News in brief, October 2003

As anticipated, the planning application for the Mercedes-Benz Heritage and Technology Centre at Brooklands has been given the green light by the Government.

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Former single-seater ace Richard Dean partnered Geoff Kimber-Smith in the Heritage GT races at Donington. Kimber-Smith has had his Lotus Cortina rebuilt for the series and he and Dean netted a class win. Dean runs Kirnber-Smith’s son Tom in Formula Ford.

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Having claimed a new classic record at Shelsley Walsh in Carlos Monteverde’s Ferrari 212E, David Franklin will contest the 0llon-Villars historic hillclimb in Switzerland on September 20/21. In Peter Schetty’s hands, the car took the hill record in 3min 47.54sec in 1969. This year’s event marks the 50th anniversary of the 8km hill.

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Four members of the Minshaw family raced at the Oulton Park Gold Cup weekend. Alan, founder of the Demon Tweeks company, and his sons Jon, Jason and Guy were all in action in a variety of cars. Jason took second in the Historic FF1600 race in his Merlyn Mk20.

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Almost 25 years after his death, a statue of Ronnie Peterson has been unveiled in his home town of Orebro in Sweden. Present at the ceremony were his daughter Nina, his brother Tommy, Clive Chapman and Eddie Dennis.

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Doug van Riet, one of the pioneers of early South African motorsport, has died, aged 96. Van Riet raced bikes and cars, including an outing in the 1934 South African GP in an Austin Ulster. He retired in 1948 before concentrating on his second love: designing boats.