Oh, how things change over time. We go back 20 years, to the Production S1 Championship (the forerunner to the recent Britcar Trophy Championship), and a three-hour race at Snetterton. Winning that day, after a canny choice of tyres, were 70-year old veteran racer Tony Skelton (he raced Bernie Ecclestone’s Connaughts in the 1950s) and somewhat younger Arthur Forster in a Mini Cooper S Works. Sharing the podium were ice cream magnate Andrew Howard, pro-driver Aaron Scott and ace engineer John Cockburn, who drove the Beechdean BMW M3 E36 to second place, while third was the popular duo of property boss Mark Smith (still racing today) and cardiologist Nigel Stephens, in a BMW M3 E30. Also in the picture is Britcar early-days stalwart John Veness, while Claire Hedley shields her eyes against the bright future that lays ahead for her.
Photos: Paul Cherry