From the Archives - 1980 AMOC Brands Hatch Historic Racing

Aston Martin vs Jaguar E-Type as the field exits Druids at Brands Hatch in 1980.

I think the photos in this blogpost were taken at the Sunday 11th May AMOC meeting at Brands Hatch.  Certainly the pictures were taken in May 1980 or before and certainly it is Brands Hatch.  Given the number of Aston Martins in the pictures it is safe to assume it is an Aston Martin Owners Club Meeting.   The pictures have been scanned from some rather contrasty Kodachrome slides.  The photos were taken on an Olympus OM10 SLR with 24, 50 and 100mm lenses.   The pictures haven't scanned that well but represent probably the best motor racing pictures I took up to that date.  From a distance of more than 38 years it is quite difficult to identify all the cars and drivers.   The meeting featured FIA Championship Historic Car races.  Certainly some quality cars and certainly some that I haven't seen much of recently.   Historic Racing, then as now, was a mixture of very authentic cars plus those rather less original and some more in the nature of copies or replicas.   Perhaps, there were more Ferraris racing regularly compared to today.

The well known JCB 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1

I think this must be Bobby Bell in his Lister Jaguar Knobbly.

Two Aston Martins battling it out into Druids.

The Geoffrey Marsh owned Aston Martin DBR4 overtakes an ERA on the blast up top Druids.

Aston Martin engined Lola T70 MkIII in the paddock.

Ferrari 330 GTO.  

Rear end of the 330 GTO

Pre-War Aston Martin at South Bank Bend.

Another Pre-War car taken from South Bank

ERA in the paddock.  Is this R2B Romulus?

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page. 

Chevrolet Camaro getting sideways at South Bank.

FIA European Hillclimb Championship - Round 9 - Course de Côte du Mont Dore / Chambon sur Lac

The GT Group and Class winning McLaren MP4 12C of Pierre Courroye.

The European Hillclimb Championship is the oldest of all of the FIA Championships as it dates back to 1930 when Hans Stuck and Rudolf Caracciola were winners.  In the fifties, sixties and seventies the winners included Wolfgang von Trips, Ludovico Scarfiotti. Gerhard Mitter, Peter Schetty and Arturo Merzario  driving for the works Ferrari, Porsche and Abarth teams.  In recent years it has been the domain of Simone Faggioli who has won the championship nine times. He was also the record holder at Mont Dore going into this event and thus a clear favourite.  Mont Dore was round 9 of the championship and the only round in France.  Mont Dore used to be a regular venue in the Championship but hadn't been a round since 2013 so it was good to see the European runners back. The course is just over 5kms long and the record lap was set in 2011 at just over 2 minutes 14 seconds.  There are many classes but most interest was in the overall competition and in the GT class. Would Faggioli win again and how would the McLaren vs Porsche vs Lamborghini vs Audi vs BMW GT battle be settled?

It was not to be Simone Faggioli's day and he was beaten by Christian Merli in an Osella. It was not my day either and I failed to get a single picture of Christian Merli!  However, I dis get all of the other 16 runners in the European Championship section of the Course de Côte du Mont Dore / Chambon-sur-Lac.  The GT battle saw the McLaren of young driver Pierre Courroye win again as he did at Saint-Goueno.  The photos below show the participants in the order that they finished.

Simone Faggioli returns to the paddock after his first run in his Norma M20 FC.  He finished runner-up.

Benoit Bouche finished third in his Reynard 99L.

Third placed Benoit Bouche.

David Guilaumard won the 2 litre class in his Norma

Damien Chamberod's Norma at the first main corner.  He finished second in class.

The class winning Audi TT R DTM of Vladimir Vitver

Vitver's Audi in the paddock.

The Osella PA21 Evo of Stefano Crespi.

Christian Schmitter's Porsche 997 GT3 R finished second in class to the McLaren.

Finishing off the top ten was Philippe Schmitter's Lamborghini Gallardo FC2 GT3.

The BMW Z4 GT3 of Jan Milon.

The Ginetta G55 GT3 of Aznar Sanchez Jose Antonio.

The Ginetta G55 in the paddock.

The Audi R8 LMS GT3 of "Tessitore".

The Honda powered Norma of Fabien Bouduban in the paddock.

The Lamboghini Gallardo GT3 of Martin jerman.

The Subaru Impreza STI WRX of Lukas Vojacek.

There was only one entrant in Group N but it was the European Champion Tomas Vavrinec.

The Group N Mitsibushi Lancer Evo9 of Tomas Vavrinec.

For photos of the Course de Cote de Mont Dore in 2014 click here.

For photos of the Course de Cote de Mont Dore in 2016 click here.

For photos of the French Championship Sport runners in 2017 click here.

For photos of the VHC runners in 2017, click here.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

Zandvoort 2016 - European F3 Championship and DTM support races

Frenchman, Antoine Hubert attacks the Kumhobocht at Zandvoort in his F3 cae.

The DTM meeting at Zandvoort is one of the big meetings of the year at the Dutch circuit that threads its way through the sand dunes.  However, it is not all about the German Touring Cars.   There are also rounds of the FIA European F3 Championship, TCR Benelux Touring Car Championship, the German Porsche Carrera Cup and the Audi Sport TT Cup.

Here is the action from all of the DTM support races on Saturday July 16th 2016.  As usual, all of the photos were taken from the public areas.

European F3 Race 1
European F3 is an important stepper series.  In 2014 for instance Max Verstappen was driving in this series and now he is already in his second year of Formula 1.

Saturday at Zandvoort was a successful day for the Canadian drivers.  As well as Rob Wickens walking away with the big DTM race, young 17 year old Lance Stroll dominated the first F3 race as well.

Nick Cassidy makes a better start than his Prema Powerteam teammate Lance Stroll.

However by the time they get to Tarzan, Lance Stroll (1) is ready to go round the outside of his teammate Nick Cassidy (2).

Also at the Tarzan, the first corner, there is some locking up as Guanyu Zhou (23) and Pedro Piquet (5) battle it out.

There were a number of famous names in this field such as Pedro Piquet (son of World Champion Nelson Piquet) and Harrison Newey (son of Red Bull design genius Adrian Newey).

Once ahead, Lance Stroll dominated the race and won by 8 seconds.

Lance Stroll is the son of Lawrence Stroll a Canadian billionaire who collects Ferraris, owns the Mont Tremblant Circuit and who has paid Williams F1 team for his son to be one of their development drivers.  Maybe we will see Lance in a F1 GP one day.

Wide-angle view of the Tarzan corner during the F3 race.

George Russell (12) leads Ryan Tveter (3) through Tarzan. They finished sseventh and eighth respectively.

The cars all have Dallara F312 chassis but have a choice of 2 litre 4 cylinder 240 hp engines including Mercedes, VW & Oreca.

New Zealander Nick Cassidy had pole position but had to settle for second place in the race.

Maximilian Günther (17) leads Callum Ilott (6) and Noko Kari (10).  The finished fourth, fifth and sixth in that order.

The third placed car of Alessio Lorandi enters Tarzan.

David Beckmann and Sergio Sette Camara go side by side through Tarzan in their battle for tenth place.

Another battle at the rear of the field with Guanhu Zhou (23) leading the side by side pair of Nikita Mazepin (11) and Ben Barnicoat (24). 

Nick Cassidy (left), Lance Stroll (centre) and Alessio Lorandi (right) on the podium.

TCR Benelux Races

These Touring Cars were the first races that I saw when we arrived at Zandvoort.

The TCR field races down the start/finish straight and into Tarzan.

This was the battle for the lead between the Honda Civic of Norbert Michellsz (18) and Amaury Richard's VW Club (3).

The TCR cars negotiate the Gerlabocht.

Audi Sport TT Cup
We watched this race from the paddock.  It was the first time that this series had visited Zandvoort.

Max Hofer on the exit of Hans Ernst Bocht.

Joonas Lappelainen leads Emil Lindholm through Tarzan.

More close racing through Tarzan with Pawel Lefterov leading.

Niclaus Nielsen drove from pole position to score his first win in the Audi TT Cup.

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland
After a German style lunch of Bratwurst we also watched the Porsche race from the paddock.

Jeffrey Schmidt had pole position but could only finish second on Saturday.  He got his revenge on the Sunday.

Nick Yelloly holds off Luca Rettenbacher on his way to eleventh place.

First place spoils went to Sven Müller and the Konrad Motorsport team.

European F3 Race 2
With Lance Stroll at the back of the grid it looked likely that we would have another winner but would Lance show his class and climb up through the field?

Nick Cassidy leads everyone out of the Hans Ernst Bocht curve.  He was to end up the winner of this second race of the weekend.

Harrison Newey exits Kumhobocht on his way to twelfth place.

Joel Eriksson who finished tenth.

F3 car in the Arie Luyendijkocht

George Russell applies opposite lock as he gets sideways on the kerbs in his chase of fellow Brit Ben Barnicoat.

Callum Ilott started from pole position but could only finish third.

Maximilian Günther on his way to second place.  On the Sunday he was to win the third race.

Nikita Mazepin rides the kerbs.

Brazilian Sergio Sette Camaro.

Fifth placed Alessio Lorandi.

Lance Stroll, seen following Serge Sette Camaro, made no progress up the field and eventually got into the gravel on the exit of Kumhobocht and went into the pits to end up non-classified.  Obviously not easy to overtake in these cars.

The Frenchman Anthoine Hubert finished in a good fourth place.

Harrison Newey chases Niko Kari around the Hans Ernst Bocht.

Action at the Hans Ernst Bocht.

Mikkel Jensen.

A view of the sand dunes as Lance Stroll drives by.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.