News in brief, March 2006

The life of Keith Duckworth OBE will be celebrated in a Memorial Service, to be held at 3pm on Thursday February 23 at All Saints’ Church, George Row, Northampton. Along with his colleague Mike Costin, Keith set up Cosworth Engineering in 1958.

John Grant, the former MSA chairman, will split his time this year between his McLaren M8C/D and a Chevron 816. He will again contest the Orwell Supersports title in the McLaren and take in selected endurance events in the B16, which is currently being restored by Vin Malkie.

Richard Melns will race two Lola T70s this season with the Masters group. He intends to run his Mk3B in World Sportscar Masters and the ex-John Surtees Spider in the Gentleman Drivers’ Sports Racing Masters series. “It’s a massive buzz driving these cars,” said Meins, who is also hoping to get an entry for Le Mans in the Mk3B.

Les Ely has acquired an ex-works Cooper Bobtail for the coming season and plans to race the 1956 car alongside his existing BMW 2000 and Jaguar E-type. The Bobtail is an ex-Moss/ Brabham/Bueb car and is one of only three built by Cooper for the ’56 season.

The Historic Sports Car Club has added a second major date on the Brands Hatch GP circuit for the coming season. The traditional Superprix will run on May 6/7, with Grand Prix Masters and World Sportscar Masters joining the full range of HSCC championships. On June 3/4, guest races for Group C/GTP, Supersports, Gentleman Drivers and European F2 will take centre stage.

The twin European F2 series have amalgamated for 2006, when the 2-litre and 1600cc cars will run in one series at six events in Europe. Encouraged by the HSCC, the groups have agreed to join forces and will run under the European F2 badge, starting at Silverstone on May 20-21.

An extensive collection of Lotus road and race cars will feature at the 20th Annual Lotus Show at Donington Park over the weekend of March 18-19. The event marks the 50th anniversary of the club.

A new classic event at Spa has been added to the crowded summer run of major historic racing festivals. The Spa Historic GP will run over the weekend of July14-16, with TGP and Sportscar Masters races taking star billing.