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HealeySport is the motor sport centre of the Austin Healey Club UK and coordinates the classic racing, rallying, sprint and hill climbing in the UK and Internationally. Check out the latest race reports by clicking on RACE for the UK circuit race reports or SPRINT for the sprint and hill climb reports. The Syd Segal Memorial Trophy Race - Thruxton - 23/24 March 2008
To read the report and see the pictures from the event click here
Horneland Rally 7- 8
March 2008 In March 2008, 10 UK crews picked up the gauntlet to take part in the Horneland Rally, a superb route, mostly intended, all around the countryside and rally tolerant villages of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. To read Mike Spindle's excellent report and see Jan-Peter Ambaum's pictures click here.
Invitation to a Race Meeting in Sweden - 31 July 2008
Class 1 - Big Healeys - 100/4, 100/6 and 3000's complying with Appendix K classes E and F. Class 2 - Sprites - complying with Appendix K classes E and F. All UK Race series Sprites will be in a separate class. Class 3 - Vintage - such as 100S's, ex-works and Warwick cars. To download the Invitation and regs click here. To download the application form click here. To visit the Swedish Healey club website go to www.healeysweden.com
The UK Race Series
The 2008 UK Race series (sponsored
by Rawles Motorsport) is a nine round championship between April and September
competed at the top UK motor sport venues
This website holds the racing calendar, results, rules/regulations and picture gallery for the UK Race Series. For more information about the UK Race Championship click here (or click on 'UK Racing' on the starting grid above).
The Sprint and Hill Climb Challenge
The 2008 challenge is a fifteen round series with a Big Healey class
sponsored by Denis Welch Motorsport and a Sprite class sponsored by Frogeye
Spares Ltd. In addition to the class awards, Cape
International sponsor the award
for the overall Sprint and The 2008 series begins with a return to Gurston Down and is followed by hill climbs at Shelsley Walsh, Prescott, Loton Park, Harewood and Wiscombe Park. In addition there will be sprints at Goodwood, Curborough, MIRA, Three Sisters, Anglesey Circuit and for the first time for many, a trip to the Llandow circuit. Each venue provides a different set of challenges to test the Healey driver's skills and abilities to the full. This series is open to any Healey driver with some or no motor sport experience and a car that can be either road standard or modified; half the races are handicapped to take into account the different abilities of the driver and their cars, so everyone has an opportunity to win a race. Although competitive, there is a strong sense of camaraderie amongst the thirty or so drivers who regularly compete.
To see the Sprint and Hill Climb events calendar, results and photo gallery click here (or click on 'Sprint and Hill Climb' on the starting grid above). 'Spirit of the Wind' - by Pat Cooper (pictures by Paul Baker and Phil Broster)Drivers who compete their Healeys
on race circuits, hills and sprint tracks are a pretty Hill Climbers and Sprinters on the other hand, have more modest trinkets handed out, smaller by comparison, but nonetheless most attractive. They have a stunning rose bowl for the fastest lady, and just like the racers, cups for the quickest and the also-rans, metallic works of dubious art for the luckless, and platters aplenty for others. Last year though, a new altogether
classier prize emerged - a sort of Nicole Kidman of trophies - and one that
deserves its own story. Its origin came about on a pleasant summer day over
a glass of wine and a nibble of cracking Cheddar partaken in a solid old
farmhouse near Bath; the family home of the Wiseman family. A trio of H Now; as anyone will tell you, I am no avid pot-hunter, but this is one rather seriously nice piece of art that even her indoors would love to have on the mantle-piece. But since only drivers of Healey 100’s can win it, I am, alas, excluded… Unless….. ….Anyone out there fancy swapping a nice quick 100S for a noisy big Healey with only fifteen thousand (competition) miles on the clock? 2007 Gala Dinner and Prize giving The weekend of 17th/18th November saw the annual gathering of the Austin Healey Club competition members for the distribution of the hard won awards for the 2007 racing and sprint and hill climb season. The venue was the splendid Hilton Swindon and once the eating was out of the way the proceedings started. First up were the sprint and hill climbers and this section was once again hosted by stalwart Allan Cameron. The first awards were presented by Jayne Foster of Frogeye Spares and went to Paul Baker (3rd in Sprite class), Stuart Bullas (2nd in Sprite Class) and to Robin Johnson (1st in Sprite class). Jayne also presented Tom Walker with the Cornbury Cup. Sue Ward of The Bugatti Owners Club was then invited to present awards to Tom Walker, Richard Mason and Pat Cooper who were 1st ,2nd and 3rd respectively in the Denis Welch Motorsport sponsored Big Healey class.
Steve Hewlett, from Jersey, picked up the ‘Half Century Healey Award’. Other winners were Colin
Gale, ‘Davis
and Mason Freshman shield’. Paul Baker, ‘Phil Meek A series’, Ed Giles
‘Chris Tooley Prescott Memorial’, Claire Towers ‘Nancy Mitchell Ladies
award’, Richard Mason ‘Piston Broke
Allan Cameron was presented with a beautiful engraved copper milk churn in recognition for his services to the Sprint and Hill Climb competition section. If nothing else Allan, the scrap value of copper is tremendous at the moment!
There was a brief respite while Joe Cox, the
Race Series Competition secretary took over proceedings to compere the
Rawles Motorsport Race Championship awards. These were to be presented by
Deborah Cluett, the wife of new Rawles Motorsport owner, Andrew Cluett. The
first award was the Foodfinders Ltd sponsored Class A trophy which went to
Mike Thorne. The Rawles sponsored Big Healey class awards went to David
Smithies, Hugo Holland-Bosworth, and Jeremy Cooke, 1st to 3rd
respectively, only Dave being present to pick up his award. The Lister’s
Chartered Surveyors sponsored road going Sprites class win went to Mark
Lister, with a close second place t Harris Coaches of South Wales sponsored the semi modded class Sprites and these awards went to Ian Hulett, John Harris and Pete Taylor. John Todd Refrigeration Sponsored the modified sprite class and these went to Robin Lackford, Patrick Harris and Harvey Woods. Finally in the competition section Marc Campfield was announced as overall Championship winner for the second year in succession. We then moved on to the ‘fun section’ of the awards evening when the discretionary awards are decided by Joe. The Sir William Lyons Trophy, presented to the driver who tried hardest but achieved least, went to Stuart Bramley who entered 5 rounds only to be thwarted in practice for 4 of them, but finishing one race.
The Paul Lorne Trophy, for resilience
throughout the season, went to Brian Bedford; he entered all 9 rounds and
missed out on a class win by 1 point! The Robert Shaw Trophy for best
newcomer went to Harvey Woods, who also picked up the Spi A touching moment at the end when we all remembered that gentleman whose name appears on the HDI Trophy, Peter Korner, and this award was deservedly presented to David Smithies for competing at the Spa 6 hours, whilst in considerable pain from his leg injuries sustained only weeks earlier. Then came a raffle for items from ‘Joe’s toy box’, some requiring batteries, and one a butane gas cylinder!! Joe knows how to live eh!...jackets off, ties undone and with music blaring there was a lot of ‘leg shaking’ going on for the rest of the night. Eventually, in the early hours, the proceedings came to an end with everyone either settling for a night cap, or disappearing to their rooms. What times breakfast? The whole evening had been a success thanks to the efforts of Joe and Allan, and it was appreciated by all. For a full list of the race championship class winners click here (pdf format)
If you want to download the latest Adobe
Acrobat PDF reader click on the following link
Click here to view the official pictures from the 2007 Dinner Dance and Prize giving - taken by Phil (Scoop) Broster. Email Phil on phil_scoop@hotmail.co.uk if you would like copies of any of the pictures in the report or gallery. Alternatively, you may wish to click here to see the unofficial pictures - not a pretty sight!!! You have been warned. Healey Meets Le Mans 2008
The following table lists the Austin Healey cars and their drivers that will be taking part in the 2008 Le Mans Classic:
To find out more - click here to go to the Healey Meets Le Mans 2008 website. Also, check out the report and results of the 2006 event by going to the International Race homepage on this site. HealeySport
Calendar 2008 Looking for a New Year present for someone keen on Healeys - Phil Broster (Official HealeySport Photographer) has produced an outstanding calendar for 2008 featuring full colour action images from the 2007 Austin Healey Club (HealeySport) Challenge race series. The spiral bound calendar consists of 12 single sided, A4, month to view pages, with front and rear covers. They are available for £12 each, plus £3 postage and packing for UK customers. Overseas orders are very welcome with postage and packing at cost. To buy your copy of this unique calendar email Phil Broster at: phil_scoop@hotmail.co.uk. Payment can be made by cheque, Postal order or Pay Pal. Viking Marathon Rally - Norway - September 2007 Hill climber and Rally man Mike Spindle has taken time out from developing new products to complete the Viking Marathon rally in his Healey 3000, ably navigated by Andy Belcher. Click here to read his humorous yet descriptive report into how to get a Big Healey round this tough rally. Goodwood Revival Meeting - September 2007 Top Healey reporter, Phil Broster, made his second visit to this world famous event and recorded it for us to savour. Click here to read his report and see his atmospheric photographic collection. The site will be updated continually during the year with details of the events, race results, points awarded and pictures as soon as possible after each race.
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To
celebrate forty years of motor car racing at the Thruxton Aerodrome and Race
Circuit, Healey Driver International was invited by the BARC to produce a
grid of racing Healeys (100/4, 100S, 100/6, 3000 and Silverstones) for this
most important and spectacular two day meeting. Our race was The Syd Segal Memorial Trophy Race and comprised a 45
minute scratch race on Monday 24 March (Easter Monday) in the headline slot
during the mid-afternoon session, with qualifying practice on Sunday 23
March. Twenty drivers came from overseas and around the UK to take
part in this spectacular event. 
All
UK Race series Healey drivers are invited to take part in an Austin Healey
race at the Falkenburgs race circuit in Sweden on Thursday 31 July.
The race will include three classes:
of Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Oulton
Park, Silverstone, Snetterton and Thruxton. This one make series is open
to any Healey driver who wants to take part in full circuit racing, be it with a
road standard or modified Big Healey or Sprite. Cars can be entered into one of
five classes, two for Big Healeys and three for Sprites, catering for the level
of modification applied to each car from standard road going spec to fully
modified. Points are awarded for practicing, achieving fastest lap times
in qualifying and during the race and for the drivers finishing position in
class. At the end of the season the driver with the most points in each
class is the winner of the class and the driver with the most points across all
classes becomes the Overall Series Champion. Pictured right is Marc Campfield seen here at
Donington Park who won the Overall race series last year in a Class E (Fully
modified Sprite).
Hill Climb champion. Last year's winner was
Tom Walker, pictured left at Karousel bend - Gurston Down, in the John
Chatham 'adjusted' and Old Dairy Classics maintained, fully modified 3000.
You may well have seen the BBC
Top Gear show's view of hill climbing with a challenge between a 1961 yellow Frogeye and a
fully modified Peugeot. If you haven't - check out this clip -
jammy lot aren’t they? They get a terrific kick out of what they’re doing –
especially when they do it well - though when they do it badly it can be
their wallet wot gets the kick! Then at the end of the season they have a
great knees up at a posh water-hole and, so it seems, winners, losers,
spinners, benders and breakers are handed – amid much drunken applause –
really fabulous trophies. Although the track racing clan have cups so
humungous that they cannot be displayed at the aforementioned bun fight,
lest they be plundered by ‘scrappies’, melted down before dawn and, in
Britain’s latest export industry, exported to China to make MG’s. These
monster pots are kept at a location known to only HealeySport Head Honcho
Joe Cox, and for security reasons, only pretty engraved plastic polygons are
presented to winners at the do in lieu, so to speak. This arrangement offers
great relief to long-suffering drivers’ wives, especially those with more
important objects to buff in their ‘quality’ time!
ealey
hill climbers, in the company of many others, had been made welcome at the
funeral of Stuart Wiseman, the late owner of a venerable Healey 100; a
machine campaigned by him for decades, and a familiar faded green sight at
speed events throughout the realm. The service at the nearby village church
was a bright, uplifting affair, not the slightest bit mawkish, and back at
Holly Farm conversation soon turned to Stuart and how he might best be
remembered by his hill climbing chums. When many a man his age spent his
days slumped in a nursing home waiting for Goddo; Stuart, a chap of dry wit,
philosophic outlook and, imbued with an inspiring competitive spirit, was
out in his old 100 hill climbing and sprinting. It was reflecting on this
kind of spirit that germinated the suggestion by one of the trio, Murray
Wakeham, that a rather famous piece of glassware by Lalique, entitled ‘Spirit
of the Wind’, might serve as the very thing on which to base a memorial
trophy. With the co-operation of the Wiseman family, plans were soon put in
place for Murray to track down a replica and have it mounted, if possible,
on a base of wood retrieved from the environs of Holly Farm and suitably
turned and polished. It was also decided it would be entirely fitting that
this fine trophy should be presented annually to the driver who performed
most significantly in a Healey 100. The trophy (pictured left), after a snag
or two, was produced in time for the 2007 HealeySport dinner, and the very
first winner was Allan Cameron (pictured above), who was proudly presented
with ‘Spirit of the Wind ‘ by Margaret Wiseman
o Brian Bedford.
The Le Mans
Classic is held every two years with the next event being held on 11-12-13 July
2008 at the world famous 24-hours circuit of Le Mans, where 5,000 classics
and 50,000 people will come together. There will be numerous stands with
automobile memorabilia and an auction. You will also find a large number of famous
cars that have previously participated in the gruelling 24-hours race.
It is a must for anyone who appreciates endurance cars and racing. The Dutch
Healey Competitions Club
have recreated the “Healey Meets Le Mans 2008” organisation after the
success of the 2006 event at which over 200 Healeys and their owners attended
and had a great time. They will provide, yet again, a meeting place
with hospitality and location where Healeys owners can meet. They will
also organise, for those who wish to partake, one or several rounds on the
original circuit in your own Healey and will arrange camping on the camping
site at Maison Blanche. All owners of a Healey are welcome to the
event.