Some of the cars arrived at the grid for heat one were already somewhat battle-scarred from exploits in practice. Pole-sitter Jake Hill’s Ford Capri sported a rearranged front nearside corner after his qualifying off, the team having done sterling work to get the car on the grid. Oliver Hart’s Chevrolet Camera was also slightly crumpled. But the pace of neither was depleted, and they set off in thrillingly close battle.
Heat one was followed immediately by heat two, where the smaller saloon cars of the same era entered battle. What these cars lack in size they compensated with close racing, the first corner being claimed by the second-on-the-grid Mini 1275GT of Nick Swift, who was followed by two Volkswagens in Golf GTI and Scirocco form. Variety on the grid came via everything from Triumph Dolomite Sprints to a Mazda RX-7 via a Toyota Corolla. There was even a Mini Clubman Traveller...
It was a spectacular ending to the first day’s competitive outings, the one fixture of the day remaining the GT1 demonstration that ran into the sunset.
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Photography by Joe Harding, Pete Summers, Jochen van Cauwenberge and Toby Whales