HSCC Brands Hatch Superprix report

It had been 8 years since SuperSixties, or NKHTGT as we were still called then, last raced at Brands. And what a lovely track it is, quite challenging, with a super old school atmosphere, perfect for our kind of historic racing.

Qualifying – old hands and newbies

An eventful qualifying session kicked off the SuperSixties weekend at Brands Hatch. While the experienced racers put some fast times on the clocks, the Brands rookies set out to learn the track. Bernd Horlacher was the first to make the headlines when he got stuck in the gravel trap at Sheene. A short safety car interlude was necessary to free the Mini. Jamie Boot topped the timesheets in the TVR from Nigel Winchester in the Ginetta G4R. Next it was Jaap van der Ende who shed the exhaust from the V8 Ford. Moments later, in a déjà vu moment from our previous visit to Brands, the orange Ford Falcon was beached in the Paddock Hill Bend gravel. With the red flags out, Jaap returned to the paddock and the tire barriers were rebuilt. Just 10 minutes remained to set a time. Andy Newall propelled the Jaguar E-type to a time of 1.46.0 to take pole from Boot. Michiel Campagne took 3rd in the Corvette Grand Sport with Luc de Cock in the sole Lotus Elan in 4th. The Mallard/Winchester Ginetta claimed the 5th start position. Next up it was V8 power with Roelant de Waard in the Shelby GT350 and Oliver Douglas in the Cobra Daytona. Allan Ross-Jones qualified 8th in his amazingly fast GTS11 Triumph TR4, with SuperSixties returnees Regis and Mathias Devis (Shelby GT350) and Christophe Germain in his new TVR Griffith rounding out the top-10. Jaap van der Ende had set a fast lap before he outbraked himself, but it was Carlo Hamilton who pipped him to touring car pole by 0.15 of a second. Behind the two Falcons was Adam Cunnington in the Lotus Cortina, just 0.036 of a second back. Alexander Schlüchter beat Jasper Izaks to pole in CT07, the Mini class. With 34 cars on the grid, we were looking forward to an exciting pair of races.

Race 1 – Corvette vs. TVR

Michiel Campagne won an exciting SuperSixties race at Brands Hatch on Saturday, at the wheel of the Corvette Grand Sport. Jamie Boot led away from the start in the TVR Griffith with Campagne in hot pursuit. Luc de Cock slotted into third in the Lotus Elan. There was a mighty battle for fourth with Rhea Sautter in the E-type, Chas Mallard in the Ginetta, Oliver Douglas in the Cobra Daytona and Roelant de Waard in the Shelby GT350. Sautter came in early to hand over to Andy Newall. He was quickly strapped in, but there was a problem… the steering wheel was missing! He was sitting on top of it, so the belts had to come off again. After the pitstops the roles at the front were reversed, Campagne now ahead with Boot chasing. Newall went great guns and managed to reel in De Cock to take third. The battle for fifth was intense and involved De Waard, Douglas, Christophe Germain in the TVR Griffith, Nigel Winchester who had taken over the Ginetta from Mallard and Jop Rappange in the Porsche 904-6. There were countless position changes, but they finished in this order. Carlo Hamilton in the Ford Falcon was alo in this group but dropped back a bit towards the end of the race to take 10th and win the touring car class. Jaap van der Ende did all he could to stay in touch, on track as well as off it, but had to settle for second in CT10 in his Falcon. Adam Cunnington was third touring car home and won CT08, well ahead of the other Lotus Cortinas of Deenik/Sinke and van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees. In CT07, Alexander Schlüchter and Jasper Izaks had an entertaining battle which Alexander settled in his favour. GTS11 was dominated by Allan Ross-Jones in his Triumph. TR4 First of the MGB’s were Nick and Chris Thompson with James Hicks/Jeremy Deeley third in class. Brian Lambert brought out his trusty 1-litre Ginetta G4 and put many bigger engined cars to shame by finishing 16th overall.

Race 2 – Corvette vs. TVR revisited

Sunday’s SuperSixties race at the HSCC Legends of Brands Hatch Superprix was another belter. Jamie Boot harried Michiel Campagne for the full 40 minutes. After 22 laps of hard racing the TVR Griffith was just 0,9 of a second behind the Corvette Grand Sport. Luc de Cock again slotted his Lotus Elan into third, although Oliver Douglas did manage to get ahead for several laps. In a repeat of Saturday’s race, Andy Newall took over the E-type from Rhea Sautter during the pitstop and then reeled in Douglas and the De Cock to claim the final podium spot. The other top-10 places were heavily disputed by a large group. Christophe Germain dropped back after he spun his TVR on lap 19. Carlo Hamilton took 6th in the Ford Falcon, with Allan Ross-Jones punching above his weight again to take 7th in the TR4. Roelant de Waard salvaged 8th after Regis/Mathias Devis in a similar GT350 were docked 15 seconds for a pitstop that was 3 seconds too short. Jaap van der Ende rallycrossed the orange Ford Falcon to 10th and second touring car home. Alexander Schlüchter drove his Mini to 3rd in TC and another win in CT07 from Izaks/Rappange. When Adam Cunnington dropped out with a broken throttle cable, the CT08 class victory fell to the other Lotus Cortina of Van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees. Nigel Winchester and Chas Mallard in the twincam Ginetta again had the better of the Rappange Porsche 904-6 to claim the trophy in the small GTP class. Brian Lambert in the 1-litre Ginetta started his race with an excursion through the Paddock Hill gravel trap. He then put his foot down and moved up to an impressive 14th overall at the finish. The battle of the B’s was won by Nick Thompson, from Mike Henney and Tiziane Mütschler. Most unluckily driver of the weekend was William Tebbit. Having qualified out of session in the morning, he was denied a race when teammate James Hicks had to retire the MGB before they could change drivers.

Many thanks to the Historic Sports Car Club for organizing an excellent race meeting.

Full results: https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/242856

More news from Brands in SuperSixties Magazine 2024#4: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SuperSixties-Brands-Hatch-magazine-V2.pdf

Points after 8 of 12 races: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/standings/

Next race:

September 13-15 – Classic GP Assen – some spaces still available. Anyone with an FIA compliant pre-’66 Touring Car, GT or GTP is invited to join us! Enter here: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/race-with-us/

Check out our YouTube channel for action clips: https://www.youtube.com/@Supersixties