SuperSixties report from Spa-Francorchamps

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Qualifying

Turn 7 was the deciding factor in the SuperSixties qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps, with many track limit infringements and some more serious excursions that resulted in loads of gravel on the track. Through it all came the Peter Thompson/Charles Allison TVR Griffith to claim pole from Kennet Persson in the Ford GT40. Andy Newall qualified Rhea Sautter’s E-type in 3rd with Bob Stevens 4th in the first of the Lotus Elans. Next up were the three Shelby varieties, Armand Adriaans (Cobra), Roelant de Waard (Mustang GT350) and Oliver Douglas (Cobra Daytona). Michiel Campagne only managed a lowly 8th position in the Corvette Grand Sport, and could be expected to be nearer the front in the race. Then it was more Lotus Elans, mixed with the fastest of the touring cars: Luc de Cock (Elan), Carlo Hamilton (Ford Falcon), Jos Stevens (Elan), Bas Jansen (Ford Mustang), Niek van Gils (Elan) and Bijleveld/van der Ende (Ford Falcon). Eric Douart in his 2-litre BMW is not far behind the V8 Fords. The Mini’s were fast with Jop Rappange ahead of René de Vries, then Dieter-Karl Anton in his Lotus Cortina, fastest in CT08, Alexander Schlüchter (Mini) and the Van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees and Ralf Wagner Lotus Cortina’s. In GTS11 Erwin van Lieshout was fastest in his Porsche 911, ahead of the MGB’s led by Frank Veenstra.

Race 1 – mighty TVR

A safety car to remove the stranded Mini Marcos of Greg Carini caused chaos in the first SuperSixties race at the Spa Summer Classic. Many drivers decided to pit when the yellow flags came out, which was a good idea, but several did so before the pit window was actually open, which was of course penalised. They received a draconic 5-minute penalty. Kennet Persson had been leading in the Ford GT40, closely followed by the TVR Griffith of Peter Thompson and Michiel Campagne in the Corvette GS. The big Corvette lost its brakes while circulating slowly during the neutralisation and dropped to fourth. Armand Adriaans took the opportunity to take the final podium spot and first in GTS12 in the Shelby Cobra. After Bob Stevens was an early retirement, it was Luc de Cock who came 5th overall and first in class, followed by Niek van Gils, Philippe Vermast and Jos Stevens all in Lotus Elans. Rhea Sautter was classified 9th in the E-type because the other three cars on the lead lap were penalised. Carlo Hamilton won the touring car class in his Ford Falcon ahead of similarly mounted Jaap van der Ende and Bas Jansen in his Mustang. Jop Rappange was first on the road in the Mini class but collected a penalty which handed the win to René de Vries from Alexander Schlüchter, who had an entertaining ding-dong battle with Dennis Bron in his MGA twin cam. CT08, the Lotus Cortina class, had a trio of pit window offenders… as a result the win went to Van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees, from Dieter-Karl Anton, Magnus Lillerskog and Ralf Wagner. In GTS11 Erwin van Lieshout started from the pits in the Porsche 911 and overtook all the MGB’s to win the class from Frank Veenstra and Arnold Herreman. Finally, it is interesting to have a look at the smaller GTP cars. The Marcoses of Mark Dols and Greg Carini dropped out. Rob Rappange spun on the first lap, but still went on to finish in the Porsche 904. Frank Weidema followed him home in his little 1,3 litre Marcos, a great result in his debut race.

Race 2 – Persson is the person in charge

It took some 10 minutes for Sunday’s SuperSixties race to get properly underway. The delay was caused by several stranded cars on the grid and the formation lap, plus an unfortunate startline incident. When the field was finally released, Kennet Persson took the lead from the Thompson/Allison TVR, only relinquishing it for a short time when he pitted early, Michiel Campagne taking over in the Corvette GS. At the flag the Swede had a 20 second lead from the TVR, with Campagne another 20 seconds behind, closely followed by Adriaans in the Shelby Cobra. Roelant de Waard came 5th and 3rd in GTS12 in his Shelby Mustang. In GTS10 father and son Jos and Bob Stevens shared the orange Lotus Elan. Jos kept Luc de Cock’s yellow Elan in his sight, so that after the compulsory pitstop Bob could reel him in and pass him for the class win. SuperSixties debutant Felix Feltes came third in this well contested class, ahead of Marc Morawietz. In GTS11 it was no surprise that Erwin van Lieshout took the win in his Porsche 911. Tiziane and Fabienne Mutschler came second in the fastest of the MGB’s ahead of David Waterhouse. Greg Carini made up for his retirement in the first race by slicing through the field to 12th in his little Mini Marcos, winning the invitation class. The big V8 touring cars all had some sort of trouble. Martin Bijleveld came out on top in his Ford Falcon, Hemmo Vriend was second in another Falcon and Bas Jansen salvaged 3rd in his Mustang. The Mini Coopers made their own show, with René de Vries, Jop Rappange and Alexander Schlüchter trading places. Schlüchter spun and De Vries had to pit with a flat tire, so Jop looked to have it in the bag, but then the white Mini gave up the ghost with 2 laps to go, so Alexander took home the trophy. In CT08 it was the old fox from Austria, Dieter-Karl Anton, who was unbeatable, with Ralf Wagner, van Leenen/du Toy van Hees and Magnus Lillerskog chasing him, all in Lotus Cortina’s. Running like clockwork but unable to challenge the Cortina brigade were the two Alfa Giulias of Günter Zahnenbenz and François Leloutre.

Results: Results – Super Sixties Racing

SuperSixties Magazine Spa edition: NKHTGT Spa V2 high res

SuperSixties actie op YouTube: Supersixties – YouTube

SuperSixties report from the Red Bull Ring

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Qualifying
Is the Red Bull Ring a power track? It certainly looked like it judging by the qualifying results. On the front row we found Jan Kling and Kennet Persson in a pair of GT40’s. Kaj Dahlbacka made it an all-Swedish top 3 with his Corvette Grand Sport. Next was Michiel Campagne, similarly mounted. In fifth we found the giant killing Bob Stevens in his Lotus Elan, followed by more V8 grunt, the Cobras of Adriaans/Adriaans and Bas Jansen, then Michel van Duijvendijk in the TVR Griffith and Roelant de Waard in the Shelby Mustang. Jos Stevens would start 10th in his Lotus Elan. In GTS11 the Van Gammeren Porsche 911 was much faster than the MGB opposition. In TC it was V8’s to the fore as well, the Van Gammeren, Deenik/Sinke and Vriend V8 Ford Falcons leading the way. Old hand Dieter-Karl Anton made up for his Hockenheim problems by easily outqualifying the CT08 opposition in his Lotus Cortina. In CT07, the De Vries Mini had the upper hand.

Race 1: Campagne beats the Swedes
The first SuperSixties race at the Red Bull Ring was quite eventful. The four GTP cars pulled away at the front, Michiel Campagne snatching the lead from fast starting Kennet Persson. In the battle for third Kaj Dahlbacka made contact with Jan Kling’s GT40 and came off worse, retiring with a flat tire. When Persson dropped out with a blown engine, Campagne in the Corvette Grand Sport had a big lead from Kling. Bas Jansen drove a strong race to take the final podium spot in his GTS12 Cobra. Bob Stevens beat Michiel van Duijvendijk (TVR Griffith) and Roelant de Waard (Shelby Mustang) to finish 4th overall and first in GTS10 in his 1,6 litre Lotus Elan. In GTS11 the winner was Thijs van Gammeren in the Porsche 911. The Deenik/Sinke Ford Falcon was fastest of the touring cars when
Carlo Hamilton dropped out, although after 40 minutes of racing Jaap van der Ende was just 4 seconds behind, with Hemmo Vriend another 10 seconds back. Highly experienced local racer Dieter-Karl Anton was unbeatable in CT08 in his Lotus Cortina, showing a clean pair of heels to Van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees and Lillerskog. In CT07 the De Vries father and son team took the spoils
from Jop Rappange and his father Rob, all in Mini’s of course. Finally, it was great to see Frits Campagne in his Ford Anglia chasing Graziano Tessaro in his Abarth 1000, until the little Fiat retired after 35 minutes. Interestingly all the new drivers kept their noses clean while some of the more experienced guys returned to the paddock somewhat battle scarred. As usual, it was nothing a beer,
some duct tape and a friendly evaluative talk couldn’t fix.

Race 2: Bas Jansen in a class of his own
SuperSixties was Sunday’s curtain closer at the Red Bull Ring and got underway with an exciting start, with Michiel Campagne, Jan Kling and Bas Jansen trading places at the front. Jansen had just managed to pass the two GTP cars to take the lead in his Cobra when the red flags came out. This was due to the Team Korle Cortina losing its diff oil going into the first corner. After the restart, with 30 minutes remaining, Campagne, Kling and Jansen were at it again, with the blue Corvette holding a small lead as Jansen attempted to pass Kling. Kaj Dahlbacka had moved up from 31st to 7th when the red flags came out. With the restart from the original grid positions, he had to do it all again! On lap 10 Campagne had a small off in turn 3. When he steered back on track his
rear wheel got stuck behind the curbs, wrecking the diff. Now Kling and Jansen were battling for the lead, and they did so with gusto, switching positions several times per lap. When Kling had a half spin, Jansen finally managed to pull away and take a well-deserved win. By the time the pit window opened, Dahlbacka was already in third, but he could not close the gap to the leaders. Armand Adriaans finished fourth in the Shelby Cobra, with Bob Stevens in the GTS10 winning Lotus Elan just 1,6 seconds behind. Thijs van Gammeren made it two out of two in GTS11 in the Porsche 911, ahead of the MGB’s of Holger Felske and the Mütschler sisters. Jaap Sinke had a tense moment when his Ford Falcon was inadvertently tapped into a spin by Mark Dols in his Marcos. Luckily, he had enough time in hand to stay ahead of Hemmo Vriend’s Falcon, while Frans van Maarschalkerwaart was third touring car home in a borrowed Ford Mustang. Dieter-Karl Anton dominated CT08 again in his Lotus Cortina. In CT07 De Vries-De Vries were the only remaining Mini, but they went flat out regardless, 5th of the touring cars. Finally, Frits Campagne and Graziano Tessaro entertained the crowd by battling for last place, until the little Fiat had lost too much of its oil and had to retire.

Results: Results – Super Sixties Racing

Read all the paddock gossip in our online magazine: nkhtgt.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/NKHTGT-RedBullRing-magazine-V2.pdf

SuperSixties Zandvoort report and magazine

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Qualifying

SuperSixties was pleased to back at the Historic Zandvoort Trophy for the next instalment of our 2023 season. Sander van Gils was the fastest guy on track in qualifying, but he was too eager, going all out before the session had actually started. It would give him something to do in the afternoon, as he was docked 5 places on the grid as a result. We still had an all Lotus Elan front row, with Luc de Cock on pole and Jos Stevens second. Roelant de Waard claimed third on the grid in his Shelby Mustang with Peter Brouwer in yet another Elan alongside. Henk van Gammeren and Hemmo Vriend were first of the touring cars in their Ford Falcons, while Armand Adriaans (Shelby Cobra), Jaap Sinke (Big Healey) and Wilhelm-van Gelder (Jag E-type) completed the top-10. Quickest in GTS11 was the Van Gammeren Porsche 911, just ahead of more touring cars, Rob Rappange fastest in CT07 in his Mini ahead of the Van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees CT08 Lotus Cortina. Next up was the oldest car in the field, Dennis Bron in his FabFifties MGA twincam, followed by guest driver Onno Vlaanderen in a LateSixties Davrian Imp. With 29 cars on the grid we looked forward to an action packed pair of races.

Race 1: van Gils unbeatable

Sander van Gils dominated Saturday’s SuperSixties race at Zandvoort in his Lotus Elan. From sixth on the grid, he took the lead on the first ascent of the Hunserug. Luc de Cock held second for most of the race until his engine lost power towards the end and he slipped back. Jos Stevens had been shadowing him and duly took second in his Lotus Elan while Roelant de Waard came third in the Shelby Mustang. Peter Brouwer was fourth in his Lotus Elan with De Cock fifth. First of the touring cars was the Van Gammeren Falcon in sixth, ahead of Armand Adriaans (Shelby Cobra), Ed van Dijk (E-type), Hemmo Vriend (Ford Falcon) and Jaap Sinke (Austin-Healey 3000). There was plenty of Mini action with some great scraps, and it was Rob Rappange who came out on top, with Alexander Schlüchter in second while Jop Rappange misfired his way into third and Bert Mets dropped out after 16 laps. GTS11 was initially led by Niek van Gils in the MGB, but after the pitstops it was the Theo/Thijs van Gammeren Porsche 911 that took the class win, from Van Gils and Egbert Kolvoort in their MGB’s. The Team Korle Lotus Cortina turned into a starting money special (if only we had starting money…). It only just made it across the line before expiring, which was a shame as the team had spent a fortune on duct tape patching it up after a qualifying mishap. So the win in CT08 went to Van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees, although Magnus Lillerskog actually finished ahead of them. He was going so well that he did not want to spoil his fun by making a pitstop. He was penalized two laps, even though he proposed to compensate by making two pitstops in Sunday’s race…

Race 2: Jos Stevens against the odds

Jos Stevens overcame a couple of penalties to win the second SuperSixties race at Zandvoort in his Lotus Elan. He braked after moving before the lights changed, so gained nothing and it was in fact Roelant de Waard who took the lead. Stevens realized he was going to be penalized, so quickly passed the blue Shelby Mustang and started to build up a lead. Meanwhile De Waard was harried by Peter Brouwer and Luc de Cock. When he outbraked himself going into Tarzan the two nimble Lotus’ took their chance and passed him. Unfortunately they both dropped out with ignition trouble later in the race. Meanwhile Stevens had gained another time penalty for a pitstop infringement, but he kept his foot down and finished far enough ahead of De Waard to hang on to first place. Armand Adriaans drove a steady race and claimed the final podium spot in his Shelby Cobra. Fourth past the flag was Jaap Sinke in the Healey, just ahead of a storming Ed van Dijk in his Jaguar E-type. He was being cheered on by a crowd of Jaguar Club members to great effect! The Van Gammeren family again took the spoils in the touring car class in their big Ford Falcon Futura. Seventh fell to the French Jaguar team of Erwin van Gelder/Bernard Wilhelm who just managed to hold off Mats Ek in his Lotus Elan. There were some fierce midfield battles involving a lot of cars. Dennis Bron came through to finish 9th in his MGA. Rob Rappange, Alexander Schlüchter and Jasper Izaks were in the middle of the mayhem in their Mini’s. In the end Schlüchter was victorious while the other two dropped out. All the MGB’s also suffered various problems giving the Van Gammeren Porsche 911 an easy ride in GTS11. The Lotus Cortinas were in combat with Bert Mets in his Mini Cooper. Van Leenen-Du Toy van Hees again came out on top after Magnus Lillerskog suffered a broken halfshaft two laps from the flag. So ended another great weekend of action packed SuperSixties races. Everything went smoothly, thanks to a great bunch of well-behaved and friendly drivers! Yes there were loads of retirements due to mechanical problems, so there is plenty of wrenching to be done, but we expect everyone to be back for the Red Bull Ring on June 9-11. See you there!

Results: Results – Super Sixties Racing

Read all the paddock gossip in our online magazine: https://www.nkhtgt.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/NKHTGT-Zandvoort-magazine-final-version-klein.pdf