Weekend of endurance draws packed field to Spa

The event surrounding the Historic Six Hours at Spa is now one of the busiest classic race meetings of the season. The 2003 edition was no different, with hundreds of entries across the packed three-day programme.

The headline event, running into the darkness of Saturday evening, turned into a Ford GT40 contest as the car of Aaron Hsu and sometime TGP front-runner Christian Glasel emerged with a clear lap over the similar car of Allen Lloyd and Gerry Wainwright. Defending winners Jon Minshaw/Jason Minshaw/Martin Stretton were forced out with gearbox failure in Jon’s Jaguar E-type.

Behind the third-placed Porsche 911 of Jean-Paul Bertrand, a true giant-killing effort from the Merlyn Mk4/6 of Gareth Burnett/James Wood was rewarded with a fine fourth overall.

Another endurance affair was the two-hour Gentlemen Drivers race which provided victory for prolific Scottish racer Irvine Laidlaw, who had James Diffey partnering in his Porsche 904/6. Nick Whale and Ian Guest, owners of the original ‘CUT 7’ E-type, claimed a fighting runners-up slot.

A combined one-hour Gentlemen Drivers sports-prototype and Gp4 counter went to Jonathan Baker and Carlos Barbot (Lola T70), while the hour-long FIA Touring Car race fell to the thundering Mustang of John Young and Alec Hammond.

Lloyd and Urs Eberhardt shared Lurani Trophy Formula Junior spoils in their Lotus 27s, as young Edwin Jowsey (Lotus 22) and Mike Hibberd (Lotus 27) offered opposition.

Jowsey then jumped into his father’s Brabham BT28 to see off Ian Jones (Lotus 59/69) in the first of two HSCC-inspired Historic Racing Car events. In the second race, Keith Norman fired his Palliser WDB3 to victory.

The concluding round of the BRDC Historic Sports Car Championship produced a race win and a championship tide for John Harper and his Cooper Monaco, but Philip Walker (Lotus 15) pressed him all the way.

Frenchman Philip Harper took a double win in the Historic F2 races.