Autosport – 25 July 2019

AUTOSPORT HISTORICS

6 25 JULY 2019 AUTOSPORT HISTORICS

Return of the

groundshakers

Without question, Andy

Newall’s mighty 8.8-litre

McLaren M8F squaring off

against the Matra MS670B/C

of Rob Hall was the standout

battle at the 2016 Silverstone

Classic. Now machines of

their type return with the

Thundersports grid for

pre-1980 sports-racing,

GT and touring cars. The

25-minute Saturday race and

40-minute Sunday enduro

were a late announcement

for the event, but entries

rapidly signed up. This year

its Dean Forward who will

strap himself into the M8F,

but he won’t have the only big

banger. Michiel Campagne

and Richard Dodkins will

share a similarly monstrous

March 717 Can-Am car.

March Engineering was renowned for punching above its weight
in single-seater competition, and this year the firm turns 50 years
old. As a double winner at Snetterton earlier this season, Adrian
Langridge will be looking to top the Classic Formula 3 contests in
his March 803 to mark the occasion. But the ex-Martin Brundle
1983 Ralt RT3 of David Thorburn shouldn’t be too far in arrears

• the RT3 in period put paid to the Argo JM6, which Paul Dibden
  will showcase, as ground-effect filtered down the single-seater
  ladder. Just as F1 stars often competed in F2 events at the
  time, Masters F1 ace Martin Stretton will also run Historic F2
  machinery, competing in a March 782. Old-school single-seater
  ace Cameron Jackson is also expected to be in the mix, in a 762.

GT cars of the 1960s play a big part at the Classic and there are

two different grids for them. The RAC Tourist Trophy for pre-1963

GTs has been won by AC, Aston Martin and Ferrari machinery

in recent years and should be close again, with Jaguar E-types

also featuring near the front. The pre-1966 split, this year for the

International Trophy, created a sensation in 2018 when British

Touring Car racer Jake Hill benefited from a safety car and held

on to win in a diminutive Lotus Elan against all the heavy metal.

Hill is back and will face tin-top legend Steve Soper in another

Elan, but a host of leading drivers in Cobra and E-type machinery

means another upset is unlikely. Also keep an eye out for BTCC

star Tom Ingram in Marco Attard’s Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.

HISTORIC F2 AND

CLASSIC F3 BATTLES

1960s GT

EXTRAVAGANZAS

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