Walter Hayes Trophy Silverstone 2nd & 3rd November 2024
SENSATIONAL SMITH WINS HISTORIC THRILLER FOR MAIDEN WALTER HAYES TROPHY TRIUMPH
The 24th annual Walter Hayes Trophy took place on the 2nd and 3rd of November at Silverstone, with the National layout guaranteed to provide plenty of frenetic slipstreaming action as the packed entry of 89 cars fought for one of the biggest prizes in FF1600 racing.
Preview: The 2023 Walter Hayes Trophy winner Chris Middlehurst has been a front-runner in the category for more than a decade with his Team Dolan Van Diemen LA10 and looked to defend his crown, he could yet be the 2024 Festival winner after protesting the final result and taking the matter to the National Court. Joey Foster aimed to add to his creaking trophy cabinet of three Festival and four Walter Hayes Trophy victories, the Firman driver went unrewarded for one of the great comeback drives in the Formula Ford Festival final a fortnight previously after starting from 22nd and sliding off when threatening for the lead with three laps to go. Arguably the fastest car and driver combination at Castle Combe this year was the B-M Racing Medina of Rory Smith, the two-time Festival winner hoped for a smoother ride to the final after breaking a driveshaft before the start of his Festival heat a couple of weeks ago and his 2023 Walter Hayes Trophy challenge ended prematurely when he was taken out of the lead in his Semi-Final. Irish-Filipino youngster Jason Smyth has had a meteoric first full season in FF1600 with his Team Dolan Van Diemen RF00, the son of the 2010 Kent Festival winner Neville showed a lot of pace at the Festival before ultimately colliding with Joey Foster as the Firman rejoined during the final but if he can curb his enthusiasm a little then a big result might be on the cards. Michael Eastwell looked like the man most likely to take home the Walter Hayes Trophy in 2023 after sweeping the board with his KMR Spectrum en route to the final before ultimately finishing second and the Australian-domiciled photographer would be keen to stand on the top step this year. Jacob Tofts went well at the 2023 event before a collision in his Semi-Final put him out and he returned with another KMR Spectrum. Andrew Rackstraw provided one of the biggest talking points of the 2023 event after scoring a podium finish in the final having started the day in the Progression race and would be one of the favourites for glory this weekend aboard one of the fleet of KMR Spectrums. The South African moved into the Porsche Carrera Cup GB for this year, taking an overall victory, and he also kept his FF1600 skills sharp with wins at Castle Combe and Brands Hatch. Two dark horses in KMR Spectrums would be Ian Schofield’s latest finds, Klayden Cole ‘KC’ Ensor-Smith and teenager Mikel Bezuidenhout. The Julian van der Watt and Robert Wolk pair of Mygales have performed strongly during the last two editions of the Walter Hayes Trophy and expect the South African duo to be towards the sharp end again this time. Alex Walker took Felix Fisher to the final race before conceding the Castle Combe crown this year, despite missing the opening round, in the Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen used to great effect by Ben Mitchell in previous years. Walker joined Josh Fisher in the team as the three-time Castle Combe champion hoped to finally bag his first Walter Hayes Trophy triumph after standing on the podium five times, Fisher came close in 2023 despite starting the final from the twelfth row to come through to lead into the later stages. Recently crowned Castle Combe champion Felix Fisher, like his brother, would be looking for his maiden Walter Hayes Trophy crown with his Ray and both of the siblings are now three-time champions at the Wiltshire venue. Luke Cooper, one of the leading lights in the Castle Combe championship with two titles, showed great pace to take the third podium spot at the Festival a couple of weeks ago and the Swift should be well suited to the Silverstone National layout. Former Combe champions Adam Higgins and Rob Hall can also be expected to feature, with twice-crowned Higgins taking a great seventh in last year’s final. Gavin Wills, another ex-title holder in Wiltshire, was also out in a Van Diemen RF00 and was the first winner of the Walter Hayes Trophy as a stand-alone event but only returned to racing this year after a sixteen-year layoff. Tom McArthur was quick at the Festival in a Van Diemen RF86 and should be in the mix at Silverstone aboard a modern Medina. United Formula Ford front runners Charlie Mann and Jason Pribyl are capable of strong results with their Rays, along with the Ben Cox and Isaac Canto da Silva Van Diemens. Tom Nippers’ privateer Van Diemen RF01 has impressed this season as the Welshman took on the powerhouse teams with the privately-run Van Diemen RF01, scoring overall victories in United Formula Ford at Castle Combe and Snetterton before finishing inside the top ten of the Festival final. A pair of Americans with high hopes were Hugh Esterson, the older brother of 2022 victor Max, who returned after taking a highly creditable fourth overall with an Ammonite Ray at the Festival, whilst Jonathan Kotyk performed strongly in 2023 and would be at the wheel of the ex-Niall Murray Team Dolan Van Diemen RF01 so has the machinery to do well again. David McArthur is one of the co-founders of B-M Racing and the brother of Tom made an impressive comeback drive to ninth at the Festival with his Medina after contesting the Progression and Last Chance races. A late entry was received from James Hadfield aboard the Mk2 Medina that previous event winner Michael Moyers helped develop and was part of the Grand Final lead fight in 2023 until contact eliminated the car.
Heats Round-Up: A very strong line up was drawn for Heat One, including four-time winner Joey Foster, rapid youngster Jason Smyth, Castle Combe front-runner Alex Walker and two KMR Sport Spectrums in the hands of a pair of South Africans, with one of the favourites for outright honours, Andrew Rackstraw, handling one and dark horse ‘KC’ Klayden Cole Ensor-Smith the other. Early qualifying pacesetter Rackstraw had slumped to sixth at half-distance as Walker established himself at the top of the pile before the South African clawed his way to second with three minutes remaining. Teammate Ensor-Smith jumped ahead of Rackstraw inside the final minute with a time just 0.002 seconds from Walker before the Van Diemen improved on the last time around to secure pole position by 0.212 seconds from the South African pair but the polesitter’s final lap was subsequently scrubbed. Joey Foster, one of the pre-event favourites, had trouble during the session with a carburettor-related misfire and ended up on the back row in 21st. The Cornishman had suffered trouble with his primary unit in testing so fitted the spare and the engine ran fine but they thought the problem had been solved with the #1 carb, so that was refitted to car for qualifying and the issue returned. There was also major trouble for another of the event favourites as Jason Smyth's diff seized as they rolled the car off the set-up 'flat patch' and the Team Dolan squad had to perform a high-speed gearbox change, not fast enough to qualify for Heat One but he was able to slot into Heat Four later. Alex Walker led the first couple of laps of Heat One from pole position, just ahead of the South African piloted Spectrums and Rob Hall's Swift before Andrew Rackstraw moved to the front into Copse on lap four. Walker tried to fight back at Brooklands but locked a brake and the impressive Silverstone debutant 'KC' Ensor-Smith moved up to second into Copse starting lap five after sticking with the outside through Luffield and Woodcote. Ensor-Smith began pushing compatriot Rackstraw for the race lead but Walker briefly went back into second at Becketts on the penultimate tour after the South African lost momentum at Copse threatening his teammate. However, Ensor-Smith repassed the Van Diemen at Copse for the final time to cross the line 0.844 seconds behind his KMR stablemate. When the cars crossed the finishing line, Walker was slapped with a five-second track limit penalty to promote Hall to the podium, ahead of Jonathan Kotyk and Anthony Amato, with the penalised Castle Combe runner-up reclassified sixth. Nathan Ward just finished as the top Janet Cesar Trophy car in seventh with his 1992 Swift by 0.351 seconds from Andrew Schofield’s 1989 Reynard. Darwin Smith led the category early on in sixth overall before a clash with a determined Foster on lap six at Copse saw the Van Diemen RF90 slip to thirteenth but the Irishman had fought back to eleventh by the flag. Foster ended up ninth to make it through to the Semis but had the silver lining of a healthy engine in his Firman and Ian Campbell's Ray completed the top ten.
The 2023 Walter Hayes Trophy champion Chris Middlehurst, along with Castle Combe champions Felix Fisher and Luke Cooper were the standout names in Heat Two. Adam Higgins, another former Castle Combe title holder, could threaten them, whilst the Rays of Charlie Mann and Jason Pribyl have shown speed in United Formula Ford this year. Alex Ames, Callum Grant and Richard Tarling should be well up with their Janet Cesar Trophy chassis. Last year’s Carl Hamer Trophy winner Joseph Ahrens was in this heat also, with the fellow Pre ‘82 category car of ex-Grand Prix driver and Le Mans class winner Jan Magnussen set to take the fight to the Royale driver. Qualifying for Heat Two proved to be a competitive session, with four drivers swapping the top places between them. Felix Fisher set the initial pace before Charlie Mann, Chris Middlehurst and Luke Cooper also took turns at the top, with the last-named Swift driver ultimately setting pole with three minutes left as no improvements were made in the last couple of minutes after the surface was dampened by drizzle. A rather fractious second heat saw a defensive Felix Fisher lead the early stages ahead of Chris Middlehurst, who had taken poleman Luke Cooper at Becketts for the first time, the Swift of Cooper in third from the fast-starting Alex Ames and Charlie Mann. Adam Higgins ran in sixth and joined the group when the fight intensified. Fisher held off all Middlehurst could throw at his Ray until the sixth lap when his defence of the lead slowed the defending Walter Hayes Trophy holder's Van Diemen out of Copse and Cooper took second place at Becketts, the Swift continued around the outside of Fisher and swept into the lead at Brooklands. Middlehurst stayed in Cooper's slipstream to follow the former Castle Combe title holder past the current champion into second. After holding off Fisher's attempt to regain second place into Brooklands for the penultimate time, Middlehurst was back with Cooper on the final lap and the Swift locked up at Brooklands under pressure from the Van Diemen to hand the heat win to a grateful Middlehurst by a slender 0.161 seconds. The Rays of a frustrated Fisher and Mann came home third and fourth and the quartet were covered by just 0.555 seconds, whilst Higgins and Jason Pribyl both passed the top Janet Cesar Trophy car of Ames during the later stages for fifth and sixth places and the American had recovered from skating wide at Becketts on lap one. Two further Janet Cesar Trophy cars fought throughout for eighth and ninth place as Richard Tarling and Callum Grant took each other on, with the Reynard driver taking the higher placing. Lewis Fox rounded out the top ten aboard his Ray. The top Carl Hamer Trophy qualifier Jan Magnussen retired during the second half of the race so Joseph Ahrens was the first first Pre '82 car past the flag in thirteenth overall and the Royale was running ahead of the Dane at the time of his exit.
Michael Eastwell was the clear favourite for Heat Three with his KMR Spectrum, with Tom McArthur and Hugh Esterson set to be in the mix. Both of the South African-piloted Mygales would be in the same heat, handled by Robert Wolk and Julian van der Watt. Look out too for Cam Jackson and Sam Street for some giant-killing in their Janet Cesar Trophy machines. Most of the top six cars ran in a slipstreaming train throughout the twelve minutes of qualifying but the Spectrum of Michael Eastwell was a constant at the top of the times. Hugh Esterson was the last to take the flag but couldn’t nick pole position despite improving to the front row with a 0.038-second gap to the poleman. Julian van der Watt used a tow from Connor Willis to go third inside the final minute before an improvement from the impressive Kieran Attwood placed the Ray at the head of row two. The Mygale was eventually bumped to sixth by a flurry of faster times as Cam Jackson topped the Janet Cesar Trophy cars in an eyebrow-raising fourth overall from Tom McArthur's modern machine in fifth. Sam Street lined up seventh in his 1992 Swift after being as high as fifth. A great launch saw Hugh Esterson lead Michael Eastwell on lap one from Cam Jackson's Van Diemen RF90 and Tom McArthur's Medina, whilst Kieran Attwood fell back to sixth behind Julian van der Watt. Eastwell soon started to push the leading Ray, with the Spectrum moving into the lead at Becketts on lap two. Eastwell and Esterson lapped together closely for the duration but McArthur got away from van der Watt and Attwood in the later stages to challenge the lead pair on the last time around. The Medina briefly went three abreast with victor Eastwell and Esterson into Becketts but was ultimately held back in third over the line and was subsequently hit with a five-second track limit penalty to fall to seventh behind the Robert Wolk and Jackson squabble. The penalty would later be withdrawn so McArthur was reinstated in third from the Mygale of van der Watt and the Ray of Attwood in fifth. Wolk was sixth with his Mygale after starting fourteenth and the Janet Cesar Trophy leader Cam Jackson was seventh in the Kärcher RF90. Connor Willis came back from a tricky qualifying to finish eighth, ahead of the second Janet Cesar Trophy finisher Sam Street in ninth. Rick Morris ran at the head of a six-car queue before Chris Acton got through for tenth overall but the Royale finished as the top Carl Hamer Trophy competitor from Matthew Wrigley and Jake Shortland, who were split by Robert Wainwright’s Mondiale M90S to deny the Lola an automatic Semi-Final start. James Hadfield was an opening lap retirement after bending his Medina's rear suspension in a tangle with Morris and Acton at Brooklands.
Rory Smith and Josh Fisher were the ones to beat in Heat Four. The other South African unknown quantity Mikel Bezuidenhout and Jacob Tofts could threaten in their Spectrums, along with privateer Tom Nippers after a strong Festival and Isaac Canto da Silva could pose a problem too. Jason Smyth was a late addition to the heat and would also be a feature at the front after the Team Dolan outfit changed a gearbox in double-quick time to enable the youngster to compete. Rory Smith set the pace in the early minutes of qualifying before Josh Fisher went fastest with his third flying lap and the time survived an improvement from the B-M Medina on its next attempt but Smith would take back provisional pole at the halfway stage. The two-time Festival winner went quicker again on his following lap but was still knocked down by Fisher. Smith dropped back to find a slipstream and used a tow from Mikel Bezuidenhout to grab pole position with his last lap from Fisher. Smyth set the third best time ahead of the Bezuidenhout Spectrum. The South African's KMR stablemate Jacob Tofts and Tom Nippers formed the third row. Polesitter Rory Smith held off a quick-off-the-mark Jason Smyth and Josh Fisher at Copse to lead Heat Four away before contact between fifth-placed Jacob Tofts' Spectrum and David McArthur at Becketts, when master brake cylinder failure left the Medina with front brakes only, also saw the unfortunate Isaac Canto da Silva caught up in the aftermath as he removed a wheel from his Van Diemen against the spinning McArthur. The delayed Tofts rejoined at the back of the field as the other two both went out. Front-row starter Fisher slipped down to fourth behind Bezuidenhout towards Brooklands for the first time as Smyth chased after Smith. The pair would edge away from the rest of the field before the Team Dolan Van Diemen started paying more attention to the back of Smith’s Medina during the second half of the heat. The pair spent much of lap seven abreast as the youngster temporarily took the lead but the two-time Festival winner sold the dummy at Copse for the final time to prevail by 0.317 seconds on-the-road before Smyth was ultimately hit with a five second track limit penalty. Smyth lost just the one place with his punishment but the penalty was eventually rescinded. Behind the pair contesting the win, Nippers had escaped the opening lap incident at Becketts and was soon with the battling Bezuidenhout and Fisher. The Spectrum squeezed the Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen towards the pitwall starting lap four before the pair tangled at Brooklands further round the lap as they were being hassled by the Welshman. After Fisher had towed past Bezuidenhout in a straightline, the pair clashed once at the entry to force them both wide and collided again in the run off. Fisher’s car momentarily became airborne after climbing over the wheels of the Spectrum but both carried on, the South African lost three places and the Van Diemen fell down to eleventh. Bezuidenhout passed Ben Cox and William Liston to claim fourth, just pipping Cox's Oldfield Motorsport Van Diemen by 0.080 seconds on the line. Australian Liston was the first Janet Cesar Trophy car home in an impressive sixth overall with his Van Diemen RF88. The recovering Fisher caught the four-car Benn Tilley, Ben Miloudi, Peter Lucas and Andy Gosling train, getting past two of them for ninth in the end but Fisher was later excluded from the meeting for further foul-mouthed post-race discussions with Bezuidenhout, having already had a spat with Chris Middlehurst after Heat Two. Tofts recovered from his first lap clash to finish inside the Semi-Final cut-off places in twelfth, which became eleventh after Fisher's expulsion and handed the last qualifying spot to James Colborn.
The 24th annual Walter Hayes Trophy took place on the 2nd and 3rd of November at Silverstone, with the National layout guaranteed to provide plenty of frenetic slipstreaming action as the packed entry of 89 cars fought for one of the biggest prizes in FF1600 racing.
Preview: The 2023 Walter Hayes Trophy winner Chris Middlehurst has been a front-runner in the category for more than a decade with his Team Dolan Van Diemen LA10 and looked to defend his crown, he could yet be the 2024 Festival winner after protesting the final result and taking the matter to the National Court. Joey Foster aimed to add to his creaking trophy cabinet of three Festival and four Walter Hayes Trophy victories, the Firman driver went unrewarded for one of the great comeback drives in the Formula Ford Festival final a fortnight previously after starting from 22nd and sliding off when threatening for the lead with three laps to go. Arguably the fastest car and driver combination at Castle Combe this year was the B-M Racing Medina of Rory Smith, the two-time Festival winner hoped for a smoother ride to the final after breaking a driveshaft before the start of his Festival heat a couple of weeks ago and his 2023 Walter Hayes Trophy challenge ended prematurely when he was taken out of the lead in his Semi-Final. Irish-Filipino youngster Jason Smyth has had a meteoric first full season in FF1600 with his Team Dolan Van Diemen RF00, the son of the 2010 Kent Festival winner Neville showed a lot of pace at the Festival before ultimately colliding with Joey Foster as the Firman rejoined during the final but if he can curb his enthusiasm a little then a big result might be on the cards. Michael Eastwell looked like the man most likely to take home the Walter Hayes Trophy in 2023 after sweeping the board with his KMR Spectrum en route to the final before ultimately finishing second and the Australian-domiciled photographer would be keen to stand on the top step this year. Jacob Tofts went well at the 2023 event before a collision in his Semi-Final put him out and he returned with another KMR Spectrum. Andrew Rackstraw provided one of the biggest talking points of the 2023 event after scoring a podium finish in the final having started the day in the Progression race and would be one of the favourites for glory this weekend aboard one of the fleet of KMR Spectrums. The South African moved into the Porsche Carrera Cup GB for this year, taking an overall victory, and he also kept his FF1600 skills sharp with wins at Castle Combe and Brands Hatch. Two dark horses in KMR Spectrums would be Ian Schofield’s latest finds, Klayden Cole ‘KC’ Ensor-Smith and teenager Mikel Bezuidenhout. The Julian van der Watt and Robert Wolk pair of Mygales have performed strongly during the last two editions of the Walter Hayes Trophy and expect the South African duo to be towards the sharp end again this time. Alex Walker took Felix Fisher to the final race before conceding the Castle Combe crown this year, despite missing the opening round, in the Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen used to great effect by Ben Mitchell in previous years. Walker joined Josh Fisher in the team as the three-time Castle Combe champion hoped to finally bag his first Walter Hayes Trophy triumph after standing on the podium five times, Fisher came close in 2023 despite starting the final from the twelfth row to come through to lead into the later stages. Recently crowned Castle Combe champion Felix Fisher, like his brother, would be looking for his maiden Walter Hayes Trophy crown with his Ray and both of the siblings are now three-time champions at the Wiltshire venue. Luke Cooper, one of the leading lights in the Castle Combe championship with two titles, showed great pace to take the third podium spot at the Festival a couple of weeks ago and the Swift should be well suited to the Silverstone National layout. Former Combe champions Adam Higgins and Rob Hall can also be expected to feature, with twice-crowned Higgins taking a great seventh in last year’s final. Gavin Wills, another ex-title holder in Wiltshire, was also out in a Van Diemen RF00 and was the first winner of the Walter Hayes Trophy as a stand-alone event but only returned to racing this year after a sixteen-year layoff. Tom McArthur was quick at the Festival in a Van Diemen RF86 and should be in the mix at Silverstone aboard a modern Medina. United Formula Ford front runners Charlie Mann and Jason Pribyl are capable of strong results with their Rays, along with the Ben Cox and Isaac Canto da Silva Van Diemens. Tom Nippers’ privateer Van Diemen RF01 has impressed this season as the Welshman took on the powerhouse teams with the privately-run Van Diemen RF01, scoring overall victories in United Formula Ford at Castle Combe and Snetterton before finishing inside the top ten of the Festival final. A pair of Americans with high hopes were Hugh Esterson, the older brother of 2022 victor Max, who returned after taking a highly creditable fourth overall with an Ammonite Ray at the Festival, whilst Jonathan Kotyk performed strongly in 2023 and would be at the wheel of the ex-Niall Murray Team Dolan Van Diemen RF01 so has the machinery to do well again. David McArthur is one of the co-founders of B-M Racing and the brother of Tom made an impressive comeback drive to ninth at the Festival with his Medina after contesting the Progression and Last Chance races. A late entry was received from James Hadfield aboard the Mk2 Medina that previous event winner Michael Moyers helped develop and was part of the Grand Final lead fight in 2023 until contact eliminated the car.
Heats Round-Up: A very strong line up was drawn for Heat One, including four-time winner Joey Foster, rapid youngster Jason Smyth, Castle Combe front-runner Alex Walker and two KMR Sport Spectrums in the hands of a pair of South Africans, with one of the favourites for outright honours, Andrew Rackstraw, handling one and dark horse ‘KC’ Klayden Cole Ensor-Smith the other. Early qualifying pacesetter Rackstraw had slumped to sixth at half-distance as Walker established himself at the top of the pile before the South African clawed his way to second with three minutes remaining. Teammate Ensor-Smith jumped ahead of Rackstraw inside the final minute with a time just 0.002 seconds from Walker before the Van Diemen improved on the last time around to secure pole position by 0.212 seconds from the South African pair but the polesitter’s final lap was subsequently scrubbed. Joey Foster, one of the pre-event favourites, had trouble during the session with a carburettor-related misfire and ended up on the back row in 21st. The Cornishman had suffered trouble with his primary unit in testing so fitted the spare and the engine ran fine but they thought the problem had been solved with the #1 carb, so that was refitted to car for qualifying and the issue returned. There was also major trouble for another of the event favourites as Jason Smyth's diff seized as they rolled the car off the set-up 'flat patch' and the Team Dolan squad had to perform a high-speed gearbox change, not fast enough to qualify for Heat One but he was able to slot into Heat Four later. Alex Walker led the first couple of laps of Heat One from pole position, just ahead of the South African piloted Spectrums and Rob Hall's Swift before Andrew Rackstraw moved to the front into Copse on lap four. Walker tried to fight back at Brooklands but locked a brake and the impressive Silverstone debutant 'KC' Ensor-Smith moved up to second into Copse starting lap five after sticking with the outside through Luffield and Woodcote. Ensor-Smith began pushing compatriot Rackstraw for the race lead but Walker briefly went back into second at Becketts on the penultimate tour after the South African lost momentum at Copse threatening his teammate. However, Ensor-Smith repassed the Van Diemen at Copse for the final time to cross the line 0.844 seconds behind his KMR stablemate. When the cars crossed the finishing line, Walker was slapped with a five-second track limit penalty to promote Hall to the podium, ahead of Jonathan Kotyk and Anthony Amato, with the penalised Castle Combe runner-up reclassified sixth. Nathan Ward just finished as the top Janet Cesar Trophy car in seventh with his 1992 Swift by 0.351 seconds from Andrew Schofield’s 1989 Reynard. Darwin Smith led the category early on in sixth overall before a clash with a determined Foster on lap six at Copse saw the Van Diemen RF90 slip to thirteenth but the Irishman had fought back to eleventh by the flag. Foster ended up ninth to make it through to the Semis but had the silver lining of a healthy engine in his Firman and Ian Campbell's Ray completed the top ten.
The 2023 Walter Hayes Trophy champion Chris Middlehurst, along with Castle Combe champions Felix Fisher and Luke Cooper were the standout names in Heat Two. Adam Higgins, another former Castle Combe title holder, could threaten them, whilst the Rays of Charlie Mann and Jason Pribyl have shown speed in United Formula Ford this year. Alex Ames, Callum Grant and Richard Tarling should be well up with their Janet Cesar Trophy chassis. Last year’s Carl Hamer Trophy winner Joseph Ahrens was in this heat also, with the fellow Pre ‘82 category car of ex-Grand Prix driver and Le Mans class winner Jan Magnussen set to take the fight to the Royale driver. Qualifying for Heat Two proved to be a competitive session, with four drivers swapping the top places between them. Felix Fisher set the initial pace before Charlie Mann, Chris Middlehurst and Luke Cooper also took turns at the top, with the last-named Swift driver ultimately setting pole with three minutes left as no improvements were made in the last couple of minutes after the surface was dampened by drizzle. A rather fractious second heat saw a defensive Felix Fisher lead the early stages ahead of Chris Middlehurst, who had taken poleman Luke Cooper at Becketts for the first time, the Swift of Cooper in third from the fast-starting Alex Ames and Charlie Mann. Adam Higgins ran in sixth and joined the group when the fight intensified. Fisher held off all Middlehurst could throw at his Ray until the sixth lap when his defence of the lead slowed the defending Walter Hayes Trophy holder's Van Diemen out of Copse and Cooper took second place at Becketts, the Swift continued around the outside of Fisher and swept into the lead at Brooklands. Middlehurst stayed in Cooper's slipstream to follow the former Castle Combe title holder past the current champion into second. After holding off Fisher's attempt to regain second place into Brooklands for the penultimate time, Middlehurst was back with Cooper on the final lap and the Swift locked up at Brooklands under pressure from the Van Diemen to hand the heat win to a grateful Middlehurst by a slender 0.161 seconds. The Rays of a frustrated Fisher and Mann came home third and fourth and the quartet were covered by just 0.555 seconds, whilst Higgins and Jason Pribyl both passed the top Janet Cesar Trophy car of Ames during the later stages for fifth and sixth places and the American had recovered from skating wide at Becketts on lap one. Two further Janet Cesar Trophy cars fought throughout for eighth and ninth place as Richard Tarling and Callum Grant took each other on, with the Reynard driver taking the higher placing. Lewis Fox rounded out the top ten aboard his Ray. The top Carl Hamer Trophy qualifier Jan Magnussen retired during the second half of the race so Joseph Ahrens was the first first Pre '82 car past the flag in thirteenth overall and the Royale was running ahead of the Dane at the time of his exit.
Michael Eastwell was the clear favourite for Heat Three with his KMR Spectrum, with Tom McArthur and Hugh Esterson set to be in the mix. Both of the South African-piloted Mygales would be in the same heat, handled by Robert Wolk and Julian van der Watt. Look out too for Cam Jackson and Sam Street for some giant-killing in their Janet Cesar Trophy machines. Most of the top six cars ran in a slipstreaming train throughout the twelve minutes of qualifying but the Spectrum of Michael Eastwell was a constant at the top of the times. Hugh Esterson was the last to take the flag but couldn’t nick pole position despite improving to the front row with a 0.038-second gap to the poleman. Julian van der Watt used a tow from Connor Willis to go third inside the final minute before an improvement from the impressive Kieran Attwood placed the Ray at the head of row two. The Mygale was eventually bumped to sixth by a flurry of faster times as Cam Jackson topped the Janet Cesar Trophy cars in an eyebrow-raising fourth overall from Tom McArthur's modern machine in fifth. Sam Street lined up seventh in his 1992 Swift after being as high as fifth. A great launch saw Hugh Esterson lead Michael Eastwell on lap one from Cam Jackson's Van Diemen RF90 and Tom McArthur's Medina, whilst Kieran Attwood fell back to sixth behind Julian van der Watt. Eastwell soon started to push the leading Ray, with the Spectrum moving into the lead at Becketts on lap two. Eastwell and Esterson lapped together closely for the duration but McArthur got away from van der Watt and Attwood in the later stages to challenge the lead pair on the last time around. The Medina briefly went three abreast with victor Eastwell and Esterson into Becketts but was ultimately held back in third over the line and was subsequently hit with a five-second track limit penalty to fall to seventh behind the Robert Wolk and Jackson squabble. The penalty would later be withdrawn so McArthur was reinstated in third from the Mygale of van der Watt and the Ray of Attwood in fifth. Wolk was sixth with his Mygale after starting fourteenth and the Janet Cesar Trophy leader Cam Jackson was seventh in the Kärcher RF90. Connor Willis came back from a tricky qualifying to finish eighth, ahead of the second Janet Cesar Trophy finisher Sam Street in ninth. Rick Morris ran at the head of a six-car queue before Chris Acton got through for tenth overall but the Royale finished as the top Carl Hamer Trophy competitor from Matthew Wrigley and Jake Shortland, who were split by Robert Wainwright’s Mondiale M90S to deny the Lola an automatic Semi-Final start. James Hadfield was an opening lap retirement after bending his Medina's rear suspension in a tangle with Morris and Acton at Brooklands.
Rory Smith and Josh Fisher were the ones to beat in Heat Four. The other South African unknown quantity Mikel Bezuidenhout and Jacob Tofts could threaten in their Spectrums, along with privateer Tom Nippers after a strong Festival and Isaac Canto da Silva could pose a problem too. Jason Smyth was a late addition to the heat and would also be a feature at the front after the Team Dolan outfit changed a gearbox in double-quick time to enable the youngster to compete. Rory Smith set the pace in the early minutes of qualifying before Josh Fisher went fastest with his third flying lap and the time survived an improvement from the B-M Medina on its next attempt but Smith would take back provisional pole at the halfway stage. The two-time Festival winner went quicker again on his following lap but was still knocked down by Fisher. Smith dropped back to find a slipstream and used a tow from Mikel Bezuidenhout to grab pole position with his last lap from Fisher. Smyth set the third best time ahead of the Bezuidenhout Spectrum. The South African's KMR stablemate Jacob Tofts and Tom Nippers formed the third row. Polesitter Rory Smith held off a quick-off-the-mark Jason Smyth and Josh Fisher at Copse to lead Heat Four away before contact between fifth-placed Jacob Tofts' Spectrum and David McArthur at Becketts, when master brake cylinder failure left the Medina with front brakes only, also saw the unfortunate Isaac Canto da Silva caught up in the aftermath as he removed a wheel from his Van Diemen against the spinning McArthur. The delayed Tofts rejoined at the back of the field as the other two both went out. Front-row starter Fisher slipped down to fourth behind Bezuidenhout towards Brooklands for the first time as Smyth chased after Smith. The pair would edge away from the rest of the field before the Team Dolan Van Diemen started paying more attention to the back of Smith’s Medina during the second half of the heat. The pair spent much of lap seven abreast as the youngster temporarily took the lead but the two-time Festival winner sold the dummy at Copse for the final time to prevail by 0.317 seconds on-the-road before Smyth was ultimately hit with a five second track limit penalty. Smyth lost just the one place with his punishment but the penalty was eventually rescinded. Behind the pair contesting the win, Nippers had escaped the opening lap incident at Becketts and was soon with the battling Bezuidenhout and Fisher. The Spectrum squeezed the Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen towards the pitwall starting lap four before the pair tangled at Brooklands further round the lap as they were being hassled by the Welshman. After Fisher had towed past Bezuidenhout in a straightline, the pair clashed once at the entry to force them both wide and collided again in the run off. Fisher’s car momentarily became airborne after climbing over the wheels of the Spectrum but both carried on, the South African lost three places and the Van Diemen fell down to eleventh. Bezuidenhout passed Ben Cox and William Liston to claim fourth, just pipping Cox's Oldfield Motorsport Van Diemen by 0.080 seconds on the line. Australian Liston was the first Janet Cesar Trophy car home in an impressive sixth overall with his Van Diemen RF88. The recovering Fisher caught the four-car Benn Tilley, Ben Miloudi, Peter Lucas and Andy Gosling train, getting past two of them for ninth in the end but Fisher was later excluded from the meeting for further foul-mouthed post-race discussions with Bezuidenhout, having already had a spat with Chris Middlehurst after Heat Two. Tofts recovered from his first lap clash to finish inside the Semi-Final cut-off places in twelfth, which became eleventh after Fisher's expulsion and handed the last qualifying spot to James Colborn.
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Progression Race & Last Chance Race: Sunday dawned with the first opportunity for those who suffered a troubled Heat stage to start fighting their way back into the reckoning, in 2023 Andrew Rackstraw came from starting sixth in the Progression Race to finish the Grand Final on the podium. The Progression and Last Chance format worked a little differently to the system employed at the Festival a fortnight previously, with the top sixteen Progression Race finishers forming positions twenty down on the Last Chance grid, from which the first twenty finishers would be split across the two Semi-Final grids from the eleventh row back. Only twelve cars would start the Progression Race so all would progress to the Last Chance encounter, with the result establishing their starting order in the Last Chance race. The twelve-car field would have Michael Fitzgerald and Damian Ditchfield on the front row, with Dominic Sheppard and Ben Tinkler on row two but some of the names behind them would be expected to come through and progress to the Last Chance race in the higher positions. 1992 Festival winner Jan Magnussen was to be found on the third row with James Hadfield's Medina, Isaac Canto da Silva's repaired Van Diemen was on row four, Stephen O’Connor’s Janet Cesar Trophy RF90 on the fifth row, with B-M co-founder David McArthur and fifth Carl Hamer qualifier Adrien Laissac on the back row. The Carl Hamer Trophy Elden Mk8 of Ditchfield led out of Copse for the first time before Magnussen burst into the lead up to Maggotts. However, Canto da Silva led at the end of lap one after gaining a lot of places on the outside of Copse, before following the Dane's RF78 ahead of Ditchfield into Becketts and grabbing the lead down to Brooklands. Magnussen began to struggle against the more modern machinery coming through and was first caught by O’Connor, who went by into Copse for the third time. McArthur was next to catch Magnussen and dispensed with the Duckhams Van Diemen later on lap three at Brooklands, before Hadfield went through up to Maggots on lap four. Canto da Silva had opened up a lead of 1.910 seconds but a succession of fastest laps from McArthur, once the Medina had gone up to second on lap four at Brooklands, brought him onto the Brazilian’s tail by the final lap but was just 0.220 seconds shy at the flag after the teenager defended well at Becketts and Brooklands to hold off his assailant in the heats. Hadfield got past O’Connor on lap eight into Brooklands to be third with the chassis used by Michael Moyers for the past couple of years. Magnussen trailed home in fifth and the Van Diemen RF80 of Cal Bennett completed the top six. The whole field progressed to the next stage, minus Adrien Laissac after he retired and didn’t make the Last Chance start. A capacity grid formed up for the Last Chance race and would be headed by Dutchman Jaap Blijleven’s 1988 Reynard on pole position, with four-time Castle Combe champion winner Gavin Wills completing the front row with his RF00 Van Diemen. A significant number of the Carl Hamer Trophy contenders were set to compete in this race and Jake Shortland’s Lola led the charge on the second row, with Craig Currie’s Crossle scheduled to start alongside but he would miss the race after issues on Saturday. Alex Fores started from the third row with another of the Carl Hamer Trophy cars and Leanne McShane’s modern Firman completed the third row. A pair of Reynards lined up on row four as David Parks headed Henry Campbell., Nigel Thompson’s Van Diemen and Jeremy Caine’s Lola rounded out the top ten. Expected Carl Hamer Trophy front runners Benn Simms went from thirteenth and Sam Mitchell from the row behind in fifteenth. The top three from the Progression race formed up the on the tenth and eleventh rows, with winner Isaac Canto da Silva twentieth after Josh Fisher's exclusion moved him up a spot. Wills led at the end of lap one from the Reynards of Park and Blijleven before the red flags flew after a multi-car tangle before Luffield involving Isaac Canto da Silva, Henry Campbell and Melly Zhang. The Progression Race winner's Van Diemen started to spin at exiting Brooklands and caught the Reynard of Campbell, the Brazilian spun to a halt in the middle of the circuit and Zhang collided heavily with the Brazilian in the aftermath. The impact saw Zhang’s Merlyn stranded in the middle of the circuit missing both right-hand wheels, whilst Canto da Silva also lost his left-rear wheel to end his hopes of reaching the final. The restart would be held over the full distance of ten laps. The pole position car of Blijleven was reluctant to fire up before the green flag lap but got going just in the nick of time. Wills led away again from the polesitter and McShane, with Park manoeuvring into second through Luffield on lap one as the leading Van Diemen edged clear of the battling but the Reynard had caught Wills by the end of lap two. The two ran nose to tail for most of the race before the leading Progression runner McArthur caught them in the closing stages. McArthur had reached third just after half distance and removed Park from second at Maggotts on the penultimate lap before the Medina joined Wills on the final tour, driving around the outside of Brooklands to take the win. Wills went wide at Brooklands after locking up and Park went through too but the newer Van Diemen just beat the Reynard to the flag and a slim 0.032 seconds was all that stood between the pair over the line. Blijleven initially led a group of four cars from Simms, Fores and Shortland but the Merlyn and Van Diemen went ahead ending lap two before McArthur went from fifth to third in one go at Copse on lap six. Simms and Fores' scrapping had seen them dragged back towards the pack and Hadfield, in the second best of the Progression cars, moved into fourth at the end of lap six, having gained three spots between Becketts and Copse. Hadfield got away from the six-car train behind in a clear fourth and O’Connor also climbed through the order well to claim fifth on the last lap aboard his Van Diemen RF90. The historic Merlyn of Simms completed the top six after toppling the early Carl Hamer Trophy leading contenders Fores and Shortland in seventh and eighth, with the three of them all passing McShane's modern Firman at Brooklands for the first time. Blijleven and Nigel Thompson shored up the top ten with their 1988 vintage Reynard and Van Diemen respectively. Ex-Grand Prix driver Jan Magnussen finished just outside of the top ten in eleventh with his Van Diemen RF78 that started from 24th. Dominic Sheppard, Matt Smith, Michael Fitzgerald, Peter Hannam and the single retiree from the race, Cal Bennett, were the five cars to miss out on a Semi-Final spot in addition to the three eliminated in the race-stopping incident.
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Semi-Final 1: Rory Smith won the fastest heat to grant him pole position for the opening Semi-Final ahead of Heat Three winner Michael Eastwell, which was the third fastest of the four heats. Jason Smyth and Hugh Esterson were in with a chance of a high grid position for the final on row two. There were two Toms on the third row as Nippers headed McArthur and an all-South African fourth row, with sixteen-year-old Mikel Bezuidenhout heading Julian van der Watt. Ben Cox’s Oldfield Motorsport Van Diemen and Kieran Attwood‘s Ray completed the top ten starters. William Liston, the top Janet Cesar Trophy competitor, formed up in eleventh from Benn Tilley and Cam Jackson, who were both on the seventh row. The leading Carl Hamer Trophy runners Andy Gosling and Rick Morris started a row apart in 19th and 22nd, with Last Chance race winner David McArthur starting 27th. Hugh Esterson's hopes suffered a cruel blow when his engine died as the field formed up for the start to effectively end his chances, the Ray was pushed off the grid and the American would start from the pitlane three-quarters of a lap down. Smith catapulted away from pole position into a clear lead by Copse from Smyth, after Eastwell lit up his rear tyres leaving the line and slipped behind Tom McArthur exiting Copse to end lap one in fourth. Jacob Tofts ground to a halt on the Wellington Straight after an opening lap tangle with Matthew Wrigley's Merlyn exiting Becketts, yellow flags stopping any passing at the prime overtaking spot under the bridge for a few laps as the marshals wrestled the bent KMR Spectrum to safety. Another collision on lap three between David Parks and Stephen O'Connor brought out further yellow flags covering Brooklands too. The top two were together by the end of lap one and lapped in close company throughout, as in their heat, with Smyth signalling to the leader not to defend so that they could work together for the faster race time that would give them a starting position on the cleaner side of the grid for the final. Eastwell got down the inside of McArthur into Brooklands for the third time to take third away place and Nippers joined them in the group after setting the fastest lap. Eastwell got away from other two halfway through and started to catch the lead pair but couldn't quite reach them in time. Smith had to defend his line into Brooklands on each of the last two laps but held off Smyth to take the victory in a time of 12 minutes 25.741 seconds and Eastwell finished right with them in third as 0.389 covered the trio. Nippers began to apply pressure to McArthur as the race entered its second half but he would have to be patient as yet more yellow flags were on display at Brooklands, after a seventh-lap altercation between Leanne McShane and Bob Hawkins at Luffield left the Firman stranded with deranged rear suspension, but the Welshman took fourth place around the outside at Becketts for the ninth time. A five-car train containing three South Africans, two in Mygales and Mikel Bezuidenhout in a Spectrum, plus Kieran Attwood and Cam Jackson’s Janet Cesar Trophy RF90 started beating each other up in Nippers' wake on lap one as Julian van der Watt got ahead of his fellow countryman Bezuidenhout. Multiple South African touring car champion Robert Wolk pounced on Attwood's failed attempt at taking seventh from Bezuidenhout at Becketts on lap six to grab eighth place. The pack splintered a little when van der Watt and Bezuidenhout started to chase down the fourth place spat as Wolk tried to hold off the Attwood and Jackson pair. Nippers just held onto a top-four finish by a little over a tenth from McArthur, as a shade over a second separated the Welshman from Bezuidenhout in seventh behind compatriot van der Watt’s Mygale. The second Mygale of Wolk barely clung on to eighth as Attwood was pipped by just 0.008 seconds and Jackson was within half a second of them to finish tenth. Ben Cox and William Liston were nigh-on inseparable all race and the Australian passed Cox’s much newer Van Diemen on the penultimate lap but the RF88 was repassed on the final lap as Cox led the pair home in eleventh by 0.173 seconds. Benn Tilley, David McArthur from the Progression race, Connor Willis, Chris Acton, Ben Miloudi and another Australian in the form of Peter Lucas were the remaining six cars to advance to the Grand Final, with the top two Carl Hamer Trophy cars of Andy Gosling and Jan Magnussen just missing out in nineteenth and twentieth after crossing the finish line side-by-side. Esterson could only gain two positions on-track to see his competitive showing end on a damp note in 27th.
Semi-Final 2: Andrew Rackstraw took the second fastest heat victory to give the South African pole position ahead of the winner of the slowest heat, Chris Middlehurst. The second KMR Sport Spectrum of ‘KC’ Ensor-Smith headed row two from Luke Cooper’s Swift, with Rob Hall’s similar car and Felix Fisher’s Ray competing a trio of Castle Combe champions in the top six. Former Team USA scholar Jonathan Kotyk shared the fourth row with the Ray of Charlie Mann, with Anthony Amato's similar car and the fourth Castle Combe champion to start inside the top ten, Adam Higgins, making up the fifth row. Fancied runners Alex Walker and Joey Foster came to the line outside of the top ten, with the Van Diemen in eleventh and the Firman in seventeenth. The top Janet Cesar Trophy cars lined up beside each other on the seventh row as Nathan Ward’s Swift was joined by Alex Ames’ Van Diemen, with Andrew Schofield and Richard Tarling’s Reynards on the row behind. Mark McKenna started as the leading Carl Hamer Trophy participant in 23rd, one row in front of defending champion Joseph Ahrens. The Last Chance Race runner-up Gavin Wills would go from 27th. The second Semi-Final was much more hotly contested than the first as Middlehurst led most of lap one but Rackstraw drove around the outside of the Van Diemen at Brooklands to lead into Luffield. The first four were as one on lap two as Castle Combe champions Cooper and Fisher sat in their tow, with Mann and Ensor-Smith also closing in as they went onto lap three. Middlehurst briefly led again at half distance after sliding up the inside at Copse but Rackstraw got ahead again by Brooklands and held the lead to the end for victory by 0.708 seconds and appeared to have avoided a dreaded track limit censure, despite receiving the black/white driving standards flag. Ensor-Smith admitted he was ‘asleep at the start’ as he plummeted to seventh behind Hall and Mann but passed the Swift of Hall starting lap two. Mann’s Ray had a go at Fisher’s fourth place rebuffed and the South African drove around the outside of the United Formula Ford front runner through Copse for the fourth time to take fifth place. Fisher was the Spectrum’s next scalp as ‘KC’ repeated his Copse move a lap later, with Walker next to press Fisher and the Van Diemen moved ahead on lap six. The tussle had left a 0.964-second deficit to the top three but it would only take the South African two laps to catch them, diving by Cooper for third into Brooklands just as his KMR stablemate regained the lead. Ensor-Smith continued his climb towards the front when he passed Middlehurst for second on lap ten and even had a look at the outside of his teammate at Copse for the penultimate time, with Middlehurst and Walker touching wheels in their wake. Walker’s loss of momentum through Copse also cost him fourth place as Cooper sped back past. The order in the six-car train for the lead wouldn’t change on the last lap despite Middlehurst’s energetic efforts as he just failed to reclaim second by 0.053 seconds at the line, with the squabbling leading to an overall race time a little over four seconds slower that the previous Semi-Final. Cooper narrowly saw off Walker for fourth and Kotyk came home sixth, the American having passed Fisher early on lap seven. Fisher faded to seventh after his early involvement in the lead fight and barely fended off Mann’s similar car. Jason Pribyl topped a seven-car scrap for ninth that featured a big Janet Cesar Trophy contest between Darwin Smith, Alex Ames and Callum Grant. Ames’ RF90 just defeated Grant’s RF91 by a slim 0.022 seconds in twelfth and thirteenth, whilst Smith was eliminated in a clash with Adam Higgins on lap ten when the RF90 spun after a touch of wheels with Anthony Amato’s Ray and Higgins found himself in the wrong place, wrong time to end both drivers’ chances of reaching the final. Joey Foster had got inside the top ten by the halfway point but spun at Brooklands on lap eight when in battle with Kotyk and Fisher to drop to sixteenth, the Firman got to the Pribyl train and was helped by the Smith/Higgins tangle to finish eleventh, ahead of the squabbling Van Diemens but behind Ian Campbell’s Ray in tenth. Drew Cameron, Lewis Fox, James Hadfield from the morning’s Progression race and Castle Combe Class B champion Nathan Ward made up the eighteen cars to garner a final spot. Another tough scrap was fought out for unofficial Carl Hamer Trophy honours as Joseph Ahrens, Mark McKenna and Benn Simms were covered by 0.602 seconds past the flag but all of them missed out on a Grand Final start in 23rd to 25th places. 2011 Castle Combe champion Hall also missed out on a final place when the Swift disappeared on lap seven.
Grand Final: The first Semi-Final was the quicker of the two and consequently placed Rory Smith onto pole position for the fifteen-lap Grand Final but there was confusion surrounding who would join him on the front row. An amended grid showed 'KC' Ensor-Smith had been shifted up to the front row after the second Semi-Final winner Andrew Rackstraw and Luke Cooper were handed retrospective track limits penalties, the five-second punishment for Cooper dropped the Swift down to fourteenth, whilst the ten seconds handed to the Spectrum driver meant that the South African was due to line up 26th! Rackstraw’s penalty was ultimately rescinded after officialdom made a clerical error so he now replaced Ensor-Smith on the front row beside the polesitting Medina and Cooper was knocked back a row to sixteenth as a result. Jason Smyth was well placed on the second row to go for the victory, along with Ensor-Smith's shuffled back Spectrum. The South African's KMR Sport stablemate Michael Eastwell was joined by defending trophy holder Chris Middlehurst on the third row. Privateer Tom Nippers lined up seventh and BRDC Rising Star Alex Walker started on the fourth row of the final in his first Walter Hayes Trophy weekend. Tom McArthur and Jonathan Kotyk completed the top ten on the fifth row. Julian van der Watt, Felix Fisher, Mikel Bezuidenhout, Charlie Mann and Robert Wolk would all line up ahead of Luke Cooper in sixteenth, who’d only found out about his penalty after it had been applied and hadn’t been given a warning flag during the Semi-Final. Four-time Walter Hayes Trophy holder Joey Foster formed up on the eleventh row and the Firman had a lot of work to do for a dream result from there. Polesitter Smith led Rackstraw and Smyth into Copse when the race got underway, whilst Middlehurst had got off the line well to be sat in the top four out of Copse for the first time from the tardily starting Ensor-Smith and Eastwell. The strong slipstream kept the pack together and Rackstraw drove around the outside of Copse on lap two to snare the lead at Maggotts, with Middlehurst gaining third place at the expense of Smyth too as Eastwell also drew alongside the youngster. Smith was determined to regain the lead and was soon back through using the outside line at Brooklands to give him the inside of Luffield. The top nine cars were adjoined at the end of lap three and Rackstraw's Spectrum got its nose ahead again on the outside of Copse but the leading Medina held strong on the inside and the South African repeated the move starting lap five but again Smith couldn't be moved. Walker, Ensor-Smith and Kotyk were scrambling around behind Eastwell and the Wayne Poole Racing Van Diemen pounced on the KMR Spectrum under braking before driving around the outside of Smyth to gain two spots in one corner for fourth place, which quickly became third when Middlehurst's defence of the crown ended on the Wellington Straight when a plug lead came adrift. The lead two got a small break when the 2023 winner went out but the two Van Diemens were back with them a lap later and Walker made a bid for second at Maggotts but Rackstraw was unmoved. Walker had to fend off Smyth into Brooklands for the seventh time, which brought last year's runner-up Eastwell back onto them as half-distance passed. Walker had to back out of a last-ditch bid for second through Copse on lap eight, which slowed both himself and Smyth down and allowed Eastwell to take fourth place around the outside of Becketts. With that fighting giving the leading duo another couple of lengths lead, Rackstraw made another move to the outside of Brooklands but Smith remained unflappable. The South African had another big go at Copse on lap nine but to no avail again and the third to fifth place cars were now back with them. As the quintet commenced lap ten, Rackstraw followed Smith along the pitwall and Walker swept up to second around the outside of Copse. At Becketts, Smyth took fourth place from Eastwell as Ensor-Smith caught them and the growing lead train was about to reach nine cars as Cooper, Kotyk and Tom McArthur arrived on the scene. Walker couldn't breach Smith's dogged defence with another try for the lead at Brooklands on lap eleven as he ran out of space on the outside. With four laps to go, the Van Diemen got to the front on the outside of Copse but couldn't get across to close the door on Smith and the Medina dived back ahead into Becketts. Walker came out of Becketts with Rackstraw alongside him but the pair were both usurped by Smyth into Brooklands and it looked as though it would be the youngster once again posing the closest threat to the Medina into the closing laps. Smyth wouldn't take long to mount his first attempt for the lead with an outside move at Copse but Smith kept his car on the inside and the Van Diemen had to fall back into line by Maggotts. Smyth tried to poke his nose inside at Becketts but was left with no gap to move into and he would have to fend off Walker at Brooklands. With Smyth forcing him wide, Walker had Rackstraw to his outside around Luffield and the Spectrum was close to completing the move but lost a little traction on the exit kerb so had to get back in the nine-car train with two laps remaining. Smyth braked very late into Becketts for the fourteenth time and sailed past Smith on the inside but ran well wide of the apex, allowing Smith an easy path back to the lead. The attempted move left the Team Dolan Van Diemen vulnerable down to Brooklands from four cars and Walker tapped Smyth into a spin in the congestion, with Smyth's race ending after a great effort. Rackstraw went back into second onto the last lap and was in the leading Medina's slipstream to the line but Smith defended superbly to see off allcomers for his maiden Walter Hayes Trophy triumph to add to his pair of Festival successes. Rackstraw made a last-ditch attempt around outside of Brooklands but ran out of room to complete the move so had to settle for the runner-up position, 0.293 seconds behind. The race took until the conclusion of lap five for the lead gap to expand upwards of one tenth of a second and the largest margin seen all race was just 0.326 seconds to emphasise the pressure Smith was under. Meanwhile, in the contest for the third step on the rostrum, Cooper had made good early progress from his lower grid position. From his eighth row start, Cooper had made moves on Bezuidenhout, Mann and van der Watt's Mygale around the outside of Brooklands to catch Castle Combe rival Felix Fisher on lap five, who was battling Tom McArthur. The Swift was squeezed onto grass by an unsighted Fisher towards Maggotts but Cooper dived past the current Castle Combe champion and almost got the Medina too on the inside of Becketts. Fisher came back at Cooper on the inside of Brooklands but couldn’t make the long run around Luffield stick. The McArthur and Cooper pair towed up to Ensor-Smith and Foster past the pits starting lap seven, with the Spectrum, Firman and Medina slowing themselves down fighting at Copse and gave Cooper the run up the outside to take both took Foster and McArthur into Becketts. After a couple more laps, Ensor-Smith and Cooper had caught the Van Diemen of Kotyk together, with the Spectrum moving through on the outside of Becketts and Cooper had a run at the American down the Wellington Straight but the Van Diemen followed in the Spectrum's slipstream to fend the Swift off towards Brooklands. However, Cooper threw the Swift in from the outside to gain another place into seventh. Kotyk drew alongside Cooper on the pit straight but the Swift held the Van Diemen off into Copse and the trio would latch onto the back of the lead train during lap ten. Approaching Becketts for the tenth time, Ensor-Smith was three abreast with his KMR teammate Eastwell and Smyth, just ahead of Cooper, and the Spectrum duo stayed side-by-side through Brooklands and Luffield. The pair even brushed wheels at the exit, with Ensor-Smith on the outside before tucking in behind and Cooper moved into the tow of the squabbling Spectrums to Copse heading onto lap eleven. However, Kotyk got back inside Cooper at Brooklands and hung on around the outside of Luffield to demote the Swift through Woodcote but the Van Diemen would have a moment under braking for Becketts soon after to gift Cooper back seventh place. The Swift had a sniff at Ensor-Smith on the outside of Brooklands on lap twelve and then got down the inside of the Spectrum in the same place a lap later but Cooper was unable to finish the move on the outside of Luffield. Ensor-Smith gained three places and Cooper two when Walker clipped Smyth at Brooklands for the penultimate time and Eastwell had to take to the run off in avoidance. Walker slotted in just ahead of Cooper after Ensor-Smith got by the Van Diemen during the incident but the Spectrum was slow out of Copse for the final time. The rapidly closing Walker went right and Cooper jinked to the left but the South African held off both of them into Becketts. However, Cooper got ahead of Walker on the outside to take fourth place and tried to take third on the outside of Brooklands but didn’t get far enough alongside to force the issue at Luffield, so the Spectrum finished third just 0.074 seconds off his teammate and Cooper's Swift a great fourth from his eighth row start. Walker and Kotyk made up the top six, with Nippers seventh and was just 1.305 seconds from the victorious Medina. After Eastwell had to take to the run off in avoidance of the Walker and Smyth tangle, the Spectrum finished in eighth from the Rays handled by Charlie Mann and Fisher at the foot of the top ten. Joey Foster was unable to repeat his Festival heroics after starting from 22nd and finished off the back of the lead train in eleventh.
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Carl Hamer Trophy
Preview: Joseph Ahrens returned to defend the crown that he won in a damp 2023 final and his vanquished challenger Matthew Wrigley was also back in his Merlyn, Wrigley has since been crowned the Masters Racing Legends champion for 2024 with a Tyrrell 011. Jan Magnussen won a battle with the Mondiale of Jonathan McGall and the works Swifts of Oliver Gavin and Neil Cunningham to win the 1992 Formula Ford Festival before dominating British Formula Three in 1994 and going on to drive for McLaren and Stewart in Formula One. The Dane then moved into Sports-Protoypes for Panoz before taking four class victories at Le Mans for Corvette Racing. Magnussen made his return to FF1600 at the 50th Formula Ford Festival in 2021 aboard a modern Ray but would be at the wheel of a Van Diemen RF78 painted in the famous Duckhams livery at Silverstone and was sure to be a front runner among the older cars. This year’s Classic Formula Ford champion Benn Simms would be at the wheel of the Merlyn Sam Mitchell drove to win Class D of the 2024 Castle Combe FF1600 championship instead of the rare Jomo he used to claim the title, whilst Mitchell handled the family Merlyn Mk20 as opposed to Wayne Poole Racing machine he'd driven for much of the year in Wiltshire. Jake Shortland in the unusual Lola T440 has shown flashes of speed at the 'Hayes' before, whilst Mark McKenna showed good pace in 2023 so the Crossle would also be one to watch. Andy Gosling’s modified Van Diemen RF79 has tasted victory in the Classic Formula Ford championship during 2024 and would be aiming at the sharp end. The evergreen Rick Morris can be relied upon to get his elbows out aboard his Royale RP29 and the 1982 Esso Formula Ford champion has been racing continuously for 55 years. Alex Fores was a late entry in an RF80 Van Diemen and the former GB3 racer would be one to keep an eye on, Fores was injured in a nasty crash at Castle Combe in 2022 after brake failure sent his Caterham hard into the barriers. An RF81 Van Diemen that should show well was to be guided by the only Frenchman in the field, Adrien Laissac.
The top three cars of Joseph Ahrens, Jan Magnussen and Andy Gosling got away from the pack as they fought out the eight-lap Pre-Final between them. Gosling led out of Copse for the first time but would be third by Becketts as Magnussen and Ahrens came through. Ahrens went into the lead for the first time at Copse on lap two and the 2023 trophy holder regularly swapped the lead with the 1992 Festival winner throughout the eight laps, with Gosling also splitting them too at times. Ahrens had enough of a gap not to have to defend the inside line into Brooklands for the last time but the Dane was in his slipstream out of Luffield and was pipped by just 0.030 seconds at the line. Gosling fell away from the lead pair on the final lap after missing a gear but still claimed third. 2024 Classic Formula Ford champion Benn Simms got to the head of a huge fight for fourth as Rick Morris took fifth after holding off Mark McKenna, Sam Mitchell, Matthew Wrigley, Alex Fores and Jake Shortland at the foot of the top ten.
Final: The front row featured defending trophy holder Joseph Ahrens on pole position ahead of ex-Formula One driver Jan Magnussen after their cracking battle during the Pre-Final. The second row comprised Classic Formula Ford racer Andy Gosling beside the 2024 champion Benn Simms, with row three home to veteran Rick Morris' Royale and Mark McKenna's Crossle. The fourth row was a Merlyn monopoly as Ben Mitchell lined up ahead of Matthew Wrigley, with the top ten completed by Alex Fores and Jake Shortland on row five. Magnussen got the drop at the start to lead Ahrens and Simms into Copse but the polesitting Royale was alongside the Duckhams Van Diemen towards Maggots and got ahead into Becketts, where the Dane nudged into the gearbox of Ahrens and both exited stage left. In a separate incident, Morris had come barreling down the inside and clattered into Gosling as he attempted to grab fourth place and another front-running pair were removed from contention in the Becketts gravel. A seven-car lead train soon formed with Simms at its head from McKenna, Mitchell, Wrigley, Fores, Shortland and Bennett at the end of the opening lap. Yellow flags at Becketts from the first lap shenanigans would be in place until lap four but once the circuit was clear, the competiton stepped up a notch. Simms had continued to defend his lead throughout the first three laps but McKenna would take the lead at Copse for the fourth time as the Mitchell and Wrigley Merlyns also switched for third. The Crossle just managed to brush off Simm's retaliation at Becketts and again at Brooklands to lead through Woodcote at the end of lap four but the Merlyn draughted along the outside to lead again at Copse starting lap five, with the Lola of Shortland also able to take Fores' RF80 for fifth place at the same time. Wrigley made it a Merlyn 1-2 at Becketts after McKenna's Crossle lost a little speed through Copse and Wrigley was straight into the tow from Simms before driving around the outside into the lead for the first time at Brooklands, whilst Mitchell forced McKenna into a mistake under braking just behind them to manufacture a Merlyn 1-2-3. The trio of Merlyns were abreast as they began the half-distance lap, with Simms sweeping around the outside of Copse to lead once more as Mitchell got up the inside of Wrigley for second. The red Merlyn may have come out of Copse in second but Mitchell would be fifth by Becketts as Wrigley, Shortland and McKenna all came steaming through, the Crossle and Lola were wheel to wheel onto the Wellington Straight before Shortland established himself in third and Mitchell charged down the inside of Brooklands to grab fourth. The Wrigley, Shortland and Mitchell squabble carried on as they worked lap seven but somehow their order remained unchanged as Fores took fifth position from McKenna at Brooklands in their wake. The second, third and fourth place cars were abreast again up to Maggots for the eighth time as Shortland took second from Wrigley, before the Van Diemen of Fores passed both the Wrigley and Mitchell Merlyns at Brooklands to go into third, with McKenna also squeezing by Mitchell for fifth. Fores' grasp of third only lasted to Copse when Wrigley came through on the inside but the RF80 almost got the place back again at Becketts as Wrigley held on around the outside, with McKenna sticking his nose in too but remained fifth. Simms and Shortland opened a slight gap to the fighting foursome but it wouldn't last long as Simms' defence of his lead from the Lola brought the rest back into their slipstream with two laps remaining. The leading four cars spread themselves across the circuit up to Becketts for the penultimate time, with Simms keeping the lead from new second place man Fores and Wrigley pushed Shortland back to fourth. The Merlyn and Lola were four-wide again down to Brooklands, with McKenna and Mitchell joining the party, where Mitchell looked like taking fourth but ended up back in sixth out of Luffield with one lap to go. Fores went onto the last lap right on Simms' gearbox and feinted to the outside approaching Becketts to give himself a good exit for the final run down the Wellington Straight. Simms defended the inside line into Brooklands to hold the lead but Fores was in his slipstream through Woodcote and the Merlyn just clung on to win by 0.068 seconds, a handsome reward for Simms after the Richard Hudson-Evans owned Merlyn's engine blew in testing. Wrigley got to Brooklands in third but Shortland drove around the outside of Luffield to nick the final podium spot and the pair crossed the line split by less than a tenth of a second. Mitchell and McKenna were even closer past the flag as just 0.038 seconds kept them apart, after the Merlyn drove the long way around the Crossle at Luffield to steal fifth place at the death and the first six cars were covered by 1.084 seconds after a fabulous race. Cal Bennett finished in a lonely seventh after slipping away from the lead contest, ahead of another hectic bunch fronted by Luke McShane's Crossle from Damian Ditchfield's Elden, Dominic Sheppard's Van Diemen and Jeremy Caine's Lola in eleventh. Poleman Ahrens got going again after his lap one excursion and wasn’t far from the back of the lead group when the Royale went out soon after half-distance, Andy Gosling rejoined from even further back to be classified the final finisher in fourteenth behind the Peter Hannam and Alan Slater pair of Nikes, two laps down.
Preview: Joseph Ahrens returned to defend the crown that he won in a damp 2023 final and his vanquished challenger Matthew Wrigley was also back in his Merlyn, Wrigley has since been crowned the Masters Racing Legends champion for 2024 with a Tyrrell 011. Jan Magnussen won a battle with the Mondiale of Jonathan McGall and the works Swifts of Oliver Gavin and Neil Cunningham to win the 1992 Formula Ford Festival before dominating British Formula Three in 1994 and going on to drive for McLaren and Stewart in Formula One. The Dane then moved into Sports-Protoypes for Panoz before taking four class victories at Le Mans for Corvette Racing. Magnussen made his return to FF1600 at the 50th Formula Ford Festival in 2021 aboard a modern Ray but would be at the wheel of a Van Diemen RF78 painted in the famous Duckhams livery at Silverstone and was sure to be a front runner among the older cars. This year’s Classic Formula Ford champion Benn Simms would be at the wheel of the Merlyn Sam Mitchell drove to win Class D of the 2024 Castle Combe FF1600 championship instead of the rare Jomo he used to claim the title, whilst Mitchell handled the family Merlyn Mk20 as opposed to Wayne Poole Racing machine he'd driven for much of the year in Wiltshire. Jake Shortland in the unusual Lola T440 has shown flashes of speed at the 'Hayes' before, whilst Mark McKenna showed good pace in 2023 so the Crossle would also be one to watch. Andy Gosling’s modified Van Diemen RF79 has tasted victory in the Classic Formula Ford championship during 2024 and would be aiming at the sharp end. The evergreen Rick Morris can be relied upon to get his elbows out aboard his Royale RP29 and the 1982 Esso Formula Ford champion has been racing continuously for 55 years. Alex Fores was a late entry in an RF80 Van Diemen and the former GB3 racer would be one to keep an eye on, Fores was injured in a nasty crash at Castle Combe in 2022 after brake failure sent his Caterham hard into the barriers. An RF81 Van Diemen that should show well was to be guided by the only Frenchman in the field, Adrien Laissac.
The top three cars of Joseph Ahrens, Jan Magnussen and Andy Gosling got away from the pack as they fought out the eight-lap Pre-Final between them. Gosling led out of Copse for the first time but would be third by Becketts as Magnussen and Ahrens came through. Ahrens went into the lead for the first time at Copse on lap two and the 2023 trophy holder regularly swapped the lead with the 1992 Festival winner throughout the eight laps, with Gosling also splitting them too at times. Ahrens had enough of a gap not to have to defend the inside line into Brooklands for the last time but the Dane was in his slipstream out of Luffield and was pipped by just 0.030 seconds at the line. Gosling fell away from the lead pair on the final lap after missing a gear but still claimed third. 2024 Classic Formula Ford champion Benn Simms got to the head of a huge fight for fourth as Rick Morris took fifth after holding off Mark McKenna, Sam Mitchell, Matthew Wrigley, Alex Fores and Jake Shortland at the foot of the top ten.
Final: The front row featured defending trophy holder Joseph Ahrens on pole position ahead of ex-Formula One driver Jan Magnussen after their cracking battle during the Pre-Final. The second row comprised Classic Formula Ford racer Andy Gosling beside the 2024 champion Benn Simms, with row three home to veteran Rick Morris' Royale and Mark McKenna's Crossle. The fourth row was a Merlyn monopoly as Ben Mitchell lined up ahead of Matthew Wrigley, with the top ten completed by Alex Fores and Jake Shortland on row five. Magnussen got the drop at the start to lead Ahrens and Simms into Copse but the polesitting Royale was alongside the Duckhams Van Diemen towards Maggots and got ahead into Becketts, where the Dane nudged into the gearbox of Ahrens and both exited stage left. In a separate incident, Morris had come barreling down the inside and clattered into Gosling as he attempted to grab fourth place and another front-running pair were removed from contention in the Becketts gravel. A seven-car lead train soon formed with Simms at its head from McKenna, Mitchell, Wrigley, Fores, Shortland and Bennett at the end of the opening lap. Yellow flags at Becketts from the first lap shenanigans would be in place until lap four but once the circuit was clear, the competiton stepped up a notch. Simms had continued to defend his lead throughout the first three laps but McKenna would take the lead at Copse for the fourth time as the Mitchell and Wrigley Merlyns also switched for third. The Crossle just managed to brush off Simm's retaliation at Becketts and again at Brooklands to lead through Woodcote at the end of lap four but the Merlyn draughted along the outside to lead again at Copse starting lap five, with the Lola of Shortland also able to take Fores' RF80 for fifth place at the same time. Wrigley made it a Merlyn 1-2 at Becketts after McKenna's Crossle lost a little speed through Copse and Wrigley was straight into the tow from Simms before driving around the outside into the lead for the first time at Brooklands, whilst Mitchell forced McKenna into a mistake under braking just behind them to manufacture a Merlyn 1-2-3. The trio of Merlyns were abreast as they began the half-distance lap, with Simms sweeping around the outside of Copse to lead once more as Mitchell got up the inside of Wrigley for second. The red Merlyn may have come out of Copse in second but Mitchell would be fifth by Becketts as Wrigley, Shortland and McKenna all came steaming through, the Crossle and Lola were wheel to wheel onto the Wellington Straight before Shortland established himself in third and Mitchell charged down the inside of Brooklands to grab fourth. The Wrigley, Shortland and Mitchell squabble carried on as they worked lap seven but somehow their order remained unchanged as Fores took fifth position from McKenna at Brooklands in their wake. The second, third and fourth place cars were abreast again up to Maggots for the eighth time as Shortland took second from Wrigley, before the Van Diemen of Fores passed both the Wrigley and Mitchell Merlyns at Brooklands to go into third, with McKenna also squeezing by Mitchell for fifth. Fores' grasp of third only lasted to Copse when Wrigley came through on the inside but the RF80 almost got the place back again at Becketts as Wrigley held on around the outside, with McKenna sticking his nose in too but remained fifth. Simms and Shortland opened a slight gap to the fighting foursome but it wouldn't last long as Simms' defence of his lead from the Lola brought the rest back into their slipstream with two laps remaining. The leading four cars spread themselves across the circuit up to Becketts for the penultimate time, with Simms keeping the lead from new second place man Fores and Wrigley pushed Shortland back to fourth. The Merlyn and Lola were four-wide again down to Brooklands, with McKenna and Mitchell joining the party, where Mitchell looked like taking fourth but ended up back in sixth out of Luffield with one lap to go. Fores went onto the last lap right on Simms' gearbox and feinted to the outside approaching Becketts to give himself a good exit for the final run down the Wellington Straight. Simms defended the inside line into Brooklands to hold the lead but Fores was in his slipstream through Woodcote and the Merlyn just clung on to win by 0.068 seconds, a handsome reward for Simms after the Richard Hudson-Evans owned Merlyn's engine blew in testing. Wrigley got to Brooklands in third but Shortland drove around the outside of Luffield to nick the final podium spot and the pair crossed the line split by less than a tenth of a second. Mitchell and McKenna were even closer past the flag as just 0.038 seconds kept them apart, after the Merlyn drove the long way around the Crossle at Luffield to steal fifth place at the death and the first six cars were covered by 1.084 seconds after a fabulous race. Cal Bennett finished in a lonely seventh after slipping away from the lead contest, ahead of another hectic bunch fronted by Luke McShane's Crossle from Damian Ditchfield's Elden, Dominic Sheppard's Van Diemen and Jeremy Caine's Lola in eleventh. Poleman Ahrens got going again after his lap one excursion and wasn’t far from the back of the lead group when the Royale went out soon after half-distance, Andy Gosling rejoined from even further back to be classified the final finisher in fourteenth behind the Peter Hannam and Alan Slater pair of Nikes, two laps down.
Janet Cesar Trophy
Preview: The 2023 final for chassis produced between 1982 and 1998 was one of the races of the weekend and the 2024 edition should be little different. At least four of the ’stealth bomber’ Van Diemens should be in the thick of the fight for glory, with Alex Ames, Darwin Smith and Cam Jackson’s RF90s and the RF91 of Callum Grant the combinations most likely to lead the field. A fifth in the hands of Neil Fowler couldn’t be discounted either, with the RF91 resplendent in Warren Hughes’ 1991 Agip livery. Of the older Van Diemens, young Australian William Liston has shown good pace with his RF88 and had already been presented with one award at the start of the weekend, whilst Benn Tilley was at the wheel of the RF89 used to great effect by Tom McArthur at Castle Combe this year. Sam Street should be the standard bearer of the Swift camp after a fantastic fightback during the 2023 final but expect the Castle Combe Class B champion Nathan Ward to push him very hard with his similar SC92F. Formula Palmer Audi champion Richard Tarling shouldn’t be dismissed with a 1989 Reynard and others looking to outfox the opposition with the Bicester-built chassis included David Parks and Andrew Schofield, the son of the South African invasion's architect Ian. The 2024 Super Classic champion Tom Hawkins was a late entry into the split in the Van Diemen RF90 usually seen in the hands of Jay Vincent and Hawkins has form after setting the overall pole position time for Heat Two at the Festival two weeks prior and pushed Darwin Smith all the way during the wet Brian Jones Memorial Trophy race. Historic ace Robert Wainwright was a dark horse with a 1990 Mondiale M90S.
The first attempt at running the Pre-Final would only get as far as Copse before a fast-starting Stephen O'Connor and Sam Street became entangled to cause a red flag. Their demise left a blank second row at the restart and polesitter William Liston held onto the lead into Copse but Cam Jackson led by the end of the lap. Liston reclaimed the lead at Copse as seven cars contested the top spot but the Australian peeled into the pits to retire due to a broken gear linkage at the end of the second lap. Jackson and Darwin Smith crossed paths at Luffield when the RF88 slowed, with Jackson knocked into a half-spin and Benn Tilley was held up too. The noseless Smith and the delayed Jackson soon brought themselves back into contention and the top four cars were together going into the closing stages. Jackson took second from Grant at Brooklands for the penultimate time to give leader Tarling a small margin onto the last lap. Jackson was into the Reynard's tow out of the final corner for a Silverstone-type finish but fell 0.084 seconds shy of victorious Tarling. Smith was closing fast too in third, just 0.020 seconds from Jackson's similar RF90 and 0.104 seconds from victory after climbing the order from the eighth row. Grant's RF91 slipped to fourth at Copse starting the last circulation as the lead quartet were covered by 0.552 over the line. Benn Tilley took Alex Ames for fifth place on the sixth lap as the Camel Van Diemen saw off the attention from Andrew Schofield's Reynard on the final tour. David Parks led home Tom Hawkins by a couple of tenths for eighth and Nathan Ward moved into the top ten on the last lap to defeat Peter Lucas by half a second. Neil Fowler's RF91 Van Diemen was a withdrawal before qualifying due to problems in testing.
Final: The grid for the twelve-lap Janet Cesar Trophy final would have Richard Tarling’s 1989 Reynard and Cam Jackson’s 1990 Van Diemen on the front row, The Van Diemen RF90 of Darwin Smith and the slightly newer RF91 of Callum Grant formed the second row, with Benn Tilley and Alex Ames making up the top six starters with their Van Diemens. Andrew Schofield and Dave Parks lined up beside each other in their Reynards on row four, whilst Historic Festival star Tom Hawkins and Castle Combe class champion Nathan Ward anchored the top ten contenders. Leading contender William Liston’s Pre-Final retirement condemned the Australian to an eighth row start and Sam Street would have to replay his 2023 efforts to get a good result from 20th. Jackson reacted first when the lights went out but Tarling would lead into Copse from pole position ahead of Smith, Jackson and Ames. However, Smith went into the top spot on the run to Becketts as the polesitting Reynard fought off the keen Van Diemens of Ames, Jackson and Grant. The lead RF90 ran wide as they went onto the Wellington Straight and Tarling drew alongside but instead fell to third as Ames breezed by, which then became fourth as Jackson skated around the outside of the pair at Brooklands to slot into second behind Smith at the end of lap one. The trio of RF90s up front broke away slightly from Tarling as he fended off Grant's RF91 before a single-lap Safety Car period followed on lap three for Neil Hunt's stranded Mondiale in the Becketts gravel. Smith got a great jump at the resumption and led the way by almost a second heading onto lap four from Jackson, who had Ames right on his gearbox. The two RF90s swapped places after the Camel Van Diemen got a good run out of Copse as a line of four cars formed chasing Smith, with Grant having a real go at deposing Tarling rebuffed at Brooklands. Smith had seen his advantage whittled away to nothing within a lap by the strong slipstream effect, which saw Ames take a look to the outside into Brooklands without success. Ames had a good run on Smith down the Wellington Straight for the seventh time but some jinking under braking from the battling pair saw the third-placed Jackson forced wide at Brooklands and fell behind Grant to fifth as Smith and Ames temporarily broke away. The pair were 0.817 seconds clear of Tarling before Grant almost passed the Reynard towards Maggotts, Jackson took advantage of Grant's slightly wider line to snatch fourth place but the RF91 fought back through Brooklands and Luffield to end lap eight on the rear of Tarling. Grant wasted little time in using the slipstream to grab third place into Copse as they began lap nine, with Tilley's RF89 joining the back of the four-car train. Jackson made a bold bid to pass both Grant and Tarling into Brooklands but ended up passing neither until the Reynard and RF90 went either side of Grant into Brooklands for the tenth time, with Tarling emerging in third and Jackson in fourth. Jackson towed up to the Reynard starting the penultimate tour but was forced onto the runoff and Grant dived to the inside of both approaching Copse, where Jackson was able to sweep around the outside into third and Tarling dropped to fifth. The lead duo's advantage continued to grow ahead of them as they tussled and Smith's stern defence held strong as Ames' numerous attempts into Brooklands were thwarted to give the Irishman his second trophy in a fortnight by a slender 0.154 seconds from Ames' similar car. The status quo was maintained in the fight for third after the Copse swap around, despite much jostling, so Jackson completed an exclusively Van Diemen RF90-fillled podium ahead of Grant and Tarling. Tilley didn't quite have the pace to get fully involved with the three cars just ahead of him but shadowed Tarling home in sixth, just 0.524 seconds from third. Ward, Schofield and Hawkins were involved in a battle of their own for seventh place, which the Swift won from the Reynard after both got ahead of Hawkins' RF90, who'd had an early battle with Tilley. Despite setting the race’s fastest lap, Liston ran out of time to catch the trio but went away with a top-ten finish. Sam Street couldn’t reproduce his magic from 2023 after colliding with Nigel Thompson's Van Diemen exiting Luffield and tore a wheel from his Swift at the end of the sixth lap.
Preview: The 2023 final for chassis produced between 1982 and 1998 was one of the races of the weekend and the 2024 edition should be little different. At least four of the ’stealth bomber’ Van Diemens should be in the thick of the fight for glory, with Alex Ames, Darwin Smith and Cam Jackson’s RF90s and the RF91 of Callum Grant the combinations most likely to lead the field. A fifth in the hands of Neil Fowler couldn’t be discounted either, with the RF91 resplendent in Warren Hughes’ 1991 Agip livery. Of the older Van Diemens, young Australian William Liston has shown good pace with his RF88 and had already been presented with one award at the start of the weekend, whilst Benn Tilley was at the wheel of the RF89 used to great effect by Tom McArthur at Castle Combe this year. Sam Street should be the standard bearer of the Swift camp after a fantastic fightback during the 2023 final but expect the Castle Combe Class B champion Nathan Ward to push him very hard with his similar SC92F. Formula Palmer Audi champion Richard Tarling shouldn’t be dismissed with a 1989 Reynard and others looking to outfox the opposition with the Bicester-built chassis included David Parks and Andrew Schofield, the son of the South African invasion's architect Ian. The 2024 Super Classic champion Tom Hawkins was a late entry into the split in the Van Diemen RF90 usually seen in the hands of Jay Vincent and Hawkins has form after setting the overall pole position time for Heat Two at the Festival two weeks prior and pushed Darwin Smith all the way during the wet Brian Jones Memorial Trophy race. Historic ace Robert Wainwright was a dark horse with a 1990 Mondiale M90S.
The first attempt at running the Pre-Final would only get as far as Copse before a fast-starting Stephen O'Connor and Sam Street became entangled to cause a red flag. Their demise left a blank second row at the restart and polesitter William Liston held onto the lead into Copse but Cam Jackson led by the end of the lap. Liston reclaimed the lead at Copse as seven cars contested the top spot but the Australian peeled into the pits to retire due to a broken gear linkage at the end of the second lap. Jackson and Darwin Smith crossed paths at Luffield when the RF88 slowed, with Jackson knocked into a half-spin and Benn Tilley was held up too. The noseless Smith and the delayed Jackson soon brought themselves back into contention and the top four cars were together going into the closing stages. Jackson took second from Grant at Brooklands for the penultimate time to give leader Tarling a small margin onto the last lap. Jackson was into the Reynard's tow out of the final corner for a Silverstone-type finish but fell 0.084 seconds shy of victorious Tarling. Smith was closing fast too in third, just 0.020 seconds from Jackson's similar RF90 and 0.104 seconds from victory after climbing the order from the eighth row. Grant's RF91 slipped to fourth at Copse starting the last circulation as the lead quartet were covered by 0.552 over the line. Benn Tilley took Alex Ames for fifth place on the sixth lap as the Camel Van Diemen saw off the attention from Andrew Schofield's Reynard on the final tour. David Parks led home Tom Hawkins by a couple of tenths for eighth and Nathan Ward moved into the top ten on the last lap to defeat Peter Lucas by half a second. Neil Fowler's RF91 Van Diemen was a withdrawal before qualifying due to problems in testing.
Final: The grid for the twelve-lap Janet Cesar Trophy final would have Richard Tarling’s 1989 Reynard and Cam Jackson’s 1990 Van Diemen on the front row, The Van Diemen RF90 of Darwin Smith and the slightly newer RF91 of Callum Grant formed the second row, with Benn Tilley and Alex Ames making up the top six starters with their Van Diemens. Andrew Schofield and Dave Parks lined up beside each other in their Reynards on row four, whilst Historic Festival star Tom Hawkins and Castle Combe class champion Nathan Ward anchored the top ten contenders. Leading contender William Liston’s Pre-Final retirement condemned the Australian to an eighth row start and Sam Street would have to replay his 2023 efforts to get a good result from 20th. Jackson reacted first when the lights went out but Tarling would lead into Copse from pole position ahead of Smith, Jackson and Ames. However, Smith went into the top spot on the run to Becketts as the polesitting Reynard fought off the keen Van Diemens of Ames, Jackson and Grant. The lead RF90 ran wide as they went onto the Wellington Straight and Tarling drew alongside but instead fell to third as Ames breezed by, which then became fourth as Jackson skated around the outside of the pair at Brooklands to slot into second behind Smith at the end of lap one. The trio of RF90s up front broke away slightly from Tarling as he fended off Grant's RF91 before a single-lap Safety Car period followed on lap three for Neil Hunt's stranded Mondiale in the Becketts gravel. Smith got a great jump at the resumption and led the way by almost a second heading onto lap four from Jackson, who had Ames right on his gearbox. The two RF90s swapped places after the Camel Van Diemen got a good run out of Copse as a line of four cars formed chasing Smith, with Grant having a real go at deposing Tarling rebuffed at Brooklands. Smith had seen his advantage whittled away to nothing within a lap by the strong slipstream effect, which saw Ames take a look to the outside into Brooklands without success. Ames had a good run on Smith down the Wellington Straight for the seventh time but some jinking under braking from the battling pair saw the third-placed Jackson forced wide at Brooklands and fell behind Grant to fifth as Smith and Ames temporarily broke away. The pair were 0.817 seconds clear of Tarling before Grant almost passed the Reynard towards Maggotts, Jackson took advantage of Grant's slightly wider line to snatch fourth place but the RF91 fought back through Brooklands and Luffield to end lap eight on the rear of Tarling. Grant wasted little time in using the slipstream to grab third place into Copse as they began lap nine, with Tilley's RF89 joining the back of the four-car train. Jackson made a bold bid to pass both Grant and Tarling into Brooklands but ended up passing neither until the Reynard and RF90 went either side of Grant into Brooklands for the tenth time, with Tarling emerging in third and Jackson in fourth. Jackson towed up to the Reynard starting the penultimate tour but was forced onto the runoff and Grant dived to the inside of both approaching Copse, where Jackson was able to sweep around the outside into third and Tarling dropped to fifth. The lead duo's advantage continued to grow ahead of them as they tussled and Smith's stern defence held strong as Ames' numerous attempts into Brooklands were thwarted to give the Irishman his second trophy in a fortnight by a slender 0.154 seconds from Ames' similar car. The status quo was maintained in the fight for third after the Copse swap around, despite much jostling, so Jackson completed an exclusively Van Diemen RF90-fillled podium ahead of Grant and Tarling. Tilley didn't quite have the pace to get fully involved with the three cars just ahead of him but shadowed Tarling home in sixth, just 0.524 seconds from third. Ward, Schofield and Hawkins were involved in a battle of their own for seventh place, which the Swift won from the Reynard after both got ahead of Hawkins' RF90, who'd had an early battle with Tilley. Despite setting the race’s fastest lap, Liston ran out of time to catch the trio but went away with a top-ten finish. Sam Street couldn’t reproduce his magic from 2023 after colliding with Nigel Thompson's Van Diemen exiting Luffield and tore a wheel from his Swift at the end of the sixth lap.
