2025 Silverstone Festival report
Doing the double
Author
- Mattijs Diepraam
Date
- August 26, 2025
Related articles
- Silverstone - All that in one single event, 2013 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
- Silverstone - The many and the famous, 2017 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
- Silverstone - Sticking with tradition, 2018 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
- Silverstone - Sportsmanship in the rain, 2019 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
- Silverstone - Thrills down to the line, 2022 Silverstone Classic report, by Mattijs Diepraam
- Silverstone - New name, same old format for success, 2023 Silverstone Festival report, by Mattijs Diepraam
- Silverstone - Race of the season, 2024 Silverstone Festival report, by Mattijs Diepraam
Who?David Hart What?Ferrari 250 GT SWB Where?Silverstone When?2025 Silverstone Festival (August 22, 2025) |
 |
Why?
The usual suspects in historic Formula 1 were shocked to see a surprise winner at the Silverstone Festival, as Tom Bradshaw won both races on his debut after having been handed a golden opportunity by veteran Masters Racing Legends competitor Steve Hartley. Four-time champion Hartley, who won his last title in the McLaren in 2022, has been less fortunate with the MP4/1 of late and admitted to having felt lost in terms of setup over the last few meetings – and so he asked Bradshaw for a second opinion. The Bolton driver currently leads the British Porsche Sprint Challenge and is a former multiple Masters Sports Car Legends race winner in the Chevron B19 he built with his father, so he seemed like the perfect judge of the McLaren and its merits.
In fact, he first drove the McLaren to a convincing pole position on Friday before going on to dominate the first race from the front. On Sunday's partially reversed grid, Bradshaw stormed from seventh place on the grid to take the lead halfway through the race. His most remarkable achievement was undoubtedly the lap in which he managed to pass three rivals in short order. In his wake, Stuart Hall took second on Saturday after passing Matt Wrigley's Tyrrell 011 at Village in his March 821. Wrigley tried everything after that, but couldn't find a way past. The next day, the reigning champion once again gave it his all, again finishing third, this time behind title rival Mike Cantillon's Williams FW07C, but on this occasion he started further back on the reverse grid and managed to outsmart Sam Hancock in the Fittipaldi F8.
Sam Hancock took over the Nine-W-run Fittipaldi F8 that Dan Eagling raced to a shock debut victory at Paul Ricard earlier this year. (photo 8W)
Apart from both Masters Racing Legends races, the event's massive crowd was looking forward to a repeat of the epic 2024 duel between Olivier Hart and Julian Thomas in the International Trophy for GTs up to 1966. This time, their Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupés faced fierce opposition from the TVR Griffiths of John Davison and John Spiers/Nigel Greensall. For a long time, it was two against two, with Davison bravely taking the lead and managing to keep the Daytona Cobras behind for a long time. Soon enough, though, Thomas and Hart resumed their duel at the front of the field. Unfortunately, that would not last until the end of the race, as a costly pitlane error sent Hart directly into the path of a Corvette that had also come in for its mandatory stop. The damage to the Cobra Daytona was considerable, but Hart was able to continue. However, the inevitable penalty for an unsafe release sealed his fate. A late safety car subsequently allowed Hart to close up to Thomas and Davison, but that was as far as it went. Behind the Dutchman, Giles Dawson produced his usual giant-killing heroics, eventually even managing to beat the Spiers/Greensall TVR in his little Elan.
A similar mano-a-mano was in store for the closing Masters Sports Car Legends race, as Hart Jr once again took on Alex Brundle as he did in 2024. On this occasion, their Lola T70 Mk3Bs were joined by a third T70, driven by the extremely capable duo of Chris Ward and Jan Magnussen, but that wasn't all: in qualifying, it soon emerged that the Lolas would have much to fear from Christian Pittard and Darren Burke's Chevron B26. In the first part of the race, owner Pittard managed to stay close to the Lolas, after which Burke – who had set a fabulous pole time – set off in pursuit. Lapping two to three seconds faster than Brundle in the lead, Burke seemed to set to come out on top, but then the Chevron's engine started to falter and Burke decided to cut his losses – better to finish second with a relatively undamaged engine than go for gold and end up with a smoking wreck. By then, Hart was already out of the picture – in pursuit of Brundle, he had hit a backmarker, resulting in damage that would prove to be terminal for both.
Dutchmen David Hart and Wim Kuijl battled hard in the opening stages of the Historic Touring Car Challenge, but it would end in tears at Copse. (photo 8W)
The Hart family also had a tough time in the Motor Racing Legends Historic Touring Car Challenge, although their eventual second place – again behind Julian Thomas – might not suggest that. Nevertheless, a win was on the cards for the Harts' BMW 3.0 CSL, since from pole position David Hart was battling for first place with the other prominent Dutch driver in the race – Wim Kuijl in the fastest Ford Capri RS3100 on the grid. However, an overconfident overtaking attempt by Kuijl at Copse resulted in a flat tyre for the Capri and an off-track excursion for Hart Sr, allowing Thomas' Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth to snatch the lead and the subsequent win.
In the Transatlantic Touring Car Trophy for touring cars up to 1966 – the other touring car race on the programme – victory for three-time Masters Pre-66 Touring Car champion Sam Tordoff seemed a foregone conclusion. He had swapped his invincible Ford Falcon for a regular Mustang but still managed to stick it on pole. However, due to his status as a pro driver, the former BTCC race winner had to serve a 20-second time penalty at the pitstops. Especially the Robert Ross/Matt Johnson pairing took full advantage of this, as Ross stubbornly stayed on Tordoff's tail in the early stages, after which Johnson was able to finish the job. Due to his time penalty, Tordoff had dropped down to fifth, but with the help of a late safety car period he was able to return to Johnson's tail. The latter remained unflustered, though – no matter what Tordoff tried, Johnson refused to give up. In their wake, reigning BTCC champion Jake Hill cunningly guided Colin Sowter's Mustang to third by beating two rivals in one go on the final lap.
The Historic Touring Car Challenge was an undoubted highlight of sound and colour on Sunday morning. (photo 8W)
Unfortunately, only 12 cars showed up in the Group C race organized by Masters, and after various problems in qualifying, only eight appeared at the start. Dutchman Allard Kalff showed his fighting spirit at the start by boldly taking the lead from the Lancia LC2 raced by Spanish GT driver Andy Soucek. However, the Spaniard remained in his wake and was able to regain the lead when owner Michiel Campagne took over the wheel of the Spice SE92C. Third place went to Frenchman Xavier Micheron in the newly restored Nissan R90CP.
In the pre-66 Grand Prix races, the battle was on between the Cooper-Climax T53s of Will Nuthall and Rüdi Friedrichs. The German pulled out all the stops and initially even led the first race, but in the end he proved no match for Nuthall. In third, Tom Waterfield contributed to two identical podiums completely monopolized by T53 drivers. Among the front-engined cars, Miles Griffiths' Scarab was undoubtedly the quickest but also the most fragile, as Griffiths failed to finish twice. As a result, Richard Wilson (Ferrari 246 Dino) and John Spiers (Maserati 250F) battled it out for class victory, the Ferrari winning twice.
Tom Waterfield was able to take to the podium once more after the 500cc F3 race, as his Cooper Mk9 kept ahead of Peter de la Roche's Mk9 by a whisker. Alex Wilson (Mk10) and George Shackleton (Mk11) finished ten seconds adrift.
Graham Adelman had got his hands on this ex-Marc Surer works March-BMW 782. (photo 8W)
No one was able to keep up with Michael Lyons in the Derek Bell Trophy for F5000 and F2 cars, as his F5000 Lola T400 was in a class of its own against his fastest F2 rivals, Dan Eagling in a March 742 and Alex Kapadia in a March 762. Eagling dropped out on Sunday following a red flag due to a serious incident, allowing Kapadia to finish second in the second race. The end of that contest was marred by an even more violent accident when the rear suspension of Jake Shortland's March 732 failed at Vale, hurling the Hall & Hall mechanic into a violent rollover. Shortland was visibly shaken when he got out of the car and was taken to hospital as a precaution. Fortunately, it soon transpired that he was unharmed.
In the Formula Junior races traditionally kicking off both days of competition, the crowd seemed poised to welcome another double winner, as it would not have been the first time that Horatio Fitz-Simon dominated both races in his Brabham BT6. Even though he fought back by claiming a strong victory in race 2, he still had to settle for third behind Sam Wilson's Cooper T59, Alex Ames' BT6, and Chris Goodwin's Lotus 22 on Saturday. Wilson and Ames were also on the podium on Sunday.
Doug Muirhead's Lotus 11 looked like a brilliant piece of kit. (photo 8W)
In a well-attended RAC Woodcote & Stirling Moss Trophy, Scotland's Andrew Smith drove his Cooper Monaco to victory. As the duos Spiers/Greensall (Lister Knobbly) and Wilson/Nuthall (Lotus 15) pairings failed to get anywhere near the Monaco. However, the spoils should have gone to the Lotus 15 shared by Bonamy Grimes and Johnny Mowlem, since Mowlem chased and passed Smith for the lead, only to ground to a halt five minutes before the end due to fused contacts in the distributor. In tenth overall, the Woodcote Trophy went to Gary & John Pearson in their Jaguar D-type. The brothers also seemed to have the best chances in the sparsely populated RAC Historic TT for pre-63 GTs, but their E-type lost out in the second half of the race to Michael Gans' unique 2-litre Lotus Elite. David Hart was able to make up for some of the disappointments by rising to third in the Ferrari 250 GT SWB, just two seconds away from the Pearsons. In fact, that was second place, as Gans' Elite was an invitational entry.
In the 'modern historic' races on the programme, Steve Brooks scored the double in the Masters Endurance Legends with his inimitable Peugeot 90X. The d'Ansembourg family shared the remaining podium places on Saturday, with father Christophe finishing second in the Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 and son Werner claiming third in the Pescarolo-Judd 01. The next day, the young Belgian went one better while Keith Frieser completed the Sunday podium in his Zytek 09S. In GT, the Witt Gamski/Ross Wylie Bentley Continental GT3 was unstoppable on both days, but Cor Euser made a name for himself by finishing second on Saturday in the much older Marcos Mantara LM600evo. Unfortunately, the Marcos did not make it to the finish line on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Masters GT Trophy ended in a 1-2 for Lamborghini duos Craig Wilkins/Aaron Scott and Neil Glover/Luke Reade. The Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of Grimes and Mowlem was the only one to threaten the pair of Gallardo GT3s.
Like many other GT3 cars in the GT Trophy field, Wilkins and Scott also competed in Motor Racing Legends' GT3 Legends race, but they were considerably less successful there. The top prize in the impressive field of 35 older GT3s went to Danny Winstanley in the Audi R8 LMS ultra.