Motor Racing legend
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Sir Stirling Moss Trophy Race at the Algarve Historic Festival
“As good as Spa or the Brands Hatch GP circuit”… “Really tricky to learn”… “Bloody fantastic!”... These were just some of the comments about the new Algarve International Autodrome, which enjoyed clear skies and temperatures up to 29 degrees C for the first Algarve Historic Festival on October 16-18.
For a large portion of the two-hour race, it looked as though the D-type of Gavin Pickering and Spencer Marsh had it
The Motor Racing Legends Spirit Award went to David Alborough, who not only drove his AC Ace Bristol racer all the way to the Algarve, but managed to blow it up en route, rebuild it – and finish the race, too. Meanwhile, the HGPCA presented a ‘Driver of the Day’ award to Malcolm Verey, whose Lola Mk I (shared with Tony Bianchi) finished 11th overall and first in class, despite gearbox troubles.
By the end of the weekend, there’s little doubt that the racers were eager to return to the circuit as soon as possible. The Algarve Historic Festival could well become a much-admired fixture on the racing calendar. Congratulations to Francisco Santos, who made the whole thing happen. |
The feature race on the Saturday evening was the two-hour, two-driver Sir Stirling Moss Trophy race, run by Motor Racing Legends – with support from the HGPCA – and combining our usual grids of 1950s sportscars from the Royal Automobile Woodcote Trophy and BRDC Historic Sportscars. The Portuguese circuit is around 4km long, rising and falling 106 feet through the rocky hills, and presenting a tricky technical challenge to the drivers. Some competitors took to it straight away, while others were, at first, a bit shaken. There are blind brows and steep drops, strung together by corners with complex changes in camber and the odd tightening double apex – plus a lot of head-scratching, as the drivers rose to the task of unravelling the circuit’s secrets.
all sewn up – but a transmission problem put them out of contention after 41 laps. The pole-sitting Lotus XV of Roger Wills and Joe Twyman had lasted just four laps, while the second-on-the-grid Lotus XI also failed to finish. So, when the field settled down after the pitstops, it was the Lister Knobbly of Barry Wood and Barry Cannell which scythed to the front and emerged as the clear victor overall. The only car to finish on the same lap was the second-placed Lotus XI Le Mans of Michel Thoulouze and Jean Jacques Gravier, while the Adrian Hall/Nick Adams Lotus X came third. Aside from the fabulous, undulating circuit, two factors made the race especially memorable. First, that it finished at 7pm on the Saturday – by which time the sun had set in dramatic fashion and all headlights were on; and secondly, because Sir Stirling himself drove in the race which bore his name, sharing his 1956 Osca with Roger Earl. The little 1495cc car took second in class and 13th overall in a field of 32 starters.