JIM RUSSELL’S LIFE TO BE HONOURED
Driver and race-school boss to be celebrated at Snetterton HSCC showdown
The life of the late Jim Russell will be celebrated in a new two-day historic race meeting at Snetterton next spring.
Russell, who died in March aged 98, started racing at Snetterton in 1952. He won the British Formula 3 Championship three years in a row from 1955 to 1957 but stopped competing after being injured at Le Mans in 1959.
In 1956 he set up the first motor racing school at Snetterton and played a key role in the early career of drivers like Emerson Fittipaldi, Derek Bell and Jacques Villeneuve.
It is planned to stage a display of cars relevant to Jim Russell’s life and the Historic Sports Car Club is keen to hear from anyone with a suitable car.
The HSCC’S Jim Russell
Trophy Meeting (April 4-5) will feature 10 Formula Ford races to honour the memory of the racing school pioneer and also the early heritage of the Formula Ford Festival. Before moving to Brands Hatch in 1976, the first four Festivals were run at Snetterton from 1972 to 1975.
The race line-up will include double headers for Historic Formula Ford, Classic
Formula Ford, Heritage Formula Ford, Historic
Formula Ford 2000 and a double-header for modern Formula Fords running under the Champion of Snetterton title.
Andy Dee-crowne of the HSCC said: “We are delighted to be able to honour the memory of a man who did so much for the sport. Snetterton is the ideal place to celebrate Formula Ford and we will have races for cars spanning 50 years of the category.”