RACE PREVIEW
Stepping forward in the front-engined cars are the Maserati 250Fs , the type of car made famous by Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss . John Spiers in chassis 2516 is particularly notable as this is a period Jean Behra car . In the same class is the wonderful Kieft Grand Prix car from 1954 , a bold but generally unsuccessful British attempt to build a Formula 1 car of the day . It looks and sounds fantastic and goes remarkably well nowadays in the hands of Nigel Batchelor .
A pair of Ferrari 246 Dinos come from the end of the front-engined days with Richard Wilson and Tony Smith driving while two of the American Scarabs show how American heir Lance Reventlow tried to put America into the Grand Prix arena at the start of the 1960s . Sadly , by the time the cars were running , their front engine layout had been overtaken but Julian Bronson is a great enthusiast for these cars and his Scarab is likely to be driven by versatile race and rally driver Andrew Haddon .
Friday 17:18 - 17:36
RACE 7 Saturday 15:10 - 15:30 RACE 16 Sunday 14:10 - 14:30
Cooper and Lotus were the two marques that really spearheaded the drive towards rearengined designs and both are incredibly well represented on the grid . Notable among the Coopers is the T53 of Will Nuthall , son of Ian , who will be one of the prime contenders for victory , while Charlie Martin , Mark Gillies and Rudy Friedrichs are all in quick T53s .
The Lotus 18 was another landmark design from Colin Chapman ’ s company and there could be as many as five on the grid with a mix of 1500cc and 2500cc engines . Irishman James Hagan , more commonly seen in later Grand Prix cars , will be a contender along with Nick Taylor . Stepping forward a year is the Lotus 21 of Mark Shaw . The former Formula 3000 racer is a great fan of Jim Clark and his Lotus 21 is indeed an ex-Clark car while John
Clark has a rarer T56 Cooper . A real rarity is the South African built Assegai F1 car , now in the hands of Julian Ellison .
By 1962 the 1500cc F1 category was in full swing and the grid is blessed with up to five of these beautifully sounding cars , including two Lotus 25s . Former Touring Car ace Andy Middlehurst is another huge fan of Jim Clark , and is proud to race Clark ’ s chassis R4 , which took the Scot to his first World Championship title in 1963 . Nick Fennell is another capable pilot with a 25 while Phillip Buhofer has a BRM P261 .
Finally , in the rear-engined cars from the Tasman series in Australia is the very effective Brabham BT11A of Barry Cannell and the ex- Moss Cooper T53 of Nick Topliss . Justin Maeers will be quick in his Cooper T53 , while young pretender Sam Wilson is back in his Lotus 20 / 22 with a 1500cc twin cam engine as raced in period in South Africa .
It all adds up to a sensational display of rare and beautiful cars from a glorious era and it will be yet another highlight of this fabulous weekend .
PAUL LAWRENCE
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