Brookes to return for RAC Historics

Russell Brookes, one of Britain’s leading contemporary rally driver in the 1970s, returns to the cockpit to tackle this weekend’s RAC International Historic Rally, with journalist Maurice Hamilton in the hotseat of the Porsche 911 which has won the event for the past two years with Jimmy McRae at the wheel.

The Worcestershire ace is seeded two, but will not have things all his own way in the Cheltenham-based event, for he follows the similar car of the Czech father-and-son crew Jan and Richard Trajbold, leader of the European Historic Rally Championship, and is chased by Tony fall, back in his trademark Datsun 240Z.

Former Safety Devices Challenge winners Paul Kynaston and Gary Bulley are capable of beating allcomers in their well developed Sunbeam Tiger. The 30-car field, which has drawn competitors from nine countries, also includes American Lance Smith’s Ford Falcon Sprint and the remarkable triple amputee David Butler in his MGB.

The entry for the National status event, which runs concurrently, is headed by Jon Everard’s Austin-Healey 3000 and hillclimb champ Roy Lane’s Porsche. Charles Golding’s Triumph TR7 takes on Richard Martin-Hurst’s Escort RS1600 and Richard Tyzack’s BMW 2002 in the Classic section.