The Historic Sports Car Club

Car clubs are a huge part of our motorsport world and we are proud to be the lubricant partner for many clubs throughout the UK – from Vintage clubs, to specific car types like Mercedes Benz and TVR owners.

We offer members the chance to have lubricant and technical advice on tap as well as providing support for their magazines, events and special offers throughout the year. In this edition we look at The Historic Sports Car Club and thank Paul Lawrence, from the club, for taking the time to give us an insight into their  history, what they offer members and their popular race meeting schedule.

The HSCC was created in 1966 by a small group of enthusiasts, notably Guy Griffiths and Betty Haig. They were frustrated by a lack of races for older sports cars and wanted to stop them being modified, inappropriately, beyond their original specification or exported to the USA. Members from the sixties, and we have quite a few, say that the Club was formed to help competitors enjoy themselves racing ‘nice proper cars’ on interesting circuits.

Griffiths and Haig were part of a very small group who thought historic cars should be preserved. Today, the Club is proud to have played a role in making historic racing the fastest growing part of the UK racing scene, and is a thriving, innovative and experienced organiser of historic racing and historic championships and series. The Club is home to cars from the late 1950s right through to the early years of the 2000s.

From offices at the heart of Silverstone circuit, the HSCC is a guardian of historic racing and works to make this branch of the sport as accessible as possible. Its race categories cover single-seaters, sports, GT and touring cars and so there is racing for all tastes. Everything from a Mini Cooper to a mighty Formula 5000 racing car has a place with the HSCC.

The 2021 new racing season, has underlined the Club’s leading position in historic racing and affirmed its core values, detailing 10 key reasons to race with the Club. With eight prime race meetings taking in the leading UK circuits, 16 race categories covering a fantastic array of cars and the award-winning Historic Formula 2 category as a flagship, the HSCC is set for the best season so far in its 55-year history. New for 2021 are the Geoff Lees Trophy for 1980s single-seaters and the 80s Production Car Challenge, both new series designed to introduce a new generation of cars to historic racing.

The HSCC is a Club run for its members, with a prime aim of delivering racing for its members. It is not profit driven but must, of course, endeavour to provide a modest return on investment. The Club unveiled its 2021 race programme, covering eight race meetings on nine different circuits and headlined by weekends on the Silverstone and Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuits and the Oulton Park Gold Cup.

New for 2021 is an extended two-day mid-summer meeting at Donington Park and a return to Mallory Park for a weekend event in September. As before, the HSCC will have organised club races for the high-profile Silverstone Classic, which ran from Friday to Sunday, 30 July-1 August. Other highlights included an early summer weekend at Cadwell Park for the Wolds Trophy and the annual Championship Finals meeting on the Silverstone National Circuit in October.

The Brands Hatch Indy date moved to a Friday to join the Grand Prix circuit weekend, making a three day event using both versions of the famous Kent track. The season opened in mid-April with a weekend at Snetterton. The HSCC recently won one of the most prestigious awards in historic motor sport after being announced as winner of the ‘Competitive Event of the Year’ in 2020 edition of the annual Royal Automobile Club Historic Awards. The awards celebrate the historic motor sport year and the HSCC’s Legends of Brands Hatch Super Prix was judged as the ‘Competitive Event of the Year’. Last year, the HSCC’s Historic Formula 2 International Series was named ‘Race Series of the Year’.

Last July, the HSCC’s Brands Hatch event kick-started the 2020 historic racing season as the sport began to emerge from the first COVID-19 lockdown. This landmark event proved that historic racing could restart while staying firmly in line with UK government and Motorsport UK rules and guidelines in the face of the global pandemic.

An extraordinary effort by the HSCC team, led by the Club’s CEO Andy Dee-Crowne supported by HSCC staff, officials and a raft of experienced volunteers,  working in partnership with MotorSport Vision drew over 330 competitors and delivered an outstanding event on the superb Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

The event drew glowing praise from many competitors, marshals and spectators and brought a wonderful sense of normality and camaraderie back into the lives of many after more than three months of lockdown.

THE REMAINDER OF THE 2021 HSCC CALENDAR IS:

Sat-Mon 28-30 August: Oulton Park International
Sat/Sun 18/19 September: Mallory Park
Sat/Sun 16/17 October: Silverstone National

Witham Motorsport and Motul are proud to support the Historic Sports Car Club and look forward to working with them further over the year ahead.

For more information about the Historic Sports Car Club, their news and events please visit their website: hscc.org.uk

If you belong to a car club and would like to be involved with us, please get in touch!