Historic Sports 2's to get Martini Invitation

[Kevin Cooke]

Looks like Historic Sports 2000's may be getting some traction, to quote from the HSCC Martini Trophy update:

Silverstone International Trophy 19 -20 May will be held on the new full Grand Prix circuit and will

include an Invitation Class for Historic Sports 2000 Cars pre 1984.

So were going to get to play with the big boys and given the wide nature of the grid inc earlier coupes on treaded tyres we may not be right at the back dispite it being at Silverstone.

Hope we have a good turn out.

Regards

Kevin

[simon drabble]

great news and a sensible one - wish I had a S2000!

[andy97]

There appears to be a few available on the Sports 2000 website......

[simon drabble]

sadly my racing budget this year has been taken by my son!

[delta]

Long over due.AYK I pushed for the sports 2000 too be let in when the Martini Trophy was introduced and I know mon cher amie le dues Chris's from HSCC did as well for us.
Me and Compte had great fun when we were allowed to race our Tiga with the group 4 endurance races especialy at Spa. Happy days and I hope we can have some more.

[RickT]

Just a thought, perhaps an invitation class for old F100s could be added too. It would help fill a few more grid slots and there are cars out there ready to race including a Nerus and a Sturdgees both on the market at present, they would probably welcome an opportunity to join in. When Dad used to do the old RJB Mining series with the McLaren there were plenty of S2000s and F100s racing against the quicker Group 6 cars and it worked very well.

Cheers
Richard

[John Turner]

I think the reason for allowing the S2000s in at this meeting is that you can run a lot more cars on the GP circuit and therefore need to fill the grid adequately.

So to set myself apart from the prevailing view, and Chris S knows my views on this, since we have spoken about it often enough; I don't agree that, in general, this is a good idea. They are not the same. I'll no doubt be accused of elitism but point out that I do not own either type!

[Kevin Cooke]

John,

I don't disagree with your view or the reason why we have the invite, however I do think that as SRCC has proved that the Historic Sports 2000 cars are a credible, fun and cost effective form of historic prototye racing and I'm looking forward to Silverstone as much for the PR benifit as anything else.

There are a large number of cars out there that for some reason currently do not rock up to SRCC meetings and any PR is appreciated.

I can also say that when people see good looking Historic sports 2's in the flesh converts are possible. Two people have bought cars in the last 6 months as a direct result of seeing my car at Spa.

So I'd love to see 25-30 car historic S2 grids as the cars are out there.

Regards

Kevin.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Kevin Cooke

John,

I don't disagree with your view or the reason why we have the invite, however I do think that as SRCC has proved that the Historic Sports 2000 cars are a credible, fun and cost effective form of historic prototye racing and I'm looking forward to Silverstone as much for the PR benifit as anything else.

Kevin.

Absolutely, I agree. I think they are great fun and capable of being self sustaining with effort. I just don't think they are as logical a fit with the 'Martini' cars as people make out. In this case appearances really are deceptive!

[compte deGraves]

Originally Posted by RickT

Just a thought, perhaps an invitation class for old F100s could be added too. It would help fill a few more grid slots and there are cars out there ready to race including a Nerus and a Sturdgees both on the market at present, they would probably welcome an opportunity to join in. When Dad used to do the old RJB Mining series with the McLaren there were plenty of S2000s and F100s racing against the quicker Group 6 cars and it worked very well.

Cheers
Richard

Both Iain Rowley and I raced in the RJB series with a Tiga. Unfortunately there was some hostility towards us, especially from a well known B8 driver. I think the problem was that it seemed too easy for the Sports2000 to win the championship. Anyhow all Sports 2000 cars were kicked out of the series for the following year except nobody bothered to tell us. I remember a certain Mr S. going on about how the sponsors would withdraw completely if they found out that Sports2000 were taking part in the RJB Championship.

The unfriendly conduct of certain people still hurts after all these years; particularly as Iain Rowley could not have done any more to be helpful/ lend a hand to anyone in that series who asked for help.

[RickT]

Hi There

Thats a shame to hear, we always found the RJB series to be friendly for the few years we ran in it, I never heard of any bad feelings towards the s2000s, we had some great races with all who joined in. Sorry to hear that you had a bad time, it was a shame the series went to the wall, we always had fun running in it, it is great that the HSCC finally have a slick tyred sports racing series again with the new Martini races, just wish we had a car to run - all ours have engines with about 3 litres too many !!

Cheers
Richard

[andy97]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

sadly my racing budget this year has been taken by my son!

Either sell your son or find a way to share a car with him - how good would that be? Good enough for the Brundles!

[delta]

Me and Compte had the most fun running with the RJB. There was just one person who did not want the sports 2000 running with them.
I must say that I had the upmost respect for him as he told me straight that he was going too oust us from running with the RJB.I think the sports 2000 will fit in very well with the Martini cars.

[Kevin Cooke]

Guys,

I've been doing a little research on Silverstone lap times for the Martini Cars and the other invited runners, principally the Chevron B8 Coupes, comparing the times acheived by Historic S2's at the Britcar event last year with race times from the HSCC meeting on the same circuit in similar weather conditions in May.

At the Silverstone GP and Spa SRCC run all the cars togther so we are used to being on track with the much quicker Duratecs so we know how to use our mirrors! The same applies to the 1 hour races we do.

The front of the Martini grid is a bit qucker than the Duratecs with a best of 2.05 v 2.10 but most of the Martini grid is similar to the middle of the Duratec grid so I don't see us being lapped until towards the end of the race as we are by the front Duratec runners. More interestingly the Chevron B8's which are also invited managed best lap of between 2.17 and 2.25 certainly in range for some of us to be amongst them as the best Historic S2 race lap was was a 2.20 with several guys sub 2.25.

Just in case we ever get an invite to a similar event at Oulton I've checked the times there and in addition to being amongst the B8's the delta to the Martini cars is much less with several of them slower than the best Historic S2 times as clearly there is less opportunity to use their massive power advantage.

So if we can get some good cars and drivers out it could be a great showcase for the Historic class and attract more people to our series.

Regards

Kevin

[james s]

Hscc was historic grand prix circuit and B8's are running treaded tyres.

[Kevin Cooke]

James,

Thanks i'll receck the reults but I thought the circuit mileage was the same.

Certainly thought the Martini was on the new layout.

If you're correct the B8's will have a real problem as the fastest Historic S2 times for the old GP circuit are in low 2 mins, record is 2.02. and at the Autosport show I was told the class the B8's would run in would use the treaded tyres.

Sure going to be interesting.

Regards

Kevin

[simon drabble]

the B8 chaps wont like that... I would imagine one round of being blown away by S2000's and you will find they protest and go back to beating MGB's in Guards!!!

[james s]

The historic grand prix circuit is the new layout apart from Club corner which is much faster.I am not sure the racing with treaded vs slicks will be a good idea because of the big differances in braking distances and cornering speeds .

[Kevin Cooke]

James,

Thanks, guess we'll just have to wait to 1st practice.

Kevin

[delta]

We need to have a drivers meeting before pratice and lay down some gentleman driving ground rules.Lets not spoil what could be a great adventure and an opening for Sports 2000 to race with HSCC.

[Kevin Cooke]

Good idea, the SRCC already have a very strict driving standards code to ensure that contact is avoided at all times and as I said above we are used to sharing big circuits with the faster Duratec cars and know how to use our mirrors.

Regards

Kevin

[europa]

This sort of mix isn't without a recent precedent. Slick-shod S2000s shared a race with T70s, B8s etc on historic rubber at Spa a couple of years ago, without any problems. I had a hoot in my '81 Royale dicing with a B8 for lap after lap, being passed on the straights and passing in the corners.

Gwyn

[andy97]

Originally Posted by simon drabble

the B8 chaps wont like that... I would imagine one round of being blown away by S2000's and you will find they protest and go back to beating MGB's in Guards!!!

Or racing against the Crossles in the "Spirit of the Sixties" series??

[Kevin Cooke]

Andy please don't wind Gwyn up he is a very nice guy.......

[andy97]

Kevin, not trying to wind anyone up! But, the S2000s appear to lap quicker than the B8s and look similar to the martini cars (the B8s dont). The Crossles and the B8s both run on treaded tyres and ran together in period and the some of the B8s are probably as original as the Crossles (LoL!!!!!!).


Ok I am having a laugh, sorry. I do love all of these cars.