The fourth event in the 2006 Pirelli Ferrari formula classic calendar was held at Silverstone National on Saturday, 15 July and was a double-header rather than the single race originally envisaged.

Sixteen Ferraris were entered: two in Gp1, five in Gp2, and nine in the more popular Gp3. Chris Drake’s 330GT (aka 250GTO) had the power advantage of its engine’s extra 700cc over the 275GTB of Steve Tandy in Gp1. Swifty was back in action after the cylinder head problems that had sidelined his faithful 308GTB at the previous races had been rectified.

All sixteen cars and drivers survived qualifying without serious difficulty, despite the blistering heat. Not unexpectedly, Culver and Reeder (328s) headed the timesheets, with just 0.022 seconds separating them. Mike Spicer (328), the best of the rest of Gp3, was a further 0.6 seconds adrift. Simon Bartholomew posted the quickest Gp2 time in his 328GTB to book a third row grid position alongside Evers. Drake demonstrated his 330’s prodigious straight-line speed to outpace Tandy by a couple of seconds to take Gp1 honours.

The start of Race 1 saw pole sitter Culver beaten into Copse by Reeder, with Spicer and Drake in hot – literally – pursuit. A mix-up at Becketts found Everingham spinning in order to avoid an errant Ferrari, demoting him to the tail of the field.

For the next few laps the two leaders were almost tied together, with Reeder not offering much opportunity to the second placed Culver. There was barely a car’s length between the two equally matched 328s. Spicer was gamely hanging on to third overall despite the increasingly interested attentions of William Jenkins and his 308GTB, who had managed to squeeze past Drake on lap 2.

The position in Gp2 was just as close as at the front. Allen (328GTB) had overcome a slightly disappointing qualifying time by hanging resolutely onto the tail of rival Bartholomew’s similar car. For the first three laps these two were desperately trying to occupy the same piece of tarmac although it was always Simon who invariably got there first.

Just after half distance, Culver found a chink in Reeder’s armour and took the lead on lap 10. Once in front, Gary built on his advantage to create a useful cushion. Everingham painstakingly picked off the cars ahead in his efforts to get back into Gp2 contention while Marco Pullen (Mondial t) suddenly went missing on lap 11 with a gear selection problems.

On lap 15, Benaroya brought his Mondial cab. into the pits in a cloud of smoke. An oil leak onto the hot exhaust was the cause but easily rectified for the second race. At about the same time Richard Moseley’s 308GTB expired at Copse with a suspected broken clutch cable – a pity because up to then he had been engaged in a spirited dice with Swifty.

Mike Spicer, who had been sailing along in what seemed to be a fairly secure 3rd place, inexplicably spun at Becketts, stalling the car in the process. As we know, 308s and 328s take exception to being pirouetted and show this by being devils to get going again. After several lost seconds churning the starter, the engine caught and Mike grimly set off again in 7th place, on the rump of Richard Allen’s Gp2 car. Happily no sheds were harmed in the incident.

The flag brought the overheated proceedings to a close, with Gary Culver victorious by a margin of some four seconds from Graham Reeder. William Jenkins took the third podium spot some distance ahead of Chris Drake, the Gp1 winner. Simon Bartholomew was the victor in Gp2 with a 3-second advantage over second-placed Richard Allen.

The fastest laps – all new PFfc lap records for this circuit - were set by Gary Culver (Gp3), Peter Everingham (Gp2) and Chris Drake (Gp1).

The bonus second race began a quarter of an hour early, at 3 o’clock when the sun was beating down with maximum intensity. Missing from the line-up were Marco Pullen and Peter Moseley, whose Mondial and 308 respectively couldn’t be repaired in time.

The grid was formed up in accordance with the finishing order in R1. This time Culver made no mistake in launching his 328GTB and went off into a lead he was never to lose, with Reeder always a few car’s lengths behind. Again it was Spicer who slotted into 3rd position but only for a lap, when Jenkins took over.

Drake powered his 330 ahead of the Gp2 protagonists led by Bartholomew, with Allen and Everingham anxious to relieve Simon of the place this time. These three were having a wonderful battle with little clear space between them. Swifty was trying in vain to hang on to the coat tails of Richard Atkinson-Willes, while at the same time endeavouring to hold off Ray Hanson’s wonderfully vociferous Testarossa.

On lap 7, Allen spun at Luffield and beached in the gravel, bringing his attack on Bartholomew to an end but bringing Evers into class contention. The latter seized his chance and took the Gp2 lead as Bartholomew wobbled on some oil on the track.

Lap 13 was unlucky for Richard A-W when he pulled off with unspecified problems. His place was gratefully taken by an improving Hanson, who then outflanked Bartholomew to take an overall 7th.

The conclusion to this second boiling hot race was a double first for Gary Culver and a two-two for Graham Reeder, with William Jenkins picking up a third. In Gp2, it was Peter Everingham who took the well deserved winner’s trophy after a super drive in difficult conditions. The runner-up in this class was Simon Bartholomew with Didier Benaroya taking an unexpected third.

In the V12s, Chris Drake made it a double whammy for his 330 with Steve Tandy the runner-up. Interestingly, Steve’s overall time – 20min 16.086 sec - for this second race was identical (to within a third of a second) of his time for R1. He must be wearing a Rolex.

The fastest laps were all slower than the new records established in R1, with Culver, Everingham and Drake again taking the honours. Margaret Reeder charmingly presented the trophies, seemingly quite excited at the prospect of kissing racing drivers other than her husband.

Thanks to Anne & John Swift for the info.

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Race One

Reeder out-drags Culver from the start

Bartholomew and Allen had an early race fight for Gp2 honours

Richard Moseley leads Pullen, Benaroya and Whitman

Evers drove his taped-up 328 back into contention for Gp.2 honours after an early spin

William Jenkins finished in his customary third place

Spinner Spicer (blue 328) hunts down and passes RA

Chris Drake's GTO rep. took Gp.1 honours

Culver won by four seconds from Reeder

Race Two

Spicer briefly held third ahead of Jenkins

Reeder was second again

Variety is the spice of classics...

...but what tipo is that at the back of this group?

Atkinson-Willes was out of luck in R2

Evers did well to take Gp.2 honours

Ray Hanson finished a good seventh in his unwieldy TR

Gary cruises serenely on towards his second win of the day

pics by Simon Cooke