Heritage head for super fast Thruxton
6 May 2010
Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge offers a snapshot to touring car and GT racing of the 60’s and 70’s.
The Heritage GT series of races for classic ‘60’s and 70’s sports, GT’s and saloons is a popular part of the British motor racing scene. This weekend, for round two, the series, sponsored by Stratton Motor Company, pay a rare trip to the fabulously fast Thruxton circuit. The sight of these cars on the fast sweeps and rushing up Woodham Hill to the chicane will be a great spectacle.
Expect plenty of fast and furious sideways action from Mini Coopers and Ford Escorts to potent Morgan Plus 8s and mighty Camaros.
These cars are from an era when power invariably exceeded grip and with many cars running highly modified 4-litre, 5 litre and even 6-litre engines, cars getting out of sorts is the norm in Heritage races. Add in the spectacle of some of the more rapid smaller cars and you have all the ingredients for a real crowd pleaser.
This season has a new system of compulsory pit stops, driver changes and class weighting, which will make for an exciting spectacle.
Ones to watch are the low; sleek Morgan V8’s of Grahame Bryant and his GT driver son Olly, victorious at Silverstone three weeks ago. The monster V8 Ram Cobras of John Dickson and Cheng Lim partnered with Phil James are bound to be pushing at the front. Bob Searles in his DBS V8 represent the Aston Martins and the MGB V8 of John Wilson is sure to be in the mix. New to the series is Garry Diver in a Marcos GT.
American muscle cars to watch are the Chevrolet Camaro of John Shoesmith and Ray Barrow, the Ford Mustang driven by Richard Cooke and Simon Verschueren and the similar car of Jeremy Cooke.
With close racing likely in the mildly modified classes for sports cars and classic saloons, the Heritage race promises to be a highlight of great day of motorsport.
