Racers’ Rendez-Vous in the Algarve: Algarve Classic Festival - October 24/25/26, Autodromo Internacional Algarve

**Supported by HPT / GoodYear / Dunlop**

A GT & Sports Car Cup season without the traditional Algarve Classic Festival finale is unthinkable. Like gin and tonic or fish and chips on a Friday night they are synonymous, thus the family is heading back to Portugal for its 14th “rendez-vous” since its triumphant debut 2011. There was a special reason to celebrate last October, when Portuguese pair Pedro Macedo Silva and Jose Monroy honoured the late Autodromo do Algarve founder Paulo Pinheiro with a home victory in their AC Cobra. They defend their coveted title this year atop a stellar entry showcasing three Pre-’65 GT divisions, earlier Sports Racing cars and a remarkable crop of Minis to complement the Broadspeed GTS in an expended TC1 set.

Abutting the sparkling Atlantic Ocean, colourful Portugal’s rich traditions include sportscar racing at Oporto and Monsanto. Eugenio Castelotti and Froilan Gonzalez (Ferraris), and Jean Behra and Juan Manuel Fangio (Maseratis) won non-championship Portuguese Grands Prix in the 1950s, as did local heroes Casimiro de Oliveira and Pinto Nogueira. At Montes Claros in 1968, Carlos Gaspar won the GP in the Ford GT40 P/1022 now owned by Manuel Ferrao, father of Diogo who not only co-promotes the charismatic Algarve Classic Festival, but also won his second Spa Six Hours in it last month. Parabéns Diogo.

Apart from on its verdant strip of the Iberian Peninsula, Portuguese ASNs also organised international events in Angola, its West African enclave, on street circuits and permanent tracks into the mid-1970s, amid the European seasons. Ask Ellie Birchenhough, whose late father Tony competed successfully with pals in Dorset Racing’s Chevron B8 at Vila Real in 1971, Lola T212 at Estoril in ’72 and iconic Lola T290/294 in which he and Roger Heavens won the 1974 Benguela 500km and finished second in the subsequent Luanda 2 Hours in Angola!

Supported by our loyal friends and insurance partners Gilbart-Smith Associates, our race at the ACF is over the traditional two hours on Sunday morning. With the Royal Automobile Club Family Award and coveted Baltic Watches Drivers of the Day prizes to be won in our 19th season-closer there is everything to play for. And with three overall winners this year - indeed the last nine GTSCC events, dating back to Algarve in 2023, have seen different teams victorious - there is much to play for.

Eleven years have passed since race engineer Mark Lewis and Ewan McIntyre recorded the only win to date for a sportscar at the Portimao circuit, at the wheel of a thunderous Lister-Chevrolet Knobbly. This time September’s Castle Combe Autumn Classic victor Kyle Tilley will stake his claim from SP2. ERA Motorsport’s boss shares the ‘clockwork orange’ - or should it be ‘tangerine dream’? - Lotus 15 with Olly Bryant. Bryant has pedalled his own 15 very successfully over the past decade, so if Colin Chapman’s lightweight design withstands the rigours of the roller coaster circuit, they are in with a sporting chance.

The larger capacity sportscar class provides an intriguing contrast between the Lotus and arch-rival Cooper’s T49 Monaco, which is also powered by a two-litre Climax FPF engine, albeit mounted in the rear in tandem with a transaxle rather than amidships in the 15. Nick Finburgh shares his dove grey Cooper with Shane Brereton who owns the coilsprung version built for Stirling Moss by engineer Mike Keele who went on to become a pioneering kart manufacturer. Shane switched from spectacular National Hot Rod racing on short ovals to become a champion Truck racer prior to discovering Historic cars. Doug Muirhead has entered his SP1 Lotus 11 Le Mans too, with regular “co-équipier” Jeremy Welch.

The GT4 division sees three Ford V8-powered AC Cobras and a very rapid Jaguar E-type take on a quartet of potent Lotus Elans built to competition 26R spec. While Macedo Silva’s open red snake is sure to energise home supporters, competition will be tough. Chris Chiles Jr - winner here in 2017 with Simon Garrad - is teamed in the CRC-run closed car with his remarkable father Chris (with whom he finished third at Castle Combe last month) and Dutchman Bas Jansen, one third of the Spa Six Hours’ Touring Car class-winning Mustang team the following weekend. David Smithies and Chris Clarkson’s Daytona Coupe represents another period aero option, evolved by Carroll Shelby’s designer Peter Brock on the hallowed 1965 World GT Manufacturers Championship-winning factory cars. The unmissable turquoise Jaguar of German engineer/racer Rhea Sautter and her regular partner Andy Newall could trump them all.

Never discount the Elans which, with towards 200bhp on tap from their 1600cc twin-cam engines and pin sharp chassis handling, will be well suited to the dramatic F1 circuit’s twists, turns, climbs and swoops. Endurance masters Ross Hyett and his sons, Charlie and Nick, reprise their 2023 Paul Ricard Deux Tours d’Horloge 24 Hours-winning team [then piloting a Ford Pinto-motivated Tiga Sports 2000 at Team Rosbif Hyett] in their Trevor Foster-prepared Elan. Husband and wife Tony and Niamh Wood bring their acid green Lotus to share with GT stalwart Ian Stinton. Joel Hopwood has recruited peripatetic driving coach Nigel Greensall, while Steve Jones/Chris Atkinson renew their long-standing partnership. The last Elan to win a GTSCC race, incidentally, was the Shapecraft Coupe of Robin Ellis/Julian Thomas in last season’s Enna-Pergusa opener, but Andy Wolfe/Andrew Haddon triumphed here in 2022.

In GT3, the gruff straight-six Austin-Healey 3000s of marque specialists dad and lad Bill and Jack Rawles, and Mark Pangborn/Harvey Woods have TVR Grantura graduate Joe Ward’s for company. Two Triumph-powered cars are in contention, the highly-polished ex-Pip Arnold Morgan Plus 4 SLR coupe of John Emberson and Billy Bellinger contrasting with the TR4 of Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones, complemented by 2004 Spa Six Hours winner Mark Hales. The Jaguar XK120 of Rob Newall/Oliver Marçais is the oldest car in the field but will be driven spiritedly by a crew of diverse ages which combines vast experience and youth.

The GT2 pack is the largest with a splendid 14 car line-up representing five marques. MGB teams are the most numerous, with six of the robust BMC-engined machines on the roster. Following their GTSCC debut at Castle Combe and Spa Six Hours appearance the following weekend, we are delighted to welcome Australian brothers Michael and Paul Cruse to the Algarve, together with Michael Boyle/Peter Barnard. George Grant/Nick Rutter return for their annual fix, with James and Nick Topliss and hardy perennials Brian and Barbara Lambert and plucky young soloist Arabella Welch from the Denis Welch Racing stable.

It’s a similar story among the TVR Grantura equipes as Malcolm Paul/Rick Bourne - one of the most successful combos in GTSCC history - are challenged by Rob Cull/Hugh Lafferty and Colin Elstrop, who shares his car with enthusiastic Ulsterman David Beatty. The Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports of Simon King/Will Plant and Sharlie Goddard/Graeme Smith usually give good accounts of themselves, while the Lotus Elites of Marc Gordon/Nick Finburgh and the less experienced Benjamin Tarlow/Mark Hamilton-Peters invariably bat above their weight. Fresh from an incredibly narrow class victory at Combe, it’s the Austin-Healey 100 of husband and wife Mike Thorne/Sarah Bennett-Baggs which is the dark horse.

Last, but by no means least, the 1293cc Mini Cooper S posse is likely to be buzzing round the bigger cars under braking and through some of the many corners. Former firefighter Bill Sollis is among the finest Mini racers in history. The final national champion of Mini Se7en’s 850cc era (1990), and first 1000cc titlist (1991), Bill also has 1293cc Mini Miglia crowns on his illustrious CV from 1997 and 2006. Bill shares with Ryck Turner. Current Mighty Minis champion Olly Samways had raced Michael Russell’s MGB with us before, but joins Nigel Fraser-Ker. Tony Wrighton/Luca Lazzarini also join the fray. Can they beat our regulars Ellie Birchenhough/Nick Topliss, Portimao returnees Richard Parsons/Alistair Pugh and father and daughter Richard and Alice Locke in the ex-works Broadspeed coupe?

OUR HERITAGE:

Founded in 2007, the GT & Sports Car Cup is an exclusive series of races for Pre-1963 sports racing cars and Pre-1966 Grand Touring cars of a type which contested World Championship races in period, plus Pre-1966 Touring Cars. Entry by invitation only. Exemplary driving and the highest standards of car preparation and presentation remain its proudly-guarded hallmarks. Watch for an exciting GTSCC 20th Anniversary 2026 calendar over the winter months.

GTSCC ALGARVE WINNERS:

2011 Leo Voyazides/Simon Hadfield (AC Cobra)

2012 Leo Voyazides/Simon Hadfield (AC Cobra)

2013 Fred Wakeman/Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Jaguar E-type)

2014 Mark Lewis/Ewan McIntyre (Lister-Chevrolet Knobbly)

2015 Jon Minshaw/Phil Keen (Jaguar E-type)

2016 Derek Hood/Chris Ward/John Young (Jaguar E-type)

2017 Rui & Pedro Macedo Silva/Joaquim Jorge (AC Cobra)

2018 Chris Chiles Jr/Simon Garrad (AC Cobra)

2019 James Cottingham/Oliver Bryant (AC Cobra)

2020 NOT RUN

2021 Jon Minshaw/Phil Keen (Jaguar E-type)