British GT man Mowle joins Formula Junior

British GT regular Lee Mowle will make his single-seater debut at the Silverstone Classic next weekend after buying a Formula Junior Lotus.

Mowle will swap his regular AMD Tuning-run BMW Z4 GT3 for a Classic Team Lotus 20-22 Fjunior in the July 29-31 event. Mowle bought the car from Phil Ingle, and has entered the Classic as a warm-up for more race outings next season.

“I’m good friends with Chris Dinnage from Classic Team Lotus and I was talking to him about the old Lotus single-seater and how much I liked them, then he managed to hunt down this one for sale so I thought ‘why not?” said Mowle.

“I’ve not even sat in it yet, and I’ve never raced a singleseater, so I think Silverstone will be an eye-opener. It’s at least a circuit I know and hopefully the Lotus will behave a bit like a go-kart, but aside from that I’ll be keeping out of people’s way.

“I’d like to give this side of the sport a crack. I’ll test the car at Hethel for my first go and then it’s straight into the Classic.” event. Their threewheeler finished second in class, beaten only by a 1,000cc Vincent-powered “kneeler” sidecar outfit, which weighs about one third of the car.

There are still no motor racing events planned for Lydden, although the British Rallycross Championship will return on August 29.