The spectacular Boavista street circuit at Porto, Portugal, which last hosted a Grand Prix in 1960, was reinstated for a hugely successful weekend of Historic racing on 9-10 July – including an 80-minute round of the Motor Racing Legends Pre-War Sports Car Series. No fewer than 25 genuine sports cars of the pre-War era raced in close competition through the narrow streets of the city of Porto in this two-driver event.
“It was our most successful Pre-War race to date,” said organiser Duncan Wiltshire, “with the biggest grid, longest race and closest competition since we launched the Series last year. Interest just keeps growing, with more and more owners of ‘ proper’ historic sports racers fettling their cars and joining the grid. Porto was a demonstration of the excitement which top-level pre-War racing can offer. It’s very rare for cars of this era to have the opportunity to race for a full 80 minutes – and yet the race went right down to the wire. I’m also delighted to say that we saw very few incidents or non-finishers.”
Coming through to win from behind was the Alfa Romeo P3 of Roger Saul and Calum Lockie. Serious gearbox problems meant an unscheduled pit-stop for Saul in the opening stages of the race, after which the pair put in a fantastic drive to regain the lead and finally take the flag with only top gear at their disposal. Commiserations to David Franklin and Martin Stretton in Ken MacMaster’s Frazer Nash BMW who – after leading for most of the race – dropped out 10 minutes before the end with no brakes.
Meanwhile Chris Chilcott and Sam Stretton ran a near-faultless race in their Frazer Nash to finish second, ahead of the Alfa Romeo Monzas. James Baxter in Bill Ainscough’s Monza took third, just pipping the Monza of Peter Neumark and Willie Green.
Class A – for pre-1931 cars under 2000cc – was a Frazer Nash walkover, with the marque taking 1-2-3. Class winners Chilcott and Stretton were followed by Richard Parsons and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in second. Third in class were Philip Champion and Steve Stanton, ahead of the Riley Brooklands of Alan Clear and David Furnell.
The oldest car in the race, the 1925 Bentley 3-litre of Duncan Wiltshire and John Guyatt, squeezed passed Duncan Arthur’s Invicta on the final corner to win Class B honours (pre-1931, over 2000cc). Third was taken by the wonderfully original Ford A racer of Joao Costa and Alvaro Almelda.
Class C went to Barry Foster’s very rapid MG Montlhery, ahead of Mike Windsor-Price and Paul Chudecki in Dean Butler’s K3, while overall winners Saul and Lockie took the honours in Class D.
“We’re now looking forward with great enthusiasm to the final round of the Series: Spa on 24-25 September,” concludes Wiltshire. “We also have a one-off race for pre-War cars on the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on Saturday 10 th September, in support of the Britcar 24-hour event. Our pre-War race at Silverstone will – unlike the regular Motor Racing Legends series – consider applications from selected ‘specials’ and should prove to be a great spectacle.”
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