Moss, Amon and Hopkirk head star turnout for Basildon Retro '97

Forty years after he became the first British driver to win a World Championship Grand Prix in a British car, Stirling Moss will be one of many stars taking part in Basildon’s extraordinary Retro ’97 motorsport spectacular on Saturday, July 5. He will be almost certainly at the wheel of a Maserati 250F.

Chris Amon (hopefully in a Formula One Ferrari) and Monte Carlo Rally winner Paddy Hopkirk are among a host of personalities planning to be in attendance. Organised for the Parish of St Martin by Basildon’s Canon Lionel Webber, Chaplain to the Queen and to the British Racing Drivers Club, the event will raise funds for a unique and innovative glass and steel bell-tower to

signify the aspirations of the community as it enters the Millennium. The Essex town already has its place in motorsport history, for a Hillclimb run at Two Church Hill in Laindon (now part of Basildon New Town) in 1922 attracted an entry of more than 1000 cars, driven by such greats as Woolf Bamato and Raymond Mays.

The Retro will take place on 3.4 miles of closed public roads between 2 and 3.30pm. Many sports racers will be in the cavalcade, including a number of Cambridge-built ListerJaguars brought to the event by the marque’s founder. Brian Lister. They will appear in celebration of the career of its greatest exponent, the remarkable Archie Scott Brown.