Brands Hatch Ferrari Festival
21/22.7.01

With over 200 Ferraris taking part in the 360 Trofeo Pirelli and Shell Historic championships, and some 400 road cars turning up in the course of the weekend, the Ferrari Festival at Brands Hatch proved to be one of the largest gatherings of the marque’s cars in the UK, coming close to the 700 plus which attended the Coys Festival at Silverstone in 1997

Three Ferrari-only championships had two races each and there were also races for F1 and F5000 cars. The Shell Historics provided the heritage flavour, whilst the 360 Challenges and the UK FOC's Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge provided the modern racing.

The Shell Historic Ferrari-Maserati Challenge kicked off with the single seater race in the morning with Irvine Laidlaw, in his 1937 Maserati 6 CM quickly taking the lead after his closest rival, Burkhard Von Schenk, was forced to retire just a few yards after the start after having stripped the teeth of his Maserati 250F’s first gear. Laidlaw comfortably led the race throughout and finished ahead of Stefan Schollwoeck at the wheel of a second Maserati 6 CM with Peter Heuberger, in his 1956 Maserati 250F, third.

Von Schenk made up for his unfortunate breakage in the single seater race by dominating the first race of the drum brake sportscar category with his 1958 Maserati 300 S, although Laidlaw gradually reduced the gap towards the end with his Maserati 250 S. Carlos Monteverde finally broke the Maserati stronghold on the podium that had characterised the first races at Spa by taking the third place in his lovely original 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza that raced regularly on the ice in Finland.

In the disc-brake sportscar race David Franklin leapt into the lead with the 1970 ex-Andretti, Redman and Amon 712 Can Am closely followed by William Binnie’s 1971 ex-Ickx/ Regazzoni 312 P. Peter Hardman took an excellent third place in the 330 LMB when the race was stopped after lap six instead of the 10 originally in programme. Brands Hatch has an agreement with local residents limiting racing to 6 pm in the evening.

The PMFC race was won handsomely by Nathan Kinch but behind there was a close battle between Ian Hetherington and Simon Bartholomew, all in 360 Challenges, while Gary Culver took his customary class win at the head of a very strong contingent of 355 Challenges.

Sidelined in Saturday’s opening race after having broken first gear in his Maserati 250F, Von Schenk set off in Sunday's second heat in second gear. It paid off and Von Schenk managed to take the lead from the start: “Once you’ve started, you don’t need first gear anymore, so I had no problem in defending my lead from Laidlaw.”He finished just 1.8 seconds ahead of Laidlaw’s Maserati 6CM, with Schoellweck’s similar car in third place.

Laidlaw and Von Schenk were once more head to head with their respective Maseratis during the drum-brake sportscar race, with Von Schenk holding the lead for seven of the eight laps until he braked late into Druids and was overtaken by Laidlaw’s Maserati 250 S and Monteverde’s Ferrari 750 Monza. Laidlaw commented that “I’d been on his tail for a couple of laps, but Von Schenk has got better brakes than I have. But when I saw him lose the tail, I took the inside line and managed to get past.”

David Franklin’s 7-litre 712 Can Am was again unbeatable in the disc-brake category, taking an early lead ahead of William Binnie’s 312 P that was sidelined on lap two by electrical gremlins. Franklin built up such a lead over second place John Bosch that, despite stopping in the pits for his mechanics to check a rear wheel, he still managed to come out of the pit lane in the lead. “With such a big engine,” commented Franklin, “it’s easy to use the torque. I love Ferrari V12s, and the bigger they are the better!”

The second PMFC race was again won in fine style by Nathan Kinch ahead of Ian Hetherington, but this time the thundering F512M of Alan Cosby muscled into third place, having finished a more modest sixth the previous day. Culver again dominated the 355 class and Richard Smeeton won the O-class both days in his standard 360 Modena.

Spain’s Javier Diaz dominated the Ferrari 360 Challenge (West) by taking first place in both races. The two victories moved Diaz into third place in the series. French driver Ange Barde maintained his championship lead by following Diaz home in second place on race one and then picking up further points for a fifth place finish in the second race. Belgium’s Van Campenhoudt maintains second place in the championship by picking up points for a third place finish on the Sunday, after failing to finish on the Saturday.

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