thrills crowds at Silverstone Classic
The second round of the Fiskens-sponsored Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy proved to be one of the highlights of this year’s Silverstone Classic, which took place at the weekend.
Following a hugely successful opening round at Dijon, France last month, Silverstone attracted an even bigger entry as 42 stunningly prepared genuine historic sports car-racers took to the grid for a thrilling race around the Grand Prix circuit.
The entry boasted an impressive six Aston Martin DB3S whilst Ferraris and Maseratis mixed with Jaguar D and C-Types and OSCA MT4s! Overall victory went to Ben Eastick and Neil Cunningham in their Jaguar D-Type whilst class winners included Michael Steele / Barrie Williams (HWM Jaguar), James Cottingham (Ferrari 500 TRC), Eddie McGuire / Mark Hales (Gordini 23s), Adrian Hall / Nick Adams (Lotus 10), Richard Ashmead / Peter Colborne-Baber (Lotus 9) and Adrian Van der Kroft (Bristol Sports T20).
There was some slight misfortune for Fiskens’ own Gregor Fisken, who had been invited to co-drive Burkhard Von Schenk’s Maserati 300s, when technical difficulties on Friday ruled the car out of Saturday’s race, but it didn’t detract from a fantastic weekend.
"The grids just keep getting better and better,” Fiskens’ sales manager Will Stone said of the weekend. “We were worried that the weather might produce a washout, but luckily we got a dry run. You just need to look at the grid to see how special this series is. At one stage during the race when the front runners caught the back markers there were a group of cars, including a Jaguar D-Type, Jaguar C-Type, a Frazer-Nash Le Mans replica, an Aston Martin DB3s, Austin Healy 100M and a Jaguar XK140, all battling for the same piece of track! The Woodcote Trophy races truly are a remarkable collection of cars!”
Duncan Wiltshire, chairman of the Woodcote Trophy’s organisers Motors Racing Legends, was also thrilled with a very successful weekend. “The racing was superb and the number and depth of cars on the grid was simply fantastic. Congratulations go to all our class winners, but also to everybody who has taken part. We are already looking forward to Spa in October!”
After the race competitors were invited to the Fiskens hospitality area for the prize giving ceremony where non-other than Le Mans winner Tony Rolt, who co-drove a Jaguar C-Type to victory in 1953 with Duncan Hamilton, presented the trophies.
The prestigious Fiskens ‘Spirit of the Series’ trophy, awarded to someone who has made a special impact on the Woodcote Trophy weekend, was given to Richard Frankel. Richard, who contests a Ferrari 750 Monza alongside his brother Andrew, was chosen for his great dedication to the series which sees him never miss a race meeting and always maintain his infectious and thorough enjoyment of racing classic sports cars!
The third and final round of the Woodcote Trophy takes place on 5-7 October in Belgium with the Six Hours of Spa.
