Thrilling eight-car battle in historic formula ford sends with tar ling on top

There are not enough superlatives to adequately describe the weekend’s second Historic Formula Ford race.

From an eight-car lead pack, Richard Tarling somehow got to the flag first, with just two seconds covering eight cars. The spectators stood in awe as the pack raced wheel-to-wheel for 20 minutes, often three-abreast in a commendably clean contest.

This was Historic FF1600 at its very best. Saturday’s race was pretty good when Ben Mitchell finally wriggled clear of the pack to take a superb win from Nelson Rowe as Tarling, Callum Grant and Cameron Jackson fought tooth-and-nail over third.

But the remarkably strong field saved the best for Sunday in a race where any one of eight cars could have won and most of them had a turn in the lead. It was a race that modern single-seater racing will never come close to matching as Tarling, Jackson, Mitchell, Grant, Rowe, Ed Thurston, Gislain Genecand and Stuart Kestenbaum showed how it should be done. Will Nuthall was in there too, until a loose nosecone made a bid for freedom. It was so close, with constant place changing, yet the racing standards among this fine crop of racers ensured that, somehow, everyone finished.

Ultimately, Tarling used all his guile to work his way into a winning position from Jackson and Mitchell, as less than a fifth of a second covered the top three cars. “That was hard work,” said Tarling, who has had some big battles since switching to Historic FF1600. Few wins will ever be tougher than this one.