Great and British Festival Heads for Silverstone
14 July 2006
A fresh new initiative in British motor racing will move to Silverstone
over the weekend of 22/23 July as the 'Dunlop Great and British Festival'
takes a 12-race programme to Northamptonshire track.
Organised by the British Automobile Racing Club, the new package of
race meetings is being supported by Dunlop in a move created to bring
fans closer to the racing and encourage newcomers to take a look at
the sport in a relaxed environment. The race line-up comprises some
of the best national categories, all of them using Dunlop racing tyres.
Six leading sports car classes will make up the schedule, with two races
on Saturday followed by a full 10-race programme throughout Sunday.
Providing four of the weekend's races will be the fabulous Radical
sports-racing cars, one of the core categories in 'Great and British'.
Top of the Radical racing ladder are the mighty 2.6-litre V8-engined
SR8s that will set the pace in two rounds of the Dunlop Radical Enduro
Championship. The astonishing speed of these purpose-built sports-racers
in a pair of 40-minute races will be a highlight of the weekend. Phil
Quaife and Lee Atkins have now won five times in eight races to take
a firm grip on the title contest and Quaife will race at Silverstone
in between two weekends of action in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, which
he is also contesting this season. The major opposition to Quaife/Atkins
is likely to come from the Richard Ince/Austin Kinsella and Nick Padmore/Austin
Reynolds combinations, although the most recent race at Castle Combe
went to Andreas Demetriou and Chris Nicholas. In the concurrent Radical
SR3 class, Ben Devlin and James Richardson are proving almost unstoppable,
although Nigel Redwood has managed to beat them twice in the eight races
this season.
The Dunlop Radical Biduro Championship has a brace of 20-minute races
for the 1200cc Radical SR4s. James Saggers leads the points for RPM
Motorsport, but needs to get back on track after a troubled weekend
at Castle Combe when Guy Hodgkin claimed a double win. Chris Stoney
was twice second at Castle Combe to close the gap to his team mate Saggers.
Two races are for contenders in the MaX5 Championship, although it
is only Sunday's race that will count for championship points. The series
for the very evenly-matched Mazda MX5s in close to standard trim is
a massive hit, with big grids and close racing and Sunday's race will
be round six of a championship that concludes back at Silverstone at
the end of September. It could hardly be closer at the top of the championship
following round six at Oulton Park in June, with just seven points covering
the top four drivers. Jonathan Greensmith, who races alongside his father
Steve, is having a fabulous season and heads the championship by just
two points from MX5 veteran Paul Sheard, who won a hard-fought battle
at Oulton Park. Philip Sykes and Scott Kirlew are also strongly in contention.
Making a guest appearance on the 'Great and British' programme is
the BARC Westfield Sportscar Championship, which reaches round eight
of the 12-round season. There is little to chose between the leading
contenders in the class for the 1800cc Ford Zetec engined sportscars
and the consistency of Matthew Flowers against the race-winning speed
of Jonathan Young has taken them to the head of the title contest. Three
races for the AVO Ginetta Championship will maintain the close and exciting
racing as Gavin Mitchell, Julian Barratt, Stewart Linn and Richard Austin
continue to fight tooth and nail for the title. Finally, racers as young
as 14 will contest two rounds of the PlayStation2 Ginetta GT Junior
Championship, Young Henry Surtees, son of former world champion John,
heads the entry but his rivals include Oxford's Fergus Walkinshaw, son
of former touring car racer Tom.
On Saturday, qualifying is from 9am, with the first of two races at
3.50pm. On Sunday, racing starts at 11.15am. Admission is Adults £10,
children free, paddock and stands free.
See 2006 series calendar for Great
and British Festivals
Related Story 25.03.2006 - Great
& British Festival at Snetterton
