Club news, November 2003

Ryan Delane, son of Tyrrell F1 racer John, made his European race debut in the FORCE event at Le Mans. Ryan bagged a brace of F2 class wins in his father’s Lotus 69.

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Historic Rallysport has just completed the build of four fresh MkI Ford Escorts for use on the Safari Retro Rally in December. Mark Solloway’s operation will tend cars for Simon Glover, Ray Bellm and Anthony Ward on the African rally. Solloway will also co-drive for Ward on the event.

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After winning the Oulton Park Gold Cup race in Martin O’Connell’s hands, the Lotus 59/69 of Sandy Watson was badly damaged three weeks later at Spa. With its owner aboard, the car flicked into a series of rolls after a clash of wheels in the meeting’s Historic F2 contest.

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The FORCE event at Le Mans took 3-litre F1 cars back to the Bugatti circuit, the scene of the 1967 French Grand Prix. Jo Siffert finished fourth in that race and the FORCE award in his memory was won by Andrew Wareing for a stirring charge from the back of the grid in his Williams FW06.

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Six months after his Lotus Cortina was destroyed in a fire on a road section of the Astra Stages, Bob Bean returned to the British historic rally series with a replacement car on the Trackrod Rally. The new Lotus Cortina has been built up around a spare shell, and it claimed third in class on the Yorkshire event.

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Having won the FIA Historic Touring Car race at Spa alongside John Young in a Ford Mustang, Alec Hammond was out of luck when he reverted to his Chevrolet Camaro for the Heritage GT final at Oulton Park six days later. A spin into the tyre wall at Old Hall put the car out of the opening race.