Porto - Ferrari Owners' Club

Postcard from Porto
report by Ed Brown, pics by Sydney Brown

25.7.07

Set against an imposing Atlantic Ocean backdrop, Portugal’s second largest city was home to the 2nd Gran Premio Historico do Porto on July 14th/15th, celebrating the Circuito Boavista’s contribution to the F1 world championship in the 1950s.

Originally conceived as a 7km parkland road course with the added danger of tram lines and sand, the circuit has been revived in 4km format utilising 4,600 two-tonne concrete blocks and has enjoyed continued infrastructure investment from the Municipo do Porto. Dauntingly narrow in parts and with a revised and extended “village” area in the Parque da Cidade, competitors were warned of the track’s unforgiving nature and that smooth, highly accurate driving would reap success.

The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association and Grand Prix Masters series provided a significant proportion of the weekend’s grids, but there was also opportunity for more modern, locally owned machinery to race, complemented by an Endurance race for the “Gentlemen Drivers” and “Pre war Legends” series.

Much has been written about the racing elsewhere - both www.circuitodaboavista.com and www.youtube.com have video footage.These were the highlights:

In the Pre-War Motor Racing Legends (60 minutes) – David Freeman drove his Aston Martin Spa special sharing an overall win with Russell Busst and finishing ahead of ex Grand Prix driver Mario Cabral (who paired with former TGP F1 champion Rodrigo Gallego) in his BMW 328. Sadly the race was stopped after 18 laps when Kiko Campos Costa significantly modified his father’s Ford Model A special against the pit wall!

Grand Prix Masters (12 laps) – ’97 TVR Tuscan and more recently Formula Renault Champion Bobby Verdon Roe has made a successful transition to historic motor sport and is now in his second season of racing a 1978 McLaren M26. He added a Portugese win to his career with victory over Steve Allen in his superbly prepared Copersucar and a compact field was further depleted by the retirement of Paul Grant (Trojan 103), Richard Barber (Fittipaldi) and series organiser Ron Maydon (Amon) who each visited the unforgiving retaining wall.

F1 pre ’66 HGPCA ( 2 x 13 laps) – the biggest cheers of the weekend from the sizeable crowd were reserved for the type of cars that raced on the original circuit. Michael (Lotus 18) and Will (Lotus 27) Schryver both drove excellent races, with Michael proving that sometimes “Dad does know best”, winning both races with master coachbuilder Rod Jolley runner up on Saturday and Will on Sunday. Interestingly the Lotus 18 was John Surtees' mount for the 1960 Portugese Grand Prix at the Boavista track, whilst current Shell Historic Challenge champion Stefan Schollwoeck is adjusting well to his new mount the ex Rovere/Furmanik Maserati 4CM.

World Sportscar Masters (20laps) – Portugese gentleman racer Miguel Amaral was a popular winner in his stunning Gulf-liveried Porsche 917K. Never headed throughout, he gave a virtuoso display of car control in a car best suited to the Mulsanne or Hangar straights. Richard Meins had been his closest adversary in his Lola T70 but unfortunately a “stop and go” penalty for a jumped start ruined his chances. Elsewhere historic preparation ace Simon Hadfield drove a superb race in Michael Schryver’s nimble Chevron B6 and Formula Renault racer Ollie Hancock made an impressive debut in his father’s Lotus 23B.

Sports Racing Masters (25 laps) – 3 time former Group C2 champion Ray Bellm dominated with a lights to flag victory in his Ford GT40, with almost a 2 minute gap to the battle of the race between Belgian Marc Devis and Marshall Bailey both in Lola T70 Spyder’s. Dovetailing with his duties as English speaking commentator and summariser, Autosport’s Marcus Pye shared Dion Kremer’s Elva MK7 finishing an excellent fifth.

Congratulations also to:
- Gary Pearson and Jaguar enthusiast Nigel Webb who won the Gentlemen Drivers 15 lap enduro in the latter’s Lightweight E type, finishing just a second ahead of Miguel Amaral/Manuel Mello Bryner (AC Cobra)
- Martin Walford in his Lotus 22 who won the Historic Formula Junior from a distant Mark Linstone (Elva 200).

Off-track, the Clube Portugues de Automoveis Antigos displayed 70-plus cars at the base of the Avenida Boavista straight. Mixed in with numerous MGBs, Jaguar XKs and Austin Healeys was a Ferrari 275GTB, an extremely rare Datsun Fairlady and a glorious pre-war BMW 328.

Celebrating 60 years of Ferrari - a special display of 42 cars paraded on the track on the Saturday. and were parked adjacent to the paddock for all to view. It was an excellent representation of the marque with the most recent a 612 Scaglietti and the earliest a 250 GTE.

Also celebrating their annual meeting with a dinner were members of Le Club Des Anciens Pilotes who included 5 time Le Mans winner Derek Bell, former Ferrari pilota David Piper and the 1970 and ‘89 winners of Le Mans, Dickie Attwood and Jochen Mass. Meanwhile, for many European enthusiasts the season highlight is almost here - the “Silverstone Classic” next weekend has 22 races with over 600 entries planned along with a Bonhams auction and an FOC presence on the infield….see you there!


One of Ed's favourites - 620bhp Lola T70!	Grand Prix Masters has seen the emergence of some rare chassis, like this Amon	HGPCA Drum Brake race included Roger Lucas's gorgeous '56 Maserati 200S	Andrew Wareing's ' 78 Williams FW06 enjoys the shade