MOTORSPORT
Damien Smith
RACING LINES
E-Types, Cobras, Elans, Griffiths, 911s... pre-1966 is just heaven
Nine entries for Jag cup; just two weren’t E-Types
I took yet another trip to Silverstone for a final blast of historic racing in 2023, and my reward was an autumnal feast without one glimpse of that blight of modern motorsport: the dull safety-car interruption. How refreshing.
Motor Racing Legends (MRL) is one of the UK’s finest race promoters, and in alliance with Motorsport Vision Racing (MSVR), it hosted its season finale on the full 3.66-mile Grand Prix circuit.
Accessing the paddock via the bridge linking the new hotel and the Wing complex was novel and offered a fine view of Hamilton Straight. I couldn’t help but reflect: I made my first trip to Silverstone aged six to watch the 1981 British Grand Prix, sitting with my dad at Club Corner, which was then a near-flat right-hander at the far end of the bleak old airfield circuit. The place is barely recognisable today, such has been the rapid rate of evolution that has been necessary for it to stay relevant. Yet somehow the old spirit lingers still – if you squint hard enough.