The majestic Brands Hatch GP circuit will burst to life with the sounds of more than 370 racing cars from motor racing’s golden era this weekend.
The Historic Sports Car Club’s (HSCC) annual Superprix returns to the venue.On-track action includes a race on each day for the Historic Grand Prix Car Association (HGPCA), which recalls the classically-modelled pre-slicks-and-wings machines that appeared at Brands Hatch when it first hosted Formula One in 1964 – 51 years ago exactly on Saturday.
The HGPCA has assembled a special grid comprising no fewer than 30 cars, spanning from the lightweight rear-engined Lotuses, Coopers, and Brabhams of the mid-‘60s, to an earlier front-engined Ferrari 246 Dino.
A special Lotus 25, as driven by Clark to victory in the first Grand Prix at Brands Hatch will take part in the two HGPCA races, with former British Touring Car Championship ace Andy Middlehurst driving.
This weekend’s grids will be bolstered by a number of well known personalities from the worlds of both motor racing and television, including celebrity baker Paul Hollywood, who has raced regularly this year, and even picked up a class victory in the MSVR GT Cup earlier in the season. Hollywood will compete in the new-for-2015 Jaguar Heritage Challenge, which celebrates the sports car racing pedigree of one of Britain’s greatest marques.
The Great British Bake Off star will drive a Jaguar E-Type, and will be joined on the grid by 1988 Le Mans 24 Hour race winner Andy Wallace in a similar machine. Wallace was a key player in Jaguar’s sports car programme in the late ‘80s, winning the famous French race alongside Jan Lammers and Johnny Dumfries in one of Jaguar’s iconic Silk Cut-liveried XJR-9LMs.
Well known entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, formerly of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, will appear too, contesting the Historic Touring Car race, where he will battle wheel-to-wheel with Lotus Cortinas and Hillman Imps in a Ford Anglia
Another highlight will be the Derek Bell Trophy, with an exciting grid of thunderous Formula 5000 single-seaters from the 1970s. Notable entrants include former Grand Prix driver Ian Ashley, who raced F5000s in-period, 2013 Historic Formula One Champion Gregory Thornton, and Phillip Hall, who has entered the races in a 1978 Theodore TR1 F1 car.
Strong grids are expected in plenty of the other classes too, including the Historic Formula Ford Championship and Formula Ford 2000 races, at the circuit which is still widely-regarded as Formula Ford’s spiritual home.
Other single-seater categories to look out for include the Classic Formula Three Championship, the Historic Formula Junior Championship, and the Historic Formula Two FIA International Series, whilst the revamped Pre-’80 Endurance Challenge will offer up a diverse selection of 1970s sports-prototypes. The Historic Road Sports category, for road-legal classic GT cars is set to be massively popular too, with more than 40 cars entered for that race alone.