The 2023 racing season from the Historic Sports Car Club starts in style at Snetterton this weekend (April 22-23) with a full programme of racing topped by the return of the Autosport 3 Hours race for pre ‘66 GT cars.

Whilst Saturday’s race action runs on the full 300 circuit at the Norfolk venue, on Sunday the racing switches to the shorter 200 circuit and it is here that the Autosport 3 Hours will run with a tremendous entry of GT cars.

Heading the field and likely to set the outright pace is the mighty TVR Griffith of Ollie Rubin and Harry Barton. However, a gaggle of rapid smaller engined cars will give strong pursuit, including a clutch of Lotus Elans with drivers like Martin Stretton Horatio Fitz-Simon and Nigel Greensall at the wheel to ensure some tremendous racing.

A special award will go to the leading MGB in the race while a fantastically varied grid also takes in Austin Healey 3000s, Lotus Elites, Porsche 911s, TVR Granturas and Gilberns. It promises to be a fine contest with lots of action and pit crews working hard to get the best result for their car.

A number of HSCC season-long championships open at Snetterton, notably the Historic Formula Ford 2000 Championship, which has a fantastic grid for two races. With last year’s champion Benn Simms switching back to Historic Formula Ford for now, the way is open for Graham Fennymore to head the FF2000 pack. In a strong field his rivals include Ian Pearson (Royale RP30), Marc Mercer, Greg Robertson, Oli Roberts, and category graduate Jordan Harrison, who steps up from winning Classic Formula Ford to race a Lola T580 on his slicks and wings debut.

Simms, meanwhile, is in a very strong entry for the opening two rounds of the Historic Formula Ford Championship, where he has plenty of opposition as he brings his Jomo JMR7 back out after a lengthy rebuild. Matthew Wrigley, Simon Toyne, Ross Drybrough Will Nuthall, Cormac Flanagan, Callum Grant, Danny Stanzl and Linton Stutely are all ferociously competitive and will ensure some fantastic racing.

Historic Formula Junior opens up with a bumper grid of more than 30 cars for a single race on Saturday, covering both front and rear engined designs. Fresh from a starring role in recent HGPCA races in his F1 Brabham, Tim Child returns to his Lotus 22 to take on the similar cars of Clive Richards and Horatio Fitz-Simon while Nick Fennel has his stunning Lotus 27 on the grid.

Mark Woodhouse makes a welcome return to Formula Junior in his Lotus 20/22 and among the front engined cars Alex Morton in the Condor will be one of the drivers to beat.

Opening the race action will be a joint race for the Historic Road Sports Championship and the new HSCC Historic Modsports and Special Saloons category. Both have turned out good grids and in the Road Sports division it is the Morgan Plus 8s of William Plant and John Shaw which will strive to take the battle to the mighty Shelby Cobra of Kevin Kivlochan.

 The Modsports and Special Saloon grid is very encouraging in the early stages of this new category with at least 10 cars due out, including the rapid Maguire Stiletto of Paul Knapton, Peter Halford’s Ford Boss Mustang, Paul Sibley’s MG Midget and the Davrians of Myles Castaldini and Ian McBay.

Sharing a grid will be the two-litre slicks and wings single seaters from Classic Formula 3, Historic Formula Atlantic and Classic FF2000. Samuel Harrison’s Formula Atlantic Lola T240 should set the pace and in pursuit will be the rapid FF2000 Van Diemens of Ben Styles and Amnon Needham.

The 70s Road Sports Championship gets underway with a grid including the Morgan Plus 8 of Kevin Kivlochan, who really should set the pace on the open spaces of Snetterton. However, John Williams (Porsche 911SC), the Lotus Europa of Howard Payne and the TVR 3000M of Anthony Ross are all strong challengers.

Another HSCC championship making its 2023 debut is the Classic Formula Ford Championship with an excellent grid of pre ’82 Formula Fords including category veterans Rick Morris and Stuart Kestenbaum. Jake Shortland will field the rare but effective Lola T440, while two more highly experienced racers in the category are Simon Davey and Nigel Lingwood in Van Diemen RF80s.

Adding to the weekend are guest races from the Monoposto Racing Club, with two bumper grids of single seaters from the 1980s, ‘90s and early 2000s.

After a full day on the 300 circuit on Saturday, racing will switch to the 200 circuit on Sunday and those categories that have not qualified on the 200 circuit will have three laps behind the safety car on their way to the grid to familiarise themselves with the alternative layout.

 

On Saturday, the first of nine races is at 1330, after qualifying from 0900.

On Sunday, the first of eight races is at 1100 after qualifying from 0900 with the Autosport race concluding the event, starting at 1530 on Sunday.