Can Am racing in the UK?
#1
Posted 17 August 2013 - 09:45
Is there a Historic race meeting in the UK each year that has a grid of the Big Bangers?..........Martin
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#2
Posted 17 August 2013 - 12:24
#3
Posted 17 August 2013 - 16:04
#4
Posted 18 August 2013 - 14:46
Marcus
#5
Posted 18 August 2013 - 15:23
And we can run without silencers!
Marcus
#6
Posted 21 August 2013 - 10:14
It is my understanding that John Foulston bought a lot of old Can-Am cars and then persuaded the HSCC to launch a series to cater for them - I think he sponsored it! He then sold on his collection at inflated prices to ensure a reasonable field.
Edited by Stephen W, 21 August 2013 - 10:15.
#7
Posted 21 August 2013 - 16:32
There isn't enough of them in Europe to form a half decent grid without being padded out with Group 6 cars etc.
Gone are the great days of the early Steigenberger series, which used to amass a reasonable number of group 7 cars, but even they included 2-litre cars, certainly later on if not from the outset (?)
#8
Posted 21 August 2013 - 16:46
I think 2-litre cars were always admitted - they were just more noticeable in later years when people like John Burton and John Sheldon showed how competitive they could be against amateur-driven big cars
And yes, I'm generalising
#9
Posted 21 August 2013 - 17:08
It is my understanding that John Foulston bought a lot of old Can-Am cars and then persuaded the HSCC to launch a series to cater for them - I think he sponsored it! He then sold on his collection at inflated prices to ensure a reasonable field.
No, I was there-indeed on the HSCC committee- that was not what happened.
#10
Posted 21 August 2013 - 17:13
Yes I think both the HSCC Historic GT series and the Supersports series admitted the 2-litre cars.
Foulston had the two M8s, an M1C, Lola T260 and T530 that I can think of. Possibly others.
Best period for the big-engined cars was '87 onwards, for a few years.
#11
Posted 21 August 2013 - 20:40
Thundersports was an early stomping ground for mainly the single seat Can-am and then the Steinberger series in the 90s which ironically excluded the single seat Can-am. As late as 1991 the Berkeley team enterered "Stingbrace" in an Interserie race driving a March 827.
#12
Posted 22 August 2013 - 09:33
Don't forget the Super Sport races in the early '80s (917s against T70s, etc) and then the HSCC Atlantic Computer Races in the early '80s too, which was what John Foulston and the HSCC pushed. There were some great fields but the reliability wasn't as good as it is now.
#13
Posted 22 August 2013 - 13:12
It is my understanding that John Foulston bought a lot of old Can-Am cars and then persuaded the HSCC to launch a series to cater for them - I think he sponsored it! He then sold on his collection at inflated prices to ensure a reasonable field.
Atlantic Computers did sponsor the HSCC series. But I don't actually remember any of Foulston's CanAm cars being sold while he was alive. I could be wrong. Most of his collection seemed to be there up to his death, and perhaps for a while after. Willie Green raced the Foulston's Lotus 72 in 1988, so Mary Foulston must have hung on to some of the cars for a bit at least.
Gregor, I remember those Piper Supersports events fondly, but more for the endurance cars than the CanAms. I remember watching Richard Atwood's 917 beat the CanAms (David Franklin etc) with relative ease on the Silverstone GP circuit in '86.