Pre-event publicity for the Silver Anniversary edition of the Silverstone Classic didn’t include anything about the British summer weather, but unfortunately inclement weather did play a major part in the weekend celebrations on two of the three days, with only Saturday being a sun day. Rain began falling in the early hours of Friday morning and didn’t stop until around midnight. Track conditions were obviously compromised, yet drivers coped extremely well, putting on a remarkable show for those spectators who had braved the wet.
Off track too, car clubs and the owners of cars who had prepared their machines to concourse excellence had seen all their efforts simply wiped out. The silver lining to the soggy weekend appeared on Saturday — the longest day of the event with both on- and off-track entertainment starting around 8 a.m. and continuing well after midnight as revellers rocked to the legendary Status Quo, who truly lifted spirits. Sunday brought further rain, with continuous grey clouds dampening the ambience of the anniversary. While many looked at the drivers as the heroes of the track for putting on a great display despite the weather, surely it was the men in orange, the track marshals, who were the real heroes — on post from 7:30 a.m. until track close for all three days.
Enough of the weather, although you cannot underestimate the major role it played, as organizers did an extremely good job allowing the show to go on despite conditions. British motor racing fans are a hardy lot, and many braved the Friday rain to watch around 1,000 cars vie for grid positions for Saturday’s races. One of the best performances came from Simon Hadfield and Wolfgang Friedrichs in the Aston Martin DB3S, who secured pole position for the RAC Woodcote Trophy contest — Hadfield especially repeating his amazing drive in the wet at the Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago. The pair also dominated the following session, qualifying on pole for the RAC Tourist Trophy for Historic cars in an Aston Martin DB4 GT.
A number of spins in the qualifying for the FIA Masters F1 Historic Race curtailed proceedings — monsoon tires were the order of the day — with Martin Stretton topping the times in his Tyrrell 012, sharing the front row with Steve Hartley in his Fittipaldi F5A, though it was nearly five seconds slower. Former BTCC Champion Tim Harvey made a very rare appearance in an open-wheeled car, driving a Cooper T51 in the Maserati Trophy for Pre-1963 HGPCA cars, but he understandably didn’t show in the top three grid places — Julian Bronson heading the field with a strong performance in his Scarab.
As clear skies and bright sun greeted race fans Saturday, cheering organizers as the event drew its largest crowd ever for a single day, with more than 100,000 folks clambering through the gates, bringing a silver lining to combat the grey skies of Friday. Track action was fast and furious too, with a packed program of races and demonstration runs ensuring spectators were thoroughly entertained. During the lunch break all eyes looked skyward as a magnificent solo aerobatic performance by a Spitfire commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
Briefly, every race on Saturday told a story. First off were the Formula Juniors with a massive 54-car field, as Sam Wilson took a flag-to-flag victory in his Lotus 20/22. Next was a terrific fight by Gregor Fisken to take the honors in the Stirling Moss Trophy contest for Pre-’61 sports cars. Starting from 5th on the grid, he blasted his Ferrari 246S by Shaun Lynn and Richard Kent, but then had to battle hard to take the lead from Tony Wood and Gary Pearson, both in Listers.
In the Warwick Banks Trophy race, BTCC teammates Matt Neal and Gordon Sheddon literally scythed though the field of under two-liter Touring Cars from their lowly 14th grid spot to take their Lotus Cortina under the flag some 13 seconds in front of the similar car of Mark Sumpter and Mike Jordan as Lotus Cortinas swept the podium with Richard Meaden and Grant Tromans finishing 3rd.
Fraser Nash Super Sports driver Frederic Wakeman made a hash of his start in the Kidston Trophy for Pre-War Sports Cars, but after 40 minutes of hard driving he and co-driver Pat Blakeney-Edwards regained the lead and won the race by a margin of nearly 20 seconds from hard-charging Vintage Racecar subscriber Gareth Burnett in a Talbot 105 Alpine. Despite wheel issues, Martin Stretton drove his immaculately turned out Benetton Tyrrell 012 to victory in the FIA Masters Historic Formula One race.
Former BTCC driver Frank Wrathall was the next visitor to the top step of the podium, winning the Super Touring Car Trophy with a storming drive from the outset in his Audi 80 Quattro. Following his first foray in an open-wheeled racer for some years, former BTCC champion Tim Harvey was overjoyed to win the Maserati Trophy for Pre-’66 Grand Prix Cars in a Cooper T51.
Mike Whittaker comfortably won the nine-lap Jet Battle of Britain Trophy in his TVR Griffith from 4th on the grid with a seemingly easy performance, outshining Matt Nicoll-Jones and Steve Soper in 2nd and 3rd, respectively, with their E-Type Jaguars. Not so easy was a hard-fought battle between four drivers for top honors in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars race. Martin O’Connell’s win in his Chevron B19 against the Lola T70 Mk3Bs of Richard Meaden/Marino Franchitti and Grant Tromans/Martin Stretton was all the more sweeter in this the 50th anniversary year of the marque.
O’Connell was truly “on form” taking the flag in the next race as well, the International Trophy for Pre ’66 Classic GT Cars, with his E-Type Jaguar. Closing out Saturday’s track activity was a 14-lap Group C race finishing in twilight. Despite just 14 cars taking the grid, a battle between Christophe d’Ansembourg in the 1991 Silk Cut Jaguar XJR14 and Bob Berridge in the Nissan R90 kept the crowd on their toes until the final stages when d’Ansembourg broke free to win by nearly 16 seconds.
Treacherous weather conditions returned on Sunday, compromising activities both on and off the track. Still, the organizers were upbeat about the 25th Anniversary event as a whole. “All in all it has been another fantastic weekend!” enthused Event Director Nick Wigley. “On the Silverstone Classic’s 25th birthday there was entertainment right the way from first lights-out to the final checkered flag, while a staggering 120 car clubs all joined in the fun. Come rain and shine the racing was superb, and enjoyed by a record-breaking crowd — the first time ever that we have passed through the 100,000 barrier — and we completed the full program safely. For that, I must say a big ‘thank you’ to our brilliant marshals, who dealt with everything the British summer could throw at the circuit with stoicism and a smile. We’re already counting down the days to next year’s Classic!”
