Welcome to Who? What? Where? When? Why? on the World Wide Web. Your comments, criticism and suggestions: editors#8w.forix.com (replace # with @).

8W is forix.autosport.com's motorsport history section and covers the drivers, cars, circuits, eras and technology that shaped the face, sounds and smells of motor racing.

Who?

DRIVER BIOGRAPHIES

What?

CONSTRUCTOR PROFILES

Where?

TRACK RECORDS

When?

SEASONS' PORTRAITS

Why?

TECHNICAL FOCUS

2024 Silverstone Festival report
Race of the season

Author

• Mattijs Diepraam

Date

• August 27, 2024

Related articles

• Silverstone - All that in one single event, 2013 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Silverstone - The many and the famous, 2017 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Silverstone - Sticking with tradition, 2018 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Silverstone - Sportsmanship in the rain, 2019 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Silverstone - Thrills down to the line, 2022 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Silverstone - New name, same old format for success, 2023 Silverstone Festival report, by Mattijs Diepraam

Who? Jeremy Loisel What? Shadow-Cosworth DN8 Where? Silverstone When? 2024 Silverstone Festival (August 23, 2024)

Why?

Olivier Hart was the star of the weekend at the Silverstone Festival, as the young Dutchman won both races in which he was entered in grand style, first sharing a Ferrari 512M with father David on their way to victory in the Masters Sports Car Legends race, while in the final race of the event, the International Trophy for pre-66 GT cars, Hart and his rival Julian Thomas produced the best race of the season in a 20-minute duel at the front of the field. The two Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupés were separated by just three tenths at the finish. The biggest regular historic festival of the season was marred by persistent rain on Saturday, but the sunny weather of qualifying day returned on Sunday.

Most of the races during the Silverstone Festival had been of high quality, but the best was saved for last: the Masters Gentlemen Drivers race for which 53 pre-66 GTs were entered. Following the mandatory mid-race pit stops, the Daytona Cobras of Hart and Thomas had left the TVR competition for head, as the pair went head to head for ultimate glory. Initially, Thomas seemed to have the advantage as he gained momentum while approaching Hart, and indeed after a series of desperate attempts, he found a way past the Dutchman. That seemed to settle the matter, with Thomas set to repeat his brilliant first solo victory at Zandvoort in June. But the young Hart fought his way back into the lead within half a lap before defending it tooth and nail for well over ten minutes. Not by exploring the blocking and weaving tactics now commonplace in modern motorsport, but instead carefully choosing the defensive lines to which Thomas had no answer. Several times the two Cobra Daytonas drove almost side by side, with barely an inch of space between them, but they never touched. Afterwards, the driver who had lost out was as elated as the winner: both had driven the race of their lives, they felt, and what’s more, they had delivered historic motorsport’s perfect calling card.

The day before, Hart had also secured victory when, together with his father David, he was out for revenge after losing to Alex Brundle in the same Masters Sports Cars Legends race in 2023. In that race, it was two Ferrari 512Ms mano a mano, but this time Brundle started in Gary Pearson's Lola T70 Mk3B, as the other 512M had been sold to the Halusa family. That car featured up front briefly in the hands of Alex Ames, but as the team had not yet found the perfect set-up for which the Harts’ had worked so hard, Ames’ co-driver Lukas Halusa ended up at the bottom of the top five – so once again it would a battle between Brundle and the Harts. The former initially grabbed the lead, but Hart senior followed close enough to allow his son to depose the TV commentator within two laps after having taken over the wheel. In the end, Brundle dropped back into the clutches of Gonçalo Gomes, whose Lola T296 pulled alongside in the final corner and, after contact in the final few yeards to the finish, took second place by 48 thousandths.

Meanwhile, in the morning programme, another Dutch family tried to repeat their miracle victory from last year, when Wim Kuijl surprisingly won the Motor Racing Legends touring car race in his Ford Capri RS3100. This time, however, the pouring rain thwarted their attempts, as victory went to Darren Fielding’s BMW E30 M3 which, together with Ric Wood’s Nissan Skyline GT-R, emerged up in the second half of the race to beat the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s that had set the pace in the opening stages.

In the pair of Historic Grand Prix Car Association races for F1 and GP cars up to 1966, a front-engined machine surfaced from the wet on a soaking Saturday, as John Spiers in the Maserati 250F proved unstoppable in the pouring rain, passing all the newer sixties cars to pounce when his final two rivals made mistakes: Charlie Martin spun in the Cooper T53, and when Sam Wilson had to swerve in the Lotus 18 in order to avoid the Cooper, Spiers was given a free pass through into a lead he would not surrender. Sunday's race was all about Will Nuthall, whose T53 had retired after just two laps the day before. From 30th on the grid, Nuthall stormed through, taking the lead from Martin after seven laps to win by three seconds. Spiers was unable to repeat his Saturday glory in the front-engined category, as Geraint Owen in the Kurtis-Offenhauser 500C passed him early on to hand victory to the Champ Car.

In the two 3-litre F1 races, trophies were shared between Stuart Hall and Matt Wrigley. The two Brits proved to be head and shoulders above the rest, finishing first and second on both days. Wrigley had taken pole in his Tyrrell 011, but on Saturday, Hall passed him after just two corners. The March 821 did not run away after that, as Wrigley doggedly gave chase to come within three tenths at the end. On the reverse grid of Saturday’s first nine, Wrigley and Hall started from eighth and ninth. Wrigley was unhappy when Hall once again passed him early on, but this time he had the bit firmly between the teeth. As the two approached Christophe d'Ansembourg, who had started from pole and still held the lead, Wrigley first managed to find a gap to pass Hall. As Wrigley's team-mate, d'Ansembourg then made life difficult for Hall to such a degree that Wrigley had opened up a decisive gap before Hall managed to overtake the Williams FW07C.

Behind the pair, Jamie Constable made his presence felt on the rainy Saturday, driving his Tyrrell 011 from sixth to the podium. Mike Cantillon turned out to be the standout performer on Sunday, starting 26th after he was hit by ill fortune early into the first race, but this time the unleashed Irishman charged all the way through to finish on the podium in his Williams FW07C. In the pre-78 class, Peter Williams in the Lec CRP1 was clearly best adapted to the rain, but the next day, the Briton was to lose out to the McLaren M26 of Carlos De Quesada.

Christophe d'Ansembourg, together with his son Werner, was the main protagonist in the two Masters Endurance Legends races. Although they debuted their newly acquired Pescarolo-Judd 01, this failed to stop the two Belgians from winning both races. Saturday’s treacherous conditions saw some of the favourites drop out, but Stuart Wiltshire kept his cool to guide his Peugeot 90X into second place twice. It was an excellent performance from the Briton, who had not seen the car since October, a period during which time he enjoyed his American adventure in the IMSA Sportscar Championship. On Sunday, however, he lost his second place due to a time penalty for failing to reducing speed during a full course yellow, handing the place to Hugo Cook in a Lola B12/80.

The two LMP2 wins went to Shaun Lynn in a BR Engineering Nissan BR01, as Lynn finished third overall on Saturday and was awarded the win the following day when the occasional duo of Yutaka Toriba/Alfie Briggs received a penalty for overtaking under yellow. As a result, their BR01 dropped from fourth to ninth place. Meanwhile, Cor Euser reigned supreme in GTs, the Dutch veteran twice driving off into the distance and leaving the competition in his wake, led by the Bentley Continental GT3 of Will Gamski and Ross Wylie.

The morning programme featured two more sports car races. On Saturday, the 1950s sports cars of the combined Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy were allowed to race after all, as their fenders meant they were better equipped to avoid the water columns that the single-seaters were producing. Nigel Greensall and John Spiers took the win in their Lister Costin, while David Hart made it a Costin 1-2 after an intense duel to the line with Roger Wills’ Lotus 15. Two D-Types were by far the best in the Woodcote Trophy, with the Ames/Halusa duo ending up over 20 seconds ahead of brothers John and Gary Pearson.

The next morning, Motor Racing Legends sent out the pre-63 GT cars for their RAC Historic Tourist Trophy. Once again, Spiers and Greensall led the way, but when their AC Cobra retired, it was Gregor Fisken and Chris Ward in another Cobra who took the spoilers. 44 ticks later, Richard Cook’s Cobra just managed to hold off the Pearsons’ Jaguar E-Type. Meanwhile, former F1 driver Jan Magnussen shared a Turner GT with Nikolaj Mortensen, resulting in a class win and ninth place overall. That was better than what Adrian Newey and son Harrison managed in the Masters Gentlemen’s Drivers race, as their E-Type took 13th on a weekend when Newey skipped the Dutch GP for a party that seemed much more fun to him.

In Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars, Sam Tordoff remained unbeaten, as his Ford Falcon converted pole position into yet another victory, although the BTCC race winner was challenged in the early stages by Nigel Greensall in John Spiers’ Ford Mustang. In the second part of the race, Julian Thomas came through to make it a Falcon double, while gaming heroes Jann Mardenborough and Jimmy Broadbent shared Alex Brundle’s ‘Brustang’ on their way to third ahead of the Spiers/Greensall Mustang. Mardenborough’s arrival in the actual GT world has been known for some time, but YouTube influencer Broadbent surprised everyone with his speed.

Meanwhile, the lethal combination Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Chris Ward proved to be by far the quickest in the BRDC 500 for pre-war sports cars. Their nimble Frazer Nash Super Sports beat Gareth Burnett's Alta Sports and Rüdi Friedrichs' Alvis Firefly Special by a healthy margin.

The remaining categories sadly fell victim to Saturday’s miserable weather conditions. The Juniors, which traditionally raise the curtain on the festival on all days, were called back in after two exploratory laps behind the safety car, after which there was a long wait. A part solution came in giving precedence to the touring car and sports car races scheduled for the morning, as they would be less affected by the spray. After those, the Juniors were sent back out again but at a time when conditions were worse than earlier in the morning. As a result, their race was yet again abandoned. To allow the afternoon programme to continue as scheduled, the two Formula 2 and Formula 3 races were subsequently cancelled.

This meant that the single-seaters had to wait until the next morning for their only race of the weekend. In the Junior race, Michael O’Brien in the Lotus 27 quickly grabbed the initiative, with Callum Grant in the Merlyn Mk5/7 following close behind. Grant was expected to make a move soon, but nothing came of it when the Merlyn dropped off after five laps. So victory went to O’Brien, six seconds ahead of last year’s winner Horatio Fitz-Simon in the Brabham BT6. Another seven seconds later Sam Wilson crossed the line in a Cooper T59. Ray Mallock dominated the front-engined class in his U2 Mk2, with his nearest rival, Charlie Besley's Elva 100, a further nine places behind.

This time, the two F2/F3 Interseries races were fortunate to have more than 20 cars competing. In the F3 race, there was no stopping Andy Smith and his March 783, who beat his nearest rival by more than 20 seconds. The F2 race was much more exciting, with Smith again battling it out with Matthew Watts in a March 772 and Alex Kapadia in a 762. When Smith’s 782 broke down, Kapadia took the lead, having just taken second place from Watts.

The stunning 42-car Masters GT Trophy entry was forced to deal with the tail end of the bad weather, which sadly turned the race into a lottery. A drying track was suddenly hit by a final downpour, require more tyre changes while several cars slid off into the gravel traps. Unfortunately, the safety car crew did little to help in these conditions, picking up the wrong cars as leaders, only to wave the real leader through, much to the despair of race control. With just a few minutes left on the clock, there was little more left than to throw the red flag, right at the moment several cars came in for a tyre change. As the result was proclaimed on countback, Jon Minshaw’s BMW Z4 GT3 had been the race leader on the previous lap and, fortunately, he was probably the deserved winner.

It was the first time a GT3 car had won a race in the fledgling series that is in its second season. In fact, the previously all-conquering Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo failed to win its own Corse class for Italian cup cars, as that honour went to the Ferrari 458 Challenge of Bonamy Grimes and Johnny Mowlem, which finished third overall behind the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Nick Maton.

Apart from all the racing, the festival was graced by the largest collection of Senna cars – and karts! – ever assembled in the world, 30 years after the premature death of the Brazilian triple Formula One World Champion. It was only natural that the McLarens and Lotuses were there, as well as his Formula Fords and his F3 cars, but the best contribution was the presence of no fewer than three Tolemans from his debut season in F1. The big absentee was the Williams FW16 in which Senna had his fatal accident, but perhaps that was just as well…

The full event gallery