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Spa Six Hours 2013 – Report and Photo Gallery

Lola T70 Mk3b TIM SCOTT
Lola T70 Mk3b

The Spa Six Hours 2013 was held September 20-22 at the 4.352-mile, 20-turn Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. A strong and competitive field of more than 600 historic racing cars enjoyed motorsports in its purest form at the legendary track in the Ardennes countryside.

There was no stopping Chris Ward in the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy (pre-1956) and Stirling Moss Trophy (pre-1961) sports car races run concurrently at Spa-Francorchamps on 21 September, as part of the Spa Six Hours weekend meeting.

The Silverstone Driving Experience chief instructor won both races – with the help of Andrew Smith and John Young, respectively.

Oliver Bryant headed the 57-car field in the Friday qualifying session, the BRDC member hurling his 2-litre Lotus 15 round in 2m 54.566s (an average of 144.440kph) as the younger SMT machines not unexpectedly took 11 of the top 12 places. Jon Minshaw/Phil Keen (Lister-Jaguar Knobbly) claimed the other front-row qualifying slot, with Jason Minshaw’s Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage and Sam Hancock in Stefan Ziegler’s Lister-Jaguar Knobbly also breaking three minutes.

Stirling Moss Trophy small-capacity class leaders Martin Stretton/Phil Champion (Lotus 11 Le Mans) and Keith Ahlers/Billy Bellinger (Lola Mk1 Prototype) were eight tenths of a second apart, huddled among the bigger Lotuses and Listers. The Ward/Smith Cooper-Jaguar T33 (car no. 54), best of the Woodcote warriors, gridded ninth, unexpectedly ahead of the Young/Ward Costin-bodied Lister (car no. 60), which sat 11th behind the little Lotus 17 of dad-and-lad Gabriel and Dion Kremer.

More than four seconds off Ward’s pace, the next three Woodcote Trophy contenders – Carlos Monteverde/Gary Pearson (ex-Border Reivers/Jim Clark Jaguar D-type), Fred Wakeman/Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Cooper-Jaguar T38) and the class-leading Lotus-Bristol 10 of Malcolm Paul/Rick Bourne – were blanketed by six tenths.

Geraint Owen/Charles Knill-Jones (Kurtis 500S), Martin Melling/Rob Hall (in Peter Collins’/Pat Griffiths’ 1952 Goodwood 9 Hours-winning Aston Martin DB3) and the Lister-Bristol ‘flat iron’ of Stephen Bond/Keith Fell headed the drum-braked classes, as competitors from nine nations populated the charismatic line-up. Among them, former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (now an MEP) started his first race on home soil in his pretty Elva-Climax Mk3 (car no. 43).

Phil Keen led the early stages of the one-hour race, with Jason Minshaw and Philip Walker disputing second place. Shaun Lynn (Lister-Jag), Ward – flying in the Cooper-Jag streamliner – and Grahame Bryant (taking first stint in the family Lotus) led the chase, although Young’s Lister and Dion Kremer’s Lotus 17 were on the warpath.

Jason Minshaw’s problems began when he made a pitstop and tried to re-enter the track not via the cut-out at La Source hairpin but at the end of the old pit lane, which he believed to be the correct etiquette. “A marshal stood in my path and said ‘non’, so I had to return via the paddock to the F1 pits and have another go. I was ahead of Jon on track when there was a bang from the back at Eau Rouge,” said Jason. Both cars were out, although the Lister limped back to the pits with deranged steering.

Ward, now in the JD Classics Lister, thus assumed the lead which he built over Lynn and Ollie Bryant to the chequered flag. Smith completed Ward and the team’s joy by finishing fourth, first of the Woodcote Trophy cars by three places. Ahlers/Bellinger were overjoyed with fifth in the Lola in such company, ahead of Stretton in Champion’s aerodynamic Lotus. Martin demoted both Blakeney-Edwards and Pearson on the penultimate lap, after a splendid chase.

The rumbling Lister-Chevrolet of Mark Gibbon/Rob Newall and the Lotus 11 of smiling Belgians Guy Peeters/Michel Wanty completed the top 10 in an entertaining race in which Maserati team mates Gordon McCullough (200Si) and marque specialist Steve Hart (300S) scored a memorable class one-two.

Mark Midgley/Chris Woodgate (Aston Martin DB3) and Mike Thorne/Johnny Todd (Austin-Healey 100M) drove superbly to win Woodcote classes. And Verhofstadt finished 49th, third of the Elvas behind the low-line Mk5s of Ralf Emmerling/Phil Hooper and Louis Verstrassen.

In addition to our headline Six Hours endurance race coverage, Senior Photographer Tim Scott also documented the other races that made up the 2013 running of Spa Six Hours, including the Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy. We split up Tim’s pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery and race results can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Tim, visit fluidimages.co.uk.

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery

 

Austin-Healey 100M
Austin-Healey 100M and Maserati 300S
Jaguar C-Type
Jaguar C-Type
Maserati 300S
Maserati 300S
Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica
Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica

 

 

Jaguar C-Type
Jaguar C-Type
Aston Martin DB3
Aston Martin DB3
Maserati 300S
Maserati 300S
Austin-Healey 100M Coupe
Austin-Healey 100M

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Two

 

Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage
Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage
Lister-Jaguar Knobbly
Lister-Jaguar Knobbly
Lotus 17 Prototype
Lotus 17 Prototype
Lister Knobbly
Lister Knobbly

 

 

Jaguar C-Type
Jaguar C-Type
Elva Mk III
Elva Mk III
Cooper-Jaguar T33
Cooper-Jaguar T33
Maserati 200SI
Maserati 200SI

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Three

 

Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica
Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica
Kurtis 500S
Kurtis 500S
Ferrari 250 GT Drogo
Ferrari 250 GT Drogo
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Comp

 

 

Lotus Elite
Lotus Elite
Aston Martin DB4GT
Aston Martin DB4GT
Ginetta G4
Ginetta G4
Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-Type

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Four

 

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
AC Cobra 289
AC Cobra 289
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta leads up Eau Rouge
Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato
Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato

 

 

Ferrari 250 GT Drogo
Ferrari 250 GT Drogo
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Comp
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Comp
Aston Martin DB4GT
Aston Martin DB4GT

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Five

 

Lotus Elite
Lotus Elite and Morgan Plus Four
Austin-Healey 3000
Austin-Healey 3000
Porsche 356 B Carrera GT 2
Porsche 356 B Carrera GT 2
Aston Martin DB4
Aston Martin DB4

 

 

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Comps
Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar D-Type
Jaguar D-Type
Jaguar XK140 FHC and Austin-Healey 100M
Jaguar XK140 FHC and Austin-Healey 100M

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Six

 

McLaren M8F
McLaren M8F
March 717
March 717
Lola T280
Lola T280
Lola T70 Mk3B
Lola T70 Mk3B

 

 

McLaren M8C
McLaren M8C
Ford GT40
Ford GT40
Lola T70 Mk3B
Lola T70 Mk3B
Chevron B16
Chevron B16

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Seven

 

Maserati 250F
Maserati 250F
Lotus 32B
Lotus 32B
Brabham BT7
Brabham BT7
Lister-Jaguar Monzanapolis
Lister-Jaguar Monzanapolis

 

 

Maserati 250F
Maserati 250F
Lotus 25 Grand Prix
Lotus 25 Grand Prix
Scarab-Offenhauser F1
Scarab-Offenhauser F1
Ferrari 246 Dino
Ferrari 246 Dino

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Eight

 

Porsche 911 Carrera RSR
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR
Ford GT40
Ford GT40
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2
Lola T212
Lola T212

 

 

Lola T70 Mk3b
Lola T70 Mk3b
Cooper Monaco King Cobra
Cooper Monaco King Cobra
Lola T70 Mk3b
Lola T70 Mk3b
Lotus 30
Lotus 30

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Nine

 

Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-Type
AC Cobra 289
AC Cobra 289
Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-Type
Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe
Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe

 

 

Austin-Healey 3000
Austin-Healey 3000
AC Cobra 289
AC Cobra 289
Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-Type Low-Drag Coupe
Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato (Replica)
Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)

 

[envira-gallery id=”182275″]

 

 

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Stirling Moss Trophy Race Results

1. Bryant / Bryant, Lotus 15
2. Minshaw / Keen, Lister-Jaguar Knobbly
3. Minshaw, Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage
4. Ziegler / Hancock, Lister Knobbly
5. Walker / McIntyre, Lotus 15

Spa Six Hours 2013 – Woodcote Trophy Race Results

1. Ward / Smith, Cooper-Jaguar T33
2. Monteverde / Pearson, Jaguar D-Type
3. Wakeman / Blakeney-Edwards, Cooper T38
4. Paul / Bourne, Lotus Mk X
5. Owen / Knill-Jones, Kurtis 500S

[Source: Motor Racing Legends; Spa Six Hours; photos: Tim Scott]