Oldtimer Grand Prix

Instead of the relentless rain of recent years, sun and blue skies graced the entire weekend at the Nürburgring. Only hours before Friday’s Marathon race on the Nordschleife, the Gotcha Racing mechanics removed the engine and gearbox from the pole-sitting von Oeynhausen/Stippler E-type. Despite the engine swap it won the 24-lap Marathon again by a big margin, lapping in 8min 18.75 sec.

In Sportscar Masters Stefano Rosina took the ex-Chris Craft DFVpowered McLaren M8C to victory. Also present was Roschmann’s Ecurie Francorchamps Ferrari 512M, which Derek Bell drove at the 1970 Spa 1000Kms in S form. In Sunday’s Pre-61 GP car race Julian Bronson’s Scarab, a team spare in period, finished third behind Philip Walker’s Lotus 16 and the winning Cooper T45 of Miles Griffiths, while further back Stephan Reitenmaier gave his OSCA Tipo G 4500 an outing, as raced by Franco Rol in the 1951 Italian GP.

Alex Buncombe was supreme in both E-type Challenge races despite a scary incident on Sunday with Martin O’Connell that also damaged von Oeynhausen’s car. Buncombe also shared a Jaguar Mk2 in the Marathon, lapping in 9min 14.93sec, and also drove the JD Classics C-type to fifth in the Pre-61 sports and GT race, won despite severe brake fade by the Balz/Stippler Maserati ‘Birdcage’.

Richard Attwood and Paul Jaye raced another C-type, Aubrey Finburgh’s venerable XKC043, to great effect, while also worthy of mention were Julian Majzub’s heroic efforts in the Sadler Mk III, finishing second on Saturday and first in Sunday’s shorter race. This year’s event and smaller grids surely reflected current economic circumstances, but it remains a worthwhile meeting, with the legendary Nordschleife as the stage.

Paul Parker