Silverstone 2026

The Historic Sports Car Club traditionally run two consecutive race meetings on the popular 1.64 mile Silverstone National circuit, the October meeting hosting the finals of their various championships and the place where many championships are decided. The second meeting in early November is for the Walter Hayes Trophy, an International Festival of Formula Ford Racing with supporting and invitation races. After a longer than usual season involving 14 races over seven race weekends, the final two rounds of the 2026 championship were contested on the traditional finals weekend. George Warren was in a strong position to take the title going into the final rounds in his Bianco Motorsports supported GTV with Dave Pickup and Stacey Dennis in their Giuliettas poised to take advantage of any slip up that might happen along the way. George had already secured the Turismo class title at Oulton Park whilst many of the podium places across the various classes were still to be decided over the course of the weekend.

In the Modified class, the Revs Italia supported 4C of Toby Broome was joined once again by the Maserati Gransport Trofeo of Mike Hiton, the Alfa Workshop 4C of Jack Berry and Ian Wollfenden in the Giulia Veloce. Andy Page was in the familiar 116 Giulietta, Andy Porter was enjoying a very good first season in the Fiat Coupe, and we welcomed Gareth Hayward back to the grid in the GTV.

In the Power Trophy class, championship contender Stacey Dennis was joined by Graham Seager in the Revs Italia 147 GTA, Nathan Bignell in the ex Toby Broome 147 GTA, Mark Purcell in the Talos Motorsport 155 Touring Car, Dave Messenger in the Darnells Engineering 156 GTA, Mark Skeggs in the Bianco supported GTV and Richard Ford in his 3.2 GT.

Joining George Warren and Dave Pickup in the Turismo class were James Powell in the 147, Steve Godfrey in the 156, Antony Britton in his Mito, Sam Kay in his 33 and we welcomed Ben Sharpe in his Giulietta.

Twin Spark class leader Paul Plant in the Bianco 156 was joined by Ian Fenwick in his 147, Marcus Robinson in his 156, Richard Wadlow-Smith in his 146, Edward Robinson in his Revs Italia 156 and we welcomed Giles Avery in his Bianco Motorsports 156.

QUALIFYING

The qualifying session on the Saturday lunchtime  got under way in dry conditions with Toby Broome setting the early pace in the 4C with a 1:03.779 on lap 2. In the Power Trophy class, Mark Purcell’s time of 1:11.320 on lap 2 was eclipsed by Nathan Bignell and then Graham Seager on lap 3 with a 1:09.397. In Turismo, Dave Pickup’s time of 1:12.207 on lap 2 was beaten by George Warren on the next lap with a

1:10.846 and Ian Fenwick headed the Twin Spark class with a 1:15.423. Most drivers were just getting into their stride when a coming together involving the 4C of Jack Berry and the GT of Richard Ford after Jack had missed a gear going around Copse brought out the yellow flags as the cars recovered and limped round the circuit to retire from the session. No sooner had the circuit been cleared the yellow flags came out again as Gareth Hayward stopped in his GTV on the exit to Copse with what turned out to be battery problems. This led to a lengthy safety car session resulting in the opportunity for just one more flying lap before the chequered flag. With the exception of Graham’s Power Trophy time set on lap 3, the other class poles were all set on the last flying lap, with Toby Broome securing the Modified pole with a 1:02.552, George Warren the Turismo pole with a a 1:10.211 and Ian Fenwick taking the Twin Spark pole with a 1:13.208.

An unusual looking grid was declared with the first lap times of the retired cars deemed to count to qualify for a grid position in view of the lack of flying laps available. Jack’s 4C had suffered suspension and bodywork damage and was classified fourth behind Graham Seager’s Power Trophy 147 and ahead of the Turismo car of George Warren and the Power Trophy car of Nathan Bignell.  Richard’s GT had damage to both front wings and the power steering and was classified 18^th. Gareth Hayward’s GTV was classified 19^th. Stacey Dennis  pulled off after three laps in the Giulietta with an oil leak and Paul Plant’s Twin Spark also withdrew from the session after three laps with ignition switch issues.

The top ten on the grid were rounded off with Mark Purcell in seventh in his PT 155 ahead of Dave Messenger’s PT 156, James Powell’s Turismo class 147 and the Modified class Giulia of Ian Woolfenden in tenth.

All 27 cars would be ready to take to the grid for race 1 the following lunchtime, a great credit to all those involved in preparing and maintaining these cars.

RACE 1

Toby Broome took full advantage of his pole position at the rolling start to lead the pack into Copse for the first time. Jack Berry had also made a good start in his 4C to get ahead of Mike Hilton’s Maserati whilst the rest of the field all successfully negotiated Copse heading down to Becketts for the first time. Nathan Bignell moved ahead of George Warren and Dave Messenger was ahead of Mark Purcell but Mark Skeggs had an excellent first lap finding his GTV had made ground from eleventh to eighth as he exited Woodcote for the first time. Toby Broome had a two and a half second lead from Jack Berry at the end of lap one with Mike Hilton’s Maserati close behind in third. Graham Seager crossed the line in fourth with Nathan Bignell in close attendance and challenging Graham for the fourth spot. George Warren was sixth and leading Turismo class car with Dave Messenger seventh and Mark Skeggs in eighth. Mark Purcell had dropped a couple of places on the first lap to cross the line in ninth and Andy Page’s Modified class 116 Giulietta rounded off the top ten. Ian Woolfenden’s Giulia was next ahead of James Powell’s 147 and Dave Pickup’s Giulietta. Gareth Hayward’s GTV had made up five places on the first lap, ahead of Ian Fenwick in  the leading Twin Spark car in fifteenth. Richard Ford’s patched up Power Trophy GT was next ahead of Marcus Robinson’s 156 Twin Spark, Andy Porter’s Fiat Coupe and Steve Godfrey’s 156. Stacey Dennis had made up seven places from starting at the back of the grid and started lap 2 in twentieth postion ahead of the Turismo class cars of Antony Britton in the Mito and newcomer Ben Sharpe in the Giulietta. Paul Plant was third placed Twin Spark ahead of Edward Robinson in his 156TS, Richard Wadlow-Smith’s 146TS and Sam Kay’s Turismo class Alfa 33.

The Maserati of Mike Hilton had passed Jack’s 4C on lap two and was now over five seconds behind the leader. Nathan’s 147 had successfully passed Graham’s similar car whilst Andy Page’s 116 Giulietta had moved up to ninth followed closely by Gareth’s GTV. The lead at the front had extended to seven seconds after three laps but a slow lap by Toby’s leading 4C saw Mike Hilton’s Maserati cross the line almost four seconds clear at the end of lap four. However, the Revs Italia 4C was back on song and retook the lead on lap seven as they encountered the first group of back markers. Toby continued to put in a succession of quick laps to gradually consolidate his first place and took the chequered flag by almost ten seconds from Mike’s Maserati in second. Third place in the Modified class and sixth overall was Andy Page after another solid drive. Ian Woolfenden’s Giulia was fourth in class and eleventh overall with Andy Porter fifth and fourteenth overall in the Fiat Coupe. Gareth Hayward had taken the GTV up to seventh by the start of lap 5 but unfortunately had to retire the car with turbo problems. Jack Berry’s 4C had been running in third spot with an increasing gap to the leaders but he also had to retire the 4C on lap ten with gearbox issues.

In the Power Trophy, Mark Skeggs continued to make good progress and was up to third in class and sixth overall on lap three. Although Nathan had taken the class lead early in the race, Graham was still within a second and Mark just over a second behind as they completed lap six. Mark managed to put his GTV between the two 147s on the next lap and took the lead of the class on lap eight. From that point, he put in a series of fastest laps to ease away from the 147s and take the class win from Nathan in second and Graham in third. Dave Messenger had lost a place to Mark on lap 3 but held on to finish fourth in class. Stacey’s Giulietta had made its way into the top ten ahead of Mark Purcell’s 155, Richard Ford’s GT and the Turismo car of Dave Pickup on lap five but her lap times slowed after half distance allowing Richard to move back into fifth spot on lap 14. The positions stayed the same until the last lap when Richard’s car slowed on the Wellington straight and he had to pull off the circuit with engine temperature problems. Stacey brought the Giulietta to the flag in fifth and Mark Purcell’s 155 finished sixth.

In the Turismo class, George Warren took the class win and eighth overall establishing a new lap record in the process. Dave Pickup had moved ahead of James Powell on lap 2 and although they ran close for the first half of the race, Dave managed to increase the gap and took second in class with James in third spot. Antony Britton had a fine drive in his Mito to take fourth, Steve Godfrey was fifth, with Sam Kay’s 33 in sixth and newcomer Ben Sharpe seventh.

George’s class win ensured that he would take the championship overall.

In the Twin Spark class, Marcus Robinson had passed Ian on lap 2 to take the class lead, although Ian and Paul were never far away throughout the race. On the final lap, Ian challenged for the lead through Brooklands and Luffield, emerging from Woodcote ahead to take the chequered flag by 0.2 of a second with Paul in third place a further 1.6 seconds adrift. Edward Robinson occasionally matched the lap times of the leading trio and was only a few seconds adrift as he crossed the line in fourth. Richard Wadlow-Smith was fifth and newcomer Giles Avery had a good run to finish sixth and 22^nd overall.

Race 1 Results

RACE 2

With the retirees from the first race unable to continue it left 24 cars to form up behind the pace car to take the rolling start for the second race later in the afternoon. All cars cleanly made the start and it was the 4C of Toby Broome that led around the first lap with the Maserati Gransport Trofeo of Mike Hilton in second as they completed lap one. The leading three Power Trophy cars of Mark Skeggs, Nathan Bignell and Graham Seager followed a few seconds behind with the 116 Giulietta of Andy Page in sixth. The fourth and fifth Power Trophy cars of Dave Mesenger and Stacey Dennis were seventh and eighth with the Turismo class cars of George Warren and Dave Pickup rounding off the first ten. James Powell was eleventh ahead of Ian Woolfenden’s Giulia, Mark Purcell’s 155, Andy Porter’s Fiat Coupe and Antony Britton’s Mito. The leading Twin Spark car was the 147 of Ian Fenwick just ahead of Marcus Robinson and Paul Plant who crossed the line together separated by just  2 milliseconds. Steve Godfrey’s Turismo class 156 was next, Richard Wadlow-Smith’s 146 was a couple of tenths clear of Edward Robinson’s 156, next came Ben Sharpe’s Giulietta ahead of Sam Kay’s 33 and Giles Avery’s 156.

The 4C of Toby Broome continued to lead the Maserati of Mike Hilton as the race progressed and, although Mike was always close enough to take advantage of any slip, Toby took the chequered flag by a comfortable margin. Andy Page spent his race amongst the battling Power Trophy cars but went on to take a fifth place and third in class to take the Modified class title. Andy Porter finished twelfth overall and fourth in class in his Fiat Coupe but Ian Woolfenden had to retire his Giulia from eleventh position with gearbox issues.

In the Power Trophy class, Mark Skeggs and Nathan Bignell had a race long battle a second or two apart, finishing just 1.5 seconds apart in third and fourth overall. Graham Seager’s GTA had dropped away from the pace of the leading pair and was passed by class champion Stacey Dennis’s Giulietta on lap 3, who also passed Dave Messenger’s 156 GTA to move into third in class on lap 4. Stacey held this position to take the third podium spot ahead of Graham Seager who managed to take fourth in class from Dave Messenger of the final lap, with Mark Purcell finishing sixth in the 155.

In the Turismo class, George Warren went on to take the class win and ninth overall with Dave Pickup and James Powell taking the second and third podium spots. Antony Britton had another solid race to take fourth with Steve Godfrey fifth and Ben Sharpe sixth.

In the Twin Spark Cup class, Ian Fenwick’s 147 led for the first four laps whilst Marcus Robinson’s 156 had passed class champion Paul Plant’s similar car on lap 2 then took the lead from Ian on lap 5, holding his position a few seconds clear of the chasing cars to take an excelllent and well deserved first victory. A race long battle had unfolded a few seconds behind Marcus with Paul taking the opportunity to move ahead of Ian on lap 12 and then having to use all his experience to defend his position through to the chequered flag to take second in class by just under 0.2 of a second. Edward Robinson brought his 156 home in fourth with Richard Wadlow-Smith in fifth and Giles Avery sixth.

Race 2 Results

The Driver of the Day award was presented to Antony Britton. Congratulations to the 2026 champion George Warren, to the other class champions Andy Page, Stacey Dennis, and Paul Plant and to all the recipients of championship awards. A reminder that the awards dinner is at Rushton Hall on the 28 November, details on the website.