NEWS
The Lotus Esprit at Silverstone
Rare Lotus joins Thundersports grid
The rare Group 5 Lotus Esprit raced by Richard Jenvey in the World Sportscar Championship 40 years ago returned to racing in the UK during the HSCC Thundersports races at the Classic , Silverstone .
The Lotus , which featured March F2 suspension , was built and raced internationally by Jenvey in 1979 and 1980 but struggled for reliability and the project was eventually scrapped . It was later sold as a project after many years in storage and acquired by Ken Baird who handed it to Greg Caton and his team at G-Cat Racing . The body moulds were recovered from a garden .
An extensive rebuild was finally completed in time for it to contest several CER races in Europe in 2019 but the Thundersports race at the Classic was its first UK race for 40 years . Caton took it to an impressive GT class-winning fifth in the rain-hit race .
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Wainwright ’ s Le-Jog
Racer and car preparer Rob Wainwright has recently completed an impressive charity bike ride from Land ’ s End to John O ’ Groats . “ We rode from Land ’ s End to John O ’ Groats in aid of Jackie Stewart ’ s Race Against Dementia charity . We did this 950 mile ride completely unsupported in 10 days carrying all of our kit on the bikes ,” said Rob after reaching John O ’ Groats on schedule .
Rob and Stuart at John O ’ Groats
The one-off Ginetta G8 F3 car
Cowing ’ s Ginetta project
The one-off Ginetta G8 Formula 3 car , unusually built around a fibreglass monocoque in 1963 and raced sporadically in 1964 , is back on track after a gap of more than 50 years and a painstaking rebuild by Bill Cowing . The one-litre car managed one race at the end of last season , which was its first time on track for 56 years , and following more work reappeared at the Gold Cup in the Historic Formula 3 races . Cowing was pleased to record a finish in the second race of the weekend .
The G8 was run by the Ginetta factory in 1964 and showed encouraging early pace but didn ’ t get fully developed and was put away before the end of the season . It retains the original fibreglass monocoque and it ’ s taken 18 months for Cowing , who also has a Formula Ford Ginetta , to get it rebuilt . It runs a rare one-litre Martin side-draught engine built by Ted Martin in period .
“ The car was never developed in its day , but it has big potential ,” said Cowing who is still sorting it out . “ We ’ ve now got a new roll hoop , designed by Formula Ford racer Danny Stanzl , fitted since it ’ s run at Mallory last autumn ,” said Cowing . “ I bought 19 boxes of bits and a tub ! It ’ s the only one ever built .”
One of the key challenges for Cowing was to get the Martin engine running properly as its features some interesting and innovative engineering , including a camshaft that rotates in the reverse direction .