Here’s a chance to see again some evocative shots taken by writer and author Ian Wagstaff at the BOAC 500 mile race held at Brands Hatch in 1968.
First up here’s the #44 Autodelta Alfa Romeo T33/2 piloted by Nanni Galli and Giancarlo Baghetti. The car came home a distant 14th.
Here’s a grid shot showing that the April race was met with typical British Spring weather, plenty of overcoats on display here, as is the #26 Lotus 47, Ford, on the grass on the left having suffered a split fuel tank. Also visible here the #22 Cabral/ Duval Porsche 906 and the #53 Lins/ Foitek Porsche 910.
Here’s perhaps one of the most beautiful Sportscars of all time, the Ford F3L. Here the #34 car of Bruce Mclaren and Mike Spence cruises to a halt on its racing debut after breaking a driveshaft, Spence bailing out and trotting back to the pits. The Alan Mann team unable to do anything to resurrect the car, its retirement completing a bad weekend for the team which had lost its other car with a blown engine in practice.
Another poignant part of this picture is that Jim Clark was due to have raced the F3L at Brands Hatch but he’d already committed to an F2 race at Hockenheim on the same weekend. It was a calendar clash which cost him his life.
Vic Elford negotiates the corner now known as Surtees in the factory Porsche 907 that he and team mate Jochen Neerpasch would take to a podium finish.
Here’s the Howmet TX, whistling by on its way to a third row start position, a wastegate jamming closed though would cause an off that would end the car’s gas-turbine powered run after just 7 laps.
The #38 Porsche 907 of Gerhard Mitter and Ludovico Scarfiotti would come home second, just 22 seconds behind the JW Ford GT40 of Jackie Ickx and Brian Redman. Here the Porsche passes the retired Ford F3L and is about to lap the #10 Ferrari 250LM of Paul Vestey and Roy Pike.
