News in brief, May 2005
Historic FF1600 racer Chris Sharples has been elected chairman of the Historic Sports Car Club. He replaces Nicholas Overall, who stood down after holding the position for a decade. Sharples has recently retired from the post of marketing director at Unilever.
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The sixth and final Group C/GTP date for 2005 has finally been confirmed. The series will now conclude at Estoril over the weekend of October 8/9. It will be the first time that the cars have raced at the Portuguese track since they were current.
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German racer Peter Wuensch will race in both TGP and GP Masters this season in the ex-Jody Scheckter Wolf WR2 previously raced by ’60s Formula Junior star John Fenning. The car is now being tended by Hall & Hall and recently had a shakedown at Donington.
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2004 TGP champion Rodrigo Gallego is switching cars and classes for his title defence. The Portuguese racer has forsaken his March 761 for a Class D Minardi M185, the car with which the popular Italian constructor entered F1 20 years ago. Joining the series is Rowland Kinch in the ex-Riccardo Patrese/Jochen Mass Arrows A1, while Janine Payne, partner of TGP regular Richard Eyre, steps up with an A4.
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A year after badly damaging the car at Mallory Park, Steve Smith returned to the track with his Cooper T59, now immaculately rebuilt. Smith has reinstated the Formula Junior car’s original Scuderia Filipinetti livery, as it was raced by Roland Boddi in 1962/63. The Swiss crashed the car at Lake Garda in ’63. Smith plans a full season and hopes to be invited to Goodwood.
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Chris Alford, recently elected vice-chairman of the HSCC, will be racing in Euro F2 this season in one of six cars from the team of Oskar Christensen. Alford will race the March 762 run by Swiss ace Christian Fischer in 2004, starting at German GP track Hockenheim on April 24.
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The lucky reader who has won a trip for two to this year’s Mille Miglia is John Litchfield of Kingsbridge, Devon. Our competition was run in association with Club Volante (www.clubvolante.com).