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SUPERSPRINT ROUNDS OFF EQUIPE SEASON
| The 2025 Equipe Classic Racing season closed with our now traditional Super Sprint meeting on the Silverstone National circuit. An action-packed day of three qualifying sessions, nine rounds of heats and then three super close finals for the bumper field. With a wide range of cars in action there were final wins for Barry Dye, Neil Fisher and Steve Dance, with some great racing in each of the ten-lap races and we can only hope that everyone involved had as much fun as we did on what is a very different race day.  All nine heats were entertaining with some great battles up and down the order, Steve Dance staying undefeated in all three of his with his Ford Capri RS3100, twice chased home by Rob Cull’s super quick Ford Escort RS1800. Bill Rawles won heat two after a great battle with Peter Burchill and Mike Jordan, while a stunning first lap that had him passing 20-cars saw Charles Angrave win heat three in his Lotus MkIV from the back of the grid. There were also heat wins in the second round for the Morgan of Martin Pratt and John Pearson’s Ford Escort, while Rick Willmott won heat eight in his AC Cobra and Barry Dye took the ninth and final heat with his Ginetta. That set the scene – and the grids – for the three finals that closed a great day of racing.  Dye had his Ginetta G4R on pole for the Yellow final, and duly led the field away, Darren’s Smith MGB second at the end of the opening lap with the similar MGB of James Topliss right with him. Dye had the pace on the field and opened a gap, as behind it became a three-way battle for second as Brett Dillon closed in with his Austin Healey Sprite. Mike Henney was on the move in his Turner Sports and by mid-race was part of the fight for the podium positions, moving into fourth on lap six. Dye stayed clear to claim the first final win of the day, Smith claiming second from Dillon with the Porsche 911 of Steve Winter fourth. “This the first time I’ve raced this car the first time I have won a race,” said Dye. “The car has a great race history back to the 1960s and it’s a lovely car to drive, low weight, good power and just handles brilliantly. I was not sure about the Super Sprint previously but having done it I think it is brilliant!”  From second on the grid in the Green final Harvey Blake-Jones made a great start in his Marcos 1800GT and took the early lead, poleman Neil Fisher second at the end of lap one in his Mustang GT350R with the Austin Healey 3000 of Bill Rawles and Peter Burchill’s MG ZS180 in close company. A lap later it was Fisher in the lead, Harvey-Jones with a slight advantage over Rawles who was under pressure from Burchill, the pair joined by the flying Mini Cooper S of Mike Jordan. The Rawles, Burchill and Jordan battle was a continuation of the ones they had been enjoying all day in the heats, Rawles finally claiming some breathing space in the latter part of the race to pull away from Burchill to take third. At the front Fisher lapped consistently to take the win, Blake-Jones, rewarded for a good day of racing with second place. “I made a mess of the start but got back past them,” said Fisher. “I opened a gap and brought the car home, but the Mustang is just so much fun to take round here. I haven’t raced all year, this is my only outing in the car but this format gives you loads of time on track, no complaints at all, brilliant fun and I’ll be back for more.”  The Red final rounded out the day with the fastest cars from the heats. A storming start from John Caudwell saw him take the lead from the second row of the grid, only to go wide at Becketts and lose out to the Capri of Dance. Nigel Rueben had his TVR Griffith into second by lap two and in the early part of the race could match the pace of the Capri but not close the gap, Caudwell running third. Nick Mountford was fourth in his TVR Griffith but under pressure from the Morgan Plus 8 of Andrew Wenman, Rob Cull closing in with his Escort but suffering a gearbox rapidly losing gears. The trio running together for much of the race. Dance was able to pull away and open a gap in the second half the race, Rueben still pushing hard in second and with a handy advantage over the rest. Dance took the win to stay unbeaten all day, Reuben second with Caudwell next up in his AC Cobra. Mountford led the fight for fourth heading into the final lap but lost ground, Wenman coming through to take that slot from Cull, by this stage using only 3rd gear…, Mountford sixth across the line but a class win for this newly built orange Griff. “I had the advantage of slick tyres, you just have to wait for them to come in and you can push,” said Dance. “It’s been a really good day, loved every minute and this format makes a real change, you have to push hard in the short races, fair credit to everyone at Equipe Classic Racing, they’ve done a great job!”    The Equipe Sports Prototypes field had two races, the first stopped on lap one after a first corner incident from which most cars were able to make the restart. James Abbott was on pole in his Revolution 500 EVO and took the lead, Max Windheuser second in his red Normal M20FC with Matt Chamberlain third in the CTR 01.  The light rain that had been threatening early in the race got heavier by the mid-point and the laps times slowed, Abbott still leading and Chamberlain closing in on WIndheuser. Abbott took the win after 13-laps of racing, Chamberlain second as Windheuser lost time on lap nine allowing Gordan Duncan through to claim third in his Radical PR6 to round off the podium and be first Radical home. “It got interesting when the rain came down,” said Abbott, “We were in slicks in the wet and it just got more and more slippery so it was a case of not making any mistakes and keeping it all in one piece.” It was dry for the afternoon race with Abbott leading them away for the rolling start with Richard Chamberlain, having taken over the CTR 01 from son Matt, in second. Best start was from Clint Newman in the Praga R1, who came through third having started at the very back of the grid and driving a great opening lap.  As Abbott once more opened a gap at the front, Newman closed on the experienced Chamberlain, WIndheuser close behind. A move at Becketts didn’t pay off for Newman and he lost ground, Windheuser now right with Chamberlain as Abbott continued to pull away at the front. Windheuser has his Normal into second on lap 12 and then started to pull away from Chamberlian, as Abbott stayed clear to make it two wins out of two on the day. Windheuser took second with Chamberlain rounding out the podium Newman claiming fourth ahead of Duncan. “The Revolution felt on rails,” said Abbott. “It works really well round here and gives you a bit of a work out, it is hard on your neck, I was doing 110mph at the apex of Copse, but the car could just do this all day.”That was a truly fitting end to our on-track activity for 2025. We now focus on our annual Equipe Dinner Dance on Saturday 8th November at Whittlebury Park near Silverstone. This will be the third year at this venue and we are looking forward to an evening when we can look back on a great season with a rare chance to let our hair down without the additional stress of qualifying and races. You can book tickets for you and your guests at https://equipeclassicracing.co.uk/events/2025-equipe-classic-racing-dinner-dance We’ll see you there.Warm regards … |
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