Half-century heroes at Brands
The 50th anniversary of the Ford Escort was celebrated in style at the Historic Sports Car Club’s Brands Hatch meeting on 22-23 September. Sunday included two races dedicated to the model, with Daniel Brown (Mk2) claiming the double. In the opening stanza, he led a family one-two-three ahead of father Sean and brother Robert.
The wet conditions played into the hands of Adrian Oliver and Steve Platts, who shared Historic Touring Car spoils. Oliver’s Hillman Imp led from the front to beat Mike Gardiner’s Lotus Cortina in the first encounter; next time out he was relegated to second behind Platts’ Singer Chamois.
The Classic Formula 3 and Classic FF2000 fields combined for a double-header, with Chris Lord (Van Diemen) Saturday’s winner. On Sunday, the F3 cars came to the fore: Paul Smith’s Ralt RT3 pipped the similar car of Gaius Ghinn.
Mark Charteris (Mallock Mk20/21) won both Classic Clubmans races, while Cameron Jackson (Lola T200) did likewise in Historic Formula Ford. Richard Tarling (Jamun M92) topped the pre-1993 Heritage Formula Ford field, and Alex Morton (Condor S2) won a poorly supported Formula Junior race.
Other victors included Kevin Kivlochan (Morgan Plus 8) and John Davison (Lotus Elan) in Historic Road Sports, plus Will Leverett (Lotus Europa) and Jeremy Clark (Elan) in 70s Road Sports. The Reynards of Andrew Park and Paul Allen, meanwhile, took a win apiece in Historic FF2000.