Page 134 - Paddock Life Issue 13 ADRENALINE

IMAGE JAKOB EBREY PHOTOGRAPHY
It was a hectic weekend to say the least, but the Silverstone Classic is always one of our priority races. Chris and I were at the 24 hours of Spa
Blancpain GT endurance from the Friday, so after a great dinner with Blancpain we drove homeward to catch the first Eurotunnel after midnight. After 3 hours sleep I was back trackside at Silverstone. Wishing I’d brought the classic car out for the day so we could park infield as we walked over the track bridge and toward the wing.
Every inch of the grass is taken by car club displays and stands giving the event a truly remarkable atmosphere. The Classic had been on since Friday and seen a packed schedule of historic racing right through until about 8pm each evening before the musical entertainment kicked in with a roster of appropriately themed tribute bands playing Friday night and Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley ending Saturday evening’s festivities with a set that we all remember blowing out of the speakers of MG Metro’s, Ford Cosworths and the odd XJS.
This year celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Jaguar XJ220 (a car that always brings a tear to Chris’s eye, and not necessarily for the right reasons... but that’s another story) about 50 of these big cats were gathered in the International paddock ready for an amazing track parade. The historic F1 cars of the FIA Masters race never fail to please, with the noise of the Cosworth DFV engines taking us right back to the days when Lauda and Fittipaldi campaigned these very cars, I even spotted a six wheel Tyrrell in the garage. One of my favourite races is the pre ’63 GT Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy, which sees a grid of AC Cobras, Aston Martin DB4GTs, MGAs E Type Jags and Lotus’ amongst the Arbaths and Austin Healeys, there was even a Sebring Sprite, all marvellous cars.
For outright racing the Minis and Lotus Cortinas are always fun, but the Celebrity Challenge in the Austin A30 and 35s was immense fun. We saw some of these little 1275cc powered cars practicing
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