News in brief, January 2008

An on-line petition has been launched in a bid to earn John Surtees a knighthood. The 73-year-old racing legend remains the only man ever to win World Championships on two and four wheels, and fan Richard Hennessey initiated the plan by applying to the Number 10 website which hosts petitions. Register your support at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Sir-John-Surtees

Thirty years on from the last Swedish Grand Prix, a new historic racing festival has been created for the Anderstorp circuit over the weekend of June 6-8, 2008.

The event will particularly celebrate the life and career of ‘Super Swede’ Ronnie Peterson, who died at Monza in September 1978. The meeting will also remember Swedish racer Gunnar Nilsson, who died from cancer a month later. A partnership between the Masters Organisation and the circuit has created the Ronnie Peterson Historic Grand Prix. Races will include GP Masters, World Sportscar Masters, Gentleman Drivers GT and Top Hat Pre-66 Saloons.

Two major events in Europe are being planned next year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Formula Junior. The category will feature prominently at the Brands Hatch Historic Festival in late June when as many as three races could be run, subject to final timetabling. “We will have two grids with two races each,” said category supremo, Duncan Rabagliati. “The ultimate celebration has got to be at Monza in early June, because that is where the first Junior race was held in 1958.”