Fresh from his successful Goodwood Revival drives in Swiftune's Mini Cooper 'S' and Lord Drayson's fabulous Aston Martin DB4GT, Le Mans star Darren Turner stays with historic racing to head the oversubscribed HRDC 'Touring Greats' pre-'60 touring car grid, sharing the drive in James Turner's Ford Zodiac Mk2 at Snetterton on Saturday 1 October.
38 historic touring cars will line up for the finale of the HRDC's meteoric inaugural season, which has seen full grids for all its pre-'60 touring car races this year. Among the capacity grid who wish to keep Darren Turner away from the winner's garland are Nigel Webb and Richard Butterfield in their respective Jaguar Mk1 racers, William Lynch in the RDR-prepared Austin A35, Malcolm Harrison and Shaun Rainford in their respective Volvos.
The HRDC will also be running its inaugural 'HRDC TC63' race for early Gp2 touring cars of the type which contested the first year of the ETCC. The GT Cortinas of Joe Allenby-Byrne and Alistair Dyson are sure to set the pace of this field, which specifically omits 'homologation specials' such as the Lotus Cortina, Alfa Romeo GTA and all variants of the Mini Cooper 'S'. Stewart Imber's majestic Mercedes-Benz 300SE will run alongside the ultra-rare Studebaker Daytona 500 of Micky Bolton and Tony Murray's gorgeous Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint, while the Jaguar Mk2s of Nigel Webb, Chris Scragg and Peter Burton will herald a return to competitive form for these popular Coventry racers.
On Sunday 2 October, it will be the turn of the HRDC 'Grand Touring Greats' for pre-'66, sub-1500cc GT cars at Snetterton. Goodwood star Rae Davis will head the field of this feisty grid of historic 'pocket rockets' in his C&MES MiniJem GT. Jim Prentice will again be giving the rare works Austin-Healey Sprite Le Mans prototype another outing with the HRDC and Darryl Davis will be keen to get a good result in his immaculate works Ashley GT. MGF Cup stalwart and historic racing convert, Mike Koskela will debut his newly acquired FIA MG Midget - fresh from its race-restoration by Moto-Build Racing. Hunting this pack down for overall honours will be ebullient Shaun Rainford in the immaculate John Britten 'SS1800' Lenham GT recreation.
HRDC founder and Race Director, Julius Thurgood is upbeat about the subsequent 2012 season: "The HRDC's ethos of placing the competitor first has certainly hit the spot with drivers and their families this season. We have enjoyed healthy grids and some excellent racing with beautifully turned-out cars. Our sponsors have given us positive feedback throughout the season, so we must be doing something right, which should pave the way for another good season in 2012, despite the current talk of gloom and doom of the financial climate. As long as we can continue to drive down costs to the competitors, I am sure that our formula will sustain the continued growth of the HRDC."
