Race Retro, Stoneleigh Park

Returning to Stoneleigh Park for the first time following an enforced break since 2020 the popular Race Retro may not have quite achieved its former glory, but it made a very good start. Situated in three inter-connected halls, one of which was new to the event, the club-oriented show attracted over 22,000 visitors over the weekend, with traders generally reporting brisk business despite the economic downturn. The main hall would have benefited from more lighting, as it contained the majority of cars on display with the HP Tyres/Dunlop stand showing an exceptional array of cars, amongst which were 1964 BRM Formula One as driven by Jackie Stewart and Richard Attwood, a Lotus 76 from 10 years later (ex-Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx), a March 782 from 1978 driven nowadays by Matt Wrigley and a Lola T70 3B driven now by HP boss John Pearson’s brother Gary Pearson and Alex Buncombe. Close by, a Hall and Hall-built continuation BRM V16 together with a recreated engine shown on a separate stand shared space with a 1970/72 BRM P153. Several ex-BRM personal were interviewed on the Reis live stage during the show including Jackie Oliver, Mike Wilds and Howden Ganley together with designers Tony Southgate and Mike Pilbeam.

One of the celebrities present doing interviews and autographs, Jason Plato shared a laugh with visitors Photo William Neill

Hall 1 was given over to Silverstone Auctions, who were in a separate building in the past. They had a good selection of competition cars ranging from a 1952 Arnott 500cc F3, which sold for £19,687 through to a 1961 Warwick MkII sports/FJ, which allegedly carries the fully enclosed streamlined body from Jack Brabham’s 1959 Cooper F1 tried out unsuccessfully in practice at Reims that year. It sold for £27,562. A 1968 Chevron B8 with, rarely, no competition career made £168,750 among many other competition oriented cars. But these were all upstaged by a road going 1987 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500, which changed hands for £596,250 against an estimate of £150 to 180,000.

See our April 2023 issue for the full story…