Silverstone Festival 2024: Masters Racing Legends for 66/85 F1 Cars

It took Stuart Hall’s March 821 two corners to grab the lead from the pole-sitting Tyrrell 011 of Matthew Wrigley, but in a very wet first Masters Racing Legends race at the Silverstone Festival, Wrigley failed to give up and pushed Hall all the way to the line, with just three tenths in between them.

“I knew I probably had one chance, and that was at the start”, said Hall. “You know, Matt’s been really quick all weekend. It’s the first time we’ve run the car at a circuit other than properly up until Monaco in this configuration, so, it’s a real learning experience. I only had one shot, and I thought, I’m going to send it to turn one…”

“To start the weekend off, I wasn’t really expecting to be on pole”, said Wrigley. “Stuart’s a very talented driver, clearly, so I was very happy to be on pole. It took a couple more laps for me to get into it. And that was my own mistake, really. I’m not pushing, but I wanted to keep the car on the track, ready for tomorrow. And to come second to Stuart, I think, you know, to me, it’s no hard work by myself, really. So, yeah, I’m happy with second, and we’re here to fight for tomorrow then.”

Jamie Constable drove a storming race to clinch third from sixth on the grid, as his Tyrrell 011 ran home Simon Fish in the Arrows A4 and Werner d’Ansembourg in the Brabham BT49C, while Lukas Halusa moved up in the Williams FW08C to finish sixth ahead of Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1 that dropped to seventh from third on the grid.

“It was all about finding the line where I could maybe drive a bit quicker”, said Constable. “Sometimes it feels weird because you need to go slower into a corner to get the right line, but I found some nice lines and managed to put the power down. It felt lovely all the way through!”

Meanwhile, Peter Williams drove a beautifully controlled race to consummately win the pre-78 class in his Lec CRP1, ending up 23 seconds up the road from Carlos De Quesada’s McLaren M26, while in the closing stages of the race, Ewen Sergison in the Shadow DN9 lost third in class to an emerging Kirt Bennett in the Shadow DN5.

On a day with seemingly endless pouring rain, the Masters Racing Legends grid lined up on a very wet Silverstone track after four of the five morning races were either redflagged, abandoned or cancelled. Circumstances weren’t much better for the 1966-’85 Formula One cars, but they still ventured out on their scheduled time, just as a small dryish window appeared. Following a safety-car start, title contender Matt Wrigley stormed off from pole in his Tyrrell 011, followed by Stuart Hall’s March 821, Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1 and Werner d’Ansembourg’s Brabham BT49C and 21 more cars, as Mike Cantillon’s Williams FW07C was left stranded during the second safety-car lap.

Some 12 minutes and a bit remained, in which Hall immediately took over the lead, with Jamie Constable’s Tyrrell 011 moving up into fourth, with Simon Fish in fifth in the Arrows A4. Hall and Wrigley had dropped Hartley by five seconds on their first green lap, who in turn was chased by Constable, Fish and the two d’Ansembourgs, Werner still ahead of father Christophe’s Williams FW07C. In the pre-78 class, Peter Williams’ Lec CRP1 led from the fast-starting Carlos De Quesada in the early McLaren M26, with Ewen Sergison’s Shadow DN9 in third.

At the start of lap 5, Hall led Wrigley by 1.7 seconds, the pair now a mighty 12 seconds ahead of Constable, who had dislodged Hartley from third. In fact, the McLaren had dropped to eighth, as Fish, d’Ansembourg (W.), the emerging Lukas Halusa in the Williams FW08C, and d’Ansembourg (C.) also pushed through. Further back, Nick Padmore was up into 13th after a troubled qualifying session in the double-chassis Lotus 88B but reported to the pitlane at the end of lap 5 with a broken rear light.

On the next lap, Hall’s advantage had marginally increased to 1.9 seconds, as they headed Constable by 18 seconds. The second Tyrrell 011 in the race was still leading Fish, d’Ansembourg (W.), Halusa, d’Ansembourg (C.), Hartley and Steve Brooks in the Lotus 91, who had managed to pass Mark Harrison’s Shadow DN9 and Mark Higson’s McLaren MP4/1B. In the pre-78 class, Williams maintained a healthy 12-second margin to De Quesada, who in turn led Sergison by 13 seconds. In 23rd overall, Ian Simmonds led the post-82 class in the Tyrrell 012.

At the front, Wrigley wasn’t giving up, though, as a fastest lap of the race brought the Tyrrell 011 back into view of Hall’s rear-view mirrors, the gap now down to eight tenths. The battle for third between Constable, Fish and d’Ansembourg (W.) now happened 27 seconds behind, while Halusa and Hartley contested sixth five seconds further down the road.

The seconds ticked down, however, and on the final lap Hall managed to keep Wrigley at bay by a mere three tenths. Constable grabbed third, 32 seconds down, keeping ahead of Fish and young d’Ansembourg, with Halusa, Hartley and the elder d’Ansembourg up next. Harrison rounded out the top ten, ahead of Warren Briggs in the McLaren M29 and Patrick d’Aubréby in the second Arrows A4. Peter Williams took a fine pre-78 class win, 23 seconds in front of De Quesada, while Kirt Bennett’s Shadow DN5 pipped Sergison to third in class on the final lap. In 20th, Simmonds took the post-82 class win.

From eighth and ninth on the grid of the second Masters Racing Legends race at Silverstone, Matthew Wrigley (Tyrrell 011) and Stuart Hall (March 821) fought their way up towards and beyond early leader Christophe d’Ansembourg (Williams FW07C), who as a Front Row racing team mate to Wrigley made it much harder for Hall to pass. Just before that, Wrigley had repassed Hall after the March got ahead on the opening lap. Maintaining the gap to Hall once he was in the lead, Wrigley ran out to a strong win in a full 28-car field, bouncing back after having been beaten by Hall the day before.

“I was a bit disappointed with it yesterday, although second was nothing to really be disappointed about”, said Wrigley. “I beat myself up a bit this morning, so I felt better today. I had the bit between my teeth. When Stuart got past me in the first lap, I thought, oh no, it’s going to be really hard to get back past him. I think he just got squeezed ever so slightly somewhere and I managed to get a run on him, which made it a bit easier.”

“The other Front Row car made it quite difficult, and then Wrigley escaped and that was that. Yeah, we’ll be back”, said Hall. “We made a good start, got through some traffic, managed to do Matt. The car was good today. Fair play to Matt, though. He did a great race,  you’ve got to hand it to him. They were the better car today, and we’ll improve for next time.

But it’s been a great weekend, as ever. You know, Masters put on an amazing show. It’s an absolute privilege to be here and a privilege to drive these cars.”

Coming from 26th on the grid after his mishaps on Saturday, Mike Cantillon produced a barnstormer of a race to haul his Williams FW07C up to the podium, passing d’Ansembourg towards the end. After a fine performance, the Belgian did hang on to fourth ahead of Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1, while Lukas Halusa (Williams FW08C) retook Nick Padmore for sixth on the final lap after the Lotus 88B similarly came storming through the field.

“Yeah, I started 26th. We had a difficult weekend with the car. The team have been amazing. We got it sorted in the end, and I was so delighted”, said Cantillon. “We knew we had pace around here, and it was such fun in the car. I can’t wait to see the in-car footage! Fair play to all the drivers. They were so respectful, and, you know, no accidents. So I’m over the moon.”

In a tense fight for pre-78 class glory, Carlos De Quesada (McLaren M26) found a way past Saturday’s winner Peter Williams in the Lec CRP1 before stretching out a five-second lead at the chequered flag. Meanwhile, Williams had to work hard to keep second place away from the prying hands of Chris Perkins (Surtees TS16) and Ewen Sergison (Shadow DN9A). Further back, James Hagan’s Tyrrell 011 trounced Ian Simmonds’ Tyrrell 012 for post-82 class victory.

Conditions were completely different from the day before at the Silverstone Festival, as blue skies and bright sunshine blessed the Northamptonshire circuit. After their wet race on Saturday, the Masters Racing Legends grid was now looking forward to an all-out contest in the dry. Christophe d’Ansembourg was on pole on the reversed grid for the best nine finishers of Saturday’s race, with Steve Brooks in the Lotus 91 lining up next to the Belgian’s Williams FW07C on the front row. Behind them were Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1, Lukas Halusa in the Williams FW08C, Werner d’Ansembourg in the Brabham BT49C, Simon Fish in the Arrows A4, Jamie Constable in the Tyrrell 011 and Matthew Wrigley in another 011, with Saturday winner Stuart Hall’s March 821 on row 5.

Following a second safety-car lap to allow the drivers to get reacquainted with the dry grip, d’Ansembourg (C.) got a gap over Brooks, Hartley and Halusa, while further back Hall and Wrigley were already making up places. In fact, Hall was up into fourth before the end of the opening lap, with Wrigley following in his wake. Mike Cantillon in the Williams FW07C and Nick Padmore in the Lotus 88B, meanwhile, were up into 12th and 13th from their lowly grid positions. They were followed by Werner d’Ansembourg who had failed to get away from the grid. In the pre-78 class, Peter Williams once again led in the Lec CRP1, while Carlos De Quesada in the McLaren M26, Ewen Sergison’s Shadow DN9 and Kirt Bennett’s Shadow DN5 fought over second in class.

On the next lap, Hall and Wrigley moved further up as they dealt with Hartley and Brooks as well, as Fish and Constable latched up on the tail of Halusa. A bit further up ahead, Hartley passed Brooks moving onto the Wellington Straight on lap 3. Towards the end of the lap, Hall and Wrigley were pressuring d’Ansembourg for the lead, but first Wrigley moved back ahead of Hall, and then going into lap 4, removed the Belgian from the lead. Hall was having a lot more trouble passing the Williams, however, and that allowed Wrigley to create a gap. Hartley and Halusa were fourth and fifth, trailing by eight seconds, as Constable, Cantillon, Fish and Padmore all found a way past Brooks.

On lap 5, Wrigley led d’Ansembourg by 1.3 seconds, as the Belgian still hung on, but the Williams went wide out of Copse, allowing Hall to have a run at him towards Becketts. Ahead of the complex, it was mission accomplished. So now it was head to head for Wrigley and Hall, as d’Ansembourg (C.) slowly dropped away. Hartley hung on to fourth despite intense pressure from Halusa, the Austrian four seconds ahead of Cantillon who had passed Constable for sixth, with Padmore, Fish, Brooks and d’Ansembourg (W.) all right on their tail.

In the pre-78 class, Williams had De Quesada all over the back of him, as the Lec driver wasn’t having the easy time he had the day before. In fact, Sergison had made it a trio of leaders, while Bennett had fallen away behind Chris Perkins in the Surtees TS16. On lap 6, De Quesada took the class lead but Williams immediately began to fight back – this was far from over.

At the front, Hall had slowly inched towards Wrigley, his deficit down to seven tenths. D’Ansembourg was looking good in third, eight seconds off the leading duo, while Cantillon had dislodged Halusa from fifth. Padmore, Constable and d’Ansembourg (W.) were next up, all having passed Fish, who now had to worry about Brooks, Warren Briggs in the McLaren M29 and Patrick d’Aubréby in the second Arrows A4.

Five minutes remained, and Wrigley found a bit more pace to complete the fastest lap of the race on lap 8 and increase the gap to 1.2 seconds. 13 seconds behind them, d’Ansembourg (C.) was falling into the clutches of teammate Cantillon and Steve Hartley, while Halusa had Padmore’s Lotus stuck under his rear wing. Behind them, Constable outbraked himself to allow d’Ansembourg Jnr up into eighth. At the same time, Cantillon crowned his valiant comeback race with a pass for third, as Hartley now set after the Belgian. Further back, Padmore made his move on Halusa, to be an equally impressive sixth.

As the final minute ticked away, Wrigley had it all under control, and the Derbyshire man crossed the line as the winner, 1.2 seconds ahead of his rival Stuart Hall. Cantillon finished a strong third, 16 seconds adrift, with d’Ansembourg (C.) in fourth ahead of Hartley, while Halusa reclaimed sixth from Padmore. D’Ansembourg (W.), Fish and Constable rounded out the top ten. In 14th overall, Carlos De Quesada brought the pre-78 class win home, having run out to a five-second lead over Williams, who needed to fight off both Perkins and Sergison to hang on to second in class. In 19th and 20th overall, James Hagan’s 1983 Tyrrell 011 beat Ian Simmonds’ Tyrrell 012 to the post-82 Lauda class win. Mark Hazell’s vibrating Williams FW07B and Mark Harrison’s Shadow DN9 (blown engine) were the only casualties in the 28-car field.