It wasn’t only modern Aston GTs racing at Brands Hatch on Saturday: event organiser MSVR had assembled a packed timetable of other classes to keep the crowds entertained.
The HRDC Allstars kicked things off late in the morning with a field of Marcos’, AC Cobras, Jaguar E-Types and Mk2s, plus a very special Aston duo (DP214 and DB4 Zagato). Michael Whitaker and John Davison’s TVRs dominated however, with Michael Squire’s AC Cobra coming home third. After lunch, the Pre-War Team Challenge competitors battled for marque honour in a suitably interesting if somewhat obtuse handicap format. Heinz Stamm’s Aston Martin 15/98 won on the road and Tom Greenhill (Wolesley Hornet Special) took the scratch result. With numbers heavily on its side, Aston Martin was declared winner of the Team Challenge.
Next up was the pre-66 GT field of the Equipe GTS race, dominated by British models such as MG, Triumph, Austin-Healey and Morgan – not to mention the Aston Martin DB2 of Owner’s Club deputy chairman Anne Reed – as well as the odd Alfa Romeo. Pete Foster (Triumph TR4) took the chequered first, ahead of Pete Barnard in an Elva Courier.
Possibly the most entertaining of Saturday’s races was the AMOC Intermarque contest, with cars as diverse as a Sunbeam Tiger, Porsche 964, Ford Mustang, Aston Martin DB4 and modern Vantage GT4 doing battle thanks to a performance-equalising multiplier formula applied to the results. There was also a brace of Ferraris entered, and the spectacle of a 355 Challenge, 456 GT, 550 Maranello and 328 GTB all being thrashed around the Indy Circuit momentarily threatened to overshadow the day’s celebrated marque. In the end, William and David Smallridge did what was needed to win in their mellifluous Sunbeam Tiger, Christopher Scragg was second and Mallocks father and son drove their splendid Aston DB4 to the final podium position.
Following the Intermarque race, the St John Horsfall Memorial Trophy racers took to the track for a race commemorating the man who drove the entirety of the 1949 Spa 24 Hours single-handed. Today’s entrants wouldn’t quite be matching that feat, but the field of glorious pre-war Astons put on a terrific show nonetheless. Paul Chase-Gardner (Aston Martin 15/98) was first home, leading Josh Sadler (Aston Martin Monoposto) and Michael Dee (Aston Martin Speed Model) across the line.
Saturday’s penultimate contest was for the CLS 50s Sports Cars series, incorporating the XK Challenge. Fresh from his electric land speed record success, Paul Drayson led a DB4 podium lockout ahead of Nick Naismith and Wolfgang Friedrichs, before attention switched to the 100-minute GT4 Challenge race to round out the day.
Results:
AMOC Intermarque Championship
“Equipe” GTS
HRDC Allstars
Pre-War Team Challenge
St John Horsfall Memorial Trophy
Stephen Errity
