Touring Car Rewind: South brought another celebration of classic touring car racing to Brands Hatch, curated by the CTCRC.
Vectras in the guise of sister Vauxhall and Opel brands held sway in the headline Super Tourers, while Pre-’66 Touring Cars stole the show among older machinery. British Touring Car Championship luminaries joined the fray, including 2013 champion Andrew Jordan and current star Charles Rainford. The latter, on his annual appearance with the club, once again starred in a Pre-’83 Ford Capri.
Non-racing highlights included high-speed demonstrations of a range of tin-top machinery with further non-runners on static display.
Super Tourers
Series stalwart Jason Hughes scored victory in the opening Super Tourers race aboard his Vauxhall Vectra. Debutant Robert Whelan took his father’s earlier Opel to success in the following day’s rematch.
The sophistication and expense of machinery from the BTCC’s most fondly remembered era inevitably makes it difficult to attract large numbers of Super Touring cars to compete. But this year’s addition of Super Production machinery, plus a slightly later Super 2000 car, made for a competitive field.
Irishman John Whelan had raced his ex-Mike Briggs 1996 Opel Vectra at last summer’s Super Touring Power 3 event. But with Whelan suffering from a bad back, he entrusted it to son Robert of MDR Engines, who had last raced on the Indy circuit in Formula Ford nearly two decades ago.
Whelan Jr showed no signs of rustiness as he snatched pole position in the closing stages of qualifying. He went a tenth of a second faster than Hughes in his 2000-spec Vauxhall.
Third fastest, another three quarters of a second back, was Andrew Jordan in a 1993 BMW 318i updated to 1995 aerodynamic rules. Jordan, along with car preparer Mats van den Brand, was giving the car its first competitive outing for 30 years after an extensive overhaul. The stylish E36 was running in Team Advan livery having spent its final two years of period action in Japan after beginning life in the Italian Superturismo series.
Van den Brand also turned some laps in the car, with the intention that he would take it over for Sunday’s race. He was fourth quickest overall, six tenths shy of Jordan.
Fifth quickest, enough to put him fourth on the grid, was Superformance boss Colin Sowter in his ex-Paul Radisich Peugeot 406. First-time out in his ex-Anthony Reid 1998 Nissan Primera, Tom Wood was sixth quickest, ahead of the oldest car on the grid, Jim Pocklington’s venerable Vauxhall Cavalier GSi.
Debuting his six-cylinder Super 2000 BMW, Yusuf Osman was eighth fastest, just head of the leading Super Production runners. They were headed by Byron Aldous’s Synchro Motorsport-built Honda Civic VTi ahead of Carl Chambers in the later Peugeot 306 GTi-6 – watched on by period pilot Roger Moen.
Club chairman Stuart Caie (Vauxhall Cavalier GSi) and Steve Maude (ex-Simon Harrison Peugeot 306 GTi-6), making his circuit debut, completed the field.
Whelan converted pole position into the lead of Saturday’s race and continued to hold sway for the opening three of 18 laps.
But a mistake at the start of the fourth tour proved costly. Whelan ran wide at Paddock Hill Bend and, as the Opel bounced across the gravel, part of its splitter was ripped off.
Hughes shot past and, although Whelan rejoined in second, the damage meant his pace dropped by around a second per lap. He was powerless to prevent Hughes recording his seventh consecutive series victory.
Whelan finished second, some 10s clear of third-placed Colin Sowter’s Peugeot. Sowter had been promoted by the retirement of Jordan on two-thirds distance. Jordan ran a comfortable third until the BMW’s crank sensor trigger wheel failed. With no spares of the 30-yesr-old original part, the car’s running for the weekend was over, with van den Brand denied an opportunity to race the next day.
A cautious start from Wood allowed Pocklington to get ahead of the Nissan and the veteran racer did well to bring his long-serving Cavalier home in a class-winning fourth overall.
Wood initially dropped behind Osman too and, before getting his slicks fully up to temperature, enjoyed a fun battle with Aldous’s Civic. The pair traded places before Wood drove home his advantage to finish an eventual fifth.
With an increasingly long brake pedal, Aldous also lost out to Chambers in the battle for Super Production class honours.
Still getting to grips with his ex-Andy Priaulx/Jorg Muller/Duncan Huisman VLN car, Osman suffered a spin at Graham Hill Bend before retiring with a misfire.
While Osman returned to action for Sunday’s race, Wood (other commitments) and Pocklington (internal driveshaft) joined van den Brand on the sidelines.
Hughes led away from pole position but it took Whelan only a lap to make his move for the lead. The Opel got a run through Clark Curve, pulled alongside on the Brabham Straight and dived ahead into Paddock Hill Bend.
Behind the Vectras, Sowter was a comfortable third, while Chambers led Aldous in the Super Production contest. As he tried to keep in touch, Aldous ran wide at Paddock Hill Bend and, having ploughed through the gravel, the Civic was spat across the circuit straight into the inside Armco barriers on Hailwood Hill.
Aldous emerged unscathed but the Civic had taken some fairly heavy front-end damage – although seemingly not quite as bad as it first appeared – and it was recovered while the race was neutralised.
With the action about to get back under way, Hughes had trouble coaxing the Vauxhall back to life and dropped to the rear of the field. That gave Whelan a clear run to break the Cheshire man’s winning streak and complete a dream victory on his debut weekend.
Hughes scythed back through the field and had second-placed Sowter under severe pressure for the final lap. But the Hertfordshire racer held on by just 0.13s to match his best result in the category.
Osman brought his Super 2000 car home in fourth overall, happy to have got plenty of mileage under his belt in the car he has been recommissioning over the past months.
Chambers beat Steve Maude’s sister car to Super Production honours in fifth overall. Maude would later hand his 306 over to its 2001 title-winning pilot, Simon Harrison, who was thrilled to enjoy some high-speed sparring with Chambers in the weekend’s final demo runs.
Despite a fuel tank problem causing some difficulties, Caie brought his 1994/95 hybrid Cavalier home safely to complete the finishers.
Pre-’66 Touring Cars
The oldest cars on show once again produced the largest entry. Amid some terrific battles throughout the field, especially on Sunday, Piers Grange raced to a double aboard his mighty Ford Falcon.
It was 20024 champion Ian Thompson who set the pace in qualifying, the Lotus Cortina man’s early flyer earning pole position by just 0.026s ahead of Simon Gusterson’s Alan Henderson Racing version.
Former BTCC star Jeff Smith joined the field with his Austin Cooper S and promptly put it a giant-killing third on the grid, only a tenth down on Thompson. He would be joined on the second row by Grange’s car from the other end of the size spectrum.
Returning champion James Ibbotson was another to defy the odds as he went sixth quickest in his Hillman Imp Super, ahead of club stalwart Roger Stanford (Cortina). Mark Burnett (Mini), Gary Prebble (Imp) and the Ford Anglias of Ed Gibbs and Jake Swann completed a varied top 10.
Saturday’s race was truncated by a couple of safety cars and then a red flag, with only four full laps of green-flag running. But Grange required only two of them to power through into the lead.
Usurped leader Thompson was second and Gusterson third. The latter was made to work it for by Smith, who nipped ahead into Clearways on lap four before Gusterson used the twin-cam’s power to get back in front. As he tried to keep up, Smith’s Mini locked up and went straight on into the gravel at Druids, bringing out the safety car.
Smith’s demise brought the Cortinas of Stanford and Pat Kenneally (from 11th on the grid) into fourth and fifth. But Kenneally also went off at Druids on the restart, smoting the barriers, which led to the race being called.
Stanford had already been hit with a 10s penalty for an-out-of-position start and, with the field bunched up, he paid a heavy price – dropping from fourth on the road to be classified 18th, albeit an unchanged third in class.
That promoted Class C winner and overall points leader Swann to fourth overall. Ibbotson was fifth, winner of Class E, ahead of Burnett, with Prebble seventh after losing ground with a mistake exiting Graham Hill Bend on the opening tour.
Billy Kenneally (Anglia), Ant Astley (Ford Mustang) and Mike Davies (Mini) completed the top 10, while Patrick Harris took Class D honours in his Morris Minor.
Grange led Sunday’s race from start to finish but it was far from easy as the Cortinas of Thompson and Gusterson kept him on his toes. While the big V8 could stretch its legs on the Brabham Straight to lead by around 1s as they crossed the line each lap, the Cortinas closed up on the twistier sections, particularly at the Druids hairpin.
Grange was probably helped by Thompson and Gusterson engaging in their own battle. Gusterson managed to snatch second at Graham Hill Bend on the second lap and it took Thompson another six tours to reclaim the position with a dive into Paddock Hill Bend.
Smith, meanwhile, was making tremendous progress from the back of the field. Incredibly, he joined the swarm of cars contesting fourth by the end of the first lap. He passed Burnett’s similar Mini to claim the position at Clearways on lap two and then latched onto the Cortinas in front.
Once Thompson had reasserted himself over Gusterson, the top four remained unchanged, with Grange taking his third victory of the season. In settling for second, Thompson still earned Class F honours and with Swann beaten by Smith to the Class C laurels, he nibbled into the East Anglian’s championship lead.
Burnett ended up a lonely fifth overall, with Swann sixth having broken away from what was the battle of the race. Ibbotson and Prebble spent much of the contest side by side, the reigning champion often diving out of Prebble’s slipstream to edge ahead, only for the latter to outbrake him.
Prebble ended up getting the verdict for seventh overall, and victory in Class E, by just 0.03s as the two Imps crossed the finish line side by side.
Jimmy Sime, having his first outing for a couple of years in the family Mini usually raced by son Barry, took a strong ninth overall and third in class, just ahead of Astley and Bob Bullen (Anglia) – the trio were covered by barely half a second.
Having taken over from Steve Evans, Brian Bedford piloted his Austin A40 to Class D success, less than a second clear of Harris.
Pre-’93 Touring Cars
Returning from a back injury that kept him sidelined from his home round at Thruxton last month, Will Davison swept to an impressive Pre-’93 Touring Car double.
Davison put his BMW M3 E36 on pole position in qualifying, three quarters of second clear of the similar car of Kevin Willis.
Reigning champion Ian Bower could only manage third in Pre-’93, fifth overall behind two Pre-’03 entries, in his down-on-power spare car. Bower was hampered by a pedal problem, and had his primary machine already out of service after it developed engine problems in Friday testing.
The similar cars of Steve Walden, Graham Myers and a smartly-presented guest entry from Trevor Pickard completed the Pre-’93 runners after Shaun Morris was forced out by an oil-pressure problem.
Davison led Saturday’s race from start to finish. Willis applied pressure early on but a mistake at Paddock Hill Bend cost time which he was never able to recover. The gap at the chequered flag extended to nearly 8s.
Bower was third, less than 2s further back and confident that if he hadn’t had to clear the Pre-’03 leaders first, he’d have been able to give Davison and Willis more of a run for their money.
Walden was fourth in Pre-’83, catching and passing BTCC star Charles Rainford in the leading Pre-’83 entry that also shared the grid.
Myers was forced out by fuel-pressure problem, but non-scoring Pickard brought his car home safely.
Sunday’s race took two attempts to get under way. Davison suffered wheelspin off the line at the first time of asking, which let Willis into the lead. But, after probing unsuccessfully at Druids, the polesitter was soon back ahead at Surtees.
The race was then red-flagged to retrieve a Pre-’83 car stranded in a dangerous position and, with insufficient distance covered, a complete restart was required.
Davison made a better getaway at the second attempt but Willis was not going to concede easily. He took the outside line at Druids, which gave him the inside for Graham Hill Bend to snatch the lead.
On the second lap, Davison dived for the inside line at Clearways and, although Willis initially held firm, Davison was able to complete his move for the lead into Paddock Hill Bend at the start of the next lap.
Into the second half of the race, as he attempted to keep up, Willis ran wide at Paddock and skated through the gravel, spinning as he rejoined. Left facing the oncoming traffic, Willis was eventually able to get going again but dropped well down the order.
Bower was also in trouble. Having enjoyed an early battle with Pre-’03 leader Kam Tunio, Bower lost ground with an off-colour engine. The champion could hear it wasn’t running right and so when he saw a black-and-orange flag he assumed, incorrectly, it was for him.
After his visit to the pits, Bower rejoined a lap down and was classified fourth in Pre-’93, behind Willis. Myers and Pickard had both already fallen by the wayside. But Bower still holds a very healthy lead in his quest for a fourth Pre-’93 title.
Walden was the main beneficiary. He enjoyed another terrific scrap with the leading Pre-’83 cars of Rainford and Jonathan Corker, getting the better of both to finish fourth on the road, second in Pre-’93.
Pre-’03 & Pre-2013 Touring Cars
Kam Tunio bounced back from a non-score at Thruxton to claim a pair of consummate Pre-’03 wins on his home circuit.
Sadly, the Pre-’03 field was badly hit before racing even began. Reigning champion and 2026 points leader Dave Cave blew the engine on his BMW 328i in paid practice. Tim Tomblin’s similar car blew a head gasket in qualifying, while Chris Bassett’s two-litre Peugeot 306 GTi threw a rod through its block.
On his first appearance of the season, Anton Martin set the qualifying pace in his BMW 330ci E46. The Suffolk racer was a couple of tenths quicker than Tunio (Honda Civic), whose own head-gasket failure had made him a non-starter last time out in Hampshire.
John Hillyer had his BMW E36 Touring running well to qualify third of the Pre-’03 runners. He was half a second quicker than the sole Pre-2013 entry, Michael Greaves’s Renault Clio 197 Cup which was back in action after its Oulton Park smash.
Tunio got the better of Martin at the start and was mixing it with the larger-engined Pre-’93 BMW M3s over the opening laps. The threat from Martin evaporated when he pitted on the fifth of 17 laps with no power, his attempted fix on a troublesome alternator not lasting.
So Tunio was untroubled en route to a sixth Pre-’03 win of the season, some 14s clear of Class A winner Hillyer.
Both Greaves and Andrew Idoine (Civic) were caught up in contact caused by a concertina effect on the run to the first corner and were early retirements. Will Hunt’s Ford Fiesta Mk6, doubling up from BOSS, lasted longer but was forced out after half-distance with rear wheel-bearing failure.
Tunio and Hillyer again each enjoyed strong runs in Sunday’s rematch and ended up repeating their Saturday results, beaten by only a single Pre-’93 car on the road.
A fine start by Hillyer briefly put him ahead before Tunio charged around the outside to retake the advantage. Hunt was hit with a 10s penalty for an out-of-position start but was still classified third in Pre-’03, second in Class C.
Greaves was finally able to have a clean run in the modern Clio to be credited with Pre-2013 victory for the first time.
Pre-’83 Group 1 Touring Cars
A shortfall of entries meant the Pre-’83 machinery was combined with its Pre-’93 and Pre-’03 counterparts and therefore unable to contest overall victory on the road. But that didn’t make the battle for honours any less keenly fought. Guesting BTCC star Charles Rainford and defending champion Jonathan Corker took a victory apiece.
Rainford was making his annual appearance at his local circuit’s summer touring car festival aboard the beautiful Ric Wood-built Faberge Ford Capri that has become his regular mount. And while slightly handicapped by running in full Group 1 specification, as opposed to what are effectively Group 1.5 regulations, the tin-tops star duly set the pace in qualifying.
Rainford was nearly half a second quicker than Nick Williamson who was back in action after engine problems prevented him from racing at Thruxton last month. Class C pacesetters Corker (Datsun 510) and Nic Grindrod (Ford Escort Mk1) were next, each within a tenth of Williamson – demonstrating just how closely matched the regular Pre-’83 frontrunners are.
Neil Philpotts qualified his Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo fifth fastest, although he was having to compete as a guest entry this weekend due to running a non-standard turbocharger. The Escorts of local man Tom Harvey (Mk1) and Devon racer Jared Knight (Mk2) were sixth and seventh, ahead of Class D leader Don Hughes’s VW Golf.
Rainford and Harvey were among those to get caught up in the concertina on the run to Paddock Hill Bend at the start of the first race, each picking up front-end damage. But while Rainford was able to continue, Harvey’s damaged front wing was fouling his tyre, forcing him to retire.
The Capri lost the buffer of a couple of more modern cars to its Pre-’83 pursuers, bringing Williamson onto Rainford’s tail. But Rainford was soon back into his stride, enjoying a tussle with Pre-’93 machinery as he kept out of reach of those behind.
As Williamson had to focus on Corker’s challenge, Rainford went on to secure his eighth Pre-’83 win in the car.
Corker passed Williamson to be first of the registered contenders, some 8s behind Rainford. But the Rover driver still earned the points for winning Class B.
A slightly subdued Grindrod was fourth overall in Pre-’83, safe in the knowledge he has a very healthy championship lead over Corker. He was followed by Knight, with Class D winner Hughes next.
Sunday’s race required a complete restart when Philpotts’s Lancer ground to a halt in a dangerous position at Surtees on the opening lap. The unique turbocharged car had also retired a day earlier with electrical gremlins.
A good start from Corker, who had set the fastest lap in Saturday’s race, propelled him past Rainford into the lead. The pair then spent most of the race embroiled in a thrilling battle, with Steve Walden’s Pre-’93 BMW also joining in.
Walden eventually got the better of the older cars, beating Corker by only 0.013s. But, more importantly, Corker was just under a second clear of Rainford at the chequered flag as he took his fourth Pre-’83 win of the season.
Wiliamson took the Class B points again – albeit not a full score as, with Philpotts treated as a guest, he and Stuart Caie (Capri) were the only registered runners.
Grindrod, fourth in Pre-’83 but second in Class C, had his points lead nibbled into by Corker but he retains a big advantage with only two meetings left on the calendar.
Behind Knight, Hughes sealed an uncontested double in Class D.
Classic Thunder & Historic Thunder
Joe Collier took another two steps towards a maiden Classic Thunder title by shaking off his Brands Hatch hoodoo and charging to a pair of wins around the 1.2-mile Indy circuit.
Collier (BMW M3 E46) and regular sparring partner Dave Farrow (BMW 1 Series V8) locked out the front row of the grid, a second clear of the rest of the field. But radiator failure for Farrow meant we were to be denied what looked set to be a great battle in Saturday’s race.
The similar E46s of Giuseppe Callari and guest driver Adrian Bradley made it an all-BMW top four on the timesheets. Best of those eligible for Historic honours, Colin Voyce’s turbocharged Mk1 Escort was next, fractionally quicker than the Mk2 Smith & Jones-powered version of BOSS runner Piers Grange.
In Farrow’s absence, Collier had a clear run to victory in Saturday’s opening race. Shaking off the bad luck he has always previously endured at the venue, including when the BMW Championship visited earlier in the season, Collier was untroubled en route to the win.
Nearly 11s back, Callari was second. Having lost out to Voyce at the start, Bradley was running third until his ill-handling machine spat him off on two occasions and dropped him down the order.
Mountune-motivated Voyce was well clear of the other Escorts in an impressive third overall. Behind leading BOSS man Grange, the second Voycetune car of Kevin Denwood (E46 Compact) was fourth in Thunder.
Reigning champion Ian Bower (M3 E36) pipped the Touring version of John Hillyer to Class C honours by just half a second, despite a rear suspension breakage.
With Farrow a non-starter, Mini Challenge racer Chris Mackenzie took an uncontested win in Class A, despite hitting trouble and having to limp his E46 home. He was unable to start the following day’s race.
Collier was again fully in command of Sunday’s second encounter, pulling away to the tune of around a second per lap before a red flag was called after an incident between two BOSS cars at around two-thirds distance.
Behind the Derbyshire dominator, Callari had his hands full. The Londoner shook off the early attentions of fast-starting BOSS man Sean Brown before fending off Voyce and Bradley.
Bradley had passed Voyce for third before the stoppage, and the trio battling for second were line astern among backmarking traffic for the quickfire restart. Bradley briefly threatened second but was unable to find a way past as the order of the leading quartet remained unchanged; while Collier cleared off into the distance, Callari held off Bradley and Historic Thunder winner Voyce for second.
The rest of the field were a lap or more down, headed by BOSS man Martin Reynolds, who is also registered for Thunder, and Farrow.
Farrow entertained as he charged through from the back of the grid, setting fastest lap in the process. But, crucially, he lost nearly half a minute when having to pit to remove grass from the radiator picked up as he avoided the bunched up pack coming Hailwood Hill on the opening tour. Confusion behind the safety car left him a lap down for the restart and unable to make up the lost ground.
Behind Farrow, Denwood held off the two leading Class C cars of Bower and Hillyer in the closing stages.
Blue Oval Saloon Series
A decent entry of Fords in the BOSS category joined their Classic Thunder counterparts on track. Wins were split between the Mk2 Escorts of regular pacesetter Piers Grange and points leader Martin Reynolds.
Grange’s monstrous Smith & Jones-powered car was around 1.5s quicker than Reynolds’ Holbay-motivated version in qualifying, with Sean Brown’s Sierra RS500 only fractionally slower than the Norfolk man.
After missing the past three rounds, Sam Daffin was back in his giant-killing rear-wheel-drive Fiesta and was fourth fastest in BOSS, well clear of his Class D rivals. They were headed by Grant Shand in his rally-bred Mk2 Escort RS.
Between them came the two leading Class C entries, the Fiestas of Cliff Pellin (Mk7) and Michael Kenneally (Mk8).
Grange took the honours in Saturday’s race. Despite mysterious oversteer that meant he couldn’t keep pace with Colin Voyce’s Historic Thunder Mk1 Escort, the three-time champion wasn’t seriously troubled in BOSS. The victory was his third of the season after a double at Thruxton last month.
Essex driver Brown’s glorious RS500 was second after managing to find a way past Reynolds on the third lap. Reynolds’s challenge then faded with a spin at Graham Hill Bend before he pitted to retire with front-end damage.
Daffin was a lonely third overall in BOSS and winner of Class D, with Class C victor Pellin fourth ahead of Shand and Kenneally.
Grange would not be securing back-to-back doubles as he was an early retirement from Sunday’s second thrash, touring in on the green-flag lap and not even taking the start.
Brown unleashed his RS500 when the lights went out and made up several places on the road to run side by side with Thunder man Callari. But the Brown and Geeson car was then swamped as it exited Druids. It picked up speed again but Brown called it a day after five laps, reporting that the engine wasn’t pulling as it should.
A terrific tussle between Pellin and Daffin became the battle for the BOSS lead, with Reynolds soon joining in. The latter was pleased he had brought a spare car to the event, his slightly less potent 2.3-litre Mk2 that he usually races abroad pressed into service.
Starting from the back of the grid, Reynolds charged forward to join in the entertaining lead scrap between a trio of cars spanning 35 years or more. Daffin and Reynolds traded places before Daffin’s challenge for the lead ended in tears.
Full results are available via the TSL website.
All images courtesy of CTCRC official photographer Steve Jackman/Eat My Pixels
