Spa Six Hour 2018

This year’s Six Hour race was won by the Ford GT40 of Oeynhausen/Verdonck after pole sitters Oli and Grahame Bryant retired on lap 3 with a broken valve spring. The race will sadly be remembered for the lengthy safety car periods, one of which was to recover Jaguar E-type driver Charles Gillet who tipped into the barrier at Blanchimont in the late stages of the race.

In the Motor Racing Legends Pre-War Sports Cars, Rudi Friedrichs emerged victorious, but the German had to drive his well-developed Alvis Firefly 4.3 like the wind on Friday evening to trade places with, and eventually conquer, compatriot Dr Robin Tuluie’s mighty Menasco aero-engined Special before its gearbox failed. Following the Bentley and Ducati engineering guru’s retirement, Austria’s Niklas Halusa’s Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato came through to second place ahead of beaming Briton Ewen Getley in his long-serving and wonderfully versatile Bentley 3/4½.

Chris Ward enjoyed a straightforward Lister-Jaguar victory in the Stirling Moss Trophy after the fleetest Lotus 15s retired. In the 60th anniversary of Eric Broadley’s Lola Cars’ foundation, was a brilliant second place overall for the game little Mk1 Prototype in the skilled hands of preparer James ‘Billy’ Bellinger and Keith Ahlers. Third, after another stirring performance, were Cooper T49 Monaco duo Justin Maeers/Charlie Martin after Martin Stretton/Stefan Ziegler (Lister-Jaguar), just ahead on the road at the chequered flag, received a five second penalty for exceeding track limits.

Blakeney Motorsport bagged a one-two in the concurrent Woodcote Trophy contest, Californian Fred Wakeman and British team boss Patrick Blakeney-Edwards guiding their Cooper-Jaguar T38 home ahead of Martin Hunt/Andrew Hall’s HWM-Jaguar with Rick Bourne/Malcolm Paul a solid third in their two-litre Lotus-Bristol 10.

Full reports on Motor Racing Legend races can be found here

On their way to a clear victory in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car race at Spa, Andrew and Max Banks proved untouchable in their McLaren M6B, Andrew first opening up a 30-second gap to Olly Bryant in the first of the chasing Lola T70 Mk3Bs, and then Max thundering to fastest lap of the race when it really mattered – straight after a safety-car restart for a one-lap sprint to the finish.

“It was hard work”, said Andy Banks on his opening stint. “I knew I had to get on with it, with someone like Olly chasing you, and especially at the start it was pretty tricky with oil at Eau Rouge.”

“I didn’t realise!” said Max Banks upon hearing of his demon final lap of the race. “Actually, the car gelt awful on the lap, so I’m amazed! When I got in the car, I knew that all I had to do was match Olly’s lap times and not stress the car. But then the safety car came, and I started doing the maths. I realised that it could either be one or two laps to the finish, and with Olly right behind me all I had to do was nail it!”

In a race twice interrupted by safety cars, Christophe d’Ansembourg (Williams FW07C) held his nerve to win from pole in the first FIA Masters Historic Formula One race at Spa. Having already taken two Masters Endurance Legends victories, the Belgian added one more by doing enough to stay clear from Joaquin Folch (Brabham BT49) at the first restart and then Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C) at the second restart, Cantillon having got ahead of Folch on lap 3. Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C) very decisively made his way through the field to lead by lap 4 before going on to take an emphatic win in the second FIA Masters Historic Formula One race at Spa.

David & Olivier Hart gave their AC Cobra wins in back-to-back weekends as the Dutch father-and-son crew added to their RAC TT Celebration victory at the Goodwood Revival by also winning the 90-minute Masters Gentlemen Drivers enduro at Spa.

Sean McInerney and Phil Keen (Ford Mustang) prevailed in an epic two-horse race with Mike Gardiner and Andy Wolfe (Ford Falcon Sprint) to win the Masters Pre-66 Touring Car race at Spa. McInerney passed Gardiner on lap 3 to open up a 7-second gap at the stops, and when the pursuing Wolfe dropped it on lap 17, Keen was free to take the win.

Christophe d’Ansembourg (Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2) added a second Masters Endurance Legends win to his tally at the Spa Six Hours by again keeping Steve Tandy (Lola-Mazda B12/60) at bay. Like yesterday, Kriton Lendoudis ended up third in the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP.