RETRO TIME
RETRO RACING
CAR RACING WITHOUT ALL THE MODERN NONSENSE IS HOW THE HISTORIC RACING DRIVERS CLUB APPROACHES ITS SPORT. THE RESULT IS FAST, AUTHENTIC, BRITISH FUN.
the size of small buildings. The corporate sponsors’ logos aren’t splattered across every moving or static surface. No sense of elite aloofness permeates the proceedings. Instead, a meeting of the HRDC is more like a trip back in time to the late 1950s and early 1960s when car racing was a sociable, friendly egalitarian gathering of interested enthusiasts who shared a knowledge of and an interest in moving often very familiar vehicles round a track at high speed. The website of the club (
www.hrdc.eu) and its newsletter – both labelled The Racer – are appropriately retro in look, having overtones of a vintage comic such as the Eagle. With British Racing Green as its prominent colour, the site lists the series of races that will take the HRDC to five classic British tracks in 2012, plus a trip to Nirvana for petrol heads, the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. The racing categories
T
are a fascinating insight into the classification system of vintage motor sport. Governed by the strict regulations of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the global governing body of motor racing, the HRDC offers contests for “Touring Greats”, “Grand Touring Greats”, “TC63”,
“MGB50” and “GTS65”. While true aficionados will be aware that, say, GTS65
14
here is no sign of helicopters dropping off VIPs at a meeting of the Historic Racing Drivers Club. Moody millionaire drivers don’t lurk in remote motor homes
indicates that the category is “for pre-’66 historic sports cars in GT trim, over 150cc, complying with Appendix ‘K’ to the International Sporting Code”, for most of us all we need to know is that the HRDC concerns itself with cars made before 1966. To see such 45-plus-year-old veterans (or their approved replicas) zipping around is an attractive prospect for anyone who has become bored of the high-tech procession that most Formula 1 Grand Prix are nowadays.
“What is an historic car is a moot point,” muses HRDC
founder Julius Thurgood. “In our world, the term is generally applied to cars built before 1966. Veteran cars are pre-1904, vintage cars date from before 1931 and post-vintage runs up to
1939.There are other classes too, such as post-historic, classics, emerging classics…”
HRDC founder Julius Thurgood, at rear, with his trio of mechanics
christopherward.co.uk
Leaving aside the sub-species of racing vehicles, Thurgood’s heart and vision is firmly grounded in the period when the 1950s turned into the 1960s. The British Touring Car Championships, for example, was inaugurated in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship. “Back in those days, top drivers like Stirling Moss and Jim Clark would drive in all sorts of classes at a race meeting. So as well as seeing them in their Grand Prix cars, the fans could also see them racing in a saloon car race. A desire to return to the days of the gentleman racer was behind the decision of Thurgood to establish the HRDC as recently as October 2010. A consultant
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52