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Previews of upcoming events, Race & Rally Reports, News, Reviews, Letters and Regulation Information from Historic Motor Racing News.
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Anderstorp Race Festival
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.
Dix Mille Tours
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.
French Championships Historic Tour Val De Vienne
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.
Monterey Car Week
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.
Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
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.
HSCC Croft Nostalgia
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.
VSCC Mallory Park
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.
Eagles Land at Road America
His name is as celebrated and recognised as any from the post-war era, whether it’s as a driver, a car builder or an aero appendage on the back of a wing. He never really ran for President, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see bumper stickers all over vintage paddocks in America encouraging people to vote for him. And if there’s one piece of trivia fans should know, it’s the identity of the only American driver to win a Formula One race in a car of his own design.
Sad News From New Zealand
We are sorry to hear that all motorsport activity at New Zealand’s Pukekohe Park Raceway will come to an end next year. Pukekohe Park is one of two racetracks that form the home of Auckland Thoroughbred Racing (ATR), New Zealand’s premier horse racing club. ATR has now announced the chequered flag associated with motorsport activities at Pukekohe Park will wave for the last time next year amid plans to further develop the site for the Club’s own purposes.
Dubai Historic GP Revival
Last year on the weekend of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE, Dubai’s Historic GP Revival took place with a grid of Group C cars and a grid of F1’s from the 70s and early 80s (see our report in the February 2022 issue). This year organisers, which include the Dubai Autodrome and a few Dubai based motorsports companies such as GP Extreme, Flat 12 and Tomini Classics, are expanding the timetable to include two separate F1 categories and two for endurance machines.
Castle Combe Welcomes New Series
The Castle Combe Autumn Classic race meeting is set to welcome three new series this year to the popular one-day event on 24 September. These include the inaugural race for Pre-1983 Group 1 Touring Cars launched by Flavien and Vanessa Marçais earlier in the year. Named for the charismatic Bristolian…
2022-23 SAS Autoparts MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series
With our winter approaching, New Zealand is going into spring and the F5000 boys down under have announced a five-round calendar for the coming season. After recent traumas, the series has chosen an all-domestic schedule. They will be amongst the last to race on the historic Pukekohe Park Raceway just weeks before it closes for good for motor sport, invited by the Auckland-based Historic Racing Club to join in the celebrations of the career of ‘60s single-seater racing great Jim Palmer.
Porter Press Motoring Literary and Art Festival
A new event will be launched on 6 November and is set to be a first in the automotive world. A motoring-themed literary and art festival, organised by leading publisher Porter Press International, will be held at Whittlebury Park, the motorsport-themed hotel located near Silverstone circuit. In the manner of established literary festivals such as Cheltenham and Hay in the UK and the Berlin International Literature Festival or the Miami Book Fair, there will be a programme of distinguished speakers and panel discussions, plus talks by authors, drivers, engineers, collectors, restorers and designers.
Simon Diffey Heritage Motorsport Apprentice Award
Many of you will have seen on social media that the late Simon Diffey’s wife Sarah has created the Heritage Motorsport Apprentice Award in her husband’s memory. Sarah has created a sticker and a donations page.
Opportunities for Young Enthusiasts – From the 4th August VSCC Newsletter
Free: Wanted – under 30-year-old enthusiast to take on a free 1927 Fiat 509 project looking for a good home: Consisting of a very good chassis, with front and rear axles, springs, brakes, hubs, shocks and steering gear.
NKHTGT Honours Ben Huisman
On May, 29 Ben Huisman passed away. Ben was an instrumental figure in Dutch motor racing from the late sixties onwards and was instrumental in saving the Zandvoort circuit in the early ‘70s. Among many other things, he was one of the founding fathers of historic racing in Holland. Ben’s last race car was a red Ford Falcon Sprint, which he used to great effect in the European historic touring car championship in the early 1990’s.
Royal Automobile Club’s Summer Run
Staged in glorious sunshine, predominantly on the leafy lanes of rural Surrey, the inaugural Summer Run, on 21 July was hailed as a major success on all fronts. The welcome new addition to the Royal Automobile Club’s growing list of motoring events has been inaugurated to complement the world famous London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
RSR Goes to Italia
German-based track day and tuition specialists, RSR has announced it will be going to Italy. “After a long wait due to COVID we are very excited to finally be starting our events in Italy for the final months of the 2022 season,” said RSR boss, Ron Simons. Well embedded with activities in Germany, France and Portugal, Italy was the next logical step in widening its offerings.
HERO Challenge Two
Alistair Leckie and Matt Outhwaite were the relieved winners of the HERO Challenge Two on 23 July after finally climbing to the top of the podium in their SAAB 900 Turbo from a field of over 90 cars. Despite winning the 2021 HERO Challenge Championship through a string of podiums, including many second places, a HERO-ERA overall win has eluded them until now.
Rallye Monte-Carlo Route Revealed
The Organising Committee of the 25th edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique has re-instated five authentic concentration routes for the 2023 event, starting from Bad Homburg, Oslo, London, Torino and Reims, making five itineraries with the common destination of Monte-Carlo over a route that incorporates many of the stages used by…