The Motor Sport Hall of Fame display areas, introduced last year around the Live Stage in Hall 3, once again
provided a wide variety of interesting offerings. One of these celebrated 40 years of Ground Effects included
single seaters like the Lotus 79 F1, s/n 79/5, in British Racing Green with Martini livery raced by Mario
Andretti during the 1979 season, a lurid orange and white Arrows A4 F1, a Williams FW07, the model which
gave the team their first F1 win, a Ralt RT3 F3 car raced in period by Martin Brundle, and Porsche’s first true
ground effects sports racing car, the ultra successful 956 model. A real surprise was to see the long forgotten
Connew F1 car from 1972, recently restored by the original designer/builder Peter Connew and his cousin
Barry Boor, who built the original bodywork. Adjacent to this was a 1970 McLaren M14A F1 car, displayed as
a tribute to the late Dan Gurney, as he stepped in as a driver, rallying the team together after Bruce
McLaren’s tragic fatal testing accident, and this model was the last F1 car that he drove in his career.
Other display features at the show included a tribute to Dave Richards & Prodrive, with a quartet of Prodrive
managed or built cars including the BAR 006 F1, the Aston Martin Vantage GTE and the legendary blue and
yellow 777 cigarette company liveried Subaru Impreza. There was a celebration of the 30th anniversary of rally
driver Miki Biasion’s first WRC win with a quartet of rally cars used during his career, comprising of an Olio
Fiat liveried Lancia 037, a legendary Martini liveried Delta HF Integrale, plus a Ford Sapphire Cosworth and
Focus WRC. There was also a celebration of the 50th anniversary on the now legendary London – Sydney
Marathon, which included the event winning Hillman Hunter within the display. Another prominent display was
that of the Rallying with Group B organisation, who also organised the live rally stage, ranging from a sixties
Mini Cooper S, through Opel Manta 400, Ford RS200 and MG Metro 6R4 to the current Proton Iriz R5.
There were also motor sport personalities on the Motor Sport Live Stage throughout the weekend, telling
stories and answering questions, including the always entertaining Brian Redman, two times World Rally
Chapion Miki Biasion, who also drove on the special stage, two times British Rally Champion Russell
Brookes, renowned Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis OBE, designer John Barnard, and British Motor Cycle
Champion Steve Parrish to name but a few. Another feature involving attendees was the “Pride of the
Paddock” finalists display adjacent to the autojumble area, where visitors could vote for their favourite car in
the line-up, which ranged from a sixties Ford Anglia 105E racing saloon to a Ferrari 348 Challenge car, the
former actually getting the people’s choice award.
Despite temperatures bordering on freezing with the wind chill factor, the live rally stage action on a sinuous
one mile course proved extremely popular, with large crowds braving the elements and lining the barriers all
the time the track was in action. It was well worth it as there was a wide variety of machinery, both classic
and modern participating, putting on great displays of tail out tyre smoking entertainment. In all there were
some 100 cars taking part, with no less than 22 Group B examples, including an Audi Quattro Sport in the
famous yellow and white HB cigarettes livery. Possibly the most unlikely candidate for a rally car was the
Lotus Esprit, which was more rallycross then rally, maybe a slight blurring of the lines, but it sounded great,
there were a couple of other entertaining off road vehicles, notably the Range Rover Evoque LRM1! If visitors
wanted to have some action themselves then they could buy passenger rides in one of the rally cars on the
circuit, or for the faint hearted a ride or drive in a variety of classic rally cars around the grounds of Stoneleigh
Park. There was further track action in the form of classic karts, whilst for those wanting something more
serene there was the Retro Classic Tour, which left on a circa 150 mile scenic route on the Saturday morning,
returning in the afternoon. Although the show had a strong rally vein, there was plenty of variety of other
genres of classic motor sport around the four exhibition halls, together with an art and memorabilia gallery,
numerous trade stands, book and model vendors, and a covered autojumble area.
In a separate hall in the park, Silverstone Auctions ran two auctions over the weekend, one for competition
cars, which saw the 1990 BTCC winning Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 'Group A' hammered at a £182,250
selling price, and an ex-Colin McRae 1999 Ford Focus WRC Rally Car sold for £126,500. Overall this sale
had a 62% sell-through rate, with total sales of £891,945 including buyer’s premium. The second sale was for
classic cars and automobilia, which achieved a 70% sell-through figure with total sales of £2,690,029
including buyer’s premium. Highlights included a “Bullitt” film specification 1969 Dodge Charger, previously
owned by Bruce Willis and Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, which sold for £94,500, while a rare manual 1997 Aston
Martin V8 Vantage formerly owned by Sir Elton John achieved a very respectable £219,375. There were also a
pair of Rowan Atkinson owned cars in the sale, a 1994 Mercedes-Benz 500E which sold for £71,300, and a
1989 Lancia Thema 8.32 which sold for £29,813. Fast Fords seem to be popular, with a 1974 Escort Mexico
Mk I making £24,525, a RS2000 example from the same year achieved £37,125, and a 1996 Escort RS
Cosworth sold for £58,500. A 1981 Ferrari 512 BB, chassis # 36869, in bright yellow with period Koenig
modifications, made strong money for a left hand drive non standard car, selling at £213,750.
Keith Bluemel
02/2018
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