While the water was pouring down from the sky everywhere on the continent, England, of all places, defied the cliché of a permanently bad weather island. It stayed dry in Kent on both days, which gave the Brands Hatch Circuit plenty of grip and allowed for the latest possible braking.
Sports Car Legends (1) and Gentlemen Drivers
Saturday was mainly the day of the qualifying rounds, in which the starting grid for the main races on Sunday was determined. However, two classes were already allowed to compete for victory on day 1: the "Sports Car Legends" and the "Gentlemen Drivers".
Pole position for Sports Car Race 1 went to the McLaren M1B of Nigel Greensall and John Spiers. The M1B was clearly the fastest car in the field, with the drivers usually only using three wheels to thrash through the corners. However, the McLaren did not keep up this pace for long and retired with a technical defect. Victory went to Paul Cope in the March 75 S, followed by James Claridge in the Lola T296 and Guy Jeynes Ellis and Matt Manderson in the rare GRD 74 S.
The "Gentlemen Drivers" competed in 29 GT cars built up to 1966 over a race distance of 80 minutes. TVR Griffith, Lotus Elan, AC Cobra, Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 911 and Triumph TR3 were among the cars at the start. The race could be contested either alone or in teams of two. Those driving alone had to complete a pit stop with a minimum standing time of ten seconds instead of changing drivers.
After some tough duels at the finish line in an attempt to conserve tires and brakes as much as possible, the winner was finally Dan Eagling in a Ginetta G4R. Second place went to John Davison in the TVR Griffith ahead of Roy Alderslade and Andrew Jordan in the Shelby Cobra Daytona.
66/85 F1 Cars (1) and Sports Car Legends (2)
It was also dry on Sunday. However, the rain during the night had made for a slippery track in the first qualifying runs, especially for the touring cars in the Gerry Marshall Trophy.
The first race of the day was for Formula 1 cars from 1966 to '85 and the field included a diverse mix of Tyrrel, McLaren, Shadow, Arrows, Williams, LEC and Fittipaldi. Matthew Wrigley's Tyrrell 011 was on pole position, alongside the Williams FW07C of Japanese driver Yutaka Toriba. For twenty minutes, the high-revving screams of the historic Formula 1 cars shattered the Sunday peace in Kent. There was a lot of fighting throughout the entire field of drivers. Only at the front did the race end as it had begun: Wrigley saw the chequered flag first, Toriba second. Third place went to Simon Fish in the Arrows A4.
In the second race of the sports cars, Paul Cope's March 75 was on pole position, with John Claridge in the Lola T296 alongside him. Cope led the race from start to finish; but the car to watch was again the McLaren M1B of Spiers/Greensall, which had started from the back of the grid due to technical problems in qualifying, but was already in second place after less than a third of the 40-minute race! However, the lead that Paul Cope had built up was too big and the race ended with the March in first place, the McLaren in second and the GRD in third.
Pre-66 Touring Cars and 66/85 F1 Cars (1)
Next on the program was the touring car race for cars up to 1966. The field of 28 cars consisted of an equal number of British and US brands - and one BMW. On pole position was the hot favorite Sam Tordoff in the well-known Ford Falcon Sprint with the starting number 600 alongside a Ford Mustang from Spiers/Grensall. Behind them was a field of Ford Mustangs, Falcons and Cortinas, numerous Minis from Austin and Morris as well as the aforementioned BMW 1800.
During the 60-minute race, as usual, there were a few dents in the bodywork, two-wheeled hard-hitting kerbs and lots of tire smoke. In the end, it was the Ford Falcon of Tordoff that dominated from the green flag to the black and white checkered flag. The battle for second place was won by Michael Whitaker Jr. in the fire-breathing Mustang - less than a second ahead of the Mustang of Spiers/Greensall. Remarkable in the field of displacement giants: Mini wizard Nick Swift brought his Cooper S home in 6th place!
In the second race of the Formula 1 cars, the McLaren MP4/1 of Steve Hartley was in first place on the grid, alongside the Arrows A4 of Simon Fish. Hartley got away well and looked set to dominate the race until he was involved in a collision that brought out the red flag. After the restart, Matthew Wrigley quickly built up a lead that he never relinquished and took his second win of the day. Second place went to Simon Fish in Arrows and third to Mark Harrison on Shadow DN9.
Gerry Marshall Trophy
The final race of the weekend was the Gerry Marshall Trophy of the HRDC (Historic Racing Drivers Club), named after the English touring car ace from the '70s and '80s. The 26-strong field consisted of a good mix of marques from those two decades, including Ford Fiesta, Escort and Capri, Rover SD1, Alfa Romeo GTV, Volvo 242, Mazda RX-7 and the like, many of which sported famous liveries of days gone by.
Mike Whitaker Sr. started from pole position in the Patrick Motorsport Rover SD1 alongside the Spiers/Greensall Hermetite Capri. The 45-minute race offered particularly intense motorsport with many overtaking maneuvers and door-to-door duels. Only two seconds separated the top three cars at the end of the race, with the Sanyo Rover of Whitaker-Junior taking first place, Spiers/Greensall second in the Capri and Whitaker-Senior third in the Patrick Rover.
That was the end of the Brands Hatch Masters Historic Festival. The next stop on the MHR circuit is Zandvoort. So let's leave this historic, green-wooded track - see you again in the dune sand!
