A BLAST FROM THE PAST // THE 2009 SILVERSTONE CLASSIC

Historic Racing, two words which to some conjure up images of weekend warriors and rich amateur’s taking their priced possessions out for a good old thrash round a race track. To some, it conjures up the thought of seeing cars which one was not lucky enough to see running round a race track in anger, well the Silverstone classic is both. There is something for everyone, pre-war cars, production Jaguar’s, two era’s of 1960’s GT cars, historic touring cars from the 1960’s and 1970’s and plenty of modern machinery to get people going as well.

1970’s World Sports Car Master’s provide an eclectic mix of prototypes and GT cars, with screaming highly strung 4 cylinder engines mixing with big thundering V8’s and a sprinkling of Ferrari V12 on top. The 1970’s F1 cars as well as a veritable orgy of DFV Cosworth V8’s with their distinctive V8 scream, made for quite the spectacle as well. The big show however, is the Group C/GTP Prototype racers. Jaguar XJR9 and XJR12 with their 7.0 V12’s made for a glorious display in the hands of Chris Buncombe and Andy Wallace. Two of the fastest cars on the grid, there was also two other Jag’s as well, one XJR11 with a Turbo Charged V6 engine and an ex-Group 44 Racing Jaguar XJR5 again with a V12 engine... [read more]

There was more as well, seasoned Prototype and GT driver David Hart was present with his From A Nova Porsche 962, going very quickly and making a lot of noise, Creation Autosportif front man from the Le Mans Series, Jamie Campbell-Walter was present as well driving a Porsche engined Cougar chassis. The best though was Rob Sherrard’s Sauber Mercedes C9, the silver arrow didn’t just look brilliant, it went brilliantly as well, spitting flames, crackling and popping on the over run and providing a thunderous V8 symphony.

There were also 3 Nissan Chassis present as well, the From A Nova Nissan R90CK driven by Andy Purdy was the fastest car of the weekend, its turbo V8 engine didn’t have the most stirring sound, but boy did it stir the soul out on track, changing direction like a house fly and hurtling down the straight’s of Silverstone at astonishing speed, the other 2 Nissan’s was a car from the late 1980’s which did not last very long as it bowed out early on in both race’s with reliability problem’s, the other car was a MOMO liveried Nissan NPT 90 GTP, not being driven with much vigour but almost certainly one of the best looking car’s on the grid.

The first Group C race was won by Chris Buncombe in the Silk Cut Liveried Jaguar XJR9, the second race was won by Andy Purdy in the From A Nova Nissan R90CK and the grid was a glorious cacophony of Porsche turbo Flat 6, Nissan turbo power, the howl of the Jaguar V12’s, the rumble of the Sauber Mercedes V8 and the Aston Martin AMR1’s Chevrolet V8, mixed in with the screaming Cosworth V8’s in the two Spice prototypes, the mournful 6 cylinder sound as well of the Tiga and Ecosse chassis as well.

A surprise at the Silverstone Classic though was the inclusion of the David Leslie Memorial trophy for Touring Cars, Fond memories are had here, the very first race I went to was the BTCC in 1997 during the heyday of the Super Touring era, great’s such as Alain Menu, Rickard Rydell, Gabrielle Tarquini, John Cleland, David Leslie duking it out in 300bhp plus highly tuned Saloon car’s, they might not sound like much, but the ground skimming wide bodied saloon racers look and sound great, and driven in anger remind us of why people like Motorsport, great looking, great sounding cars with great racing and with a great story and history to boot as well.

Present was the famous ex Team Dynamics Nissan Primera, Matt Neal famously won £250,000 at Donington Park in 1999, proving a privateer team could beat factory team’s from Ford, Nissan, Volvo, Vauxhall, Audi, Honda and Renault, it was well and truly a David versus Goliath battle and Matt Neal won the hearts of the British fans. There was no less than 4 Nissan Primera Super Tourer’s with their high revving banshee like 4 cylinder engine’s, A pair of the fabulous Ford Mondeo super tourers in the royal blue and yellow Rapid Fit livery, and, with their Howling V6 exhaust note were a real crowd pleaser, and, at the same time made me feel like an excited 8 year old child again. Dave Jarman in the Matt Neal’s distinctive red Nissan Primera won Race 1 on Saturday, while Stewart Whyte in the Super Touring Honda Accord took the win in Race 2.

There was more to the weekend than the decade old Touring cars and the 20 or so year old Group C Le Mans racers, F1 cars from the 1970’s descended on the Grand Prix circuit and brought with them the soundtrack of the 70’s, the Cosworth DFV V8, its distinctive scream was by far the loudest noise made over the weekend and also one of the best noise’s of the weekend as well, the racing was close and fierce between the screaming monsters, race one though was won by the Hesketh of Michael Lyons, Lyons replicated this result in Race 2 and stamped his authority on the Grand Prix Master’s race’s, dominating both race’s. 

There was also a slew of other race’s, the rare Ferrari 250 Bread van took a race win in the pre 1963 GT race and was one of the highlight’s of the weekend. Formula Junior’s took to the track as well creating some fantastic close racing out on track. The pre 1966 GT cars provided some crazy high speed sideways action, AC Cobra’s, Jaguar E-Type’s, Bizzarini’s, Ford Mustang’s and a slew off other car’s battle it out furiously out on track, providing a great spectacle for all to behold.

So, how to sum up my first time at the Silverstone Classic, well for a start, its brilliant, there really is something for everyone, Pre War Sports car’s, 1960’s GT cars, various different single seater race’s and Touring Car race’s, The fabulous World Sports Car Master’s and Group C Le Mans prototype’s as well make for an awesome spectacle, there are huge number’s of car’s on display as well from a massive variety of manufacturers, toy and art work fair’s, the Bonhams auction as well, even Carlos Santana performed in the evening at a concert, the night before the Pussy Cat Dolls, Blue and Top Loader performed as well. So there is something for everyone, In other words, this is why we love Motorsport, great cars, a great track, great people make for great times, so, clear room in you’re calendar next year for the 2010 Silverstone Classic, it’s a must for every car/Motorsport fan out there.

2009 Silverstone Classic Photo Gallery

Photo/Editorial: Stephen Hodges