2009 Silverstone Classic BRDC Historic Sports Cars Results and Photo Gallery

The 2009 Silverstone Classic was held July 24-26 at the Silverstone Circuit in England.

Graeme Dodd won the BRDC Historic Sports cars race, organized by Motor Racing Legends, very convincingly from pole in his Cooper Monaco T49. He also set the fastest lap of the race, with Jason Minshaw 35 seconds behind in his Maserati Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’ – but for many of the other front-runners, the race was a strategic battle as well as one of skill behind the wheel.

A slick of oil dumped at Copse not only caused several cars to spin, but brought out the safety car 13 minutes into the race – and just before the pit window opened for driver changes. This saw some cars pit too early and incur a penalty while, the moment the 20-minute point was reached, there was a sudden heavy influx to the pit-lane – only for the safety car to pull off on the next lap. This upset the rankings – and led to Tony Bianchi’s Farallac taking the lead for a full four laps.

It was also an eventful race for the McIntyre brothers, Jamie and Ewan. Jamie’s Lister Knobbly had started from the pit lane but flew up the rankings thanks to an impressive drive, helped by the safety car bunching the field up more tightly, to finish a remarkable third overall. Meanwhile, brother Ewan was forced to pit his Lotus 15 at the end of lap one to fix a broken gearlever, but still managed to finish third in class and 15th overall. At one point, the two brothers were enjoying a real neck-and-neck fight, perhaps not realizing they were a lap apart!

Making progress by leaps and bounds after Nick Leventis handed over to Bobby Verdon-Roe was the Ferrari 246S Dino – which rocketed up the field from more than a lap down to third overall – before broken spokes caused the car to lose a wheel and coast to a safe, but disappointing, halt.

A tremendously eventful race, run at a extremely fast pace, saw other class winners (not already mentioned) that included Peter Horsman and Jac Nellemann in their Lotus 17 Prototype; Jim Woodley and Ian Rowley in their Lotus 17; and father-and-son team John and Chris Clark, in their Cooper T39 Bobtail.

BRDC Historic Sports Cars Racing Class (60 minutes) Results and Photo Gallery

1. Cooper Monaco T49, Graeme Dodd
2. Maserati Tipo 61, Alan Minshaw
3. Lister Jaguar Knobbly, Jamie McIntyre
4. Lister Jaguar Costin, Monteverde/Pearson
5. Maserati 250S, Laidlaw/Hadfield