New series for sports-racers

The FIA European Sportscar Championship of the 1970s will be recreated in 2011 after the Historic Sports Car Club announced plans to run a new pan-European series for 2-litre sports-racing cars built up to 1978.

Initially, the new series will take in four or five events in the UK and Europe, but the club has longer-term plans to run the series alongside the successful Historic Formula 2 Trophy, which has six double-header events at prime European tracks.

Although the Group 6 open-cockpit cars are able to race in several existing historic series, this will be the first time since the RJB Mining Championship of the late ’90s that the 2-litre cars have had dedicated races.

Through the ’70s, the FIA European Sportscar Championship provided fine racing as Chevron, Lola, March, Toj, Alpine and Osella competed for glory. Leading drivers included Jo Bonnier, Brian Redman, Chris Craft, John Burton, Vic Elford, John Miles, John Lepp, Guy Edwards, John Hine and Dieter Quester.

The race format will be one qualifying session and two races of between 25 and 30 minutes each weekend. “We expect to have four or five race weekends in 2011, starting at the Silverstone International Trophy meeting in mid-May,” said Grahame White of the HSCC, who is eager to see Chevron B19s and Lola T210s racing for overall victory once more.

The HSCC is urging anyone with a suitable car, or an interest in racing one, to contact the club office so that a complete database of potential drivers can be compiled.