Piper's Can-Am can-do
June 3/4
McLaren M8F charges to two wins on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit
Richard Piper was a double Orwell Supersports race winner on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in June’s HSCC Summer Festival.
Fastest in qualifying, Piper (McLaren M8F) soon overcame Frank Bradley’s fast starting March 707/717 to win race one.
Bradley felt unwell in the searing heat and, although he started Race Two, a big moment while chasing Piper prompted him to retire. That left a charging John Burton (Chevron B26) to fill the runner-up spot. Burton had started near the back of a 28-car grid after retiring with engine trouble from race one.
The third annual running of the Peter Hanson Trophy attracted a superb field of 1-litre F3 and Formula Junior cars, with Tecno driver Roland Fischer coming out top on aggregate. Fischer held off Geoffroy Rivet to win on Saturday, but the pair touched and spun on Sunday allowing Francois Derossi through for a popular victory.
Martin Stretton led both European F2 races, but failed to finish either. His super-human efforts in a 1.6-litre March 712 that was conceding 400cc and more than 40bhp to series champion Philip Harper (Ralt RT1) were thwarted by overheating. Stretton’s misfortunes left Harper to win both times.
On a weekend of double header races, the Sports Racing Masters event was won on aggregate by Simon Hadfield and David Clark in the latter’s Elva Mk8. The prolific Hadfield led home a trio of Ford GT40s by a big margin on Saturday, setting up a situation where a steady run to fifth on Sunday by Clark was enough to secure the spoils. Jon Minshaw’s Lola T70, which had holed its sump on Saturday, was back in fine fettle to win on Sunday.
The Group C/GTP double header produced the same 1-2 result both days with Spice driver David Mercer leading home Justin Law, although local man Mercer took much longer to get on top in Saturday’s encounter.
Simon Hadfield took his unique VDS-Chevron B37 Formula 5000 to comfortable victories in both Derek Bell Trophy races.