An invitation class in the Guards Trophy will bring out a collection of pre ’66 sports-racing cars at the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting (28/29 August).

Repeating the success of the 2010 race, the pair of Guards Trophy races at Oulton Park will allow the Historic Sports Car Club to invite the ‘big banger’ sports-racing cars onto the grid.

As has become the norm at the Gold Cup, one Guards Trophy race will run for the GT cars, while a separate race for the sports-racing machinery will include rarely seen cars like the Lola T70 Spyder, McLaren M1 and Lotus 30. Over 60 entries are expected across the pair of races.

"I can remember some great races with these cars in the sixties,” said Grahame White of the HSCC. “They look perfect around Oulton Park, where they have a famous period history with drivers like Jim Clark, John Surtees and Bruce McLaren, and we are very pleased to invite these wonderful cars to come and race again at this year’s Gold Cup.”

As soon as the invitation class was announced, the first entry was confirmed from Matthew Watts in his ex-David Prophet Lotus 30.