Spa Six Hours proves brolly good show

Considering the glut of race events we enjoyed for last month’s column, you can tell that we’re approaching the autumn when things start to slow down. Pretty much the entirety of my activities this month revolved around the Spa Six Hours, and what an event to dedicate my time to!

First off, I adore Spa. It’s a wonderful track come rain or shine, which is just as well as this time the Ardennes pulled its favourite trick and it rained constantly for almost the entire three days of the meeting! I usually like racing in the wet, but at Spa it was really wet…

“I usually like racing in the wet, but at Spa it was really wet ”

I took along both my Cooper T53 and the Parker GN, to run in the HGPCA Pre-66 and Pre-War Sports Cars races respectively.

Usually when racing a historic grand prix car, the spray isn’t too bad as the cars are relatively small with little aero and skinny tyres, so there’s not much to kick up the water, but visibility was still very tricky for the two GP races. I qualified fourth and finished race one in third, and then enjoyed a wonderful dice with Tim Child’s Brabham BT3/4 in the second. He got his braking wrong at the final chicane and we had a drag race to the line for the final podium spot, and he just pipped me by half a length.

There was also late drama in the Pre-War Sports Cars race – the only dry race of the whole meeting! – where I was sharing the Parker GN with my son Ben. Ben ran second before handing over to me and we were set to seal the place until the propshaft failed exiting the final corner and it ground to a halt! I tried to push it to the line – doing my best Jack Brabham in 1959 impression – but trying to heave 600kg of vintage car slightly uphill was a bit much. Like Mr Brabham I was still classified, in fifth. But unlike him, I didn’t win anything from it…

Next month promises to be an exciting one, with two more European visits. First is a new event down at Navarra in Spain, and then on to the Algarve Classic at Portimão, which is one of my favourite events of the year.

And I have a new toy to play with too, as I’ve just added a 1964 Brabham BT11A to my stable. It’s an ex-Tasman Series car that an old friend of mine wanted to sell. That’ll be getting its debut at Navarra and then another run out at Portimão. On the road again…

best Jack Brabham in 1959 impression – but trying to heave 600kg of vintage car slightly uphill was a bit much. Like Mr Brabham I was still classified, in fifth. But unlike him, I didn’t win anything from it…

Next month promises to be an exciting one, with two more European visits. First is a new event down at Navarra in Spain, and then on to the Algarve Classic at Portimão, which is one of my favourite events of the year.

And I have a new toy to play with too, as I’ve just added a 1964 Brabham BT11A to my stable. It’s an ex-Tasman Series car that an old friend of mine wanted to sell. That’ll be getting its debut at Navarra and then another run out at Portimão. On the road again…

Next month: Travelling to to Spain and Portugal with the new toy