The Magazine

Something or somebody different in the winner’s circle, especially when the natural order is overturned, is always appreciated by dyed-in-the-wool motor sport enthusiasts bored with samey World Championship Formula 1 races every other weekend.  The Classic at Silverstone provided just that when Ben Mitchell beat the period-dominant March 782s to score the first Historic F2 victories for a French Martini chassis built at Magny-Cours. 

The Swedish Racerhistoriska Klubben and the Anderstorp Racing Club jointly organised the fourth round of their 2022 championship at Scandinavian Raceway Anderstorp, their first visit to the southern Swedish circuit since 2013.  Close to 200 drivers participated, including the guest grid NKHTGT from Holland with their pre-’66 GT and touring cars.  Some Swedes took part in the Dutch heats and some Dutch took the opportunity to enter the Swedish races where they enjoyed driving on the 4.02-kilometre ex-F1 circuit in very mixed weather conditions.  Indeed, it rained all day on Saturday, while on Sunday there was some sunny respite between showers.

As the August holidays came to a close, the 12th edition of the Dix Mille Tours on the Paul Ricard circuit ran on the same weekend (26-28 August) as the Silverstone Classic in blazing southern sunshine enjoyed by an audience of 15,000 spectators and nearly 460 cars from the clubs, coming to take advantage of the sinuous roads of the Var that lead to the circuit on its plateau above the resorts of Bandol and St Cyr-sur-Mer.

At the end of a long break of four months, the Historic Tour season resumed for its second half at the Val de Vienne circuit on 9-11 September for the fourth of six 2022 race meetings.  The 3.7km circuit welcomed nearly 300 drivers over three days for two sprint races in each of the various championships, and the 200km Endurance race on Saturday evening.

Exotic Ferraris, Jaguars, Aston Martins, Corvettes, Mustangs, a Lotus, Porsches, Maseratis passing us on Highway 101, just a reminder as we drove south from the San Francisco area through the hills and valleys of Steinbeck country toward the Monterey Peninsula that the Monterey Car Week was beginning.   With over two dozen major events it is a busy week.  

Regular Monterey-goers will fondly remember the days when seeing Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks or Juan Manuel Fangio in the Laguna Seca paddock was not all that unusual, and this year’s event was like old times, with its own star-studded cast in attendance, including Patrick Long, Dario Franchitti, Lyn St. James, John Morton, Rick Knoop, Jochen Mass, Jacky Ickx, Tom Kristensen, Henri Pescarolo, Stefan Johansson, Ron Fellows, Peter Brock and Bob Garretson, to name just a few.

Last run in 2019, pre-COVID, the Croft Nostalgia event brought the Historic Sports Car Club’s brand of racing back to the north east of England to a rousing reception on September 3-4. A good spectator turnout, many of whom arrived in a vast spectrum of classic cars – including an immaculate MG TA bought by its owner from a scrapyard for four pounds and 10 shillings in 1968 – witnessed some fine racing on one of the country’s most pleasant circuits.

The Vintage Sports-Car Club made its annual visit to Mallory Park in Leicestershire on Sunday 21 August for the last of four 2022 race meetings.  After morning practice, a grid walk-about was staged featuring the Edwardian class and much of the large crowd attended for a closeup view.  John Whiteman reports…

The circuit is set in a natural bowl with excellent viewing over virtually all its 1.35 miles, but it was a great pity that the two commentators could only be heard in the paddock and not by the large crowd of spectators.  Apparently, this is not an uncommon occurrence at Mallory.