Classic & Sports Car has teamed up with organisers of the Silverstone Classic to gather some of the most evocative machines from the world of historic motor sport, which will be put on display at next year’s Autosport International show from 14-17 January at Birmingham’s NEC under the banner ‘When We Were Kings’.
Each car selected represents a grid at the July 2016 event, and includes iconic Formula One, Le Mans and Can-Am racers plus, for the first time, Grand Prix bikes from the heyday of two-wheeled racing.
Ronnie Peterson’s celebrated John Player Special-liveried Lotus 72 is expected to be one of the main draws on the stand. The car was campaigned by Peterson from 1973 and brought the Swede his first Grand Prix victory at Paul Ricard in the same year, while the type stayed in action with Lotus until 1975.
The 1985 Canon Porsche 956 that finished second at Le Mans driven by Richard Lloyd, James Weaver and Jonathan Palmer represents one of Porsche’s most dominant spells in top flight endurance racing. Eight out of the top ten finishing places were filled by the Stuttgart firm’s cars in 1985, the only fly in the ointment being the Ferrari-engined Lancia LC2s of Martini Lancia, which placed sixth and seventh.
The 50th anniversary of the birth of Can-Am will be marked by a mammoth grid at the Silverstone Classic, while a number of the series’ hardened campaigners will grace the Classic & Sports Car stand. A Chevrolet-powered March 717 and monstrous 8.8-litre McLaren M8C/D have already been confirmed.
