It was the final weekend of July & the scene set for a sensational Silverstone spectacle at the classic. Always a huge event in the historic motorsport calendar, but with added importance & excitement for Hi-Tech in 2019. The Silverstone Classic was to showcase the Historic Formula 2, with a record breaking field (a grid of over 50 cars) and a highly competitive one at that.

We arrived at Silverstone with Philip Walkers Ralt RT1 which we had rebuilt over the winter. It was now in a rare period livery as Kevin Cogan’s Formula Atlantic car ran in 1978 from Montreal. 

Qualifying on Friday morning turned out to be the only time during the race meeting that the F2 would see a completely dry track. With 56 cars on the circuit at one time qualifying looked like it was going to be as much down to good fortune as it was to talent. The predicted front runners all hampered by the traffic on the circuit & no one ultimately able to put in a near perfect lap.

Mid session came both Matthew Watts, Martin O’Connell & Miles were all on what appeared to be decent laps. Watts lap almost a second better than Miles, who in turn had a second over O’Connell. That was the top 3 until the last lap of Qualifying when Darwin Smith managed to pip Miles’s time to take his space on the front row & Martin Stretton put in a time good enough for 4th.

Many expected the top 5 to be this lineup, but no-one could predict the order. Watts, Smith, Griffiths, Stretton, O’Connell. What a weekend of F2 action this was going to be.

The weather on Saturday morning for race 1 was very wet. 

The lights went green & the Watts led heading in to abbey for the first time. Watts ran a little wide & lost momentum, which in turn caused Darwin Smith to do the same to avoid contact with the rear of Watt’s March. With this all happening at Abbey it allowed Miles to get a run on the outside of farm curve where they were almost 3 abreast, to pass Smith for second & give him the inside line running down to village. Under braking Miles got the move done & took the lead, meanwhile Watts headed straight on at Village in the treacherous conditions. O’Connell in the meantime had mirrored Miles’s move to take 2nd at Village.

With the extremely wet conditions the best place to be on track was out front and this allowed Miles to gap the chasing pack considerably on the first couple of laps.With Miles seemingly having the beating of O’Connell and the gap ever increasing an incident on track meant the safety car was deployed and the leading group were all bunched together again.

The safety car left the circuit with 6 minutes left on the clock leaving us a real 3 lap shootout in the continuing dicey conditions.

Miles managed to get the jump on the restart but dragging both O’Connell & D.Smith with him, pulling a gap from the rest of the field, the front 3 nose to tail.

On the penultimate lap Martin O’Connell taking the tighter line at the loop got alongside Miles for the lead but Miles managed to hold on to the lead through Aintree & on to the Wellington straight as O’Connell dropped a rear wheel on the grass.

Heading on to the last lap the traffic was becoming an issue and guessing which way to lap the slower cars proving tricky. On the run out of village up to the loop O’Connell once again got alongside the outside of Miles and got the job done taking the tighter exit line. With greater exit speed Miles turned in later to Aintree and got a run on to the Wellington to retain the lead. 

O’Connell then showed his nose coming on to the national pit straight and again down towards Copse but span on the exit of Copse leaving Miles with some breathing space to take the chequered flag.

What a Race.

Sunday morning started with very mixed weather conditions, resulting in head scratching across the paddock as to tyre choice & setup to go for.

With 20 mins to go before the start of the F2 race, and the Ralt & the Chevron still in the garage we had one last look at the circuit conditions and opted for the slick tyres, in the hope the track would come to us later in the race with no more rain.

The race started & from the front row Miles was cautious in to turn 1 as a rampant Martin O’Connell dived down the inside in his Chevron. This meant Miles was wide & on the wet part of the track, allowing another couple of cars through.

We were P6 heading down to Village for the first time. The front six were a mix of cars on both slick & wet tyres. Miles dropping a good 5 car lengths behind the leading group of 4 cars by the time they headed in to Brooklands.

Andrew Smith had a lead of  2 seconds by the end of Lap 1 on wet tyres with Neil Fowler passing D Smith for third, also on wet tyres.

Lap 3 & Miles was beginning to close up to the cluster of cars in front of him, the cars on wets now looking for wet parts of the circuit. 

End of Lap  looked to be where the tied starting to turn towards the cars who gambled with slick tyres. Miles now in a train of 4 cars managed to get a run out of chapel on to the Hangar straight & pass Eagling.

At this point Martin O’Connell took the lead from A.Smith at Village while Miles 9 seconds behind managed to pass Neil Fowler at the same part of the circuit. Now it was D.Smith to chase down in third as traffic began to play a part.

Lap 5 & Miles was now nose to tail with Darwin Smith, both catching Andrew Smith in second, while Martin O’Connell was clear out front. As they started lap 6 they had both caught A.Smith, so it was 3 cars for second. With a run out of Copse Miles managed to get the Ralt down the inside & past Darwin Smith in to Maggotts. Miles on the same lap was able to get the inside line through Becketts & the run out of Chapel to pass Andrew Smith.

P2 & the chase for Martin O’Connell was on with 6 & a half minutes left on the lock with a deficit of 6 seconds. Miles looking like he was running out of time, but nevertheless would certainly try, instantly pulling a big gap to P3.

Lap 7 was a new fastest lap of the race by Miles & the gap was down to 5 seconds.

The completion of Lap 8 and the gap was down to 3.6 seconds, with another new fastest lap by Miles. Two laps remaining.

As they began the last lap Miles was 2.8 seconds with another new fastest lap of the race. 3 in a row. Unfortunately the gap was too great entering the last lap & meant Miles had to settle with P2, even with another purple lap to the chequered flag. The gap at the end down to 1.5 seconds.

What a race, and the result giving Miles the overall victory for the Historic Formula 2 & winner of the Bremont Watches Trophy.

Credit must also go to our other driver in the Historic F2 grid. After an accident in Race 1 it meant Tim De Silva in his Chevron B35 was starting from P52 on the grid. He finished the race P14 and on race pace was good enough for a Top 6 finish.