WTCC slot next for Heritage GT racers
The sixth weekend in the season for the Charterhouse Heritage GT Car Challenge will feature at one of the biggest and most important race meetings in Britain in 2007 when the stunning field of classic GT and saloon cars is one of the highlight support events to the British round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship.While British hero Andy Priaulx bids to retain his world title on the fabulous Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit over the weekend of 22/23 September, a wonderful grid of up to 40 racing GT and saloon cars from the 1960s and 1970s will contest a pair of races in the Heritage GT Challenge.The Brands races will run for 40 minutes on Saturday and 30 minutes on Sunday, with two drivers in many of the cars and compulsory pit stops adding to the excitement.These cars come from an era when power exceeded grip, and with the bigger cars running 4-litre, 5-litre and even 6-litre engines, oversteer is the norm in Heritage races. Adding to the spectacle will be the fastest of the smaller cars trying to beat the bigger cars.The big American V8 saloons always make a fantastic spectacle on the Brands Hatch GP circuit and the father and son team of Arthur and Boysie Thurtle will be right up there, along with the similar Chevrolet Camaro of Stuart Hall and Andy Rouse. While Stuart finished a magnificent fourth at Le Mans this year, Andy is a four-times BTCC champion, so they lack nothing in experience.However, the car likely to set the outright pace is the stunning Morgan +8 of father and son team Grahame and Oliver Bryant, while the similar Morgan of Rick Lloyd/Peter Horsman is another contender for victory.Aston Martins of various ages are always a popular element of the HGT entry, and the well developed V8s of Chris Scragg/John Bussell, Bob Searles/Tony Jardine and George Miller/Les Goble are all front runners, while the MGB GTV8 of Roy and Spencer McCarthy was one of the stars of the corresponding race a year ago.In the other classes, the Jaguar E Type of Peter Lloyd/Rob Schirle and the famous Lotus 47 of Pat Thomas/Paul Dobson are real stars and go up against Tony Lees (Morgan +8) and Laki Christoforou (Ford Escort) in the mildly modified class.In the class for period saloon cars, several quick Minis – headed by the Cooper S of Clive and Harvey Death - will take on a brace of Lotus Cortinas and the wonderful Ford Anglia of local legend Gordon Streeter.