Race day for Winslow's Fox at Silverstone
Lewis Fox will represent Team Fox Racing in this weekend's 25th anniversary running of the Walter Hayes Trophy for Formula Ford 1600 at Silverstone, write James and Freddie Beckett.
First held in 2001, the Walter Hayes Trophy has grown to become the largest Formula Ford competition in the world, attracting over 100 racers to a competition that features multiple knockout races all leading to the event's closing race, the Walter Hayes Trophy Grand Final, for which the winner is rewarded with the Walter Hayes Trophy itself.
Carrying the name of a man who encouraged the Ford Motor Company to enhance its reputation through motorsport activities in the 1960s, the Walter Hayes Trophy has once again attracted Formula Ford racers from around the world.
Fox, from Winslow, has contested the Walter Hayes Trophy a number of times, and has reached the all-important Grand Final on occasion. This year the local racer has been seen racing both a pre-war Bentley and a BMW M3 Touring Car at Silverstone race meetings, including the Silverstone Festival, and he will kick start preparations for this weekend by joining many other competitors in pre-event mid-week test sessions around 1.6-mile Silverstone National Circuit.
Weekend track action starts for Fox, and other racers, with qualifying sessions from 9am on Saturday morning, with the actual competition starting with Heats and Pre-Finals throughout the afternoon.
Sunday's action, again starting at 9am is when the knockout element starts with drivers eliminated in races prior to the all-important Grand Final. Reigning champion, Rory Smith, will defend the title he won last November in a Medina Sport-entered car carrying the number 1.
A large number of regional racers are also entered to compete including Ammonite Motorsport with Ray cars for Anthony Amato, Hugh Esterson and Ayton Houk, Bucks racers Tom and Bob Hawkins in TM Racing Springbridge-supported entries and Aylesbury's Anthony Denham in a Van Diemen RF80. Jakob Ebrey, Pecora Nera and Tom Pringle will all drive cars in the Mutton Grand Prix Allcomers support race for closed-wheel sports and saloon cars organised by the Silverstone-based Historic Sports Car Club.