Now firmly re-established as one of the biggest and best historic racing festivals, the Silverstone Classic provided plenty of interest over the weekend of July 20-22. The event boasted a 1000-car entry list, made possible by using both sets of pits and paddocks on the full British Grand Prix circuit. Sponsored for the first time by the Automobile Association (AA) a 24-race program was brought together along with a huge gathering of classic car clubs and a wide range of attractions.
The headline grids were each given two races, with the overall result declared on aggregate. Michael Lyons took a commanding lead in the first Grand Prix Masters counter with his Hesketh 308E only to retire, leaving Bill Coombs in his Tyrrell 009 (pictured above) to win from Steve Hartley’s Arrows A4. Coombs fended off Hartley by just 0.210sec in the second race from a hard-charging Lyons making his way through from the back of the grid.
A good range of Formula 5000 and Formula 2 cars competed for the Peter Gethin Trophy, in memory of the late Can-Am, F1, F5000 and F2 driver. This became a battle between Simon Hadfield (Trojan T101) and Michael Lyons (Lola T400) before Hadfield spun, leaving Martin Stretton (March 742) to chase down Lyons, losing out on victory by the smallest of margins, with a recovering Hadfield in third spot. Stretton narrowly won the second race from Hadfield.
Gareth Evans won both Group C races in a Mercedes C9, beating Roger Wills with his Lancia LC2 in the first counter, and just edging out Nicholas Minassian in another Lancia LC2 in the second race. The World Sports Car Masters event produced another close finish when the Oliver Bryant/Andrew Smith Lola T70 beat the Ferrari 312PB of Paul Knapfield and Martin Stretton. An early retirement was the GRD piloted by the unusual team of ex-Benetton FI and CART racer Roberto Moreno and rocker Brian Johnson.
