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Over 200 different formulae make up the racing calendar over
the year, multiply this by the classes in each of them and you
have a bewildering number of options for most weekends of the
sporting year. Of course it is impossible to give a precise picture
of each of these aspects, much as we would like to and much as
these participants deserve coverage with the often uphill route
to recognition. The readers will I hope take this into account
if their own particular favoured championship series does not
get a mention. Two days and a great deal of shoe leather still
had not covered everything to be seen and digested, therefore
I will give as good an account as possible of the sights and sounds
as we saw them and interesting people encountered along the way.
One of the first ports of call was a press call given by the Vintage
Sports Car Club regarding their forthcoming British Empire Trophy
Races on 8/9th June this year. Among the personalities present
was rallying legend Paddy Hopkirk who will be bringing out the
Mini Cooper for it's debut. A full account of the exciting plans
for this meeting will be given in the very near future.
 The
750 Motor Club stand was my next stop off. One of the cornerstones
of Club Racing in the U.K., they always have an interesting display
of the different facets of their very diverse racing activities.
The Club does of course run its Website on this magazine so we
do know quite a lot of their activities. Great to see two familiar
faces there chatting happily in the persons of, Jem
Marsh (Of Marcos fame) who was telling us that he is working
on electric bicycles at the moment and Len
Terry long time chassis designer among his many projects were
the BRM P126 and P133 models.
 The
stand had a large number of representative cars which included
a Mini with details outlined of this year's John
Cooper Challenge Series. Brunel University were showing their
entry BR2, for Formula Student with Paul Crankshaw and James Tziros
who were oozing enthusiasm for the project. Judging by the number
of Universities with stands to display their own cars, this idea
has certainly taken off.
An undertaking that had occurred to me a long time ago came to
fruition on the stand. I had long since felt that it would be
an excellent idea to follow the fortunes of a completely new driver
in his/her first season (And maybe beyond). Your intrepid photographer
John Sutton was enthusiastically gathering drivers for his register
and happened upon a pair of likely lads who were right in the
process of purchasing an XR2 to complete in this year's Stock
Hatch series. See a diary of their happenings as they take place
in the coming months. You can share their highs and lows as they
get to grips with club racing. It might also give an insight to
aspiring young drivers about to take the plunge.
 Virtually
the next point of interest was the Marcos
LM600 displayed by TFM-GT team featured in a separate article.
John was particularly interested in this since he campaigned a
Marcos in the 60's in international events with a lot of success.
Aah a trip down nostalgia lane…..
 Moving
on, we then happened upon an old buddy, John Peskett a classic
car enthusiast of many years standing. However, he has obviously
had a mad moment at some point and in 1978 purchased a
T142 Lola of 1969 vintage. This car came fourth with Keith
Holland at the wheel in the European Championships in that year.
It has lain dormant for some years but this year in the original
livery from way back it is ready to roll and will be out doing
it's stuff this season. Great to see the car looking superb and
up and running after all this time.
 One
exhibit that was drawing a very admiring crowd throughout the
two days that we were circulating was the exeptionally beautiful
Jaguar R Coupe
this concept project has won the Autocar design award, the comments
that I overheard were without a single exception totally positive,
in fact a couple of hardened nuts that I am acquainted with were
waxing lyrically over it. I totally agreed, it is a superb looking
car, the flowing lines very reminiscent of Malcolm Sayer the long
time Jaguar bodystylist at his best. The bodywork was in fact
designed by Ian Callum & Julian Thompson. For the mechanically
minded the V8, 3996cc engine has acceleration of 0 - 60 in 5.0
seconds and a top speed of 155 m.p.h. Apparently, this car will
never be offered on the market. What a pity - it is one of the
best looking road cars I have ever seen, can't you change your
minds on that you guys making high level decisions at Jaguar?
Of course the show is not all about dazzling stands to fire the
imagination, there is a huge industry in the U.K., that thrives
around motor sport in all it's forms. A large trade area gave
these companies the opportunity to display their wares to the
people who matter and have their cheque books at the ready. Quite
a number of foreign companies were exhibiting and appeared to
be pleased with the response they were getting.
 Firms
such as Ricardo Motorsport
who are a very long established business in the racing preparation
range world and offer an incredible of services, consider such
showcases of engineering vital to specialist firms such as themselves
who need to reach the potential customers for their expertise.
Members of the British Racing Drivers' Club were much in evidence
on the Friday, this was due to the fact that the Club had organised
a lunch for visiting members. One such person was Tim Parnell,
a director of the club. He kindly agreed to be interviewed and
this will be on site within the next few days.
As usual, it was great to see the familiar faces prior to the
new season and pick up on the current gossip, (Sorry, can't repeat
most of it)
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