In brief, January 2010
* Tim Stock, the former Chief Executive of the BRSCC and a club racer of note in the 1970s, died at his home in Spain at the age of 65. Stock was also a director of Castle Combe Circuit Ltd. Also Grant Stewart, who preceded Stock at the helm of the British Racing and Sports Car Club, has died suddenly aged 43.
* Graham Nearn, the founder of Caterham Cars, has died at the age of 76. Nearn was responsible for the survival and continued existence of the Caterham operation and was the familiar face of Caterham Cars for more than 40 years. Nearn loved racing and was proud that drivers such as Graham Hill, François Cevert, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Derek Bell started their careers in Sevens.
* Briton Richard Westbrook came from behind to scoop the GT2 class crown at the FIA GT Championship finale at Zolder in October. The 34-year-old driver’s championship victory means the first and last GT2 champions in the history of the series were British, Justin Bell winning the title back in 1997 with the ORECA Chrysler team.
* The Formula Le Mans one-make prototype championship will be incorporated into the Le Mans Series in Europe next season. The ORECA-built Chevy-engined prototypes will run in their own class, as they will in the American Le Mans Series.
* A provisional calendar for the FIA GT1 World Championship includes five ‘fly-away’ dates outside Europe, but only one firm venue. The series will kick off at the new Yas Marina track in Abu Dhabi, but tracks have yet to be earmarked for provisional dates in South Africa, Canada, China and Brazil.
* Silverstone has announced a new rookie driver experience, which will provide anyone from the age of 13 upwards an opportunity to find out what it’s like to get behind the wheel of a car. The course includes two hours of instruction on gear changes, clutch control and navigating around obstacles.
* A correction to last month’s story about the new Deadliest Crash film from Bigger Picture. The phone number to buy a copy of this terrific DVD is 01706 347357.