Wednesday, 26 September 2012 07:17
Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort - Part 2 - 21-23 September 2012
Written by Guus Docen
Gentlemen Drivers
The Masters Gentlemen Drivers race for pre-’65 GT cars attracted the most attention because there were three top entries from the Netherlands. The thundering Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport owned and raced by Michiel Campagne in the Dutch championship, in which former Le Mans winner Jan Lammers made a guest appearance. DHG owner David Hart drove his Sixties Endurance championship AC Cobra together with professional racing-driver Tom Coronel. It would be Tom Coronel’s very first weekend in a classic car, never having raced anything built earlier than the nineties, Zandvoort also being used as practice for Hart and Coronel sharing the car in the inaugural Shelby Trophy at the forthcoming Goodwood Revival Meeting . The other DHG Cobra was driven by the crew of Shirley van der Lof and the former chairman of Spyker Cars, Hans Hugenholtz.
Another interesting entry was the orange 1964 Porsche 904, this car was raced in the sixties by Ben Pon en Rob Slotemaker for Racing Team Holland. Current owner is Jos Koster, whose son/in/law Michiel van Duijvendijk shared the very pretty and original car with Prince Bernard van Oranje.
The 90 minutes Gentlemen drivers race started Sunday morning. From the start Michiel Campagne took the lead in his Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, out-performing the pole-position winning AC Cobra in the hands of Tom Coronel followed by Hans Hugenholtz (AC Cobra). Campagne and Coronel kept the lead but then drama happened. Campagne was deemed to have overtaken under yellow flags and received a 20-second stop-go penalty. So Coronel picked up the lead with the sister DHG Cobra of Hugenholtz in second place, while Campagne rejoined third in the Chevrolet.
Both Coronel and Campagne entered the pitlane in lap 21, Tom handing over to David Hart and Michiel to Jan Lammers. The 1988 Le Mans winner proved his driving skills again as he slowly came closer to the Hart Cobra. Disaster struck again when the Cobra´s gearbox got jammed in third gear.
No wonder Lammers took the lead with just two laps to go and won the race. The equippe Hart/Coronel finished second and Hugenholtz/Alexander van der Lof third.
Grand Prix Cars pre ’61 and 61-65
The four HGPCA races provided lots of entertainment. The first pre-’61 race was won easily by Philip Walker’s Lotus 16. In the second race Walker had to fight through the field to get within reach of poleman Julian Bronson’s Scarab Offenhauser, who was running away with the race. In the end, Bronson had built up enough of a lead to finish as the clear winner. Dutchman Adrian van der Kroft seemed to be set for third place in the HWM F2, but surprisingly he finished fourth 0.001 seconds (!) behind Belgium Marc Valvekens (Gordini T16-31).
In the two 61-65 1.5-litre races the fights were even harder, because of the gripping lead battles between Will Nuthall’s Cooper T53, Max Blees’ Brabham BT7A and championship leader Peter Horsman’s Lotus 18/21. Horsman won on Sunday, as he did on Saturday, but was then given a time penalty for jumping the start. In race two, Dutchman Jan Lammers was invited by Jan Biekens to race his glorious Ferrari ‘Sharknose’ replica. This led to the yellow 156 being driven faster than it ever has in the hands of Biekens, Lammers steaming up the field from last place on the grid to be classified just outside the top ten.
Delta Lloyd Xclusief Dutch championship for historic touring cars and GTs
The huge 54-car grid comprised a very diverse mix of cars like Ford Falcons and Mustangs, Iso Rivolta, Bizzarini 5300 GT, Elan 26Rs, E-type, Cobra, Alfa GTA, Lotus Cortinas , Porsche 911s, MGBs, MGA, TR4s, Healey 3000s, Fiat Abarth 1000TC, Alpine A110, Mini Coopers and Morgans.
Race 1 was won by Campagne/Lammers in the Corvette Grand Sport inheriting the win from Georg Stummeyer. The German in his Ford GT40 was penalised in both races while leading, his penalty for overtaking under yellow applied retrospectively. Stummeyer also received a stop-and-go penalty in the second race, robbing him of the lead but then failing to finish when he suffered a technical problem minutes from the end. Sunday’s race saw Graham Wilson’s Elan win from Alexander van der Lof’s Bizzarini 5300GT, with the Campagne / Lammers Corvette 3rd.
Historic Formula 2
Martin Stretton was more lucky in the Historic Formula 2 race. His 1.36 pole time made him the fastest man of the weekend. It was no surprise that he won both Historic F2 races easily in the March 742, though there was action throughout the field as early ’70s Chevron, Lola, March, Ralt, Lotus, Brabham and Lyncar blasted around the undulating circuit. To win the historic F2 championship he has missed to many races so the battle for the title is between Tim Barrington (Lola T240) and Roger Simac (March 712M).
More than 30,000 spectators attended the inaugural Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort at Circuit Park Zandvoort during the weekend. It was an enjoyable meeting, great cars and exciting racing. The organisers were happy with this result and for next year they are planning this event again. For British drivers it's around the same distance as Spa from Calais but P&O operates also between Hull and Rotterdam, which is a one hour drive to Zandvoort.
Key to images:
Top Row:
Lotus 18/21, Cooper T53, Cooper T45/51 -
Lotus 25 R4
Lotus R4, rear
Ferrari 156.
Middle Row:
Lotus18.
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
Iso Rivolta
Interior of Mini Cooper
Bottom row:
Fiat Abath 1000 TC
Formula 2 winner, Martin Stretton,
Formula 2 Chevron B34D
Formula 2 Chevron B29
The Masters Gentlemen Drivers race for pre-’65 GT cars attracted the most attention because there were three top entries from the Netherlands. The thundering Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport owned and raced by Michiel Campagne in the Dutch championship, in which former Le Mans winner Jan Lammers made a guest appearance. DHG owner David Hart drove his Sixties Endurance championship AC Cobra together with professional racing-driver Tom Coronel. It would be Tom Coronel’s very first weekend in a classic car, never having raced anything built earlier than the nineties, Zandvoort also being used as practice for Hart and Coronel sharing the car in the inaugural Shelby Trophy at the forthcoming Goodwood Revival Meeting . The other DHG Cobra was driven by the crew of Shirley van der Lof and the former chairman of Spyker Cars, Hans Hugenholtz.
Another interesting entry was the orange 1964 Porsche 904, this car was raced in the sixties by Ben Pon en Rob Slotemaker for Racing Team Holland. Current owner is Jos Koster, whose son/in/law Michiel van Duijvendijk shared the very pretty and original car with Prince Bernard van Oranje.
The 90 minutes Gentlemen drivers race started Sunday morning. From the start Michiel Campagne took the lead in his Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, out-performing the pole-position winning AC Cobra in the hands of Tom Coronel followed by Hans Hugenholtz (AC Cobra). Campagne and Coronel kept the lead but then drama happened. Campagne was deemed to have overtaken under yellow flags and received a 20-second stop-go penalty. So Coronel picked up the lead with the sister DHG Cobra of Hugenholtz in second place, while Campagne rejoined third in the Chevrolet.
Both Coronel and Campagne entered the pitlane in lap 21, Tom handing over to David Hart and Michiel to Jan Lammers. The 1988 Le Mans winner proved his driving skills again as he slowly came closer to the Hart Cobra. Disaster struck again when the Cobra´s gearbox got jammed in third gear.
No wonder Lammers took the lead with just two laps to go and won the race. The equippe Hart/Coronel finished second and Hugenholtz/Alexander van der Lof third.
Grand Prix Cars pre ’61 and 61-65
The four HGPCA races provided lots of entertainment. The first pre-’61 race was won easily by Philip Walker’s Lotus 16. In the second race Walker had to fight through the field to get within reach of poleman Julian Bronson’s Scarab Offenhauser, who was running away with the race. In the end, Bronson had built up enough of a lead to finish as the clear winner. Dutchman Adrian van der Kroft seemed to be set for third place in the HWM F2, but surprisingly he finished fourth 0.001 seconds (!) behind Belgium Marc Valvekens (Gordini T16-31).
In the two 61-65 1.5-litre races the fights were even harder, because of the gripping lead battles between Will Nuthall’s Cooper T53, Max Blees’ Brabham BT7A and championship leader Peter Horsman’s Lotus 18/21. Horsman won on Sunday, as he did on Saturday, but was then given a time penalty for jumping the start. In race two, Dutchman Jan Lammers was invited by Jan Biekens to race his glorious Ferrari ‘Sharknose’ replica. This led to the yellow 156 being driven faster than it ever has in the hands of Biekens, Lammers steaming up the field from last place on the grid to be classified just outside the top ten.
Delta Lloyd Xclusief Dutch championship for historic touring cars and GTs
The huge 54-car grid comprised a very diverse mix of cars like Ford Falcons and Mustangs, Iso Rivolta, Bizzarini 5300 GT, Elan 26Rs, E-type, Cobra, Alfa GTA, Lotus Cortinas , Porsche 911s, MGBs, MGA, TR4s, Healey 3000s, Fiat Abarth 1000TC, Alpine A110, Mini Coopers and Morgans.
Race 1 was won by Campagne/Lammers in the Corvette Grand Sport inheriting the win from Georg Stummeyer. The German in his Ford GT40 was penalised in both races while leading, his penalty for overtaking under yellow applied retrospectively. Stummeyer also received a stop-and-go penalty in the second race, robbing him of the lead but then failing to finish when he suffered a technical problem minutes from the end. Sunday’s race saw Graham Wilson’s Elan win from Alexander van der Lof’s Bizzarini 5300GT, with the Campagne / Lammers Corvette 3rd.
Historic Formula 2
Martin Stretton was more lucky in the Historic Formula 2 race. His 1.36 pole time made him the fastest man of the weekend. It was no surprise that he won both Historic F2 races easily in the March 742, though there was action throughout the field as early ’70s Chevron, Lola, March, Ralt, Lotus, Brabham and Lyncar blasted around the undulating circuit. To win the historic F2 championship he has missed to many races so the battle for the title is between Tim Barrington (Lola T240) and Roger Simac (March 712M).
More than 30,000 spectators attended the inaugural Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort at Circuit Park Zandvoort during the weekend. It was an enjoyable meeting, great cars and exciting racing. The organisers were happy with this result and for next year they are planning this event again. For British drivers it's around the same distance as Spa from Calais but P&O operates also between Hull and Rotterdam, which is a one hour drive to Zandvoort.
Key to images:
Top Row:
Lotus 18/21, Cooper T53, Cooper T45/51 -
Lotus 25 R4
Lotus R4, rear
Ferrari 156.
Middle Row:
Lotus18.
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
Iso Rivolta
Interior of Mini Cooper
Bottom row:
Fiat Abath 1000 TC
Formula 2 winner, Martin Stretton,
Formula 2 Chevron B34D
Formula 2 Chevron B29
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/554-historic-grand-prix-zandvoort-part-2#sigProIdf2c9d5d027
https://www.motormarques.com/news/european-desk/item/554-historic-grand-prix-zandvoort-part-2#sigProIdf2c9d5d027
