A Reunion to celebrate Britain’s first 24-hour race, the fabled Willhire 24 Hours that ran from 1980 to 1994, has been confirmed for this October 18. The two-hour race—evocatively running into darkness—will celebrate the Production Class sports and touring cars (plus the later Group N cars) that contested the original races. The event has been devised by ex-Willhire driver and HRDC Race Director, Julius Thurgood, in conjunction with the race’s original administrator, the BRSCC.
Drew Furlong, Competition Director of the BRSCC, noted: “While I may not have been present for all the Willhire 24-Hour events, I have been privileged to have been involved with at least four of them, so I understand the camaraderie of the event and the many memories that it holds for competitors.”
Thurgood has been busy behind the scenes getting this event off the drawing board and onto the track. “The spiritual home of the Willhire is Snetterton,” he said, “but we ran into planning problems with the night racing aspect of the Willhire Reunion. Thankfully, Christopher Tate and his team at Donington came to the rescue, and we now have the go-ahead to run this race into darkness on the National circuit at Donington Park. Having canvassed the opinions of many of the original Willhire drivers, the vote was unanimous that this specific element of the original events be incorporated into the Reunion.”
Thurgood is keen to ensure that potential entrants understand that cars of the type that ran in the original Willhire events would be welcome. “Of course, we will give preference to an entry with an original Willhire car,” he noted, “but we do realize that there are some very good cars out there that would also fit the bill for the Reunion, so hopefully we will be able to take these onto the grid at Donington in October, too—especially if they are prepared to ‘adopt’ an original Willhire livery.”
A sampling of original Willhire cars already committed to the Reunion includes: the ex-Pete Hall/Andy Rouse Opel Commodore GS/E 2.8, the Willhire 25th Anniversary-winning Ford Sierra Cosworth of Slim Borgudd/Mark Hales, the ex-Jon Dooley “Napolina” Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV, the “Bulldog” Team Morgan Plus 8, the 1985-winning Ford Capri of Roy Eaton/David Oates/John Clarke, the Nissan Skyline of Andy Middlehurst and the MGB Roadster of Julius Thurgood/John Trevelyan/Graeme Davis/Rae Davis.
For further details about entering this unique event, please visit:
http://hrdc.eu/willhire_24hr_reunion.html, or contact Julius Thurgood directly at direct@juliusthurgood.co.uk
