The Silverstone Classic is one of the biggest racing events in Europe and can easily compete with the AVD Oldtimer Grand Prix or even the Goodwood Revival.
Although the Silverstone circuit is not exactly the most traditional, its spacious layout also has advantages for the organization of major events.
Big set up
1000 vehicles (from 800 drivers) were registered for the event on July 28-30, 2017, with over 100,000 spectators not wanting to miss the spectacle on site.
22 races were announced, with touring cars, Formula 1 racing cars, Group C prototypes and the legendary sports cars as well as many others divided into the various starting fields.
Hot qualifying sessions
There were many exciting moments in the qualifying races and the experienced racing drivers left nothing to chance.
Steve Soper, known from touring car racing, for example, put the Ford Lotus Cortina on pole position with a time of 2:32.501, but the fastest lap was set by Formula 3 professional Jonathan Kennard in the Arrrows A3 F1 racing car in 1:50.598, which meant an average speed of over 190 km/h. So there was no dawdling. So there was no dawdling.
More than 40 Jaguar XJ220s
However, it wasn't just the practice sessions and races that kept the audience on the edge of their seats, but also one-off events such as the gathering of 42 Jaguar XJ220s. That may not sound like a huge number, but in fact just 271 of these sports cars were built in the 1990s.
At the time, they cost around one million EUR/CHF and were also used in car races. In 1993, an XJ 220 won in its class, but its success was subsequently disqualified. All four racing XJ220s were on display at Silverstone, and one car was even flown in from Japan for this purpose.
Celebrities in the Austin Cup
In the "Celebrity Challenge Trophy", many more or less well-known celebrities from the world of sport and television took part in a race in largely identical Austin A30/35s.
In order for people such as Olympic medal winner Jason Kenny, Mark Hunter, Greg Searle, Sonny Searle and Amy Williams, as well as boxing legend Carl Froch and motor racing drivers Wanye Gardner and Freddie Spencer, to be allowed to take part in the race at all, in some cases they even had to complete the necessary training and obtain racing licenses beforehand.
Television and pop stars such as Brian Johnson, Howard Donald and Peter James also joined them. Finally, the victory of ex-BTCC winner Mike Jordan proved that nothing can compensate for experience
Great cars away from the race track
It wasn't just the cars on the race track that caused a stir. A parking lot filled with around 10,000 classic cars opened up in the infield of the circuit, where rare Aston Martin, Ferrari, but also popular classic cars and youngtimers showed that the British classic car scene is more active than almost any other.
Silverstone Auctions held two auctions at which impressive prices were realized, such as £ 114,500 for a Ford Sierra RS 500 and £ 137,250 for a BMW 3.0 CSL.
Restoration in just over two days
A special attraction was the "ebay restoration live" project, which involved the restoration of a Ford Capri 2.8i in front of an assembled audience. Five mechanics were able to use only parts from eBay to restore the coupé from Friday to Sunday.
The result was impressive and the show, in which 14-hour days were completely normal, thrilled the audience.
The John Player Special BMW 635 CSI of Peter Sturgeon, which he had brought to Silverstone from Australia, and the Williams FW14B, in which Nigel Mansell won the 1992 British Grand Prix, were also among the visitors' favorites. The Formula 1 monoposto could be seen in two top-speed runs.
The 115 McLaren road cars were rather slower, but they had never been seen in this quantity before, putting the chance of an entry in the Guinness Book of Records within reach.
Exciting races
Despite all the entertainment off the track, the 22 races were of course not forgotten.
Michael O'Brien won twice in the Formula Ford races in his Merlyn Mk20A, while Lukas Halusa won Sunday's RAC TT Trophy race in his Ferrari 250 GT Breadvan on the track, but was demoted four places for speeding in the pit lane. This cleared the way for Friedrichs-Hadfield in the Aston Martin DP212.
Impressive was the 11th place of Michael Gans in the Lotus Elite, who finished ahead of various significantly more powerful cars despite a clear capacity deficit.
Steve Tandy in the Spice E90 GTP won Group C on Saturday, while Kriton Lendoudis in the Mercedes-Benz C11 was able to distance him by almost 20 seconds on Sunday.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the Williams F1 team, both rounds of the FIA Masters Historic Formula One resulted in a Williams victory. On Saturday it was Nick Padmore in the FW07 who took the top step of the podium, on Sunday Michael Lyons in the FW07B.
The two pre-war cars in the Kidston Trophy for Pre War Sports Cars were very close. In the end, Gareth Burnet in the Talbot 105 (GO 52) won by the blink of an eye ahead of Wakeman-Blakeney-Edwards in the Frazer Nash Supersports.
Steve Soper was unable to convert his pole position into a win, while Mark Sumpter saw the checkered flag first in the John Fitzpatrick Trohpy for touring cars under two liters in the Ford Lotus Cortina.
The JET Super Touring Car Trophy was close. The first race was won by Jason Minshaw in the Volvo S40 with a comfortable lead, but the second race was won by James Dodd in the Honda Accord, who was only able to complete one lap in the first race, with a lead of 1.187 seconds over Jason Minshaw.
The complete results can be found online on the event website.
