Three weeks after the Nurburgring, the Lurani Trophy competitors gathered at the historic Zandvoort circuit as part of the recently revived Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix. A most impressive 38 car entry, which included three guest F3 cars, all appeared present and correct except for Guido di Egidio. This was the biggest grid of the weekend, other than the Dutch national GT/Touring cars. Some other classes such as those of the HGPCA were, perhaps, affected by the proximity to Goodwood. Not entered on this occasion was Pierre Tonetti who was saving his efforts for Goodwood. An addition to the field was Australian visitor Martin Bullock with his very smart Lotus 27-JM-18, a car Imported to Australia by Leo Geoghegan in 1963 and purchased new by Glynn Scott. Glynn ran the car from 1963 to 1968 in 1.5 Litre spec. mostly in the Australian 1.5 litre Championship. The car ran in the Australian Grand Prix of 1965 (Longford-Tasmania), 1966 (Lakeside-Queensland) & 1967 (Warwick Farm-N.S.W).
            Friday qualifying was dry and pole was claimed by David Methley (BT6) with 1’56.209”. Joining him on the front was Jonathon Hughes, also in a Brabham BT6, who was 1.076” slower. Over two seconds down, in third place was Mark Pangborn (Lotus 20B) then John Dowson (BT2), Joao Paulo Campos Costa (Lola 5) and Ivo Göckmann in the Class D Jolus. Surprisingly further back were to be found Manfredo Rossi (Lotus 22) and Urs Eberhardt in the Lotus 27 he has raced since the early 1980s.
            The first race was the final event on Saturday, not due until 18.30. About an hour before this it started to rain and fears of a repeat of Nurburgring’s wet race came to mind. Happily it was only a shower passing through and it was dry by the time the race started. Last races notoriously suffer from the cumulative delays in the programme but the organizers, the HARC, deserve full marks for keeping things on track and getting the race underway on time. The only non-starters were Ivo Göckmann - broken wishbone on the warm up lap -  and Peter Laier, who had damaged the chassis of his Lotus 22 in practice when he clipped a spinning Dick van Amsterdam.
            Into the first corner, Tarzan, Hughes led from Methley, Pangborn, Dowson and Campos Costa but at the end of the first 2.67 miles Methley moved ahead on the run to Tarzan. Thereafter, driving with controlled pace, he pulled steadily clear – 9.7” after six laps, 17.7” after 8 and 31.6” at the chequered flag after 13 laps in the 25 minutes. Hughes held a rather lonely second throughout. Manfredo Rossi was sixth at the end of lap one, took Campos Costa for fifth on lap 2 then Dowson on lap 4. He then hounded down Mark Pangborn to claim third just after half-distance. Mark did not give up but Manfredo held on to the place by 1.6”.
            For fifth and sixth Eberhardt and Dowson had a splendid scrap, running parallel through Tarzan on more than one occasion. John had the upper hand until lap 6 when Urs nipped through. Jens Rauschen caught up the pair and then overtook John. He and Urs were then battling and Jens tried to overtake on the inside but unfortunately they touched wheels and Urs' car bounced back and overturned. This brought out the yellow flags and a rather confused end to the race in the course of which Dowson lost a place to Martin Walford (Lotus 22). Campos Costa and Andrew Beaumont (Lotus 22) completed the unlapped runners.
            Dick van Amsterdam (Belgica) was tenth and first class H, crossing the line 0.2” in advance of Greg Thornton (Cooper T52) who not only won D1 but was ahead of all the D2 cars. One of the best duels was for Class C honours, Kim Shearn holding off John Delane (both Lotus 18) with Peter Waefler (20/22) splitting them just before the end. Caroline Rossi, John Lord and Steve Futter exchanged places several times, ending in that order with Futter winning D2. Andrew Tart (Bond) had an easy win in class B2 but enjoyed a fine tussle with Mauro Poponcini’s more modern Cooper T76. Erik Justesen (U2) was second in class and Mike Walker, in the other Bond, back at Zandvoort after a 42 year break, climbed from the tail of the field to third. In E2 Malcolm Wishart (T65) was, as usual, unopposed though not on circuit, where he was overtaken by Peter Knöfel (Emeryson) on the penultimate lap. Jan Biekens was the only Class A finisher after Pat Barford retired the EFAC with a stripped diff. Finally, mention must be made of a lovely little duel at the rear between Tom de Gres (Elva 100) and Dietrich Merkel (Britannia) that was probably unremarked by most spectators – Tom came out ahead by 0.67”.
            Other casualties were Robin Longdon (Lola 3) with gear trouble, Martin Bullock (Lotus 27) engine, and Renavand’s Tecno F3 had the water cap come off.
            Race two was at a very civilised 11.45 start time. The weather had improved and was fairly sunny and quite warm. Of the previous day’s casualties, only Michel Renavand appeared. Dietrich Merkel withdrew as he was preserving his car for sale. The scramble in to Tarzan saw Hughes again get away best to lead Methley. Side-by-side were John Dowson and Mark Pangborn, then Jens Rauschen, who had made a very good start, and the yellow Lola of Campos Costa. Unfortunately for John it all went wrong. He touched some oil and lost the rear end, caught the spin but came over the grass and gravel to touch the Armco sideways, fortunately at low speed but race over. No other cars were involved. Mind you, he was in good company as ex-F1 & Indy Car driver Roberto Moreno spun in the same place when demonstrating his 1989 Coloni F1 car during the lunch interval!
            At the completion of lap 1 Methley was alongside Hughes into the yellow-flag zone at Tarzan to lead. Not everyone seemed to see the yellows, but the safety car was called to allow the recovery of Dowson’s Brabham. On the restart after 3 laps, Methley repeated his race 1 form and drew inexorably away – 6 seconds on lap 6, 12” on lap 8 and 15” on lap 10 and 17” on the twelfth and final lap. Similarly Hughes opened an ever bigger margin on third man Mark Pangborn – 11” at mid-distance and 20” at the flag. Martin Walford provided much of the interest, passing Rossi at Tarzan on lap 2 – Rossi was to drop out due to a tappet adjuster coming loose – then claiming fourth from Jens on lap 8 by diving to the inside under braking at Tarzan and holding him off by 0.2” for fourth. Andrew Beaumont and Joao Campos Costa were similarly close for sixth and seventh.
            There was less action down the field than in race 1. Renavand just held van Amsterdam at bay for class H, whilst 2.5” covered 12th to 15th in the order Waefler, Caroline Rossi, Shearn and Lord. In the race John Delane comfortably headed Shearn but not by enough to secure the class on aggregate. On the penultimate lap Luc Deneve (Lotus 18) nipped past Bob Birrell (Lola 2) when Bob moved over whilst being lapped at Tarzan but the previous order was restored by the flag fall.
            Overall, the combined results were
E1 – Methley – Hughes – Pangborn
E2 – Wishart
D2 – Futter – Deneve
D1 – Thornton (but 1st combined class D1/D2)
C2 – Shearn – Delane - Knöfel
B2 – Tart – Justesen - Walker
A – Biekens
H – v Amsterdam – Poponcini - Renavand

Report by Richard Page