HSCC 60th Anniversary Castle Combe 8th & 9th August 2026
TILLEY HAS THE RIGHT FORMULA FOR HSCC’S BIG BIRTHDAY
Car racing returned Castle Combe for the first time since the late May bank holiday on the 8th and 9th of August. The meeting held special significance as it celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Historic Sports Car Club, which held its inaugural race at the circuit in May 1966 and the club office was also locally situated for a time near the village of Kington Langley. The home Castle Combe championships were split over the weekend, with two categories racing per day and the rest of the programme was given over to the HSCC.
Car racing returned Castle Combe for the first time since the late May bank holiday on the 8th and 9th of August. The meeting held special significance as it celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Historic Sports Car Club, which held its inaugural race at the circuit in May 1966 and the club office was also locally situated for a time near the village of Kington Langley. The home Castle Combe championships were split over the weekend, with two categories racing per day and the rest of the programme was given over to the HSCC.
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The local FF1600s were out on Saturday and Luke Cooper was imperious in the opener, chased home by the impressive 34-year-old Van Diemen of Tom Hawkins. Later on, the 1992-vintage chassis led the opening three laps before the reigning champion went through but Cooper was denied his second victory of the day when the Swift spluttered to a halt and gifted Hawkins his first overall win at the circuit in nine years of trying. The Avon Tuning GTs were also in action on the first day of the meeting, with Dave Scaramanga dominant first time out from Dylan Popovic’s V8 Ginetta, who had to work very hard to overcome Keith Butcher’s Lamborghini. Sacha Kakad scorched to the second race honours aboard Butcher’s GT3 Huracan once he overcame the Scaramanga Ferrari on lap five. The Nankang Tyres Hot Hatches attracted the largest field of the local series with 23 entries but contact in the pack caused a multiple pile up at the start of the first race and a consequent red flag. Corey Webber took the lead at Quarry on lap two as he claimed the shortened rerun before they were combined with the Saloons for their second outing. Webber was soon among the other category runners but his Honda wouldn’t last the distance and Julian Fisher picked up the pieces with his Fiesta. The South Cerney Engineering Saloons brought in new regulations in an attempt to boost grid numbers with a greater freedom of eligible cars and the rapid Honda Integra of Liam Collins sped to victory from pole position in the opening race before Jack Boulton overtook Haydn King late in the day to win the repeat.
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Forty years of Classic F3 racing was commemorated with a special Marcus Pye Trophy, with the long-serving Autosport journalist instrumental in starting the Classic F3 movement. The March 803 of Benn Tilley just held Pye’s godson James Hadfield at bay for the opener, after early leader Chris Hodgen’s Chevron faded, before Tilley made up for a slightly tardy opening lap second time out to climb from third to first and defeat Hadfield in the quest for the aggregate trophy. Hadfield’s team had pulled the ex-Brian Henton/Rupert Keegan British F3 championship-winning March 743 out of the Silverstone museum to compete at the meeting after being on display for three years! The older 1000cc F3 screamers of the late 1960s saw Peter de la Roche’s angular Alexis passing the fast-starting Richard Trott on lap one to lead home Jeremy Timms’ Chevron in the first race. De la Roche then had to fight hard to defeat the Brabham of the Saturday runner-up’s cousin Jason Timms on the penultimate lap of the rematch. The Griffiths Haig Trophy is named after the HSCC’s founding members Guy Griffiths and Betty Haig and the field hosted three of the iconic D-Type Jaguars, including chassis XKD 504 which triumphed in the Griffiths Formula race at Castle Combe that led to the creation of the HSCC. Gary Pearson’s D-Type held sway during the opening stages before the similar car shared between the locally-based Christian Albrecht/Kyle Tilley took over but Pearson was back ahead after the pitstops to take the win from the May 1966 race winner. Besides the home FF1600 championship, the HSCC’s Historic and Classic FF1600 categories were also in action. Benn Simms prevailed in the two typically frantic slipstreamers for the older Pre ‘72 machinery, the rare Jomo running away from a titanic scrap for second won by Oliver Chapman’s Lola at the last corner on Sunday. Tom Gadd triumphed among the slightly newer Pre ‘82 chassis on Saturday after coming through an early tussle between front row men Oliver Chapman and Cal Bennett before the latter stole the win from Gadd on the final lap of the restarted second bout, his first overall triumph. The next step up the racing ladder from FF1600 historically was the Pinto-powered FF2000 category and no one had an answer to Jordan Harrison as he sped to both victories in his Lola. A gargantuan grid of the combined HSCC Roadsports, 70s Roadsports, Historic Saloons and the 105 Cup for classic Alfa Romeos saw the Lotus Seven of Mark Godfrey see off a multitude of Morgan +8s first time out but Godfrey was an early retirement later on, with Richard Plant’s Morgan leading for much of the distance until John Shaw’s similar car got ahead shortly before a race-ending red flag. Finally, a select group of Guards Trophy entries were led by a duelling Elliot Paterson and Mark Colman/Hugh Colman, with the former’s Ginetta stretching away from the Chevron B8 after the pitstops.
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The bank holiday Monday on the 31st of August will see the next competitive action at the Wiltshire circuit, with the meeting named the ‘Midsummer Mania Raceday’ and features the first running of the ’Combe 100’ mini-endurance pitstop race.
Report written for EDP Photo News.
Report written for EDP Photo News.