Brands Hatch’s ‘Century of Power’ celebrations continued in fine style with the inaugural running of the Motor Racing Legends London Historic Trophy last weekend (19-21 June). Touring cars, sports cars and single-seaters from the 1920s to the 1990s starred across three glorious days, with a vast array of drivers and machines taking a starring role.
The lion’s share of the event ran on the legendary full Grand Prix circuit, but fans were treated to an Indy circuit appetiser on Friday prior to that. This included practice and a shakedown for some of the Group C demonstration cars, but there were two races too. And it was the Andrea de Adamich Trophy for classic Alfa Romeos which kicked the competitive action off, with Ben Colburn winning at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo GTAm.
Friday’s second encounter came in the unique Generations Trophy, in which a pair of drivers from two generations of the same family must pair up in an MGB. Honours here went to the father-daughter combination of Andy and Nicole Wolfe, from former British Touring Car racer Nick Whale and his son Harry. Another BTCC ace, Patrick Watts, completed the podium alongside his daughter Aimee.
On Saturday, the Historic Touring Car Challenge got a chance to shine, with retro tin tops of the ‘70s and ‘80s sharing a grid for two races Former British Touring Car Champion Andrew Jordan enjoyed an impressive drive to the top step of the podium, ahead of Andy and Chris Middlehurst’s shared Nissan Skyline in the opener. In the second encounter, Jordan charged through the field following his pit stops, hunting down the Middlehurst machine. But Andy Middlehurst fought back to secure the win for himself and his son.
It was Olly Bryant who won the combined race for the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy outright in a Lotus 15, in addition to topping the entrants in the latter contest. Lukas Halusa, piloting a stunning Jaguar D-type Shortnose was best of the Woodcote competitors.
Halusa came within just over two seconds of victory in Motor Racing Legends’ first ever Pre-’66 GT Sprint races too, missing out to Mike Whitaker in his TVR Griffith 400. Saturday also featured the first of two Historic Formula Junior races for the weekend, with Alex Ames classified as the victor. Ames doubled up with a narrow victory over Callum Grant on Sunday, with Halusa featuring on the rostrum yet again!
In addition to the competitive action, the event featured a stunning demonstration of Group C sports cars from the 1980s, as a nod to the circuit’s time as the host of 1000km World Sportscar Championship competition. Star cars on show included models from Porsche, Nissan and Jaguar. Plus there was a return to the circuit for one of the winners of that era, with Kenny Acheson returning to the wheel of a Sauber-Mercedes.
Sunday’s line-up features an eclectic programme of crowd-pleasing tin tops, with three separate grids in action from the Historic Racing Drivers’ Club portfolio. First of these to do battle was the HRDC Top Hat class for pre-1966 saloon cars, in which Matt Johnson and Robert Ross emerged as winners in their shared Ford Mustang.
The next HRDC category to go wheel-to-wheel was the Gerry Marshall Trophy, named for the cult hero racer. Michael Whitaker resisted any temptation to hand his dad, Mike, a Father’s Day gift by beating him into second in their Rover SD1s. The Whitakers switched positions in the HRDC Allstars with Mike’s TVR Griffith beating Michael’s Ford Mustang into second.
A poignant moment came in the 2-Litre Sportscars, which made their Brands Hatch debut with a field of beautiful late ‘60s and ‘70s sports-racers. Chris Ward produced an emphatic victory for his ex-Guy Edwards Lola T292, the very weekend on which Edwards’ death was announced at the age of 83.
Sunday also featured two outings for the Pre-War Sports Cars, with Oliver Llewelyn and Tim Llewelyn Bentley 4.5 Litre winning the first race before retiring from the second from the lead. This allowed Alex Hewtison to end the meeting with a visit to the top of the rostrum in his Riley.
Click here for a full race results from the weekend.