Silverstone Festival; 22nd – 24th August 2025
Howden Ganley Celebration Trophy Races
The Historic Formula Juniors placed themselves in pole position to start the last of the Silverstone Festivals in its current format. To celebrate the occasion, Formula Junior Patron Howden Ganley had donated a very special trophy to be presented to the aggregate winner from the combined finishing times of the two races.
Next year the August Bank Holiday slot at Silverstone has been announced as going to the Chris Evans Car Fest, and we wait for more details of a revised historic racing event which will revert to the traditional end of July date.
Some competitors were so eager to start the 2025 event, there were reports of some cars being in the assembly area before 6am on Friday for the 9am start!! With a full entry it is easy to understand why the faster drivers wanted to get some clear track before things got busy. The one advantage with the Silverstone GP circuit is that the width of the track combined with a dry circuit can provide a variety of lines that can be taken through the corners without compromising the overall lap times.
Turning to the entry, Sam Wilson was giving his Cooper T59 a welcome run, and Chris Goodwin was having a weekend off from his professional commitments to enjoy racing himself, with his Lotus 22, FJHRA President Tony Goodwin being present to watch his son race on the Sunday. Philipp Buhofer was a late withdrawal, however he too was represented by his son, with Lukas running in his Brabham BT6. Stuart Monument was delighted to be back out, having agreed ownership of the recently restored Denty 22, to make his Class E1 debut. A car returning to the circuit was the Gold liveried Lotus 20/22 formerly owned by Simon Diffey. Oscar Trepess, being the driver invited by the car’s new owner Jon Titmuss, to give it a shakedown at the Festival. Spencer Shinner was having a second run out this season in the Speedsport Lotus 22, but Formula Ford commitments at Donington Park meant that he would miss the Saturday race.
Qualifying
Horatio Fitz-Simon in the distinctive Yellow Brabham now prepared by Pearson Engineering, was quick to set a time of 2.19.666 that put him into a class of his own. Alex Ames was the closest to Horatio with 2.20.548. The following pack were into the 2.22.00s.
Nic Carlton-Smith had stiffer opposition in class D2 with Nathan Metcalfe being less than 3 tenths behind. The battle for class honours would be between those two.
A similar time difference split the C2 class leader Chris Porritt’s Lotus 18 and Crispian Besley ‘s Cooper T56.
Ray Mallock on home territory easily headed the front engine race from nearest rival Adrian Russell, continuing to go well in his Condor SII.
Tom De Gres in his Stanguellini in its brilliant red livery led class A, its FIAT engine note denoting its competitive aggression. Graham Barron in his Gemini Mk2, back after a bicycle accident, was the sole representative of Class B1, but for a welcome change, Richard Ferris (E2) in the Donford, was joined by Lawrence de Bruyne from Belgian, having his first FJ race abroad in the smart ex-Malcolm Wishart Cooper -BMC T65.
The most entertaining driver proved to be Niall McFadden in his Elva 100 who experimented with all the lines available through the bends as he tried to establish which would work best.
At the end of qualifying the top 10 were Horatio Fitz-Simon (Brabham BT6), Alex Ames (Brabham BT6), Sam Wilson (Cooper T59), Chris Goodwin (Lotus 22), Spencer Shinner (Lotus 22), Richard Wilson (Lotus 27), Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk4), and very welcome returnee Jon Milicevic (Brabham BT6), with an engine his son had built. Geoff Underwood followed in his Brabham BT2, with Mark Shaw (Brabham BT6) completing the top ten. Over 6 seconds was the gap from Horatio to Mark but contained within that order were some very close groups. All looked set for another gripping Formula Junior race to start the Festival weekend.
Race 1
Mark Shaw was a late withdrawal deciding it was no fun with a temperamental engine, and a new grid was issued. The first race did not however start well.
The drivers were told by the marshals that they were going to head onto track a few minutes early, meanwhile the call was given late to the Safety car waiting at the International pits to come round to pick them up. The drivers were waved out of the National paddock assembly area on to track, however with the safety car having just arrived, following them, rather than leading them. Credit to Horatio for setting the pack in perfect formation without the safety car. So then as told in both the briefing, the final instructions, and indeed announced by Ed Foster on the live stream, the cars came round after their planned half a green flag lap to take the rolling start, only for them to be confronted by no lights on the gantry, but instead the marshal up there indicating to them to go around again, and a waved green flag. What no-one had told the organisers, the drivers, or the tv and commentary team, was that the officials had decided after the briefing had taken place, to increase it from a half, to a one and a half green flag lap. In the confusion of the misplaced safety car, this added yet more chaos, as the full 52 car pack came round unsighted onto the startline. Earlier cars thought there was lights failure, later ones that the lights had already gone out, and proceeded to race. Race control took the decision that the safest course of action was to take that as the race start, and desperately tried to contact the safety car, which had then waited at Maggotts for what he thought was a chance to pick them up on their second time round on a one and a half green flag lap, to get itself to the nearest track exit ASAP before the pack came round. Many drivers, with decades of experience, described it as the scariest race start situation they had ever encountered.
A huge credit to the drivers who handled the opening laps with care and the race thankfully got underway without damage or injury, although Lawrence de Bruyne suffered a lurid spin under braking ahead, on the national pit straight. Only one was absent, as Jon Milicevic did not make the start when a rear drive shaft coupling started to break up and he pulled to the side of the circuit.
The driver with the most positive reaction to the situation was Ray Mallock who led the field at the end of lap 1 from his starting position of 17th on the amended grid. Alex Ames and Horatio Fitz-Simon followed with Richard Wilson 4th, Chris Goodwin 5th and Sam Wilson 6th having taken a more precautionary start. Mark Woodhouse from 16th was 8th Paul Thomas from 15th 9th with Stuart Roach dropping back more cautiously to complete the top ten.
The order began to be restored on lap 2, with the lead group having formed back into grid order; Horatio leading from Alex Ames, Sam Wilson and Chris Goodwin.
After his lap in the lead, Ray Mallock slipped back through the order to be down in 10th by lap 4. Horatio had built up quite a lead to just over 1.6 seconds; behind him Sam Wilson was now lapping a second a lap quicker and he had passed Alex Ames to take 2nd place.
The top three had stretched out an advantage of almost 8 seconds to Chris Goodwin, who, having been out of the Lotus cockpit for some time, was very happy with his performance. As he explained post-race, the leaders had the advantage of being able to slide the cars with confidence through the bends. He admitted it was great to watch and was confident that with each session he was learning and anticipated being much closer to learn more from them in the second race.
Throughout the field there were little battles taking place, such as Mark Woodhouse and Lukas Buhofer who were contesting 8th place. Paul Thomas and George Diffey for 11th place, with Jeremy Flann holding off Chris Porritt and Keith Pickering who were contesting class C2 honours.
Nathan Metcalfe held a healthy lead over Nic Carlton- Smith his class rival and Ray Mallock continued at the head of the front engine runners.
At lap 5 the front runners had started to pass the slower cars and Sam Wilson continued to close in on Horatio to within 4 tenths of a second. Passing and placing slower cars between them was now the strategy for Horatio to maintain his lead. On the following lap Horatio made contact with Andrew Gemmill and went off and Sam Wilson took the lead but Sam now had Alex Ames to contend with who had been holding a waiting brief to see what happened ahead. Alex got to within a tenth of Sam on lap 8 but that was his best chance, finishing .895 of a second behind at the flag.
Chris Goodwin completed the podium positions with Horatio recovering in 4th place. Down the order Nic Carlton-Smith had been closing in on Nathan Metcalfe to claim 12th place and the class win from Nathan by .385 of a second.
Lappery sadly saw the demise of Ray Mallock from his class winning position following a brush with George Christodoulou’s BMC Mk 2. Both drivers retired, George unfortunately with chassis damage that would put him out for the rest of the weekend. Adrian Russell, again, claiming the prize and hoping for a reprise race against Ray on the Sunday as he would be switching back to his older used tyres which he believed would be quick than his newer race tyres: he felt they were creating an imbalance in the handling.
Behind Adrian, a very close battle between the two Elva 100’s of Nick Taylor and Chalie Besley had raged for second place in the class which went in the favour of Charlie on the last lap. Charlie’s father Crispian retired on lap 6 with an engine down on power. Other retirements were George Diffey on lap 7, thinking a flag he saw was the chequered flag, Lawrence De Bruyne on lap 6 with mystery electrical problems, Andrew Gemmill on lap 5 as a result of the contact with Horatio Fitz-Simon, and Chris Wilks with a broken suspension rose joint.
Race 2
It was still a very strong grid of 49 cars which assembled for the second of the Formula Junior races on Sunday Morning, this time, fully briefed by a now informed Sarah, on a confirmed 1.5 green flag laps. Mark Shaw remained out, also absent were George Christodoulou after his brush with Ray Mallock, Cliff Gray returning to visit his unwell mechanic, and Jeremy Deeley unable to make a previous commitment sufficiently flexible to stay. Jon Milicevic had been home to his garage, ruffled through the inherited spares box and found the driveshaft et al he needed to repair his Brabham. Andrew Gemmill had a new wheel on his car to replace the one cracked in the previous day’s contact, whilst at the front of the grid Spencer Shinner was able to take his 5th place position.
With the safety car this time leading out, and the drivers clear on the start procedure, it was a clean start by all. Horatio took the lead whilst Chris Goodwin briefly held second place with Sam Wilson taking a more cautious approach, briefly dropped back to 5th place.
At the end of lap one the order at the front had Horatio leading from Alex Ames, Sam Wilson with Chris Goodwin now settled back into 4th place, Stuart Roach had a really good first lap in the Alexis to promote himself to 5th place from 8th on the grid, 6th was Spencer Shinner, 7th was Jon Milicevic with Richard Wilson 8th, Geoff Underwood 9th and Michael Hibberd completing the top 10.
Ray Mallock held a slender lead with the U2 in the front engine classes but Adrian Russell in the Condor was shadowing closely to take the position the following lap. It looked like the change of tyres was working in Adrian’s favour. Jeremy Flann in his Ian Walker Racing Lotus 22 had joined the tussle and was now splitting the front engine battle.
Horatio at the head of the field had one target; to break the tow and get as far ahead as he could. Following on from his 4th place in Race One, if he wanted to win the Howden Ganley Celebration Trophy for the combined aggregate result, then he needed to be over 11 seconds ahead at the Chequered flag.
Sam Wilson and Alex Ames had other ideas with Sam unchallenged moving into second place with a plan to tow the pair of them close to Horatio and perhaps even look to take the lead.
On lap 2 Nathan Metcalfe in the Lotus 20 and Paul Thomas Brabham BT6 had a touch at Luffield. Paul on the grass on the inside and Nathan on the outside. Both cars continued, restarting in 35th and 36th place respectively.
The top four positions had stabilized with Sam Wilson and Horatio Fitz-Simon trading fastest laps, ensuring that the lead gap never got to more than 3 seconds.
Spencer Shinner who was readjusting to his FJ drive after the previous days different outing, was trying to close down the advantage that Stuart Roach had in 5th place whilst defending from Jon Milicevic and Richard Wilson who were both in his wheel tracks.
When the opportunity came it was Jon Milicevic who took 5th place on lap 5 with Spencer Shinner 6th Stuart 7th and Richard Wilson close on his heels. On the following lap Spencer made a brief mistake dropping him back to 8th place. Spencer saying ‘his feet were too big’ and he did not brake as intended. Stuart was finding he was experiencing handling problems with his Alexis from lap 4. Post race he found the issue he had driven through was a cracked chassis.
Ray Mallock and Adrian Russell were in control of the front engine race. Adrian’s drifting style being caught on the live stream feed. Hopefully this will be repeated for the terrestial television broadcast highlights of the event later in the month. Adrian and Niall McFadden both demonstrating what fun these cars are.
Further down the order was Charlie Besley in his Elva 100 lying third in the front engine race. Following Charlie was his dad Crispian Besley in the Cooper T56 who was second in class C2 following the retirement with clutch problems of Keith Pickering on lap 6. Chris Porritt was leading the class in his Lotus 18, one handed on the steering wheel, entering Brooklands balancing the car the entire time on the throttle.
A brief period of yellow flag on the Wellington straight was the only showing, when Oscar Trespass retired the ex-Simon Diffey Lotus 20/22 with suspected overheating.
As the race drew to its close, Sam Wilson narrowed the gap to Horatio down to just over a second to ensure Sam and the Cooper would claim the Howden Ganley Celebration Trophy. Alex could not keep up the pace of the two front runners and finished a comfortable third. Chris Goodwin came in fourth; however Jon Milicevic had a fight on his hand as the clock ticked down with both Richard Wilson and Stuart Roach latching on to his tail. John claiming 5th place by just .257 second on the line.
Nic Carlton-Smith had an untroubled drive to finish 12th and the winner of Class D2, Nathan Metcalfe after his spin recovered to 22nd place to take second in class, his Lotus however sounding decidedly flat, Nathan saying that the engine was now due a refresh and a winter rebuild. John Timoney in the Ausper took 3rd position in the class.
Richard Ferris in the Donford had a great dice with Paul Clark in the Lotus 20/22 on his way to his class win, Graham Barron in the Gemini Mk2 in 30th place was the winner of Class B1.
Chris Wilks following his retirement in Race 1 was third in class C2 with the Deep Sanderson FJ.
A feature of the early part of the race was Duncan Rabagliati in his Alexis dicing with the two Class A cars of Daniele Salodini and Peter Fenichel. Duncan dropping back on the last lap with a suspected electrical trouble which was later found to be a detached plug lead. Daniele in the Taraschi narrowly fended off Peter Fenichel in the Stanguellini for second place in the class, Tom De Gres in the glorious sounding Stanguellini being the class winner.
Next stop for the Formula Junior Championship will be the Autumn Classic at Castle Combe in September.
Photo credit: Motorsport Classics Media
