Heritage GTC

[Osella]

Anyone at Silverstone this w/e? The Heritage GTC race was fantastic!

[simon drabble]

is it still a glorified AMOC race? When the series was first muted it was supposed to be a race for saloon cars but somehow it became full of Aston hot rods and any FIA saloon car driver quite wisely kept away from the aston door bangers!

[rdjones]

It was a cracking race - it was one of the highlights of the day.

[redshoes]

Heritage is normally a good race. Fairly eclectic mix of cars, although I wish they would widen the range a little. Is it possible to have too many Aston Martins?

My only other complaint is the way the entry seems to change on an almost hourly basis. At Silverstone there was nearly a page of programme ammendments. I remember at one race last year even the commentators weren't 100% sure who had won the race until the driver got out of the car at parc ferme.

[simon drabble]

as it supports the Saloon cars it would be better to have an FIA saloon race - the entry list for these races are a real mixed bag

[Slowcoach]

The problem is organising events such as these, I wouldn't like to even imagine what is involved. The heritage series is run by Roger Bennington who owns the Stratton motor company - they are an Aston Martin dealership and have a business based on this (and other 'exotic marques) and also run a race preparation and support package at the circuit. I think it would be highly unusual for them to run and support a series in which none of their main clients could compete! I was lucky enough to get an 'invite' to compete at last years round at Snetterton - it was a fantastic day and experience although we were not at the sharp end of the grid we still had fun, but it isnt cheap and we are not really likely to do many more as 'invitations' are hard to come by....
As far as the programme changes go I think the problem there is that there are quite few celebrity/famous drivers who are prone to be last minute entries.

[simon drabble]

i was invited to race and turned it down as I was told the speed differential between Aston hotrods and proper FIA cars was scary
the answer would be to get someone like Julius Thurgood to organise it as he has experience in putting on good period saloon (and sportscar) races
what were you pedalling slowcoach?

[Slowcoach]

Well I was in my Rover SD1 (4.5l), I qualified poorly, 25th out of 26 on the grid but ended up about 15th, mainly due to the fragile nature of other machinary, but I was hampered by running on road tyres (normally run on slicks) pretty much all the other run a shadow pattern hoosier or similar but in all fairness even on my slicks I would have been 10 secs a lap slower than pole man Mr. Rouse. For the second race (u got 2, 1x20mins and 1x30min 2 driver for your money) it absolutely p*ss*d down and we crashed out on the penultimate lap. However your point about the speed differentials is quite right and we decided not to do anymore unless we could be more competitive. Perhaps we might try again next year, we'll see.
Hopefully at some stage Mr Thurgood might try some pre 1980 races or the like to go with his very succesfully pre '65 series.

[Hobson]

I watched it on MotorsTV, and enjoyed evry minute of it.

Definatly more saloons are needed, the sight of Gordon Streeter flying past AMs in the corners only to be overtaken down the straights was fun!

Pity they only showed the top 8-10 for the whole 30mins...

[simon drabble]

I guess the point I am trying to make is why not use it as a showpiece for historic racing rather than a mix of cars and era's etc, re pre 80's HSCC have started doing this but ther are quite restrictive on what mods they allow.
Personally I am trying to move away from road car series and move more into sports prototype cars as they are more fun to race! To that end my Alfa has been included in the Bonhams Festival of Speed auction at Goodwood in July.

[krt917]

I think it's fair to say that organisers need to be careful on what cars they put together to get a fair (and safe) playing field.

On the other hand, I wouldn't say not to seeing the mod-sports DB4s etc. as much as possible. They look and sound fab, and they do have a history in there own right!

[simon drabble]

I agree I defy anyone to not like seeing these beasts in action! Maybe they would be better just making the races AMOC rounds?

[redshoes]

But if they were just AMOC rounds we'd miss the sight of a Mini Cooper setting 4th fastest time in qualifying.

[TimD]

I like the mixture - it's only comparatively recently that grids have been carefully structured around relative performance and appropriate era. A little bit of manic "run what you brung" is a welcome change from the studied uniformity of the rest of the TOCA package.

And in fairness to the Aston Martin people, they run fast but fair too. Yes, there were a couple of ripples in the panels by the end of the race, but by and large it was good, fast, clean and darned close racing up and down the pack. And having a couple of minnows like the Mini Cooper and the Anglia in the mix to play at giant-killing seemed to spice things up even more.

Long may they play!