The Roaring Season

Ok, I'll dig out some photos, get a glass of wine and a scanner, and see how it goes

+3 for the story please.
As for the Nimrod and EMKA words cannot convey how jealous I am! ;)

Cheers
Lee

[quote="conrod"]Jeez I'll say! There were some really bad examples of driving in that video, I would not want to be sharing the same track as those guys. It is really hard to race against people like this, they are not taking racing lines on many corners, so it makes it very hard to predict where they are going to go next, and passing can become rather hazardous :) [/quote]

Jeez there was I thinking Historic racing was a no contact sport. I think I even saw some "brake testing" going on.

John, I'm with Shane, I'd love to hear that story.

Do the Shepherd brothers still race? I remember watching them run that green Cobra against a couple of notchback GTOs and another Cobra in a real slug-fest at this meeting back in the '90s. I assume this is the same Bill Shepherd who sells Mustangs in Surrey?

Popcorn's hot, beer is cool - tell the story, please.

From memory, the first year the group C cars were at the meeting, was 2001 and again from memory, I think my excursion there in the EMKA was 2002. I drove with Andy Shepherd, who's a great peddler and mostly races Cobras with his brother Bill Shepherd. Most of my photos from then are not digital so I should get round to scanning them sometime, but here's a couple more from various meetings in the late 90s and early 2000s. The EMKA won the Autosport trophy at Le Mans in 1985 and the Nimrod (god, I loved driving that car) was 5th in the WSC in 1984.[attachment=1]Aston Martin EMKA at Donington in 2002.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]Nimrod garage brands 1998.jpg[/attachment]

If anyone is interested in how the Group C revival movement got started in the UK, I'll happily sometime tell the tale...it was hilarious at the time.

Wow, John, what an experience that must have been! What year was the first Silverstone Classic?

I was fortunate enough to drive in the Group C races at the first two Silverstone Classic meetings. Firstly in the Aston Martin Nimrod that ran at Le Mans and in the WSC championship in 1984, and then in the ex Steve O'Rourke/Tiff Needell EMKA Aston of 1985. I still owned the Nimrod when I emigrated to NZ almost ten years ago, and would have brought the car with me, but was discouraged from doing so by someone I spoke to here at MNZ who thought it would be a 'waste of time'. Enough said about that, but I haven't stopped regretting selling it as a result. The attached photo is me being given a Group C driving lesson by Ray Mallock in my Nimrod, while I chase him through the 'bomb hole' at Snetterton some years ago. in the EMKA[attachment=0]Nimrod leading Emka Snetterton 2002.jpg[/attachment]

Both of these C1 cars were and are uncompetitive agianst the 956s/962s/XJRs and other later Group C cars. They also struggled against the more nimble (and invariably brilliant) C2 cars (particularly the Spice C2s). But what a thrill to drive and the rolling start in the middle of a field of of these endurance racers is something you never forget.

[quote="Steve Holmes"]Just in that new pit grandstand its pretty empty, the stands elsewhere looked to be packed.[/quote]

I beg to disagree Steve as only that stand behind the Veskanda seems to have anything like a crowd in it. Even taking into account some of these are probably from Friday the stands seem very sparsely populated. Given the size of the fields and it's reputation I would have thought the crowds would have been much larger.

Still all the better if you are actually attending less 'idiots' to block the view in the paddocks :D

Cheers
Lee

[video=youtube;0yzX3NS9GEE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yzX3NS9GEE&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;0ZZ0zhRJ5oU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZZ0zhRJ5oU[/video]

[video=youtube;mLQVr13N1Uo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLQVr13N1Uo[/video]

[video=youtube;7DvADsZVguY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DvADsZVguY[/video]

[video=youtube;xnyoTPKCWac]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnyoTPKCWac[/video]

Some other 'onboards' from the Silverstone Classic

[video=youtube;sAgTuWkwu0A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAgTuWkwu0A[/video]

Interesting to see the Australian Veskanda driven by Paul Stubber in the Group C field.

[attachment=0]1194888.jpg[/attachment]

Just in that new pit grandstand its pretty empty, the stands elsewhere looked to be packed.

Do love those Abarths!
The M3 bit is pretty damned good, but notice how empty the stands are!

Jeez I'll say! There were some really bad examples of driving in that video, I would not want to be sharing the same track as those guys. It is really hard to race against people like this, they are not taking racing lines on many corners, so it makes it very hard to predict where they are going to go next, and passing can become rather hazardous :)

The M3 video is excellent.

I have no issue with driving them hard but the passing left a bit to be desired.....for this class of cars.