Richard Lloyd set to recreate 30 years of history with Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Tour Britannia, the all-new historic race tour running for the first time this September, has packed in a feast of competitive action for its entrants, with more stage distance - over four days - than its leading European counterpart.
Benefiting from decades of race and rally expertise in its organisation team, Tour Britannia takes in 19 stages but, as importantly, keeps the crews and their spectacular machines away from tedious motorways, leaving them with the pleasures of the beautiful English countryside. The route, which covers a total of 1,230 kilometres, never strays away from picturesque ‘A’ and country roads, providing a relaxing ambience before cars are fired up for competitive action.
This year’s event, which is hosted in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs from 5-8 September, also takes in three races at the Cadwell Park, Silverstone National and Silverstone Historic Grand Prix circuits, adding further competitive distance to what is already an action-packed itinerary.
Entries continue to roll in ahead of the initial closing date of 4 July, and the latest significant entry for the inaugural running of Tour Britannia comes from ex-saloon car champ Richard Lloyd, who will be competing in a 1970 Camaro Z28.
Back in 1973, when Lloyd was driving a Camaro in Group 1 championships in Britain, he was scheduled to contest the first Avon Tour of Britain, with Robert Fearnall. However, an accident sidelined any hope of competing in the event and both he and then-sponsor Alan Rivers contacted Formula One rookie James Hunt to drive the car. Hunt, who went on to become 1976 F1 World Champion, won the event outright in the striking 1970 white/black Camaro.
This year, Richard Lloyd and Alan Rivers will recreate that historic moment on Tour Britannia in an identical 5.7 litre Camaro. Sourced from the States, via e-bay, the car is scheduled to arrive in the UK in early July and the crew has just six weeks to turn it into the same racing machine it was back in the early ‘70s.
“It is an attempt to turn the clock back more than 30 years and visit the days when the car was current; it will therefore be re-built in a period way,” said Richard. “The Camaro won that first event back in 1973 and we thought it would be fun to compete in Tour Britannia, being that it mirrors the original event.”
Standard entries for Tour Britannia close on Monday 4 July, while late entries will be accepted up to Monday 15 August. Final regulations are also now on the site tourbritannia.com/regulations.htm
