Biting February winds, occasional agricultural odours and lots of old racing cars; it can only be Race Retro – the annual historic motorsport show at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. Now a firm fixture on the enthusiast’s calendar, Race Retro presents commercial opportunities for businesses from every facet of the sport and equal opportunities for punters to lighten their wallets.
Visitors were warmly greeted on arrival by the presence of an ex-James Hunt McLaren M23 in the foyer. Straight ahead into Hall 2 and the McLaren theme continued with glorious examples of the team’s finest racers. These fabulous cars stole the show and attracted huge attention over the weekend. An earlier M23 from 1974 brought back vivid memories of the extravagantly sideburned Emerson Fittipaldi’s F1 title with the marque while Mark Donohue’s 1972 Indy 500 winning M16B was a reminder of the days when McLaren was a welcome presence at the Brickyard.
M8D Can Am car looked lightly patinated in its traditional papaya hue and still imbued with jaw-dropping presence 44 years after its transatlantic title glory. Rounding out this whistle-stop tour of (some of…) McLaren’s great moments was a 1996 F1 GTR. Finished in evocative Gulf livery, the GTR was the absolute benchmark during the GT1 glory days of 1995 and 1996. Today its compact dimensions and modest proportions belie its phenomenal potential and appear self-effacing compared to its successors. It remains the last GT car to take overall victory at Le Mans – as significant achievement as any from McLaren.
While these titans of the sport added glamour to the event, the rest of the show provided significant interest. Many of major race and tour organisers were in attendance with the Vintage Sports Car Club’s star attraction, ERA R5B, drawing in a constant stream of visitors. Known as Remus, R5B was one of Prince Bira’s famous racers, run by the family White Mouse Garage. It enjoyed success in contemporary voiturette racing before launching a second career in vintage and historic racing. It is now believed to be the most raced car in motorsporting history. Exhibits do not come with better provenance than that.
Elsewhere every corner of the sport was explored. Vintage trials, tours, circuit racing, classic stock cars, motorcycles, drag racing, rallying, computer games depicting 1960s F1…you name it – all tastes and whims catered for. The interview stage hosted by TV presenter Gemma Scott reflected this diversity. A standing ovation greeted Sir Stirling Moss whose recall, well into his ninth decade, is remarkable. He was joined by design great Tony Southgate, hot rod legend Barry Lee, saloon and sports car legend Win Percy and former Top Gear star Quentin Wilson, among a host of famous names who entertained the crowds over the weekend.
Exhibitors ranged from the ‘rusty parts’ autojumble in the cattle sheds to Crossthwaite & Gardiner’s exquisite engineering work. Merchandise stands were bulging with automobilia from patches to 1:8th scale models. For those with a weakness for books it was a bank balance-troubling day out. The newly-revived Lister concern used the show as an opportunity to reveal its continuation model of the famous ‘Knobbly’. Pleasingly the firm had also laid on a Scalextric track, populated entirely by Listers, of course, to attract younger visitors.
As always, highlight of the event for many was the rally stage. Taking in a series of Stoneleigh’s concrete access roads, a huge field of rally cars took to the stage, many of them offering passenger rides for charity. The machinery was a varied as it was fascinating with the evocative endurance tests of the 1960s brought to life via Mini and Austin Healey through to more modern Subaru and Mitsubishi Evo four wheel drive weapons via Group 4 and Group B monsters.
Most exotic of all was Ferrari 308 GTB Michelotto replica. With screaming flat-plane crank V8, every turn was accompanied by a graceful exit slide from the rear. Similarly dramatic were Subaru Legacy and Metro 6R4 runs, singing engines accompanying extravagant drifting. The 6R4 celebrated its 30th birthday in some style with multiple examples static in the halls and running hard out on the stage.
In spite of the relative simplicity of the course, it was easy to observe the various cars’ dynamics. The long wheelbase Audi Quattros looked slightly ungainly with serious understeer and a reluctance to change direction in the tight 90deg bends. By comparison, the mid-engined combatants from Lancia, Ferrari and Lotus changed direction with alarming conviction, carrying enormous speed to the apex. Most savage of all was the ludicrous acceleration of the lone Lancia Delta S4. Endowed with ferocious super and turbocharged forced induction, it compressed straights, devouring them in greedy bounds. As a spectator experience, Race Retro may not be as wild a spectator experience as Portugal during the mid-1980s but it still provides a fascinating up-close view of history’s greatest rally cars being driven hard.
With spectator numbers of over 30,000 through the doors and 2015’s dates already announced, Race Retro looks set to maintain its position as a small and essential part of the British historic racing calendar. Now let’s go racing.