Paddy Hopkirk, winner of the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally, to flag off crews from Stratford-upon-Avon this morning.
After documentation and scrutineering in Stratford-upon-Avon Saturday, a top-class field of forty crews were set to take the start of the inaugural Tour Britannia, the all-new historic race tour for pre-1976 cars. In its debut year on the British motorsport calendar, the event - run in association with the British Racing Drivers’ Club - has attracted a spectacular array of machinery with crews representing no fewer than 15 nations.
“We have an astonishing array of cars and crews from as far away as the west coast of the USA,” said Fred Gallagher, Tour Britannia Sporting Director. “The British weather has been fabulous and the real English country atmosphere of Stratford has been so evident today, even with cricket being played alongside scrutineering! It really has been a wonderful start to what we hope will continue to be a great event.”
The field of entrants, who will be powering their cars over some of Britain’s finest race circuits, hill climb and sprint venues over the next four days, are driving one of the most diverse range of cars likely to have been seen on the British roads. The tiny 1970 Mini Cooper S, driven by Norman Grimshaw, is the smallest car in the field but a host of more unusual and spectacular machinery adorns the starting list. Taking a step back in time, Mike Smith’s Ford Escort is reminiscent of the same 1968 factory rally car, while Nick Finburgh’s 1934 Jaguar C-Type looks like it has just arrived from the famous Le Mans 24-Hours. Alan Newton’s MGB also had guest of honour and winner of the 1964 Monte-Carlo Rally, Paddy Hopkirk, reminiscing about driving the identical car in the 1965 Le Mans 24-Hours, and probably the most spectacular car in the field is Ned Spieker’s virtually priceless Ferrari 250 GT.
The pre-war era is also represented with a magnificent group, including the wire-wheeled Alvis Invicta, Talbots and Bentley, all in various shades of the traditional British racing green. And, probably the most outrageous car to be seen on the roads is Howard Redhouse’s Lotus 30, an ultra-low, completely open 4.7 V8 engined machine.
Unfortunate non-starters include Paul Knapfield, who struggled for many weeks to silence the ex-F1 Ford Cosworth DFV engine to a level acceptable on the public roads, and John Hugenholtz, whose race today at the Nürburgring finished so late he couldn’t make it to Stratford. Both promise to be back for Tour Britannia 2006.
The 2005 Tour Britannia kicked off from Stratford-upon-Avon at 06:15 hrs this morning (5 September), with the crews being flagged off by Paddy Hopkirk. From Stratford, the cars head to the first competitive section at Belvoir Castle, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland for over one thousand years, before moving on to Cadwell Park, Britain’s ‘mini Nürburgring’, for the first race of the event. In contrast, crews then head a few miles down the road to Manby for two separate blasts along the disused runways and perimeter tracks of the ex-RAF station. En route back to Stratford-upon-Avon for the overnight halt are the final speed tests of the day at the ex-RAF base at Swinderby.
