Le Mans Classic 1st & 2nd July 2023
Heading over to France for the Le Mans classic is always a special weekend! But this being the 100th anniversary means it was even more special.
We had Diogo Ferraro in the 1965 Ford GT40 driving solo and David Graus alongside our very own Martin Stretton in the 1961 Osca.1600 GT Zagota.
Friday saw qualifying and Diogo put the GT40 into 2nd place which gave him a front row start for the race.
David put Osca into a respectable 66th place ready for the race.
The Race saw Diogo winning the race outright putting his GT40 on the top step of the podium in front of 84 other cars
David managed to climb up the ladder and come home 54th respectably in another big field of 82.
All in all a great weekend as we head to the Silverstone classic for our next event!
PODIUM PIE
Silverstone saw the return of the Tyrrell 012 and a great return it was!
Friday was qualifying day and the 012 managed 4th, just 0.754 of a second off pole which set the tone for saturdays race and was a good first session back..
Saturday came and the sun was out and a hard fought race saw the 012 finish 3rd overall in the race and first overall in the post 82 class.
Sunday the rain came and opting for the wet tyres and the top 10 were also reversed on the grid which meant that the 012 had a race on it's hands if it wanted to be up the front, By the end of the race the 012 had managed to get up to 2nd overall and 2nd in post 82 class.
Overall it was a great return for the Tyrrell 012 and great to be on the podium!
We also had the Lola 292 and the Chevron B42 racing the silverstone Festival.
The lola 292 had an impressive qualifying going 3rd only 0.317 seconds behind 2nd, which gave it a great position to start.
With race day soon upon us the Lola 292 battled well and eventually coming home in 4th overall and 2nd overall in class, giving us another podium for the weekend.
The B42 also had a good Silverstone Festival qualifying 7th overall and 3rd in class which put it in great contention for a class podium.
Race 1 came and the B42 managed a 7th Overall and just got pipped and had 4th in class.
Race 2 saw the mighty B42 come 6th overall and 3rd in class putting it on the podium making all 3 cars having a taste of podium pie for the weekend making it another great year at the silverstone festival.
Spa 6 hours was a 2 car weekend racing the GT40 in the 6 hours and the Lola 292 in the Masters sports car race.
The lola 292 lined up 4th to start the hour long race, behind a pair of lola's and a chevron b23! Diogo started and after hitting the lead on lap 4 martin and diogo never looked back taking a dominant win around the iconic track!
The gt40 was being driven by Tony Wood, William Nuthall and Michael Lyons, this was the first time the trio shared together and what a debut together it was!
After qualifying towards the sharp end Tony started the race. He put in a mega 2 hour stint before handing over to Will, turning dark will began picking off positions fighting for the podium position. Michael did the last 2 hours, whilst running p2 we had an unexpected pitstop, quickly back out and made the last lap overtake to finish P3 overall out of 90+ starters.
Wll done all involved
Our last UK event in 2023 saw us at silverstone with motor racing legends competing in the pal mall cup. Alex, Martin and Nick were sharing the elan and cobra for the 3 hour race.
The weather was tempromental and couldnt choose if it wanted to be wet or dry!this allowed for an exciting 3 hour race for the smaller engined cars getting the chance to give the bigger cars a race. After 180 minutes and all 3 drivers jumping between the 2 cars, the cobra came P6 overall and P5 in class, and the mighty elan came P8 overall and P3 in class.
well done team
November saw the team head to Paul Ricard to support John Freeman Racing with the Rover SD1 in the 24 hour race with V de V. With the rover having not done a endurance race for a very long time, we had built some more durable axles and headed to Paul Ricard. The race was wet, cold, sunny, dry, dark, you name it we had it. It threw all it had at the Rover but after a quick gearbox change 13 hours in the mighty rover finished the 24 hour race! The first time a Rover SD1 has done anywhere near that distance before. Well done to Nick Sleep, Alex Montgomery and Alex Taylor. All 3 drove brilliantly bringing the car home safe.
Last outing for 2023 and what a hot one it was. The gulf historic in dubai didnt dissapoint, it was an absoute treat. We shipped our GT40 and Tyrell 012 out to compete in the 3 hour and the historic F1. Martin drove brilliantly for a track not suiting the tyrell to bring back a very respectable P3 and P4 after some great close racing and battles.
Tony took on the 3 hour endurance race solo. After qualifying P4 he soon climbed to P3 putting some mega lap times in. After 2 hours 20 minutes Tony had a quick pitstop rest due to heat, before taking the chequred flag and tired but very happy man. Well done Tony and Martin both drove incredibly.
Russ went to the Grand Prix to support the Lotus 79 we have done some work with throughout the year, this was to do some demonstration laps before the auction on the saturday evening.