RACES 11&12: Silverstone : 27 August 2012
report by Nicky Paul-Barron

When our 2012 club racing calendar was finally announced there were three outstanding events on the list. Spa of course and Nurburgring, but perhaps the greatest was Ferrari Racing Days at Silverstone on the Arena GP circuit.

The Factory Challenge, Corse Cliente and "XX" programmes only come to the UK rarely. In fact 2007 was the last time they were here, also at Silverstone. In his programme notes Matteo Torre, the head of Ferrari North Europe, mentions Ferrari’s great racing and production history, he also thanks our own Owners’ Club for their help and support in making this event happen. But unfortunately the event would not include our very successful formula classic series, nor would cars built before 1994 be allowed to race in our Open series. Despite the best efforts of our Competitions Director, Chairman and also support from UK Ferrari executives, this decision was final.

So it was just the Ferrari Open racers that represented our Club at Silverstone with two races, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. Such was the appeal of the event though that some 32 cars qualified. This impressive number was greater than Ferrari themselves managed for the Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell grids put together.

The grid list was fascinating with some glorious cars, some new faces, some names from the past making welcome returns, and some interesting father and son pairings. What did you get for your 21st birthday? How about a race in a 458 Challenge? Young Jack Dwane normally races a Mondial in formula classic, with Dad Mick racing his own 458/Ch in Open. For this event Mick hired Paul Bailey’s 458 for the week-end for Jack as it was his 21st. Not realising the fragile nature of an older man’s ego Jack went on to outperform Mick all week-end, which seemed a little cruel. Other father and son entries were Peter and Shamus Jennings and Toby and Robin Tarrant-Willis.

Race 1 was late on Saturday when nearly everyone was preparing for the Guinness World Record attempt. Anyone who did manage a sneaky look though saw Shaun Balfe take the victory in an FF Corse run 458 Challenge from Paul Bailey (430 GT2) and Gary Eastwood (458/Ch). Winner of class 3 was the very rapid Sam Smeeth (430/Ch). Class 2 was taken by James Shirley (360/Ch) and class 1 was won by Nigel Jenkins' (355/Ch). Quite how Jacopo’s F40 and Paul Brookes' 456 GT got onto the age-restricted grid will remain a mystery but it was nice to see them.

Mention should be made of the Silverstone based FF Corse team run by Anthony Cheshire. They ran at least ten cars in the Open race and also had entries in the Factory run races, all well turned out and a credit to the Club. What a great effort.

Race 2 had an excellent time slot on Sunday. The F40 had not managed to start race 1 due to alternator failure but had qualified well. In race two it was absolutely flying. Or at least it was until a retirement on lap 3. We like flaming exhausts but this F40 was even leaving the track blazing behind it such was the level of unburnt fuel pushing through its veins. An Eco Warrior award of sorts surely?

As with race 1 the Clerk of the Course Bernard Cottrell, Chairman of the BRSCC, was on his mettle and several penalties were handed out. These were mostly for yellow flag infringements and exceeding track limits. Rules are rules and we applaud all efforts to make our racing as fair as it can be but it was a shame that the final results were affected quite as they were.

Shaun Balfe, Paul Bailey and Gary Eastwood had been the class of the field all weekend. On Sunday it was Gary Eastwood who took the win from Balfe and Bailey but the latter rose to second when Balfe was penalised 35 secs for exceeding track limits. Class winners were Smeeth (430/Ch) Nick Kaye (360/Ch) and Nigel Jenkins (355/Ch).

We understand that Ferrari were more than impressed by our racers' showing at Silverstone. We have been racing Ferraris in the UK since 1985 so it shouldn’t have been a surprise for them but there you go, that’s modern big business I suppose. Maybe next time we can all get out to play and put on our best ever show.

The excellent grid size at Silverstone showed what potential PFO has. We went from 10 cars at Castle Combe to 32 at Silverstone in less than a fortnight. In other words if we get the events right the cars will come.