Archive for year: 2024

Qualifying: It was wet!

From the assembly area we could all see the rooster tails of the historic F1 cars. Yes, qualifying was going to be wet. It also started 30 minutes late as some of the F1 cars had to be craned away first… While most drivers were still finding their feet, Olivier Hart set a stunning 2:20 lap in the Cobra Daytona to claim pole. He would start from row 2 though as a result of a penalty for ignoring yellow flags. Into the 2:21’s went Andy Newall in the E-type which meant he would start from pole in race 1. Jop Rappange was third fastest in the Porsche 904-6, while Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera was 4^th in the Shelby Mustang GT350, but he was also docked 3 places. Another to be penalized was Jaap Sinke in Jetze Visser’s ex-works Sebring Big Healey, which dropped him from 5^th to 8^th. So Roelant de Waard (Shelby Mustang GT350) took over 4^th on the grid with Peter Brouwer 5^th. Peter was fastest of the Lotus Elans by a country mile, but true to his reputation as the hardest working man in showbusiness he overdid it, had a spin just before Tarzan and hit the wall. Work to do for Peter the mechanic to fix things for the race. Thijmen de Vries was on course to be fastest of the touring cars until his engine stopped. It was still a Mini Cooper S at the front though, with Rene de Vries at the wheel. Second fastest TC was the Daniel Quintero – Peter Reynolds Lotus Cortina. Jack van der Ende would line up fourth TC in the Ford Falcon. In GTS11 a Porsche 911 is the car to have when it’s raining. Thijs van Gammeren was fastest, from Erwin van Lieshout with Holger Felske third in the first of the MGB’s. It was great to see (and hear) the Van der Lof Ferrari 250 SWB out on track, Alexander qualified it 13^th. Kennet Persson had a difficult qualifying, he nearly hit the wall and ended up only 20^th fastest in the Ford GT40. Charles Allison and Peter Thompson’s TVR Griffith was also not performing well, leaving them 29^th. These two were expected to storm to the front in the race, provided it would be dry. Finally, spare a thought for Udo Klasfauseweh in his Ford Falcon and Søren Christensen in his Ford GT40. These debutants bravely soldiered on, learning the track and trying to keep out of the way. They qualified 43th and 44^th.

Race 1: Hart hard at it

Turn 9 played a big part in deciding Saturday’s SuperSixties race. When the lights turned green, Olivier Hart initially lost out to Andy Newall in the Jaguar E-type, but soon romped into the lead with the Cobra Daytona. Jop Rappange held third in the Porsche 904-6, but had to work hard to keep up. Rene de Vries managed to stay ahead of all the other touring cars at the start, but the Mini Cooper was soon reeled in by Quintero in the Lotus Cortina, with fast-starting Jack van der Ende in the Ford Falcon not far behind. Even faster was Carlo Hamilton in his Falcon, but just when we thought he had finally got the V8 running properly, the car expired in Turn 9. Although it was in a fairly safe spot, Race Control decided to bring in the Safety Car. It took a long time to tow the Falcon away. This could have made the race more interesting, had there not been a train of backmarkers between Olivier Hart and his pursuers by this time. So, at the restart, Olivier was even further ahead, while a number of frustrated drivers did themselves no favours by overtaking before the Safety Car line. By now Kennet Persson in the Ford GT40 (having started 20^th) and Peter Thompson in the TVR Griffith (from 29^th) had made their way to the front and we had a tense four-way battle for second. With 45 cars on track, there was a lot of lapping going on. In an attempt to stay in touch, Jop Rappange made contact with a backmarker. The Porsche lost its front bonnet, which landed on the Turn 9 racing line. This led to another Safety Car period, which unfortunately lasted to the chequered flag. Thus, the race ended with everyone bunched up. Combine this fact with no less than 12 time penalties being issued and the printed result different substantially from the actual finishing order.

Behind undisputed victor Olivier Hart, Andy Newall was classified second and Peter Thompson took the third podium spot. Fourth went to Manfredo Rossi de Montelera in the Shelby GT350 with Alexander van der Lof in the Ferrari SWB a strong fifth. Peter Brouwer won GTS10, sixth overall, with Luc de Cock in another Elan not far behind, although the penalized Kenneth Persson landed between these two in the result. Roelant de Waard was even worse off, a 5 second penalty dropping him to 9^th. In GTS11 Theo van Gammeren was hampered by his arm restraint getting stuck in the seat runner of the Porsche 911. It took a while before he could free himself. Erwin van Lieshout duly motored to another class win in his 911, Holger Felske came second in the MGB and Theo salvaged third. Thanks to a late entry from Lucas Astorian we had two Lotus Elites in the race, but it was old hand Alexander Schlüchter who took the class win. With the Porsche 904 dropping out, Chas Mallard took the spoils in the small GTP class in the Ginetta G4R. In touring cars, the win went to Jack van der Ende in the Ford Falcon, with Henk van Gammeren in a similar car classified second, although he was behind Abraham Bontrup’s Mustang on the road. Daniel Quintero also collected a time penalty but still won CT08, from Allan Thom and Hanna Grade, all in Lotus Cortinas. The Mini class was a De Vries family affair, Rene taking the chequer 2,9 seconds ahead of Thijmen, with Bert Mets some way behind in third.

Race 2: A fiery end to a great weekend

Olivier Hart repeated his earlier performance by scoring another dominant victory in Sunday’s curtain closer, at the wheel of the DHG Cobra Daytona. Rhea Sautter hung on to second for a while in the mint green E-type until Kennet Persson took over in the Ford GT40. Peter Brouwer made a great start and slotted into third in his Lotus Elan, and then got involved in a race-long duel with Manfredo Rossi (Shelby GT350) and Luc de Cock (Lotus Elan). Rossi’s tyre-smoking late braking manoeuvres looked spectacular, but allowed the nimble Elans to pass him every time. De Cock managed to get ahead of Brouwer on several occasions, but Brouwer prevailed in the end. He was fourth overall though, as Charles Allison in the TVR Griffith had needed some time to get up to speed, but duly passed the battling trio to take the final podium spot. Rossi’s tire-smoking actions dropped him to 7^th behind Alexander van der Lof in the Ferrari SWB. He was denied a chance to set matters straight when Nigel Winchester’s Ginetta caught fire in the final corner. A quick exit was in order, which left the car in a very awkward spot. Race Control had no other choice than to hang out the red flag. With just under 5 minutes on the clock, the race would not be restarted.

On lap 9, Thijs van Gammeren had overtaken Erwin van Lieshout, the two Porsches claiming the first two places in GTS11, while Brian Lambert was shadowed by Holger Felske for the duration of the race to take third in class and first of the MGB’s. Lucas Astorian was the only starter in GTS04 in his beautiful Lotus Elite and drove a steady race, improving his laptimes by nearly 2 seconds. Most improved driver was Søren Christensen in the yellow GT40 though, he shaved 5 seconds off his Saturday best! In touring cars Jaap van der Ende led away in the orange Falcon, but it was Bram Bontrup in the DHG Mustang who overtook him and claimed the win. Peter Reynolds was second touring car home in the CT08 winning Lotus Cortina, while van der Ende had Henk Van Gammeren breathing down his neck when the race was stopped. Before that Carlo Hamilton had been going well, setting fast laptimes in the light blue Falcon, but again it did not last, although he did manage 50% more laps than on Saturday. Second and third in CT08 were Allan Thom and Magnus Lillerskog, both in a Lotus Cortina. In CT07 René de Vries led for most of the race, but his son Thijmen was ahead when it counted with Bert Mets third in class, all in Cooper S’.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, helped by the beautiful weather, smooth organization, entousiastic spectators and a party atmosphere. With 45 cars SuperSixties was the best supported series of the 2024 Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix. A big shout out to all our guest drivers, thanks for joining us and do come again!

Full results: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Results.pdf

More results: https://raceresults.nu/Results/organisator/2024?evenement=Circuit+Zandvoort&race=Historic+Grand+Prix+2024

Points: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Standings-Zandvoort.pdf

More news from Zandvoort in SuperSixties Magazine 2024#3: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/supersixties-zandvoort-magazine-v2/

Charade – what a brilliant racetrack!

At the end of qualifying, every single driver stepped out of the car with a broad smile on their face. After a drizzly morning the sun came out and the Charade track welcomed the SuperSixties drivers with dry tarmac, even if it was a bit oily in places. While most drivers set out to learn the track, Greg Carini in the Cooper S and Luc de Cock in the Lotus Elan used their local knowledge to launch themselves to the top of the timesheets. Next to get up to speed was Armand Adriaans in the Shelby Cobra. Later in the session Andy Newall set a 2:17,5 to claim pole in the Jaguar E-type he shares with Rhea Sautter. Kennet Persson in the Ford GT40 was expected to better that, but traffic on the narrow track and loads of yellow flags meant he had to settle for second, 0,7 seconds behind. Row two was claimed by Adriaans and De Cock, with Roelant de Waard in 5^th in his Shelby GT350. Greg Carini and David Barrere had a great scrap in their Mini’s, using the full width of the track and four-wheel drifting through the corners to claim a brilliant 6^th and 7^th, fastest of all the touring cars. Peter Brouwer took 8^th in his Lotus Elan, while Niek van Gils qualified his Lotus in 9^th but decided to switch to his MGB for the races. That promoted Mark Dols (Marcos 1800) to 9^th and SuperSixties debutant Malivaï Castelli (Lotus Elan) to 10th. There was be a record number of 9 MGB’s fighting for GST11 honours this weekend. Brian Lambert was fastest of them all, and also managed to outpace the single Porsche 911 in the class, driven by Erwin van Lieshout. Returning to the touring cars, there were more Mini’s in 3rd and 4th, Jasper Izaks ahead of Rob Rappange, with Hemmo Vriend only fifth due to a gearbox problem. His Ford Falcon was to have a fresh T10 fitted for the race. The Lotus Cortina contest was won by the smallest of margins by Magnus Lillerskog, from Raffin/Raffin. Would it be Sweden or France? Most talked about car in the paddock was definitely the Iso Rivolta IR300 of Rob Bergmans (welcome back Rob!), a rare beast indeed. Most unlucky driver was Oliver Douglas, who did not set a time at all in the Cobra Daytona.

Race 1: an exciting race with a confusing finish

Saturday’s SuperSixties race was very exciting to watch. So much so that the guy holding the “last lap” board was caught out and as a result the race finished one lap early.

Before that that there was a lot of great action. Kennet Persson led for the first few laps, with Armand Adriaans in pursuit. When the Ford GT40 hit a kerb, it dislodged a track rod and Kennet had to retire the car, handing the lead to the AC Cobra. Luc de Cock in the Lotus Elan, the Sautter/Newall E-type and Roelant de Waard were all close behind and in with a chance, although De Waard messed up when he came in too late for his stop. In the last few laps Luc de Cock was harrying Adriaans while Andy Newall was closing in. It could have been any of them but it was in fact De Cock who just nipped ahead of Adriaans when they passed the line. The bad news for the Belgian veteran racer was that in the final lap confusion the clerk of the course decided to red flag the race, which meant the result was declared after the previous lap. At that moment Adriaans was 0,19 seconds ahead. Luc did get to stand on the top step of the podium though. Newall/Sautter were classified third with Peter Brouwer in the Lotus Elan fourth. In fifth was the giant killing Mini of Greg Carini, who again had a good scrap with David Barrere before pulling away. At the finish the two Mini’s were split by Oliver Douglas in the Cobra Daytona, who had started from the back. The same went for the Deenik/Sinke Ford Falcon, up to 8^th at the finish. Having collected a draconic 300 second penalty, Roelant de Waard dropped to 9^th in the results. Rounding out the top-10 was none other than Mr. Iso Rivolta himself, Rob Bergmans. Yes, he has built a new one and it looks great! He also won the invitation class ahead of Bernd Horlacher (AH Sebring Sprite) and Frank Weidema (Mini Marcos). GTS11 saw Erwin van Lieshout in the lone Porsche 911 take on no less than 9 MGB’s. He had to give best to Brian Lambert, while Holger Felske finished second on the road but incurred a penalty which dropped him to fourth in class behind Antoine Darley and Basile Gronfier. Third in CT07 was Rob Rappange in the Mini, just ahead of Hemmo Vriend in his Ford Falcon, second in CT10. Sweden won the CT08 Lotus Cortina battle, Magnus Lillerskog driving a steady race and managing to keep the Raffin family behind him. Finally, in GTP<2500 there were no finishers, both Mark Dols in the Marcos 1800 and Nigel Winchester in the Ginetta G4R dropping out after 6 laps which was a shame as they were very close on laptimes. We would have to wait until Sunday to see who was fastest.

Race 2: Luc’s revenge

Luc de Cock made up for Saturday’s disappointment by scoring a resounding win in the second SuperSixties race at Charade. Armand Adriaans led away from the start in the Shelby Cobra. De Cock was on his tail the whole time and pounced on lap 4. He pulled out a comfortable lead, but then messed up his pitstop so he had to do it all over again. Some very quick laps soon brought the Cobra back in his sights. He wasted no time in passing and was 3 seconds ahead at the flag. Andy Newall (Jaguar E-type) snatched third from Roelant de Waard (Shelby GT350) on the final lap. Peter Brouwer held third initially in his Lotus Elan but lost ground after a spin. He finished 6th behind Oliver Douglas in the Cobra Daytona. Kennet Persson was another who held third for a while. Having started 32nd he lost a certain podium place when the throttle cable of his Ford GT40 broke. Bart Deenik had a great start in the Ford Falcon and was just behind David Barrere in the Cooper S but later in the race the French Mini racers Barrere and Carini again made the touring car class their own in 7th and 8th with Deenik/Sinke finishing 9th and Jasper Izaks an impressive 10th in his borrowed Cooper S. Magnus Lillerskog was one of several with a time penalty for a pitstop, but still won CT08, ahead of the other Lotus Cortina of the Raffin brothers. Mark Dols won the small GTP class in the Marcos 1800 ahead of Chas Mallard and Nigel Winchester in the Ginetta G4R, all of them happy to make it to the finish this time. Frank Weidema drove his Mini Marcos to a win in the invitation class. Finally there was high drama in the most hotly contested class, GTS11. Erwin van Lieshout was determined to beat the MGB’s and indeed managed to take the class lead in his Porsche 911. In doing so he overshot the pit window. This was rewarded with a 300 second penalty as per the regulations, so all his efforts had been in vain. Brian Lambert’s MGB suffered rear end damage in an unfortunate outbraking manoeuvre by another competitor, but he still brought it home to a class win. Holger Felske drove a faultless race and took second. The Darley/Gronfier MGB looked good for third in class until the gearbox broke. Through it all came Egbert Kolvoort to claim the trophy for third, with Fabienne Mütschler an excellent fourth in class.

Results: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/results/

Full results (with a bit of navigating): https://www.its-results.com/hvm/2024/4c1cbcc0-a6c0-4004-9d02-8857b4de0932

More news from Charade in SuperSixties Magazine 2024#2, here: download magazine

The full unofficial not-a-championship ranking after 2 races: download ranking