Category: REGULARS

RACING LINES

Fernando Alonso’s recent announcement, that he will be adding a full WEC campaign with Toyota to his Formula 1 commitments with McLaren, gave me great joy. I’ve always been a fan of his mercurial talent and never-say-die attitude to racing, something underlined by his hunger to chase victories outside F1.

True, he has demonstrated an uncanny knack of putting people’s noses out of joint. He also appears to have terrible timing when it comes to switching F1 teams, yet there’s no denying he is one of the greatest drivers of his or any generation.

That’s a big statement, but one that’s easier to make of a driver who is prepared to test himself in other top-flight categories. His efforts in last year’s Indy 500 were sensational. Such raw pace and canny racecraft, despite minimal experience of the car, track or oval racing, showcased his natural, instinctive talent. The fact he was so clearly relishing every moment made it all the more refreshing.

I’m sure I’m not alone in finding his WEC announcement timely in the wake of Dan Gurney’s death, for the great American racer was one of motor sport’s true all-rounders. It seems remarkable now to consider Gurney was a winner in F1, Can-Am, Indycars and NASCAR. In particular his victories at Le Mans and the Belgian GP (on consecutive weekends in 1967) are not only the hallmarks of a driver at the height of his powers, but one who could adapt effortlessly.

Gurney wasn’t alone in demonstrating enviable versatility. Fellow American Mario Andretti was as happy on a USAC dirt oval as he was at Indy. He won the Pikes Peak hillclimb, the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500. He won the Sebring 12 Hours three times, the Indycar title four times and took the F1 crown, too. Jim Clark was another noted genius, as was Vic Elford, who revelled in the ever-changing conditions of rallying and applied those skills to the Targa Florio, where he was a true virtuoso. He also raced in F1, Can-Am and NASCAR.

Without question theirs was the age of the complete driver. Were they better than today’s counterparts? Sadly that’s an impossible question to answer. If you take Elford’s year-of-years in 1968, however, not only do you get a sense of his freakish abilities, but it highlights how even if today’s drivers wished to emulate such achievements (something Alonso is apparently alone in doing) they simply wouldn’t have the time.

In ’68 Elford was a factory Porsche driver in both rallying and the World Sports Car Championship. He was also racing in his debut single-seater season in both F2 and F1. In January he won the Monte Carlo Rally in a Porsche 911, then immediately flew to Daytona for the 24 Hours, which he also won. In May he won the Targa Florio with Umberto Maglioli, followed by the Nürburgring 1000Kms with Jo Siffert, both in Porsches. He came within a few laps of winning his second F2 race, then secured an F1 seat with Cooper, making his debut at Rouen in the French GP. He qualified last in the dry, but the race was wet – conditions that suited ‘Quick Vic‘ to a tee. Despite the Cooper’s porcine handling, Elford wrestled it to fourth place.

Take a look at today’s extensive racing calendars and you can see the problem. In 1968 there were a dozen Grands Prix, eight of them held at European circuits. In 2018 there will be 21, more than half of which are fly-aways. Add another eight weekends for WEC’s 2018/19 ‘Superseason’ and it’s clear Fernando is going to be a very busy boy.

His desire to join Graham Hill in taking racing’s elusive Triple Crown (Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500 and Le Mans) is a captivating prospect. One clearly not lost on the WEC organisers. Witness their controversial decision to shift the date of the 6 Hours of Fuji in order to avoid a clash with the US Grand Prix in Texas. Understandably some in the WEC paddock aren’t happy, but if his participation brings half the attention he brought to the Indy 500, it’s surely win-win for endurance racing, the wider sport and fans who long to see one of the very best current F1 drivers racing the fastest sports-prototype ever built.

I wish more drivers had Alonso’s appetite for racing and appreciation of our sport’s history. Granted, I doubt he’d be quite so distracted if he had a winning McLaren at his disposal, but his awareness of the world beyond the vacuous vacuum of F1 is refreshing – and his willingness to pit himself against the best Indy and WEC has to offer is fantastically exciting. After all, it’s one thing to curate a career that segues from one race series to the next, quite another to mix it up simultaneously at the very highest level.

It’s something we’ve glimpsed tantalisingly in the fairly recent past. In 1996 Colin McRae wrung the neck of a Jordan F1 car at Silverstone, posting a time that would have put him comfortably on the grid for that year’s British GP. Then in 2004 he finished third in class and ninth overall at Le Mans in a Prodrive Ferrari 550. Similarly, Sébastien Loeb finished second at Le Mans in 2006 and shone in a Red Bull F1 test back in 2008. At the time, both were at the top of their game in WRC.

The annual Race of Champions should be the perfect way to sidestep the perils of clogged world championship calendars and enjoy the best of the best going head to head, but in truth it’s nothing more than a romp around a glorified kart track. Great fun for those involved, but a bit of a Mickey Mouse spectacle and a million miles from the ballsy, elbows-out benchmarking exercise we’d love to see.

The aforementioned achievements of Gurney and co tell us the truly great drivers can win in whatever category they choose. Alonso is a glorious anachronism. I for one hope his WEC adventure yields the Le Mans victory he desires, and that he returns to Indy to complete the Triple Crown. From such achievements legends are made.

Dickie Meaden has been writing about cars for 25 years – and racing them for almost as long. He is a regular winner at historic meetings

Just as in a race when you are competing against a phantom – a driver many places separate from you but on a different pitstop strategy that will converge with yours at some point to put you on the same piece of track – so it can be in career terms. In this coming season Kimi Räikkönen and Charles Leclerc are rarely, if ever, going to compete wheel-to-wheel, but they will absolutely be fighting over the 2019 Ferrari drive alongside Sebastian Vettel.

Räikkönen, 38 years old, is going into the fifth year of his second stint at the Scuderia, his contract having been extended for one season at a time for the last three years. This time around he’s performed a very different role for the team than in 2007-09. Partly through the effects of time, partly management plan, his second stretch has been one of support – certainly since the recruitment of Vettel in 2015. Kimi was initially brought back to the fold as an insurance against Fernando Alonso leaving at the end of 2013, probably in the assumption that Kimi would be a ready plug-in provider of similar performance. As it turned out, Alonso stayed for one more year, during which he completely annihilated Räikkönen.

That season changed the internal perception of Räikkonen’s value to the Scuderia. He still had one, but it was different to that originally envisaged. The cutting edge of speed he once possessed was dimmed, but he was a seasoned old hand, didn’t make waves, said nothing controversial to the outside world, a team player providing a solid bass line.

If he could be provided with a quick car, he was still comfortably quick enough to back up the number one. In this way, with Sebastian Vettel recruited to replace Alonso, the team could revert to its preferred number one/number two structure. Even though this has never been specifically spelt out, it’s been evident in the way the team has operated, with Räikkönen never on the prime race strategies, often staying out well beyond the optimum stop time in order to be tail gunner for Vettel’s strategy. In the second half of 2016, there were several occasions when Räikkönen was running ahead but pit timing strategy was used to spring Vettel in front. These favours were never reciprocated.

But nothing stays the same forever. Räikkönen’s presence there works as an extension of the dynamic around Vettel. But at some stage Vettel will be gone, too. There needs to be a succession plan, ideally with some overlap. Which is where Leclerc could come in.

It would be no exaggeration to say he has looked fantastic in his junior career, his speed and style marking him out potentially as a ‘special one’. But that was true of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne too, and in his first full season last year he found out just how tricky F1 can be. He’s probably good enough to come out the other side of that tough baptism, but Vandoorne’s experience highlights the risk of putting a gifted rookie in a top team alongside a top driver in this era of restricted testing. Leclerc’s seat at Alfa-Romeo Sauber, as a Ferrari junior driver, is the perfect introduction. If that special quality is still visible there and he maintains that momentum of perception, he’s perfectly placed to make the switch to the main team in 2019, alongside Vettel – and Ferrari’s succession plan is then in place. As a bonus it would make for a touching story of maintaining the thread with Jules Bianchi, the late Ferrari junior driver who was a close friend of Leclerc’s from childhood and who had been set to follow the Ferrari-backed Sauber path that is now Leclerc’s.

But if Leclerc, against expectations, doesn’t create waves in his Sauber, doesn’t regularly deliver drives that transcend his machinery, what then? Another extension for Räikkönen? Or Daniel Ricciardo, currently in the final season of his current Red Bull contract? There are people in a position to know who stated categorically that Vettel had a number one contract with the veto over team-mate choice. But that was before he’d reached his new three-year deal with the team last year. Do those conditions still hold true? And if they do not, does Ricciardo have a realistic shot at that drive?

The last time they were paired, in 2014 at Red Bull, Ricciardo handily outperformed Vettel over the season and it was noticeable that, as Ricciardo spoke last year of his career choices, he made reference to the fact that Seb probably wasn’t keen on having him as a team-mate again. Were these comments made in frustration? There then followed a few sugar-coated but barbed observations from Ricciardo, the latest of which is that Max Verstappen is ‘the first team-mate to challenge me’. Is this Ricciardo laying down the gauntlet to Vettel?

In many ways Ricciardo is a less ideal fit for Ferrari than if Leclerc shows himself to be imbued with Verstappen-like ability to perform at the top level in his first season. Not only because a Vettel-Ricciardo pairing might be contractually impossible to engineer, but also because it gives a less clear succession. At 28, Ricciardo is only two years younger than Vettel. Leclerc is 20. Besides, from Ricciardo’s perspective, if he wishes to leave a Red Bull team that appears to have aligned its future with Verstappen, there’s probably an easier fit for him at Mercedes than Ferrari. Räikkönen’s been there/done that demeanour probably won’t have him checking upon Leclerc’s Sauber lap times at the end of each race weekend, and each season is a bonus for him at this stage of his career.

But a sequence of eye-catching performances in that Alfa-liveried C37 could be the springboard to Leclerc becoming the next in the Schumacher-Alonso-Vettel lineage of totemic Maranello heroes.

Since he began covering Grand Prix racing in 2000, Mark Hughes has forged a reputation as the finest Formula 1 analyst of his generation

Ferrari has unveiled its fastest ever V8-powered sports car. Called the Ferrari 488 Pista it is a heavily revised version of the standard 488 GTB and boasts performance figures that challenge the Italian company’s range topping LaFerrari.

The 3.9-litre twin turbo produces 711bhp and 568lb ft of torque giving a top speed of 211mph and a 0-62mph time of 2.85sec.

The car is the latest in Ferrari’s V8 engined special series, following the 360 Challenge Stradale, 430 Scuderia and 458 Speciale. However, the company claims the Pista is a “significant step forward” from previous models in the series in terms of the sporting dynamics and level of technology carried over from racing.

According to Maranello, “The car’s development evolved directly from the company’s involvement in the FIA World Endurance Championship – where it has won five manufacturer titles in the GTE class in the six years since the series’ inception, taking 29 out of 50 race wins – and 25 years of experience in running the Ferrari Challenge one-make series.”

The 488 Pista features an F1-inspired S-duct at the front while the design of the front diffusers feature a ramp angle that was optimised for the 488 GTE to create strong suction for increased downforce.

The underbody vortex generators have also been redesigned, and the rear diffuser incorporates the same double kink as the 488 GTE to increase the air extraction and downforce generation compared to a traditional diffuser. Together these modifications result in a 20 per cent increase in downforce.

Rumours had been rife prior to the car’s launch, with some commentators predicting that Ferrari would dust off the old GTO moniker for the car. In the event it has opted for the Italian word for “track” to reflect the car’s more hardcore nature.

Like the 458 Speciale, the Pista has dropped the kerb weight of the host car by 90kg, thanks to lightweight crankshaft and flywheel, as well as additional features, such as titanium con rods and carbon-fibre intake plenums.

The car will officially be launched at the Geneva Motor Show this month. No price has been announced.

LISTER’S NEW JAG

Lister Cars has announced the first of a series of modified Jaguars it intends to sell to the public. Just 99 Lister Thunders will be made, each based on the Jaguar F-type and selling for £139,950. However with 666bhp from its 5-litre supercharged V8 motor, each Thunder will have 100bhp more than the most powerful official version from Jaguar, the F-type SVR. Lister says it has a 0-62mph time of 3.2sec and a top speed of 208mph and has its own suspension tune with adjustable dampers, bespoke 22in tyres and an exhaust system that not only gave the car its name, but also lops a useful 10kg off its weight. Inside there are bespoke Nappa leather seats with Lister logos, and there’s a carbon-fibre body pack option.

Lister Cars is no stranger to tuning Jaguar coupés – in the late 1980s (and in a previous incarnation with Laurence Pearce at the helm) it produced a number of fast and well built modified XJS coupés before creating the all-new Lister Storm, of which a handful of road-going examples were made before the car’s more famous life as an FIA GT race car.

Lister’s current boss Lawrence Whittaker has busied the business of late selling recreated Knobblies for road and track use, but has made no secret that his ultimate desire is to create a bespoke Lister supercar.

Toyota is teasing images of the car said to be an all-new Toyota Supra, also due to have its global reveal in Geneva this month. The long-awaited first fruits of a joint venture with BMW, the new car will feature a 3-litre turbocharged straight-six engine sourced from its German partner and be not only the first new Supra in 24 years, but also the first road-going Toyota to share its branding with its in-house race team Toyota Gazoo Racing. The plan seems to be to develop the Gazoo brand into a credible alternative to BMW’s M division and Mercedes-Benz’s AMG tuning house.

We must wait until they pull the wraps off for further details but all those who were in Detroit in 2014 when Toyota showed a concept called the FT-1 will hope its appearance is not too different to that. The FT-1 was an unlikely star of that show and was every inch the muscular, curvaceous and purposeful sports car you might hope a modern Supra to be. Power output at present is estimated to be around 340bhp, but that’s very modest for a 3-litre turbo engine these days, so hopefully more sporting versions will offer 400bhp or more. A manual gearbox is possible as an option, but thought to be unlikely.

HIGH AND MIGHTY

Rolls-Royce has confirmed what many suspected for a long time, namely that its forthcoming SUV will use its ‘Cullinan’ internal code-name as its actual title when sales start later this year. Except according to Rolls it’s not an SUV but a ‘high-sided vehicle’ which I’m not sure sounds a lot better given that the only time you usually hear that term is about lorries getting blown over when there’s stiff breeze.

The Cullinan will be based on the brand-new bespoke architecture already seen in the second-generation Rolls-Royce Phantom and likely be powered by a version of BMW’s twin-turbo 6.6-litre V12 engine. Hybrid versions are certain and an all-electric model shouldn’t be ruled out: seven years ago Rolls-Royce produced an electric Phantom and in all regards save range and recharge time, it felt a natural fit for the brand. Technological advances in the interim now mean we should regard all-electric Rolls-Royces, whether high-sided or not, as only a matter of time.

STRATOS UPDATE

Ten years after work began and eight after a prototype was first shown to the public, a modern take on the Lancia Stratos is about to go into exceptionally limited production. Maniffattura Automobili Torino says it will make 25 versions of the new car, costing from around £500,000 depending on specification.

Although light in weight and diminutive in stature relative to modern supercars, the new Stratos is still substantially bigger than the rally legend that won 18 World Rally Championship rounds. Prospects can choose to specify theirs as a track car, a road-going supercar or in rally-inspired ‘Safari’ trim.

Like the original Stratos, power is likely to come from a Ferrari engine, said to produce 550bhp driving through a paddle-shift gearbox to the rear wheels alone. Inside, the cosy two-seat cockpit will retain the original Stratos’s iconic doorbins, designed to hold crash helmets in place during transits between special stages. Apparently right-hand-drive is possible if any owner requests it.

HOT TOPIC

Formula E’s season five car puts the series at a pivotal point. Gone is the first point of ridicule: the cars are now good for full races on one battery.

That was an important step from a marketing perspective and also for manufacturers, because the implication that you can only run an electric car for 20 minutes has now been removed. Battery capacity has all but doubled, and peaks at 900 volts. Power is boosted by 40kW, but in speed terms you can expect the cars to still be inhibited by the tracks.

The series has always pointed to its relatively futuristic looking cars, but that’s taken a step further with the new car: it looks straight out of a sci-fi film. That’s the point: this is the future, now.

Wheels are enclosed, with a big rising diffuser and simple rear plane behind. It’s not a wing, as such. The mandatory halo houses an LED strip.

What happens next is up for discussion, with pitstops supposedly remaining.

Official testing begins in March at Monteblanco, with another scheduled for April, meaning the teams will be developing two cars concurrently. The dynamic could well shift this year as development focuses on the future rather than the present.

But that’s something Formula E has done from the off.

For full insight into the new Formula E
car, visit
motorsportmagazine.com/formula-e

ELECTRIC GT RACING

It’s been a while coming, but the new Electric GT Series appears finally to be on its way to the race track. The series, which has no support from the Tesla factory, was initially announced to the world two years ago in March 2016.

In the intervening months there has been plenty of bluster but little in the way of concrete information. Now, two pieces of good news have followed in close succession: the Tesla Model S P100D-based race car has passed the FIA crash tests and the series has been ratified by the FIA.

That it’s a private endeavour from organiser Mark Gemmell may go some way to explain the delay in Electric GT going from idea to fully-fledged series. There may be benefits of no factory involvement; it could conceivably open up to be a mixed-make series – TCR goes electric? But costs would inevitably rise and soon spiral out of control.

Its first season is supposedly this year, though there’s no calendar as of yet. But there’s long been talk of ‘electric festival’ events, featuring only electric-powered racing and plenty of fan engagement. That’s since been clarified as ekarting and esports races.

The main GT races will be 60km long, with one held during the day and another at dusk, after a ‘three-heat qualifying format’. “The longer race isn’t really what the public wants,” Gemmell said last year.

Evening racing is no problem for a silent racing series, for obvious reasons. Gemmell also claimed the circuits have been very receptive, because “it’s the right message and projects the right image”.

The top two from the weekend will contest a ‘Drift-off’ for three additional championship points, too. Different, if nothing else.

As for the cars, the series has confirmed a maximum output of 778bhp/585kW. Drivers have seemingly been impressed by the car, which has been on a long development curve. It has good torque, as is to be expected, fast with a 0-60mph of less than two seconds, and it’s grippy. But it’s heavy, the final car weighs in at 1800kg.

There’s a persistence behind Electric GT, which bodes well, and it’s got ahead of most in the electric racing stakes. Now it’s a case of fulfilling aims.

SHORT BREAK

This three-day event, from April 26-28, consists of one sprint and two hillclimbs on closed public roads, attracting a wide array of vintage and classic cars to the island. Jaguars, Frazer Nashes and Bentleys, the GN Spider, modern sports cars and Edwardian entries have starred in the past – and more than 100 entries are expected. Viewing is free of charge, but be aware that many roads and pavements will be closed off.

The event starts with The Sloc sprint on Thursday 26, in the south of the island, with spectacular views the full length of the track, then moves onto Creg Willey’s hill (part of the TT course) on Friday.

Friday also heralds a spectacular finale as drivers tackle Lhergy Frissell – another section of TT course and the longest hillclimb in Britain.

These roads also formed part of the Gordon Bennett Trials route in 1904 and the following year’s RAC TT, so the Classic maintains strong links with the island’s rich, proud motor sport heritage.

The TT Grandstand serves as one of many points to view the trials, but you can also volunteer with the Manx Motor Racing Club and contribute to an organisation that once had the late John Surtees as patron. Find out more at www.manxmotorracing.com.

HOW TO GET THERE

Packages from ferry operator the IoM Steam Packet Company are available with double/twin rooms (from £94 for two nights) and foot passenger crossings from Liverpool or Heysham, with an extra £89 charge for a car or low van.

ALSO GOING ON

The Isle of Man Motor Museum holds a collection of more than 400 exhibits spanning 100-plus years of motoring history, including 200 motorcycles, at former RAF station Jurby on the north side of the island. Admission is £12.50.

DON’T MISS

Marshals were brought in from all over the UK for the 2017 Manx Classic. You could volunteer for the 2018 running, though you’ll need to be present for the Tuesday – an extra night’s B&B might be useful.

APRIL 2018

INTERNATIONAL

Apr 7-8 – FIA Formula 2, Sakhir, Bahrain

The most promising young single-seater drivers face off as the Formula 2 grid lines up in Bahrain. Lando Norris will make his full-time debut, as will GP3 champion George Russell.

INTERNATIONAL

Apr 15 – World Rallycross Championship, Barcelona

About 20 drivers will tear around Circuit de Catalunya for the opening WRX round, as Johan Kristoffersson prepares for his title defence against the likes of double champion Petter Solberg (in the new Volkswagen Polo GTI).

INTERNATIONAL

Apr 15 – Long Beach Indy

Long Beach hosts its 44th GP and its 35th consecutive Champ Car/Indycar race. There have been six winners since 2012 on the 1.968-mile palm tree-fringed circuit.

IN THE UK

Apr 22 – Rally Tendring and Clacton, Clacton-on-Sea

The first rally in England on public roads, under the new Closed Road Motor Sport legislation, will take place on the Tendring Peninsula over 45 miles. More than 100 cars are entered.

INTERNATIONAL

Apr 20-22 – Hockenheim Historic, Germany

This weekend celebrates the life of Jim Clark and commemorates his passing at the circuit. The event marks the 50th anniversary of Clark’s death and also recognises Lotus’s heritage.

INTERNATIONAL

Apr 28-29 – WTCR, Hungaroring, Hungary

The first World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) hits Budapest for its second round. Drivers such as Yvan Muller, Rob Huff, Gabriele Tarquini and 2017 WTRCC champ Thed Björk are confirmed.

Apr 5 WRC France

Apr 7 INDYCAR Phoenix

Apr 8 F1 Bahrain

Apr 14 FORMULA E Rome

Apr 15 F1 China

Apr 15 NASCAR Bristol, Tennessee Apr 28 FORMULA E Paris

“When I look back at 1977,” the American says with a smile, “F3 wins seemed to be shared out between several drivers. I’m not sure if everybody was very good – or if we were all a bit average!”

King took his works March to victory at Cadwell Park that season, but returned home soon afterwards and picked up where he’d left off before his European sojourn, racing in Formula Atlantic and winning the SCCA National title in 1982.

He retired five years later, not long after sharing 12th overall – and second in the GTP Lights class – in the Daytona 24 Hours. In 1993, however, he was lured back by the appeal of historic competition – and 25 years on he’s still active, racing on both sides of the Atlantic in a small fleet of cars that includes an ex-Dan Gurney Brabham BT7 (he was there to watch the American win with it at Rouen in ’64), a March 761 and a March 712.

His adventures have led him to the top steps of podia at events as diverse as the GP Historique de Monaco and the Goodwood Members’ Meeting – and he was also a co-founder of Historic Grand Prix, which continues to sanction old-time F1 races in the States (though King sold his interest a few years ago).

Now 72, he plans to take in another blend of clubbies and celebrated classics during the campaign ahead. “I still absolutely love racing,” he says, “and the people I’ve met along the way have been essential in fuelling my passion to compete. I’ve always considered myself a lucky dog – and that holds true to this day.”

Circuit racing might grind almost to a halt beyond October, with a few honourable exceptions, but the ‘off-season’ contains plenty of weekend alternatives that don’t involve pubs, garden centres or television sets. For instance…

BRANDS HATCH

The rain wasn’t heavy, initially at least, but remained irritatingly persistent. As its volume intensified during the day, the temperature dropped: chill factor, moisture factor… who knows? And yet, throughout it all, a couple of blokes on the spectator banks thought it perfectly acceptable to wear shorts. Fine on the grounds of taste, perhaps, but less so in terms of common sense. They appeared to be enjoying themselves, though, which arguably counts for more than comfort – a perfect snapshot of local resolve.

In truth the day was probably better suited to sitting indoors and listening to goals rattle in on BBC 5 Live with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc to hand, but I have an internal trigger that forbids such indulgence: it’s January, Brands Hatch is stirring, get thee to the A20…

Third round of the 2017-18 Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship, Chelmsford MC’s MGJ Winter Stages is now well established as part of the circuit’s repertoire. The recipe is tried and trusted – eight stages that blend the regular racetrack with access roads, the pit lane, both paddocks and the undulating course that hosts Brands Hatch’s own rally school – but familiarity doesn’t breed complacency. By the day’s end there were sufficient scars to vouch for both the event’s challenging nature and the commitment of those taking part, though the conditions probably didn’t help. And the pit exit hairpin, a tight squeeze for anything much bigger than a Fiesta, proved as always to be a chaos magnet. One driver stalled there for two consecutive laps, making navigability even more marginal and costing several rivals a second or three.

It says much for the Ford Escort’s emotional pull that about one third of the 80-plus entry were in either Mk2s or Mk1s, most of them with modern running gear (sequential transmission and so forth) beneath a recognisable cloak, but that doesn’t make them any less engaging to behold.

There was also a trio of Ferrari 308s, one destined to end its day in the Paddock gravel, one not especially quick and the other – shared by Lee Jones and Thomas Grogan – taking a worthy sixth overall among the more conventional weaponry,

The winners? Mark Kelly and Andy Baker. In a Mk2 Escort. Obviously.

BROOKLANDS

Some locations retain an aura even when there’s nothing going on – and Brooklands is one such. That the Vintage Sports-Car Club happened to be present, performing antique gymnastics against the clock, was merely a bonus.

Entries for the traditional New Year Driving Tests have dwindled slightly – down from 60-plus in the previous two years to 47 on this occasion – but it remains deeply satisfying to see the extant bits of Brooklands being used, even at speeds significantly south of John Cobb’s 143.44mph record, set as recently as 1935…

The nature of the event had changed slightly, with no reversing tests (the rules used to allow cars without a suitable gear to be pushed backwards) and the banking being used only lightly. Perhaps understandably, given the acclaim surrounding its relatively recent reopening, greater emphasis was placed on a series of exercises on the Finishing Straight.

Eddie Williams (1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports) is a regular front-runner at VSCC race meetings – and he underlined that he has dexterity as well as speed by taking outright victory from class winner Edmund Burgess (1924 Bugatti T13) and Richard Marsh (1929 Austin 7 Ulster). Among the most eye-catching entries were the 1925 Trojan Utility of Frazer Sloan, which just about conquered the Test Hill (with its one-in-four gradient towards the summit), and Katie Forrest’s 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, which required a three-point turn simply to access said Test Hill but otherwise performed with abundant grace.

And then there’s all the other stuff that was accessible to visitors on the day – the sprawling collection of sheds housing one of the planet’s finest assemblies of subjects automotive and aeronautic, everything from pre-war Grand Prix cars to Concorde via a Morris Eight.

Plus, of course, the on-site café retains its period urinals – strictly not for use, and bereft of graffiti as ‘the right crowd’ presumably didn’t do that kind of thing – but a charming throwback of the kind you simply don’t find elsewhere.

Walking into the new Flight Shed, the first thing one sees is a Sopwith Camel replica, with twin machine guns perched just behind its propeller. It would be impressive today if somebody came up with adequate synchronisation technology to prevent such planes shooting themselves down, but the Sopwith Camel is 101.

STANDLAKE

There is something defiantly grandiose about the word ‘arena’ – a term you might apply with equal certainty to Madison Square Garden or the Camp Nou. You might not associate it with a small plot of land just off the B4449, about 14 miles to Oxford’s west, but Standlake Arena has been a sporting hub since 1972.

Originally a dirt track, it was paved during the early 1980s but that’s about it as far as facilities go. There is raised banking upon which early arrivals may park to obtain a weather-sealed view from the comfort of their car, plus a tea hut, but for the most part it’s a friendly, laidback place carpeted in mud and gravel (with a bit of ice thrown in if you happen to be there for the Heavy Metal Classic – a January staple that once attracted a UK record entry of 266 bangers, though that is now capped at 236).

Standlake prides itself on an old-school approach – only the driver’s door and floorpan may be welded for strengthening, but that’s it. Anything considered to have been too zealously prepared will be rejected at scrutineering. That apart, almost anything goes: the multi-class structure admits Nissan Micras at one end of the scale and Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows at the other, though some things – including Ford Mondeos and Toyota Previas – are barred on the grounds of inherent natural strength. The 2018 entry included an Austin Allegro and two Morris Marinas, though science is powerless to explain why you’d choose either for durability or handling…

Many people remain dismissive of short-oval competition, but in all its forms (banger racing included) it’s a good place to fine-tune one’s car control, peripheral awareness and reflexes.

Standlake calls itself the ‘home of motor sport in Oxfordshire’ – a claim the Williams and Renault F1 teams might validly contest, ditto Brookes University – but for £12 per head (including programme) and with at least 20 races (depending on the survival rate) it provides competitively cheap racing on both sides of the fence.

Welcome to the school of very hard knocks.

HOT TOPIC

A former AC Cobra owner is suing the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency over his car’s apparent loss of value, after it was deemed to be built in 2002 (using old and new parts) rather than in 1964 as originally stated on the logbook. But does he have a valid case?

Julian Seddon claims the change in status on the DVLA’s documents slashed the car’s value from £250,000 to £100,000. His barrister John Black said that his client ‘would not have purchased the vehicle’ had he known that its status as a historic vehicle was ‘liable to investigation’. He explained that the purchase of the Cobra was made in good faith, partly relying on the integrity of its V5C logbook.

The DVLA’s case is that it does not owe a duty of care to buyers, and that the car’s logbook cannot be taken as proof of its age and provenance. The DVLA refused to comment further.

Black also claimed that the DVLA ‘made a conscious decision’ to delay its investigation into the car’s history until after the vehicle had been sold to Seddon. Two months before Seddon purchased the Cobra, the DVLA already ‘had reason to suspect that the integrity was in doubt’, Black said.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, this is not be the first time that a row over the provenance and value of a classic car has ended in court. But this case is unusual in that it is against the DVLA rather than a former owner.

With the values of period road and racing cars heading into millions of pounds, the potential for dispute is growing. Little wonder, then, that prudent buyers go to strenuous lengths to prove a car’s history, sometimes using period drivers, designers and mechanics to verify the car.

The High Court will make a ruling on the case at a later date.