Jim Russell Snett Fford celebration
The life of the late Jim Russell will be celebrated in a new two-day Historic Sports Car Club meeting at Snetterton next spring.
Russell, who died in March aged 98, started racing at Snetterton in 1952. He won the BRSCC National Formula 3 Championship three years in a row from 1955-57, but stopped competing after being injured when he crashed his Cooper Monaco 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 careers of Emerson Fittipaldi, Derek Bell and Jacques Villeneuve. A display of cars relevant to Russell’s life is planned, and the Historic Sports Car Club is keen to hear from anyone with a suitable machine.
The HSCC’S Jim Russell Trophy Meeting (4-5 April) will feature 10 Formula Ford races to honour him and the early heritage of the Formula Ford Festival. Before moving to Brands Hatch, the first four Festivals were run at Snetterton from 1972-75. Russell was also one of the leading lights in the inception of the category in 1967.
The races will include double-headers for Historic Formula Ford, Classic FF1600, Heritage FF1600 and Historic Formula Ford 2000, plus modern FF1600S running under the Champion of Snetterton title.
The HSCC’S Andy Dee-crowne 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.”