a range of drivers to match.

Leading the entry list, carrying the no.1 plate is the four man Ferrari crew of MJC Ltd. The team saw off the challenge of JetAlliance Racing in 2010 after a battle that lasted for much of the race. While their Austrian rivals opted out of a return to Silverstone the MJC team of Witt Gamski, Keith Robinson, John Gaw and Phil Dryburgh are reunited with the Ferrari 430 from a year ago.

Gamski and Robinson dominated the Britcar GT season in 2010, winning all but the final race, but have endured a less auspicious 2011. After getting off to a winning start at Silverstone in March, they were narrowly beaten at Rockingham the following month. Their season came to an end at Donington Park in May, when the car spectacularly blew its engine in qualifying forcing an expensive rebuild by Michelotto in Italy. The car will only return to competition on the 24 Hours weekend.

Read the full story at The Checkered Flag.

A delectable line-up of Lister Jaguars – the Cambridge-built sports cars that took the big manufacturers on at their own game and won – will be showcased at this year’s Race Retro, held at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry from 12-14 March.

Examples of the earliest models – including founder Brian Lister’s first car, through the classic Lister ‘knobbly’ and Costin-bodied models and onto the 1990s Storm, which saw the name’s revival, will be reunited with the man behind the marque.

Their appearance coincides with a book written by highly-regarded Jaguar enthusiast Paul Skilleter, which chronicles the company’s sports cars, their founder Brian Lister and their successes during the late-1950s.

Closely associated with driver Archie Scott-Brown, Listers originally used MG and Bristol engines, but the switch to Jaguar engines and the shape of the car, dubbed ‘knobbly’, brought the company unparalleled success and exposure.

A later model, designed by then-leading aerodynamicist Frank Costin shepherded in a new cleaner, wind-cheating appearance, but didn’t repeat the success of earlier models.

Those earlier models proved successful in the fledgling historic motor sport scene, but the Lister name was revived in the 1990s with an all-new (but still Jaguar-powered) sports car. Laurence Pearce’s 600bhp Lister Storm ran at Le Mans and at Daytona, bringing home both the FIA GT Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship in 2000.

Brian Lister, who has provided major input to Paul Skilleter’s book, will be on hand to sign copies at Race Retro. Enthusiasts can buy a copy at an exclusive show discount to its normal retail price.

Adult ticket prices for Race Retro start from just £20 for Friday and £15 for Saturday and Sunday when booking in advance or upgrade to a VIP ticket with fantastic hospitality and a chance to meet our special guests. Children’s tickets are £5 on Friday or Saturday and free on Sunday. Parking is also free throughout. The show is open from 9.30am each day and closes at 5.30pm on Friday and Saturday and 4.30pm on Sunday. To book tickets and for the latest updates, visit www.raceretro.com

From Octane Magazine

The opening round of the Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship has attracted a sensational 83-car field to the Bulldog Historic Rally (Saturday 28 March).

Three former British champions and four former British historic champions are all in the entry for the event that tackles 50 miles of prime Welsh forest roads in just four special stages. It promises to be a fabulous start to the 2009 season.

Category 1
Category one is for the oldest cars, from the pre ’68 era, and they run first on the road with a short gap before the rest of the historic field. Top of the tree is the Porsche 911 of former champions Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride, but they can expect a stern challenge from the similar car of team mates Stuart Rolt/Richard Pomfret, making a rare but welcome BHRC appearance.

Lining up against the Porsches will be the former championship winning Sunbeam Tiger, now in the hands of Jonathan Gale, who is co-driven by his father Graham for his debut rally in the ex-Patrick Watts car. Meanwhile, Russell Brookes, a winner of this rally 20 years ago, is having a one-off run in the Porsche 911 of Steve Perez, with Neil Wilson alongside.

Local driver Gwilym Roberts heads the B4 field in his Lotus Cortina, partnered by Gwawr Hughes, but the amazing Volvo Amazon of Graham Waite/Gill Cotton will be hustled through the forests in fine style. James Stait heads the B2 pack in his MG Midget, while local crew Gary and Jane Edgington from Corwen top the B1 field in their wonderful Singer Chamois.

Category 2
In category two, for the post-historic cars, it is Ford Escort Mk1s against Porsche 911s at the head of the category. In the Escort brigade, BHRC debutant David Higgins, partnered by Ieuan Thomas, should really fly in one of Mark Solloway’s Mk1 Escorts. David Stokes and Guy Weaver have already scored two great results this season in warm-up events, so they will be fully match fit. But with rivalry from Rupert Lomax/David Alcock and Rikki Proffitt/Phill Harrison, it will be very hard fought. Also in C5 is the beautiful Lancia Stratos of Steve Perez/Paul Spooner.

Jeremy Easson has switched to his stunning Ford Capri RS3100 and will be a real crowd favourite, but goes up against at least five Porsche 911s in class C4. Tim Mason/Graham Wild and Andrew Haddon/Mark Crisp are established pacesetters, while the newly completed 911 of Peter Smith/Russ Langthorne could also be a major contender.
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Under 21 racers will benefit from a half-price race entry scheme designed to make racing more affordable for the cash strapped youth. Anyone under 21 on January 1 2009 will benefit from half price race entry fees at all MG Car Club race meetings in 2009.

The first MG Car Club race will be full price and the entrant/driver will receive a half price voucher against their next entry. Each subsequent entry will receive a similar half price voucher with the last race of the year being free, provided of course they have the voucher from their previous race.

Ron Gammons , Clerk of Course for MG Car Club said, “In 2008 we had a 17-year old winner of our MG Trophy Championship which has encouraged to provide this financial incentive to bring more youngsters into the sport. To race in our championships the minimum age is 16 years old provided they have passed their ARDS test.”

For further information call the MG Car Club on: 01235 555552

Just a few days after its first roll-out, the fully upgraded RML MG Lola EX265C completed a faultless run to fourth place in the final race of the 2008 Le Mans Series. In a six-hour endurance that was punctuated by dramatic incidents and thrilling nose-to-tail racing, the much-admired new coupé performed without a hitch, rewarding the team’s hard work and meticulous preparation with a reliable and extremely competitive performance.

“I’m delighted – chuffed to bits!” said a smiling Mike Newton, co-driver of the EX265C and CEO of AD Group, principal sponsors to RML’s sportscar programme. “The guys have done an amazing job to put this car together so quickly, and to achieve a trouble-free run is an exceptional achievement.” The team had always approached the Silverstone 1000 Kilometres as an extended, if very public, test session, but poor weather on the previous two days had severely curtailed their on-track development. “When you compare this to where we might have been, after the events of the last couple of days, this has got to be an excellent result,” he added.

The only issue the team encountered during the course of the race was a rise in engine temperature that, if left unaddressed, might have threatened the unit. “The engine was running a little too hot,” said Thomas Erdos, who drove the opening two stints in the MG Lola, and was first to detect the problem. “We were able to de-tune it enough at the next pitstop to ensure it would run the distance, but it meant we were perhaps forty or fifty horsepower down for most of the race. In that respect, fourth is a great result.”

For more, check out PlanetLemans.

It’s a strange time for the British sports car industry. With MG’s future still in doubt, TVR in a perennial state of flux, the briefly resurgent Marcos now in administration and formerly quaint Morgan embracing BMW tech, many of the great British names have either perished or changed out of all recognition.

One manufacturer staying true to its roots is Ginetta, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. With a reputation built on its highly successful sports racing cars (and road cars) of the 1950s and ’60s, Ginetta has always held a special place in the hearts of discerning sports car fans of a certain age. While the marque’s more recent history has been defined by slow decline and on-going financial strife, it survived, and is now enjoying a renaissance in the hands of entrepreneur and successful racer Lawrence Tomlinson.

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